MyVoice: Views of our readers 9th March 2025

Power of a smile

Smiles, as I encounter in my day-to-day life, are not of the same kind and they vary from person to person, depending on gender, age and situation. They are of many kinds and every kind of smile has its own impact on us and tends to influence our relationship with people. When we see an innocent and seraphic smile of a cherub, we experience a heaven of bliss. A greeting smile from a chum warms and elevates our hearts. A radiant smile of a sweetheart enraptures a lover’s heart. Plain and friendly smiles exchanged between colleagues at workplaces create a congenial environment by building lasting and cordial relationships. A peaceful smile from a wrinkled visage of an old man unfolds the beauty of sagacity treasured by the triumphant march of life. A serene smile even in embittered situations erases rancor and cools frayed tempers, generating a pleasant atmosphere. All these smiles flashing and playing on human lips usually are common to every one of us and I call such smiles "Smiles of lips".

I often come across certain people who, when in happiness, do not have their lips quiver and part, displaying their happiness. Instead, their eyes gleam with happiness. These are the smiles which are rarely found among humans. Only a few people are blessed with the art of smiling with their eyes and spell-bind us with their unique display of happiness through their eyes. These unique smiles I call "smiles of eyes." Smile is a smile whether it is the smile of lips or smile of eyes. It is an undeniable fact that we invariably get enthralled by the warmth and beauty of smiles. Not to flash a smile is to be lifeless and to display gloomy spirits.

Kakinada

Opposition to Hindi defies logic

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin has started twin wars, one based on language and other on the delimitation of constituencies, and apparently both of them are more for political gain, and born of fertile imagination. The New Education Policy (NEP) has more emphasis on the mother tongue and nowhere it intended to impose Hindi on other languages.

My recent trip to Tamil Nadu has revealed that it is more an agitation of politicians and common men in the villages are not at all worried about Hindi.

In fact, they are ready to learn Hindi besides English and Tamil as they feel that Hindi will offer more mobility for their kids to go to the northern states and work. One can understand the love and admiration for their Tamil language, but it will be difficult to appreciate the hatred of CM Stalin and his DMK against Hindi and Sanskrit. When politics take precedence over the rationality of thought and action, results are likely to be disastrous.

–Dr Duggaraju Srinivasa Rao, Vijayawada

***

Amit Shah has dared TN CM Stalin to introduce Tamil in the state for engineering and medical courses. It may be recounted here that attempts to teach these specialised courses in Hindi (in MP) have failed simply because there are no takers for Hindi medium. There is no gainsaying the fact that English is the most practical and most convenient language for educational purposes, at any any level, from LKG to PG. And no one knows this better than the CM of Tamil Nadu. Stalin is therefore not going to fall for the HM's dare.

–Avinash Godboley, Dewas

Rana's charge against India baseless

It is indeed amusing to hear from Tahawwur Rana speaking that on extradition to India, he would be tortured as he is a Muslim of Pakistani origin. It must be still fresh in his mind that under almost similar circumstances Ajmal Kasab, again a Pakistani terrorist accused in the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks, was provided with legal aid the to represent his case in a court of law in India. It is entirely a different premise that it resulted eventually in his execution. It is neither one's religion nor his country of origin that matters but the nature and the magnitude of the crime that is of paramount importance. A shining tribute to the working of Indian democracy!

Seshagiri Row Karry, Hyderabad

An injustice to South

It is indeed a matter of concern for everyone that the Southern States are made to cry against injustice being meted out to them. It is strange that Chief Ministers are giving a desperate call to the wedded couples to have more children. The reason for this call is the incongruent system adopted to share the tax revenues contributed by the Southern States, who allege to receive much less. Whereas the States like UP and Bihar are said to receive much more than their contribution. This happens due to the faulty system of distributing the tax revenues according to the population of the respective States. This keeps the better contributors starving for funds and look for overdraft from the Center. The Union government utilises this obligation to correct and push through its policies and programmes pitching such States to face the wrath of the people, who are rendered victims of such programmes. It is in this way that the Union government is imposing the New Educational Policy, reforms in Property Tax assessment, collection of user charges, power reforms and so on. Population-based formula in sharing tax revenue needs reconsideration.

The latest cry from the Southern States like Tamil Nadu and AP for more children is due to the fear of losing their representation in the Parliament due to effective implementation of the national population control programmes. Those States remained callous about increasing population are likely to be rewarded with more representation in the Parliament. It is genuine grievance that needs to be attended to by the Union Government. The existing system also is not a scientifically drawn one as it has constituencies having the maximum voters like Malkajgiri and the lowest like the Lakshadweep. Population increase in America did not alter the representation status in the law-making body. Similar experiences and systems prevailing in various countries may be studied to evolve a formula that could be acceptable to all without leading to regional disparities and divisive feelings.

–A G Rajmohan, Anantapur

***

The central government’s decision to increase Lok Sabha seats based on population will significantly impact South India. States that effectively controlled population growth now

face reduced representation, while North Indian states with high population growth will gain more seats.

Southern states like Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Kerala have long prioritized family planning, women’s education, and healthcare, leading to stable populations. In contrast, states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh

have not implemented similar measures.

With the 2026 delimitation, North India’s representation will increase, weakening South India’s voice in Parliament. Fund allocations, often based on population, may also decrease for the South despite its high tax contributions.

–Srinivaas Goud Muddam, Hyderabad

***

An adage is "a racing horse is more whipped". Similarly, Southern states are for "performance punishment" under the delimitation plan. M K Stalin's call for meeting is very apt to arrive at an amicable and optimum calibrated methodology for delimitation process. It needs more than just mathematical proportion of representation to population. The proposed numbers for a few northern few states like UP, Bihar, MP and Rajasthan, MP numbers would jump from 80 to 143, 40 to 79, 29 to 52 and 25 to 50 numbers respectively. Whereas for southern states at meager numbers like TN, KNK and Keral MPs would merely rise from 39 to 49, 28 to 41 and 20 to remain at 20 respectively. Southern states are being punished for good measures taken for population control in national interest.

–Buddha Jagdish Rao, Vadlapudi Visakhapatnam

Action against SP MLA disproportionate

It is indeed a great blow for democracy and free speech when an MLA of India in the 21st century, is suspended from the Legislative Assembly of Maharashtra for airing his (positive) views on Aurangzeb, the 17th century Mughal ruler. It is a generally accepted fact that Aurangzeb was a staunch Muslim who persecuted Hindus as well as the Sikhs.

That being so, for SP MLA Abu Azmi to publicly state that he (Aurangzeb) was favorably disposed towards

Hindus, was a great administrator and built temples, is a blatant lie that rubs the Hindu psyche the wrong way. It is akin to saying that Hitler was kind to the Jews and built synagogues for them.

However, if, in Abu Azmi's considered opinion, Aurangzeb did have praiseworthy qualities, he is, by law, not a culprit, and the BJP top brass (including the CM of Maharashtra) is not doing the right thing by baying for his blood.

–Avinash Godboley, Dewas (MP)