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Wait for the day
The cover story on swirling Doomsday prophecies made for an interesting read (TSI, Jan 15). The current wave of hoaxes reminds us of the erstwhile Doomsday on May 15, 2003 that elapsed leaving no damage to the mankind. In my opinion, one cannot rely on the allegation that the world would end as there are no more days and dates left to accommodate in the ancient Mayan calendar post December 21, 2012. The Earth has already witnessed a series of natural calamities and massive impacts by comets. With mystical predictions on one side and scientific analyses on the other, hapless human beings have nothing to do but wait for the day to witness what fate has for them to offer.
Ippili Santhosh Kumar
Hyderabad

Shameful experiments
This refers to the editorial “Now, the Americans want to shame-fully ruin Iran through sanctions” (TSI, Jan 22). Presen-ting a unique case of being a great world power with no territorial conquests to speak of, the US finds solace in holding the strings of the world economy. The sanctions on Iran, like sanctions imposed on many other countries over  the past three decades, are manifestations of the same American vanity. The logic behind it is fallacious in theory and disastrous in practice if we analyse the results of the experiments that were undertaken to verify it in Iraq, Afghanistan and North Korea. However, Iran shall somehow survive the sanctions and all the American hostility. Unlike the European version of colonisation that centred around procurement of cash crops like cotton, indigo, rubber, tea, opium etc from third world countries, the American version centres around that priceless raw material that drives the modern world – oil. It is an intriguing fact that the US mainland has never really had a considerable foreign threat yet it happens to be the country that has been involved in the most number of wars during the last century.
Om Shankar Awasthy
Rourkela

Healthcare issues
Prasooon S Majumdar's write-up “Crocin for all” (TSI, Jan 29) is a sad commentary on healthcare. Despite concerns about the rampant corruption in procurement and distribution of medicines by government hospitals and  indulgence of doctors in unprofessional and unethical practices, no major action is taken against them. Further due to abject neglect, about three million children die every year of vaccine preventable diseases. Around 34 million children are not completely immunised. The government should constitute an independent regulatory authority to monitor the working of hospitals. As the very purpose of a welfare state would be diluted if the economic growth accompanied by corruption in public life, poverty in the midst of plenty and poor healthcare is not set right, it is time for the government to fulfil its social obligations by enacting a strong national health policy that can promote healthy public-private partnership to provide healthcare at affordable costs.
R. Srinivasan
Secunderabad