Editor,
In a landmark judgment Justice P V Asha of the Kerala High Court said that the right to access internet using mobile phones is a fundamental right under the Constitution and also it is the right to privacy and the right to education. The Court passed the verdict in a petition filed by Faheema Sherin, a third-semester student of B.A (English) of Sree Narayana College, Chelannur, Kozhikode challenging her expulsion from the college hostel for violating the restrictions on using the mobile phone from 6 pm to 10 pm daily. The petitioner challenged the restriction on the ground that it was adversely impacting her access to information and study materials.
The judgment becomes significant in the backdrop of the ongoing shutdown of internet and mobile phone services in Jammu and Kashmir since August 5. The court upheld the contention of the petitioner that restrictions on accessing the internet by curtailing the use of mobile phones amounts to violation of fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression under article 19(1) of the Constitution.
Accessing the internet was once considered to be a luxury just like the fan or television used to be but which are now are essential household items. Curiously, time has changed making the mobile phone essential for our everyday communication. Likewise, the internet was once an option but today it has become a critical need in our daily lives. Hence the verdict of the single judge bench assumes significance in a digitically connected world.
Use of internet by individuals in our country has increased exponentially, and this was made possible by the introduction of 3G and later 4G telecommunication technology. The 4G telecommunication is now made cheaper by telecom operators and common people have got the chance of accessing it across India as internet is available everywhere. Equally worth noting is the advent of the mobile phone into India, which revolutionized our lives within a short of span time. Thus, life has become vibrant, and it has been made easy. The ongoing stiff competition between mobile phone manufacturing companies is a blessing for the Indian market which has made smart phones cheaper.
It needs no iteration that the numerous advantages a smart phone brings to a user are beyond description. The number of mobile connections being taken by Indians are over a billion and more people who have not taken connections are being initiated into taking mobile connections. So, in the not so distant future, every Indian will have mobile connections, and majority of these connections will be internet enabled ones, which would mean that internet connections will prove to be a desideratum.
Yours etc.,
TK Nandanan,
Via email
Well done Indian Railways!
Editor,
In a major game changer the Indian Railways has shifted from the end on generation system (EOG ) to the head on generation system (HOG) in trains having LHB rakes. This is an initiative taken by the national transporter to become more eco and passenger friendly. The system makes use of overhead electric supply to supply power to all the coaches of the train and this puts a full stop to LHB rake trains requiring two power cars for supplying power to the entire train. This turns eco-friendly because now only one silent generator car will be used and the power from this car will be used only during emergency. In place of the second power car one luggage -cum -guard cum divyang compartment will be attached thereby accommodating more parcel and passengers especially the physically challenged .This car has been developed in such a way that it will have capability to convert power from the overhead cable supply for the entire train .The move from HOG to EOG is definitely going to reduce high expenditure cost, lessen noise and air pollution and will be a boon to passengers as passenger capacity has increased.
Yours etc.,
M Pradyu
Kannur
End to brutality
Editor,
Some were happy, others misled and many others brutally persecuted but some “great people” were silent. While few hundreds faced crackdown, and “rest others” happy, those “great people” have started screaming. This is called the art of “hypocrisy” that has rocked the crown of India – Kashmir. This kind of “hypocrisy” has been lacerating the very heart of humanity in modern times. Yes, the right to freedom of speech is best utilized by those forces to firm up their ground so that their agenda is repeatedly propagated and quoted while the right to freedom of speech for the “innocent and the oppressed” are undermined and ceased.
Needless to say, Kashmir, a heaven on earth, was bleeding with all kind of brutalities since 1989. That finally saw over half a million Hindus being deported out of their place of origin. The “warnings of death” was announced through loudspeakers but not made “audible” to others who really mattered or who could have stood against and controlled the mindless massacres. Most of the popular columnists were on holiday during those bloodbaths in Kashmir. So, in just a span of a month or two, Hindus were killed and countless women were raped, some in front of their parents and relatives. But such beastly cruelties hardly became news or indeed a global issue. Many suspect it to be an insidious “design” to erase that pre-meditated genocide from the history of India as they have done with the inhuman brutalities of Alauddin Khilji, Mohd Gazni, Mohd Ghori, and others. Yes, those groups of intellectuals rather celebrate all those invaders applauding them by saying that they enriched Indian culture by teaching us how to cook tandoori, biryani and to sing Qawwali!
What is upsetting is that even BBC, Washington Post, New York Times is now pouring sympathies for a few thousand people who were till yesterday terrorizing the millions of Kashmiri natives and the Government of India. Yes, their hearts are bleeding for those all who had encouraged terrorists from across the borders and posing to hurt the whole humanity.
Of course, since last month many NGOs, individuals, groups of native communities, including Muslim communities, have been coming forward to tell the entire world that people now in Kashmir are feeling a true sense of optimism, peace and happiness because those who caused the problem with guns and bombs, and misled the native youths, are now under control. But unfortunately, that news gets filtered out. The double standards of the ‘credible’ media has already been a talk of the town, nay talk of the world. David Vance, a renowned British journalist writes on twitter the other day – “Between 1990 and 2000 at least 3,00,000 people were ethnically cleansed from Muslim controlled Kashmir. That’s a huge number and yet the BBC never once investigated it. Now that India is restoring civility to Kashmir, the BBC are outraged and eyes on the ground!” There are a good many upright columnists who are very concerned about the sagging credibility of the media fraternity. One wonders how one can compromise the integrity that too at the cost of countless human lives. Frankly speaking, now humanity is only crying with anguish to live in peace far from the maddening brutality that once defined Kashmir.
Yours etc.,
Salil Gewali,
Via email