Life goes on: Letters to The Editor

As Robert Frost aptly puts it, "In three words I can sum up everything I have learned about life, it goes on." Nothing can stop the ever-flowing river called "change". Life is all about changes and how we fashion ourselves to them. The other day I was out in the streets of Tezpur after about 4 months and I was surprised to find out that many half-constructed buildings were now standing tall and smeared with beautiful paints, many new shops have come up, fields being filled up to make space for new buildings and many such sights. People were out like they would on a normal day. All these sights made me think that life goes on, no matter what. Life doesn't have stations; it doesn't wait for anyone or anything. Coronavirus has in no way dimmed the spirit of life. It is still burning bright in all the jungles of life.

Noopur Baruah,

Tezpur.

Negligence of

COVID-19 guidelines

Through this esteemed and widely circulated column of your newspaper, I would like to bring attention to the negligence of COVID-19 guidelines. As per Tinsukia district guidelines, shops should be shut down at 1 pm and people's movement should stop after 2 pm.

As per my survey in the Tinsukia district, I found that after closing the shops, the roads get blocked and people start moving without wearing masks, and not maintaining the proper guidelines. Due to this, COVID cases are increasing. This is not only happening in the Tinsukia district but in other districts also.

If it continues like this, then we cannot come out of this pandemic situation quickly.

Varsha Kumari Giri,

Tinsukia.

Give relief from soaring prices

With the detection of the first COVID infection case in the early 2020 and then in the lockdowns, the wholesalers and big traders created artificial scarcity of consumable goods shooting up prices of foodstuffs, groceries from the very start of the lockdown in March 2020. As a fallout, the lower-income group especially the poor and marginal segment comprising daily wagers, small vendors, hawkers, service manuals etc have been miserably affected. Since then the price rise became a burning issue which has been highlighted in the various newspapers, as well as the public, raised outcry but all these fell on deaf ears on the authorities of the State Food, Civil Supplies etc Department. Through this column, I draw the urgent attention of the government and urge to conduct raids in the places of wholesalers and profiteers to bring down prices for a much-needed relief to the people hard-hit by inflation.

Pannalal Dey,

Guwahati.

Role of Chief Minister against drugs

Since the appointment of Himanta Biswa Sarma as the Chief Minister, the anti-drug campaign has been intensified in various districts of Assam. The Assam Police has seized drugs and other narcotics as well as made them paraphernalia and individuals involved in the trade of these drugs. In the last month, several cases have been registered in Assam and several people involved in this heinous business have been arrested. It is undeniable that this is a great achievement of the Assam Police. The name of IPS Anand Mishra should be mentioned here. His campaign against drugs is truly commendable. This raises the question of why the police have not cracked down on drug dealers for a long time. Our State is a well-planned network of a certain class of drug mafia. This network is being linked internationally. Educated people are well aware that Afghanistan, Thailand and Myanmar are notable countries on the world map for drug production. These three countries merge to form a large area known as the Golden Triangle, known as one of the major sources of drug supply. Drugs are smuggled from this region to Assam. Most of the inhabitants of the Golden Triangle cultivate poppy flowers. The pollen from this flower is first refined into opium and then refined into morphine and heroin or brown sugar. Poppy flower cultivation is also declining due to various reasons, especially due to the depletion of soil fertility. Therefore, all manufacturers produce a synthetic substance called methamphetamine by chemical synthesis. In general, these terrible drugs (synthetic) are available in tablet form on the market. In addition, Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD) is another terrible drug prepared by chemical synthesis. It is a transparent and odourless substance. These drugs affect the human brain's programme (Central Nervous System, CNS) of a chemical called serotonin, which alters human behaviour, emotions, and perceptions of the environment. People suffer from hallucinations after consuming LSD.

Drug abuse is now a major problem across the country which has created a major impediment to human resource development. Drug use can be considered as one of the leading causes of crime among youths. In addition, there have been some unfortunate incidents of drug abuse in society. Therefore, we hope that the government led by Himanta Biswa Sarma will enact a strict law against drugs. Since Sarma himself is the Home Minister of the State, he should keep a close eye on this matter. Of course, the recent action taken by Sarma against drugs is truly commendable. In this case, the cooperation of the general public is needed, not just the police or the government.

Heramba Nath,

Kamrup.

NSDL and CDSL

National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL) and Central Depository Services Ltd (CDSL) hold Demat accounts of shareholders through online mode. The shareholders can view the list of holdings through a shareholding statement through NSDL's Ideas facility and CDSL's EASI facility. Both NSDL and CDSL also facilitate e-voting facilities for the respective companies that have opted to provide online voting facilities to shareholders.

It is also requested to include the calendar of annual general meetings in both the CDSL and NSDL portals along with the existing facility of shareholding statements and e-voting facility. The annual general meetings calendar will provide seamless access to view the list of annual general meeting events through a single online interface. It will also enable the companies to inch closer to achieving transparency and fairness under the ambit of corporate governance.

Varun Dambal,

Bangalore.