MyVoice: Views of our readers 25th October 2026

Sonia Gandhi’s memoir can be an unforgettable film

Sonia Gandhi’s forthcoming memoir, Belonging: A Journey of Love, has moved a step closer to readers. On October 22, she offered its first glimpse through an Instagram video featuring her daughter, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. HarperCollins India is scheduled to publish the book on November 10. The memoir could complete the personal-political journey that began in Javier Moro’s The Red Saree, which traces Sonia’s passage from post-war Italy to marriage with Rajiv Gandhi and her reluctant entry into politics.

It promises a more intimate account of love, duty, loss, identity and her emergence as a political leader and her decision to decline the prime ministership in 2004.

Its publication in India follows an editorial impasse with Penguin Random House India. Reports cited disagreements over sensitive political references, although Penguin denied external pressure. HarperCollins’ intervention has resolved the uncertainty over the Indian edition. Together, these books could offer the ingredients of an extraordinary human drama—one that would make an unforgettable film.

RS Narula, Patiala

Good move to bring Penicillin G manufacturing to Kakinada

It is good news that the Union government has approved resumption of the manufacture of Penicillin G after a gap of three decades at the Kakinada SEZ, under the Centre’s Production Linked Incentive (PLI). The production is to be taken up by Lyfius Pharmaceutical unit, which is a subsidiary unit of Aurobindo. It envisages an investment of ₹ 2,500 crore. It aims at not only self-sufficiency in Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) but also reduce dependence on China for bulk drugs. With this a good initiative under Atmanirbhar Bharat. While this boosts Andhra Pradesh status as a pharmaceutical hub in India, it will also push AP into the select club of antibiotic drug manufacture. It will encourage other pharmaceutical companies to choose AP as the destination for investment.

Pratapa Reddy Yaramala, Tiruvuru (AP)

Prioritise nutrition security over food security

The article on India’s GHI score of 24.1 and 100th rank is a much-needed wake-up call to realise that we can no longer afford to sweep under the rug. The author has rightly pointed out that the story is not all doom and gloom. The fall from 38.1 in 2000 to 24.1 today, with stunting dropping from 50 per cent to 29.3 per cent and undernourishment from 18.1 to 9.8 percent, shows that we have indeed moved the needle and that millions of lives have improved. This is the light at the end of the tunnel and deserves appreciation.

However, while we have plucked the low-hanging fruit between 2006 and 2012, the momentum has now hit a plateau. The most alarming point, which is the tip of the iceberg, is that child wasting has increased from 16.9 per cent to 19.0 per cent. This is not just a statistic; it is a red flag indicating that our current strategy is cutting corners by focusing only on calorie sufficiency rather than nutrition security. A child who is wasted is fighting a daily battle for survival, and the vicious cycle of poor diet, repeated infection, and poor absorption cannot be broken by rice and wheat alone.

Therefore, the way forward is to connect the dots between food, health, and sanitation. We must tackle wasting on a war footing through anganwadis with therapeutic foods, eggs, pulses, and millets in the Public Distribution System. Second, we must invest in the mother, because a weak mother will inevitably deliver a weak child; antenatal care, iron supplementation, and maternal nutrition are non-negotiable. Third, without toilets, clean drinking water, and handwashing awareness, any food we give will be washed away by diarrhoea, so sanitation is medicine itself. If we fail to act, the future of nearly three in ten children remains at stake, and their physical and cognitive disadvantage will become a national liability. It is time to shift our policy lens from food security to nutrition security before it is too late.

K Raju, Kakinada

What lies ahead of the public banking system

The reported proposal to reduce the government’s shareholding in Central Bank of India, UCO Bank, Punjab & Sind Bank and Indian Overseas Bank to 75 per cent, alongside preparations for another round of public sector bank consolidation, raises important questions about the future of India’s public banking system. Increasing public shareholding to meet SEBI’s minimum public shareholding requirements may be necessary. However, the government must distinguish between regulatory compliance, operational consolidation and outright privatisation. Each serves a different purpose and requires independent justification. The Union Cabinet’s recent approval of the proposed sale of a 60.72 per cent stake in IDBI Bank to a Fairfax Financial Holdings subsidiary for approximately ₹52,878 crore signals renewed momentum in strategic disinvestment. The transaction, subject to regulatory clearances, makes it particularly important to assess the wider implications of further privatisation.

Public sector banks remain vital to financial inclusion, agricultural lending, credit for micro, small and medium enterprises, and banking access in rural and underserved areas. Any restructuring must therefore be guided not merely by valuation, profitability or the government’s disinvestment receipts, but also by social obligations, employment security, regional representation and customer interests.

Consolidation can improve scale, technology investment and competitiveness, but mergers alone cannot guarantee better governance or efficiency. Before identifying banks for privatisation, the government should publish transparent criteria, commission independent impact assessments and invite public consultation. India needs financially strong, professionally managed banks capable of competing globally while safeguarding the interests of ordinary depositors and small borrowers. Reform should strengthen public banking, not weaken its essential developmental role.

Vidyasagar Reddy Kethiri, New Delhi-110017

SMC has set a bad example

The National Medical Commission (NMC) has made it abundantly clear through its directives to medical colleges that tuition fees for the MBBS course should be collected only for the prescribed academic duration of four and a half years. In other words, colleges should collect only half of the annual tuition fee from students in their final year. While the NMC regulations are very clear, it has been reported that Saveetha Medical College (SMC), Thandalam, Chennai, has been demanding the full annual fee of ₹24,75,000 from MBBS students of the 2022 batch, who are now in their final year of study, instead of the ₹12,37,500 they are required to pay. Even more shocking is the fact that the college has disabled the attendance portal of students who have not paid the full amount demanded.

