MyVoice: Views of our readers 28th April 2024

An enduring pathway to holistic wellness

April 29 is celebrated as International Dance Day every year. Dance, an integral part of human heritage, spans centuries and is deeply ingrained in cultural traditions worldwide. India, celebrated for its cultural diversity, boasts a myriad of traditional dances and artistic expressions, notably its globally renowned classical styles. Characterized by expressive movements, elaborate costumes, vibrant makeup, and captivating rhythms, these dances are a significant aspect of Indian culture, deeply influenced by music and dance.

Beyond its aesthetic appeal, dance offers holistic benefits, serving as a joyful and effective fitness regimen that contributes to mental wellness by providing a therapeutic outlet for relaxation and stress relief. With its universal appeal, dance transcends geographical and linguistic boundaries, uniting people as both participants and spectators.

Dancing not only enhances physical health but also fosters social connections and confidence. A 2007 study revealed its ability to improve confidence and boost creativity within just 5 minutes, while also serving as an engaging calorie-burning workout. Ballet, Hip-Hop, Salsa, Bharatanatyam, and Dragon dance are among the world's famous dances, each with its own distinct characteristics and cultural significance.

AI revolutionizes dance through choreography enhancement, online learning facilitation, and new sequence generation. Models like the robot-imagined choreography model employ deep learning to enhance efficiency, while dancers exploring generative AI challenge traditional norms. However, limited datasets restrict user-specific creative control in AI-generated sequences. Online platforms like Dancing Inside integrate AI tutors to support learners alongside human instructors. Algorithmic animation prototypes further explore AI's impact on recording and simulating gestures in dance.

Dance, one of humanity's oldest forms of entertainment and community engagement, remains a powerful force in enriching lives and fostering well-being. Its practice not only provides physical benefits but also serves as a therapeutic release, alleviating tension, stress, and enhancing emotional and mental health. This interconnectedness highlights dance's value as a holistic approach to well-being, establishing it as an enduring and vital aspect of human expression and wellness.

– Dr Krishna Kumar Vepakomma, Hyderabad

Ill-timed comments fuel controversy

The remarks of renowned Congress party leader abroad, Sam Pitroda, on the inherent tax are ill-timed and uncalled for. They have given a chance out of blue to his party's rival, Modi, to criticise the grand old party regarding latter's bad ideas of taxation. He twisted the remarks to suit his own message causing Congress to distance itself from them. If the real concern is the widening of economic divide between haves and have- nots in India, the rival camps at national stage are busy in making off-the-cuff remarks about it.

Rahul Gandhi and his party are talking about socio-economic surveys and redistribution of wealth in an informal manner, whereas Modi and his party are trying to colour them with religious themes. Both parties are doing disservice to the real issues faced by the commoner.

– Dr DVG Sankara Rao, ex MP, Vizianagaram

The comments of the chairman of the Indian overseas Congress, Sam Pitroda, as regards taxing of inherited wealth of an individual to a certain limit is absurd in a developing country like India unlike a very rich nation in the world such as USA. There is absolutely a hell of a change in the income patterns of both the countries even if both the countries have the richest and wealthiest persons in each country. The statement of Rahul Gandhi that gross injustice is being given to 90 % of the population is just absurd and incorrect. He should realise that he is no longer under the independence days regime and agree that tremendous development has come in not only in cities but also in rural areas in every nook and corner of the country. He cannot just support the statement of Pitroda that there should be inheritance tax in India, too, for diverting the funds to the poor people like in the USA. It is high time that Rahul should not keep on dividing the society by caste, creed and community basis but instead he should focus on making politicians honest and free from corruption if voted to power. Attempting caste census etc., only shows that Rahul still prefers the country to be underdeveloped even after 75 years of Independence which is shocking

- Katuru Durga Prasad Rao, Hyderabad 

Stinking indifference overflows on roads

Attention should be given to the drainage system of Greater Hyderabad.

