Maharashtra politics
In modern Indian politics, ethics and morals are non-existent ingredients in the ‘peaceful transfer of power’ recipe that has been successfully applied in different States across the country, which includes Maharashtra.
In this context, it is too much to expect our politicians to change gears and arrive at big decisions such as resignations from their ‘hard-earned’ posts based on moral values applicable to ordinary mortals (Inside pages, “Shinde, Fadnavis must quit on moral grounds, says Uddhav”, May 12). It seems if politicians are skilled enough to invert the emerging reality after the top court’s verdict, then there is almost nothing that can stop them from holding posts that they are not supposed to hold. It remains to be seen precisely how much time is a “reasonable period” for the Speaker to “decide on the disqualification petitions” (Inside pages, “All eyes now on Speaker Narwekar for a decision on disqualification petitions”, May 12).
A. Venkatasubramanian,
Tiruchi, Tamil Nadu
A favourite, from Palani
The article on the long process involved in the preparation of the temple prasadam of the Sri Dhandayuthapani Swamy Temple, Palani, and the meticulous way in which temple staff and others go about the task of procuring and preparing the quality ingredients was a delight to read (‘Tamil Nadu InFocus’ page, May 12). Though the scale of production and sale of this GI tag panchamirtham pales into insignificance when compared with that of the Tirupati laddu, sales of the product from Palani can still be enhanced by opening sales outlets in major towns in Tamil Nadu.
K. Chellappan,
Chennai
I hope there is an article soon on the sugar pongal of the Sri Parthasarathy temple, which is another crowd puller. Efforts must be made by the authorities concerned to curb the sale of spurious food items near places of worship in the name of “prasadam”.
A.J. Rangarajan,
Chennai
‘Problem’ elephants
There have been a number of reports of late, of adult wild elephants finding themselves in conflict situations with humans, the latest case being wild elephant Karuppan. The solution seems to be capturing the elephants and translocating them to another forest area many hundreds of kilometres away. It is not always possible to move ‘problem’ elephants in this manner, from one place to another. It is time that the local populations, the authorities and the experts discuss the issue and ensure that there is a sustainable solution.
Rohitha Suresh,
Ettumanoor, Kottayam, Kerala
