Letters to THE EDITOR: Doctors of Assam and Chennai

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Doctors of Assam and Chennai

We have been hearing since childhood that the behaviour of doctors in Chennai (then Madras) was very good. Why is this idea ingrained in the subconscious mind of the people of Assam? This is a matter to be judged, which is very sensitive. Why do people from Assam flock to Apollo Hospital in Chennai for treatment after having several medical colleges and luxurious private sector hospitals in Assam? Hospitals in Assam, like Chennai, have state-of-the-art machines and equipment. There are also more Super Specialist doctors in those hospitals.

In the meantime, Guwahati Medical College has opened Super Speciality courses in Cardiology, Neurology, Urology etc. It is pertinent to mention here that during the tenure of Chief Minister Himanta Bishwa Sharma as the Minister of Health, all the medical colleges in Assam have been greatly improved. However, in the minds of all educated and uneducated people of Assam, our medical system in Assam is not acceptable, doctors do not provide proper care and treatment to patients, diagnostic tests are not correct and so on. This is not entirely false. In particular, it is observed that patients often object to the behaviour of many doctors in Assam. According to some people who have received medical treatment in Chennai, the behaviour of doctors in Chennai is much better than that of doctors in Assam. In addition, the doctor in Assam prescribes more medicine than necessary and allows the diagnostic test of the disease to be done more than necessary. It is presumed that many greedy doctors in Assam have harmed the patients by seeking commission from the Medicine Company and the Diagnostic Centre of the private sector. This allegation is not entirely false. There is some truth in this, of course. If the people of Assam (most of them) denied these allegations, then the people of Assam would not have had faith to seek medical treatment in Chennai. However, my humble request to all the doctors in Assam is that they should humanely treat their patients – by understanding the mental state and condition of patients.

I think that it is very important for those who have a problem with the behaviour of the doctor to solve this problem through an experienced Psychiatrist or Psychologist. Sooner the better!

Heramba Nath,

Kamrup.

Don't judge others

Social media is a powerful revolution that has changed our lives. It has changed the way we socialize, conduct our business, engage in current affairs, write our opinion regarding any issues and many more. With platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram we can easily catch up with our people, and it has strengthened relationships. These online platforms also allow people to air out their political grievances to their leaders and demand for action to be taken, through which the mass political rallies are formed, campaigns are carried out. Nowadays, many professions and skills have been built and learned through social media, and we can update ourselves.

Despite these advantages, some people are only curious about negativity and spread some random rumours without fact check. Every day, these social media outlets are filling with thousands of lies. Some users easily put their instinct judgments regarding some sensitive matters. They have judged a situation without knowing the whole story. And our ridiculous judgements can cause significant harm and distress upon the victim. It is associated with serious physical and psychological effects. Self-harm, suicidal ideations are the result of these judgements. So it's the high time we stopped such negativity and go with the positive vibes. Positive thinking or an optimistic attitude is the practice of focusing on the good in any given situation. It can have a big impact on your physical and mental health.

Somikhya Rani Dutta,

Cotton University, Guwahati.

Caretakers of democracy

Political leaders and the common man seldom meet on a personal level. No matter how welcoming the government wants to project itself, its doors are just partially open for the common man. In such a scenario letters to editors of newspapers are the only medium through which the common man voices their opinions and criticism of the government. Many scribbles with their digital ink every day in the hope that it would reach the authorities concerned. There was a popular letter writer from Assam, Ram Raja Singha who through his numerous letters to the editors of newspapers was able to draw the attention of the government to change the name of the town "Sibsagar" to "Sivasagar". I wonder if the caretakers of democracy today even listen to these voices. These caretakers of democracy should know that they are working for us and not listening to us may not be healthy for their careers.

Noopur Baruah,

Tezpur

India's take on EVs to date

Through your esteemed daily, I would like to draw your attention towards the progress of electric vehicles (EVs) industries in India.

