Editor,
The drubbing that BJP received in the recent Bihar and UP by-polls is a wake up call for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. This requires thorough soul-searching as to where they had missed the bus. Of course, the BSP-SP combine did the trick but it is no excuse for acts of omission and
commission under the Yogi Adityanath Govt. My humble advice to the BJP Govt led by PM Modi are based on the five following points:-
1. Shed arrogance 2. Shed over-self-confidence 3. Focus on the main agenda of Vikas and fight corruption 4. Avoid over-hyping religious rhetoric as far as practicable and reach out with
friendly gestures to small Christian denominations 5. Don’t hasten the polls since the first NDA Govt under AB Vajpayee was formed in 1999 with only 182 members. So the figure
“9” is considered auspicious for NDA and it will bring the desired
results!
Why are the likes of Nirav Modi, Vijay Mallya, Mehul Choksi, Jatin Mehta Lalit Modi still free in foreign countries gloating over their success. Announce handsome rewards for “ bounty
hunters” of host countries like EU , USA, Australia etc., to nab these mega rich absconders dead or alive, as the CBI /SFIO is bound by protocols of global ties! Let the bounty hunters do the job
for India. Extreme situations demand extreme steps! At least it will show that India’s prestige is not be trifled /played around abroad and that India means business. It will salvage the dented reputation of PM Modi and it will also discourage looting of the bank and taking shelter in foreign countries. In matters of external relations global ties are likely to be affected when
domestic sleuths are used. As stated above there is a mole in every arm of the Govt. My humble suggestion is “saaf bhi marega aur lathi bhi nahin tutega” People may laugh it off as
childish, shocking or something incredulous for a God- fearing man but I tell you even the devil will cringe at the terror of these mega swindlers and in a country where a female LET operative is transformed into an innocent college girl through a dual affidavit by
responsible quarters of UPA-II, anything goes by any means! Let the Govt try out more novel ideas of getting at the absconders and see who laughs last !
Yours etc.,
Sonaram M Sangma,
Tura.
Society evolving towards humanism
Editor,
This refers to your editorial, “A super scientist passes on” (ST, Mar 16, 2018). In Stephen Hawking, we have got an assurance that our evolutionary journey is indeed towards humanism. Unfortunately, we are yet to falsify the theory of “survival of the fittest”. It has been, as it were, survival of the fittest brutes be it in a jungle or in a primitive society as well as in feudalism or in police state capitalism. But fortunately for us, after the emergence of welfare states, such brute yardsticks are getting replaced by scientific and humane ones.
A welfare state is to create a level playing field for all of its citizens by taking extra care of the downtrodden, the poor, children, women, senior citizens and differently abled persons who have been exploited by the society since ages. Indeed, there are many instances of so called “unfit” persons outshining their “fit” counterparts especially in those states where they get extra care from the state to do justice to their potentialities.
It is a teaching of the modern society that if we want to keep pace with the modern times, we must give our differently abled brothers and sisters enough opportunities. In the journey of evolution ~ after minerals; plants and animals; ~ human beings happened. And human beings are slowly realizing that they are to do better than the animals ~ not by fighting like them or with them ~ but by redefining the word “fitness” in accordance with humanism and that is by trying to create an egalitarian and humane society.
Our outlook has been improving every day from regressive macho fitness models where might is right. We are improving our judgment on a person’s physical or mental disability from a disabled person to a physically challenged person and now for the first time in a very positive manner ~ as a differently abled person.
Stephen Hawking’s splendid achievements in spite of his almost total physical disability has been made possible by state patronage and by an engineering marvel wheelchair which was equipped with a wonderfully friendly computer program called Equalizer. Stephen Hawking will always be remembered as a super scientist as well as an empirical evidence that our evolutionary journey is not only from brutality to humanism but also from falsehood to the truth.
Yours etc.,
Sujit De,
Kolkata
Need for a pro-student policy
Editor,
The previous Congress led-government comprehensively failed on most fronts and could not do justice to critical issues that have been plaguing the state for the past 46 years, which is shameful indeed. The education sector for one, is a very crucial area which is in need of a policy to revamp, guide, restructure and bring uniformity in all aspects which has not been done. There have been many cases where bright and intelligent students had to give up their education due to the ‘greed ‘ and ‘good marks’ by prominent missionary schools and private ones too. To top it all are the school fees which cannot be borne by the less privileged and yet some dare to call this a “Christian state.” Uniformity is absolutely absent be it in the school fee structure, syllabus, books, infrastructure, student ratio etc. The previous government had no spine even to rein in these schools to use school buses. It is absolutely disgraceful that though the state aims to resurrect itself as a known academic destination the reality is that it has failed. We hope that this new government would do well and introspect based on needs and priorities.
Yours etc..
Dominic S. Wankhar