When budgets bypass serious human concerns like price rise, unemployment, housing shortage and rural woes, one wonders whether the finance minister has got her priorities right. Tinkering with tax rates or customs duty or launching a few railway routes is not what this mega financial exercise is about. It rather involves laying out a roadmap for the growth of the country as a whole in the next one year while making an effort to address serious concerns affecting the population.
People were hoping that the finance minister would wave her magic wand and come up with some programmes to alleviate joblessness and price rise but nothing of that kind is visible in the budget. Our expectations have no doubt been belied.
Zaheer Hussain
Bengaluru, Karnataka
Was M.A. Jinnah Right?
Compliments to Dr.M. Iqbal Siddiqui for a cover story titled “Merit, Mobility and New Faultlines…” vide issue No.35 of Radiance dated 13 December, 2025. The learned writer has penned facts after thorough research. His arguments do not seem biased and are perfectly constitutional.
A medical college in Katra (J&K) granted approval by National Medical Commission (NMC) to run an MBBS Course is asked to close it on flimsy (read: communal) grounds without due process of law. No showcausenotice was served and no opportunity was given for appeals. Justifications given by NMC are not plausible. The real reasons lie elsewhere. The main ground for protest is 44 of the first batch of 50 students are Muslims by coincidence. Can a college be approved/ closed on the basis of faith?
Muslims will be discriminated against in broad daylight by upper caste Hindus after the British left. These people cannot tolerate followers of Islam in the Indian subcontinent. This is what M.A. Jinnah had predicted before bifurcation.
Does closure of Medical college in J & K prove M.A. Jinnah right?
Farooq AbdulgafarBawani
Rajkot, Gujarat
Epstein Files Causes Worldwide Turmoil
The Epstein Files has caused a turmoil of sorts like never before. Reports claim that the documents recently released by the U.S. Department of Justice have revealed that billionaire Jeffrey Epstein made donations to the Israeli army and helped fund settlement activities in Palestine.
An Anadolu report says that a review of tax documents he filed in 2005 shows that Epstein provided financial support to the Israeli army and to settlers who seized Palestinian land. The documents show that on March 3, 2005, Epstein donated $25,000 to the “Friends of the Israeli Defence Forces.” The report further says that Epstein also gave $15,000 to the “Jewish National Fund,” which finances settlers in the West Bank, in addition to $5,000 to the National Council of Jewish Women.
The new documents further claim that the American business tycoon Epstein, who died in prison in 2019, was accused of operating a large network of sexual exploitation of minors, some as young as 14. One wonders how morally depraved Israeli donors are!
According to the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Norway’s ambassador to Jordan and Iraq, Mona Juul, has resigned from her post following controversy linked to the case of convicted US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. In a statement issued on Feb. 8, Norway’s Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said Juul’s contacts with Epstein revealed a “serious lapse in judgement,” adding that her decision to step down was correct and appropriate. Eide said the issue made it difficult to restore the level of trust required for such a sensitive diplomatic position.
Rehan Malik
Mumbai, Maharashtra