USE AADHAAR, BUT PLUG LOOPHOLES

The Supreme Court ruling that the Aadhaar scheme is constitutionally valid is good news. What impacts lives is, however, what is allowed and what cannot be done. Challenges remain like ensuring that the Aadhaar data is not leaked, especially where these have been linked to bank accounts. It is also critical that illegal migrants and infiltrators cannot get the card. Action should be initiated to plug such loopholes in the system.

Subhash Vaid and UP have agreed to set up a committee to deliberate and recommend a uniform tax structure for North India for petroleum and other products like liquor. This will help the states be on a par and help petrol pumps, especially near the border areas, do better business as customers usually ignore the state with the costlier fuel when travelling.

Sunil Bansal, Patiala political parties are brought under the ambit of the RTI. In today’s political environment no political party can be expected to push for the requisite legislation for this or to ban the entry of criminals in politics, as is the wish of our apex court. Thus we have voters, uninformed and misinformed, so undesirable in a democracy. Voters must also know who funds political parties and how much.

HL Sharma, Amritsar on the part of governments and authorities concerned. The governments stubbornly refuse to learn. Even the city of Chandigarh, has been facing waterlogging and related problems. The Punjab government’s laxity is evident from the fact that after declaring a red alert on September 21, the next meeting it held was a full four days later. Also, when the rain had been predicted in advance, water from the Sukhna Lake should have been released in a planned manner, spread over days.

Sanjay Chopra,

Mohali