MyVoice: Views of our readers 19th January 2025

Politics of polemics cloud people's issues & problems

REF: Bold Talk on "Losing the narrative leads Congress party nowhere" (18-01-2025) loses no point in hitting out at the once mighty political party that ruled India for over half a century. The talk also shows the ways and means on how to gain popularity again through various methods in the pre-sent Delhi elections. It is solely banking upon the shutdown Hindenburg report on Adani and RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's statement on true democracy. These two events are not in any way connected to people's welfare and Delhi develop-ment on many counts, primarily high amount of pollution and corruption. Bhagwat's remarks do not come under trea-son. But Rahul Gandhi's needless comments on Bharatiya Janata Party and its suzerainty, made on foreign land some-time back, have invited serious criticism in India. Conclu-sively, Congress party is now facing an acute shortage of charismatic leaders. Even if some are existing, they are un-der the cloud of Rahul and Sonia Gandhi. Mallikarjun Kharge was never seen as an impressive leader. BJP under the stew-ardship of PM Narendra Modi enjoys the supremacy in spite of bagging very much less than half of the full strength in Lok Sabha.

– N Ramalakshmi, Secunderabad

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The inflammatory anti-national rhetoric by Rahul Gandhi who is a lawmaker himself has come full circle, waging war on the nation that cannot be treated as a faux pas but a delib-erate and intentional comment to destabilise India, and un-dermine a democratically elected government in the country. He can fight with the government, definitely not with the state. His attitude clearly showed the tone and tenor of Mao-ists and Naxals who have been living a ‘Rip Van Winkle’ world, despite the country being vibrantly democratic based on the Constitution. It is clear that Congress is not interested in either the progress of the country or to be part of con-structive debate in the Parliament.

Coming to Rahul Gandhi’s anger against the RSS chief who spoke as an Indian citizen that true democracy was estab-lished after the Ram Temple in Ayodhya was built. There was no tinge of sedition involved when Mohan Bhagwat said this. But, the blind and irrational hate of Rahul Gandhi has made him act and behave like this, unable to tolerate the ground-work that was carried out by the RSS cadres which earned rich dividends in the Haryana and Maharashtra Assembly elections, which that was graciously acknowledged by the NCP leader Sharad Pawar, who wanted his party cadres to emulate them.

The great danger of Congress being in the dynasty grip is be-fore us all. Unless the Congress prepares to infuse new blood of talented and efficient leaders in the party there is little hope for Rahul Gandhi to sustain in his present attitude of being an anti-national, running down the government will have no takers nationally - not even in his own party.

– K R Parvathy,

Mysuru

***

It is quite clear that Congress leader, and LoP in Parliament Rahul Gandhi is finding it impossible to hide his growing frustration to be out of power; and to have become an out-right anti-national ready to wage a war against the state it-self as he believed that all institutions in the country have been usurped by theRSS and the BJP.

This is not the first time that Rahul Gandhi is baring his mind against the country. He said earlier that India is not a nation, but a union of states, which reveals his bile against the dem-ocratically elected country without any sense of responsibil-ity and answerability. It has been the strategy of the Con-gress disrupting the proceedings of the Parliament repeated-ly over the Adani, Ambani and Ambedkar that is unable to cut ice with the electorate despite vigorous coaching by the sec-ular gang, and foreign NGOs working against India.

Congress is becoming an untouchable for the INDI Alliance which prefers Mamata Banerjee to leader the party that is a serious rebuke to Congress and Rahul Gandhi’s style of func-tioning; and the forthcoming Delhi Assembly elections will hold a mirror to the party in terms of popularity and peoples’ trust.

– K V Raghuram, Wayanad

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One may ignore Rahul's reaction to RSS Chief"s remarks on 'true independence' but naturally such remarks go a long way to hurt the sentiments of patriotic Indians. RSS- BJP may be in an advantagious position with mass appeal and tenden-cy to ignite religious mass hysteria but they are even under-mining Constitution and Independence

Added to these unsavory remarks, RSS chief even pulled the ex President Pranab Mukherjee with a purported meeting with him in which the latter enquired about the reconver-sions under Ghar Wapsi campaign to bring the Tribal Chris-tian converts back to Hinduism. He also claimed that if the 30% non-converts are not prevented, they may get converted to be anti- nationals. How come he ignores the Constitutional Article 25 that empowers their right to exercise any religion out of conscience. The Catholic Bishops reacted sharply as the Christianity is acclaimed and acknowledged for their service and benevolence; and, naturally the marginalised who get ensnared by caste stigma tend to embrace loving Christians. History tells us that when Dalits and tribals were either denied entry to schools or were ill-treated by upper caste students and teachers, whereas Christian Schools were open to the so-called untouchables. Mission hospitals were known for service to humanity irrespective of caste, creed and religion.

