Reconsider decisions
The Indian government’s move to change the colour of the passport for Emigration Check Required (ECR) is discriminatory (“Protest spreads against India’s passport reform plan”, Gulf News, January 22). This will create two classes of people and it is against the equality and equal justice envisaged in the Indian Constitution. The removal of the address page, will lose the identity of the passport holder. At present, a passport is an official document for a person, which proves the address of residence. The government of India and Ministry of External affairs should reconsider the decision.
From Mr Eappen Elias
Dubai
More help to the villages
India is the largest democracy and one of the world’s largest economies. At the same time it is disheartening to know that young children, mainly from rural areas, still don’t get proper education. In fact, it was shameful that a recent survey revealed that 36 per cent of rural students don’t even know the capital of our country and 97per cent struggled with basic mathematics. Hence we need to begin with the villages in our country. It should be ensured that at least one school is built, with all infrastructures in each village to educate the children in that area. It would be nice if our political parties, instead of giving freebies and subsidies to others, could do more and take care of our villages and the people who live there. They should ensure free education to each and every child in their area. It is their duty to make sure that not even a single child is left without proper education, at least till grade 10 and 11. All the elected representatives should be made accountable for this. If they fail they should be taken to task. Even Multinational Companies could extend their helping hand to educate our children.
From Ms Kavitha Srikanth
India
Begging is a crime
It is unfortunate that beggars in Dubai are increasing day by day. They are seen begging inside mosques, in different parts of the city. It is also observed that beggars are using their children and women to get alms. The common factor between all these beggars is that they have no real cause for begging. It is a matter to note that veiled women sit at the gate of different mosques in the city particularly on Fridays. It is believed that most of the beggars come here on a visit visa to the UAE, only for the purpose of making money. As a result, they are damaging the reputation of Dubai which is hosting Expo 2020. There is a need for public awareness. Beggars should be caught, and given severe punishment.
From Ms M Mumtaz Hussain
Dubai
Editor’s note: The Federal National Council has passed a new draft law on November 15, 2017 as “A fine of up to Dh5000 and/or three months prison sentence for whoever begs at mosques in the UAE.
Awards and accolades
Congratulations to our Captain Virat Kohli for his twin awards, winning the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for the best ICC cricketer of the year and one for the best One Day International (ODI) Cricketer of the year (“K.R. Nayar column: Kohli inspires and exasperates — all in a week’s span”, Gulf News, January 22). If it wasn’t for the tons of runs scored by cricketer Steve Smith of Australia in the Ashes series, Kohli could have annexed the Test Cricketer award too. No doubt, he must be totally disappointed with the series loss to South Africa. However, these awards should be a real boost for him and his team mates in the matches to follow. We wish him and the team the best in the remaining matches.
From Ms Janaki Mahadevan
India
Bad performance from players
The author has aptly analysed the plight of our players in South Africa. Our meek surrender has once again proven that our players play like lions at home, but become lambs lamb abroad. Except cricketer AB de Villiers, and to some extent our captain Kohli, no one was able to dominate the bowlers in both teams. For a change, our bowlers were able to skittle out the star studded South African team twice, that too within an achievable target, in both the Tests our batsmen let down our team. Ironically, even our most reliable batsmen like Murli Vijay and Pujara were found to be wanting. The tour team selectors compounded our woes. Our fielding is better than before. Anyway there is no point in crying over the spilled milk. The behaviour of our Captain with the media could have been avoided. During the past two years the media was full of praise for Kohli and his team. Hence instead of antagonising the media, it would be better for our coach and captain to accept the fact that they had errored in their team selection and are trying to mend their ways to select sturdy horses so that we have a chance to win the final test, and the ODI series to regain their lost glory.
From Mr N. Mahadevan
India
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