Recognizing Bodo language: Letters to The Editor

The newly-formed Assam State Assembly's decision to allow the Bodo language in the State Assembly is appreciable and it is indeed a big day for the Bodo people, especially for the Bodo-speaking legislators as they will be able to speak in their mother tongue. As we all know that in December 2020, the Bodo language had received recognition as another official language of Assam. And now this step taken by the State Assembly will surely give a positive message to the Indigenous people and will provide a platform to the Bodo community with a population of 14 lakh.

Bhaswati Kumar Das,

Guwahati.

Economic situation

GDP contracts by 7.3 per cent, the worst show in four decades. The pandemic's second wave has disrupted the economic momentum. How quickly the economic activity will bounce back to levels before the third wave depends on the trajectory of the pandemic, the timeless for the rollback of the restrictions imposed by some States and the pace of the vaccination drive.

Chandan Kumar Nath,

Sorbhog.

Great decision

On 7th June, our beloved Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the nation and declared a slew of welfare measures to be undertaken by the government in the coming weeks and months. Firstly, the Government of India is going to vaccinate the entire population of above 18 to 45 years free of cost. Secondly, the procurement of vaccines and distribution will be done by the Central government. Thirdly, a free ration would be provided to 80 crore families till the festival of lights, Deepawali. Now, these decisions have caught the government of Delhi, Punjab, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Kerela on the wrong foot as the Chief Ministers of these States always washed off their failure by putting all the blame on the Modi government. Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Sashi Tharoor don't allow a day to pass without their meaningless criticism of Narendra Modi. I go by the saying 'Modi Hain Toh Mumkin Hain'.

Dhiman Senchowa,

North Lakhimpur.

Sonu Sood, the Samaritan

Actor Sonu Sood is relatively new in the tinsel town of Bollywood when compared to the likes of Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Ajay Devgn, Aamir Khan, Akshay Kumar, and others, and his success story doesn't match with those mentioned stars but still with his limited resources he outshone the demigods (who draw crore paycheques through movies and commercial advertisements). He is often seen portraying negative roles or the sidekicks but this man has a heart of gold that weighs a thousand times greater than the present-day superstars of reel life. During the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, he reached out to help many migrant labourers. His Samaritan deeds should shame Amitabh Bachchan, who also is known as Big B, who kept himself sidelined when his millions of fans were in deep crisis. We find just a handful of artists whose integrity and commitment towards the nation is unquestionable. The majority of the Bollywood stars are like parasites. Memory is still fresh in mind when Sarfarosh star Aamir Khan went to Istanbul and had a discussion with the Turkish President knowing well that the Turkey government is pro-Pakistan and anti-India. Sonu Sood is a villain in reel life, but a hero in real life, a true Samaritan.

Dr Ashim Chowdhury,

Guwahati.

E-content for children with special needs

It is encouraging to note that the Union Education Ministry has issued guidelines for developing e-content for Children with Special Needs (CWSN). According to the report 'Guidelines for the Development of e-Content for Children with Disabilities', e-content for CWSN should be designed using the four concepts of perceivable, operable, intelligible, and robustness. Text, tables, graphs, graphics, audios, and videos would all be compliant with national and international accessibility requirements. Furthermore, content distribution platforms and reading platforms/devices on which information is viewed and interacted with must meet technical criteria, with reasonable pedagogical concessions proposed to satisfy CWSN's special needs. It is hoped that this project would provide appropriate learning content for CWSN based on their unique needs and assist educational institutions in achieving the goals of inclusive education outlined in the New Education Policy 2020.

Amit Singh Kushwaha,

Satna (M.P.)

Make students tension free

It is now evident that bureaucrats-based education policy has become useless in our State as the SEBA and the AHSEC have not framed any modality yet as to how students will appear in the HSLC and HSSLC examinations if the COVID-19 situation goes on like this. Surprisingly the head of the institutions and centre in-charges who are the practical masters of how to conduct and run the examinations smoothly are not summoned for discussion till now. The question paper setting and evaluation of answer scripts are two different things. The answer scripts' evaluation takes place at various zones of the remote areas of the State, and there is a high risk of fire, flood and any external disturbances. The head of the institutions and centre in-charges are more practical regarding this matter and therefore their views could have been taken to conduct the examination free and fair. But instead of taking their views, the authority seems to impose some impractical decisions finalized in the upper level which may affect the students' future. The authority should also listen to the views of genuine students whether they want to appear in the examinations or not. At this stage, any decision taken by the authority will certainly affect the good students. So, whatever the modality the authorities concerned with are thinking, they should make it public immediately to make the students' tension free.

Harsha Mohan Sarma,

Chamata, Nalbari.