Summoned

The special court has reportedly issued a summons to Manmohan Singh to appear before court on April 8 on charges of corruption, breach of trust, and criminal conspiracy in the coalgate scam. Manmohan Singh is and was the right man in the wrong party.

He was burdened with responsibility without authority whereas Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi enjoyed authority without responsibility. He acted according to the dictates of his political masters. The former prime minister has reacted by saying he is open to legal scrutiny.

KV Seetharamaiah

Hassan, Karnataka

The court summoning the former PM was expected. There are many scams dating to UPA rule which must be processed rapidly. While one individual may be honest, remaining silent in the face of other wrongs being committed under one’s nose due to loyalty to some powerful elements cannot be tolerated. The nation does not have to tolerate the wrongdoings of selfish elements. Let this not be twisted into a conspiracy games by the powerful vested interests.. They should realise that the people cannot be taken for granted.

VS Ganeshan

Bengaluru

To GM or not to GM

This refers to the article Ram Kaundinya, ‘Let’s get on with GM crops’ (March 11). In response to an ongoing PIL against GM crops in the Supreme Court, the then CJI Sabharval had observed that the entire question of relevance of GM crops in the Indian context should be investigated by independent, expert and committed scientists.

An independent expert committee was then constituted, of which this writer was chairman. The specific task was to examine the field and laboratory test data submitted by Mahyco on Bt brinjal.

Several instances of gross breach of the bio-safety protocol in testing the safety of Bt brinjal were found, as also lack of rigorous field testing. A report was submitted to the Supreme Court in October 2006, but nobody knows what happened to the report.. Jairam Ramesh had clamped a moratorium on Bt brinjal in February 2010. It was only after easing out Jayanthi Natarajan was removed from her MoEF post that a total change of direction to took place.

According to international scientific norms, no genetic modification must be attempted in crops from its place of origin. The Indian subcontinent is the place of origin of brinjal. A small nation like Mexico has withstood all pressures to genetically modify maize, because the place of origin of maize is the Andean region.

What the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute did with Bt brinjal is questionable. That is no reason why India should follow suit.

While Bt brinjal raises many scientific and ethical questions, Bt mustard is mired in patent controversy. European nations, with the exception of Spain and the Scandinavian countries, have consistently opposed GM crops. The writer makes a totally wrong assumption that seeds of GM crops can be used from one season to another. This is impossible.

When it comes to food products, a person is entitled to have the “right of choice”. How this can be ensured in a foolproof manner in a country like India?As for politics and bureaucracy the BJP had unequivocally stated in its manifesto that it is anti-GM crops. Why the U-turn now?

KP Prabhakaran Nair

Email

Banking on banks

The editorial, ‘Letting go’(March 11), is of much relevance in today’s economic context. The banks are required to perform a lot of functions both in support of commercial and industrial sectors, and for ordinary people who need banking services. Banks have the dual responsibility of lending to the industrial sector and earn profits to sustain itself. It is therefore necessary that banks are provided operational autonomy.

It is also correct that instead of depending on funds offered by the Centre, banks should be able to devise popular banking products to attract clients and perform in a competitive manner to function in a profitable way. For this the banks need full operational autonomy. Banks also need to watch private banks to devise banking products useful to clients.

TR Anandan

Coimbatore

Totally unsafe

This refers to ‘Let's get on with GM crops’ (March 11). The book Genetic Roulette is critically acclaimed. It was written by a prominent scientist in the US and clearly lists the evidence of the ill effects of GM food when tested on rats. From affecting the stomach lining to smaller genitals to cancer, you can see what GM food does to a living being. The article claims that no literature has ever been published on the ill effects of GM foods: this claim is totally misleading and wrong. GM food is not good enough for human consumption and there is not even a shred of evidence supporting human consumption of GM food as being safe. The claim about Bt cotton is there for everyone to see: costs have gone up and with it farmers debts and suicides. Let’s not become insensitive to the plight of farmers.

CR Arun

Email

Delayed injustice

According to press reports, there are almost more than three crore cases pending in Indian courts. Some of the oldest cases, pending in the lower courts of Delhi, date back to the 1960s. It is time some time limit was fixed for courts to decide the cases as delayed justice is no justice. There is a law of limitation for most things in day-to-day life; why not for courts to decide cases?

If parties do not appear on more than three continuous dates, cases should be decided ex-parte and not more than three adjournments should be allowed. This procedure can definitely be made a rule, at least for civil cases. In criminal cases too, some sort of time limit must be laid down.

Alternatively, many litigants prefer to settle their case. Therefore the court can ask both parties to give in writing their consent for the final outcome on whatever documentary evidence there is, with an additional hearing and one chance may be given to both the parties to submit additional evidence if any. The number of pending civil cases can be reduced drastically and the courts’ burden be lightened to a great extent.

Mahesh Kumar

New Delhi

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