MyVoice: Views of our readers 29th March 2020

Capital punishment inadequate to control crimes against women

Anna Vetticad has written an extremely thought-provoking article trying to address Islamophobia, patriarchy, online abuse, and the death sentence at one go. Adding a few points to consider, the intellect and instinct of the human mind combines at this point of evolution to a curious mix of the ideal and the base; and there is no way we can change it soon.

This human mind is a product of evolution; the cause and effect perhaps of our existence and survival at this point of time. We must accept for what it is till we evolve further at a golden future time of humanity.

A future where the higher ideals become supreme and the basal instincts vanish. Sex is the most important driver of evolution which has pushed humans to the front. The association of sex with pleasure exists in other animals too but is unfortunately very strong in humans.

exual thoughts loosely hang in the background for most normal beings. Much of the humour which circulates relate to genital organs or to sexual activities.

It has been a constant endeavour of the human mind aspiring for higher spiritual realms to conquer the sexual urges, embedded deeply into our genetic make-up. The expression of these thoughts in the form of rape is another end of this spectrum. It is an extreme behaviour.

In such a situation of human mind, can capital punishment be ever a deterrent? Capital punishment can only punish the individuals for the act; but it can never act as a message for the society to become better.

No Act or punishment works to stop an act of passion, especially when it relates to sex. That is our unfortunate state of human evolution and we must wait for genetic mutations in a far distant future to become better human beings.

It is not pessimism, but we must improve other areas before addressing capital punishment- education, safety mechanisms, easy reporting, and quick delivery of justice. We are severely deficient in all these areas.

The debate about capital punishment for bad crimes will go on forever; both the proponents and opponents have strong points to consider.

Dr Pingali Gopal, Warangal

Sachin Tendulkar needs to donate more

While former cricketer Sachin Tendulkar donating Rs 50 lakhs towards the Covid 19 pandemic is a laudable step but in reality, it didn't suit his personality, brand value and financial position. He was one of the highest-paid players as well in the advertisement industry.

He was nominated as Member of Rajya Sabha but he didn't prove to be effective for the nomination as his attendance in the Upper House was very thin and secondly, he did nothing as a member of Parliament.

He should have at least give the amount of his salary as donation as drawn by him during the tenure of a member of Rajya Sabha.

Dr Navneet Seth, Dhuri ( Punjab)

World should unite to take China to task

"Death makes everyone equal" is a principle accepted and adopted especially by people who preach and practise communist ideology. This principle seems unexceptional in case of China which is basically responsible for the origin and spreading of the deadly monster of COVID 19 that is virtually playing havoc with the lives of the people all over across the world.

It is believed that China has unleashed the virus on mankind mainly because of the persecution it has been facing due to America which is considered to be the healthiest and wealthiest country in the world.

The communist China which is not an ally of the oldest democracy of America has been over the years trying to leave no stone unturned to become world's super power in terms of the acquisition of nuclear arsenals and promotion of its wealth vis-a-vis trade and technology.

China has over the years met its targets of building nuclear strategy as well as promotion of trade. It has reached to a top level in claiming the premiership to hold world economy only next to America.

China has also been trying its best to outshine against India with which it has maintained unfriendly relations and rivalry especially with a view to dominate and claim its supremacy in the Asian sub-continent.

It is unfortunate that China has made the situation worser after it has unleashed the Covid-19 virus to spread across the world and in the process has threatened the very well-being of life and economy on the earth.

The communist China which seldom believes in trusting the concept of theism has moved a step further to sacrifice its own population for the sake of spreading virus by putting the welfare of humanity in stake / threat.

As it has also been reported that China had also isolated the medicine to cure coronavirus, the folly adopted by China in annihilating humanity with the help of the novel virus is very atrocious and unwarranted and speaks volumes of its shrewd ideology and policy in upsetting economy and life of people of nearly 170 countries.

China has set an example as the preacher of communism, by level fielding the world economy and bringing about an equality on the concept / basis of death and not by any other means.

The present worldwide chaos and virtual break down of all world activity are the handiwork of China which is the epicentre of mayhem created on the planet which is under the grip of this deadly virus

It is the need of the hour for all world nations to unitedly take to task the communist China for its monumental blunder of creating and proliferating the virus and it is also needed to persuade the people belonging to the medical and scientific fields to expedite their efforts in inventing / isolating the medicine that can permanently put an end to the prevaling scourge of coronavirus haunting the present day world.

