CM's plantation drive
With the sun emerging with all guns blazing these days, the city dwellers are pining for a piece of shade, which is becoming more and more difficult to find with time. We all know the importance that trees hold in regulating the weather and acting as a shield against the mighty sun. With this in mind, Chief Minister of Assam Himanta Biswa Sarma has launched a statewide plantation drive which will cover 80,000 government institutions. This will not only add to the green cover of the state, which saw a declining trend in the past few years, but also help to tackle the perennial flood problem of the state. It is great to see a politician walk the talk and taking the high road in solving the problems of a state. I would also like to ask the Chief Minister through your esteemed daily to take some stringent measures against filling large swathes of wetland, which is causing urban flood.
Noopur Baruah,
Tezpur.
Blow for TMC
The recovery of Rs 21 crore along with other incriminating materials from the house of Arpita Mukherjee, who was closely associated with Partha Chatterjee, Minister of Commerce and Industry and IT Minister of West Bengal, is really unfortunate news for the Trinamool Congress and its leader Mamata Banerjee. The Trinamool Congress wants to expand its footprint beyond West Bengal, but it has received a big blow and it will hamper the image of the party throughout the country. It is beyond the belief of the common people that a politician/minister could adopt such corrupt practice of money laundering. It is high time for TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee to suspend him from the party till the end of the trial. The Calcutta High Court has given a big relief by enquiring into the teachers selection scam during Partha Chatterjee's ministership and the present recovery of unaccounted money from the house of Arpita Mukherjee.
It is a regular feature to blame the Central Government for involving the ED (Enforcement Directorate) and Income Tax Department to conduct investigation against any corrupt practice by Opposition party members. But the recovery of a huge amount of money from the house of Arpita Mukherjee has belied this allegation. Mamata Banerjee should keep an eye upon her colleagues, so that the party may not face more such awkward situations in the future.
Subhash Chandra Biswas,
Guwahati-11.
Parliament logjam
The Parliament commenced its monsoon session on 18th July and is scheduled to conclude on 12th August. The session has entered into its second week, but regrettably, legislative business and constructive debates on people's issues are yet to take place. The first week (18-22 July) was totally washed out. In the general elections, aggressive campaign and hype are generated by the political parties for constituting the Lok Sabha for a five-year term. But once the elected members occupy seats for five years, they forget the voters and, not the least, become oblivious to the people's aspirations. The successive sessions have given this evidence, showing that the elected members time and again violate their solemn declaration under oath to defend and maintain the dignity of the Indian Constitution. One of the shortcomings is that the Modi Government does not take parliamentary function with seriousness. Session after session is marred by poor floor coordination, or lack of it; and absence of initiative from the Government side taking time to talk to the Opposition leaders. The BJP leadership must acknowledge that it is the voters of our great country who brought them to power and they must honour the people's mandate. People are anguished in witnessing bizarre disturbance by the parliamentarians every session. This should end!
Pannalal Dey,
Guwahati.
Reservation policy
I have been a regular reader of your esteemed daily for the past 30-odd years. Recently my attention was drawn to a letter published titled 'Abolishing Reservation Policy' by Debajit Goswami. The writer makes some important points regarding abolishing reservation policy in India, because it has been going on for too long (70+ years). I agree with the writer's observation that one can argue about the degree of success that reservation policies have had since independence. I must, however, point out that the quote attributed to Dr BR Ambedkar is utterly false. In this age of misinformation and disinformation on social media, it is imperative that one must be thorough about their sources on quotes from famous figures. In this context, I would be interested to know where the author got this quote from. It is also unfortunate that a reputable publication failed to do their due diligence in fact-checking. Regarding abolition of reservation policy, I would like to add that thousands of years of systemic inequality cannot be erased in a relatively short time frame of 75 years. It is indeed a welcome development that an individual representing the Adivasi community is now the titular head of the Executive in our country. Removal of thousands of years of systemic oppression, however, calls for more than mere tokenism. Maybe a new target ambition needs to be set for removing reservations — for example when scavenging operations are mechanized and human beings do not have to risk their lives and dignity wading into refuse and excrement. This would be a lofty goal, befitting India's stature as the world's largest democracy.
Harsha Phukan,
Plymouth, Michigan, USA.
World Hepatitis Day
On July 28, we celebrate World Hepatitis Day, which seeks to raise awareness and promote global action on viral hepatitis. Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver. There are five main types of the hepatitis virus – A, B, C, D and E. Hepatitis B and C lead to chronic disease in hundreds of millions of people globally, and together are the most common cause of liver cirrhosis, liver cancer and viral hepatitis-related deaths. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), approximately 354 million people in the world are living with hepatitis B and C.
Jubel D'Cruz,
Mumbai.