Restore statehood

Apropos of ‘Next step — J&K statehood’ (Nous Indica), J&K has been historically viewed in the vortex of politics of subcontinental power games. This has adversely affected the development of the state and its people. A lesson needs to be learnt from this past mistake. The road to recovery lies in J&K’s assimilation. Granting statehood would make democracy more vibrant by active participation of all parties in this process. Inclusiveness, not exclusiveness, is the need of the hour. The people of J&K have already suffered during the past decades due to political and ideological differences among their leaders. Now, it is time for peaceful living and development.

Gurpreet Singh, Mohali

Polls top priority

Early Assembly elections are imperative, but why hasten statehood? (‘Next step — J&K statehood’). The Gandhian nationalism of assimilation cannot be legislated but it is a slow and steady panacea. The ‘melting snow’ ought to be channelled with caution. In border states, regional satraps coming to power exploiting local issues and sentiments cannot behave as if their state is a separate nation. Till the secessionist elements and terror apparatus are fully decimated, J&K must continue with the status of a ‘UT with legislative Assembly’. It would be a folly to succumb to any threat smacking of vested interests — even to boycott elections till the demand for statehood is met. Nonetheless, early elections to restore public rule, for which the UT status is no impediment, should be the top priority for the government, which entails fast conclusion of the delimitation exercise.

Lalit Bharadwaj, Panchkula

Protests a waste of time

The call given by the Samyukt Kisan Morcha to hold a protest against the fuel price hike on July 8 is an absolute waste of time. When their own protests against farm laws have failed to influence the government, the protest against fuel hike will not yield any result. The only way out is to vote against the ruling party during elections. Every day, protests are held at various places in India, be it by teachers, farmers, doctors, bank employees, traders, women, unions, Dalits, etc. Protests have lost their impact in the present times.

Vikramjit Singh, Amritsar

IAF independent arm

Refer to Gen Bipin Rawat calling Air Force a supporting arm; the Air Force is an independent arm. Air operations to gain a favourable air situation over a theatre are sine qua non for the ground forces to operate. In the absence of it, the ground forces will suffer a lot of damage and destruction. Every Army officer is trained to ask for air strikes on the enemy target to soften it before launching an attack. It is only a matter of semantics that such strikes are called ‘air support’ in the Army’s tactical parlance. To extend such semantics to calling the Air Force a support arm is misplaced. Dividing our limited military assets and allocating them piecemeal to various theatre commands will prove our greatest undoing. The nation must listen to the Air Chief.

Lt Col GS Bedi, (Retd), Mohali

Power crisis

Apropos of ‘Power pangs’, (July 2), Punjab, reeling under unprecedented power shortage amid an intense heat wave, is facing unbearably long electricity outages. The pressure on the power generation system is unprecedented, with farmers needing uninterrupted electricity to run pumps to supply water for paddy transplantation. This worst power situation could be avoided had the government and the PSPCL planned for the excessive demand due to paddy plantation and summer season by purchasing power from the open market and by doing preventive maintenance of all power plants in advance to avoid outages during the peak demand period.

Sanjay Chopra, Mohali

Not in an instant

Two types of industries are flourishing — one that makes people overwhelmed with the thoughts of competition, comparison, hate and inhumanity; and the second, which provides impermanent but hasty solutions to the repercussions of the first (‘Age of instant enlightenment’). These both sectors have the primary concern of earning maximum profit. Therefore, people, especially youngsters, need to understand the urge of connecting their souls to their roots, which of course demands time and patience in this rapidly growing world of technology. They should spend their precious time amid nature rather than searching for ways of instant enlightenment on the Internet.

Amritpal Singh, Bathinda

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