Letters to the Editor: Pegasus has violated Indian democratic rights

More recently, Pegasus spyware software has unexpectedly caught the attention of Indian citizens. It has been widely misused by buyers of Pegasus spyware software, developed by an Israeli cyber company called NSO. This information has already caused a stir all over the world. It is worth mentioning that this is advanced software that can be used to easily hack anyone's smartphone, laptop, iPhone etc. All the conversations, information, messages, pictures, etc. of the phone user will be received by the customer of the spyware without the knowledge of the phone user. Therefore, the spyware user gets all the secrets used in the phone secretly without the user knowing anything. Pegasus spyware can be purchased for a large sum of money. The NSO Cyber ??Company usually manufactures and sells this spyware to monitor national security, terrorist activities and routines. In fact, according to NSO's rule, this software is not for sale to any individual. According to the rules, it is sold by the government agency or the government. In the meantime, this has been revealed by NSO. However, according to media reports, the phones of many prominent journalists, social activists, opposition political leaders, human rights activists, and others in our country have fallen into the trap of Pegasus spyware. If the published news and allegations prove to be true, then the personal freedom, democratic rights of Indian citizens can be said to have been destroyed or violated. In this context, the question arises as to who has been spying on the affairs of the prominent citizens of the country with the help of Pegasus?

If the NSO sells Pegasus spyware software to a government or a government agency, then naturally the government or the government agency itself may be suspected. The Congress and other opposition parties have protested inside and outside Parliament, suspecting such spying for political gain. The country has been accused of "turning into a spy state". This sentence has been shouted at by the opposition parties. But the government has made it very clear that our government is not involved in unauthorized intelligence activities. The government has claimed that its purpose was to tarnish the image of democracy in the country during the monsoon session of Parliament.

However, as responsible citizens of the country, we are worshipers of truth and justice. We never want the untimely demise of the world's largest democratic rights and system.

Heramba Nath, Kamrup

Global Tiger Day

"ROAR IS RARE" - Global Tiger Day is commemorated annually on July 29th to generate awareness heeding the receding population of the lineage.

The World Tiger Day was initially earmarked in the year 2010 at the Saint Petersburg Tiger Summit in Russia. An aggregate of thirteen tiger span nations got together and agreed on on a global objective to make twice as much the number of wild tigers by the year 2022. Tigers are a substantial lineage of cats and can weigh up to 660 pounds.

According to a summary on Tiger oneness, India hosts 70% of the World's Total Tiger Population. Jim Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand possesses the hugest tiger consistency among other India's Tigers Reserves commemorated by Kaziranga National Park of Assam.

Tigers are a memento of Beauty, Bravery, Strength and Nationality. Tigers are the pride of our nation and their survival is in our hands. "Don't strip the stripes from nature - Conserve Tigers" Tigers subsist in Dark, Conserve the King to preserve Mother Earth.

Anjali Chandak,

Cotton University.

Euphoria

Euphoria means a false sense of wellbeing that is harmful. In this regard, I beg to cite an example. After the formation of the new State Government, APDCL, a company chronically suffering from gross ailments for decades due to wrong implementation and corruption, had a new minister in Bimal Borah who promised us better tomorrows. After taking over charge everything was going on at a galloping speed and in the right direction, but alas! Within months, things started changing in the wrong direction. Faulty bills and erratic power supply has become a regular issue. The power failure at peak hours at such sweltering heat torments the consumers who do not have a power backup facility.

So, through this letter in your esteemed daily, I want to remind the minister concerned of his earlier promise. Euphoria and short gimmicks never pay off.

Lanu Dutta Chowdhury,

Guwahati.

PM Kisan Samman Nidhi

In recent news, it was reported that over 8 lakh false farmers have gulped down over Rs 500 crore in the name of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi in Assam. The farmers who toil in sun and rain to feed the whole country are living the same life they were living since independence. Numerous schemes have been introduced for the farmers but these schemes have not reached them. Many of them are also not aware of such schemes. The fruit of these schemes is enjoyed by people who do not bat an eye before guzzling down such a large sum of money. Proper investigation should be done and all the people involved should be dragged to court. It is evident enough that these people were working under the shade of government officials or some powerful ministers. No one should be spared. If the government desires actual development of farmers then it should instead invest the money into bettering the irrigation facilities, creation of strong embankments etc. Such scandals in the implementation of government schemes have proved that such schemes do not reach the deserving ones. The government should rethink their policies and bring about some changes so that no one can point a finger at the government.

Noopur Baruah,

Tezpur.

