Letters to the Editor: Reopen paper mills

Depressing news items have appeared in the media that the employees of Jagiroad Paper Mills have been asked to vacate the quarters. This may be the prelude to the death of an indigenous industry of Assam. This has happened despite the ruling party in Assam had pledged to revive the defunct mill as stated in one of the sankalps (pledges) of BJP Assam Pradesh during the Assembly elections. "Extensive efforts to reopen the Hindustan Paper Corporation, Jagiroad expeditiously" was the party's commitment in their election manifesto. This was even reiterated in election rallies by Union Home Minister Amit Shah. The Prime Minister during one of his speeches said that the BJP government had deleted an archaic provision in law which categorized bamboo as wood thereby preventing cutting. Implicit in his statement is that bamboo can now be exploited for commercial use. Bamboo is a raw material for production of paper which is abundantly available in Assam.

In the backdrop of such clear messages and intention from the BJP, the present government has not shown any agility and alacrity in taking steps to reopen the two Paper Mills closed since March 2017 (Jagiroad) and October 2015 (Panchgram). According to the employees, there was an order from the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal in May 2019 to make both the mills functional. The government is silent on implementing this order or enforcing it.

The present government will not be able to promote industrial development in the state if it fails to revive both the mills. The state of Assam needs a strong industrial and manufacturing ecosystem to create jobs and prosperity.

Rajib Sarma,

Guwahati

Ferry capsize: Important

safety arrangements

Even after 74 years of independence, the unavailability of a bridge connecting Jorhat and the largest river island, Majuli, is a very mortifying one. After the recent incident of boat capsize, various questions arise on the safety arrangements for passengers travelling in ferries, bhutbhutis or boats.

There are more than 100 river routes in Assam on which a large number of passengers travel in ferries, boats, bhutbhutis everyday. It is also not possible to build bridges connecting all the ghats. However, both as short-term and long-term safety measures, the Inland Water Transport Department (IWTD) of the state can ensure the various safety arrangements which are a must.

Every passenger onboard must wear a proper lifejacket. It's not a costly one, everyone can afford to buy a lifejacket. A lifejacket works on the principle of buoyancy, according to which a body immersed in a fluid is subjected to an upwards force equal to the weight of the displaced fluid. This implies that when a person or passenger is in the water, after the boat or ferry capsizes, the force of buoyancy created would be equal to the weight of the person. But the lifejacket weighs much less than the average weight density of the person. Consequently, when the passenger wears the lifejacket, the total weight to be displaced by the water of the river is much less as compared to the weight of the person alone and thus the person floats.

There are different types of lifejackets manufactured depending upon the nature of water bodies like inland, coastal, enclosed etc., and the types of boats, ferries or other water transport vehicles like country boats, power boats, canoes, ferries etc. Besides keeping the passengers of the capsized boat afloat, some lifejackets also and help prevent hypothermia and unconsciousness. Hence, it is very important to wear a lifejacket while travelling onboard to ensure maximum safety till further help arrives, even in very rough river or other water body conditions.

Flashlights along with batteries help the boat passengers see around the boat in the dark and the boat is visible if it runs out of fuel or stalls. Ropes are highly useful in pulling someone in who has fallen overboard and securing the boat to the dock. A first aid kit, drinking water bottles etc., are very essential in case of medical emergencies. A water-proof whistle can give signals calling for help on the water. These are among the most important and necessary safety arrangements the Inland Water Transport Department should ensure at the earliest.

Bibhash Deva Nath

(bibhashdevanath@gmail.com)

Good beginning

There is some good news post the abrogation of Article 370 in erstwhile Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. The indigenous people are getting their due back. The Kashmiri pandits who faced exodus from the valley due to terror of Islamic fundamentalists in 1990s are slowly getting back their properties. Recently, 9 properties of Kashmiri Hindus are returned to their original owners. That's certainly a good beginning but the Union Government should also provide security to the original inhabitants because of the unreliability of the radical Islamic forces which still persists there though their strength has been reduced in recent years.

In our state too, the sar saporis which are under the captive of Muslim people of East Bengal origin should be restored to their original owners. Assam and its original people face major threat from these illegal foreigners who have made sar saporis their safe haven. The government should not wait for any major incident to happen to open their eyes.

Julie Bhuyan,

Gaurisagar.

Education in pandemic

The Covid-19 pandemic has derailed the education sector of our country. With this comes private schools' demand of incessant payment of fees to recover losses incurred by them, regardless of the situation and knowing how they are pitch-forking parents. They also charge fees for the services not offered. With the reopening of schools, students' angst may become less. The Gauhati High Court took the correct decision of not debarring any student from attending classes.

Aaditya Dutta,

Dhubri.

