MyVoice: Views of our readers 11th September 2022

A propitious time for Rahul

This is in continuation of Hans editorial (Sept. 8). Jawaharlal Nehru quoted in his treatise Discovery of India a famous poem of Robert Frost as a guide to accomplish his vision:

"The woods are lovely, dark and deep But I have promises to keep

And miles to go before I sleep

And miles to go before

I sleep "

Former Congress President Rahul Ghandhi's foot march over 3,500 km, in six months at a walk of 25 km per day covering 12 states, making promises, convincing people, setting right the calculated disdainful rule of Modi government with the sole aim to rebuild the lost glory of more than century-old freedom achiever Congress Party is in a propitious time ahead of 2024 elections and people are also looking forward to change of guard at Centre.

Hurdles are there, surmounting them with timely knack wins the set goals for a better India. All the best Rahulji.

- Dr NSR Murthy, Secunderabad

II

Your editorial "Congress needs completely new narrative" was a very apt editorial. You rightly said Congress' Bharat Jodo yatra is certainly an appreciable act and is pregnant with the possibility of revival of the Congress. In the editorial, further it is said that BJP had a single point agenda of Ram temple at Ayodhya but Congress lacks clarity in Bharat jodo yatra. But I think Congress has a good intention and a clear agenda.

The aim of this yatra is to unite for India and strengthen our nation. The main aim of this yatra is to fight against the issues such as price rise, unemployment, polarization and economic in equality etc. The yatra is important because it lost connectivity with common man and this yatra will bring common man nearer to party.

- Zeeshaan, Kazipet.

III

The five-month "Bharat Jodo" padayatra undertaken by Rahul and other Congress members from Kanyakumari covering various places across the country in an attempt to send a message to the people to vote out the NDA is not so easy as he thinks. Rahul's inability to strike chord with the rank and file of the party and grassroots workers despite holding prime posts in the party hierarchy for more than a decade saw the party getting severe drubbing is a fact.

Sidelining old guards coupled with multiple high-profile desertions due to culture of coterie syndrome and factionalism saw the party lose everywhere. It is a pity that Congress CWC still relies on Gandhi family to change its fortune and lead the way instead of introspecting its failures and take corrective measures. A question arises as how would the Congress attend to pressing matters relating to party's presidential elections and assembly elections in a few important states even when it is struggling to counter the perceptions of corruption and policy paralysis?

- K R Srinivasan, Secunderabad

Reservations conundrum in India

Several objections were raised and several petitions filed in the apex court on the 103rd Constitution Amendment Act passed by the parliament, which provides 10% quota to economical weaker sections of the society in government jobs and educational institutions on its validity. In fact, it is to be remembered that the 10-year reservation policy framed after independence has been regularly extended till now. Why is it so? If the government is always interested in those SCs, STs and OBCs what about other sections of the people, irrespective of the castes who are economically weak and have been suffering severely in not getting jobs and admissions into colleges? Is it the sin that they were born in poor upper castes by which they are denied all reservations.

There will not be any objection for the people to provide free education to SC, ST and other backward classes till their knowledge is improved and till they get ready to compete with general candidates, but providing reservation throughout their lives in jobs and promotions will certainly discourage the merit candidates. The present 103rd amendment will somehow satisfy the other sections of the people who are economically weak including the upper castes. Suggestions are encouraged to satisfy both sections of the people without changing the basic structure of the 50% quota.

In fact during these many years where reservations are provided on caste basis, not a single survey was made regarding the genuineness of the caste certificates on which basis they are provided reservation. This is all a vote-catching game played by the political parties whoever rule the government. It is suggested to remove the present reservation policy and frame a fresh one based on the economically weaker sections irrespective of caste and creed.

- TSN Rao, Hyderabad

Will Congress chief election be fair?

The Bharat Jodo Yatra started from Kanyakumari to Kashmir under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi is expected to unify the party nation-wide. Following the resignation of former CM of J&K and senior congress leader, Gulam Nabi Azad from the party, the hopes of Congress leaders have been belied. Azad slammed Rahul for lack of political will/wisdom and resolve to take key decisions.

The elections to elect Congress president are scheduled to be held in October for which the list of voters in the electoral college is already prepared. Congress Presidential elections have never been conducted in a transparent manner as the voters list of names are kept in secrecy and appointment of returning officer was done at the behest of Sonia Gandhi. There being a political conspiracy behind the elections, the voters list can only be accessible to the contestants in fray. Delhi's voters list would, however, be available to Sonia and Rahul at the earliest. The process to elect the President and the reason for keeping the voters list on AICC website have been questioned by Shashi Tharoor, who is in the fray, and Karthi Chidambaram.