India, being the second most populated country in the world, is listed as the most highly polluted country. Its adverse environmental conditions call for the government to take steps to reduce pollution and the sources of harmful pollutants in the country. With the vision to make India pollution-free, policies have been introduced to widen the EV market in the country. The government has laid down policies to incentivize the sales of EV manufacturers and lower taxes for EV owners.

To the reduction of pollution in India, the government seems to be betting high on this revolutionizing product called Electric Vehicles. It has repetitively encouraged the manufacturing and sales of EVs in the nation through various schemes. For the first time in 2010, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) approved a Rs 95-crore scheme to boost the business of EVs by giving out incentives to the manufacturers who sold these vehicles.

India's NITI Aayog suggests a switch from conventional fuel-based vehicles to new generation Electric Vehicles. It is expected to reduce carbon emission by 30% and cut off passenger road-based mobility-related energy demand by 64% in 2030 by catering to a shared electric mobility based future.

At present, the Electric Vehicles industry consists of only 1% of the total automotive sales in India. It is important to educate our people about environmental problems to deliver the idea behind the replacement of fuel-based vehicles with EVs. The basic ICE vehicles are not just responsible for polluting the environment by releasing harmful gases and disturbing noises but are also quite speedily depleting our natural resources like fossil fuels. It is high time to raise consciousness among the public for their actions that is probable to affect future generations.

Tanisha Tasneem,

Cotton University

Law of the jungle?

Afghanistan, a beautiful land-locked nation known for its brave, honest people who are fiercely independent-minded known as Pathans. The long history of this nation is very much linked with Sikhism, Buddhism always believed in peace, tranquillity and universal brotherhood. But very unfortunately and alarmingly of late, it has become the epicentre of Islamic terrorism under the Taliban. Law of the jungle which is prevailing in its capital, Kabul where human rights violations have become the order of the day and that same story of lawlessness is also seen in the streets of Mumbai and Kolkata, the financial and cultural capital of the nation under two very ambitious and opportunist CMs, namely Uddhav Thackeray and merciless Mamata Banerjee who can even betray their motherland for power.

Now it appears as one need not go to Kabul to see and report about Taliban style of atrocities. The Shiv Sainik and TMC goons must have been trained by the Taliban mercenaries.

Dr Ashim Chowdhury,

Guwahati.

Dependence on technology

Through this letter of mine, I wish to draw the attention of everyone towards the increased dependence of humans on technology. We use the internet for any type of information which is only a click away. Everyone, a child or an adult, wants gadgets like cell phones, I-pod, laptops, etc. No doubt, technology is a boon to mankind and has a great future ahead. But in my opinion, we should not depend on it as an excess of everything is bad. It is making everyone lazy. On the other hand, cyber crimes are also growing. The keyword for this is caution.

We must make judicious use of technology and should not depend on it. We must believe in natural and simple living.

Himakshri Bora,

Cotton University

Change of colours

It appears as if the grassroots workers of the leading political parties are utterly confused about the latest position and loyalty of their top-ranked leaders. It is often seen that the top-ranked leaders have started changing their loyalty to their original party at the last moment like changing one's dress. Floor crossing, also known as defection has almost become a habit, leaving aside their party's ideology. Sushmita Dev's latest drama can be cited as the best example in this regard. It was very amusing to see Sushmita Dev acting as a spokesperson of the TMC in a debate on a national TV channel hardly after 24 hours after she deserted INC. Hardly 10 days back in the very same TV channel, she lambasted TMC for their wrongdoings in WB. I believe Sushmita Dev's last-minute floor changing is the beginning. The gullible grassroots-level loyal workers are left high and dry.

Through this letter, I request all the leading political parties to entrust someone to maintain an up-to-date register to let us know about their party's latest position. APCC, are you listening?

Lanu Dutt Chowdhury,

Guwahati.

