• As NAM members condemn the Indo-US nuclear deal and Iran joyfully joins in, it is not just the UPA and Left but India that is cringing 'Egg on both UPA and Left faces as NAM and Iran slam nuclear deal’. The UPA has not only negotiated a poor deal but also antagonised Iran and thereby scuttled our prospects for oil and natural gas from Iran. India dare not even back out from the N-deal; for we will then be seen as reneging on the 123 Agreement. Soon, India will have to beg for energy. How sad it is that just when India was shaking off the “man with a begging bowl” image of the ‘60s, the UPA has injected new life into this caricature.

— R.P. Subramanian

Delhi

Caving in

•Somnath Chatterjee’s volte-face came as a huge disappointment (‘Let them speak’). Having finally taken a bold but overdue decision against recalcitrant MPs, who lowered the dignity of the House, he should not have stepped back. It appears that he has opted for “immediate peace” at the cost of the need of the hour. For now, one hopes that better sense will prevail on the habitual offenders from the opposition benches and that they will refrain from repeating their theatrics.

— Shahabuddin Nadeem

Bangalore

Middle muddle

• To be fair, George W. Bush was taking the heat off the diversion of foodcrops for biofuels in the US ‘Bushsays Indian middle-class fuels food prices’. But, as usual, he got the facts wrong when he quoted the size of India’s middle class as “350 million”. A recent report on the informal sector estimates that 880 million Indians subsist on less than $2 a day. The millions living on $3-$5 a day cannot be termed as middle class either.

... contd.