Trump’s balancing act

With reference to ‘Challenges galore for Trump’; the article rightly highlights the myriad challenges confronting Trump in his second term. China’s relentless advancement in science and technology poses a formidable challenge to the US. Given the critical need of the US for workers and skilled professionals, Trump will inevitably have to reassess his stance on immigration. Moreover, his foreign policy will pivot towards reinforcing ties with India in the Indo-Pacific. However, his scepticism on climate change could block global efforts to combat the crisis. India must chart a course that safeguards its own interests while collaborating with the US on technology, trade and defence.

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Chanchal S Mann, Una

Long chain of intermediaries

Apropos of ‘Sustainable farm income key to food security’; the reasons for the declining farm income vary across countries, but in India, it is the presence of a long chain of intermediaries between farmers and consumers in government-run APMCs, which shrinks the share of the pie available to producers and contributes to food inflation. A farmer earns only a quarter of the market price being charged for a fruit or vegetable, while the rest goes into transportation costs and fat profits of middlemen. The best way forward is to develop food processing clusters to check wastage and boost farmers’ incomes by giving them the option to sell directly to multiple buyers without having to go through intermediaries. It is an untenable argument that introducing competition from private players will lessen farmers’ incomes, on the contrary it will assure them of market-linked prices.

Chander Shekhar Dogra, Jalandhar

Online services can check graft

Apropos of ‘Middlemen and bribes’; providing online services is a strong tool for checking corruption. Many a times, offline tasks create an artificial delay. When a person has to visit an office repeatedly for a simple task, it signifies a notorious act of corruption. Besides, monopoly in any system further fuels the fire in promoting graft. Kudos to the Haryana Government for taking the initiative to find out the root cause of this persistent problem. Of course, when political will is strong, efforts are sincere and there is a spirit of dedication, any government can achieve what it conceives.

Anup Kumar Gakkhar, Haridwar

Own officers at fault

Refer to ‘Middlemen & bribes’; the Haryana Government report about corruption in its Revenue Department is not at all surprising. When unauthorised persons are managing official work, we can imagine how deep the rot in the system is. The million-dollar question is when its own officers are hand in glove with these middlemen amassing disproportionate wealth, who will dare to put them behind bars? It is a common practice in other states/UTs as well where files do not move in government offices without money changing hands under the table. Yes, public trust should be restored, but who will bell the cat?

Bal Govind, Noida

No shortcuts to investigation

Refer to ‘Custodial hell’; custodial deaths are a blot on the nation. Despite a hue and cry over them, these deaths have only been increasing. The use of violence to extract confession or information from the accused needs to be stopped. The police need to be trained in modern techniques of interrogation and gathering evidence. Sometimes the public, too, puts enormous pressure on the police to solve a case, which prompts unscrupulous cops to take shortcuts.

Anthony Henriques, Mumbai

Scrutiny of police officers

With reference to ‘custodial hell’, the conviction of a senior IPS officer and his seven associates in a custodial death case appears to be a result of political pressure. In a peaceful state like Himachal Pradesh, such cases tarnish the policing system. The modus operandi of officers at the helm must be scrutinised. Thorough and appropriate training must be provided to discourage custodial deaths. Provisions should be made to avert such slackness.

Shreya Bharadwaj, Panchkula