Sewerage system is very important in modern society. In today's changing times, every thanda village, village, town, city, greater city anywhere, sewerage is very important and in this system, machines with modern technology are used. If this system is good, people can live a very healthy life. Apart from the most important places in the city, we see chaos everywhere else because quality goods are not used otherwise, this situation occurs.

Also, due to non-cleaning of the man-holes and pipes for months, the flow is often interrupted and foul smell is emitted and the river flows on the roads. Manholes are repaired but this work is continued for a long time for days to months and the soil water gets into the pipelines at the chambers and the story repeats itself and the traffic is interrupted and also leads to accidents. Then it has to be taken in trucks, but in practice this work is not done properly and as a result this wet soil spreads on the roads and becomes an unhealthy factor. It is doubtful that the department concerned will register the removal of this wet soil!

Modern machines should be used instead of human resources to clean the drainage system continuously A time schedule should be established and proper repairs should be done before complaints from people Maintenance should be done periodically All people should cooperate to keep the great city of Hyderabad beautiful and clean Government GHMC employees and officials can only do their duty with dedication!! The capital of Telangana should be made into an ideal capital city in the country and accordingly included in the world map

– Dandamraj Ramchander Rao, Hyderabad

Spewing venom to win votes 

This refers to your editorial ‘Hate-hate relationship new trend in Indian politics" (26 April). Even though we may claim that India is celebrating the festival of democracy, the ground reality is something different. The gestures, chants, songs, images and even captions "Election war" used in TV studios are turning provocative. The ruling party led by PM Modi target ‘400 paar’ has crossed all the bars, even PM has crossed the bar on the way, trying to spread the message. Democracy doesn't mean a majority party carrying on its business without caring about people who have given them the power. Even late Rajiv Gandhi got 400+ through emotional voters. The same applies to Modi-led government which have had more seats than it requires to work efficiently. It must be remembered that late Narasimha Rao (who has been conferred Bharat Ratna by this government) was running a Kichidi sarkar so also was late Vajpayee. Their Kichidi was much better than the "Milavati Kheer" sarkar under PM Modi whose party men are adding poison by spreading hate messages recently about size of family. The party and leaders should shun hate and anger against each other and treat nation as human body. The voters should stop spreading hate, angry messages, but use their brain while pressing the button.

– N Nagarajan, Hyderabad

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Fed up with the khichdi politics, many had voted for the BJPand given it a decisive mandate. Unfortunately, now many feel that the nation has jumped from the frying pan into the fire as the NDA has gone unabashedly ahead with its Hindutva agenda. The PM and the BJP is going all out in making this election a hugely divisive affair as some of the recent electoral speeches of the PM show. The opposition, too, is attacking the government on issues that have no bearing on the current situation. There is an atmosphere of hate in the nation with no party willing to listen to the other. There were earlier times in which political battles were bitterly fought but with none of the personal animosity we witness today. First time voters generally seem cold to all the entreaties of the political parties and seem to be more worried about their own future rather than who forms the government!

– Anthony Henriques, Mumbai

**

It is rightly said that "hate" is being weaponized by political parties to gain supremacy in India today. (Hate-hate relationship new trend in politics, edit page 25 April) This wave of unprecedented hate speeches and cut-throat politics ,being witnessed today, is solely due to the right-wing BJP, which, with a goal to score a hat trick in 2024, has gone berserk and is leading the table, as the champion of hate politics. On the other hand, the Congress, which has been out of power for a decade is raising only bread and butter issues. Sadly, the mighty BJP is harping on the 4 Ms that is Muslims, Mandir, Mangal Sutra, and Manusmriti. Therefore, 4th June 2024 will be the crucial date, which will decide the defeat or victory for hate politics in India.

– P H Hema Sagar, Secunderabad

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It's unbecoming of a Prime Minister to spit hate against a community with false narrations just to garner the votes of another community. Even a street corner politician or a person under utter despair is not expected to speak in a manner that creates hate and hate related consequences. Actually, the wealth of this country is being distributed among the selected few is the common complaint about the present government.