Rahul may be viewed as biased but the Bishops expressed their anguish and righteous indignation. RSS was banned thrice and this is history. Let them mind their rhetoric and not ignite passions that divide the nation while we are bound by pluralistic and secular polity over decades and the Hin-dutva- bent masses should look at fundamentalists' govern-ment in our neigjbourhood lurking in a sad state of affairs.

– Dr T Ramadas, Visakhapatnam

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Every political party without exception seems to have lost focus vis-à-vis national interests. All of them seem hell-bent on exacting power by garnering votes. There aren’t better people around than those belonging to the political class, come election time. But once the polls are done and dusted, there’s nobody more irresponsible than the very people who had approached the common man with folded hands at poll campaigns. National interests are relegated to the backburn-er.

The just concluded winter session of Parliament that re-duced the august house to worse than marketplace is an ex-ample of the chameleon traits of politicians. Will the upcom-ing budget session of Parliament see much-mellowed politi-cians working in tandem for national interests? Or, is Rahul Gandhi’s shooting-off-the-hip exercise trained at RSS chief on his comments linking Indian independence to consecration of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya indicative of another washed-out Parliamentary session?

– Dr George Jacob, Kochi

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“The comments made by the RSS chief and the Leader of Op-position are indeed distorting India's history and undermin-ing its freedom struggle for independence.

The RSS's role in the freedom struggle has been a topic of debate, with many arguing that they did not participate in the movement. In fact, the RSS's own documents suggest that they kept aloof from the freedom struggle, and instead focused on building a Hindu nation.

The Indian Constitution, adopted in 1950, established India as a secular democratic republic, which may be in contrast to the RSS's vision of a Hindu Rashtra. Misrepresenting histori-cal facts is not only an insult to the martyrs but also under-mines the secular and democratic foundations of India. It's essential to set the record straight and honour the true he-roes of India's freedom struggle.”

– Ganti Venkata Sudhir, Secunderabad

Solace to poor, sops to taxpayers needed

As just a few days are left for the budget to be presented in the Lok Sabha every section of people are anxiously looking for the benefit and relief the budget is likely to offer. This budget needs to change its course to save the country from an inevitable collapse. Boasting of better GDP which does not reflect in any manner in improving the life of the have-nots is of no use. The policy of the government is visibly pro-rich. Millionaires, multimillion-aires and billionaires are being produced on one hand and 81 crore people are destined to manage their liveli-hood with 5 kg of free rice.

Crores of educated youth are allowed to go desperate by not getting employment. A majority of those employed are not happy with their wages that is losing its real value constantly. Healthcare left in the hands of private players in health and insurance sector forcing common man to feel being strangulated on the other hand. The middle class has its woes. The salaried section has been crying for a long time to exempt Rs 15 lakh from Income Tax besides exempting medical, insurance premiums, savings and investments This demand is worth considering in the background that the government able to forego lakhs of crores as exemptions, concessions, waiving off loans, haircuts etc., to the affluent and the corporate sector. All these and other grave issues are rightly understood by Foreign Institutional Investors who are flying away to deck their capital in other safe places. It is high time to reverse the trend to care and improve the livelihood sta-tus of the poor instead of trying to satisfy them with some pittans like freebies. Let the budget decide the fur-ther course either to improve or face the peril'.

– A G Rajmohan, Anantapur

***

It is interesting to see how the budget would be for 2025-26. So many people are expecting a lot for them. Espe-cially, the salaried class and pensioners as always put a greater hope concessions because of high inflation fulled by high food prices. It is felt that the tax payers in the range of exemption limit of 3 lakhs pay a tax of 5%.As such the revenue from this category of tax payers is not significant and can be made up through other measures. It is noteworthy that the middle class supports the econ-omy through their consumption demand, savings through banks, small savings schemes and sincere pay-ment of income tax.

Against this backdrop it is proposed that the FM should consider exemption of entire Interest income from retail bank FDs from from income tax for all. Already these sec-tors suffer from the lower interest rates of FDs. Moreo-ver, the additional interest of 0.50% paid to senior citi-zens may be restored to 1.00% as was previously paid. Next the educational cess payable on income tax levied from years together should be removed as more funds are allotted to education in every budget.

