Poor service

• Sir - Of late, the Calcutta metro is in the news for all the wrong reasons. One often hears that metro services get held up owing to technical snags. The officials usually blame faulty rakes for the disruption. But this excuse has been used for far too many times now. If the rakes are not functioning well, then it is the responsibility of the authorities to get them replaced. It seems that the ministry of railways does not care much about commuters in Calcutta; the city appears to be low on its priority list. There is no other justification for such appalling service.

Badshah Chakraborty,

Calcutta

New friends

• Sir - The Singapore summit between the president of the United States of America, Donald Trump, and the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, is indeed historic ("At work", June 14). The summit took place in spite of the fact that the two leaders were trading invectives not so long ago. A joint statement was signed at the bilateral meeting. One of the key points of the document is North Korea's commitment to work towards the complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. On the other hand, Trump has decided to stop military exercises with South Korea as a goodwill gesture. However, it remains to be seen whether this summit is able to usher in lasting peace in the Korean peninsula.

Shovanlal Chakraborty,

Calcutta

• Sir - The meeting between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un has been welcomed by many. The summit has raised hopes in certain quarters that a permanent resolution to the Korean crisis is not far away.

Nevertheless, it is important to note that Trump is the first American president to meet a North Korean leader. One may, therefore, ask, why did Trump's predecessors not try to engage with their North Korean counterparts? It is not hard to guess that the former did not want to provide legitimacy to the dictatorial administration in Pyongyang by hobnobbing with North Korean leaders. Sadly, Trump did not gain anything more from the interaction than a vague commitment on the part of North Korea to work towards denuclearization.

K.A. Solaman,

Alappuzha, Kerala

• Sir - That the US and North Korea have agreed upon denuclearizing the Korean peninsula is welcome. However, the cessation of hostilities will not automatically lead to an improvement in the living conditions of the ordinary people in North Korea. For that to happen, all Western sanctions against the communist-ruled state have to be lifted. In any case, the recent actions of the US do not paint a great picture of the country. For example, the US has decided to pull out of the Paris climate deal. It may be so that Donald Trump went ahead with the summit only to strengthen his prospects of winning the Nobel Peace Prize.

Jayanta Datta,

Hooghly

• Sir - The two South Asian nations, India and Pakistan, should learn from the example set by the US and North Korea. Washington and Pyongyang were at each other's throats only a few months ago. But they put the acrimony behind to engage in constructive dialogue. Therefore, there is no reason why New Delhi and Islamabad cannot do the same.

If these two neighbouring countries can trust each other, then they will not have to spend large sums of money on procuring weaponry. The amount saved can then be used for development purposes.

Ramesh G. Jethwani,

Bangalore

Welcome step

• Sir - The Union government has opened up the bureaucracy for lateral entry at the joint-secretary level ("Govt opens lateral entry door", June 11). It recently placed an advertisement announcing vacancies for 10 such posts. The government's decision will give an impetus to professionalism and competency within the administrative services. At present, the bureaucracy is primarily managed by generalists belonging to the Indian Administrative Service.

However, to attract the best brains from other fields, the State must offer competitive salaries and perks. Further, the new recruits should be given adequate freedom to discharge their duties.

Chanchal Nandy,

Durgapur

• Sir - Lateral entry into the bureaucracy has been a subject of debate for some time. However, if political leaders with dubious background and average merit can be in the cabinet or even head governments, then what is wrong in deserving technocrats joining the bureaucracy? Short training courses can be developed to acquaint the new entrants with the system.

Basudeb Dutta,

Nadia

Parting shot

• Sir - The chief of the Aam Aadmi Party, Arvind Kejriwal, has played a masterstroke by promising to campaign for the Bharatiya Janata Party, provided the BJP-led Centre grants full statehood to Delhi.

The two major national parties - the BJP and the Congress - have raised the demand of giving full statehood to the national capital in the past. But they do not pay any heed to the issue when they are in power.

Madhu Agrawal,

Dariba, Delhi