The Prime Minister who speaks against taxing the rich keeps deafening silence over his government taxing even salt, garments, rice, pens and note books, which even the colonial rulers could not venture. Mere personal suggestion of Sam Pitroda should not cunningly be projected as policy of the Congress party. It is the pro-rich course of the BJP that goes against the very ‘Socialist’ spirit of the Constitution. However, dividing the people on the line of religion or economic status is anti-national and goes against the oath taken by the P.M, which needs to be corrected in the interest of the nation. Prime Minister talking about Mangalasurhra linking Congress manifesto surprises many.

EC should have taken note of all and acted accordingly to repose confidence in the democratic functioning of the commission. A person holding a leadership position is expected to spell out the achievements of his party or government and explain the policies and programmes for the coming five years for the people to decide their choice. But surprisingly the Prime Minister's speeches are against a particular family and not about the haunting issues like unemployment, price rise, plight of the poor for their livelihood, abnormal gap between the haves and the have nots, the country holding the bottom line places in many crucial indexes and the criticisms like doing away with the Federalism, hostile report of the CAG, quid pro quo deals exposed by the Bonds, PM CARES etc. His speeches reflect more of his fear of losing than to give hope and confidence to people. It is time to fine tune the speeches of leaders as it concerns the image of the country.

– A G Rajmohan, Anantapur

SC puts paid to row over EVM misuse

It refers to "SC punctures Oppn claims over EVMs". The Supreme Court has rightly reaffirmed its faith in the working of EVMs and refused the return of ballot papers. They seem to be satisfied with a number of safeguards and stringent checks which have been an integral part of EVM functioning. It is also a welcome move by the court that they have now given number 2 and 3 placed candidates an option to check and verify 5% microchips per assembly segment, so that they remain fully satisfied.

One additional burden Election Commision has to make is to also store symbol loading units for 45 days in addition to EVMs. Now hopefully this EVM issue should be closed for good and the opposition must create a narrative which resonates with the voters. Ruling party has given a lot of opportunities to the opposition where former could have been put on mat but latter failed to do so. There are still 5 phases to go in the current elections and the opposition would do better to channelize their energy in the right direction and highlight BJP's negative points than keep crying over EVMs.

– Bal Govind, Noida

***

There used to be booth capturing and invalid votes used to be large in number and paper usage was unlimited. In order to avoid all these loopholes, EVMs were brought into use as such a practice was most trustworthy. VVPATs used for EVMs cannot normally show any discrepancy in counting of votes. It seems unfair to question the functioning of EVMs and the lopsided attitude of the Election Commission. EVMs are programmed without giving an opportunity to change votes with the help of a remote control. The data registered in the EVMs remains unchanged and the tampering of the machines is always checked with an alert and alarm. The counting of votes is a simpler and quicker task to be completed in a very short time of one day. The voting using EVMs is economically cheaper. The political opinion that goes towards complaining against loss or defeat attributing to the use of EVMs does not hold water. All in all, in this biggest democracy the efficiency of EVMs must be improved and should be given a fillip for the betterment of election process currently going on in the nation.

– Bh Indu Sekhar, Hyderabad

Shun apathy to vote

‘400 par’ looks remote for NDA: Bold Talk - V Ramu Sarma. It is destined that the BJP-led NDA will form the next government in the country. The seat tally could be 400 or even more. The pseudo-secularism played out by the Congress, and INDI Alliance will be curbed in the national interest as the Congress-ruled states of TS and Karnataka are already witnessing a hot-headed and anti-majority tendencies by the so called minority group in the country, with an agenda of their own, fuelled by the political appeasement of the INDI block, in the name of ‘vibrant secularism’ and democracy in ‘danger’.

