• The age of superannuation for Central government employees should not have been enhanced in the first place, whatever the reasons (‘Law Ministry OKs reducing retirement age from 60 to 58’, IE, May 28). However, once it has been increased, a rollback is not justified. It will affect the long-term planning of individual employees. Life expectancy has increased and health-care facilities have improved too. Such a step will not only put a sudden burden on the exchequer but it will also not result in any savings as the posts vacated shall be filled by newcomers. The government should not be seen as a job provider, which is the general perception. The need of the hour is to create more and more jobs for the youth in the private sector. — C.P. Badola On e-mail In Dutt’s court • Excellent article by Harsha Bhogle (‘Mr Dutt’s role: Sports first, minister second’, IE, May 28). But if you are living in the hope that the Sports Ministry headed by Sunil Dutt or the sports federations run by bureaucrats would be looking around shamefaced, banish the thought. There is no future for any sport in India, barring cricket! — Kevin Lobo On e-mail Common intent • The entire Common Minimum Programme is a statement of good intent, but it has no teeth (‘Food for all blah house for all blah blah no nukes blah blah blah’, IE, May 28). It can be equated to the Preamble of the Constitution. Perhaps the only things that will be adhered to will be the right to strike, hartals and reservations. — Mohan Nair On e-mail • Congratulations to the new government for having satisfactorily selected representatives of all its allies in the ministry and for having released a Common Minimum Programme. Even the communists, who are extending only outside support, have also been obliquely included in the government, by making Somnath Chatterjee Speaker of the Lok Sabha. — B.N. Pathak Goa Grasp the baton • P.V Indiresan has rightly observed in his article ‘Let’s innovate, Dr Singh’ (IE, May 28) that India’s problems are less to do with economic scarcity and more to do with the bottlenecks imposed by the bureaucratic and administrative structure. Truly, we are a rich nation inhabited by poor people. For the benefits to accrue to all equitably, overhauling of the organisational and bureaucratic work culture is imperative. There is never a dearth of announcements of new projects or schemes by successive governments. Therefore, just ensuring that those projects are implemented in letter and spirit could be the biggest innovation of the new government. In fact, the priority of the Manmohan Singh government should be to implement projects announced by the previous governments, so that the benefits start accruing to the masses at the earliest. — Gaurav Malhotra Jalandhar On curiosity • The Americans are anxious to know who killed their president, John F. Kennedy. The British are anxious to know more about how Princess Diana died. The curiosity of Arjun Singh to continue to probe Rajiv Gandhi’s death is thus understandable. — P.S. Sundaram On e-mail
