Better late than never
I was appalled while reading the report in Gulf News about the amount of plastic in the oceans (‘World’s oceans clogged by millions of tonnes of plastic trash’, Gulf News, February 14). This shows irresponsible waste disposal behaviour. Most of the waste we produce on land eventually reaches the oceans, either through deliberate dumping or from runoff through drains and rivers. We all should understand that by disposing of plastic waste into the oceans is not only polluting the habitats of marine animals, disturbing biodiversity and balances of ecosystems, we are also emitting the toxins from the plastics and allowing them to entre into our own food chain, threatening human health as well.
We all can do our part in a number of ways to help reduce the amount of plastic that finds its way into the oceans each year. We should minimise the use of plastics. We should reuse and recycle plastic as much as possible. We can collect plastics and give to recycling agencies or environment management companies. Reducing our impact today can help ensure that plastic garbage heaps in the oceans don’t grow and threaten anymore ocean life. Better late than never.
I am glad that Gulf News regularly publishes such reports as a wake up call to highlight the seriousness of the issue and attract readers’ attention to think in a more eco-friendly way.
From Ms Arushi Madan
UAE
Secularism in India
Attacks on Christian churches in Delhi are increasing, which does not augur well for the growth of secularism in India (‘Modi orders crackdown against attacks on Christian buildings’, Gulf News, February 14). The attacks have been left without any clues and the culprits haven’t been jailed. There are ministers in the cabinet from Narendra Modi’s government who do not have any genuine sense of secularism and they appear to be led by Hindu fundamentalism and also casteism. Unless the government views the new trends seriously, there could be even more communal riots in the northern parts of India in the near future.
From Mr Thomas Matthew Parackel
Kerala, India
Private sector regulations
I think that the most important thing for the authorities to act on is the elimination of the huge difference in working hours and holidays between the public and private sector (‘Emirati jobseekers mindset changing slowly’, Gulf News, February 12). If they do so, the private sector jobs will become more attractive to the Emiratis and it will directly impact the reduction of unemployment in the country.
From Mr Azhar Tufail
Sharjah
Website comment
Make travel safer
The Gulf News story on the Karnataka, India train accident was sad and painful to read (‘Up to 12 dead in Karnataka train accident’, Gulf News, February 14). Despite so many new routes and railway compartments upgraded, the accidents continue to happen and the real cause is not known. Whatever be the compensation to the victims given by the railways, human lives won’t come back. I hope the Indian railway authorities will look into this issue and make the travel more comfortable and safe for the passengers.
From Mr K. Ragavan
Bengaluru, India
Education is needed
One of the simple reasons for an unnecessary and expensive statue being created in Narendra Modi’s honour is that there are still many uneducated people in Indian states (‘Narendra Modi ‘appalled’ by temple in his honour’, Gulf News, February 13). The understanding among many will only improve when they acquire more knowledge and start analysing things as they truly exist. More children should go
to school, governments should create better school facilities to attract and educate all children for the betterment of each one and the country as a whole.
Money is being wasted through laundering in this way. It shows the world that Indians are proud of many great achievements, but at the same time how backwards are some of the country is in terms of development. It feels shameful and regretful because this statue comes from Modi’s own Gujarat state! This was never expected and it is no wonder Modi himself was appalled by this gesture. They should have been concentrating on his other campaigns like ‘Clean Up India’, bettering education or moving towards a corruption-free India. Wake up Gujarat, wake up citizens! Make more constructive initiatives.
From Mr M. K. Gunaseelan
Abu Dhabi
Creating queues
There is no doubt that the Metro is really convenient, but the journey is not comfortable anymore — especially during peak hours due to the huge crowd and rush (‘Letters to the editor: Public transport expansion, Gulf News, February 12). I would like to suggest that near all doors in all stations the belt barriers should be used as this helps with discipline and creating proper queues for the crowd. This would give more space for people to exit easily, which is the priority, and it would help people entre the Metro in a disciplined fashion. Those who are left can catch the next Metro, though it is currently done in some Metro stations, but mostly near the ladies cabins.
From Ms Rita
Dubai
More staff needed
I think that there are two issues surfacing here. People are less patient because they are under high stress levels. It may seem like a small matter to simply catch the next Metro train in three to four minutes, but your boss might not take a liking to you being late for work. Divide the numbers of daily Metro passengers by how many may be near getting fired for running late and the number is great. The other issue is that the Metro staff need to be assigned on the platforms to control the crowds. This starts with directing passengers so that those on the train must be let out before new passengers can board. Metro staff are needed on the Metro to ensure people behave. Men get up, women sit. Pregnant women should always be offered a seat and helped and those with strollers too.
From Mr Louie Tedesco
Dubai
Financial woes
The Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) has approved an increase in the fee structure of the private schools. I have two children studying in one of the reputed schools and what I have seen throughout the years is that nothing has changed. The school facilities have all remained the same for the last 10 years, but the fees have reached an all-time high. The salaries of teachers have not been increasing either.
Private schools have become profit-making institutions. Some families are not affected with the fee increase because some of the companies pay for the fees of the children of their employees, but a major part of the families finds it tough to make ends meet and the fee increase is really a sudden shock upsetting financial budgets.
From Mr Ajeet Kumar S. Pillai
UAE
True friendship
Friendship is the noblest relationship — especially if they are built on a foundation of love, affection, loyalty and dedication. It’s the most beautiful characteristic of human relations and they can remain so over a lifetime no matter how many years in between pass without seeing each other.
In this true friendship, a friend will be there in distress and be supportive of them in the days of adversity. I wrote a letter to Gulf News published on February 6 about the clash of the cultures in the UAE, and I am persistent in my search of the true meaning of friendship in a multicultural country where most of the people here are working or finding their interests before they head back to their countries. Do you believe in friendship these days or not?
From Mr Mohammad Al Hajeri
Al Ain
Doing something
Obama on purpose stood aside in the hopes that the Middle East would solve this threat of Daesh themselves (‘Obama’s war-push limits US ground forces’, Gulf News, February 14). It’s unbelievable that people are upset with Obama for “doing nothing” while if he had done something more, people would be upset, too.
Daesh will be beaten, there is no hope for evil, and I believe that goodness will always win. We can be sure that the beating will be done by the Gulf nations. They are capable and have the power.
From Ms Brigitte Tibet von Bulow
Abu Dhabi
Facebook comment
It’s complicated
I think that we are seeing such a wide range of opinion on whether US involvement should be more because this is a very controversial issue. People from around the world have very strong views on whether the US should have a bigger role in fighting militant groups like Daesh. Even in the US, citizens are not able to agree on this matter. The answer is that it’s complicated and that when it comes to political and military decisions, you will never please everyone.
From Ms Lili Maria
Dubai
Facebook comment
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