Editor,
With respect to the recent terror strikes in Ankara, assassination of the Russian ambassador and attacks on the American embassy, the world would like to know what President Erdogan has to say now. Turkey; a nation extremely proactive in poking her bruised nose into the internal matters of other countries like Bangladesh and India, forgetting diplomatic norms needs to pay more attention to her deplorable records on human rights violation and for successfully making the nation a hot bed of radicalism and devastating terror activities. A nation that cannot provide security to her own people and has a questionable track record on severe violations of human rights should not be advising others before fixing her own messy and bloody internal affairs. Turkey’s aspiration of becoming the leader of the Islamic world has encountered a huge wall of obstruction as well as her aspirations for becoming an EU member has been jeopardized due to serious human rights violation and failure to prevent repeated terror activities on its own soil and causing death of innocent citizens and now even foreign envoys. It is a matter of great shame, that a great legacy established by a global leader like Kamal Ataturk is being slowly destroyed under the dictatorial leadership of President Erdogan. Time for serious introspection for a nation that has the habit of interfering in the internal affairs of other sovereign countries!
Yours etc.,
Saikat Basu,
Lethbridge AB Canada T1J 4B3
Unequal growth
Editor,
It is horrifying that rich India is climbing the ladder of inequality leaving poor Bharat far behind. Inequality is measured in Gini index where higher index value indicates greater inequality. India has got the dubious distinction of getting very high marks in widespread inequality. The recent report of International Monetary Fund (IMF) has showed how inequality is rapidly growing in India from 45.18 in 1990 to 51.36 in 2013 which is worse than Latin America’s 43.69. This India – Bharat divide has also come out in two recent international reports. While in the New World Wealth Report, India is ranked 7th in the list of top wealthiest countries in the world, the World Bank’s Report, ‘Poverty and Shared Prosperity 2016’ shows that close to 30 per cent of the world’s poor live in our country. Our growth shows a sign of malignancy as the richest 10 per cent of our population has whopping 76.3 per cent of nation’s wealth. On the other hand more than half of our population is reeling with a meagre 4.1 per cent. This glaring inequality must immediately be bridged by inclusive growth, developing social sectors, adopting labour intensive technology and ensuring social security for the needy. Otherwise, such barbaric inequality will force us to live in a dog-eat-dog environment where equality and fraternity remain a distant dream.
Yours etc.,
Sujit De,
Kolkata