Hawker power
Your cover story, ‘Kolkata Hawker Power’ made interesting reading. It is good that food hawkers have taken the initiative to be hygienic. We see many food stalls on pavements which are really dirty and filthy. But even food plazas in Gurgaon’s fancy shopping malls are unclean and sell contaminated food that makes people sick. No standards are maintained. The government must provide training and lay down rules for food stalls. Pavements all over the world have stalls and they always attract more customers than restaurants. If food stalls improve quality they will give the restaurants and shopping malls stiff competition.
P Siddharth, New Delhi
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Hawker map
The hawkers’ federation should make sure that every city’s master plan includes space for hawkers. There is no city, town or village in India that does not have hawkers. So they are a reality. Hawkers unions can also make a survey of all areas in a city where hawking canbe done. Such clusters should have clean, attractive kiosks. The federation can also design a hawker’s map and give ratings to each area. It would be useful for tourists.
Amita Das, Kolkata
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BJP vs Mayawati
I hope the BJP is pondering over its many electoral defeats. Their anti- Muslim propaganda in UP got them nowhere. Mayawati took the Brahmin vote from under their noses. They lost Goa because they were seen as communal. In Punjab they did not play the communal card and they won. So the BJP should wind up the Bajrang Dal and the VHP and transform itself into a young, modern party of the Right. It will attract more votes if it stops its stupid attacks on Muslims and Christians. Even the Hindu trader middle-class, which is busy minting money and jetting around the world, is getting embarrassed by its communalism.
Amrita Singh, Lucknow
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Bihar and NREGA
It is heartening to know that NREGA is becoming hi-tech in Bihar. For once the state is becoming a trend setter. Most of the time I get only bad news from Bihar: floods, poverty, caste conflicts and corruption. It is only since Nitish Kumar took over as chief minister that good news has started floating in. The state has got a dynamic chief minister and he can revive Bihar’s economy, environment (especially the mess in water management) culture and social indicators. I wish him all the best.
Naresh Kumar Singh, Gurgaon
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Green Cures
I would like to thank Dr GG Gangadharan for his advice in Green Cures. The one on baby ailments was very useful for my baby. Anita Kohli, Manesar Nandigram Vandana Shiva’s article on Nandigram gave an interesting point of view to the debate on SEZs. Whatemerges is that the government knows nothing about the land it is grabbing and the people it is dispossessing. Agriculture of the type being practised in Nandigram is a much healthier alternative to a chemical hub. It preserves biodiversity, does not pollute and creates a sound economy for villagers. But this kind of development is anathema to the politician and economist although it is essentially Gandhian.
Biswajit Chatterjee, Kolkata
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Public sector triumphs
I would like to congratulate SAIL and Neyveli Lignite for winning the FICCI-SEDF awards for corporate social responsibility. So much fuss is made of the private sector. Yet their contribution to the nation’s overall development is very suspect. I think public sector units should be helped to become role models for the private sector. The government must lead the way with good practices.
Vishwanath TS, Chennai
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Delhi’s Chipko movement
I liked your story on the tree campaigners in Delhi. Concerned citizens must protect the environment. They can spread good messages on tree planting, waste management, energy conservation, rainwater harvesting and, most importantly, public behaviour. Unfortunately many resident welfare associations, who could do all this, are busy politicking and picking on meaningless issues. They are not improving the quality of life in colonies.
Suhel Arora, Delhi
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Rural surgeons
I am personally grateful to you for two reasons: first, for highlighting our work at Mehrauli in your February issue; and second for being bold enough to run a monthly journal of this quality. May God give you success in your venture. But most humbly I beg to state that I amnot the 'founder' of the rural surgeon’s movement. All my life I have lived in the 'posh slum' of south Delhi. I have been an admirer of those of our colleagues who have and are toiling in the periphery, with limited resources, innovating appropriate measures to bring a smile on the faces of the impoverished people of our country. In today`s world, they are like: Full many a gem of purest ray serene The dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear Full many a flower is born to blush unseen And waste its sweetness in the desert air.
Dr JK Banerjee, Dehradun
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Spiritual quest
I always read Samita Rathor’s, ‘In the Light’ first. It is very enlightening. I also like her column on spirituality. Formal religion has rumbled. What we need is an amalgamation of ethics and spirituality.
