Refer to ‘High power demand, generation losses add to woes of power corp’; it rightly highlights a serious challenge confronting Punjab. Delayed monsoon has compelled farmers to depend on tube wells for irrigating paddy fields, resulting in a surge in electricity demand. More alarming is the impact on the declining groundwater reserves. With nearly 14 lakh tube wells extracting billions of litres of groundwater every week, the state’s water table continues to fall at an unsustainable rate. Punjab’s energy and water crises are closely linked and measures such as crop diversification and reducing water-intensive paddy cultivation must be adopted in order to tackle the situation.
Sanjay Chopra, Mohali
Pharma ban a much-needed step
Refer to ‘Pharma ban’; the recent ban on 16 fixed-dose combination (FDC) drugs is a commendable step towards streamlining India’s pharmaceutical ecosystem. While developed nations maintain a scientifically validated list of FDCs, India has seen a dangerous proliferation of these multi-ingredient formulations, driven primarily by market incentives rather than clinical necessity. To safeguard public health, regulatory bodies must rigidly enforce this ban and transition the healthcare system towards evidence-based prescribing norms.
BS Kakkar, Jalandhar
Right to walk is a necessity
Apropos ‘Right to walk’; the column raises a valid question: will the landmark judgement really change Indian roads without ground-level accountability? The Supreme Court’s recognition of the pedestrians’ right to walk safely is highly welcome. However, several such judicial interventions have faced implementation issues. Illegal parking and government-installed utilities often swallow much of the space on footpaths. If footpaths remain encroached, local independent monitoring panels must be set up to expose the deficiencies. The ‘right to walk’ is a public health necessity, not a luxury.
Vitull K Gupta, Bathinda
Cong must tackle indiscipline first
Apropos ‘The Challenge for Congress in Punjab’: the party’s biggest weakness has not been its ideology or leadership but its persistent inability to curb indiscipline within its own ranks. Public disagreements, factionalism and contradictory statements have undermined its credibility. Rahul Gandhi’s recent dressing-down of Punjab leaders and the lasting impact of the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ have provided some positive momentum, but these alone cannot revive the party unless organisational discipline is enforced. The party must first put its own house in order to earn voters’ trust.
Col SS Chauhan (Retd), Zirakpur
Make NEET neat & clean
In light of the ongoing systemic vulnerabilities in competitive exams like NEET, a radical framework of structural reforms has been proposed to dismantle the commercial paper-leak mafia and unregulated coaching centre nexus. Traditional measures such as signal jammers and physical frisking are obsolete against leaks originating at the source or during transit. The proposal advocates an encrypted, online “just-in-time” delivery system combined with a revolutionary multi-paper seating randomisation model. Under this system, the exam will not rely on a single question paper, but rather on a set of 10 distinct question papers.
Capt Amar Jeet (Retd), Kharar
Khosla Ka Ghosla becomes reality
The middle, ‘Never-ending struggle to reclaim land’, captures a predicament familiar to countless Indians. It brings to mind the film Khosla Ka Ghosla, where a family finds itself trapped in a maze of encroachment, manipulation and official indifference while trying to recover its own property. Two decades later, the story remains relevant. For many families, a plot of land represents a lifetime of savings. Yet unclear titles, prolonged litigation and fraudulent transactions often make ownership precarious. India’s land administration system urgently requires greater transparency, tamper-proof records and faster dispute resolution mechanisms.
Harsh Pawaria, Rohtak
