MyVoice: Views of our readers 25th November 2022

Need for strong & bold Election Commission

The Supreme Court has red-flagged the 'disturbing trend' of the CEC being handicapped by a truncated tenure over the past two decades or so. The apex court has also stressed the need for a 'fair and transparent mechanism' so that the 'best man' is appointed as the CEC. It has stated that the CEC should be capable of taking action even against the Prime Minister. But, with opacity dominating the appointments, it's no wonder that the Centre has opposed petitions seeking a collegium-like system for the selection of CECs and Election Commissioners. However, an important exercise such as appointing the CEC and his subordinates should not be left to the whims and fancies of the executive.

N Sadhasiva Reddy, Bengaluru

II

Tirunellai Narayana Iyer Seshan ruled the roost as the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) from 1990 to 1996. He did justice to his job in the early 1990s and since then we have soft spoken CECs heading the key department as a caged parrot of the government. The Supreme Court said that the country needed ECs who would not shirk from even taking on the Prime Minister, if required, and not just 'weak-kneed' yes-men. It is a right step in the right direction and the Indian democracy has taken cue from their foreign counterparts in the judicial system.

C K Ramanathan, Ghaziabad

III

During the tenure of TN Seshan, the Election Commission did its best in curbing of money power. Right from the tenure of Chavala, the parties have been resorting to polarisation of votes. Moreover the commission has not opposed the election bonds effectively so as to benefit the ruling party at the Centre. It must create level playing field to all the parties. So, the committee which consists of PM, opposition leader and CJI should appoint CEC and ECs.

Pratapa Reddy Y, Tiruvuru (AP)

Why leaders act so stupidly

Apropos 'No end to magnitude of stupidity' (November 24, 2022). The editorial very lucidly presented that stupidity is all around in the contemporary society, barring no field of activity. But people in responsible positions such as Rahul Gandhi cannot indulge in opining on the lives of those who are not around to defend themselves. Maharashtra Governor Koshiyari too did the same act – of expressing views on Chatrapathi Sivaji that irked Maha parities to no end. Losing propriety is also a sign of stupidity. The itch to judge others plagues one and all. But political and religious views have an incendiary quality of inflaming the passions of the masses – often to destructive ends.

A Kishore, Hyderabad

II

Apropos 'No end to magnitude of stupidity', your advice to the political class is well taken, but whether the politicians will heed it is another matter. The CM of Assam Hemanta Sarma has compared Rahul Gandhi to Saddam Hussain because of his beard. This is taking matters a little too far even in the political arena where such barbs and jibes are all too common. BJP leaders especially are guilty of comparing the PM to divinity. One leader has called him an avtar of Vishnu. The PM himself was guilty of calling Renuka Choudhary 'Surpanakha.' Surely our political class can be a little more circumspect in their name calling and raise the standards of criticism of their opponents.

Anthony Henriques, Mumbai

Much ado over IT raids

Apropos 'High drama during IT raids on Malla Reddy.' The needless and unwarranted drama, in the wake of IT raids on TRS Labour Minister Ch Malla Reddy, could have been avoided if the CM KCR had paid some level-playing in terms of taming overt greed on part of his cabinet ministers, in bringing about some semblance of transparency in financial dealings and amassing black money. Everybody in the state knows that Malla Reddy is an extraordinarily rich bigwig who owns several medical and engineering colleges with no questions asked either by the authorities in Telangana or the Chief Minister himself, in this regard.

K R Parvathy, Mysuru

No strong will to cut carbon emissions

Cimate emergency is a direct consequence of carbon-heavy land use and agriculture, transport, buildings and industrial processes and polluting energy sources. Without profound changes to these sectors and a drastic cut to carbon footprints, there is little hope of protecting the planet from the worst effects of a warmer climate. The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) calls for greater ambition from countries and recognition of the benefits of integrating natural systems into concrete climate action. The global fund for "loss and damage," providing financial assistance to poor nations stricken by climate disaster, is far from perfect, with several key elements lacking.

Mithlesh Panwar, Ujjain

Govt has taken jumbo menace seriously, says Bommai

Hassan: The Karnataka government has taken the elephant menace seriously and has constituted the Elephant Task Forces to deal with the issue, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said on Wednesday.

Talking to reporters at Halebeedu Helipad here, he said the elephants, which had come here following drought for many years, have not returned. Other reasons for the jumbo attack are human beings entering forests for some reason or the other and climate change. It will be very difficult to disperse the herd of elephants, he said.

Since it is not correct to launch an operation after any single incident, the task force has been constituted to launch the operation regularly, he said, adding that each task force is provided with training, vehicles, equipment and a control room has also been established.

The job of the special force members is to patrol the elephant-infested areas regularly and push back the animals back into forests. In case the wild elephants are more in number, then members of all the forces must join together and send back the jumbos into forests, Bommai said.

The task force has been given directions to launch this operation for at least ten days. A sum of Rs 100 crore has been earmarked in this year's budget for this purpose. A new kind of fence is being put up in Bandipur National park. The Elephant Corridor will be fully protected, he said.

Bommai said a solatium of Rs 15 lakh is given to those killed in wild elephant attack and giving a job to a member of the deceased family will be seriously considered.