• Garbage accumulation and unhygienic health conditions have become endemic to the lives of villagers and NREGA can serve as a potent medium to mobilise people to be responsible for their own cleanliness and for the health and hygiene of their living conditions. Devolution of resources and tasks to the villagers themselves ought to kick-start a campaign that may well ensure greater hygiene in rural areas.

— John Alexander

Nagpur

Laughably dangerous

• Despite the ridiculousness of the People’s Daily article by a Chinese think tank, there’s a lingering worry over the possible Balkanisation of India (‘The dragon’s rumble’, IE, August 14). There are two issues at hand: first, India needs to seriously evaluate the issue of separatism. Though it may not be as pronounced as what was seen in China’s Xinjiang, the problem can anytime escalate. Second, India continued business with undemocratic regimes, as in Burma, could make Indian democracy look ideologically weak. The fear of possible divisions of India is often propounded through the Internet. India must seriously embark on cyber monitoring.

— R. Gupta

Pune

Alarm bells?

• Pratap Bhanu Mehta has highlighted the India-China trust deficit aptly. There’s been a traditional bias in the Chinese establishment against India. One must remember and be reminded that despite China’s phenomenal growth, as a democratic society, India has the capacity to outperform China. However, one factor is crucial — that we be militarily capable in order to preserve our integrity and sovereignty in perpetuity. When our navy chief and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, Admiral Sureesh Mehta, makes a statement implying our inferiority vis-à-vis China, it should serve as a wake-up call.

... contd.