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refuse to move out of villages where
they rest. With his dream of an ecosys­
tem beneficial to both human beings
and wildlife, Tenzing could surely help
Kerala find its answer to the question,
“Why can’t we think of giving back
something to nature when we take so
much from it?”
Capital Malfeasance
HYDERABAD J.N. Bhartiya: As Feet
Full of Barbs (July 23) makes clear, cor­
ruption reached a pinnacle with the
building of the new capital. The bifur­
cation of states is designed to create
more offices to allow politicians to earn
on the sly and to strengthen the party.
And the construction of new cities and
laying of roads generally allows easy
kickbacks that are difficult to prove.
What was the necessity of splitting
Andhra Pradesh when the massive
funds thus wasted could have been
used to better the living conditions of
the poor? Paradoxically, those suffering
most vote for the greatest exploiters.
Maximum Support Wanted
CHENNAI K.S. Padmanabhan:
Apropos of Minimal Support Price (July
23), the BJP, which has been at the rec­
eiving end of farmers’ protests in sev­
eral states since coming to power at the
Centre, fared badly in Gujarat’s
Saurashtra region during last year’s
ass­embly elections, as farmers com­
plained that the government had failed
to pay the procurement price. Now, in
what is being hyped as a historic deal
for farmers, the Modi government
seems to have opened its coffers, offer­
ing the highest-ever MSP for 14 kharif
crops. Though the aim is seemingly to
bring small and middle-income farm­
ers into the net of beneficiaries, it’s
mostly those who have surplus produce
who stand to gain. In most cases, only
around 20 per cent of farmers will ben­
efit—and those left out may turn
against the government.
Will the Centre’s move to drastically
increase the MSP for kharif crops solve
the crisis of Indian agriculture ?
Coming as it does ahead of crucial state
and later parliamentary polls, it might
improve the electoral prospects of the
ruling party. But alternative avenues of
employment in villages and towns
ought to be found because agriculture
cannot sustain such a huge proportion
Walking With Thorns
BELLARY Shailendra Dasari: Feet Full of
Barbs (July 23) fails to capture the ground rea­
lities in AP. It is an open-secret that the
YSRCP has a tacit understanding with the rul­
ing BJP, a clear case of quid pro quo.
Jaganmohan Reddy is the prime acc­used in a
number of cases pertaining to money launder­
ing and other economic offences, his trusted
aide and MP Vijayasai Reddy being the co-acc­
used. Both Jagan and Vijayasai are desperate
to wriggle out of the plethora of cases pending
against them and are hoping to get a clean chit
before the 2019 elections, with the blessings of
the ruling party at the Centre. In return, they would help the BJP come back
to power by aligning with them after the elections.
The people of AP are furious with the BJP for going back on the promise of
financial assistance to the residual state, and allying with them at the pres­
ent juncture would be suicidal for Jagan’s party. Chandrababu Naidu timed
his party’s exit from the NDA so well that the TDP now fancies its chances of
coming back to power by cashing in on the anti-BJP sentiment prevalent in
AP One would have to be naïve to expect that Jagan’s padayatra , the fo cus of
which is attacking Naidu’s administration, would neutralise all the ill-will he
and his party have generated by rubbing shoulders with the BJP and s ­ hying
away from criticising the NDA government for the stepmotherly treatment
the latter has meted out to the people of AP.
of the population without causing
distress all around.
The Ghost I Know
CHANDIGARH Ranju: Siddhartha
Gigoo’s diary (July 16) beautifully
brought out the pain of those who try to
remain connected to their roots.
Wherever one flourishes, the end of the
journey is the point whence one started.
People are displaced for no fault of
theirs. Reading this article, I can feel the
pain and agony of all, and I think this is
an emotional connection of the unseen.
Opaque Table
PUNE G.L. Karkal: The Kashmir
roundtable, organised by Outlook, was
an informative read (The Human on the
K-Table, Jul 16). However, after going
through the entire package across 22
pages, readers would have been a bit
confused—it was a true Babel of opin­
ions and solutions. As I saw it, in the
main there were three broad areas of
alignment. The moderate view holds
that though the Indian Constitution is
applicable to J&K, it is only the pre-
1953 version of the Constitution. A
centrist view says that a plebiscite has
to be held as per the UN resolution,
with a conviction of its inevitable out­
come—that Jammu and Kashmir will
be out of Indian control. The extreme
view, of course, holds that what is
needed is freedom, or azadi, with the
chance that it will become a part of
Pakistan. Sadly, some of the speakers
were just bandying words—deny, def­
end and defeat; acknowledge, accept
and resolve—without clarifying what
actually they meant. If this is what
emerges from these talks, what out­
come can one expect from a conference
to solve the complicated issue?
No Dirty Cash
BANGALORE G. Neelakantan: This
is about the interview with
Kamalahaasan (‘I am a politiculturist…’,
Jul 16). Point is, if Gandhiji were to
stand for election in today’s Tamil
Nadu, he might lose his deposit! He
would have to answer the question:
‘How much money can you spare’?
Now, this vote-buying culture has
spread to other states too. If Kamal
could just remove this burgeoning
cash-voter nexus in India, even if he
were a political failure, he would have
rendered valuable service to the nation.
But then, it would take a miracle for
one person, that also a political neo­
phyte, to rid India of this blight.
6 August 2018 OUTLOOK 5