Now is the time to act

Reference to the article ‘Lurking menace in Punjab’; the government should consider the pertinent suggestion that National Security Adviser Ajit Doval should be consulted immediately before the newly self-styled ‘radical preacher’, Amritpal Singh, gets a chance to deepen his roots in Punjab. The Ajnala incident should be taken as a warning sign for lawmakers to act upon before the horrors of the 1980s are repeated. Both the Centre and the state government need to act on the issue together before it endangers the security of this border state, and consequently, of the entire country.

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Simran Saini, Patiala

Reformative measure

The verdict of the apex court on the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners is indeed a historic one. This was a long-pending reformative measure in the arena of the Election Commission. This 73-year-old practice where the Centre had absolute authority over the appointment on these posts was seen with suspicion by all. The Supreme Court Bench deserves mass appreciation for this ruling.

VK Anand, Chandigarh

Merit, not pliability

Reference to ‘Historic order: Top court says President to appoint CEC…’; this move was needed to restore the credibility and reputation of the EC as an independent body. Opposition parties have often accused the EC of giving in to pressures of the ruling party. The main essence of democracy is free and fair elections. For this, the EC needs to be insulated from executive influence and political pressures. Even today, people fondly remember TN Seshan’s tenure as the CEC because he gave a visionary direction to the democratic polity and independent working of the commission. Meritocracy, not pliability, should matter during appointments to such posts to ensure that institutional integrity is not compromised. When autonomous bodies forget their statutory role, it becomes the duty of the SC to make a course correction through such judgments.

K Kumar, Panchkula

Saffronisation of news

The argument of opposition parties over the renewal of the contract between Prasar Bharti and Hindustan Samachar, a RSS-backed news service, is valid. The ruling party is infamous for manipulating the flow of information to aggressively promote its Hindutva ideology. In a scenario where raids have been conducted on prominent media houses like the BBC and journalists are being arrested for shedding light on issues, it is judicious to be sceptical about such a development. The government should address the legitimate concerns over saffronisation of news. It should unveil the criterion on the basis of which the PTI, the largest news agency in India, has been replaced with Hindustan Samachar. Is it rational to replace a highly credible and proficient agency like the PTI with a less experienced one?

Rishika Kriti, Ludhiana

Protect investors

The Supreme Court has constituted an expert panel to investigate the recent volatility in the market under the watch of SEBI and to recommend measures to safeguard the interest of investors in a window of two months. This may not expose the chinks in the armour of the regulator. First, all the inputs shall be furnished through a watchdog which is likely to be curated and redacted. Second, it is naive to expect that committee members would be able to evolve a fool-proof mechanism to avert such a meltdown in stock prices in future. The equity market can be likened to gambling where the majority of investors lose money. What about gullible retail investors who have already lost money in the Adani Group shares? Recently the top court castigated the government on the practice of ‘sealed cover’ and now it is demanding an investigation report to be submitted in a sealed cover.

Deepak Singhal, Noida

Problem of NPAs

It appears that no Chief Executive Officer (CEOs) of public sector banks is working towards the growth and welfare of customers. Rather, the CEOs are working to please the Ministry of Finance for the ‘uplift’ of big guns and those known to ministers. Bank money is being looted by big business houses in the form of non-performing assets (NPAs). When the CEOs are getting salaries from the hard-earned money of depositors, they should be accountable to the public. The Supreme Court should intervene so that billions of rupees are saved by checking the growth of NPAs.

SC Dhall, Zirakpur

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