MyVoice: Views of our readers 27th October 2020

Green initiative of Indian Railways

In what can be called as a game changer the Indian Railways is planning to shift to electric loco engines fully instead of diesel locomotives once the complete broad gauge routes of the national transporter is electrified.

The Railways have been focusing on not just passenger friendly amenities and facilities but also on an eco-friendly transportation .It has been focusing on clean and green energy and in recent years started using solar energy in its day to day activities.

Now in an aim to reduce the heavy emissions which cause pollution caused due to usage of heavy fossil fuel in train operations, Indian Railways will be phasing out over 2,600 diesel locomotives in the next few years, paving the way for 100 per cent activation of electric locos on its fully electrified broad gauge routes .

According to the Railways phase-out plan, 970 diesel locos will be grounded in 2020-21, followed by 360 in 2021-22, 365 in 2022-23 and 505 in 2023-24. The department has also stated that only a limited number of diesel locos would ply for disaster management, emergencies and strategic reasons. The railways at present has in its fleet about 5,000 diesel locos and an equal number of electrical locos.

The Railways is aiming to complete its electrification programme by December 2022 on its major routes. Electric locos are easier to maintain, pollution free, efficient, lighter, faster and the energy used costs less when compared to diesel locos which use fossil fuels which are very costly .

M Pradyu, Kannur

Will 2020 US elections see a new President?

Politics is heating up as the time for the US presidential election approaches. Bullets of words are exploding. The Trump and Biden factions have been working tirelessly to win the support of Indians.

This time too, presidential candidates Trump and Biden are trying hard to win the votes of Indians in their respective states. The U.S. presidential election is held every four years. Even during the First and Second World Wars, the US presidential election was held on time.

Elections are held every year on the Tuesday following the first Monday in November (November 3). This has been the case since 1845. Federal (central), state and local elections will also be held at the same time.

Citizens of the country over the age of 35 are considered eligible to run in this election, which is considered a general election. Or must have lived in the United States for at least 14 years. A two-time president is ineligible to run for a third term.

Joe Biden, who is running for the presidency on behalf of the Democratic Party in the US presidential election, has chosen Senator Kamala Harris as his party's candidate for vice president. Biden has been one step ahead of Trump in popularity since being nominated as the Democratic Party's presidential candidate.

Biden has the upper hand, even in key states and regions of Horahori. It's hard to imagine what the voter mentality will be in the U.S. presidential election. The same thing is happening in every election.

Even the predictions of the big election pundits about who would support Trump in the last election were wrong. Given Biden's current support, the New York Times predicts that the party's situation in 2016 will not be the same this time around.

Jajula Dinesh, Ramannapet, Nalgonda dt

A vote from space

It is definitely a wonderful, educative and encouraging news to the people of entire world that NASA women astronaut, only American, Kate Rubins managed to cast her vote from space, last week, for the current Presidential elections in US. She is on a 6-months long mission, in the International Space Station, located above 200 miles above the Earth surface and orbiting at 17,000 miles an hour.

After voting through a secure electronic ballot generated with secret password sent via e-mail, with delinking and delivered back facility, she said its an honor to her to be able to vote from Space.

Further she said, it is really important for everybody to vote and if she can do it from space, then people can do it from ground too. This was made possible in US from 1997, for US astronauts to cast their vote from space.

D N Rao, Hyderabad