MyVoice: Views of our readers 7th January 2021

A gifted lyricist is gone

In the death of Vennelakanti, our Telugu film industry has lost a great, gifted lyricist and dialogue writer. In his 34- year long writing career Vennelakanti proved his mettle, by working in about 350 films and writing around 2500 songs. His songs like Chiru navula varam isthava, chiti nuchi lesivastha showcased his strong penchant for using the figures of speech like oxymoron, and alliteration. As a dialogue writer and lyricist in dubbing movies,Vennelakanti was a force behind the success of many films of Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan in their Telugu versions. Even as a human being, Vennelakanti lived by certain principles, and loved his friends and their advice. May his soul rest in peace.

M Somasekhar Prasad, Hyderabad

Build consensus on new Parliament building

This refers to the news item "In 2:1 verdict, SC nod for Central Vista Project", (The Hans India, January 6). The apex court's green-light to the controversial Central Vista revamp project clears the way for new parliament building - envisaged to be ready by August 2022, when the country celebrates 75th Independence Day.

On the matter of conservation heritage, the Supreme Court wants clearances to be sought. Also in its to-do list is the setting of smog towers. The project proponent has been asked to ensure these as an integral part, with the directions to the ministry of environment and forests to install smog towers in future projects.

The ground-breaking ceremony last month was boycotted by the Opposition and frowned upon by the Supreme Court since the case was pending. Now the project that has been approved, the Centre needs to reach out across the political spectrum and be mindful of apprehensions. It claims the project will take care of the deficiencies of the existing Parliament building like inadequate space, structural weaknesses and security problems, and save the public exchequer crores paid as rent for offices. That may be sound logic but building an edifice for a forum meant for informed discussion and debate while giving these the go-by is a false start.

N Sadhasiva Reddy, Bengaluru

Dubious games of Pakistan

Pakistan pretends to be determined to getting rid of terrorism and creates an impression that it will leave no stone unturned in its attempts to put an end to terrorism every time the Financial Action Task Force(FATF) meets to review the degree Pakistan has adhered to a FATF action plan. Anti-terrorist activities are undertaken and symbolic arrests are conducted before every FATF meeting. The year 2021 also witnessed such eyewash by Pakistan.

The news about Pakistan's arrest of Zaki- Ur- Rahman Lakhvi, Lashkar-e-Taiba(LeT) operations commander and mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attacks before the next meet of FATF was received with great scepticism by India. A similar pretence was made by Pakistan when Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Sayeed was arrested just before FATF meet in October last year. The Sindh high court's order to release Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and three accomplices convicted for the murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl demonstrates that Pakistani anti-terrorism is only a gimmick and it is not at all concerned about terrorist operations in the country.

Venu G S, Kollam

Do we need a new Parliament?

Centre might have succeeded in getting approvals from the apex court to the vista project but it should not forget that such a multi crore mega scheme is contrary to Modi government's catchy slogan "more governance, less government" (In 2:1 verdict, SC nod for Central Vista Project, January 6). Big constructions are needed for industries, airports, railway stations, hospitals, malls and other commercial establishments but not for Parliament, which is meant to serve the people. In this digital age big buildings are not necessary and parliament proceedings can be carried out virtually. Government many also consider the idea of door step service to people like many service sectors do . The bottom line is people want service but not bothered about the size of buildings.

Kshirasagara Balaji Rao, Hyderabad