Letter to THE EDITOR: A big cultural step

A big cultural step

It gives me immense pleasure to know that the government of Assam has signed a MoU with Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi, to establish a Srimanta Sankardev Chair at the school of Sanskrit and Indic Studies at JNU to promote and propagate the eternal ideals of Mahapurush Srimanta Sankardev.

I deeply appreciate and greatly value such a decision under the initiative of our Chief Minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma. It will be a befitting step to spread the message of Mahapurush Srimanta Sankardev and his teachings in the fields of art, culture, literature, and Vaishnavism as a whole. All these years, we have confined him to our faith and neighbouring states, but it is time to spread his messages and teachings to the entire world. It is our solemn duty to translate his life and teachings into the different languages of India. As such, I appeal to our Chief Minister to work with a much more broad-based programme for this purpose.

Subhash Chandra Biswas,

Guwahati.

Mothers are precious gifts from God

Mothers are precious jewels. A mother is capable of forgiving any wrongdoing. She is the most important woman in everyone’s life. She sacrifices her happiness for her child. No one else can care for their kids the way a mother does. First of all, mother is a word that fills everyone with emotions. A mother is certainly the most important human being in everyone’s life. A mother’s love for her child certainly cannot be compared with anything. Her level of forgiveness is unmatchable. Mothers share a deep connection with their children. This connection certainly cannot be matched by anyone else. Even fathers fail to establish that type of understanding. The origins of this connection date back to infancy.

Mothers also are the emotional backbone of the family. They support everyone’s feeling in a family. Family members can certainly tell their emotions to their mothers without worry. An individual can share almost any secret with his/her mother. This is because mothers have a huge level of trust with their family. Furthermore, mothers have an extremely forgiving nature. Hence, even wrongdoing can be shared with a mother. A mother’s heart is made of gold. She is the

precious gift from God. Without mothers, life would certainly be dark and gloomy. Therefore, it is our duty to help and support our mothers. One important way to do that is to help with household work. Another way of supporting mothers is to speak words of affirmation.

Jubel D’Cruz,

jubeldcruz@yahoo.com.

Rijiju’s ouster

The appointment of Kiren Rijiju as Union law and justice minister in 2021 was a surprise because he was doing reasonably well in the youth affairs and sports ministries. Although he didn’t carry any “baggage” to the law ministry, one was surprised at the way he went about confronting the mighty Supreme Court on almost every matter because that’s not how a union law minister discharges his duty. Even high-profile ministers like Arun Jaitley and Ravi Shankar Prasad balanced circumspection with erudition while dealing with the top court, and a minister like Congress’ H R Bharadwaj, who loved to make noises, didn’t antagonize the top court either. A law minister cannot treat an institution like the Supreme Court like an office under him.

Perhaps Rijiju had little time to do his homework when he was given the task of handling the law ministry or was not briefed about the sensitive centre-judiciary relationship. Top jurists were dismayed by the amateurish statements emanating from the law minister. It is also not as if Prime Minister Narendra Modi had handpicked Rijiju to “take on” the judiciary, because when the government is the largest litigant in the apex court that can hardly be an inspirational idea. So, what led to Rijiju’s sudden ouster from the law and justice ministry? It is clear the government is in no mood to rub the top court the wrong way anymore with general elections in another year, although judges are usually not swayed by extraneous considerations when they sit on judgements. But a mellowed-down government vis-à-vis the Supreme Court is ideal for a democratic setup.

Dr. Ganapathi Bhat,

(gbhat13@gmail.com.)

Environmental laws seems ineffective

Due to negligence, a recent gas leak in the crowded Punjab state claimed innocent lives. It is unknown what the gas is or how it formed, but there was evidence that it leaked from the sewer. Some questions, like, “Are applicable regulations ineffective or out of date? And how can such occurrences be avoided”? Unfortunately, these issues are only noticed when there are a large number of fatalities. Several gas leaks have occurred in the last year, many of which are related to the use of ammonia in small-scale industries. The simple fact is that hundreds of environmental laws and burdensome regulations are currently ineffective. Also, inspection is not a mere solution. New monitoring and monitoring mechanisms should be tested and evaluated using available data connectivity and other technological advances. When it comes to regulating toxic pollution, governments can’t put it off for long.

Dr. Vijaykumar H K,

hkvkmech1@gmail.com