Letters to the editor: Readers’ views on the Kohli-Kumble row, cattle sale rules and more

Cricket controversy

This explanation by Ramchandra Guha should put to rest all the speculations being trotted about in the media about the reasons for the purported Anil Kumble and Kohli spat (“Full Text: ‘Superstar culture afflicts the BCCI,’ writes Ram Guha as he resigns from panel”). His resignation should prompt the BCCI to ensure that experienced senior cricketers with no conflict of interest but with a strong commitment to the development of the game should be inducted, irrespective of age limit. We should commend the honesty and sincerity Guha who certainly has enough other things to do than be a lame member of a committee with administrative and accountability problems. – SN Iyer

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Guha writes better than he speaks and has a fertile mind. The likes of him cannot be dispensed with and l hope the Supreme Court ensures his services are retained. We need more such people to serve as watchdogs and pressure groups because the scourge of corruption. It’s akin to cleaning up the Ganga. But the highest court in the land has taken up the challenge. They need the help of hundreds of foot soldiers and Guha is one of them. – Nawal Seth

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A timely farewell indeed to an incompetent Committee of Administrators. When will other members put in their papers? – Ajit Shirodkar

Old-school

What a great story; the old lady used to go on her bicycle to the market to buy the raw ingredients (“Mrs N Fernandes: The woman whose pickles inspired Salman Rushdie and a legion of British soldiers”). The old house still stands next to the church in Khadki. At her grandsons wedding, the Bishop, when raising a toast, said if you want to examine a person’s integrity, look not at their children but their grandchildren. There can be no higher praise than that. – Clement DeSylva

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The late Mrs Fernandes’ son George was my father’s shipmate in the Indian Navy. When I was a kid, though I have no memory of this, our fathers were neighbours in Chanakyapuri in New Delhi in the early 60s. Her grand-daughter Lilian Fernandes was my classmate in St Mary’s School in Pune. My dad, a doctor in the Navy, was posted in AFMC then. Lilian and I also attended the pre-degree course in Fergusson College and were batch-mates I lost touch with them after 1975. – Amita Nayar Bajaj

Dravidanadu demand

The best solution to secessionist sentiments is to have more federalism in India (“#Dravidanadu on Twitter: Can a pressure group of southern states take on New Delhi?”). States must have more powers over sectors such as education and health. The Centre should confine itself to being a presiding entity to synthesise all the state’s activities. Each state’s mother tongue should be the dominant mode of communication but to ease mobility, English and Hindi could also be taught as second and third languages. If necessary a second constituent assembly must be formed to examine and revise the Constitution based on India’s journey so far. There should be two constitutions: one for India as a whole and another for each state. – R Venkat

Teaching India

India should seriously consider setting up an All India Education Services for primary to higher education (“Interview: What is wrong with India’s teacher training system and how to fix it”). The country needs to design and execute a robust professional educator certification system on a war-footing. We have been tinkering with education and teacher-training for several decades, with no great success. To attract and retain the best talent, a National Service Cadre and Certification system will go a long way. It has to be a time-bound, bold initiative with sustained investment and passion. – KV Simon

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This article focuses on systemic issues. The bigger challenge is to attract the best minds to teaching. There should be a five-year integrated course, with programmes in science, maths, humanities, linguistics and early childhood. We need a joint entrance exam, and a joint “exit” exam too. The top-ranked teachers will have the option of either opting for the Indian Teaching Services or take up a job in private schools and or schools in other countries. There is a worldwide shortage teachers. This is one job that robots and AI will not take over. We need to reboot this system. – Sita Giri

Tuning in

I enjoy the reviews of music from films that Scroll.in publishes periodically (“Audio master: An unapologetic courtesan and Vanraj Bhatia’s terrific music in ‘Sardari Begum’”). This one and others that you have published earlier are wonderful way to revisit the songs. Through this section, have also discovered music that I had missed or not paid attention to earlier. Keep it going. – Naresh Podila

Cattle rules

How is publicly slaughtering a calf or organising beef festivals in response to the government’s rules on cattle sales any different from the acts of cow vigilantes (“Centre’s new rule has not banned cow slaughter or beef consumption: Kerala High Court”)? As noted journalist Farid Zakaria observed, “Liberals think they’re tolerant, but they’re not.” All the self-appointed liberals, secularists and Leftists in India, please note! – P Raghavendra

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The new rules on cattle sale for slaughter are making headlines. But another issue that not too many know about is the condition of working equines (horses, mules and donkeys) have been left out of ambit of the rules. Horses are not slaughtered for consumption, but their plight needs to be looked into. Here’s a brief description of what happens at equine fairs. A large number of poor horse owners, traders and contractors congregate at private and government-organised fairs to buy and sell working horses, not racing horses. These animals are used in brick kilns and pilgrimage and tourist sites.

Equine fairs usually go one for one to two weeks and attract more than 2 lakhs working equines. These fairs are held in remote locations. Animals are put under tremendous stress during transportation. They are made to undergo long journeys without proper food and adequate nutrition, they are loaded and unloaded in a cruel manner and and veterinary facilities are either not present or limited. They are also at the risk of contracting several fatal diseases.

The government should also come up with similar regulations for equine fairs. – Amit Kumar

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This move is driven by the Sangh Parivar’s ulterior motive of gaining control of the huge cattle and leather market by disenfranchising the minority community which controls most of this business. They saw a good opportunity here and are anyway experts at whipping up emotion using religion as a tool. – Sunita Katyayan

IT Unions

Though this is partly true, unions are not just for negotiating payment and agreements (“Don’t need employees’ union in IT industry as engineers are ‘well-paid’: Ex-Infosys CFO Balakrishnan”). They look into cases of employee exploitation, fair treatment, support, ethical practices and the like. But all this demands a dedicated and courageous leadership. If a union is only looked at as a tool to to achieve their own goals and survival, then the purpose is lost. – S Ambardekar

Student deaths

It is hard to believe that every student’s death at IIT is a case of suicide due to stress (“IIT Delhi: PhD student’s body found hanging in her campus room”). Some of them are homicides but swept under the carpet as suicides after hasty autopsies and cremations. For instance, the death of IIT-Guwahati student Tushar Yadav in 2014, at the time termed a suicide, is now being reexamined by the police after a judicial enquiry into the case. – Ram Krishnaswamy

Educating our girls

This is a very interesting story and we need such movements led by girls everywhere to effect change (“School is still too far for many girls in Haryana, and they are now rising in protest”). Kudos to all these girls. I hope they will get teachers soon as well. Thanks to Shreya too for working on such a nice story. – Rashmi Gupta

Coaching trouble

Removing Gopichand won’t do any good for the sport (“Disadvantage Pullela Gopichand? BAI proposes to do away with the National Coach position”). Instead, relegating some of his powers to others, introducing more coaches and setting up more academies is the way to go. Gopichand is a great coach and has done wonders for Indian badminton, so he most definitely should be the national coach. – Pranav Singhal

Modi in Russia

It is very good that we are cementing our relationship with an old friend who has helped in the present scenario, when terrorism has become a global nuisance and needs to handled jointly (“Modi in Russia: We will always support India in its fight against terrorism, says Vladimir Putin”). – RC Chaudhary