Rupa Mehta, Kolkata
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Green Cures
I would like to congratulate Dr GG Gangadharan for his excellent column Green Cures. It is most useful. Plants like tulsi are easily available and the method of using them is not too complicated. It has been found that most so called herbal creams, shampoos, oils and potions are nothing but chemicals. Their herbal component is extremely miniscule. You could start a gardening column on growing useful plants.
Sharda Kumari, Gurgaon
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No money in jatropha
I wish to bring to your notice some facts about Jatropha curcas. This particular species is very low yielding. Under the best conditions it yields one tonne of seeds per hectare. Considering the fact that the seeds would be purchased by biofuel manufacturers at a cost of Rs per kg, the farmer makes only Rs 5,000 per hectare per year. There is no doubt that the plant survives under adverse conditions but under those circumstances the yield gets reduced to just half or one-third. If the government is so enamored of jatropha it should plant it in its own lands. Asking farmers to grow jatropha is wrong. There are many other plant species that would give farmers higher monetary returns than Jatropha curcas
.
Dr AD Karve, president, ARTI, Pune
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Dhanak clarifies
'Marriage should be a Rainbow' was an interesting story on our group initiative. However there are a few misrepresented facts which we wish to correct.1. Our group Dhanak was formed in 2004, not in 2006. 2. Ranu and Asif have been married for seven years not five. 3.Vasuda and Suresh got married under the Special Marriage Act, first. Then they had a Hindu ceremony and a blessing ceremony inthe church. All these three ceremonies were attended by the entire family on both sides. We also wanted to add that to ourdisappointment the story highlights the problems and fallouts more than the positive aspects of peaceful coexistence and eventualacceptance from most families through dialogue. The main purpose of our group is to tell people that such marriages exist andare as good or as bad as other kinds of marriages. Religion is never an issue and religious stereotypes must be broken both atindividual and societal level. We thank you for letting people know about us. For any queries readers could write to us at
dhanak04@rediffmail.com
or
visit our website: www.dhanak.org.in
We at Dhanak, New Delhi
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FCR norms
This refers to ‘FCR norms opposed’. It is really very unfortunate that the government is desperate to bring NGOs under its clutches for its own vested interests. Even after 60 years of independence political parties have made little contribution in changing the condition of ordinary people. They have merely worked to divide them across religion, caste and creed. The small yet visible changes at the grassroots are mostly due to the dedicated and committed efforts of NGOs. They embraced public service as their selfless mission. The awareness about democracy, duty and rights of citizens, providing minimum basic amenities to marginalised sections are really praiseworthy attempts. The bad work of a few NGOs cannot be attributed to the entire NGO community. Souvik Chatterjee in one of his columns in the Indian Express rightly says that politics does not mean ‘Rajniti’ as defined in the true sense. Rajniti is the ethics of a king. Today politics is bereft of ethics. True politics means public service which is honestly being done by NGOs. What the political parties are doing can be called ‘poly-tricks’. They do not want the people to understand their opportunistic behaviour. Hence they want to control NGOs as they believe that the NGOs may spoil their game in future.
The NGOs are right in opposing the government’s feudal norms. Ordinary people definitely support the NGOs whole heartedly. People understood the meaning of India Shining. Of course India is shining but what about Bharat where more than 70 percent of Indians live? Is it not doomed? Is it not the place where NGOs are struggling to improve peoples’ lives despite the ineptness of successive overnments? We stand firmly with the NGO sector. We demand their freedom and autonomy to work for the people..
Biranchi Narayan Acharya, Cuttack
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Middle-class and NGOs
Your poll on the NGO sector was enlightening. I had no clue about how the middle-class felt about NGOs. I thinkNGOs do not find solutions for urban areas. This is because most of them work in rural areas. City based NGOs are engaged in lobbying, advocacy, public relations or fund raising. Some work for slum-dwellers. This is why middle-class citizens’ movements are growing in Mumbai, Goa and Delhi. Educated, aware people can fight for their rights, if they want to.
Anjali Bhaduri, New Delhi
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Bant Singh
I am very happy that Bant Singh has got a new hand. Congratulations to him and the team that made it possible. I hope he will soon walk in his village. Technology is meant to help people. And I am sure the doctors will do their best for him. Bant Singh is a source of inspiration for millions of people.
Vidya Iyer, Chennai
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Great read I really liked your opinion poll on the NGO sector. I am a student and I am especially interested in doing voluntary work. I likedthe way you did the layout of the cover story. It was full of interesting charts that Ispent a lot of time poring over. Also, it was not text heavy. In this day and age it’s very difficult to read page after page of matter.
Samira Narayan, Bangalore
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