Editor,
One hundred and fifty years ago, a child was born in Porbandar on 2nd October, 1869 ~ to be named as Mohandas ~ to be revered as Mahatma (Great Soul) and finally ~ to be killed by the bullets of a fanatic. Two days before his murder ~ on January 28, 1948 ~ Mahatma Gandhi had said ~ “If I am to die by the bullet of a mad man, I must do so smiling. God must be in my heart and on my lips.”
Even this year on Mahatma Gandhi’s death anniversary, some rabid fanatics observed it in Aligarh by shooting at the effigy of the Father of the Nation with a toy pistol. Then they put garlands on the picture of his assassin, Godse and circulated the video clip. The present Member of Parliament from Bhopal also made a controversial comment in favour of Godse before her victory in this year’s Lok Sabha election.
When some people of our country have engaged themselves in glorifying Godse, it is highly reassuring to listen to the speech of Ayush Chaturvedi, a 17 year old student of the Central Hindu Boys School in Varanasi, UP. The class XI student began his speech on Mahatma Gandhi on September 9 of this year with Imran Pratapgarhi’s Urdu couplet ~ “Who told you that I am swept up in the storm, I stand by Gandhi in the time of Godse” (“Ye kisne kahaa aapse aandhi ke saath hoon, main Godse ke daur me Gandhi ke saath hun”).
Then he said ~ “I want to say that there was no bigger Hindu than Gandhi. But the people of other religions didn’t fear his ‘Hey Ram’ because Gandhi was a symbol of secularism in India.” Ayush has shown that Gandhi’s idea of secularism will remain at the heart of India even amidst the maelstrom of the Godse doctrine.
Yours etc.,
Sujit De,
Kolkata
Service termination for want of Aadhar!
Editor,
A few days ago it was reported that one of the lady staff of the department of Social Welfare, Govt.of Meghalaya working as a Helper in the office of Child Development Project officer, Amlarem, West Jaintia Hills District has had her service terminated for the simple reason of having no Aadhar registration! It is beyond my grasp how that Project officer has been directed to follow such stringent action even as the Apex Court, if I am not mistaken, has not given such directive in toto, not to speak of the stark fact that Meghalaya, Assam and the pre-divided state of Jammu and Kashmir have been exempted from circumscription of Aadhar. Additionally, it is seemingly inexplicable as to how the innumerable NGOs of Khasi and Jaintia Hills Districts have not intervened to ameliorate the sufferings of the said dismissed victim against such dismissive decisions!
Two years ago we were appraised about how the then Treasury officer of Nongpoh, Ri Bhoi District had issued Aadhar compulsorily for all the Government pensioners and the family pensioners as well, lest they face hurdles in drawing their monthly pension-entitlements. But as a conscientious citizen I had to pen a write up in your daily in these very columns, entitled ‘Nongpoh’s Treasury officer vis-à-vis SC’s order on privacy’ (ST Sep 1, 2017) questioning the legality of such coercive action. Perhaps, as a sequel to that letter, I was made to understand that the said Aadhar campaign for the pensioners of Ri Bhoi District was put on the back burner. Be that as it may, I only hope that some benevolent NGOs would intervene so that the victim in question is not deprived of her fundamental rights of hard-earned employment for the whimsical decisions of somebody.
Yours etc.,
Jerome K Diengdoh,
Shillong -2
Poor ATM services
Editor,
The ATM machine attached to the Axis Bank at Hawakhana ,Tura is closed every day between 7:00 pm and 9:00 am and on all holidays the ATM does not function at all .
Repeated reminders to the authorities concerned about the ill- functioning of the ATM machine can be compared to pouring water on a duck’s back. Their assurances to have their ATM functioning better is just hot air.
Yours etc.,
Tyrone D’Brass,
Tura
Bihar battered by floods
Editor,
Unprecedented rain in Bihar caused widespread havoc claiming 28 lives and thousands of people stranded in the state and even the Dy CM Sushil Modi and his family were to be rescued 3 days after being stranded in the torrential rains in the state capital Patna. S N Pradhan, Director General of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) said, “The situation is unprecedented, it is almost like a cloud burst. Impact is mainly due to water logging. Out of 19 NDRF teams deployed, 5 are in Patna. We’ve evacuated about 4,000 citizens since morning”
It is true that Patna city alone bore the brunt of untold miseries due to water-logging. Why did this water logging happen? It is due to the inept handling of city drainage system. The clogged drains and the resultant water logging is the most common problem when it rains heavily in cities in India. Our cities are being planned and developed giving scant regard for a well laid out drainage system. Recent heavy rains in Mumbai and Pune, resulted in flash floods and caused widespread damage. These are the worst examples of water logging due to clogged drains or lack of well laid out or well planned drainage systems. So, henceforth our cities as well as towns must have a drainage system to suck the flood water up instantly.
What worries the Bihar government is the fact that the metereological department has warned of more rains in around 24 districts in the next 24 hours. The already rain battered Bihar is again going to be affected by heavy rains. More help and succour are to be rushed to them at this time of disaster.
Yours etc.,
TK Nandanan,
Via email