Bh Indu Sekhar, Hyderabad

Consider aid package for 55 crore middle and lower- income people

India has a population of 135 crores out of which leaving apart a negligible population of rich people, rest 55 crore people, consisting mainly of mute category of middle and lower income people is not covered by massive welcome corona-relief of rupees 1.70 lakh crore covering about 80 crore people.

India is a country where rich becomes richer day-by-day and poor specially below-poverty-line get government-attention. But there is no one to think of plight of mute category of middle-income people and those lower-income people which are not registered in this category with government.

Majority of such lower-income people are employees of middle-income traders. Problem of middle-income people is that they have to move in the society with high-income group while their income is shrinking day-by-day because of multiple aspects like faulty implementation of otherwise reformative steps of demonetization and GST and now to be further hit by corona-crisis.

Central government should come out with a massive relief-package for middle-income group of traders firstly with user-friendly loan-waiver schemes of Banks and Non-Banking-Financial-Companies NBFCs and secondly by promoting retail and wholesale trade by imposing strict restrictions on on-line sale.

Retail and wholesale trade contribute 28-percent to national economy, and boosting these will cover both middle and lower income group left out of rupees 1.70 lakh crore corona-relief package covering 80 crores of people.

Madhu Agrawal, Delhi

Take care of duty-conscious cops

Along with the medical professionals the police force is excellently doing a laudable job through out the nation in the fight against Covid-19 and in protecting and safeguarding the citizens from falling prey to one of the deadliest virus the world has seen in recent times.

Though in most cases the police patiently deal with the public sometimes they are forced to take severe action as some people do not take things serious and flout rules and regulations.

If not for the police the lockdown in most parts of the nation would have ended in chaos as sadly many in the society are still to understand the gravity of the situation and resort to breaking the laws.

It is the duty of the governments now to see that the police personnel are also cared for. Health protection gears and devices are a must for the cops as most of them have to handle different type of people on the streets.

As they are in close contact with the public the law and order personnel will have to maintain their health and hygiene. The medical fraternity should help and guide them with frequent checkups and safety measures.

It is the sense of duty, dedication to the nation and to safeguard the citizen that urges a police officer to advice us not to step out on the road during crisis. Let us give them a hand during a time when the whole nation is on a mission -to overcome Covid-19, the killer.

M Pradyu, Kannur

Adopt humanitarian approach during crisis

After the lockdown several essential services have been exempted from restrictions with or without time restrictions and this includes drinking water supply.

On drinking water, those who are using water purifier (in particular senior citizens) may have to call the technician for repairs or fix spare parts.

Due to lockdown, though automated systems are taking calls but it soon follows with another message that due to lock down, the request would be attended as early as possible after the lock down which at the moment is for 21 days.

While those who have some support may be able to get drinking water cans, but others who have no such support may have to suffer without clean drinking water. I think the technicians attending to such calls can be allowed to attend the request at least between 10 am and 5 pm.

Also states like Telangana the government has allowed the shops selling essential house hold items open from 6 am to 6 pm. Suddenly , the police are forcing the shop keepers to close them by 3.00 pm. Similarly, the police have been deployed to regulate the movement of people not beat them mercilessly or give punishments.

The small group of migrant workers who are walking all the way to go back to their villages, if they cannot be helped, should not be harassed or beaten.

There are thousands of IT personnel are staying away from family are working from their PG and other accommodations and they are in dire need of support for food etc and either the company or government can arrange food for them on payment basis.

It is surprising , why the police force are not using megaphone and go around to make an appeal to stay indoors unless it absolutely necessary. These humanitarian approach is need of the hour or else law and order can turn bit ugly in the long run.

N Nagarajan, Hyderabad

Be careful in sharing messages online

Nearly 600 million people in India use the Internet, remain active on social sites such as Facebook, WhatsApp. In the last few days, it has been seen that people share and forward any information in which some information is completely wrong.

Recently the weeping picture of the Italian Prime Minister went viral and told that the Prime Minister caused Corona virus in his country seeing the deaths could not stop his tears.

All such rumours are being spread on social media which have no connection with the truth while it is done by educated people. In such a situation, his education and mentality are bound to be questioned.

It is very important to know the authenticity of any information before sharing it, otherwise its result can be frightening.

Harsh Vardhan Singh, Raebareli (UP)