Reform the law

• For several days your paper has carried the story of the twin baby girls a...

• For several days your paper has carried the story of the twin baby girls and other infants abandoned in hospitals or elsewhere. It is heartening that many citizens of Mumbai desire to adopt the twins. But, as the law stands the best chances of their finding a home is abroad, with non-Indian parents. Let me
explain why. Under the existing adoption law, only Hindus may adopt. They can adopt a maximum of two children, one of either sex. Provided of course that person has no living son or daughter. If a Hindu person has a son that person may only adopt a girl and if he or she has a daughter, only a boy can be adopted. It is high time we campaigned for an Indian Adoption Act with better provisions than the Hindu Adoption Act. Unless the public wakes up and joins hands with NGOs and adopting agencies, this will not happen. So far at least three bills in Parliament and one in the Maharashtra assembly have failed to become law.

— Vasudha Dhagamwar New Delhi

Wrong comparison

• In ‘Front Foot’ (IE, December 2), Rajiv Shukla may be right in saying that Shankaracharya should have been kept in a guest house as in the case of L.K. Advani and M.M. Joshi. However, Advani and Joshi were under preventive detention.

— O.P. Jain Jaipur

Impressive

• I am impressed by the article of Raja Mohan (‘Beyond nuclear stability’, IE, December 14). Unlike many other Indian writers, he has a realistic approach on the issues facing India and Pakistan. He has got a progressive and enlightened vision. India and Pakistan should not just cut troops and acquire modern technology but also make sure that they do not use their modern resources against each other. Kashmir is the root cause. Once resolved, I am 200 per cent sure that other minor disputes such as trade, pipelines, water, etc, would be resolved in no time.

— Fouad Malik On e-mail

Kyunki, it’s Smriti

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• A distinctively bright and interest-arousing title of your editorial (‘Kyunki, it’s Modi’, IE, December 14)! A.B. Vajpayee also has been forced to speak up in defence of the man he had once blamed for the Lok Sabha defeat.

— Divyesh Raythatha On e-mail

• I take two exceptions to this editorial: first, the assumption that Narendra Modi was personally involved in the killing of people in Gujarat. So far, there is not even a single inquiry indicating that. Second, the the phrase “electoral rout” is used to define the BJP’s defeat in the national and Maharashtra elections. The Congress party got only seven seats more than the BJP in the national election and the situation is no different in Maharashtra as well.

— Manish Nagpur

Tailpiece

• The Supreme Court has queried the CBI whether Yadav could be shifted out of Beur jail in Patna to any other prison in Bihar or outside the state (‘To curb Pappu, SC asks CBI’, IE, December 15). I am tempted to suggest the Cellular Jail!

— S.C.N. Jatar Pune