DDA CORRUPTION

This refers to the currency seizures made from the offices and residences of DDA officials. According to reports, the DDA Vice Chairman is patronised by influential politicians of Delhi, proving the existence of an unholy bureaucrat-politician nexus in our corrupt system due to which our country ranks at a poor 71st position in honesty rankings. Since currency is the oxygen of corruption, the Union Government, in the larger national and public interest, should take immediate stringent measures to curb currency-circulation in a manner that people may experience excess currency as ‘paper’ of no practical use.

A 30 per cent currency tax may be imposed on all sale-purchase exceeding say Rs. 10,000 made through cash even if payment is done in parts. All business expenses, including salaries and commissions above Rs. 1,000 should be compulsorily made through cheques. Payments of necessities like telephone, electricity, water, municipal bills, etc. exceeding Rs. 1,000 may also be accepted by cheques only. To discourage ‘benami’ drafts being used for moving black money, names and account numbers/addresses of purchasers may be printed on drafts and reducing the validity period to 45 days. Cash withdrawals above, say, Rs. 20,000 from a bank account in a single day should require special withdrawal forms to be reported to the Income Tax Department, mentioning the reasons for such withdrawal. Use of credit cards should be encouraged.

Subhash Chandra Agrawal
Delhi

NORTHEAST

‘Stirring trouble ISI style’’ (The DayAfter, April 1-15, 2003) has pointed out the dangers of the attempt by Pakistan to build up another trouble spot on the eastern borders of the country. Unlike as in Kashmir, where we allowed the problem to grow because of political compulsions, the result of which is being seen now in the killings of thousands of innocent people, terrorism in the north east should be dealt with a firm hand and the plans of the ISI should be nipped in the bud. If we do not do so now, we will have another festering problem on our hands.

M. Thombhi
Imphal

Digging at the site of the razed Babri Masjid in Ayodhya (The DayAfter, April 1-15, 2003) is a fruitless exercise and is an example of how the self-proclaimed leaders of religion in this country like Singhal and Togadia are churning religious passions for their own personal glorification. Are they really concerned about Hindutva and religion? If so, I suggest that they become sadhus and try to reform the people of India to give up corruption, sloth, crime and violence against women and live up to the ideals of the Vedic age, which symbolised true Hindutva. Excavating sites of alleged temples or forcing children to study a myopic and censored version of history will not make true Hindus.

Ramesh Kumar Gupta
New Delhi

VAJPAYEE

Your write-up on five years of Atal Bihari Vajpayee (The DayAfter, April 1-15, 2003) was timely and appropriate because it is for the first time that a non-Congress Prime Minister has completed his full term in office. Though his age and his health go against him, it is necessary that he continues and completes a second term also to prevent pseudo-secularists and rabid religious fanatics from having a free rein.