Letters to the EDITOR: Loss of a culture

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Loss of a culture

A common sight has rapidly disappeared from our agricultural fields. A new era in the field of agriculture has begun with the use of machinery, putting an end to the old practices. The sight of ploughing was once a part of the centuries-old culture of India. Ploughing was a way of life for the agriculturists of rural society. Most of the agricultural lands were tilled by the ploughmen with wooden ploughs drawn by bullocks or buffaloes. The bullocks and the ploughs were integral parts of performing agricultural activities and were taken care of by the family members of the villagers. The bullock carts were also used to carry things from one place to another. A family in a village without a pair of bullocks was said to be a poor family.

The bullocks, ploughs, barrows, sticks, etc. were regularly used words of the rural folk. So, these things find mention in our rich folk songs and literature. But now, the entire scenario has substantially changed after the introduction of agro-based machinery. People, irrespective of wealth and poverty, use tractors and power tillers to plough their land. The harvester and threshing machines have also arrived to bid adieu to the old practices of harvesting by the men or women in the crop fields and threshing on the yards by the bullocks. The new agro-based machines have proved to be much more effective compared to the old practices. Still, the age-old practices haunt the minds of the people of our generation and inflict pain.

Kulendra Nath Deka,

Dighirpar, Mangaldai

Malpractices in job recruitment

People involved in malpractices like leaking question papers of recruitment exams for union government jobs may land in jail for up to ten years and a fine of at least Rs one crore, according to a new bill to be tabled in Lok Sabha on Monday.  The Bill is aimed at bringing “greater transparency, fairness and credibility” to the public examination systems and to reassure the youth that their “sincere and genuine efforts will be fairly rewarded and their future is safe”. However, strict law prevents a person from corruption but this should not look like a joke. Punishment of ten years jail or one crore fine is unaffordable for any government-employ. Therefore, viewing their innocent family members, the limitations of punishment should be reduced.

Ibne Farooq

Guwahati

Justice for historical wrong

January 22, 2024, will go down as a landmark day in national history as the date the newly-installed rock statue of Ram Lalla was consecrated in Lord Rama's mythic birthplace in Ayodhya, facilitated by the apex court's verdict after a long hold-up. Successive governments in the centre perilously kept this issue alive on petty vote bank considerations, ignoring the well-founded rights of the Sanatani Hindus. It is a historical fact that during the foreign occupation of India in the 2nd millennium CE, thousands of ancient temples and places of worship were demolished and desecrated by the alien Muslim rulers, and the religious character of the existing structures was changed. Of these, only three holy places—Ayodhya, Kashi, and Mathura—closely attached to the Sanatani religion have been zealously claimed by the Hindus for centuries. The remaining two cases of Gyanvapi mosque in Kashi (Varanasi) and Shahi Idgah mosque in Mathura are still sub-judice in the courts due to the pendency of lawsuits between the Hindu groups and a small group of enthusiastic Muslims. These were small issues for the party in power then in 1947 and could have been permanently settled if the then government had the requisite commitment. In the course of prolonged neglect, this issue has become a big one now and is one of many blunders of the Nehru legacy. The deck is also being cleared for the court settlement regarding Kashi Gyanvapi mosque and Mathura Shahi Idgah mosque, as the legal proceedings are going on regularly and hopefully the outcome will be available in due course. It has been provided in the Places of Worship Act, 1991, that temples satisfying the definition of a monument are outside the ambit of the Act. Yours etc;

Pannalal Dey

Guwahati.

Most sought after

The Nagaon Lok Sabha constituency has emerged as the most sought-after constituency for the so-called ‘secular brigade’ like Congress, AIUDF, AJP, Raijor Dol, TMC, and AAP. The big guns of Congress, like Gaurav Gogoi, Pradyut Bordoloi, and Rakibul Hussain, have all trained their eyes on the seat. The reason for it is not hard to find. The Nagaon district has a big chunk of East Pakistani or Purbo Bangladeshi voters, who are referred to as Miyas. The Nagaon constituency, unlike Dhubri, has a sizeable number of Indigenous (Khilonjiya) voters, though they are fewer than the Miya voters, so any party that grabs the seat can easily claim that they are the representative of indigenous people, which cannot be claimed in the case of the Dhubri seat. For this reason, the entire appeasement gang is after the Nagaon seat. After delimitation, Kaliabor seat, which had earlier a good percentage of minority voters, now has a reduced percentage of Miya voters, so Gaurav Gogoi is running after Nagaon seat. A few independent candidates, who too are followers of minority appeasement policy, are preparing their camps in remote minority-dominated areas of Nagaon constituency. Truly, it will be interesting to see the dog fight between Congress, AAP, TMC, AIUDF, AJP, Raijor Dol, etc.

Purabi Miri,

Jakhalabandha.

Rising star

Jai Jai Jaiswal for smashing a herculean, magnificent double century, scoring 209 runs in 290 balls. He stood like a rock to dare the cascading waves from the English bowlers. He is just the fourth Indian left-hander to score a test double (after Kambli, Ganguly, and Gambhir). He is also the 3rd youngest Indian to achieve the feat, with the youngest being Vinod Kambli at the age of 21 years and 35 days. Polly Umrigar was the first Indian to score a test double century against New Zealand in 1955. By this way, he proved that he can open the innings for India in the test matches, and by looking at the strike rate, it is evident that he can also open the innings for India in the one-day internationals.

Khalid Hasan,

Panjabari