BackONGC and overregulation
ONGC and overregulation
PremiumOil and Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC) chairman R.S. Sharma says the company is overregulated (“Chairman says ONGC is overregulated", Mint, 31 December). This calls for introspection by the government about autonomy for public sector undertakings (PSUs). Political interference has crimped the independence of many people. A former ONGC chairman, who now heads the oil and gas exploration division of a private company, enjoys greater freedom and is not hounded by bureaucrats. There is talent in PSUs, but they need space and freedom to work. Sharma must be complimented for calling a spade a spade.
- M.M. Gurbaxani
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Your turn to talk
“The keys to the enemy fort" by Jaithirth Rao (Mint, 1 January), while thought-provoking, is too simplistic and naïve in its approach. He seems to have thought only as a businessman that just getting Saudi Arabia and China to invest in India would make all the problems with Pakistan vanish. We may assume this approach will work, but for how long? Are we expected to keep on crying and cribbing at the door of some or the other country? It is our problem and we have to be more imaginative in working out the approach.
In fact, in the coming years perhaps, China itself is going to pose a danger for India. Let us not be carried away by what China may be proclaiming publicly; it’s an open secret that it is going to be the No. 1 power in the years to come and it has been quietly working towards achieving that. On the way, there are going to be problems for India as far as China is concerned.
While one may agree that “war" with Pakistan is not a practical solution, Pakistan needs to be brought to book through more ingenious methods and that would require a multipronged, well-thought-out strategy that would make it pay some price for its failure to rein in terrorists thriving on its soil.
At the same time, it should not be forgotten that the primary responsibility of protecting the citizens in India is that of the Indian government and not Pakistan. No amount of teaching lessons to Pakistan will help if our systems remain corroded, making it simple for anyone to walk in or drive in and cause mayhem. Mere passing of laws or creating agencies will not by itself deter would-be terrorists. It is the preventive machinery that will have to play its role.
–S.D. Israni
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I refer to the article “Men who ‘shot’ the terrorists, long before the police could" by Thomas Fuller (Mint, 30 December). My congratulations to Fuller for a crisply penned article.
I must also record my appreciation of the unusual courage displayed by D’souza and Prabhu in capturing some very vivid and, more importantly, crucial scenes of the incidents of 26/11 on their cameras.
I can well understand the sense of frustration (portrayed very nicely by Fuller) that must have engulfed these two brave photographers when the mindless mayhem was taking place right before their eyes and all they were armed with were their cameras. As citizens, we must assure them what they did was no less heroic than what the brave Mumbai Police, the Marine Commandos and the National Security Guards did on that fateful night.
–Shankar Poti
We thank our readers for some very interesting letters in response to our stories and columns. Do continue to write to us at yourviews@livemint.com
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