East is east

Seema Goswami may be right that the West is better than us when it comes to human behaviour (The (not so) sorry lot, December 11). But, I wonder if all the volumes written about our own culture and values do not have even one instance that she could quote?

Seema Goswami may be right that the West is better than us when it comes to human behaviour (The (not so) sorry lot, December 11). But, I wonder if all the volumes written about our own culture and values do not have even one instance that she could quote? Most of the ills we face today come from blind adoption of Western values. Ironically, the West has been picking up the better values from our culture while we are taking up the worst from it.

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Zohra Javed
via e-mail

II

A man found guilty of culpable homicide is being treated like a demi-god in his home state. He is unrepentant for his crime, yet he is getting undue importance from TV channels and a political party. The message is that no matter what grievous harm you may cause to someone, you will not have to face public opprobrium.

AK Ghosh
via e-mail

III

Seema Goswami has highlighted the callous manner in which Navjot Sidhu finds it fit to spout clever couplets but no words of repentance to the victim’s family. It is not Sidhu alone, the criminal justice system in India does not have any commitment to the victims.

GS Bajpai
Sagar

Farmers’ fracas

The protests in Singur over the Tata Motors project and the earlier protests over SEZs are understandable.

In many cases, farm land is forcibly acquired by the government for industrial projects and the compensation given to farmers is a pittance. The only solution is to follow the Magarpatta city model where the farmers are stakeholders in the project. Corporates must go the extra mile and help improve the quality of life in the villages in which they are setting up their plants.

Derek Saldanha
Pune

Deal’s wheels

The Indo-Us n-deal, hyped as a milestone in Indo-US relations, has proved to be still-born. To deny India the right to explode a device without the approval of the US exposes the intentions of the US administration.

OP Tandon
via e-mail

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