Since income tax department claims that the amount re-ceived through personal tax is very small, the enhance-ment of exemptions may be considered.

– T S N Rao, Hyderabad

Doctors need to be empathetic

In India, very few doctors approach patients, espe-cially women, with empathy and a human touch. In-creasingly, when women—whether suffering from chronic illnesses or other conditions—seek medical attention, they are often subjected to numerous tests before any corrective measures are considered. Many of these patients, regardless of good lifestyle or diet, fall victim to chronic diseases. Some endure prolonged suffering without understanding the root cause, while others, after exhausting all treatment options, tragically take their own lives.

It is unclear whether studies have been conducted to explore why women patients resort to such extreme actions or whether alternative approaches by doc-tors have been recognized within the medical com-munity.

As a layperson, I believe that doctors, with some ex-ceptions, have overlooked the significance of explor-ing patients’ psychological histories. Childhood or adulthood trauma, often buried in the subconscious, may resurface later in life, contributing to chronic, invisible diseases.

To truly address chronic diseases, a more holistic ap-proach is required, especially for older patients. Our new generation of doctors needs to be equipped to treat such cases with a broader perspective. Com-passionate care, coupled with a deeper understand-ing of a patient’s history, is essential for alleviating their suffering.

– N Nagarajan, Hyderabad

India set to reach far deeper into space

It refers to "Paving way for India's giant lift-offs in space". Dr APJ Abdul Kalam would have been the happiest person had he been alive today as ISRO scripted another history in space. India has entered into the niche club along with the US, China and Russia. It is a huge technological milestone which underscores our ambitions to expand our share, which is just 2% now, in the $400 billion global space market.

Space docking is a stepping stone in our desire to build a space station or other various complex mis-sions like Chandrayaan-4 and Gaganyaan. Along with other payloads eight cowpea seeds were sent to space which were germinated within four days of the mission launch, which demonstrates that food can be grown in long space missions. GoI has approved the setting up of a third launch pad which will fur-ther boost ISRO's space ambitions.

– Bal Govind, Noida

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'Spadex' success will help execute complex opera-tions, boosting future hopes for 'Lander', 'Sample Re-trieval Missions', 'Venus Orbiter', 'Mars Lander' and the colonization of the Moon. The mission was also supported by private enterprise in assisting ISRO to achieve their goal. The entire team needs to be ap-plauded for their efforts, dedication, and hard work to bring India's name into the top four nations glob-ally.

– Col (Retd) RS Narula, Patiala

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So far, India exuberantly clinched one after the other successful missions to open India's gates to the sky. And today, if we are stepping ahead in the space arena with a strong space prowess, is all thanks to the wonderful space odyssey masters who make this possible for the new scientist and space aficionados possible by laying down the foundation stone of In-dian Space systems. As India aspire to set its own Bhartiya Antariksh Station, such docking space suc-cess will help India to get its dream own soon. The entire team of ISRO deserves utmost appreciation for its commendable efforts on their success.

– Kirti Wadhawan, Kanpur

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In 2023, India joined an elite space club becoming the fourth country to land a spacecraft on the moon. The historic Chandrayaan-3 mission, the first to make a soft landing close to the moon’s unexplored South Pole, has collected samples that are helping scien-tists understand how the moon was formed and evolved over time.

ISRO achieved remarkable mile-stones in 2024, solidifying the India’s status as a powerful space-faring nation and positioning it among the top five globally. The key missions for ISRO in 2024 included the PSLVC58 for X-ray studies, Aditya-L1’s Halo Orbit for continuous solar observa-tion, GSLV-F14/INSAT-3DS for advanced weather monitoring, EOS-08 for disaster and environmental management, GSAT-N2 to bolstered communication capabilities, PSLV-C59 for validating flying, and finally groundbreaking PSLV-C60 SpaDeX mission.

As part of its ambitious plans, ISRO aims to launch its first crewed mission to space in the next few years, and putting an astronaut on the moon - a feat only achieved by US - by 2040. India has set its sights on building its own space station by 2035, which will be called the “Bharathiya Antariksha Station”, and launching its first orbit mission to Venus in 2028. It also plans to return moon samples as part of its on-going lunar Chandrayaan program in 2027. The next phase of the moon mission, Chandrayaan-4, will in-volve a capsule that collects samples from the moon and then dock with a return spacecraft for the trip back to Earth.

