Online frauds
Let the recent incident of online fraud, in which a person from Guwahati was duped of Rs 20 lakh only to be rescued by Assam Police through quick and timely intervention, be an eye-opener for people practicing online transactions. While the role of Assam CID remains laudable in tracing and freezing Rs 20 lakh in the account of the fraudster, it is important that the public stays alert and not fall prey to such cybercrimes. The complaint by the person from Guwahati through helpline No 1930 helped in the process. The fraudster looted the money in the name of giving the victim's ward admission into MBBS in the DY Patil Medical College, Pune. A detailed report in this regard has already been published by 'The Sentinel' in the website on Saturday morning. Let us also understand that it is equally important to follow online etiquettes while using the Internet in the broader sense of the term.
Mriduljyoti Nath,
Gauhati University.
Save vultures
India is a country full of biodiversity, where eight per cent of the world's biodiversity is present. All organisms are related to each other through a food chain. The extinction of any one of these affects the entire ecosystem. Vultures have an important place in nature. Vultures eliminate harmful substances from the environment, mitigating the spread of disease that may otherwise impact not only local food webs, but potentially human health and the economy. Experts are expressing the possibility of many serious diseases threatening human life due to the extinction of vultures. The vulture performs the task of cleaning nature by eating the carcasses of mammals as its main food. But it also hunts small birds and reptiles. The vulture makes its nest in the crevices of rocky hills, old buildings and ruins. The major reason behind the vulture population getting nearly wiped out was the drug Diclofenac, found in the carcasses of cattle the vultures fed on. The scientist said that apart from the establishment of VCBCs and getting Diclofenac banned, it is imperative to "manage our carcass dumps and make sure that poisoned carcasses are not dumped for the vultures to feed on". Moreover, a breeding centre should be quickly set up and fast-tracked into action to save this endangered species, because as a whole they perform a huge service to mankind.
Pinaki Nandy,
(pinakinandy82@gmail.com)
Exam centre
A very serious issue has come to our attention that SSC has released admit cards for its recruitment examination where there is no provision of centre in any middle Assam city, neither Tezpur nor Nagaon. We, therefore, won't be able to appear in the examination. As candidates, we request our Chief Minister as well as SSC's North-East officials to intervene in this matter and take affirmative action at the earliest. Otherwise, we will lose our opportunity to get appointed through this examination.
A few poor candidates.
Unfortunate Indonesia
It seems Indonesia is the most piteous and imprecated country in the world as the island-nation is often prone to natural disasters. The latest earthquake in its main island of Java, that killed more than 250 people and left over 300 injured, is yet another story of the cataclysm and adds to Indonesia's unlucky history of earthquakes. The current earthquake compounds the painful memory of the nation's quakes in February this year in Sumatra and in West Sulawesi in 2021 that consumed a lot of human lives. The Southeast Asian country suffers so much because of its position on a large grid of tectonic plates, on which all the countries and seas sit. Located on the Pacific Ring of Fire, Indonesia has to cope with the constant risk of volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, floods and tsunamis. While the magnitude of an earthquake that lasts a few seconds can be measured, the volume of catastrophe it leaves behind is immeasurable and beyond time. Perhaps, no country can feel this vicious pain more severely than Indonesia.
Ranganathan Sivakumar,
Chennai - 600091.
Team India's poor performance
Cricket– the gentleman's game played previously only among the Commonwealth Nations, has now become popular as seen by the massive turnouts as projected by media coverages in the recently concluded T20 World Cup held at Australia. Nations like Holland, Afghanistan, UAE etc. have also started playing the game with great enthusiasm. India after their ODI and T20 past triumphs has now become a top-ranked cricket-playing nation. In the recently concluded T20 World Cup, India was one of the hot favourites for the title and our print and electronic media made the cricket crazy fans of the nation very euphoric. Accordingly, India reached the semi-finals from their group.
Then came their semi-final clash against England at Adelaide. Never in my lifetime did I see Team India losing in the semi-final so disgracefully by 10 wickets. Our listless bowling attack almost looked like club level and were mercilessly hammered all along the ground. At one stage it appeared as if the English openers were doing net practice.
Our cricket think-tank should ponder about our deficiencies in bowling attack as ODI and T20 are a different cup of tea from test matches where patience and technique do not seem to play any role. It is simply bang bang right from the word 'go' in batting, bowling and fielding. T20 is something like language without grammar.
The T20 semi-final against England will be nightmare for our bowlers from which they might have some comfort in the upcoming IPL extravaganza.
Dr Ashim Choudhury,
Guwahati
The menace of
stray dogs
The menace of stray dogs has assumed alarming proportions in our cities and towns. They are a common sight in India. There is no street without a team of such dogs. As soon as a stranger enters a street, they begin to bark and howl. They not only bark and howl at the person, but also pursue him/her and sometimes pounce upon him/her and bite him/her.
We often hear cases of children being bitten by these feral creatures. The municipal corporation and its wards must take effective steps to control the population of these dogs. There are daily cases of dogs biting people in every street and corner of India. People are so religious minded that they don't look at their destruction with favour.
Street dogs are dangerous creatures. Some of them suffer from infectious diseases like rabies. When they bite a person, the person turns mad and dies. They are also dirty and unclean. How dangerous are these street dogs! Some of them are even full of festering wounds and fleas. They spread foul smell, fleas and diseases wherever they go. They ease themselves on the streets and thus spread dirt and filth freely. The sooner they are done away with, the better it will be. The government has to spend lakhs of rupees on the maintenance of hospitals meant to treat patients bitten by mad dogs. This money can be put to better use by providing milk to school children.
The protection of street dogs cannot be defended on any grounds. They must go lock, stock and barrel. In it, lies human safety. In it, lies the beauty of our streets. In it, consists wisdom and prudence. If people want to take care of stray dogs by feeding them with biscuits, meat bones and other eatables, they must adopt them by keeping them in their houses.
Jubel D'Cruz,
Mumbai