Letters to the Editor: Poor functioning of BSNL

The people of Assam have been losing faith in BSNL for its poor performance. The functioning of the BSNL is gradually turning it into an unexpectedly below-standard organization. It is not understood why such a big corporate giant cannot improve its functions on a par with its private counterparts. Most of the time, signal loss, call drops, etc. occur in the transmission process. Two days back in Jorhat city, there had been no transmission signal from BSNL for more than 12 hours during the day, and the general public suffered a lot. This top-heavy enterprise, manned by some less sincere people, hardly cares for the customers. I want to cite an example of the functioning of BSNL: My landline telephone number, 2370263 in Jorhat, was disconnected a few years ago due to the construction of a 4-lane highway. As I was not informed about this and BSNL continued sending monthly bills, I sincerely paid my monthly bills for more than 6 months without fail. When I inquired about my faulty landline telephone after many months, I was informed that due to 4-lane highway works, all telephone lines in my area were disconnected. But the BSNL authority continued sending monthly bills for my telephone. I have written several emails to the BSNL office, including to higher-level officers, asking them to disconnect my (already disconnected) landline telephone and stop sending my telephone bill. After many emails, finally, BSNL stopped sending monthly bills for the past year. But to my utter surprise, BSNL started sending monthly bills again without any information and restored my telephone connection. How can a telephone bill be sent without a telephone line connection? Repeated requests to officials of BSNL have not been entertained yet. This is how BSNL has been functioning.

Dr P C Sarmah

Jorhat

‘Parivartantra’ or ‘Prajatantra’?

We all understand that ‘Prajatantra’ means democracy, which is the soul of our constitution. We, the Indians, feel proud to be citizens of a nation that practices ‘Prajatantra’. But sadly, it is not so in reality. Now let us analyse the realities threadbare. Our system of democracy is not similar to other democracies, like the USA, which has two main political parties, namely the Republican and Democratic parties. India is a multi-party democracy, where some of the parties thrive on caste or religious principles. Very interestingly, a majority of the political parties do not believe in ‘Prajatantra’. They believe in a new system named ‘Parivartantra’. Congress, Shiv Sena [UT], SP, RJD, DMK, etc. are some of the glaring examples in this regard. Is it not a mockery of Prajatantra, which they proudly proclaim to follow in public? We, the gullible voters, are taken for a ride by these political parties before any election by claiming themselves to be the guardians of democracy, or Prajatantra.

Dr. Ashim Chowdhury,

Guwahati.

Loyalty and Bondage

On September 29, on a scorching hot day not at all conducive to cricket, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka locked horns in a warm-up match at the Bharat Ratna Dr. Bhupen Hazarika cricket stadium at Barshapara. Despite the scorching heat, the attendance for the match was quite encouraging. The crowd, mostly from Dhubri, Barpeta, Hajo, etc., which are areas usually dominated by a linguistic minority community, came in large numbers wearing the jerseys of their favourite Bangladeshi cricketers and were seen watching and cheering the Bangladeshi team, which proved their bondage and loyalty to their nation of ancestors. I salute their loyalty to their nation of origin. May God save Assam.

Joel Goyari,

Tangla.

Shed stigma

Asian giants China and India top the global list of countries with mental health disorders. Anxiety, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorders dictate the mental health scene in India. It is predicted that the country will witness a surge in mental illnesses in the years to come. The bare truth, however, is that very few Indians seek medical assistance to get treated for deviations of the mind because of "stigma" and a lack of awareness. Many symptoms are passed off as contributed by day-to-day "tension". Substance use disorders like drug consumption and alcohol abuse are ignored, to the individual's peril.

It is imperative to distinguish between "social drinkers" and "alcohol addicts" because alcohol is an important trigger for, as well as an offshoot of, many mental disorders. Women and the elderly need special attention as they are vulnerable to drug abuse and dementia, respectively. Ironically, the number of psychiatrists in Asia is quite low as compared to some European countries. Though India's "psychiatrist-patient" population is hardly inspiring, unless society prepares itself for a sea change towards psychiatric patients, any number of increases in psychiatric institutes may not suffice.

Dr Ganapathi Bhat

Akola