:: Letters to Editor

Cricket loses its splendour

Sep 20 : Sir, There is plenty of money at stake in the shorter version of cricket, for the players and especially for the organisers. A few years ago, One-Day International match involving India was worth at least $6 million in terms of revenue from broadcast and sponsorship. An Indian Premier League game is worth $8 million, and an International Cricket Council World T-20 is worth $5 million. Cricket has become more of a business proposition than a sport as business tycoons and people from the film fraternity, have begun to pump their lucre into it. It surely has lost its splendour.

Hemant Hemmady

Virar (East), Maharashtra

Make china trust india

Sir, With reference to the article by Srinath Raghavan Chinese incursions a matter of perception (September 18), border incursions by China demands immediate attention. Despite 13 rounds of discussions since 2003, an agreement seems as elusive as ever. The key point of contention is China's claim to the Tawang area of Arunachal Pradesh. I fail to understand why China does not accept the Line of Actual Control (LAC)? Why is it repeatedly crossing the international boundary? I agree with Mr Raghavan that India needs to assure China on its stand on Tibet. Only then will China be able to trust India.

Sonali Dobriyal

Via email

Sycophancy is congress' soul

Sir, Sycophancy is ingrained in the Congress Party. The stay of external affairs minister S.M. Krishna and minister of state for external affairs Shashi Tharoor at five-star hotels drew varied reactions. However, the kind of austerity measures that ministers have been obliged to adopt are a drain on the exchequer. Travelling by commercial flights in the economy class involves more security paraphernalia. The additional costs incurred on account of greater attention to security details outweigh the gains accruing from cutting travel expenses. The public is not foolish. People see through all this nowadays.

S.K. Shah

Punjabi Bagh, New Delhi

Terrorism has a pak address

Sir, Former President of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf's revelation that he had diverted aid meant for the war against terrorism to build up his country's defences against India is a foolish justification of his action. Where is the time for India to fight Pakistan? Besides, all the time we are having to fight terrorism whose office address is Pakistan. Frankly, Mr Musharraf had misled the US on fighting the war on terror.

D. Kishan Prasad Rao

Via email

Drop kalmadi to save games

Sir, It is no wonder that the preparations for the Commonwealth Games are far behind the schedule. Moreover, the Commonwealth Games Federation chief, Michael Fennell, was constrained to express his fears on the unlikelihood of the completion of the infrastructure in time. Suresh Kalmadi, chairman of the Commonwealth Games 2010 has failed miserably. He has no real capabilities. Mr Kalmadi must be removed from his post forthwith and a proven business leader like Ratan Tata or Anand Mahindra must be appointed to manage the Commonwealth Games infrastructure.

Mariam Baig

Via email