Letters to The Editor: Brutal reality

Rewinding a one-and-a-half years roundabout, on 16th December 2019 Congress leader Jaiveer Shergill opposed the CAA and tweeted that the CAB is 'Communal Atom Bomb'. He left no stone unturned to oppose CAA, CAB and Narendra Modi. He advised the Prime Minister to be concerned about the Indians without playing any religious card. He even went on to add that minorities in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan are in living peacefully with dignity. Just a few days back, this same person was seen pleading with the Modi government to immediately evacuate the Hindus and Sikhs from Afghanistan. Certainly, reality can be very brutal and also the best teacher. Now, hopefully, many like Jaiveer Shergill have understood the necessity of the CAA.

Julie Bhuyan,

Gaurisagar.

TMC and Akhil Gogoi

The TMC won the recent Assembly elections in West Bengal by defeating the nearest rival BJP, thanks to their large vote bank gathered from the nearby country. The base of TMC supporters is an open secret by this time even the novice in the political field knows the story after the post-poll violence unleashed by them on BJP supporters. The post-poll violence reminded us of the partition days. TMC after securing the support of a particular religious linguistic community in their state is now eyeing Assam through Akhil Gogoi. Shrewd Akhil Gogoi in the meantime after getting the go-ahead signal from Didi has immediately started championing the causes of the said community in Assam by lambasting AIUDF for neglecting the interests over the years. In the past Akhil Gogoi had brazenly opposed the drive of the State government to evict the illegal encroachers from Kaziranga which is known to all Asom-loving people. Gogoi's soft corner for those illegal encroachers has made him the automatic choice for the TMC game plan who are in dire need of one who can help them in opening their base and account in Assam's political map. Akhil Gogoi's lust for power resembles that of the then Badan Barphukan, the great betrayer.

JOI AI ASOM.

Joel Goyari,

Tangla.

Online education

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, India is amongst other few countries where educational institutions have been closed for the longest time. As cases begin to rise and the educational institutions were forced to shut down, students were left with no choice in their hands. With its limited access, online education magnified the challenges to learning outcomes that are often the result of entrenched socio-economic differences. Recent reports show that these gaps have manifested themselves not just in access to education and participation rates as is often discussed, but also in interest and quality of learning outcomes. Virtual classes have thrown up significant challenges for learners and teachers. Teachers are not being able to access whether students have understood or not. The loss is not limited to knowledge gathering. UNESCO has estimated that every month a war from school results in a learning loss of two months. The last 17 months have set children back by almost 34 months. The impact of these truncated experiences synonymous with growing up is likely to be quite severe on the mental health of children.

Chandan Kumar Nath,

Sorbhog.

Are not we
responsible?

We are making mistakes after the first wave of Covid-19. Some people are carelessly ignoring all the precautions. As we all know, a few months back people were running desperately to find beds for Covid treatment, but now many people are enjoying hill stations, beaches without any precautions. Some of us are enjoying this quarantine/ lockdown period as a vacation. Scientists and specialists advise us to take all precautions, but some people take it easily as though Covid-19 is over. For our carelessness, we will have to face the third wave or maybe fourth/fifths. We have to be a little bit careful. We have to follow the precautions so that we can fight the pandemic.

Sikhamani Deka,

Cotton University

Education system during COVID period

The spread of COVID-19 worldwide has destructed the internal structure of countries around the world. A proper healthcare system, institutional infrastructures are some of the major pillars that determine the eternal beauty of a country. During this COVID crisis, the education sector suffered a lot. At this very time, the pandemic has only proved to be a threat to the health of the students, but also a threat to the minds of the youth. For the past two years, the educational institutions were closed. Although the online classes were conducted by the educational authorities, yet students lost their concentration on studies as electronic appliances like mobile phones, TV etc., captured their attention. In Assam, students in rural areas suffered a lot in attending online classes due to a lack of network.

Hirakjyoti Sarma,

Patacharkuchi.

Understanding children

Online classes only give negative impacts on children. This is because there is no proper communication between the students and their instructors. Students will feel loneliness and continuous class cause many disadvantages on them.

As a student, I can understand the situation. The effect of an online class is harder for students to get the concept. The school authorities should understand the feelings of children. There should be a proper bond between the students and the teachers. If they are continuing this process we can see many suicides due to depression and stress.

Manjima Nambiar,

Gauhati University.

Proposed commando battalions

Apropos to the good news report on the front page of your esteemed daily, "Process initiated for 5 commando battalions" (9th August 2021, Monday), I wish the Home Department, under CM Himanta Biswa Sarma, good luck for initiating the right move on the path of "setting up five of the ten battalions in phase I".

Indeed, with the inclusion of 5 more commando battalions in Assam, the security and safety of the common people in any situation will get a boost.

If the proposed plan of action takes place at the right time, more and more job opportunities will be opened for the most eligible candidates to apply for the same, appear for the genuine interview, go for the regular training schedule and so forth. I believe the future crisis for a good job will be over with the opening of the posts in miscellaneous categories in the proposed battalions in Assam. Indeed, it is a positive move on the part of the Home Department! The personnel of the battalions can render their service during crisis hour and there is ample scope for the strengthening and consolidation of the State Government.

Now, we have to wait and watch how it is materialized.

Through your esteemed daily, I wish the State Home Department very good luck!!!

