Blurred Vision
Contrary to your assertion about losses in DD’s commercial revenues (Down a Prime-Time Abyss, September 14), they were Rs 640 crore for 1997-98—the highest ever in its history. I don’t know how you’ve concluded that big ad spenders are deserting the ship. To be sure, before the formation of Prasar Bharati, satellite channels had encroached on DD’s turf and 43 of its regular advertisers had switched sides. The extent to which I was able to reverse this trend may be gauged from the fact that 33 of these advertisers have returned to DD. Your reporter very kindly concedes that I’ve made a major breakthrough in capturing the live sports market. Months back, it was Outlook which noticed a significant improvement in the quality of DD’s news and current affairs programmes. Also, I persuaded nearly 20 leading Indian film directors to make programmes for DD, and the results of their labours would unfold soon.
S.S. Gill, New Delhi
The BJP’s coalition government has a strange kind of logic (An Old Boys Club?, September 14). On the one hand it wants to bring the prime minister within the purview of the Lokpal Bill; on the other, the Central Vigilance Commission, with the avowed goal of rooting out corruption from the administration, would like to treat the high-ranking offenders differently from low-ranking ones. We indeed seem to be heading towards an equitable society.
Bijay K. Dash, New Delhi
"We have sunk to a depth at which restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men," remarked George Orwell. Outlook’s effort to do so is highly commendable (Lethal Condiments, September 14).
Innocent citizens fell victims to dropsy due to the collapse of a system that’s poisoned by collective bad faith, polluted by individual avarice and marred by political indifference. Noble intentions soon sink in the quicksand of Indian reality. Maybe, we should change the inscription on our national emblem from Satyameva Jayate to Sab Chalta Hai—to end illusions of a fabled Tryst with Destiny.
Ravi Kumar Mangalam, Delhi
That Indians have the highest level of pesticide residue in their bodies came as a shock. The PFA act should be amended before it’s too late. Consumer bodies too should take a bold step and strike the iron while it’s still hot.
Pranal Nikumbh, Pune
The outbreak of the dropsy epidemic in Delhi highlights the indifference and nonchalance on part of the Delhi government. In order to avert such a tragedy occurring in the future, laws enacting tougher quality standards, routine checks on mustard oil enterprises and rigorous punishments for those found guilty of adulteration is a sine qua non.
Rahul Jain, United Kingdom
All over the world, countries have tackled the criminal issue of food adulteration by implementing stringent laws. That’s the only option left for India too. All we need are a couple of quick, unbiased investigations followed by a public hanging of the guilty. Nobody will dare indulge in the practice thereafter. The government has prescribed death penalty for those carrying explosives. A person engaged in food adulteration is perpetrating a far more heinous crime.
Krishan Kalra, New Delhi
Thank you for publishing the profile of Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu, though Outlook is generally considered a Congress mouthpiece (Reinventing Chief Ministership, September 7). Other chief ministers should take lessons from him. He is a realistic politician, as is evident from his following statement—"I talk politics only at the time of elections; after that it’s only development."
K. Das, Hyderabad
The piece on Chandrababu Naidu made one more painfully conscious of what we could be, if we honestly tried. Our ‘advantage’ is that we certainly don’t lack areas in which to develop. My fervent plea to our leaders is to show us that you really care; not by destroying a few crates of Pepsi, returning files not in English or going overboard over 50 years of independence; but by letting your actions talk louder than your words. Please, please get your priorities right.
Paritosh Uttam, Bangalore
As an Andhraite, I suppose I ought to be grateful to you for the flat-out flattering profile of Naidu. Point taken. Naidu, unlike others of his ilk, has updated his sloganeering to chime with the ’90s mood. But what about the numerous failures of his hi-tech government? He might computerise all records. But isn’t that a farce when most of the records are fabricated? It’s this chief minister who successfully betrayed millions of hapless women in Andhra Pradesh by revoking prohibition, and throwing them into perpetual penury.
V. Chandrasekhar, Chittoor
The article Oral Code of Conduct (September 7) was in bad taste. The explicitly used unprintables could have easily been avoided. It goes on to confirm that Outlook is resorting to sensationalism and provoking voyeurism to stay one-up. The frequency of such immaturely-crafted articles in your esteemed (?) journal may force serious readers like us to look for alternatives.
N.A. Raju, Durg
Spring of the Big Cat (September 7) shows how a dedicated band of wildlife enthusiasts and locals can transform a national park into a haven for the tiger. There’s no mention of poaching and so one presumes it’s not a matter of serious concern. Now the park authorities must keep a strict vigil against incursion into the forests comprising the core area of the park to safeguard the tigers.
D.B.N. Murthy, Bangalore
In A Bridge Too Long (August 31), Major Kumar correctly states that the Bailey Suspension Bridge at Wangtu is the longest at 400 ft and its towers the highest possible at 55 ft. This is because the ‘set’ of BSB components have this limitation. There’s at least one other existing bridge with these dimensions in India (at Chalunka, northwest Ladakh). Also, the claim that "no vehicle-bearing bridge has ever been built with such constraints" may not be accurate. The highest altitude motorable bridge in the world (in the Guinness Book of Records 1998 and Limca Book of Records 1998) at Khardungla in Ladakh, was constructed in 1982 with severe multiple constraints of construction space, high alitude and sub-zero temperatures, in four days.
S.G. Vombatkare, Mysore
I was surprised to see that none of the readers’ reactions to A. Roy’s article (The End of Imagination, August 3) referred to Dom Moraes’ encounter with the Nehruvian establishment during India’s war with the Portuguese over Goa in 1961. Moraes, who’d won the Hawthorndon prize for his first collection of poetry, had written an article in a British newspaper denouncing India’s aggression in Goa. He wanted the Goans to decide for themselves about who should rule their land. Moraes’ article created such a stir in India that his father, the well-known journalist Frank Moraes, feared that the Government of India headed by Nehru (‘the great secular democrat’) would revoke his son’s passport. Hence he advised him to get a British one. More than a decade after acquiring British citizenship, in the ’70s, Moraes found the British society uncomfortably racist and after trav-elling all over the world as a journalist he has since the last 15 years settled back in India.
I’ve recalled this three-decade old ‘secessionist’ episode involving an award-winning writer because the one thing I disliked in A. Roy’s article was her insinuation that in present-day India, under the BJP government, one is not free to express anti-establishment views.
Girish V. Wagh, Bangalore
Amartya Sen’s interview ("Lib-eralisation isn’t enough", August 31) did not go into the roots of the problem. In a vastly over-populated country like India, social opportunities can only be created through production by masses. This is the way by which the purchasing power of a large segment now dependent on the public distribution system will increase substantially and translate into a better life.
Unless India brings herself to the level playing field by strong internal competition, globalisation through liberalisation will be a far cry.
S.N. Phadnis, Mumbai
The write-up on Persis and Protima brought alive memories of the days when they created a sensation (Things of Beauty, August 31). You did not mention the stir created when I.S. Johar and Protima married.
Ashok Merchant, Mumbai
Errata: Due to a technical oversight, Hearsay (September 21) carried an incomplete graphic.
I’m a young subscriber and I’ve been reading Outlook since its second issue (sorry I missed out the first grand issue). Since then I have been glued to Outlook because of its simple yet informative articles. I especially want to thank you for publishing the article on food poisoning (Lethal Condiments,September 14) because the next day I got a question in my exam related to this subject and with all the facts and figures still in my head I was able to write my answer very nicely.
Pragav Jain, received on the e-mail
