MyVoice: Views of our readers 9th December 2020

AP CM should look into cause of mystery disease

This is with reference to the report 'Eluru mystery illness: No common factor established' (Dec 8). It is quite heartrending to read that one person died and more than 450 have been admitted to hospital with a mystery illness in Andhra Pradesh. Over the weekend, hundreds of people in Eluru collapsed and experienced seizures and nausea, and some reportedly foamed at the mouth. According to reports, 455 people had been taken to hospital and 200 had since been discharged. The mystery outbreak has increased the burden on the healthcare system in Andhra Pradesh, one of the States worst affected by coronavirus with over 800,000 cases.

Specialists from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences travelled to the State to investigate. Tests were being done to try to determine the cause of the illness, including looking into possible food or water contamination or airborne poisoning. Some of those who collapsed complained of burning eyes. Specialist doctors are still working on finding out the cause of this disease and we are waiting for results from the labs. However, the State government and the Health department officials should find out the exact cause of the disease and do all possible things to stop any recurrence of such tragic incidents. The Chief Minister should also look into possible lapses in the system due to which such incidences happen.

Srilatha Poluru, Vijayawada

Make sacrifices to take on BJP

Any move to take on the BJP will have to be two-pronged. The first step should be to fight the elections; do what it takes to evolve a convincing message, communicate it to the people, and encourage them to vote. If they are serious, Opposition parties will have to make great sacrifices in this regard. The Congress, for example, may have to accept that it is a party in rehabilitation, refrain from thirsting for political power and, instead, have its politicians provide their voice to the larger direction agreed to by a combined Opposition. In other words, it has to actively play a supporting role till the middle space and its own link to ground reality are nursed back to a viable scale. The Opposition needs an excellent secretariat, which addresses the bandwidth spanning voters to corporates. This is something the Congress can contribute to provided it shakes off the residual vanity stemming from being India's grand old party.

The second step is that of government formation should a future election grant these parties such an opportunity. Parties that refrain from making this exercise murky will genuinely gain the respect of the people, especially of those in the electorate wishing for an end to right-wing rule. For the Congress, focus shouldn't be the next national election that an Opposition manages to win but the polls thereafter. It is a measure of how challenging the path ahead is and how much the Congress needs to restructure. First the musical notes, then the orchestra, and only after that a maestro, if there is one.

Satish Chandra K, Hyderabad

Don't scrap post-matric scholarship for SC students

Recent media reports indicate that Ambedkar's 75-year-old 'post-matric scholarship' scheme (PMS) is in peril of being scrapped. The government is possibly considering a reduction in the Central government's share to only 10 per cent, which amounts to near withdrawal and leaving the entire burden of 90 per cent on the States, which they are unwilling to bear. Obviously, this will reduce the already low educational attainment of the SCs in the days to come. The question being raised is as to why the government should pick a scheme for poor SC students with less than Rs 2.5 lakh annual family income? From the records of preceding years, it does not look as if the shortage of funds is due to Covid-19, as the decline in allocation for the scheme had begun much before the pandemic set in. The facts seem to suggest that it is an outcome of the recent trend of low priority to higher education for the SCs.

Prabhakar Rao M, Warangal