Sonia has been insisting the party cadre to work only under Rahul leadership which has resulted in several Congress leaders fleeing the party. Many Congress leaders including the seniors are leaving the party to join BJP.

Despite Congress losing its cadre in a large numbers due to growing dissidence, Sonia has not tried to mend the ways. In case Rahul fails to make 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' a success, it would no doubt be true that many Congress leaders would tread the path of Gulam Nabi Azad and leave the party in large numbers. It is questionable as to what Sonia could do to revive the party. In case the party gets defeated next time, it would be impossible to recover again.

- Bh Indu Sekhar, Hyderabad

Address plight of govt hostel students

There are umpteen laws and rules which say that quality and hygienic food should be made available to all hostel students. But wardens often find it hard to supply even clean food and portable water for seven days in a week, thanks to their funds crunch! Officials are also there to monitor these hostels but, alas, they are too busy to move out of their cozy cubicles

We make a lot of hullabaloo over food quality at home or at a hotel, but, alas, we are indifferent to the plight of poor students in government hostels. Their rooms are usually dark, dingy and over crowded, their surroundings unhygienic, and their food is often no better than swill, to say the least. Frogs and lizards make 'special appearances' in food items!

Most wardens show no qualms to "treat" inmates with leftovers for breakfast and undone and half-done rice and dal for lunch! Of course, they don't mind lining their pockets at the cost of these students who are born in penury and who bear all these hard things and inhuman conditions just for a morsel of food! The less we talk about bathrooms and toilets in these hostels, the better. This is the scene in almost every welfare hostel in the country for ages where providing inmates with all minimal facilities is an exception rather than a regular norm!

The incidents of food poisoning in the government-run hostels in Telangana are taking place with alarming regularity. So far in 2022, about 1,100 students have been hospitalised due to food poisoning, according to one latest survey. In August alone about 350 hostel students were treated for food poisoning and, alas, a couple of them succumbed to this avoidable man-made tragedy. Of course, the situation in other States is no better either. Who is responsible for this bad state of affairs? Wardens? Contractors? or Governments?

There are umpteen laws and rules which say that quality and hygienic food should be made available to all hostel students. But wardens often find it hard to supply even clean food and portable water for seven days in a week, thanks to their funds crunch! Officials are also there to monitor these hostels but, alas, they are too busy to move out of their cozy cubicles. Only incidents of food poisoning goad them into action, albeit reluctantly.

Contractors who supply provisions and groceries to these kitchens are generally rich, powerful, and related to local leaders. So the main concern of these contractors is how to make a profit and grease the palms of officials to stay in the race! And the governments allocate a shoe-string budget and take lots of time to clear even monthly bills of these hostels! This has prompted the Congress leader Revanth Reddy to express his anguish and anger at the plight of hostel students and to call Residential Schools, "Death Traps!"

All these things make it very clear that many people are responsible for these pitiable state of affairs. However governments know that the buck stops at them and they can and have to do anything to clear the 'mess' in every sense of the term in these hostels and in particular to ensure the supply of clean, safe, and healthy food and water to these children of a lesser god.

– M Somasekhar Prasad, Hyderabad

Indifference to TS Governor quite bad

After completing three years as Governor of Telangana state, Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan again came out heavily against Chief Minister while bringing out her good and bad experiences in the state. Governor's relations with Telangana government and Chief Minister is a never ending story of mutual differences. It is true that Telangana government has been not only indifferent to the Governor but not respecting the chair of constitution irrespective of personal issues. Constitution protocols are not followed. Even officials are instructed orally not to follow Governor during her visits in the state which is highly condemnable.

In response to Governor's briefing on completing three years term on various issues, Telangana Rashtra Samithi alleged that Governor is defaming the Chief Minister and turned Raj Bhavan into a political stage. But if Telangana govt respects Governor as per constitution, followed protocols and respected with human values and ethics, the Governor would not have criticised the Chief Minister nor be bitter with him. Observers and intellectuals and all say they never came across such a bad situation at any time in the united Andhra Pradesh as well as Telangana state and that it is an abnormal, unwanted and preventable situation in the state. Politicians and individuals come and go but institutions are eternal and all have to respect them as per the constitution when an oath is taken while forming the government as per the constitution.

