My plans for the Year of Giving
The general impression is that giving involves expenditures, but I strongly believe that showing empathy and kindness to people in pain and distress are also methods of giving that bring immense relief to the recipient and satisfaction to the giver (‘Poll analysis: How generous are you?’, Gulf News, January 8). Therefore, I visit the patients who are seriously ill at their homes or in the hospital to find out their recovery and I pray for them and console their family members to relieve them from pain and anguish. I promise them to extend my helping hand to the best of my ability. In many cases, my personal experience is that such families need people who can relieve them through simple acts of kindness. I have seen the gratitude on their faces and that brings happiness and satisfaction to me.
From Mr V. Ramachandran
UAE
The job made him
US President Barack Obama is a great public speaker (‘Nine things Obama will be remembered for’, Gulf News, January 9). However, the job made him what he is – not the reverse. Some of the evil things he did would have been done no matter who was president.
From Mr Kevin Henson
Angouleme, France
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The worst!
I do not know why people love Obama. In my opinion, he has been the worst president. He has brought in a selfish idea of personal interest. I’m happy Hillary Clinton did not win because they are birds of the same feather.
From Mr Gilbert Ndjila
UAE
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Great success
He made amazing achievements when both houses of representatives were weighted against him and blocked his every move! His legacy stands tall with Franklin D. Roosevelt and the first ‘fair deal’ ordinary Americans ever had.
From Ms Sile Dufy
UAE
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Rock and a hard spot
I remember watching an interview with Bill Clinton and him saying that all the things you want to do as president are very hard to get done. He also said that after presidency, you actually have more opportunity to take action on the causes you couldn’t tackle before. Obama was in between a rock and a hard spot with the Republicans rejecting any proposal that came from his office. I think he did well, considering. We just had to watch as politicians chose their own selfish interests before those of the people and there was nothing we could do about it.
From Mr George Kraska
UAE
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Steps with healthcare
I think Obama will be best known for the Affordable Healthcare Act, which is better known as ‘Obama-Care’. Many Americans were unwilling to accept this new policy, but are now benefitting from it immensely.
From Ms Jennifer Jason
UAE
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Hypocritical rhetoric
The accusation by the Tamil Nadu Congress president that All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) is not fighting for the rights of Tamil Nadu in parliament is like the pot calling the kettle black. During the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) tenure and with the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) as its alliance, both parties did nothing for the state. Even now, the Tamil Nadu Congress, while shedding crocodile tears for our farmers still are unable to persuade its Karnataka chief minister to abide by the Supreme Court’s orders to release the full quota of the Cauvery River water. If these Congressmen are really concerned about the plight of our farmers, they should sit on an indefinite fast to save our farmers. It is easy to preach, but difficult to practise!
From Mr N. Mahadevan
Mylapore, India
Celebrations for everyone
I wonder how the key objectives of such a massive event for ‘Pravasi Bharatiya Divas’ would have benefitted the millions of expatriate Indians staying abroad (‘Bengaluru decked up to host Indian diaspora’, Gulf News, January 7). As so much money is being spent for the gathering every year, the hue and cry of expatriate Indians never ends. Remittances to India has grown rapidly ever since people from the country started migrating overseas, mainly to the Gulf countries. Obviously, the increasing remittance supports the country to maintain its economy. Despite all such realities, their voting rights and repeated promises for a safe rehabilitation process continue to remain unattended.
The recent demonetisation drive never looked at the concerns of Indians who are staying abroad and having currency notes that become invalid. Even though the exchange date of the old notes has been extended for another few months for those who stay outside India, the decision may not help the majority who are not frequent travelers to their home country for various reasons.
We should let occasions such as ‘Pravasi Bharatiya Divas’, which was on January 9, be a productive event, purely focusing on the welfare of the expatriate community. There should not be any kind of politics mixing up in it and the event should not be just limited to those who earn and enjoy high salary and benefits.
From Mr Ramachandran Nair
Oman
Anticipating results
The Election Commissioner of India announced the much awaited Indian northern states election venue of various important states (‘Dates announced for polls in 5 states’, Gulf News, January 5). All the political parties are keeping an eye on these state results, as they will be announced around the end of March and will likely judge whether the ruling party is coming back to power in 2019. Since the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh is a vast state, the local politics are very powerful and all the opposition parties are eagerly awaiting the outcome of the election results. All these days, people were waiting for the election dates announcement and now anxious for the results.
From Mr K. Ragavan
Bengaluru, India
Victory isn’t a green light
The Indian state of West Bengal’s Chief Minister’s, Mamata Banerjee, outburst is actually the expression of anger and disappointment of middlemen in the country who are reeling under the power of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has failed to understand that India is not his kingdom (‘Mamata seeks Modi’s ouster and government under Advani’, Gulf News, January 7). Freedom of expression is a fundamental right. People want to ask the leadership several questions, including how a person like Aishwarya Rai, who holds hidden offshore assets according to the leaked Panama Papers, became a supporter of black money and demonetisation in India. The fact is that the entire drive was a big failure seeing as more than 80 per cent of banned currencies was deposited back into the banks as white money within two months of demonetisation. He had promised the creation of thousands of jobs annually, but millions have lost their livelihood within 50 days of the currency restructuring.
Actually he should have apologised to the nation for forcing its citizen to go through an unnecessary hardship for nothing. Systematically, he became the unquestionable and senior most leader of the party over years. He is the party and the government. Modi is ruling the country as a businessman. He still charges exorbitant prices for petroleum products even though the commodity underwent a drastic drop in prices over the last two years. Instead, Modi is boasting about the surge in foreign exchange made at the cost of the poor. Moreover, fearing the public anger, he is not bothered to meet the Press.
From Mr Girish R. Edathitta
Dubai
Ensuring education
It is an excellent educational programme to provide a sustainable system of learning to the impoverished children of Uganda (‘Varsity students from UAE make a difference in Ugandan schools’, Gulf News, January 7). The varsity students of Abu Dhabi have started a commendable initiative that is not only providing textbooks and other resources, but also keeping teachers in the know, training them in the new ways that will enable them to motivate and inspire children and create keen interest for the subjects they teach. The programme also aims at training teachers to know how to utilise the resources available and impart practical knowledge and life skills. It’s a truly praiseworthy initiative that will give explicit benefits of learning to the students and dispel the notion that education isn’t applicable in real life.
From Ms Jayashree Kulkarni
UAE
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