Mailbag

Uplift Sanskrit

Sir,

Expansion of educational network and setting a target of 100 percent literacy is a fine effort and must be applauded by one and all. We can well understand the need of the hour to make people literate to enable them to read and write and live their day to day life in a normal and comfortable way but education is much more important than having a mere dream of literacy. Education aims at making a responsible, intelligent, wise and true human being. It must be capable of inculcating finer values like compassion, love brotherhood, patriotism, coordination, cooperation, dedication and commitment. But when we sit to ponderover the steep rise in social crimes, crimes against women, scams and scandals everywhere and most astounding reality is that the people involved as kingpins or masterminds are not illiterate but highly educated.

This is the moot point and deserves deep thinking. This is indicative of a serious draw back in the system of education. The policy makers of the country occupying the seat of authority do admit while presiding over cultural functions in schools, colleges, Universities and socio-religious gatherings that India has a rich cultural heritage. But our rich-cultural heritage is enshrined in Sanskrit Literature which is recognised as perfect language in the world over. It originated and develop in our country. The rishis who were scientists par excellence, made intensive research in the field of human psychology and and developed universal code of conduct for all human beings. They also composed and compiled literature in the form of short stories, poems replete with moral lessons.

But unfortunately Sanskrit has been marginalised and neglected. The result is arrogant, irresponsible, indiciplined youth associated with serious adolescent crimes.

The Education Minister is impassionately solicited to uplift Sanskrit to the place of glory in the schools/college curricula. It should be made compulsory subject with all streams up to the graduation level.

Yours etc.....
P.C. Sharma
Trikuta Nagar,
Jammu.

Strengthen intelligence apparatus

Sir,

This is with reference to the news item "One Pak Militant for 5 Cr, another for Rs. 5". The loss is colossal both for the Army and the State Government and all that was achieved was the elimination of one militant during the 48 hours gun battle while the other wounded militant was delivered on the platter to the Army by an auto driver for perhaps Rs. 5/-.

I am sure that the ghost of the slain militant must be having the last laugh for having achieved so much with so little. Sometimes in the first week of last September, about seven militants were surrounded by almost a Brigade strength of Army and Police in the Ghati forest in Kathua. All of them made good their escape and certainly embarrassed both the Army and the Police. It is high time that our security forces and the Govt. do not rush to conclusions and later cut a sorry figure. Emphasis must be laid to improve the intelligence outputs and counter insurgency drills must be of the highest order to beat these crafty ISI trained militants or else Mr Advani's assessment that ISI is more dangerous than the Al-Qaida, may well be correct.

Yours etc.......
R.S. Katoch,
Jammu.

Polio eradicated

Sir

Refer to news item "JK remain polio-free this year" DE Nov. 29. It is hearting to know that no polio case has been reported in the State this year. The role of the agencies involved with this polio eradication programme should be lauded, rather they should be awarded for doing this commendable job. It should serve as an example to the others who are involved with health care. At present, the other disease that is rapidly increasing is AIDS.

Like other countries, India too is reeling under this problem. Every year a good number of people die due to this disease. Though various agencies are involved in combat this disease, success to them has remained elusive. Till any medicine is produced to check this deadly HIV virus, it is imperative that more efforts should be put in to create awareness among the people.

Moreover, medicare facilities in general should be improved particularly in rural areas. In these areas people suffer terribly on account of absence of facilities there.

Yours etc......
Vipin Kumar
Bantalab,
Jammu.

Recruitment of AGMOs

Sir,

Please refer to the J&K Public Service Commission's notice dated 18.11.2003 published in Daily Excelsior on November 21, 2003 whereunder interviews for the post of Assistant Gradings Marketing Officers are shown to be held on December 6, 2003. In this regard I would like to invite the attention of J&K Public Service Commission towards the concept of minimum educational qualification prescribed for the said post. As per Service Rules of J&K Horticulture Planning and Marketing Department the minimum essential educational qualification for this post (AGMO) is as under:-

(i) B.Sc (Agri) and P.G. Diploma in Marketing Management.

(ii) Graduate with Economics and P.G. Diploma in Agricultural marketing.

It clearly implies that the candidates for this post must have basic knowledge of agricultural products and principles of agricultural marketing and the candidate with the prescribed qualifications alone would be considered for this post. But it has been observed that the candidates with qualification like M. Com/B.Com/MBA/PGDBA etc. are also considered and are selected which is against the interests of the department. The AGMOs are not business managers, rather they have to act as Extension Officer.

Yours etc.......
P. K. Raina,
T.T. Jammu.

Traffic management

Sir,

Reference may be made to news item "Traffic Police challans 23824 vehicles in October 2003"

In the last two lines of the news, Traffic Police is reported to have planned a special drive against pressure horns, playing of music, and over charging by the operators, which seems to be a healthy sign towards providing comforts to the commuters, provided dedicated and honest efforts are made in that direction.

For the past more than 12-13 years, it has been observed that at various bus stands, overcharging is made by the booking agents while issuing tickets to the passengers for different destinations. No fare is recorded on the tickets and thus passengers are kept in dark about the actual bus fare and cheated. This cheating if accounted for may run in several crores of rupees per annum.

The transport/traffic police authorities may be approached through to please take effective measures to eliminate completely the menace of looting and cheating the public money by way of over-charging.

It is suggested that big sign boards may be displayed on all Bus/Matador and Auto Riksha Stands indicating in printed letters the rates of fare for different destinations from a particular stand to provide the information about the genuine fare to the passengers. Also it may be made compulsory to record the fare in the tickets.

Yours etc......
M.R. Gupta,
Resham Garh Colony,
Jammu.