Rudely shocked

26th July is observed as the Kushal Konwar Divas all over the state where the contribution of the great son of the soil is recalled. On this very day, Captain Jintu Gogoi sacrificed his life for the nation in the Kargil war over the Himalayan mountain ranges. In many parts of the state, various programmes were held where rich tributes and homage were paid to both the worthy sons of the land. While watching a local TV channel I was appalled to see one Sri Rana Goswami, an ex-MLA from prestigious Jorhat was seen paying homage to a photograph of Lt. Natasurya Phani Sarma instead of Kushal Konwar in a function organized by the APCC in their party office. This is the present APCC big guns' level of knowledge about the history of the state and the nation. Lastly, I appeal to the top brass of APCC leaders to kindly go through the Assam's history so that in future they do not repeat such mistakes and end up being a laughing stock in front of the public.

Dr Ashim Choudhury,

Guwahati

The recent border conflicts between Assam and Mizoram are very unfortunate and uncalled for. At least five jawans of Assam police laid down their lives while defending the constitutional boundary of the State and around sixty civilians were injured at the Assam and Mizoram border. There had been many intermittent conflicts between the two states since Mizoram was carved out of Assam in the year 1972. Despite several rounds of talks between the states since 1995, the border issue couldn't be resolved so far. The recent violence of 26th July is the result of the long-standing issues and the dormant tensions between the two states.

It is high time the Governments of Assam and Mizoram, as well as the government at the Centre, looked into this issue with utmost priority and try to resolve it amicably and peacefully. Otherwise, the innocent civilians and the policemen on duty will continue to pay the price ultimately. At this time when the county is already facing frequent tensions at the international borders against arch-enemy Pakistan and China in which many jawans and army officers are getting martyred, such internal conflicts and violence will weaken the nerves of our nation. With so many external conflicts and with a staggering country's economy due to the Covid-19, India needs to reduce the internal conflicts for the better. It's time to think, rectify and resolve.

Riti Dowerah,

Cotton University,

Guwahati.

Loss-making Delhi Milk Scheme

Loss-making Delhi Milk Scheme (DMS) should be immediately transferred to Amul as per tender results for best utilization of DMS resources including its milk booths.

Cooperative giant Amul had won over Mother Dairy to take over Delhi Milk Scheme DMS running in heavy losses at an annual lease of Rs 42.30 crore against Rs 42.20 offered by Mother Dairy for 30 years with a 7-per cent annual increase in lease-amount in the bid opened on 27.11.2018. DMS started in the year 1959 has already piled up losses to the tune of Rs 900 crore was decided to be given by the Central government to some market leader.

At present, 566 DMS booths scattered throughout the capital city of India are being grossly misused as private shops by the licensees in corrupt partnership of DMS personnel by authorization to sell products other than from DMS. It is to be noted that Mother Dairy booths in Delhi-NCR sell only Mother Dairy products, a big reason for the success of Mother Dairy. The mere existence of DMS after the launch of Mother Dairy by the Central government for Delhi-NCR is in itself a wastage of public resources also through double-spent on overheads.

The Central government should urgently lease out DMS to Amul as per bid terms with the condition that all the 566 DMS booths in the Delhi area will sell exclusively Amul products.

It will in turn save huge amounts of regular losses in DMS, especially at a time when the Central government must save funds by cutting down unnecessary expenses and losses for fiscal needs generated because of lock-down and corona-spread. Rather probes may be made and guilty ones punished for not implementing tender-result pending from 27.11.2018 resulting in unnecessary huge expenses on running loss-generating DMS only for corrupt purposes.

Subhash Chandra Agrawal,

Delhi

Sports awareness

The awareness of sports in our country is poor and lacks adequate facilities. People tend to give more emphasis on academics and education that they forget that sports play an important role in the growth of every individual. The world's second-most populous nation has the worst Olympic record in terms of medals per head. In the past three decades, it has won only one gold medal - for the men's 10m rifle in 2008. The Indian Olympic Association admits the country has not always done enough to support its athletes but says there is more to India's sorry performance than just a shortage of cash or organisation. Our country expects medals at the Olympics but is not building a proper infrastructure that is feasible and accessible even in small cities and schools.

This problem is at the grassroots level. From a very young age, many kids are indulged in sports but at some point in their lives, most of them have to give up on their hopes and dreams because of the pressure given to them by parents, school or even financial issues. The poor people constitute the bulk of India's population, and these poor are also the ones who don't have access to education, don't have access to good nutrition, health.

