No better, no worse

Sir ' It's nothing short of hysterical to think that India is going to be a less attractive destination for global outsourcing simply because three men in one call centre fleeced some Citibank account holders of a few hundred thousand dollars ('Call centre staff dial dollar crime', April 15). Rather the international business community should be happy that the fraudsters were caught so promptly and the money recovered. After all, greed, and crimes arising from it, will remain whichever country they take their businesses to

Yours faithfully,
Soma Pal, Calcutta

Ungrateful

Sir ' It is difficult to believe the Tamil Nadu chief minister, J. Jayalalithaa, when she insists that Vivek Oberoi's relief efforts were a part of his 'publicity blitz' ('Vivek shift draws Jaya fire', April 5). Was his sincerity not evident in Devanampattinam' Three-and-a-half months is no small time to extract from a busy shooting schedule. If, in Jayalalithaa's own words, '90% was the state's effort and only 10% was Oberoi's contribution', that itself is not negligible, coming from a single man. Donation for the tsunami-affected may have poured in from all over the world, but of what use is it if there are no hands to reach food to the needy'

That Jayalalithaa worked for the victims is no great surprise. It was her own state that was affected. But Oberoi had no prior links with the state. Besides, for film stars like Vivek Oberoi, publicity comes naturally. Like him, there are actors and cricketers who run orphanages, and certainly not all for fame. Oberoi has worked hard for his adopted village and sometimes paid from his pocket. What was Jayalalithaa's personal contribution' How long did she stay in the affected areas'

Yours faithfully,
Ishita Bhaduri, Ranchi

Sir ' The Oberoi family has done wisely to tackle the issue of their much debated rehabilitation work with a straight bat. The Oberois have denied that there was any 'publicity' motive behind Vivek Oberoi's otherwise salutary humanitarian efforts and there is no reason not to believe them. J. Jayalalithaa's aggressively defamatory stance against Oberoi cannot be supported even if one accepts that Vivek Oberoi himself contributed little monetarily to the affected people. It is unfortunate that voluntary relief work should have been brought under the scanner.

Yours faithfully,
Arjun Chaudhuri, Calcutta

So human

Sir ' Man-made floods are nothing new ('Death by water', April 14). Even before they claimed the Narmada pilgrims, such unnatural calamities have claimed lives ' those on a Teesta-Torsa express which was passing the river bridge when the waters came gushing, or in case of the more infamous Tehri dam floods, in which case safety norms were flouted to complete the project on time. This time, too, there is no doubt that rules have been broken. The authorities, who are supposed to be in the know, misused information. We have seen this mistake being made before as well. Despite having information of the super-cyclone, the Orissa government authorities did nothing. Which only goes to show how completely worthless the system is.

Yours faithfully,
Shiv Shanker Almal, Calcutta

Sir ' 'Death by water', while criticizing the government and non-government sector, says nothing of political leaders. Is it because people now expect so little of them that they have become redundant, especially in times of crisis'

Yours faithfully
Sekhar Basu Mallik, Calcutta