Clerical staff's strike

Sir,

The major defect in the system of democratic form of Governments suffer is absence of responsibility, opportunism, party interests which determine and give rise to many un-uniform policies and programmes leading to social turmoil, agitations and strikes from time to time, which undoubtedly put the public to harassment and loss to the Government's exchequer indirectly. The present clerical staff's strike is also no exception to this malady. The anomalies in pay and grade, as projected by the strikes, can't be totally baseless and unjustified and therefore need sympathetic considerations by the authorities. The clerical cadre is considered backbone of any organisation/department and it plays pivotal role in administrative field. In this materialistic world, when prices are touching sky height, better economic conditions are necessary to live a life with dignity and honour. Under the circumstances, it is highly becoming on the Government to sort out the problems of the strikes immediately so that the public is not subjected to harassment.

Yours etc...
Keshwa Nand Sharma
Salehri,
Sunder Bani

Equal development

Sir,

Equal development is essential for the total development of the State. The Chief Minister was not out of mark when he said that the Government is for the equal development of all the three religious of the State (DE, Mar 13).

The hilly regions of the State are spread over vast areas. Only twenty percent of the total land area of the State falls in plain area which comprises of the valley proper and the area that falls between Jammu and Kathua. The rest of the area is occupied what falls under hilly terrain. These regions lack development especially in infrastructure.

When we talk about infrastructure the important thing is roads. It is surprising that the district of Doda has only 0.5% of road connectivity and falls at the bottom is the country. In order to have equitable development we should have better roads and other infrastructure in place, like roads, bridges, schools, communication and Government offices etc. To change the face of these remote areas we need funds. More funds and better means of accountability is needed so that the alloted funds are properly-utilised without the usual siphoning off that repeatedly happens in our State. Health and child care development is a priority area that needs to be given due attention. We need to have better schools, college and facilities for the staff so that highly trained teachers, doctors and other professionals are attracted to work in these remote areas. Without the development of eighty percent of our State's land mass we can never achieve the goal of a welfare state.

Yours etc...
Zubair Ahmad
Sidhra
Jammu

Promote sports

Sir,

Sports are important for the development of personality of young people. Sports have a long history. In Greece way back in 773 BC which is about two thousand seven hundred years ago sports competitions were held. Now that celebration is celebrated now as Olympics.

Sports have become a huge industry in the world. In India we had certain ingrained strengths in certain sports like hockey, Polo and even football. But now with the possible exception of Polo, the other games have declined in quality. The recent ouster of India's hockey team from the Beijing Olympics has come as a rude shock to all of us. This is the plight of India's national game. But still in sports we have a lot of talent which can be better honed so that we become a superpower in sports.

Our State has shown promise in sports. In hockey, football, athetics, Judo etc our sports men have brought honour to the State. Some cricket players from the State even joined the National selection camp also. There is allround promise in the sports. The only thing is encouragement and development of infrastructure. One of the most vital things is that we should ask professional persons to man and manage sports bodies in the State. They know well what to do and what not to do. Secondly, ample funds should be provided to the sports authorities and concerned departments so that better infrastructure and better incentives are put in place.

Yours etc...
Surinder Mahajan
Gandhi Nagar
Jammu