—R. Narayanan, Ghaziabad

Image crisis

* Manmohan Singh has observed that despite performing their duties, the police are often perceived to be extortionists rather than protectors of citizens. However, the police are the only direct and accessible law enforcers around. Their excesses, improper investigations, delayed prosecutions, violation of human rights and their apathy for the common man have damaged their reputation. The politicisation of crime and the criminalisation of politics aggravate this image crisis. On top of all this, the role of the police has evolved to handling terrorism and coordinating cross-state investigations. However, they remain short on manpower and resources. It is time the police were included in the planning mechanism of the country.

—Mathew Oommen, Pune

Theory & practice

* This refers to ‘Of market and math’. It is true that risk distribution based on the market principle demands information accessibility for participants. However, this basic assumption was absent in case of the current financial crisis. Historically, all the major theories are rooted in crises. One hopes that this one too would engender a new round of theorising.

—Ashwani Sharma, Ghaziabad

Obama or Gandhi?

* There has been a spate of articles everywhere about India’s urgent need for an Obama of its own. Most of these articles also argued why an Indian Obama is hard to come by. When we wishfully seek our own version of an Obama, we fail to realise that the context and the cultural ethos of the United States and those of India were, are and will remain poles apart. As such, it is not an “Indian Obama” that we should be praying and hoping for. What we need is a new Gandhi.

—Shahabuddin Nadeem, Bangalore

Make way

* There is no doubt that Sachin Tendulkar is a legendary international cricketer. His presence on the pitch at any time makes the opposition panic. No wonder the little master has been the backbone of the Indian offence. Unfortunately, times change and people age, with youngsters to fill their shoes. This is the case of every profession, every sport. And it is a universal truth. Under M.S. Dhoni, the new bunch of young cricketers has firmly taken command of Team India. In the interest of Indian cricket, the selectors should rest all senior players like Tendulkar, especially with the younger ones doing so well.

—Anuvrat Arya, New Delhi