Letters to The Editor: Murder of judge

The news of the cold-blooded murder of the Additional District and Sessions Judge, Uttam Anand in Dhanbad is very shocking. It appears that it was a pre-planned murder while he was engaged in his morning walk, and it is strongly suspected that the coal mafia is behind these gruesome murders. Though two persons have been taken into custody, suspecting their involvement in the incident yet till now the investigation authority has failed to track down the real culprits. The coal mafia is very strongly footed in Dhanbad, as such, instead of the State Police Machinery; the case should be handed over to the CBI as early as possible before the evidence essential to the investigation are damaged. This type of cruel murder of a judicial officer is nothing but a direct assault on the judiciary of the country.

I also urge the Chief Minister of Jharkhand to take personal initiative and amplify the requirement of adequate security of the judicial officers.

Subhash Chandra Biswas,

Tezpur.

Taken for a ride?

The monsoon session of both Houses of Parliament is on where we the bonafide Indians expect many people-friendly bills to be passed in the Houses. But what is happening in both Houses of Parliament is very unfortunate. An old issue like Bofors has once again rocked both the Houses with a positive result while the Rafale issue has misfired wasting hours of proceedings. This sort of undue interruption with a malafide intention makes the taxpayers suffer badly. The recent imbroglio arising out of yet another issue like Rafale leading to frequent interruptions of both Houses by the Opposition, mainly by the Congress is leading the House to nowhere as a proper debate in this issue between the Opposition and the ruling party is what we need. Merely shouting slogans and tearing papers on the floor of the Houses will not serve the purpose as seen in the past.

We the bona fide law-abiding taxpayers are simply helpless as we are taken for a ride by our lawmakers. Are we truly a democratic nation?

Dr Ashim Chowdhury,

Guwahati.

Boundary dispute

The Assam and Mizoram boundary has witnessed several skirmishes since October last year, with both States accusing each other of encroachment on their territories. It's all the more regrettable that the latest clash took place just two days after Union Home Minister Amit Shah met the Chief Ministers of the eight Northeastern States in Shillong to discuss interstate border disputes and other issues. The face-off between Assam and Mizoram on the border was a dangerous escalation of a simmering border dispute. The loss of 6 Assam policemen and a civilian is a regrettable event that cannot be brushed away in the usual fashion of announcing compensation with money. The CMs must own moral responsibility for stoking tensions and causing the loss of lives. The immediate task on hand would be for the Chief Ministers to declare a kind of ceasefire which any disciplined State police force should not find hard to maintain. This is the minimum that must be done to rein in police forces so that civil ways of interstate dispute solving methods can be exercised quickly with the Centre acting as the honest broker even as Central forces take a more active hand at maintaining vigil on the border areas and curbing any misadventures of the type that led to the conflagration. The Northeast has for decades been a hotbed of insurgency. Conflicts between the States over encroachments and other unlawful activities are a dangerous contribution to that volatile area and the law-and-order situation there. The Centre's litmus test will be to help various states iron out their differences and work in close cooperation.

Chandan Kumar Nath,

Sorbhog.

Disabled bank pensioners discriminated

Presently negotiations are underway between trade union leaders and management on the pension issues such as the up-gradation of pension and other pension issues. The pensioners who had taken premature retirement due to total incapacitation after completion of 28 years of service were denied the notional benefit of five years in the pensioner benefits. And this anomaly could have been removed when the first Disability Act was passed in 1996. But due to the insensitive attitude towards disabled persons, this anomaly still exists even after the passing of the second Disability Act in 2016. Various representations were sent by the disabled to trade union leaders, Chairman of IBA and banks, Disability Department of Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Ministry of Law, Ministry of Finance, PMO, President of India, Chief Justice of India etc but nobody is ready to take up the matter as the total number of persons are very a few and can be counted on fingers. Guidelines issued by IBA for customers' service clearly states that there cannot be any disparity between able and disabled but still there is a disparity in Section 30 of Pension Act where disabled are being denied the notional benefit of five years in the pensionary benefits who had taken premature retirement due to total incapacitation after completion of 28 years of service which is a highly discriminated act. Haryana and Punjab fonts had enhanced superannuation age by two years of disabled employees. Denial of notional benefit in pensionary benefits is clearly against the natural justice, against various courts decisions, against NHRC, unconstitutional and weaker sections of society as per RBI norms disabled are covered under weaker sections. Moreover, now some banks are going to be privatized and if this anomaly is not removed before privatization then there is fear that any individual or NGO can challenge the denationalization and it is expected that anomaly be removed before privatization.

Yash Pal Ralhan,

Jalandhar.

'Manodarpan' initiative

Mental Health has emerged as an important public health concern in recent times. Childhood and adolescence are critical junctures of life where kids and adolescents experience rapid growth and development in the brain. Due to this recent pandemic induced cacophony of challenges, the kids and adolescents have fallen prey to mental instabilities. The adults should come forward and create a friendly environment for them so that they can share whatever they are going through. The Ministry of Education, Government of India as a part of the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative has introduced a platform called 'Manodarpan' which includes a toll-free helpline for students at schools, colleges and universities will be manned by a pool of experienced counsellors, psychologists and mental health professionals. It also has a website, a National Database of Counsellors which will host an interactive online chat platform, advisories and tips through webinars and other resources. This initiative will tremendously help those suffering from mental instabilities and will provide psychosocial support to students, family members and teachers for their mental well-being in these times of crisis. I want to thank the Government of India for acknowledging the mental health problems faced by kids or even adults and coming up with such a great initiative.

Noopur Baruah,

Tezpur.