The sub-human conditions in Kalahandi and Bolangir districts of Orissa indicate the Government’s apathy towards human suffering (At God’s Mercy, November 27). Despite the Green Revolution, household rations barely last three days out of 30 in these regions. Operation Flood, it was claimed, provided enough milk to flood the nation with milk and milk products. Yet, a kilo of curd costs Rs 30 and butter Rs 125. When half of the population lives below the poverty line and when people die for want of food, our so-called self-sufficiency in food becomes a bizarre myth.
Robin Rajan, Mumbai
Kudos to S.R. Rao (Cleaning up the Plague City November 27), for transforming the filthy Surat into India’s second cleanest city within a short span of one year.
India needs more such courageous and efficient officials to clean up dirty cities like Chennai, Mumbai and Hyderabad. I hope other municipal commissioners will take a leaf out of Rao’s book.
Anil P. Bangalore
Your cover story, The Hand That Rocks the Congress, (December 4), on the shenanigans in the 111-year-old Congress only proves that it is suffering from terminal illness and before long will fade into oblivion. The game of wooing the minorities is also unlikely to help rejuvenate it because now they have other suitors.
It is tragic that the two most senior leaders of the party—Narasimha Rao and Sitaram Kesri, who are well past their youth—have been waging a bitter battle for control over the party, instead of trying to revive it. Sonia Gandhi, an illustrious member of the Nehru-Gandhi family, as a trump card is unlikely to be of any material help.
Of course, it would gladden the hearts of Nehru-Gandhi loyalists.
V. Sagar, Delhi
What is Sonia up to? Or what is the psyche behind the Sonia mania? The Congress, almost buried under the debris of history, cannot be retrieved so easily by one person. Petty personal prejudices have virtually killed this party.
U.S. Iyer Bangalore
