— Mehernosh Bharucha

Mumbai

• The lifespan of Nepal’s Kosi barrage expired some 22 years back, but no major repair was carried out. This has caused disaster with many lives lost, and property damage worth crores. A large part of Bihar continues to be under water. Most of the barrages and dams in our country are not maintained properly, as regular de-silting is not done. This could cause far greater destruction in the future. It is necessary to form an expert committee to monitor these dams and barrages, wherewith immediate measures should be taken to repair them thoroughly.

— Hara Lal Chakraborty

Kolkata

Can’t defend enough

• The editorial ‘It’s the uniform’ missed the point in trying to be needlessly harsh and polemical. The three service chiefs have taken up an issue that involves the morale of soldiers. Morale is of paramount importance in the armed forces, and a responsible commander has to do all he can to maintain it. Why is a comparison to the IAS spurious? Do not young people of quality choose between careers on the basis of rational comparisons? As it is, we are scraping the bottom of the barrel. Let us take heed of General Omar Bradley’s words: “There is no prize for runners-up in war.”

— Vir Narain

New Delhi

• Had the uniform retained its attractiveness, the army wouldn’t be facing a serious shortage of some 14,000 officers. No other Central government service has such a shortage of strength or applicants for the entrance examinations. Not many IAS, IPS, or other Central service officers want to leave the service but there is a long line of applicants eager to quit the armed forces. In our country, a good salary and high status will attract young men to the officer cadres. That’s an undeniable fact.

— S.S. Chowdhary  

Chandigarh

After Bengal

• Why are Singur and Nandigram attracting so much attention across the country? Bengal has long been a place for socio-political experimentation where 25 years of Congress family misrule was followed by an absolutist Left administration. Mamata Banerjee and her associates are threatening to perpetuate this state of affairs. And I’m afraid that what Bengal does today, India will do tomorrow! After all, history has cyclical tendencies in India.

— Mohite Kr Dasgupta

Gurgaon

Letter of the Week Award

To encourage quality reader intervention The Indian Express offers the Letter of the Week Award. The letter adjudged the best for the week is published every Saturday. Letters may be e-mailed to editpage@expressindia.com or sent to The Indian Express, 9&10, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi -110002.

Letter writers should mention their postal address and phone number.

The winner receives books worth Rs 1000.