Following complaints against this excessive fee demand, the Tamil Nadu government constituted a three-member committee to conduct an enquiry. The enquiry was attended by aggrieved students and their parents, but the management of SMC failed to appear despite being summoned to the meeting.

After deliberations, the enquiry committee reportedly found that the college had failed to comply with the prescribed guidelines on fee collection and had resorted to coercive measures by disabling the attendance portals of students who had not paid the full annual fee for the fifth year, with effect from September 30.

As SMC is a deemed-to-be university regulated by the NMC and the University Grants Commission (UGC), the Tamil Nadu government has written to the relevant authorities seeking appropriate action against the college for collecting excess fees from undergraduate medical students and disabling their access to the attendance portal; actions that are unethical and unacceptable.

The action taken should be sufficiently stringent to ensure that the college not only stops harassing the current batch of final-year students but also refrains from subjecting any final-year students in the future to similar treatment.

Professional colleges and universities, particularly medical colleges, are expected to impart knowledge, discipline, and ethical values to their students and nurture professionals committed to serving society. However, by allegedly fleecing its own students through fee demands that violate the prescribed regulations, SMC has set a bad example and undermined the very purpose of education in a profession widely regarded as a noble calling.

Tharcius S Fernando, Chennai-92

Northern Telangana deserves a Namo Bharat rapid rail corridor

I wish to draw the attention of the Union Ministry of Railways, the Railway Board and South Central Railway (SCR) to the urgent need for a semi-high-speed regional rail service connecting Hyderabad/Secunderabad with Warangal and Karimnagar.

Thousands of people travel daily between these centres for employment, education, healthcare, business and other essential needs. Overcrowded trains, lengthy road journeys and increasing highway congestion impose a considerable burden on commuters, particularly students, working professionals and patients.

The proposed Secunderabad–Warangal–Karimnagar Namo Bharat Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) could transform regional mobility by providing faster, reliable and comfortable public transport. It could strengthen economic integration, improve access to educational and medical institutions, reduce dependence on private vehicles and encourage industrial development across northern Telangana.

Recent railway investments provide a timely opportunity to explore this proposal. In May, major infrastructure works on the Kazipet–Vijayawada corridor were dedicated to the nation, while further multitracking of the Secunderabad–Kazipet section received Cabinet approval last month. These developments underline the importance of expanding rail capacity in the region. However, an RRTS service would require a separate feasibility assessment, appropriate infrastructure and dedicated operational planning.

I urge the Railway Ministry, SCR, the Government of Telangana and the National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC) to jointly examine the proposal, assess passenger demand, identify suitable alignments and stations, and prepare a preliminary feasibility report.

Northern Telangana deserves modern, affordable and time-saving regional connectivity. A well-planned rapid rail corridor would be a significant investment in the region’s future.

Vidyasagar Reddy Kethiri, Hanumakonda - 506009

Food safety requires fierce enforcement

The FSSAI issuing notices to non-compliant businesses is merely a timid band-aid on a systemic crisis. Sporadic warnings cannot fix India’s rampant food adulteration, where over 40 per cent of tested food samples fail quality and safety standards annually according to official data. Token reprimands actively embolden unscrupulous vendors who consistently jeopardize public health for petty profits. We need ruthless, zero tolerance enforcement and immediate closures, criminal prosecutions and heavy fines that decimate bad actors economically. Unless the FSSAI enforces uncompromising punitive measures, Indian consumers remain defenseless against hazardous food.

Dr Vijaykumar H K, Raichur -584170

197 Indian languages endangered: UNESCO bombshell

Language is among the most crucial forces that not only expresses our emotions and beliefs but also binds humanity into a strong thread. It carries the memory of generations, preserves traditions and gives communities a distinctive identity. India’s linguistic diversity is therefore not merely a collection of languages; it is an essential part of its civilisational character.

The World Economic Forum ranks India fourth, after Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and Nigeria, in terms of linguistic diversity. India’s unity has remarkably flourished amidst divergent faiths, languages, food habits and local traits. The country’s 2011 Census recorded 121 languages and thousands of mother tongues and dialects, reflecting an extraordinary linguistic mosaic. Yet this diversity faces a serious threat. UNESCO has identified 197 Indian languages as endangered, while estimates suggest that around 250 languages have disappeared over the past six decades. The Saimar language of Tripura reportedly had only four speakers in 2012. Majhi of Sikkim subsequently disappeared. Toda in Tamil Nadu, Raji in Uttarakhand and Birhor in Jharkhand represent languages confronting varying degrees of endangerment. Government documentation itself lists Birhor and Toda among endangered languages.

The disappearance of a language means more than the disappearance of words. It may also take away folk songs, oral histories, indigenous knowledge, proverbs and a community’s particular way of understanding nature and society. UNESCO has aptly noted that when a language disappears, a community loses part of its unique history, culture and worldview. Dogri offers a significant example of institutional protection. Its inclusion in the Eighth Schedule through the 92nd Constitutional Amendment in 2003 gave it constitutional recognition alongside the other scheduled languages.

Technology can certainly become a powerful instrument in this effort.

Digital archives, recordings, dictionaries, online literature, speech databases and artificial intelligence can document languages and make their knowledge accessible to younger generations. The Government’s Scheme for Protection and Preservation of Endangered Languages, implemented through the Central Institute of Indian Languages, already works on documentation and preservation. But technology alone cannot guarantee survival. A language ultimately lives through its speakers. Unless the local community itself decides to preserve it, speak it at home, transmit it to children and take pride in its inheritance, an archive may preserve its vocabulary but not its living spirit. The government, therefore, must remain a facilitator through education, documentation, institutional recognition and technological support. But the final guardians of linguistic diversity are the communities themselves. To preserve a language is ultimately to preserve a living memory of humanity.

Vijay Singh Adhikari, Nainital

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The Hans India