MyVoice: Views of our readers 1st November 2026

We need a US-like medicare system to save lives

How come in India one can get the services of a maid or get the delivery of groceries within 10 minutes on ordering but never so when one is desperate for an ambulance? We often see people dying instantaneously in the gym or in the office. We know that hospitals can put a stent and save such people in minutes, but the problem is in rushing them to a hospital. In the USA, people survive when caught in similar health complications; all it needs is calling 911. Pronto arrive an ambulance, police personnel and fire engine, who, in a coordinated effort, rush the patient to the nearest hospital. Incidentally, emergency care like handling heart, trauma, or the like are taken up in the well-equipped ambulance, which has an EMT who can handle transport and ER care during the victim’s transportation. A remarkable facet is that the ER does not ask for cash or insurance or even a visa, they first treat and try to save the victim’s life.

India also has as good hospitals as in the USA. What they lack is the ER system, many states have 108 or something similar, which, unfortunately, are redundant; they don’t work, have a pathetic infra, and no trained people to treat instantly. Ultimately, they end up as glorified vans, where drivers take you to any hospital, which pays a cut to them. It is even more problematic, if you go to a government hospital most of which are ill-equipped. In private hospitals you need to pay. The best situation is having insurance cover, money and having someone who can drive you to the nearest premier hospital to save the patient. Why can’t we have a system like in the USA? Is it so expensive or impossible to manage and maintain? I don’t think so.

C K Subramaniam, Navi Mumbai-400705

Essential medicines cannot be held to ransom

The Punjab Chemists Association’s suspension of pregabalin and other habit-forming medicines in protest against alleged harassment during the anti-drug drive, has pushed vulnerable patients into a dangerous crisis. Those dependent on insulin, pain-relief medicines and psychiatric treatment now face an unacceptable threat to their health and survival. Chemists have every right to protest harassment and demand fair treatment. But no professional body can justify denial of prescribed medicines to patients who have no role in the dispute. Withholding

essential drugs is not a legitimate form of pressure; it is a grave dereliction of the duty that comes with handling life-saving medicines. The state government must act without delay: ensure emergency supplies through hospitals and notified pharmacies, crack down on hoarding and black-marketing, and hold accountable anyone whose action causes avoidable harm or death. The association must immediately restore normal supply pending talks. Public health cannot be a bargaining chip. Every hour of delay deepens the risk of preventable suffering and death. This policy must be adopted by every state government.

RS Narula, Patiala

Ensure transparent pricing of E100 flex-fuel

The Centre’s approval of E100 (100% ethanol) for flex-fuel vehicles marks a stride toward energy independence and decarbonization. Adopting lessons from Brazil where over 80 per cent of new light duty vehicles run on flex-fuel, India aims to curb its massive crude oil import dependency, which currently hovers near 87 per cent. However, policy ambition must align with consumer realities.

Motorists already express valid concerns over E20 blends pointing to a seven per cent drop in fuel efficiency and potential long term engine corrosion in non-compatible systems. While the government’s clarification that existing vehicle owners need not convert to E100 is reassuring, key operational hurdles remain. To build public

trust, the government must ensure transparent pricing that offsets ethanol’s lower energy density compared to petrol.

Dr Vijaykumar H K, Raichur-584170

When faith and caste meet the Constitution’s fine print

Imagine a young woman born into a Scheduled Caste family, who has grown up facing the kind of discrimination the Constitution was written to address. She changes her faith. Does the quota that was meant to lift her community follow her into her new religion? The Supreme Court in March this year gave a clear answer: no, not automatically. The reason lies in a 1950 presidential order. It listed the castes entitled to Scheduled Caste status and tied that status to Hinduism, and later to Sikhism and Buddhism. The court held that anyone who professes another religion cannot be treated as a member of a Scheduled Caste. In its own words, the status is lost through “immediate and complete loss” the moment conversion occurs. Consider a case from Tamil Nadu that reached the Court in the same period. A woman, whom the state regarded as a Christian convert, was accused of claiming to practice Hinduism to secure a Scheduled Caste job quota. The bench described such conduct as a “fraud on the Constitution.” The judges were not questioning anyone’s right to believe. They were questioning whether a reservation policy could be claimed on paper while its purpose was abandoned in practice.

Supporters of the ruling argue that reservation exists to correct a historical wrong tied to untouchability, and that religion-linked categories protect the most disadvantaged Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists from being diluted. Dalit Christians and Muslims, however, tell a different story. Many say caste prejudice follows them into churches, mosques and village life, even after they leave the faith of their ancestors. A 2007 commission, chaired by Justice Ranganath Mishra, recommended extending quota benefits to Dalit Christians and Muslims, a suggestion that remains politically unsettled.

So where does that leave the common citizen? Perhaps the honest answer is that India has two questions tangled together. One is about belief: can a person’s faith be proven or policed by the state? The other is about discrimination: does a person who was denied dignity for being born into a caste stop facing that treatment after changing religion? The apex court settled the first question for the moment in legal terms. The second remains a social reality that no judgment can erase.

A fair path forward may lie in a careful study of how caste discrimination works across religious communities, followed by an honest public debate. Laws should be clear, but they should also be grounded in lived experience. A reservation system that the public trusts are one that can explain itself to both the person who stayed and the person who left.

