- Readers write about issues affecting their community and the world.
A big achievement
Politics aside, India’s effort at their moon landing mission should be appreciated. No common man on both sides are against each other (“Nasa joins ISRO to track Vikram ‘calling home’”, Gulf News, September 12). This is a great achievement by India and we should not laugh if the mission failed. Good luck!
From Mr Waqar Zafar
UAE
Facebook comment
Hoping for better relationships
It is always good to see this kind of encouragement. It is good to see everyone respect each other. I would like to thank my friends from Pakistan who have expressed their support and appreciation on social media for India’s moon mission. Let’s hope for good relationships soon.
From Mr Kenny G.
UAE
Facebook comment
Reaching for the moon?
Being an Indian, I thank my Pakistani friends on social media for understanding India’s position after Isro lost contact with Chandrayaan-2. In order to achieve success, one should learn to fail. Isro has done a wonderful job. I also wish the best for Pakistan’s space agency and hope both nations work toward strengthening its space missions and technology for the betterment of mankind. Good luck to all people from Pakistan.
From Mr Rajesh Richard Q.
UAE
Facebook comment
A milestone in itself
Considering his background, the achievement made by Isro chairman K. Sivan deserves to be praised. This effort made by him and his team is a big milestone in this particular field. In the circumstances he grew up in and today, what he has achieved and become proves that he is hardworking, determined and is committed to his goals. What should be looked at is the effort made to achieve this milestone.
From Mr Asad Khan
UAE
We stand with Isro
Around 10 years ago, our youth was not interested in space and satellites. We hardly cared about achievements like sending rockets to the moon. Today, we do care. After India’s successful Mars Mission, the youth shows interest to know more and more about Isro. We celebrated your achievements after achievements.In just the last five to six years, India has achieved a lot with their space initiatives. India is the first nation in world to reach Mars in first attempt. We are fourth in the word to use an Anti-Satellite Missile. We launched 104 satellites in a single mission. These are just small examples. You changed the mood of the youth. Success and unsuccess is a part of life. And, Nothing is permanent in this world. Today, even we are feeling bad that we have lost communication with Vikram Lander, but more importantly, the youth is talking about it. This is the change that Isro has achieved. Now, we want to hear news about our space agency. We lost communication, not confidence, not commitment, not courage, not challenge. We stand with Isro. Thank you for everything.
From Mr Prudhvi Raj
UAE
Assam crisis
All apologists of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) exercise in the Indian state of Assam say that through this exercise, they just want to save their homeland, but how (“Unhappy BJP to move apex court for re-verification of NRC data”, Gulf News, September 3)? What will be done with those who will not make it to the NRC? No one is giving an answer and they are treading down this dangerous path without telling the world what they plan to do with those who don’t make to NRC. Now all proponents of NRC are saying that they are not satisfied as it has excluded genuine citizens and has not excluded enough foreigners. Not satisfied with this fiasco it seems they are preparing ground for further Draconian exercises.
From Mr Tariq Anwer
Dubai
Robert Mugabe, a leader
The death of Zimbawbe’s leader Robert Mugabe, was a great loss to Zimbabwe because of his past political participation for the country (“In Zimbabwe, hospitals battle with Mugabe’s legacy”, Gulf News, September 10). He was a man who lived with his own style and dominated politics in Zimbabwe for decades. His achievements are laudable. He had a bitter life in his earlier days, he struggled but came to the top, which is what is so important. Robert Mugabe commanded respect from his opposition too. May his soul rest in peace.
From Mr K. Ragavan
Bengaluru, India
Morning rush hour
I have written about this earlier also but still I wish to share some instances, which I see daily on the road (“It’s back to traffic jams as UAE schools reopen”, Gulf News, September 1). I work in the Al Barsha area of Dubai and stay in Sharjah. For the last few months, traffic on the roads has been less due to schools having their summer holidays.
From last one week, things are coming back to normal and traffic has increased. School buses are back in action and everybody is in a hurry in the mornings. I stay in the Abu Shagara area in Sharjah and being a residential area, it is full of school buses in the morning. Every one is in a hurry to get to the office, what I notice is inspite of so much awareness created by the authorities is that people don’t respect the presence of school buses on the road. They are very impatient to wait behind the buses, they start honking, the worst scenario is overtaking the buses even when the stop sign is displayed by the bus. It is such a dangereous situation overtaking vehicles because children don’t look to the roads when they are getting late for the bus, they just cross. Their concentration is on the school bus, which is waiting for them. I have seen such situations happening in front of me. We are all aware that there are cameras on the stop signs of the school buses, but I fail to understand why still people behave in such ways. Either they are ignorant and are unaware of what is happening around them or they are over smart.
It is only when some thing drastic happens that we realise we should abide by the rules. We should be thankful and grateful to the authorities in the UAE who spend so much time and money educating us about road safety. One last suggestion to the authorities is they should also fix a flash with the cameras installed on the stop signs of the school buses as atleast this overtaking will stop once the camera starts flashing.
From Mr Ajeet Kumar S. Pillai
Sharjah
Reading, educating, living
On September 8, 2019, the world celebrated International Literacy Day (“Readers Views: Is homeschooling a better option for education?”, Gulf News, September 12). United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s (Unesco) slogan for this year was “Multilingualism”. Literacy day should promote and mobilise the international community and empower individuals and society. Reports from Unesco say that there are 757 million adults of 15 years of age or above, who are unable to read or write and majority of them are women. Educating a woman is equivalent to educating a family. There are millions of people who are deprived of the opportunity to learn. Being illiterate means darkness in life and one being exploited in every aspect like politically, economically and socially. Poverty and lack of awareness are other main reasons for illiteracy. Even in this present scenario, millions of children are displaced by war, natural calamities and schools are not reachable.
UAE had set a wonderful example when it had declared 2016 as the Year of Reading. It has already been a success and most of schools and even parents also promote and encourage the children to read. The prosperity and success of the people is measured by the level of education set by any country. In India, Kerala was the first state to attain 100 percentage literacy in the year 1991 and in 2016 become the first state to have 100 per cent primary education. We live in an era of sustainable development and digital world and one should need the knowledge to read the text messages and interact. Like Unesco aims by 2030, let us make sure that all have attained the ability to read and write and make this beautiful world a better place to live in.
From Mr Eappen Elias
Dubai
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