THE Cover Story clearly showed that no one is ashamed of the use of money power to score political victories (“What price victory?”, August 15). Gone are the days when people who joined politics were imbued with the spirit of serving the nation. Now there is a new breed of politicians who are bereft of political philosophy and who are eager to grab power. Some senior politicians who were found guilty of corruption in the past are still enjoying political eminence.

Vinod C. Dixit
Ahmedabad

THE United Progressive Alliance government has won the trust vote. In the general election, the people will decide the price of its victory.

A. Jacob Sahayam
Thiruvananthapuam

IT was a black day in the history of our parliamentary democracy. If the allegation of the three BJP MPs carrying currency note bundles in Parliament was true, what prevented them from approaching the Speaker on the subject as soon as they entered the Lok Sabha? Was 4.00 p.m. an ‘auspicious’ time to spill the beans?

S. Balakrishnan
Jamshedpur,

SINCE the whole country witnessed the display of bundles of currency notes inside Parliament, it follows that the people should also know about their origin and purpose.

The television channel that claimed to have taped the act of bribery should act responsibly to clear the air.

J. Akshay
Secunderabad

THE shameful incidents preceding the vote of confidence is a reflection on the character of our politicians. The sight of their settling personal scores against their opponents was nauseating. In the ultimate analysis, whether the nuclear deal comes through or not, it is clear the unscrupulous politician will have the last laugh, tearing asunder the moral fabric of this democratic nation.

T.V. Unnikrishnan
Bangalore

THE nuclear deal is in the best interest of the country. There is a growing demand for energy and we have to depend heavily on imports to meet this demand.

Amrita pandey
Delhi

ATOMIC Energy Commission Chairman Anil Kakodkar’s interview on the nuclear deal was informative. He made it clear that the nuclear deal is governed by the 123 Agreement, and not by the Hyde Act.

Siddharth Chaturvedi
Lucknow

THE article “Project in peril” was well researched (August 1). It raised serious questions concerning the future of the thorium-based programme and how the safeguards will affect this programme. This should be a cause for concern for all self-respecting Indians.

E. Harikumar
Hyderabad

INDIA needs alternative sources of energy. Our nuclear plants are working at 40 per cent of their rated capacity owing to the shortage of fuel.

India has been isolated by the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group as it has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and has not been receiving fuel for its reactors for the past 30 years. The demand for power has been increasing every year. The known sources of energy are not adequate to meet our power needs in the long term. Nuclear energy is clean and less polluting than thermal and hydel power.

It is an admitted fact that we are not interested in making nuclear bombs. Our main interest is to use nuclear energy for development.

S. Narayan
Mumbai

Murals

I THOROUGHLY enjoyed reading the article “Ravaged murals” (August 15). I recently visited heritage temples of Tamil Nadu such as the ones in Srirangam, Thanjavur and Darasuram and enjoyed the murals in particular. In fact my interest in these heritage sites was kindled by Frontline’s excellent 25-part series on Indian art.

A. Mehra
Mumbai

THE article on Zimbabwe, “One-horse race”, gives a full analysis of the political situation in this tragic country (August 1).

It is, however, disappointing that mention is not made of the consequences of the forced eviction of the white farmers, which has led to a catastrophic reduction in agricultural production. It may be recalled that Zimbabwe was formerly the “bread basket” of southern Africa.

Also there is no reference to the one-sided and unprovoked violence perpetrated by the ruling ZANU-PF against the opposition MDC, prior to and following the second round of elections.

Jeff Alderson
Oxford

Education

THE Special Feature on Education & Career threw up interesting topics for debate (August 1).

The low enrolment of students from Tamil Nadu in elite technological institutions could be due to the fact that most of the students who get into such colleges are the ones who get trained systematically by tutorials.

Students from poor socio-economic background cannot afford to pay the huge fees collected by these tutorials. Higher education as a whole in India is in a mess and something needs to be done.

N. Krishnamurthy
New Delhi

ANNOUNCEMENT

Letters, whether by surface mail or e-mail, must carry the full postal address and the full name, or the name with initials.