April.10 : Sir, Patralekha Chatterjee’s article The harsh truth about healthcare (April 7) amplifies the poor plight of the medical insurance schemes run by insurance companies in India. The scope of the insurance policy is not wide enough to obviate ambiguities. Also, grey areas connected with illness are not covered explicitly.

 This puts the insured to unwanted hardship and the very purpose of insurance is defeated. Moreover, insurance companies demand exorbitant premiums. The focal theme of the Mediclaim policy appears to be built on sole profit-making criteria rather than being a matter of healthcare. In this regard we need to emulate the healthcare facilities offered by advanced countries and the more recent legislation in the US.

Ashok Jayaram
Via email
 
TAKE EFFECTIVE STEPS TO CURB NAXALISM 
Sir, The attack on CRPF personnel in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh comes as a grim reminder that the authorities need to seriously reconsider their strategies vis-à-vis the Naxal menace. Though Union home minister P. Chidambaram is seen taking very strong objections to the spate of attacks by Naxals, what is disturbing is the fact that these protestations are merely rhetoric and are never translated into convincing retaliatory actions. Also, Operation Green Hunt, launched in what is conceived as India’s red corridor in seven states, to curb the growing clout of the Maoists/Naxalites, seems to have run into rough weather right at the outset. With the Naxalites virtually waging a war on the country with such large-scale attacks, need the government take assuaging and pacifying attitudes any longer? 
Pachu Menon 
Margao, Goa
 
 
Sir, If the Centre wants to pay homage to the 76 CRPF men killed by Maoists in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh then it must not rest until the Naxalites are given the punishment they deserve. While we pay so much attention to terrorism and external security, Naxalism poses a major threat to our internal security. Only a peaceful nation can have strong ties with other neighbouring countries. India cannot progress unless Naxalism is rooted out.
Varsha Hegde
Via email
 
Love doesn’t see truth
Sir, In a dramatic turnaround, Pakistan cricketer Shoaib Malik divorced Ayesha Siddiqui, the local girl whom he had married seven years ago, under a compromise worked out by Muslim community leaders, paving the way for his marriage to Sania Mirza (Shoaib divorces Ayesha on phone (April 8). People refuse to see the writing on the wall and become blind in love. Despite Shoaib’s flip-flop on his alleged marriage to Ayesha Siddiqui, Sania still refuses to see the truth. I wish her best of luck and happiness. 
Rajinder Bakshi
Via email
 
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Reforms in judiciary
 
Sir, While the Centre is struggling to establish both external and internal security, the judiciary has been ignored. Besides the disproportionate ratio between judges and the number of cases, people lack respect towards the law and the Constitution. The crime rate is increasing and so is the backlog of pending cases. There is a need for reforms in the judiciary.
 
N.V. Rao
Via email