Pesticide
scarcity
Most of the farming families in various villages under the Kamalpur constituency, especially in the Hindumaijali village, have complained that the government agricultural fertilizer outlets (Village Level Extension Workers Centres) do not have an adequate supply of pesticides, fertilizers, seeds and vitamins. Therefore, farmers have to buy agricultural inputs at higher prices from the open market. Every year the farmers of the said villages are producing variously improved and new varieties of paddy in the agricultural lands. Farmers say that pesticides have to be applied on agricultural land in three phases in one season. Many people say that all the lands where vegetable growers produce different types of vegetables. Pesticides should be sprayed on vegetables and crops at least twice a month. At present, there is no pesticide in the office (VLEW Centre) of the Department of Agriculture, which is causing financial loss to the farmers. Similarly, the quality of medicines bought from the open market has been reported to be detrimental to the farmers. Various villagers under the Kamalpur LAC have been cultivating vegetables. Thousands of rupees worth of pesticides are being bought from the open market every year for the needs of the farmers. Therefore, the government should distribute pesticides, fertilizers, improved varieties of seeds, vitamins, etc., suitable for agricultural work in the rural agricultural service centres at fair prices. Many years ago, fertilizers, various types of seeds, pesticides etc., were available at the VLEW outlets under the Agriculture Department under the Government of Assam. But now it is known that seeds and pesticides are not available in the above-mentioned outlets even after getting the fertilizer.
Heramba Nath,
Hindumaijali, Kamrup.
Congratulation India
India has done it. Starting from March 2021 till yesterday ( 21.10.2021) India could achieve the 100-crore milestone for COVID vaccination. The collective achievement is an eye-opener for the world. The Prime Minister, the Health Minister, doctors, nurses and all other people involved in this great programme must be saluted by the citizens of this country. The manufacturers of the vaccine COVID-19 viz COVAXIN by Bharat Biotech and COVISHIELD by Serum Institute of India deserve heartfelt thanks. Keep it up India.
Bikash Barpujari,
Guwahati
No response
I was very glad to read on the front page of yesterday's edition of your esteemed daily the Prime Minister's announcement regarding zero-tolerance against corruption and inter alia the use of technology by his government for ease of doing business. Now, my son happened to mention to me that he needed a police verification certificate for some purpose in his business. To find out the procedure for obtaining this certificate I visited the Assam Police Citizen Portal where a telephone number 0361-2460303 is given. My son and I dialled this number ten times but there was no answer. We had perforce to listen to the advice regarding guarding against Covid-19 over and over again until informed by the operator that the dialled number is not answering. The same was the case with Police headquarters numbers 0361-2450555 & 2455126. I leave it to the judgment of my fellow citizens to decide as to what is the use of giving out the numbers if nobody bothers to pick up the phone when a member of the public calls.
Ranjit Chaliha,
Narikalbari, Guwahati
Bangladesh as a trusted neighbour
The article "Please, do not blame innocent Bangladesh" by Phatik Hasan (the Sentinel 20/10/21) is worth reading. He touched various aspects of Bangladesh and are true. The atrocities on minorities in Bangladesh are far less than many other Islamic countries like Pakistan, Turkey, Iran etc. Moreover, the country has been governed by secular laws. However, points stuck to the minds of Indians are: Bangladesh has been adopting Islam as the official religion and blasphemy laws are strictly followed. There have been more than 3,000 minority community-related riots since 1988. Contrary to India, there has been many exoduses of minority community from Bangladesh for the last two decades and Hindu population is reduced to 8% compared to 14% in 1988. But barring a few odds, Bangladesh has been considered as a trusted neighbouring country of India and has a friendly relationship.
Dr P C Sarmah,
Jorhat