MyVoice: Views of our readers 12th March 2024

SC champions cause of checks & balances

It is evident from the general tenor of the Supreme Court’s order rejecting the SBI’s plea for an extension of time till June 30, i.e., after the general election, for disclosure of details regarding the electoral bonds that it is not to be trifled with and its orders have to be complied with, without adopting delaying tactics. The right to know in time cannot be undermined by claiming that the details are stored in “separate silos” and “decoding for matching” is a complex and time-consuming process. The firmness and independence shown by the apex court lend validity to checks and balances we have put in place. The SBI must have realized by now that it cannot refuse to do something within a time limit that the apex court orders it to do for the ruling party’s political benefit and cannot escape being pulled for non-compliance. The disclosure of the details of political funding since the scheme’s introduction in 2017 will shed light on ‘quid pro quo arrangements’ and result in depletion of support for the BJP.

G David Milton, Maruthancode, TN

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A five-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court has dismissed the State Bank of India’s plea seeking extension of time and directed it to furnish the details of electoral bonds to the Election Commission by close of business hours on March 12. This is quite a welcome decision. It is logical, fair and just. In this advanced computer age, furnishing details about electoral bonds will not be a problem. The bank is maintaining crore and crore of accounts and we are getting information at the press of a button. So the demand for extension of time to furnish the details is rather unjust and surprising. Let the truth about the donations made by persons to political parties be made public since the voters have the right to know it. Secondly, the political parties must be asked to submit their income and expenditure accounts to the EC every year.

N R Ramachandran, Chennai.

Govt justified in notifying CAA rules

Although, the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) was enacted in 2019, rules are yet to be implemented. CAA aims to grant Indian citizenship to persecuted non-Muslim migrants who migrated to India, from Muslim neighbouring countries. Vested interests unwarrantedly sparked large-scale agitations with malicious propaganda that the CAA is against the Indian Muslims. Kudos to the Modi-led government for officially rolling out rules, which are the genuine need of hour.

B B.Veerakumaran Thampi, Thiruvananthapuram

‘Zero-Food’ epidemic in India

The findings of a recent study are indeed alarming, shedding light on a critical issue in India concerning ‘zero-food’ children. The study indicates that 19.3% of children aged 6-23 months consumed nothing in a 24-hour period. This places India third globally, with a rise from 17.2% in 2016 to 17.8% in 2021. India, accounting for 6.7 million zero-food children, constitutes nearly half of the global total, emphasizing the need for targeted interventions. Health experts attribute the problem to mothers struggling with feeding care rather than food access, emphasizing the need for immediate, tailored interventions to ensure the nutritional well-being of young children. The persistent issue of malnutrition in India, particularly in children, necessitates ongoing attention.

Dr Krishna Kumar Vepakomma, Hyderabad

Neutrality of EC comes under cloud

The resignation of the Election Commissioner of India, Arun Goel, at the crucial juncture of General elections is intriguing. Now that three-member body is left with one, that is Chief Election Commissioner, the government has declared that the vacancy would be filled by March 15. Now the revised procedure of selection gives advantage to the ruling party where the Prime Minister and a central minister would have primacy in selecting the commissioners. It’s unfortunate that the developments cast a shadow on neutrality of that constitutional body in the minds of people.

Dr DVG Sankara Rao, Vizianagaram

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Some fishy developments have taken place between Election Commissioner (EC) and Chief Election Commissioner ahead of annnouncement of General Election dates. The sudden resignation of EC Arun Goel came as a surprise to many, but insiders in the poll body have said that apparent differences emerged between Goel and Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar during their visit to West Bengal to oversee poll preparations earlier this month. The CEC addressed the media alone on March 5. In the briefing, he mentioned that Goel had returned to Delhi due to “health concerns”. However, sources close to Goel dismissed that and maintained that he was in the pink of health. Some serious differences between the two was apparently the root cause.

C K Subramaniam, Mumbai