|
|
|
|
|
| HOME | NEWS | DEAR REDIFF | |||
|
COLUMNISTS
|
|
|
E-mail from readers the world over
'It is a pity that the government is not giving the Kargil martyrs their due respect'
Date:
Tue, 30 Nov 1999 16:23:55 +0530 Quiet disgusting to note that their cheques have bounced. My sympathies to the beneficiaries. Giri
Date:
Tue, 30 Nov 1999 17:16:06 +0530 It is really shameful and disgusting that the sacrifice made by the brave Indian soldiers is going in vain. Instead of honouring them and giving support to the families of these heroes, their families seem to have become a source and medium for some disgusting people to exploit. These people should be found and hanged.
Date:
Tue, 30 Nov 1999 17:33:31 +0530 If true, this is utter callousness on the part of the authorities. It is a shame that we do not even care and respect the brave soldier's families. Unbelievable, though, I wish everything will be taken care of now that the matter has been raised in Parliament.
Date:
Tue, 30 Nov 1999 14:31:33 +0200 This is so stupid on behalf of the government. A lot of people like me have felt so much for the Kargil victims and generously donated from our salaries and it is a pity that the government is not giving them their due respect, by not even paying the announced amounts appropriately. I wish the media could make them correct this. Chandra
Date:
Tue, 30 Nov 1999 08:14:45 -0500 Well, I feel that the Indian government and the defence ministry should be ashamed of this! I wonder how they forgot to take care of the families of the defence personnel who sacrificed their lives fighting for the country. All I can suggest is that these issues should be taken care of immediately. I feel sorry for the families of those who laid down their lives in Kargil.
Jayachandran Manickam
Date:
Wed, 1 Dec 1999 12:56:04 +0530 I felt ashamed after reading the report about the bouncing of Kargil compensation cheques. It just goes on to show that the announcement of the awards and compensation are done just to create goodwill and support, and when it comes to fulfilling these promises everybody says it is not my business. I'm sorry to say but this is evidence of the changing attitude of men towards their own kind, and it hurts to see people making merry on a soldier's death and playing with the sentiments of his family. It all makes one wonder if your country or rather government is worth laying your life for?
Date:
Fri, 26 Nov 1999 10:10:35 +0530 I am impressed by the article about IST and its application to the northeastern part of the country. I, for one, would like to see at least three time zones in our country to optimise the day light and save on energy. The referred article should be given as wide circulation as possible. It should be brought to the attention of the PMO and the Speaker's office in Parliament for consideration. Our friends form the NE really need to take this up as an issue along with their so many other grievances. Remember Sikh demands which were termed ridiculous by Indira Gandhi and her friends and were more than granted after the holocaust in Amritsar and Delhi in 1984. They included simple demands like naming a train (Now, Golden Temple Express running between Mumbai and Amritsar), broadcasting Keertan from Golden Temple (now carried world over by satellite transmission and Internet etc.) Our friends in the NE should not need a similar holocaust to get this very reasonable demand accepted by our 'babus' and their political masters from the 'cow belt'. I suppose all right-thinking Indians should support them.
Kuldip S Virdi
Date:
Fri, 26 Nov 1999 11:51:55 +0530 I think North Indians should document their work timings as 8 to 4 instead of 9 to 5 ie, one hour ahead of the IST. Even in Calcutta, the sun rises early and sets at 4 pm. Jeetendra
Date:
Fri, 26 Nov 1999 01:43:23 EST This may be a good suggestion but one question comes to my mind -- why do we always have to think and do things like the US? The US has different time zones so why can't we? When would we start thinking for our own good and do things which we really need and not because the US does so? Naresh Chafekar
Date:
Fri, 26 Nov 1999 14:55:48 +0800 About time someone drew attention to the anomaly of a single time zone for a country that should have at least two, if not three. The tea gardens have their own (unofficial) time: 'Garden' time, one hour ahead of IST. We should make a start by dividing the country into two time zones, at 75 and 90 degrees longitude. Trouble is, 'Western Standard Time' would then be Pakistan time, and 'Eastern Standard Time', Bangladesh time! Will any Indian government have the courage to change to the time zones of our immediate neighbours? Meantime, the country wastes crores of rupees switching on lights earlier than needed. BTW, long ago and far away, Bengal had its own time, 'Bengal' time, based on Calcutta's local time, some 24 minutes ahead of the IST.
Date:
Thu, 25 Nov 1999 23:06:50 -0800 I agree with the author's consternation on why there aren't two time zones. The northeast has been given the short end of the deal in the past 52 years. At the same time I suspect that the reason is not so much an attempt at 'unity', or a 'Punjabi-centric' focus in the administration; it is simply that it would take quite some work to get a new time zone; you'd probably have to have changes to infrastructure (like railways, communications etc). That's the reason the babu shies away from it, and since the northeast is not politically important, there is no political push for it. I'm surprised though, with the vehemence with which the author attacks the Punjabis and the "surds". I think the Punjabis don't have much say in the administration at all; heck, if they had, something would have been done about 1984 and other issues. I think political importance governs policy; and thus the BiMaRu (Bihar, MP, UP, Rajasthan) have dictated much of policy.
Date:
Fri, 26 Nov 1999 01:18:47 -0500 Some very valid points were brought out in this article on having a common standard time throughout the country. But in a country like ours, where almost a majority of the population is illiterate, does the author feel having different time zones will make it easy for the people? I don't think so!! Sunil
Date:
Fri, 26 Nov 1999 08:47:30 GMT Dear Mr Krishna Prasad, Having lived in the US for some time I support the gist of your article -- it makes sense to have another time zone for the NE. However, I have some objection on the language and tone of your article. Using phrases like the following are not befitting a journalist of your repute:
- "nincompoops in Delhi" The crass language smells of uncontrolled anger and, if I might say, prejudice to some extent. It was possible to make the same argument as logically without pouring your heart as much as you did. Agreed, you might say that you have freedom of speech etc. You bet, you do. But it was kind of unconventional for me to see such expressions in a reputed news journal. The United States has had three time zones for more than a century now. In India, however, there can be plenty of reasons for not being able to do it - although I think it does make sense to have two time zones. At this time it could be economically impractical to do it - because this would require changes in a lot of computer systems like railway reservation systems. And most importantly the idea of two time zones may take quite a bit of time to sink into people. (An aside, did you know that the US proposed the ISO standard of measurement - KGs, Kms etc - but still uses miles, pounds etc because of the exorbitant costs involved in switching.) Anyway, let the good articles keep coming in! Look forward to reading more masala stuff from you. Raj
|
||
|
HOME |
NEWS |
BUSINESS |
SPORTS |
MOVIES |
CHAT |
INFOTECH |
TRAVEL |
SINGLES BOOK SHOP | MUSIC SHOP | GIFT SHOP | HOTEL RESERVATIONS | WORLD CUP 99 EDUCATION | PERSONAL HOMEPAGES | FREE EMAIL | FEEDBACK |
||