Letters to the Editor: Human values declining

The heinous murder of Animesh Bhuyan, a very calm and educated youth, must have saddened every sensible person in Assam. In fact, in our society, there is a need to seriously discuss the psychological reasons behind such killings.

I would say directly that such moral policing is in fact a social ill. This is a socio-psychological issue, of course. The brain infrastructure of a person who frequently commits crimes and gets brutal pleasure by torturing human beings is inconsistent to some extent. According to Neuroscience, the human brain contains a number of specialized nerve cells that help maintain human values. The function of these nerve cells is impaired in criminals. This is the inconsistency of the brain infrastructure of the criminals. And as a result, criminals can commit one crime after another. Even these people can commit inhumane acts like murder. Due to the inconsistency of the brain infrastructure, the human qualities like kindness, compassion, empathy, etc., of the criminals towards human beings are comparatively much less than that of good human beings.

In fact, people who have always grown up in a negative environment usually have no qualms about committing a crime like murder. Their brains are left to their own devices to figure out what the outcome of the murder will be.

Recently, in the society in which we live, the stress of human beings has been gradually increasing for various reasons. The biggest concern is that in today's society, science and technology, the transformation of private sector enterprises is taking place at an unimaginable pace. There are some unwanted changes in it, which make many people feel uncomfortable adapting to the change. In fact, the people in our society do not have enough time to adapt to this change. In all cases, Darwin's adaptation theory –'Survival of the fittest is not applicable. On the other hand, human beings are unable to cope with certain situations. This has led to an increase in stress among people. The result of this stress is intolerance. As a result, on 29th November in Jorhat district, a calm and polite youth like Animesh Bhuyan was brutally killed at the hands of a person possessing some brutal character.

However, we wish that the murder of Animesh Bhuyan be the last murder. We don't want such murders to happen in the future. In conclusion, we pray to God for the peace of Animesh's departed soul.

Heramba Nath,

Hindumaijali,

Kamrup

Is this freedom of speech?

We all know that India is a secular democratic nation and our constitution gave certain rights to bona fide citizens like the freedom to speech, health, education, religion etc., to name a few. But very amusingly and alarmingly two duly elected MLAs, namely Sherman Ali and Aminul Islam belonging to INC and AIUDF boldly stated before the press that there is no freedom of speech after their atrocious comment about martyrs' of the 1983 movement and revered Maa Kamakhya Temple. Stating something that distorts the history and being censured for that crime can never be termed as the arrest of freedom of speech as it hurts the sentiment of the majority. It appears as if some traitors are taking advantage of our liberal and porous constitution which tries to please all.

One must remember that He Who TriesTo Please All Will Please None.

Dr Ashim Chowdhury,

Guwahati.

Jnanpith after two decades

Nilmani Phookan Jr. winning the prestigious Jnanpith Award after a dry period of two decades has injected a new life into the Assamese literary scene. He is the third Assamese to win the top literary award after Birendra Kumar Bhattacharya and Mamoni Raisom Goswami. Assam has a rich tradition of poetry and Nilmani Phookan is one of its foremost proponents. He wrote in a time when rhyming was thought to be the only yardstick to write a poem, but he broke off from this tradition and let his thoughts and not rhyme do the talking. His poems are not smooth but it does have a profound after-feel. His poems do have a western taste to them and this may be because he was influenced by big western names like Vasko Popa. Nilmani Phookan is truly deserving of the award. I would like to congratulate him through your esteemed daily.

Noopur Baruah,

Tezpur

Good move

Late yet finally better sense prevailed among the officers of the Transport Department. Recently the DTO Gautam Das issued certain guidelines for the picnic revellers to maintain decorum while enjoying the fun. Every year around this time many lives are lost in the name of picnics and New Year's Eve celebrations. The root cause of the accidents is drunk driving. This time the Transport Department has laid out a special SOP to rein the unruly drivers returning from picnic spots. I welcome the government's decision to impose severe penalty including the cancellation of the driving license of the erring drivers. Fights among the picnic revellers in the sites are a common sight that ultimately disturbs those who were peacefully enjoying their moments. In this regard, local police stations of the picnic sites should be instructed to do patrolling. Thirdly, the picnic parties should be charged an amount in the name of maintaining hygiene and cleanliness. Often the revellers throw polythene, plastic and other non-biodegradable substances, thus polluting the environment. The government's decision to restrict the high decibel music system in the picnic sites is another welcome move.

Chotu Nath Boro,

Baghbor.