That has meant that a large part of India's population hasn't been able to take part in sports, and hasn't had access to sporting facilities. For a country of over 1.25 billion, the existing sports infrastructure is not satisfactory. The lack of world-class infrastructure and the inadequate support of the government is reflected in the poor performance of Indian athletes in major international events like the Olympics.

Kirtan P Deka,

Cotton University, Guwahati

Sexual trafficking

The shocking occurrence of young children being trafficked from the regions of rural Assam and forced to transition into transgender identities, as published in your esteemed daily on July 14, is extremely disturbing. Being trafficked is not tough in today's age of scientific and technological progress, since traffickers lurk around us, sprawling on victims who are economically underprivileged, disempowered, and isolated. Lately, it has been heartbreaking to learn that the traffickers are, as alleged, a crew of transgender people themselves who conduct this horrific act. Upon being abandoned by family members, when they have nothing left to generate an income, they get connected with trafficking organizations that persuade them that abducting young children and driving them to engage in illegal activities outside the state may be their only stream of revenue.

Such exploitation can be exemplified by the recent incident in which young boys from economically poor families were transported outside the state of Assam, primarily to Delhi and Utter Pradesh. Thereafter, they were compelled to have sex reassignment surgery, which pushed them into illicit activities, earning the traffickers a large sum of amount. This not only sheds light upon the criminal trafficking of human beings but also upon the oppression and exploitation of the economically marginalized and the genderqueer. Here, I would like to draw the attention of the authorities concerned to the following concerns. First, the issue of how long such activities have been going on emerges. Second, due to the lack of statistical data, it is difficult to determine how much innocent youth are subjected to such forcible castration, which not only robs them of their bodily autonomy but also endangers their very life. And third, according to a video that surfaced on social media on July 14, 2021, Assam's prominent trans activist has been accused of corruption for demanding 50% of the daily income from the transgender community and falsely accusing them of being traffickers as they refused to comply with it. As a matter of fact, through your esteemed columns, I, therefore, request that the Assam Government and the Assam Transgender Welfare Board probe the matter as early as possible and take the necessary actions to bring the injustice to light and put an end to both corruption and trafficking.

Sharmila Das,

NEHU, Shillong.

JE during

Covid-19

Japanese encephalitis is one of the most life-threatening diseases. It has become a giant in India. It is a mosquito-borne disease first recognised in India in 1955. Since then major outbreaks of it from different parts of the country have been reported, predominantly in rural areas. Now in this toughest time of the Covid-19 pandemic, some other diseases which are caused a great loss to our community are comparatively attracted less importance from the government and also from the people.

Between 2008 and 2014, there have been more than 44,000 cases and nearly 6,000 deaths from encephalitis in India, particularly in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. In 2016, there has been a rise in encephalitis, with over 125 children reported to have died in one hospital in Gorakhpur (UP) alone. In this season of monsoon, Assam receives a huge amount of rain and flood problems also started in different parts of the State making us more vulnerable to the mosquito bites diseases like Malaria, JE etc. The Japanese Encephalitis also spreads like a pandemic in flood-affected, water-logged and damp areas in the state increasing the rate of mortality day by day. So I urge the Heath department and the government that they may take some awareness programmes in rural areas and take required measures to stop the outbreak of the deadly Japanese Encephalitis along with managing the Covid-19 pandemic simultaneously.

Aditya Ankur Nath,

Tezpur.

Nandu Natekar

Legendary badminton player, Nandu Natekar (88), who held the distinction of being the first Indian to win Malaysia's Selangor International title post-independence in 1956, breathed his last on Wednesday after a few days of age-related health complications. Natekar, considered one of the most popular sportspersons of our younger days, was a former world No.3. He was among the first recipients of the Arjuna Award in 1961. The six-time national singles champion, legendary shuttler's career spanning 15 years caught everyone's attention after he reached the quarterfinals in his only All England Badminton Championships appearance in 1954. Natekar first represented India in 1953, when he was 20 years old. He was famed for his drives, drops, and smashes, Natekar successfully shouldered the responsibility of leading India's challenge in the Thomas Cup men's team championship (also led India thrice) for more than a decade from 1951-1963, besides he represented the country at the 1966 Commonwealth Games in Jamaica. He had a distinguished career, where Natekar made his mark at several teams and individual events like tennis and golf. In his death, the country lost a true legend for the entire sporting fraternity. RIP....May his soul rest in peace, always was and will be an inspiration for generations to come.

Bidyut Kumar Chatterjee,

Faridabad 121005