The groundbreaking SpaDeX mission is a critical step towards India’s ambition of establishing its own space station by 2035.

– Dr Madhusudhan Reddy Burra, Karimnagar

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The successful docking of the satellites SDX01 (Chas-er) and SDX02 (Target) shows ISRO’s commitment to innovation and excellence, made possible by the tire-less efforts of its talented scientists and engineers. It opens the door to exciting possibilities, like human spaceflights and advanced satellite systems, taking India’s space program to new heights.This success fills every Indian with pride. We look forward to ISRO’s future achievements as it continues its jour-ney of exploration and innovation.

– Dr. Krishna Kumar Vepakomma, Hyderabad

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The SPADEX mission exemplifies India's capability to achieve on-orbit docking, a critical technology for fu-ture mission including Chandrayaan4, Gaganayaan and Bharatiya Antariksh Station and landing an as-tronaut on the moon. It is time to congratulate ISRO scientists and the entire space fraternity for the suc-cessful demonstration of space docking of satellites.

– P Victor Selvaraj, Tirunelveli

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For India, this incremental step to wider space explo-ration means a lot as it adds to Isro’s capabilities in handling complex space projects like manned flights from which astronauts can smoothly transfer be-tween vehicles safely in space, stay in space stations or, in the future, even colonise the moon, an ambi-tion that many dreamers about space imagine would serve the goal of preserving the human race.

Contrary to the popular saying, the sky’s not even the limit for space exploration and it has always been a source of immense pride that India is among the four most advanced space-exploring nations with multiple capabilities.

– N Sadhasiva Reddy, Bengaluru

Hindenburg closure is no clean chit to Adani

Hindenburg head Nate Anderson’s decision to disband his firm is a matter of grief to someone and a matter of rejoice to some-one. He was successful enough to expose various high profile corporate frauds and financial mismanagement cases globally, leading to significant financial correction, indictment and regu-latory action. He brought out critical reports on major compa-nies like Nikola, Clover Health, Icahn enterprises and Gautam Adani Group.

Nearly 100 individuals have been charged civilly or criminally by regulators because of the Hindenburg reports. With his only 11 incredible persons he was successful to bring the fraud and stock manipulation of different public companies. He brought out how in India the investigative agencies forced Indian busi-ness persons to divert critical infrastructure assets and help Adani build monopolies in airport, port, cement, defence and other industries. Now Hindenburg is disbanding his firm be-cause of internal and external threats.

BJP is rejoicing and mocking Congress and Rahul Gandhi follow-ing disbanding of Hindenburg firm. But they have forgotten that Rahul Gandhi has relentlessly brought how the Adani Group has done manipulation of stock market. Because of Rahul Gandhi and Hindenburg the Supreme Court has asked the market regu-lator securities and exchange board of India to probe the alle-gations. Because of Hindenburg report only the US has charged Gautham Adani with alleged fraud and bribes.

– Zakir Hussain, Kazipet

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The controversy surrounding Hindenburg Research shut down has raised many a speculation, from its likely connections to China and George Soros, which could be probed by Donald Trump administration. Nate Anderson could have been handed a big remuneration by Adani in return for his exit, so it would give reprieve to Adani group and BJP government, too. It would be beneficial to global markets if only the truth behind this shutdown doesn’t get buried.

– P R Ravinder, Hyderabad

Crocodile tears over Telugu plight

'Breathing new life into literature. The news item makes an interesting read and exposes the hollowness of successive rulers in this regard. They thought by using Telugu medium of instruction in all government schools, the language would flourish. But in practice the cream of the society preferred to get educated in private schools in English medium resulting in the neglect of the language, leave alone promoting liter-ature in Telugu. We need many Susharmas for breathing life into Telugu literature, mainly because the ruling "class" (thanks to INC since Independence) always preferred English medium over regional lan-guages. We know how Russia, Japan, China, Germany, France and many other countries retained their native language flavour in education and administration. But our rulers continued the British legacy and ruined the native languages including Hindi as well. Today, Hindi is widely spoken in India, but we are unable to declare it as official and national language. It plays second fiddle to English language in the country. But for shedding crocodile tears over the plight of native or regional languages, no ruler appears to be seri-ous in promoting the same. I would not hesitate to criticise the erstwhile Congress party leadership for killing the spirit of regional or native languages in the country.

– Govardhana Myneedu, Vijayawada