Electoral bonds scheme
The electoral bond scheme has many inherent dangers. It may promote elections but unless it promotes democracy and constitutional values such as secularism, socialism and the like, it may become counterproductive. As the scheme stands, there is absolutely no transparency as to who the contributors and beneficiaries are. There is also no cap on the funding.
Today, in the context of growing monopoly capital with every other public sector being given away, contributions will be made liberally by vested interests to political parties as a quid pro quo to the detriment of basic services needed in a welfare state. Second, with religious majoritarianism on the rise, the bonds may be used to strengthen divisive forces in the country.
The Supreme Court of India, noticing such dangers to constitutional values, should have stayed the scheme or at least imposed strict restrictions including disclosure of the identity of the donors and intended beneficiaries keeping in mind the spirit of the Right to Information Act. An institution is known when it responds to a crisis. Here, it is a crisis to the Constitution and the Supreme Court has, so far, failed to contain it.
N.G.R. Prasad,
Chennai
Revamping vaccination
With the number of new cases of COVID-19 and the linked mortality reaching a five-month high, the path of the pandemic is on an upward trajectory (Page 1, “India registers 53,250 new cases”, March 30). The tepid response of the government to introduce new vaccines and pandemic inappropriate behaviour are the prime factors responsible for this surge. The latest update in India shows that vaccinations are half that of China. The vaccination drive needs acceleration and checks on the age factor should be removed. The Chinese government’s priority to inoculate those in the 18-59 age group first seems to have paid off. The Sputnik V, Zydus-Cadila, and Novavax vaccines must be added to the list of current vaccines.
Dr. Biju C. Mathew,
Thiruvananthapuram
Insensitive
It was shocking to read about a pregnant woman being forced to walk for 3 kilometres for not wearing a helmet (March 30). One wonders whether police officials are trained to ill-treat people instead of helping them.
J. Eden Alexander,
Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu
