MyVoice: Views of our readers 7th January 2023

Country slipping into tinderbox situation

Unemployment and poverty are directly proportional to each other. A few days ago, the Hon. Supreme Court asserted that nobody should sleep hungry in the country but who cares, the Centre has its own priorities and motives. Sadly, the unemployment rate, especially the rural one, has risen considerably in last months and this has occurred due to inadequate economic growth. The ruling party should adopt a holistic and emphatic approach and that too on an urgent basis, to counter this fatal trend. If the masses of the country are illiterate, unemployed and poor, it is a tinderbox situation.

Dr Sunil Chopra, Ludhiana

Make hydrogen pricing consumer-friendly

No doubt, hydrogen is an essential industrial energy as it can be used to produce ammonia, steel and cement and also to power fuel cells that can run cars and buses. But the pertinent point is that it should be accessible at cheaper rate in the market. In the given situation, it can be produced relatively at lower cost by using fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas rather than renewable energy like solar and wind. It is reported that one kg hydrogen can be produced between $0.9 and $1.5 and anywhere between $3.5 and 5.5 by using fossil energy and renewable energy respectively. So, the government must enable hydrogen production with renewable energy by ensuring suitable tax sops.

Pratapa Reddy Y, Tiruvuru (NTR Dt, AP)

SC ruling on mass eviction humane

The apex court halting Uttrakhand High court's direction to mass evacuate 50,000 people immediately who encroached 2 km land of railways in Haldwani of Uttrakhand is humane. The people at the risk of being evacuated there have been living for 50 years. If they are told to vacate on the spot without being shown any alternative arrangements, it would amount to be a humanitarian crisis. That too they were said to be ex parte in the case without being served any notice. The apex court has set the record straight viewing the case in human angle. There should be a strict policy to discourage further encroachments. The existing encroachments should be dealt with sensitively.

Dr DVG Sankararao, Vizianagaram

The rightness of evicting people living in a place for 40-50 years saying that it is railways' land is open to question. Fielding paramilitary forces to take on the impecunious and vulnerable citizens is a very wrong and cruel thing to do. The state cannot be so insolent as to ignore the human angle to the issue. The fact that the residents are poor has to be borne in mind. The learned judges of the Uttarakhand High Court who passed the ex-parte order should have given a thought how they would feel if their houses were to be demolished. The right thing to do is to let the residents keep the land and find other ways for railways development.

G David Milton, Maruthancode, TN

Cantonment residents' dream to be reality

At last the long-awaited dream of the residents of Secunderabad Cantonment Board (SCB) area to be made accessible for movement is expected to be a reality since the Central government has issued orders constituting a committee to finalise modalities for removal of civil areas from SCB and merge them with the adjoining Municipal Corporation under GHMC. Telangana government is insisting the Union Government for excision since long time. Development in the areas covered under the SCB is getting delayed or neglected as it needs approval of Defence Ministry for every small work. The proposed committee may be given a timeline to submit its report without begging for enhanced time by showing one reason or the other.

NSK Prasad, Hyderabad

Pakistan being paid in the same coin

Pakistan failed to live up as a reliable and trustworthy neighbour of India, despite the latter's expectation in promoting good neighbourly relations with that country. Pak's agenda from day one is to wreck India, having become a hub for a variety of jihadi Islamist elements. It is on the verge of economic collapse owing to freewheeling corruption by the ruling party and its army. India extended Pakistan the status of 'most favoured' nation, but Pakistan barely utilised this advantage. The trade between Kashmir and Pakistan too was utilised by Pakistan for transporting narcotic and firearms into India. Now, Pakistan is paying the price for its mindless moves for encouraging Taliban to establish in Afghanistan. The Taliban, which doesn't respect the Durand Line separating the two countries, began to occupy Pakistan's border provinces. Pakistan's anti-terror forces are being butchered by the home-grown terror group of Pakistan.

K R Parvathy, Mysuru