In a shocking incident a 10-year-old girl died after being bitten by a snake inside her classroom at Sultan Bathery in Wayanad district of North Kerala. The class five student, according to sources, could have escaped death if she had been given proper medical aid and taken to the hospital immediately after she informed her friends and teacher about the incident. It is indeed sad that the teachers ignored the matter at first thinking that the child would have got injured by a nail or some sharp object. She was taken to the hospital only a hour after the bite and by then matters worsened leading to her tragic death. The education ministry should definitely make a serious inquiry and punish those responsible for the incident. There is an allegation on the delayed medical assistance given to the child. Video visuals show images of a hole in the floor of the class and this pathetically shows the plight of some of the educational institutions in rural areas. If the authority concerned had been aware and vigilant about such conditions and immediate measures taken this tragedy could have been averted. Sheer lethargy and apathy from the concerned authorities has led to this tragedy.
M Pradyu
Development at the cost of environment
Saddened to learn that 64 per cent trees transplanted for Metro are already dead and the figure could cross 90 per cent in the days to come. These are official figures from a High Court appointed tree committee who visited the transplantation site and found 680 dead trees of the 1060 trees transplanted and the whole exercise of re-plantation seems futile. Aarey too is being converted into a graveyard in the name of development and city is turning into a concrete jungle. The same happens with housing society’s redevelopment projects where existent tress die during re-plantation or are never planted again when projects get completed.
We are being selfish and don’t really bother about the future generations. Comforts are essential but healthy living should be considered a necessity. Supreme Court should re-examine this re-plantation hullabaloo and see to it that environment is not destroyed as these could have serious repercussions for the very survival of mankind on earth in future
S.N.Kabra
Unaided schools playing with fire
Schools are playing with fire safety and flouting norms. Current statistics of deaths and injuries, in relation to fires prove to be alarming and an increasing number of people affected by losses and fatal injuries are being reported and accounted for each year. Children suffer most because as there is no fire audit in schools. Over 1458 structures of civic schools are flouting norms and that is alarming. Student face lots of risk because of the careless attitude of the authorities. Given these rates and information, it is only fitting to know the importance of fire prevention and tips. And children should be guided accordingly.
Arati Abhishek
Language transcend religions
We seem to be rapidly sinking into a cesspool of fanatical differences, discrimination and diabolical political designs. The latest row over a Muslim scholar’s appointment as a Sanskrit professor at the famed Banaras Hindu University mirrors the times we’re living in when languages are castigated, categorised and compartmentalised into “ours and theirs.” Instead of lauding Prof. Firoz Khan for learning Sanskrit so well that today the man is entitled to teach the language at a prestigious Indian university, students are protesting and boycotting classes. I think that languages transcend religions. We should rather be proud of India’s composite culture and those enterprising individuals who don’t care for such barriers and go on to learn and understand the languages of ‘others.’ Hats off to them.
Tarique Ansari
Frisking at airports
When people are frisked at airports or at malls, they don’t co-operate with the authorities. They must do so willingly. It is for their own safety. They must realise that.
Jubel D’Cruz
Hope for the best
Gotabaya Rajapaksa had succeeded in his bid to become Sri Lanka’s next president after about four years in the wilderness. Gotabaya’s nationalist promise of security and a vow to crush religious extremism found favour with the Sinhalese majority in the country but his victory will be a concern for Sri Lanka’s Tamil and Muslim minority who voted against him.
MERC Rabbani
Govt should not bail out private telecom operators
Private telecom companies having minted enormously in initial days of launch of mobile-network in the country and new-comer big giants in the field are to be given heavy amount of Rs 42000 crores by the central government to bail out from fiscal crises reportedly being faced by these mobile service-providers. Hidden extra government-aid to these companies is to bear big revenue-loss by deferring spectrum-auction for two years.
Any problem with these private operators are their self-created by pushing themselves in self-hitting competition. Rather central government instead of providing bail-out package to private operators, should have better utilized this amount to bail out BSNL for modernisation and increasing consumer-base so that the firm would increase its consumer-base at cost of private operators because of their fiscal crisis.
Madhu Agrawal
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