- JP Reddy, Nalgonda

Indians at greater risk of antibiotic resistance

Lancet has published that India is a big market of unapproved antibiotics which indicates a serious concern about the health of a common man. Due to overmedicating on unapproved drugs, public is getting antibiotic resistance which is not a good sign for a common Indian.

The private sector contributes to about 85-90 per cent of the total antibiotic use in India and more than 47 per cent of the formulations used in 2019 are not approved by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO). According to the study, Cefixime 200 mg tablets and Azithromycin 500 mg tablets are the two most popular antibiotic formulations in the country during the year of reporting. "Inappropriate use of antibiotics is a significant driver of antibiotic resistance in India," noted the study.

As per WHO, antibiotic resistance is rising to dangerously high levels in all parts of the world. "Where antibiotics can be bought for human or animal use without a prescription, the emergence and spread of resistance is made worse."

The study shows that formulations listed in the national list of essential medicines (NLEM) contributed 49% while fixed-dose combinations (FDC) contributed 34%, and unapproved formulations were 47.1%. FDCs are the combinations of two or more active drugs in a single dosage form. The study authors said, "centrally unapproved formulations accounted for 47.1% (2,408 million) of total DDDs. Cephalosporins, macrolides, and penicillins were the top three antibiotic classes among unapproved formulations."

Based on an analysis of a privately-operated, nationally representative dataset of drug sales across India, the study makes use of WHO's AWaRe (Access, Watch, Reserve) classification of drugs to examine the sale and consumption of antibiotics in the country. Watch and Reserve class of antibiotics are to be used sparingly as they are prone to drive antibiotic resistance.

While the Watch class of antibiotics is to be prescribed for specific diseases in limited doses as a first or second choice, the Reserve class of antibiotics is meant to be the 'last resort' due to their very high probability of causing antibiotic resistance. But in India, they're overprescribed — and worse, many unapproved formulations comprise a major part of Indians' consumption.

It is expected from the central government that immediately proper action should be taken before it harms the health of a common man who is totally unaware about the dangerous impacts of these unwanted antibiotics

- Yash Pal Ralhan, Jalandhar

II

The recent revelation that about 47% of antibiotics used in India are unapproved is shocking and precisely speaking 13 out of top 20 prescribed antibiotic combinations are neither accredited nor considered worth recommending for usage by WHO. The MOHFW & Indian drug regulatory authorities should swing into action, look sharp and ban their sale in the country.

Above all, our country has millions of unqualified doctors who use antibiotics according to their whims and wishes without bothering that the misuse of antibiotics makes the microorganisms highly resistant.

- Dr Sunil Chopra, Ludhiana

India has no national policy to stop suicides

Suicide is a serious national public health problem in India that can have long-lasting effects on individuals, families, and communities. According to a World Health Organization (WHO) report, more than 8 lakh people in the world commit suicide every 30 seconds. One out of every 4 suicides in the world is recorded in India. It is important to note that among the people who commit suicide in the world, there are more people between the ages of 15 and 30, especially men than women. According to the National Crime Records Bureau NCRB -2021 report, 1.64.033 people committed suicide in 2021 in India, of which 45.056 were women.

India has an average of 450 people every day, 18.7 people every hour, more than one in every 20 seconds. Men commit suicide on an average of 326 per day, 13.6 per hour, one every 4.4 minutes, while women commit suicide on an average of 124 per day, 5.1 per hour, i.e., one woman commits suicide every 10 minutes. According to an analysis of National Crime Records Bureau NCRB data since 1995. 2021 led to the highest number of student suicides in the country, but nearly 2 lakh of them died by suicide in the last 25 years.

According to a recent study, a student commits suicide every 40 minutes in India. On an average, about 36 student suicides are reported every day. Approximately 7-8 per cent of students die by suicide every year in our country. In the last 25 years from 1995 to 2021, nearly 2 lakh students have been lost to suicide. In 2018, the central government also constituted an expert committee to formulate a comprehensive approach to national suicide prevention.

One out of every 4 suicides in the world is recorded in India. It is important to note that among the people who commit suicide in the people between the ages of 15 and 30 years. Even though suicides are happening on such a large scale, it is sad that the government does not pay attention to them. It has been 4 years since that a committee was set up, but the result is that the attitude of the Central government and officials is the same as where the gong is placed. It is very sad that even today there is no proper comprehensive national suicide prevention policy or strategy even though young people, women and low economies are taking their lives unstoppably, Suicide is often preventable and the efforts to prevent it may occur at the community, and government level.

- Dr B Keshavulu, Hyderabad