Herculean task

For the last 7-10 days, we are happy to see Indian Air Force (IAF) evacuating stranded Indians from Kabul. It is very easy to see and hear but the story behind the evacuation is and was a Herculean diplomatic task for the Government of India. First of all, India doesn't have direct air connectivity with Afghanistan. For this, the most short-cut route is through Pakistan, but Pakistan is a big obstacle in this regard. The government opted to take a long route via Iran to reach Kabul Airport. Even to take this long route the government had to take approval from the Iranian government to access its airspace. Getting that approval was not an easy one as no country gives access to airspace easily to another country, but the government was successful in obtaining the permission. The next issue was landing in Kabul airport because India doesn't have good relations with the Taliban and India had some security issues in standing their planes in Kabul airport for a long time. The government cannot trust or take into confidence the Taliban, plus considering the chaotic situation in the Kabul airport it was not feasible for the government to park their planes for too long. To solve this problem, the Government of India devised another plan that is to park their planes in Kazakhstan airport after obtaining the permission of the Kazakh government. This is yet another diplomatic victory. Now, the government had another problem that is to assemble Indians in Kabul airport so that evacuation operation does not take more than 15-20 minutes. The Kabul airport was under the control of the US army so landing permission was approved. Indian authorities found a garage adjacent to Kabul airport where Indians were assembled in day and night operations. When enough Indians have gathered in the garage, the information is passed on to the IAF officials stranded in Kazakhstan and the US officials at Kabul airport. The ATS control of the airport and security control of the Kabul airport was in hands of the US Army. After this clearance is given by the US Army to land our planes in Kabul airport and Indian agencies evacuate the Indians as quickly as possible.

It's indeed, a Herculean task and we shall be ever grateful to PM Narendra Modi, Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiaditya Scindia, Chief of IAF Marshal Rakesh Singh Bhadauria, various officers in PMO, brave pilots of IAF and other staff and many more.

Julie Bhuyan,

Gaurisagar.

Caste census

Jailbird Laloo Yadav recently urged the Modi Government to go for caste census throughout the nation. It is simply pathetic that even after 75 years of independence some leaders can think of going for a caste census. When the nation is fighting the Covid-19 pandemic which has caused an immense dent in the country's economy, the founder RJD leader is trying to fragment the society on a caste basis. For what purpose leaders like Laloo Yadav, Akhilesh Yadav or Mayawati are shouting for caste census is known to all. These leaders have always played caste politics over development politics as Congress follows appeasement policy. Now, that they are sidelined they are barking on some useless demands to keep themselves afloat in Indian politics. God knows when we as citizens of the country will think of ourselves as Indians.

Sometime back, Captain Amrinder Singh urged the Centre to immediately evacuate Sikh people trapped in Kabul but his heart didn't bleed for the people of other communities like Hindus, Jains or Christians who too were going through the most difficult phase of life.

Pratap Dutta,

Tezpur.

Drug addiction

Through this column of your esteemed paper, I want to draw the attention of the general public and police authorities towards the increasing number of drug addicts. We all are aware of the dangers and effects of drug addiction but then there is a rapid increase in the number of drug users in our country. Every day in newspapers or news channels we come across many cases of drug users and dealers.

There is not a proper reason why people take drugs even knowing that is harmful to their lives. There is no legal shop to sell drugs but then also people are consuming and selling drugs illegally hiding from police authorities. Once a person starts taking drugs there is no turning back for him, and no matter how hard he may try to get rid himself of this evil practice, he is unable to do. Today's youth is indulging in the evil practice of drugs that harm the coming generations. Even though there are several laws to tackle the drug menace, possessing, selling, purchasing or consuming drugs is continuing to date. It needs to be stopped immediately. I request the authorities to look into this matter.

Padmini Das,

Cotton University,

Guwahati

No vaccine, no class

The state cabinet decided on Thursday to start higher secondary, degree and postgraduate final-year classes from the first week of September. The new SOP on the opening of educational institutions is set to be released on or before 31st August. The first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine will be mandatory for attending classes and only fully vaccinated students will be able to stay in hostels. This condition has created a muddle amongst the boarders who are not fully vaccinated as they will not be able to stay in the hostel to attend classes. This is also a confusing situation for the group of under-18 students as they are not allowed to take vaccines yet. We hope that the State government will look up to this matter and take the necessary step to solve the bafflement.

Tripti Madhuri Borgohain,

Guwahati