Good use of diplomacy

Diplomacy is the surest and easiest way to douse a fire without burning one's finger. With the proper use of diplomacy, England almost ruled the entire globe in the bygone period. Their diplomatic languages are still used and relished by all. Now let me be a bit diplomatic to try to select a team as an example. If one wants to drop a very senior member of a team due to poor form, then in that case we can very simply and easily use the word 'rest' instead of 'drop' which will keep both the dropped player and the selectors happy. Indian cricket team has used certain diplomatic words to their best to diffuse any tension by using certain diplomatic words or phrases.

Drishyaa Chowdhury

Guwahati.

Correct decision

There is yet another correct decision taken by the State Government by deciding to reintroduce the subjects of History and Geography in the SEBA syllabus. It is very rightly said by Lt. Pandit Nehru that History makes a man wise. History cannot be changed, but can only be twisted, distorted as seen in the earlier Indian history texts where with some historians with vested interests distorted the nation's history by highlighting only the Mughal era at the expense of Gupta, Maurya, Marathas, Ahoms and many other empires who made India a most powerful nation in that period. Hiuen Tsang, the famous Buddhist monk and Chinese explorer testified this account in his record. Now, once again another lobby has emerged to give a try to distort nation's history by glorifying only one dynasty, named the Gandhi-Nehru as the sole master, ruler of the nation.

Unlike History, Geography changes in due course of time. Many deserts have become oceans, many mountains have disappeared, many big land masses have been separated into continents etc. By knowing Geography one can understand the anatomy of the world.All said and done, it is a good decision no doubt.

Dr Ashim Chowdhury,

Guwahati.

Qualified teachers for

environmental studies

Through your esteemed news daily, I would like to draw the attention of the present State government to environment studies.

When the subject Environmental Science is receiving much attention throughout the world, the scenario in Assam is opposite. Environmental degradation is one of the major concerns for the world. Throughout the world, billions of people have been affected by climate change and environmental pollutions.

Recognizing the importance of the Environmental Education, the Supreme Court of India in 1991, in Civil Writ Petition No. 860/1991 titled M. C. Mehta v. Union of India, gave directions to introduce Environmental Studies course in all universities and affiliated colleges throughout the country. As the above direction had not been fulfilled, the Supreme Court vide its order dated 18th December, 2003, restated the direction requiring the authorities to comply with the same. Following the order, the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the All India Council of Technical Education prepared Environmental Studies syllabus for under graduate courses of all branches of Higher Education.

In many colleges, the subject is being taught by teachers who are not qualified in terms of the UGC Guidelines. As per UGC guidelines, the qualification required for Environmental Science teachers in colleges is M.Sc. in Environmental Science with qualified National Eligibility Test (NET) in Environmental Science or Ph.D.

In Assam, Gauhati University, Tezpur University and Assam University have Environmental Science departments which are offering M.Sc. and Ph.D. courses. Every year hundreds of students have been pursuing M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from these universities. However, till date, only Pandit Deendayal Upadhaya Adarsha Mahavidyalaya, Tulungia in Assam has one permanent sanctioned post of Assistant Professor for Environmental Science. Unfortunately, most of the colleges in Assam do not have qualified Environmental Science teachers. Teachers from other departments have been given the task of teaching the subject Environmental Studies. Some colleges appoints guest lecturer for short duration. Through such steps the colleges are compromising the environmental education.

Considering the significance of this subject and the Supreme Court's directives, the State government should create permanent posts for Environmental Studies in all the colleges and recruit qualified Assistant Professors fulfilling the UGC guidelines.

Biswajit Chakdar,

Bijni, Chirang, Assam

Merger of RS TV & LS TV

It refers to welcome merger of Rajya Sabha TV and Lok Sabha TV to a unified Sansad TV with effect from 15.09.2021. It will save huge funds in running two TV channels with the same purpose. Direct telecast of live proceedings of two Houses of Parliament can be done according to importance of proceedings being conducted in two Houses of Parliament. However, excerpts of proceedings of two Houses can be shown at prime time not only on Sansad TV but also on various Doordarshan channels.

Same merger-plan can be considered for too many Doordrashan channels according to viewership-statistics of Doordarshan channels. There may be several Doordarshan channels which may not have significant viewership. Continuing with such Doordarshan channels is waste of public-money.

Union Ministry of Information and Broadcast should consider idea of making at least half-an-hour daily on prime-hours for every private news channel to compulsorily telecast simultaneous news-bulletins and Parliament News (Sansad Samachaar) from Doordarshan, because usually private news-channels provide news contents on their personal ideology and to achieve more and more TRP rating.

Subhash Chandra Agrawal,

Delhi-110006