She’s endangered

This refers of your editorial ‘Girl, interrupted’ (IE, September 11). The number of girls who are not allowed to take birth by usi...

This refers of your editorial ‘Girl, interrupted’ (IE, September 11). The number of girls who are not allowed to take birth by using technology is growing even after the various interim orders passed by the Supreme Court. Himachal Pradesh had shown a sharp fall in the number of girls born between 1991 and 2001 (from 975 girls per 1000 boys to 897 in the 2001 census). The issue is not simply use of technology, but the mindset which makes it possible and the complete inability of social and political institutions to look into the issue.

We have recently collected data for Himachal Pradesh from the Registrar of Births and Deaths, and it did not surprise us that the data revealed a sex ratio of 869 — a further fall of 18.

It is also ironic that the Supreme Court, which has taken so progressive a stand on female foeticide, has given its approval for a two-child norm. The data from Census 2001 reveals that wherever the total fertility rate (TFR) has gone below three (Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, Maharastra, etc) the sex ratio too is poor.
— S Mendhapurkar, Solan

Shameful!

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Former Solicitor General Harish Salve must be commended for showing such integrity, honesty and courage to raise his voice against Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi (‘Raped, child & family killed, she’s told to take a walk’, IE, September 11).
— S. Rizvi, On e-mail

I want to register my protest over the handling of the case of Bilkis’s rape and the murder of her family. It is shameful and inhumane. I think all decent people should join Harish Salve who is helping to defend Bilkis Yakub Rasool.

We need to verbalise our horror regardless of the victim’s ethnicity or religion, and to emphasise that we will not tolerate such barbaric treatment of a fellow human being.
— Sakkubai Naidu, On e-mail

Friends forever

Your editorial ‘Farming a friendship’ (September 12), stressing that India and Israel are civilisational partners, praises Israel’s great contribution to Indian agriculture and science. It also lauds the maturity of Indian foreign policy and diplomacy with regard to our relations with Israel.

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The irrational pro-Arab foreign policy India followed for five decades after Independence gave step-brotherly treatment to such a friend. It in no way served India’s interests but was pursued for reasons that need no elaboration.

Now during the first visit to India by an Israeli prime minister, it was only to be expected that the bunch of rootless Marxists and their cohorts would choose to stage a demonstration against the visiting dignitary. Civilised behaviour, normal courtesy and national interest have never been their concerns.
— M.C. Joshi, On e-mail

Your editorial rightly prioritises India’s concerns by saying: “In the immediate future, though, it will be the war against terrorism that will occupy centre stage.”

Whether ‘‘trade’’ has become globalised or not, terrorism has assumed a global form at a faster pace.
— K. R. Rangaswamy, On e-mail