— Naval Langa

Ahmedabad

Think tanks’ role

• Apropos of the article 'Track every rupee', I compliment Jaithirth Rao for this most timely and thought-provoking piece. He has rightly focussed on the role of appropriate incentives (which should also include disincentives) for bringing changes in the behaviour of all economic players, which would be congruent with the goals of public policy.

A proper alignment in this direction will help to efficiently translate public outlays into public outcomes for achieving inclusive growth for benefiting the weaker sections of the society through market-based economic reforms. Having been associated with the Centre for Policy Research (CPR), New Delhi, for a long time, I appreciate Rao’s compliments for the work being done by this think tank. Public policy management think tanks are invaluable in assisting officials with better delivery systems for public programmes, which are capable of neutralising inimical vested interests and effectively delivering maximum feasible public good.

— Charan Wadhva

New Delhi

Fall guy on field

• At 61, Steve Bucknor, a former FIFA referee, but more famous as one of the most respected umpires in the world (who umpired five straight ICC World Cup finals), was dumped by the ICC, following complaints from India. Bucknor responded to the sacking saying that “it’s a sad day to see umpires sidelined after making only two wrong decisions out of a record of 35 appeals”.

But what cricket-lovers failed to see is that in the Sydney Test, it was Mark Benson who was the main culprit, with at least seven wrong decisions. But Bucknor took the flack. Maybe India didn’t complain about Benson, because three of his decisions went in India’s favour. The ICC’s decision comes across as partisan. At least when you remove a judge (and the umpire is the judge in the cricket ground), you teach him how justice is to be done. Sorry to say this, but by not taking action against Mark Benson the ICC and the BCCI have both killed the gentleman’s game of cricket.

— Bidyut K. Chatterjee

Faridabad

Court correction

• This refers to media reports about the Union government favouring the idea of granting the Chief Justice of India absolute powers in appointment of judges of higher courts. No individual, no matter how elevated, should be given such absolute power without an accountability mechanism. This prevents any chance of human bias, especially following the charges levelled against a former chief justice, and the controversy over judicial appointments when the erstwhile President Abdul Kalam had to return files approved by a Supreme Court collegium.

It’s best to stick with the favoured formula to appoint a National Judicial Council comprising retired Supreme Court judges as member-nominees of the President, Prime Minister, Opposition leader and Chief Justice of India with the central vigilance commissioner to finally recommend appointments, transfers and promotions of the judges of higher courts.

— Subhash C. Agrawal

Delhi