The Rameshwaram café blast, and the subsequent arrest of the culprits involved in the act from WB, is a clear indication in this regard that the Congress has deliberately wanted to whitewash; and even allowed the culprits to escape the law, before the NIA entered the scene and took over the case. Such cheap and unworthy practices will not hold water anymore in the country as an awareness has already been evident among the nationalists that is legitimately warranted in the country’s interest.

The Muslim quota and inheritance tax mumbling by the Congress showed the party’s true face in pandering to the community – left and right. The Sandeshkhali incident culminating in the arrest of Sheik Shajahan, and large cache of advanced firearms recovered in the area after the NIA conducted raids on deputies of Sheik Shajahan are indications required need for course correction in the country.

S Lakshmi, Hyderabad

***

The polling took place in the second phase of 88 constituency across 13 states with nearly 61% voter turnout on average. The highest voting percentage was recorded in Tripura 78.53%, and in Manipur polling recorded was 77.18% polling and the lowest was in Uttar Pradesh at 53.80%.

The low voter turnout in the II phase of voting undermines the very foundation of democracy and raises the question about conducting free and fair elections and integrity of Election Commission. It is disheartening to witness that a significant portion of eligible voters stayed away from the electoral process due to the discomfort and health risks posed by the oppressive weather.

– Dimple Wadhawan, Kanpur Nagar

***

The searing heat played a spoilsport in the second phase of seven phase election in the country that proved ten to eighteen percent below the 2014 Lok Sabha election turnout. The ambitious expectation of the BJP’s ‘400 par’ must definitely culminate in 370 par, owing to low voter turnout; but the negative politics played out by the Congress will be advantageous to the BJP as the Congress speaks of special religious reservation for the Muslim community, and the community be treated on par with OBCs in the country. The clear divisive politics played out by the Congress is exceeding all limits of secular values assiduously professed by it, which is meant for mere window dressing, and to berate the BJP to be communal. The inheritance tax advocated by the Congress with a view to loot the rich and give to others – akin to Robin hood drama, lacks credibility – a practice once in place during the Congress rule, but was abrogated by then PM Rajiv Gandhi for his own selfish intentions to inherit his mother’s property that speaks of another aspect of Shah Bano case, with a view to Muslim appeasement.

Now, people are aware of the cunningness of the INDI Alliance, which is no less dangerous than Pakistan and China, in the diabolic schemes against the nation – that cannot be allowed anymore in the country.

– K V Raghuram, Wayanad

***

Polling has begun in the world's largest democracy. The first phase held on April 19 saw a not so satisfactory turnout of 64%. What India will be debating over the next six weeks will be about voting percentage, voter turnout, campaigning by various political parties and will they be able to make any difference in Elections 2024. The voter turnout will hugely impact Mandate 2024.Will our PM Modi be able to consolidate on his "Modi Ki Guarantee" and "Viksit Bharat" planks and make people come out in large numbers to cast their valuable votes? Will Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra be converted into votes? The EC has issued a heat advisory amid the polls, warning the States of a severe heat wave all across India. The searing heat is also likely to impact voter turnout. The first time voters between 18- 19 years and youth up to 25 years will be a decisive factor in the general elections. It is worrying to see that only 40% of first time voters have actually registered to Vote. The EC is also running campaigns to spread awareness among the people and especially among the 18-19 age group about the importance of voting. Every Citizen of India should participate in voting as we have a huge role to play in the development of our nation. Let Us Vote.

– Parimala G Tadas, Hyderabad

Finally, it is the voters who have to feel the pleasure of voting. The officials are requested to ensure that all voters get their voting data in advance and no voter will stand long in the queue to vote. Mentioning the time slots for voting will reduce the crowding and queue length. The voters also are to be briefed on how to use the EVMs without having apprehensions and confusions. No voter shall come out of the polling booth saying that his/her vote is already misused by someone else. The summer is at its peak, so there is an essential need for shelters, drinking water and all medical equipment at every polling booth. Let us expect a festive feeling among the officials and the voters on the day of voting.

– Gudipati Shanti Priya, Secunderabad