It is interesting to see the gimmicks of Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal. Latest in this direction is his appeal to all honest officers to get directly in touch with him. Possibly there will be a heavy rush from all ‘honest’ officers to serve under him. If an SMS to Kejriwal expressing willingness to serve makes one honest, who will refrain from doing so? Nevertheless, honesty refers to a facet of moral character and connotes integrity and truthfulness. Kejriwal should know that if his ministers are honest, the officers cannot indulge in corruption. Now is time for him to deliver and not to make Utopian requests.
K.A. Solaman
People write about GM crops without understanding their contamination impact and the strict regulations favoured by multinational companies. Farmers in Vidarbha, Maharashtra, have been misled into going in for bt cotton. More than 150 scientists have written to the Minister for Environment underlying the importance of food safety as an integral part of food security.
K.K. Lakshmanan
Coimbatore
Lokpal relevance
This refers to “Time to break new ground” ( Business Line , December 26). It is not correct to say that the Lokpal in its present form is irrelevant. Successive parliaments didn’t clear the Lokpal Bill. It was Anna Hazare’s agitation for Lokpal, the mega scams of the UPA government and the impending 2014 general election that forced the Congress Party to get the Lokpal Bill cleared in Parliament. No institution has succeeded in eradicating evil. Lokpal will not be able to eradicate political and bureaucratic corruption but it will certainly restrict and minimise it. The Left has all along taken the stand that the private sector should also be put under the ambit of Lokpal. That is not the priority of the people confronting corruption in their day-to-day life.
M.C.Joshi
Lucknow