Letters to the Editor: Lure of e-sport

E-sport, short for Electronic Sports, is a form of multiplayer video game competition, especially among professional players, individuals or in a team. Organized competitions have long been a part of the video game culture, but until the late 2000s, they were mostly between amateurs. Nowadays, live broadcasts have greatly increased the popularity of these events for both professional players and spectators. Many game developers actively develop and sponsor tournaments and other events. E-Sport is already famous in most parts of the world. North America, Europe, Japan, Korea etc., are examples where e-Sport has a wide community and understandings. But in the South Asian part of the world, India, Bhutan, Pakistan, Nepal etc., are the places where the e-Sport community is in a growing stage. But due to some unfortunate circumstances, the growth of Indian community in e-Sports had slowed down. But after the introduction of PUBG mobile, a vast majority of people in India are attracted to the mobile gaming community and, thus, the number of organizations and streamers are formed which helped to speed up the growth of e-Sport in India again. Many teams from India also started to participate in the competitions and that has helped to increase the development of Indian gaming organizations. Also, the pandemic boosted up the number of online gaming players from 65 million to 390 million. Now e-Sport has become a source of income for today's generation. Many streamers plays games like valorant, cs:go, fortnite etc., and can earn from the websites like YouTube, Twitch, Loco and many more. There is a wide community now which helps the upcoming streamers to grow their channels and to follow the dreams they want.

But as a coin has two sides, e-Sport also has a negative side. Mainly E-sport is affecting children around the age of 12 to 18 as they completely getting addicted to the games and they keep themselves isolated from the real world. It adversely affects their academic performance as also their physical and mental health. It is important to control the amount of time these children are investing in games and, moreover, parents should be more concerned towards their children's behaviour and help them to understand the limit of using any games or any other activities.

Sayanika Singha,

Cotton University.

Glass house

Taking the cue from the Russia and Ukraine war, prices of all essential commodities starting from fuel to other basic day-to-day items have started skyrocketing. Both the Central and State Governments are simply remaining mute spectators. We, the commoners, understand that rise in prices of petroleum products are somewhat justified at present, but what about the rest of the items like mustard oil, vegetables, pulses and the other similar items of day-to-day use? Very recently a veteran lawmaker from the prestigious Dispur constituency, namely Atul Bora, belonging to the ruling alliance and a former Cabinet minister known for his big mouth opined that the consumers should cut down the consumption of these essential day-to-day items to tide over the crisis. Some thinking indeed! It simply reminds me of the pre-French Revolution days when someone from the royal family asked the countrymen to eat cakes if bread was not available. Atul Bora seems to be living in a glass house. I earnestly advise him to keep his legs on the ground to feel the pulse of the common people. Mr Bora, please talk sense.

Dr Ashim Chowdhury,

Guwahati.

The gamosa controversy

The recent viral photo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and of Ratan Tata being felicitated with phoolam gamosas during their visit to Assam for inaugurating the seven cancer hospitals is creating chaos. Some are expressing their grievance regarding felicitation of Ratan Tata with a simple phoolam gamosa and asking why a simple phoolam gamosa was given to Ratan Tata when a muga phoolam gamosa was given to the Prime Minister. Comments are being made like "the non-deserving is getting what he doesn't deserve and the deserving one is not getting what he deserves".

I, as a citizen of India and a proud Assamese, would like to state that the gamosa is a symbol of love and respect in our State. We should not compare the quality of gamosas by seeing them on videos and photos. We are just making a joke of ourselves in the eyes of other States. Secondly, yes, it was our duty to treat both the delegates with same type of gamosas. Both are respected public icons. Ratan Tata was our guest, who gifted the State with such valuable things and, therefore, it was our duty to give him good service with equal respect.

Hiyanjalee Rangra,

Gauhati University.

'Please don't speak loudly…'

The Uttar Pradesh Government is being appreciated by all for its bold and sincere implementation of the order relating to the noise pollution and removing loudspeakers from all religious places after taking into confidence all the concerned dignitaries. It is a well-known fact that when any new step is taken, various problems do arise, whether it is an individual case or a social issue. It was the first time when India crossed the Line of Control and conducted the Surgical Strikes in Pakistan and destroyed the extremists' camps and the Pakistani army suffered a heavy loss. Again, it was also first time when the Indian Air Force crossed the airspace after the Pulwama attack and destroyed the terrorists' camps in Pakistan. Both these happenings needed a bold planning and strong willpower and country showed its worth. It was also a first time in the last 25 years when Indian soldiers entered Chinese territory and there were heavy casualties on China's side. Now we evaluate the success story within the country. To open 45 crore bank accounts is not easy and the country had done it with full dedication. Can anybody think that country is now totally ODF, which seemed to be impossible task in the initial stage. It is also a surprising fact that there was no electricity in 18,000 villages, but at present hundred per cent villages have electricity connections. Lakhs of patients have got the benefits of the Ayushman Bharat scheme. It is very much clear that to start any social welfare scheme, a lot of efforts are required along with full sincerity and dedication.

Be that as it may, it is expected that the formula of the Uttar Pradesh Government will be adopted by others to maintain the peace and harmony in the country. The caption of the subject matter is totally correct: "Please do not speak loudly, a little child is sleeping."

Yash Pal Ralhan,

Jalandhar – 144003.