Letters to the Editor: Disparities between IPL and ISL

Cricket and football are the two most popular sports played in India. Both sports are played with lots of enthusiasm across the nation. To popularize and promote the above two mentioned sports, both BCCI and AIFF, the supreme bodies are holding franchise-based leagues namely IPL and ISL across the nation where foreign players are allowed to take part after being auctioned. Notably, the glaring differences seen between the IPL and ISL matches are the glamour, publicity, and cash involved. Anyone watching an IPL or ISL matches will observe that the stadium hosting an IPL match is fully packed with colourful people, VVIPs, film stars. The cricket stadia are illuminated with light, DJ sound and cheerleaders lifting the mood of the spectators and players. Sadly, it is just the reverse in the case of ISL. In Assam too, both the Bordoloi Trophy and the Independence Cup are facing the same fate. It is all due to proper marketing by the cash-loaded BCCI. Secondly, Indian football standards are way too low compared to major soccer powerhouses, which fail to draw the crowd. Of course, cricket is being played by a handful of countries where India is a powerhouse.

Globally, it is just the opposite. All the big soccer events like EPL, BUNDESLIGA, SERIE A, LA LIGA matches are usually played before a huge crowd with lots of glamour and publicity. Soccer is the king of all games.

Dr Ashim Chowdhury,

Guwahati.

Formalin in fish:

A new threat

The availability of formalin and other poisonous substances in fish imported from outside the state has become a great threat to the common people. Recently, a special team from the Department of Biology at Nowgong College, under the leadership of some professors, carried out a study in the local fish markets of Nagaon district. The team had collected some samples and examined all of them in all aspects at the local laboratory as well as at the laboratory in Guwahati. After proper examination, the team had got the confirmation about the presence of 15 per cent poisonous formalin, 0.003 per cent cadmium and 0.15 per cent arsenic in imported fish available in the local markets of the district. No doubt, such types of poisonous imported fish may also be available in other fish markets in the state. Regular consumption of such poisonous fish may cause a number of deadly diseases among people. Therefore, the government must look into the matter seriously and take the necessary steps to control or prevent the importation of such poisonous fish into the state, considering the health hazards to the citizens. Moreover, we, the common people, must also be conscious and aware of the quality of food items at the time of purchase that are available in the local markets.

Rupak G. Duarah,

Rajahnagar, Guwahati-40.

Scarcity of jobs for BDS graduate holders

I would like to bring to your notice that the condition for BDS holder graduates is really getting worsened. As far as I know I have given three to five interviews where there are vacancies only one or two and candidates are extremely saturated because demand is less but supply is more. It’s getting frustrating for the candidates, and the mental health of many job-seeking candidates is unstable. And even in 99 percent of vacancies, the requirements are a minimum of five years of experience with additional preferences; this is even worse for students who have just passed out after their internship in Guwahati, Assam. We have only one dental college, i.e., a regional dental college, in GMC all over Guwahati. So I feel that even the dental clinics are overcrowded because people will only go to doctors who are well known among many. So there is total waste in opening a dental clinic. I request that you publish the plight in your newspaper so that it gets coverage and the government takes it seriously in giving opportunities to many candidates because everyone wants to do something in their life.

Dr. Sumedha Sarma,

(sarmasumedha35@gmail.com.)

Secure work environment

Safety, security, and health are the most common words in use today. In the past, “World Day for Safety and Health at Work” on April 28 may have passed off as one of those days with run-of-the-mill programmes. But the Corona pandemic had brought a new way of thinking among health workers. Therefore, providing special education to all workers, irrespective of their status, is crucial. Perhaps the world will, henceforth, lay renewed stress on infectious diseases. Safe practices at work are the key to a secure environment for employees. The outlook of the international agencies includes an eye on the future. Never was the world so compelled to shut down its day-to-day activities, resulting in huge economic losses to governments following COVID-19, which also taught experts and commoners alike to tie up loose ends in technology, especially telemedicine and its logistics.

Familiarity with technological aspects and improving upon the fatigue factor were there for all to see. Earlier, both the physical and emotional facets of a worker had to be kept in consideration by all stakeholders. Now, it’s these two plus psychological “Workplace stress: a collective challenge” is the apt theme of this year’s observation. Stress and strain at work are a worker’s inevitable companions. During the two waves of the pandemic, job losses and pay cuts augmented the common worries of workers. To their credit, private players, by and large, resisted the temptation of firing workers. The workforce recouped and consolidated well to ward off stress and strain. A sense of protection and belonging are things that people who are labourers, daily wage earners, and workers whose future depends on the whims of their employers desperately require.

Dr Ganapathi Bhat,

(gbhat13@gmail.com.)

Water management

Every summer, water becomes a commodity as precious as gold in India. More than six per cent of the country’s population of 1.42 billion people lacks access to safe water. Millions of people in India have endured the COVID-19 pandemic during the last two years, with the added challenge of living without access to safe water, which is critical to the health of families in the country. These factors have created unprecedented urgency to implement effective and permanent solutions to end the growing water crisis in India. Groundwater is a major source for irrigation as well as for urban and rural domestic water supplies. But overexploitation of this precious resource has led to its diminution. It is high time that water, as a resource, is brought to par with all other economic resources of the country. We need to redefine and restructure the centre-state relations on water management and allow for single-window decision-making. It is unfortunate that despite water being an existential need for humans, it remains one of the most under-prioritized but over-abused commodities in India.

Ranganathan Sivakumar,

(siva19kumar@gmail.com.)