Simply corrupt• This refers to the article, ‘Tackle corruption, make money talk’ by V.S. Pandey (IE, March 22). He is right that this is the job of the government which, by and large, is run by corrupt politicians and mostly assisted by IAS, IPS and top bureaucrats serving as middlemen, whom we cannot expect to root out corruption. There is hardly any politician who has been punished for corruption even if detected, and there is hardly a bureaucrat that does not help his political boss in corruption. The general public has accepted it as a part of life. It is difficult to survive as an honest man in bureaucracy or while dealing with government agencies. There is no will among bureaucrats, politicians and the people to fight corruption. As a first step against corruption, bureaucrats can contribute their bit by simplifying rules and procedures and the availability of information (as on internet) in such a way that there will be minimum scope for middlemen and bribery. For example, simplification of procedures in Haryana, Delhi of procedures of house tax and income tax has helped in this regard. — Ran Chander, Gurgaon• V.S. Pandey has made very bold and practical suggestions to fight the monstrous evil of corruption. Compulsory physical verification of the assets, without waiting for the receipt of a specific complaint, will go a long way in driving some healthy fear of the rule of law into the minds of greedy officers. If necessary, such a stipulation in the service rules may be incorporated. A series of irregular acts by a government servant will definitely result in his acquisition of wealth. If such a drive starts from the upper echelon of the administration, fear will percolate to the lowest level before long. Probably in such a dream scenario there will be no ‘covetable’ or ‘lucrative’ chair.— N.K. Das Gupta, Kolkata Force in Valley• Anyone who says that the army is not required in Kashmir is either blind to or ignorant about the ground realities (IE, ‘Kashmir shadows on Congress-PDP face-off’, IE, March 23). The men in uniform are not a questionable entity in Kashmir; they are there to take care of the threats the civilians are vulnerable to. At best the army can be withdrawn in barracks surrounding the major cities, handing over the duty of guarding the roads and streets to local civil authorities. In J&K’s case, army officials, state police and NGOs can together decide the modus operandi of security. Without the extra force from the army, day-to-day life and even basic governance are unthinkable in the Valley in the present circumstances. — Naval Langa, AhmedabadLetter of the Week AwardWe write to be read. When you write in, we read you to know what you think about what we publish. The ‘newspaper-active reader relationship’ is of enormous significance for a serious publication. A good letter, especially a good letter that critiques us, is of immense value. It is to recognise this and to encourage quality reader intervention that The Indian Express is instituting the ‘Letter of the Week Award’. Beginning with the issue dated March 31, we will announce and publish every Saturday the reader intervention our editors deem the best. Selection will be from letters received that week. Letter writers will have to give their postal address with every contribution. The winner receives books worth Rs 1,000 and his letter gets pride of the place in the letters column as well as on our website.
