Kapil da jawaab?

Gitanjali Dang's article (' Who can net the net?' December 10) is very good food for thought. Communication minister Kapil Sibal's demand for prescreening social media content is not only unwise, impractical and unfeasible but is also blatantly undemocratic, with our freedom of expression being compromised, if implemented. Besides, internet companies and social networking sites have the added responsibility of involving users, their opinions and transforming societies. Such users and sites are vital to how we now perceive the world. Such freedom cannot be snatched away at the behest of a stupid politician.


P V Prakasha, via email

Neighbourhood bully

I liked the article by Ronojoy Sen (' Making the whole world blind', Comment, December 3). Clearly, Anna Hazare and his team are over-enthusiastic and perhaps jealous of other efforts at coming up with a Jan Lokpal Bill. They expect miracles with a Lokpal. But even in Treta Yuga, there were a lot of rakshasas. To slay them, god descended in the form of a human in his avatar as Sri Rama. In the same manner, there would be some corruption in Kali Yuga as well, even after a Lokpal is appointed. Indeed, Ashis Nandy described Anna perfectly when he said he is like a neighbourhood elder who takes our support for granted.


M S Murty, via email

Developing pains

The debate on FDI in Retail (' Buy or Bye', Cover, December 3) may have been put on hold, but we certainly need to safeguard the interests of domestic retailers before we open the floodgates to affluent international ones. India is still a developing country with a huge dependence on agriculture. The FDI move would have, at the most, helped the upper classes. There is also every chance of Indian farmers getting low prices for produce and consumers paying unwarrantedly high prices for goods, resulting in only intermediaries profiting. To facilitate a few the majority could suffer. The government cannot allow this.


R S Raghavan, via email