Letters to The Editor

The historic Jerenga Pathar in Sivasagar saw unprecedented response from the public on 23rd January. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was greeted with thunderous applause from the indigenous public. The heartening sight was the assembly of only indigenous people and over a lakh family was benefited with the allotment of land pattas. These people who have been deprived of their land rights in their own State but recently entered people of suspected nationalities have managed everything starting from land, job, government benefits etc. The Congress and the AGP which were in power in most of the time post-independence always supported the illegal foreigners for the sake of votes. The original inhabitants of places like Chenga, Baghbor, Dhing Jonia, Kalgachia, Dhubri etc have been displaced in a systematic manner and all the alleged illegal ones from Bangladesh were settled. Syed Sadullah and Abdul Bhasani wherever they are must be very delighted to see the present situation in lower Assam.

Sarbanananda Sonowal and the Central government deserve much kudos for distributing the land pattas to the bhumiputras and bhumiputris. Meanwhile, the Sivasagar bandh callers and those waiting to wave black flags must be slapping on their own faces seeing the tremendous public response to Prime Minister Modi's meeting.

Julie Bhuyan,

Gaurisagar.

Why no reaction?

Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma in an election rally somewhere in Assam said that peasants of Kharupetia, Dolgaon and a few minority-dominated places are feeding us poison in the name of vegetables. This story is not new for the public as it has been ages that unscrupulous farmers are using all kinds of chemicals so that vegetables grow overnight after the injection of medicine. While the Congress was in power it was well understood that they would not take any action as it would offend their prime voters.

The BJP came to power in 2016 and they didn't do anything to check the illegal ways of farming. Now with the elections coming up Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma has raised this serious issue but why he was silent all these years. The Government could have done much in these 5 years but they remained as a mute spectator. Is there any guarantee that if again the BJP comes back to power in the State they would take action against those farmers? I assume it 'No'. This breed of people will keep on feeding us poison in the name of vegetables and people like Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma will do politics over it.

Purabi Miri,

Jakhalabandha.

Concerns about
tunnel

The detection of a tunnel in the Hirannagar region of Jammu along the international border is a matter of grave concern. The digging of a 150-foot-long tunnel would mean excavation of thousands of cubic feet of earth, disposal of which would require a large number of dumpsters and tractor trailers. How has such an activity, so close to the border, gone unnoticed of the security forces?

Chandan Kumar Nath,

Sorbhog.

Violence in any form can never be justified

Despite condemning the violent incidents in New Delhi on Republic Day with the demand of punishment for a section of the farmers entirely justified who had taken law in their own hands, still rationality demands that one should not go overboard while criticizing the unfortunate development.

Yes, it must be said that if there is no harm in chanting 'Jai Shri Ram' directed at Mamata Banerjee in a government programme in West Bengal while celebrating the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, then why so much hue and cry on raising the Nishan Sahib on the complex of Red Fort. If 'Jai Shri Ram' forms part of national culture just because it is a religious slogan of Hindi-speaking Hindus, then Nishan Sahib also forms part of national culture as it is a religious symbol of Punjabi-speaking Sikhs. After all at the end of the day, Punjabi Sikhs are also not a bit lesser national or Indian than Hindi-speaking Hindus.

And most importantly, it must be remembered that the flag raisers in Red Fort had not touched or violated the national tricolour. Not to forget that for the action of a miniscule section of the farmers, the leaders of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha have not hesitated a bit to promptly apologize for the incident without even a day's delay and have decided to undertake a daylong fast on the anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi's martyrdom as a day of penance. What a noble sense of remaining true to one's conscience.

In contrast, demolition of Babri Masjid was infinite times more and philistine. While the Republic Day fiasco led to the death of a single individual, the "uncivilized" show on 6th December 1992 with its communal aftereffects throughout the country resulted in a toll of innumerable deaths and destruction of property.

The feeling of remorse by the dignified humble responsible leaders of Samyukt Kisan Morcha deserves highest salute regards and kudos.

Kajal Chatterjee,

Kolkata.

Boost online schooling

The Economic Survey 2020-21 has indicated that online schooling took off in a big way during the COVID-19 pandemic. The survey states that the percentage of enrolled children from government and private schools owning a smartphone increased enormously from 36.5 per cent in 2018 to 61.8 per cent in 2020 in rural India. The survey recommends that if utilized well, the resultant reduction in the digital divide between rural and urban, gender, age, and income groups is likely to reduce inequalities in educational results. This survey showed the relevance of online schooling in the country and the emphasis is on boosting it in the hereafter. The need of the hour is that all stakeholders should examine the pros and cons of online schooling and implement it for future education options that are accessible to all upon healthy and worthwhile learning outcomes.

Amit Singh Kushwaha,

Satna (M.P.)

Corruption Perception Index of India

It is indeed a cause of worry for India where its Corruption Perception Index (CPI) has slipped to 86th position for the year 2020 from earlier 80th position in global ranking of 180 countries in latest report published by Transparency International with score of just 40 out of 100. No improvement is noted in terms of corruption even after change in regime in India in the year 2014 when India even after tough steps like demonetization. The goal of the Indian government should be to touch ranking of honest countries like Denmark and New Zealand with score of 87 each with New Zealand once even getting 95 points in earlier some year.

India is known for conducting luxurious study tours on public expense in the name of national or public interest. Study teams should be sent to least corrupt nations to study ways to minimize corruption. A high powered autonomous Commission should be formed to suggest ways to make India compete with most honest countries of the world, with an authority to implement at its own without needing any direction from the government. This is not impossible because corruption level went sharply down in emergency era of 1975-76 because of fear psychology developed in minds of corrupt ones at that time. At present Electoral Bonds have contributed the most in lowering of Honesty Index for India. These should be made perfectly transparent.

The Indian government should follow ideals of former President late Dr APJ Abdul Kalam who considered gifts and tips as polished form of bribe. Rather than banning tips, the Indian government encouraged by suggesting voluntary tipping rather than restaurants imposing unethical service charge in their bills. Festival gifts used as polished bribes should be altogether banned with only specified relations permitted to present gifts in family functions. Maximum profit percentage should be fixed between ex-factory price and Maximum Retail Price to reduce bribe index. Strict most steps to curb currency circulation should be taken including imposing monthly withdrawal from banks by individuals.

Subhash Chandra Agrawal,

Delhi.