Echoing same lines: Letters to The Editor

Echoing same lines

A year back or so the controversial Dhing MLA Aminul Islam said people living in sar saporis in lower Assam are indigenous people of the State. The MLA further went ahead and said Ahoms came much later than the Miya people. Now, Congress MLA Bharat Narah, a former AASU leader, echoed the same line which is a direct insult to the Ahom community. Mr Narah should first go through the history of the Ahoms and the contributions of Choulong Sui Ka Pha in creating 'Bor Asom'. If one goes through the family history of Aminul Islam it should not be shocking if one finds his ancestors hailing from Bangladesh or East Pakistan. So naturally, people like Islam would try to project themselves as indigenous. Coming to Bharat Narah, MLA from Naoboischa his comments against the Ahom community is unfortunate. This might be because he has won Naoboischa due to the presence of a large chunk of votes from Miyas in the riverine areas. He is pleasing his loyal vote bank. I, through your esteemed daily, urge senior Congress leader Bharat Chandra Narah to act responsibly and go through the history of undivided Asom. That will clear his misconceptions.

Pratuljyoti Buragohain,

Guwahati.

Rescue forests for lives

The decision by the Madhya Pradesh Government to hand over the forests of Buxwaha located in Chhatarpur district to a private company for mining diamonds creates a big challenge for the environment along with residents. Buxwaha's forests have been leased for diamond digging, but protests have also begun against it. If this happens then 2.5 lakh trees in this area will be cut down. The forest is an important part of the environment and provides food for thousands of families living in the villages of the Buxwaha region in addition to being the habitat of wildlife. People of all classes and age groups have joined the campaign to save the Buxwaha forests and are trying to give the message that they will not allow forests to be cut. This is a laudable initiative aimed at protecting the environment and the natural habitat of birds and animals. The State government should talk to all stakeholders and consider abandoning this project because development must not be accepted to the detriment of the environment. People need to be aware of environmental issues and act to save forests with other natural resources for a brighter future.

Amit Singh Kushwaha,

Satna (M.P.)

Currency circulation and demonetization

It refers to the annual report of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) revealing rupees-2000 currency dropping to rupees 245 crores from earlier rupees 274 crore but overall currency-circulation rising year after year undoing sought advantage when old currency notes of rupees 500 and 1000 were demonetized on 08.11.2016. It is evident that by and large rupees 2000 notes are used to park black money. The RBI report of last year had revealed another dangerous aspect of a considerable increase in the fake currency of rupees 200 and 500.

Instead of another demonetization, the Central government can direct compulsory deposit of rupees-2000 currency notes in bank accounts by some stipulated date. It will not affect poor and middle-income having rupees 2000 notes because presently most of the countrymen or their family-members have bank accounts. Simultaneously a Voluntary Disclosure Scheme charging 50 per cent disclosure tax on unaccounted money can be introduced. For the future, a cash withdrawal limit of rupees 96,000 per month to be gradually reduced to rupees 48,000 per month can be imposed to promote digital payment and bank transactions. Transaction charges on credit and debit cards can be reduced to just half per cent that too to be borne by the Central Government to encourage the use of credit and debit cards where presently high two per cent credit card charges are to be borne at times by consumers, especially in commodities with low-profit margins. Tax laws (both direct and indirect) should be simplified for voluntary and cheerful compliance by restoring the upper-Income Tax slab of 30 per cent as was recommended by Raja Challaih Committee. The study should be made of Sweden where just two per cent in currency circulation out of total transactions. Even China and the United Kingdom perform fair towards being cashless economy after Sweden.

Subhash Chandra Agrawal,

Chandni Chowk, Delhi

Raids on drug hideouts

During this mini lockdown period, the Assam Police is conducting sudden raids in drug hideouts across the State. Guwahati and Nagaon are two of the most affected places as daily one can see a huge quantity of drugs are seized. This raid was long overdue but it was put on the back burner due to some unknown reasons. Better late than never, the Assam Police is doing a fantastic job is bursting the drug rings. It is an open secret that the Police have all the necessary information about the criminals. It is just a matter of their willingness. If the top brass of the police force decides to root out the menace, the society would be crime-free and the seasoned criminals would either be compelled to change their business or be behind bars.

The most important aspect in the ongoing war against drugs is that majority of the drug peddlers belong to religious linguistic minority people or in plain word Miyas.

Julie Bhuyan,

Gaurisagar.

Odd-even number paradox

District administrations of many districts of our state adopted the system of plying vehicles on the road based on odd and even number. This is to avoid the crowding of people and vehicles at any place during this pandemic period. However, there has been a lot of confusion regarding the system of selection of digit on two different methods. In some cases, this regulation is based on the day of the week keeping Sunday as number 0 (even). But in other cases, it is maintained based on the date of the month as odd and even (this is the case for Jorhat also). In our opinion, the first system is suitable because in the second system, for some months, the last day gets odd and the next day also becomes odd, and thereby two consecutive odd numbers. Moreover, there should be a single system for the entire state. So, I request all the administration concerned to consider the same.

Dr PC Sarmah,

Jorhat-1