LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Changing sides Seeds, not bombs Mend bridges Unite and rule Simplify I‐T Act

Recently, Baba Ramdev seemed to praise the Gandhi family for doing yoga and following the cultural trend since years. When questioned upon Rahul Gandhi and late Jawaharlal Nehru, he addressed RaGa as one of his closest friends and added about the spiritual habits of the latter. Baba Ramdev and some other MLA’s, who have been staunched BJP supporters, are now extending their crafty hands towards congress. With the aura getting transformed, somehow, and the recent Karnataka elections, defeat winds appear to glide RsGs’s way. With Rahul Gandhi also coming up in an aggressive manner lately, chances of winning the coming elections slightly increase. This is exactly the right time for congress leaders to hit the deck hard and persuade the nation’s public towards their agenda for the forthcoming elections.

BJP, which has been keeping quiet from a long time, needs to react to the situation as quickly as possible and bring their trump card Narendra Modi back into action to bounce back and draft some face savers. — Syed Hammad The US-North Korea summit is not only interesting but also a chance to think through the various angles and tangles. So far, the international community has seen many nuclear activities even as the media outlets/people from across the world like paparazzi have long been focusing on the news of nuke-programs. People and countries have the tendency to grow strong in all spheres of life. The case in point is that Asian countries for example India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka had been the most sought-after for the various factors like their enormous wealth, great knowledge, beautiful culture and abundant resources. Just see the domino effect or the so-called ripple effect of nuclear bombs. In the international community today, babies are stillborn or born with disabilities. Who is responsible for this or who can be held to accountability? The people want to live happily and in peace. Scientific innovations should be used only in that context or direction. The international

community should come forward to utilise the science knowledge and technology towards increasing the agricultural produce and strengthening the industrial activities. After all the world needs seeds, not bombs. — P Senthil Saravana Durai That the New Delhi-Male tie is strained would be a pronounced understatement in recent times. This was not the case in the past because both had a robust strategic and military co-operation in place. The first signs of discord appeared after the democratically elected president of Maldives Mohammed Nasheed, who was in office from 2008 to 2012, was arrested in 2015 on charges of terror. The 19-month-imprisonment to the octogenarian Abdul Gayoom and Supreme Court Chief Justice Abdulla Saeed on June 13 for "plotting to unseat Yameen" drew a strong reaction from India. So much so, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj repeatedly turned down offers to visit Male to allay misgivings. Earlier, on June 7, Maldivian ruling party member Ahmed Nihan was denied entry into India and was deported back from the Chennai airport for no stated reasons though all Maldivian members of parliament enjoy visa-free entry into SAARC countries. India is upset by all rules and norms being blown to

smithereens by President Yameen's party for the upcoming elections. It is an open secret that New Delhi is also annoyed by Male's cosyness to Beijing and Islamabad. PM Narendra Modi's "neighbourhood policy", which had omitted Maldives, has no signs of relenting. However, both nations have to mend bridges for the sake of bilateral defence cooperation and Indian workers in Maldives. — Ganapathi Bhat It is interesting to note the Opposition is united in fighting against Modi but disunited in agreeing for a PM candidate. If all the opposition parties think on this basis, there shall be no fight against Modi because their interest in not fighting against the policies of Modi but limited to becoming PM. Each one thinks their leader would become PM candidate. This is the very reason why some of them refuse to go along with the Congress. Some of them struggle to become a CM in their own states. Why the PM himself finds it difficult to win elections in certain states? The various opposition parties have their own pockets of support. But as on date none of them, except the Congress have all India support base and it will be futile to think a united front to fight against Modi or the ruling party without the Congress party. The only

way to fight the ruling party is keep aside their ambition to be a PM. Otherwise, there will be complete disunity, and instead of fighting Modi, they will fight against each other. — S S Nair New Income Tax Act should be drafted carefully on basis of past experience so that amendments may not be usually needed. It should be simple and practical rather than complicated and cumbersome GST. SIT set up by Supreme Court on aspect of black money in its third report pointed out towards irregularities detected in name of donations, charity and other such contributions. There is heavy loss to exchequer because of doubleedged tax-exemption to political parties which are not complying with full-bench CIC-verdict for being accountable to public through RTI Act. Best is to abolish altogether provisions under various sections of Income Tax Act for any type of contribution made to anybody. It will effectively check all tactics to whiten black money. Otherwise, also huge revenue so earned will be available for public welfare and national development which in no way is less important than contributions, donations, charity and other aspects presently wrongly exempted under Income Tax Act. — Subhash Chandra Agrawal