K Chidanand Kumar, Bengaluru

The table and the vanishing attention

Sardinian restaurants have come up with a novel way to keep people away from mobile phones while eating. It has become routine to glance at a phone while sitting at the table, photograph the food and the eatery, and display the pictures on one’s social-media status. What differentiates the Sardinian initiative is that it does not merely ask people to put their phones away but also draws them closer through games and drawing. It may be an exaggeration to assume that this can solve the problem of loneliness, but it can certainly help people enjoy hot food and relish their meals with greater concentration.

The importance of dining etiquette is not new. Urbanus Magnus, a thirteenth-century text by Daniel of Beccles, emphasises the importance of a proper dining setting, including the observation that one might eat without a table but not without a tablecloth. Its author could scarcely have imagined that centuries later people would sit at dining tables holding devices, browsing or photographing their food to attract the attention of others miles away, without even looking up.

Indian culture, too, traditionally discourages eating while glancing at a device. Rather, one ought to be at peace with oneself while eating. Distraction not only diminishes the pleasure of food but may also adversely affect digestion. The Sardinian initiative therefore brings an old cultural wisdom into a contemporary setting: eating deserves attention, not constant interruption.

Vijay Singh Adhikari, Nainital

Water crisis: TG must prioritise restoration of tanks and protection of hills

I wish to draw the attention of the Telangana government and the public to the state’s worsening water crisis and the urgent need to protect its traditional water bodies, forests and natural landscape. A plateau region with semi-arid climatic conditions, Telangana has historically depended on its cheruvus (tanks), ponds and interconnected irrigation systems to conserve rainwater and sustain agriculture. However, rapid urbanisation, unchecked real estate development and encroachments have damaged many of these vital water bodies, particularly in Hyderabad, Rangareddy and their adjoining urban areas.

The situation has become more alarming with the latest drought declaration. According to reports published on October 27–28, the state has classified 365 of its 621 mandals across 31 districts as drought-affected, including 111 under severe drought and 254 under moderate drought. Rainfall during June–September was 17 per cent below normal, while live storage in major and medium reservoirs stood at just 179.63 thousand million cubic feet (TMC) against a combined capacity of 585 TMC. These figures underline the vulnerability of agriculture, rural livelihoods and drinking-water supplies. While major irrigation and lift-irrigation projects have their place, the government must give equal, if not greater, priority to restoring existing tanks.

A sustained programme of scientific desilting, repairing feeder channels, rejuvenating catchment areas, harvesting rainwater and recharging groundwater could improve local water security at comparatively modest cost. Strict enforcement against lake encroachments and the protection of full tank levels and buffer zones must also become non-negotiable priorities.

Equally concerning is the degradation of natural hills, rocky outcrops and green spaces through quarrying, blasting and unplanned construction. These landscapes support biodiversity, moderate local temperatures, reduce soil erosion and help rainwater infiltrate the ground. The India State of Forest Report 2023 also recorded a decline of 105.87 square kilometres in Telangana’s recorded forest area between the 2021 and 2023 assessments, reinforcing the need for vigilant conservation.

The government should adopt a time-bound ecological restoration plan, combining immediate drought relief with long-term water conservation, scientific regulation of mining, urban lake protection and community participation. Public expenditure must be guided not only by the scale of infrastructure that has been created but also by the sustainability of the preserved natural resources. If corrective measures are delayed, Telangana could face increasingly severe water stress, land degradation and desertification-like conditions. Protecting our tanks, hills and forests today is essential to safeguarding the state’s agriculture, economy and future generations.

Vidyasagar Reddy Kethiri, Hanumakonda

Hyderabad stares at water crisis

Hyderabad is staring at a severe water crisis. Telangana region recorded a 17 per cent rainfall deficit this monsoon and Hyderabad is headed for a thirsty summer. Monsoon has withdrawn from the country with El Nino conditions persisting in most states. Hyderabad has been hit the hardest this year and several areas of the city are reporting a depletion of ground water levels. One of the reasons for this is that the state government failed to heed to several El Nino warnings issued by the IMD. It has failed to come up with an effective contingency plan to address the crisis. Dependence on water tankers has increased with the growing demand, taking advantage of which the price of tanker supply has been duly raised. In a way, the groundwater crisis is not solely the result of poor rainfall but also due to inefficient rainwater harvesting practices. We must adopt sound groundwater recharge techniques and spread awareness about building groundwater recharge pits .In fact, such recharge pits must be made mandatory across gated communities, apartment complexes and independent houses. We have to accept the harsh reality that Hyderabad has sunk deeper into the groundwater Stress this year and. We have to take measures to prevent unnecessary water wastage. The onus is on every citizen to ensure responsible water consumption.

Parimala G Tadas, Hyderabad-50

Groundwater is the real monsoon deficit

Your recent article “The monsoon left. The cost remains” rightly points out that the 2026 Southwest monsoon ended 12.6 per cent below normal, the 13th lowest since 1901. Officials may describe the season as “manageable,” but rainfall figures alone do not show the real cost. India already extracts more groundwater than the United States and China combined, yet its irrigation efficiency is only about 38 per cent. In a deficit year, farmers pump deeper to make up the shortfall, draining aquifers that rain cannot quickly refill. Rising heat also cuts the daily earnings of informal outdoor workers, a loss that never appears in GDP figures. The government should promote micro-irrigation and less water-intensive crops, publish district-wise groundwater data, and consider income support for workers hit by extreme heat.A drought is easier to fight than the one we unwittingly pump away.

Divyanshu Dhakad, Dhenknal

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The Hans India