Jayanta Topadar,

Sikshak Karyakarta,

Vivekananda Kendra Vidyalaya, Dhemaji

Covid-19 guidelines

According to the guidelines released on the 17th of May, 2021, inter-district transport services and movement of people was suspended for 15 days from the 21st of May, 2021. After 15 days, this order was extended till further notice, and is still in effect. Many citizens of Assam are seen complying with the guidelines. But sadly, at the same time, it has also been observed that many people are breaking this order. Inter-district travel is possible in case of emergencies, and with the permission of the Deputy Commissioner of the respective districts. But it is seen that some people are travelling inter-districts without any proper emergencies, or important and valid reasons, and also without the permission of any of the authorities concerned. As the people of Assam are tackling the 2nd wave of Covid-19, these law-breaking citizens are acting as imminent threats to the well-being of the citizens of Assam.

Through your esteemed daily I would like to draw the attention of the authorities concerned to look into the matter and take necessary actions. I would also like to request the citizens of Assam to act responsibly and abide by the guidelines of tackling the Covid-19 virus.

Tushar Bhuyan,

Cotton University, Guwahati

Defunct bodies

We understand that there exist two non-governmental bodies, namely NESO and NEDA which are supposed to work for the development of the entire NE region of India. NEDA, a body comprising leading political leaders of NE India, and the NESO, a body comprising of the leading student leaders of the states of NE India, namely Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Tripura. NEDA is at present headed by Himanta Biswa Sarma. But very unfortunately we have started seeing that both these two bodies exist only in the paper as their roles in recent border conflicts between the seven sisters are nowhere to be seen.

Lanu Dutta Choudhury,

Giwahati.

Milkha Singh's wish

Milkha Singh had wished to see an Indian win an Olympic medal in track and field. The long eluding metal piece finds its rightful destination as Neeraj Chopra champions the Men Javelin event with a majestic 87.58-m throw and ends the long 100-year wait for an Olympics Athletic Gold. An Indian dream that was so close to being fulfilled by Milkha Singh, PT Usha, Anju Bobby George - has finally been realized by Neeraj Chopra.

He has been a shining star in the Indian athletic world for a few years now. He is the first Indian athlete to ever win a world title in track and field at U-20. He scored a gold-medal winning throw (88.06m) at the 2018 Asian Games and 2018 Commonwealth Games. Needless to say, the countrymen had high hopes on Neeraj Chopra and thus his performance can only catalyse the country's ever-young diaspora to take up athletics. Subedar Neeraj Chopra, a serving JCO in the Indian Army embodies the very virtue of this young and vibrant India. Through his achievement, the country shall rise with a renewed vigour and a whole new generation awaits with a twinkle of dreams. The nation swells with pride. onwards and upwards.

Subhash Chandra Biswas,

Tezpur.

A reflection of Tokyo T/20 Olympic

The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games has been a spectacular success even though the games have been held in the fresh surge of Covid outbreak and that the organizers had to stand up to civil protests in Japan against holding the games in the grim Covid-19 scenario. From what it looked like in the television broadcast that it was no different in the glaze from the previous Olympics held in the normal situation and the local condition of venues seemed spot on. Hopefully, there will be no shooting up of virus spread among the global communities after the games.

The Tokyo20 Olympics augurs a new beginning in Indian sports. Before departure, many bets on this Olympic contingent to return with an increased medal tally and the Indians scored a best-ever performance with one Gold, two Silver and four Bronze medals. The 23-year-old young athlete Neeraj Chopra made all Indians proud with his Golden throw in Javelin and he is the first athlete to have won a Gold medal in Olympics. In hockey, the men and women teams marked their footprint among the elite group of nations like Australia, Germany, the UK, Argentina and others by regaining third and fourth rank respectively with the men team winning the bronze medal. This occasion has brought many cheers for Assam as a daughter of the state Lovlina has won an Olympic bronze in boxing for the first time. This is also a record performance of the NE Region as another daughter of Manipur Mirabai Chanu has won a silver medal in weightlifting; while one hockey player from Manipur played the Olympic matches in both men's and women's teams. In some disciplines, our players have shown improved performance unlike in the past by getting through elimination rounds.

But ideally, with the world's second-largest population we must keep our eyes on getting into the top bracket of medal tally in global sport meets like Olympics. To grow an aptitude for sports in their budding age of boys and girls the athletic sports like track and field, football, hockey, volleyball etc., should be introduced from the school level under the proper guidance of a qualified trainer. The graded sports infrastructure should be built at educational institutions from schools to universities. A few select institutions can be earmarked for specializing in one game with the right infrastructure and training facility.

The sports bodies should be in charge of sports professionals of international repute. It is not helpful to persist with the same players returning medal-less from consecutive Games. More numbers of players should be trained to international standards in each game like Archery, Shooting, Badminton, Track and Field, Tennis and Table Tennis to get desired results. We must reduce our focus only on cricket. The corporate honchos should generously invest in different sports. The electronic media should generously allot more time to propagate and popularize other sports like hockey, football, kabaddi etc. The Governments at the Centre and in the states should encourage sports by spending more on normal courses for the development of sports at the grassroots level and should not wait till the conclusion of international sports events for announcing cash dole to medal winners. Given proper planning, our medal tally is sure to increase in number.

Pannalal Dey,

Guwahati.