MyVoice: Views of our readers 7th June 2021

Free treatment offer to doctor by AP govt praiseworthy

It's heartening to know that Andhra Pradesh government has come forward to bear the entire treatment expenses of a doctor who had contracted Covid infection while he was on Covid duty and required lung transplantation, which costs one and a half crore rupees. The government has also stated that all the Covid warriors will get free treatment hereafter. The Central government should take a cue from this and extend fee treatment to all frontline workers if they fall victims to Covid while discharging their duties. Apart from a pat on their back, providing insurance coverage and the assurance of free treatment will boost the morale of healthcare workers. In the bleak scenario where more than thousand doctors succumbed to the virus and many more frontline warriors fell ill across India, all of them deserve better support, in addition to appreciation.

Dr. D.V.G.Sankararao,Prof. Of Anaesthesiology, MIMS, Nellimarla, Vizianagaram

Urgent need for US Consulate office in Bengaluru

Karnataka has witnessed a steady rise in number of people visiting the United States of America in recent years. The US visa applicants from the State are compelled to visit its Consulate General offices located in Chennai or Hyderabad. Travelling to Chennai and Hyderabad for US visas is a huge inconvenience to people of Karnataka. Several countries like Canada, Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Surinam, Brazil, France, Mexico, Finland, Ireland, Peru, Japan, UK, etc., have Consulate offices in Bengaluru. If the US considers setting up of its Consulate General office in Bengaluru, it would be a huge relief for a large number of business professionals, tourists and students from various parts of Karnataka.

Varun Dambal ,Bangalore

Why Twitter is hurting India?

On June 5, Twitter removed the blue badge from the account of India's Vice President. It had also removed the blue tick of some RSS leaders. Must the Vice President of the country be treated this way? This is a very serious issue and Twitter must answer for its action though it later restored the V-P's account.

It claims to be the protector of the right to freedom of speech. But it doesn't want to protect the privacy of its users according to the new social media rules. Why is not Twitter willing to do so? Will someone's privacy or constitutional rights be hurt? No, they will be taken care of. It terms a tweet as "manipulated" but doesn't answer to the Delhi Police the reason behind it. It removes all tweets which included the term "Singapore variant" or "Wuhan virus" when the respective governments tell it to do so. But when the Indian government does the same, why doesn't Twitter remove the tweets containing "Indian variant"? These double standards of Twitter can be harmful to the nation. Twitter is just a platform to express our thinking. Twitter should remember that it needs India, not the other way round.

Kartikey Upadhyay, Vadodara

Death of nine lions in TN zoo raises concerns

It was sad news that nine lions in the Vandalur Zoo on the outskirts of Chennai tested positive for SARS CoV-2 and one of them – nine-year-old Neela – succumbed to the virus. It is now feared that the zoo may have become a Covid-19 cluster. The disease, dreaded for assuming the proportions of a pandemic and claiming thousands of lives, has now slain a member of animal species. The origin of the virus has not been yet conclusively established. Two theories have been put forward. One is that the virus may have originated from a bat and reached humans via an intermediary host (the pangolin is generally believed to have played this role) from a wet market. The other is that the virus may have been engineered in a lab in Wuhan. From the infections in the Vandalur Zoo it becomes clear that the virus once again jumped the 'species barrier'. It worries us to think what might happen. The 'backward transmission' from humans to animals could lead to 'reverse anthroponosis' of novel strains. It would be a nightmare if the virus jumps back and forth between humans and animals and evolves into newer strains. The results of the genome sequencing of the virus strain that caused Neela's death by the Centre for Cellular and Molecular biology (CCMB) in Hyderabad will shed more light on the transmission and help adopt strategies to fight the scourge in all the forms it takes.

G. David Milton

Maruthancode, Tamil Nadu

Unfair judgment

Many credible voices have raised apprehensions of the effects of 5G on human and animal life. The Delhi HC could have dismissed the petition, if it did not find merit without the Rs. 20 lakh fine. It appears that the judges were peeved with the constant disruptions during the virtual hearing. But to call it a publicity stunt after imposing the fine was like adding insult to injury.

Anthony Henriques, Mumbai