Sir — There was much talk about how staying at home and not being able to get salon treatments may cure vanity, what with men not being able to get haircuts or shaves and women not being able to get their eyebrows done and so on. But looking good is not just about vanity, it is also intricately tied to one’s self-worth. When men and women who are running themselves ragged between the kitchen and the laptop look at themselves in the mirror, how they look affects their self-esteem. This, along with the strain of being cooped up at home, is not doing wonders for people’s mental health.

Roshni Sen,
Calcutta

Green path

Sir — The initiative taken by the Odisha forest department to grow bamboo forests by scattering seed balls is laudable (“Seed balls to grow a forest for jumbos”, Aug 9). However, some important factors need to be considered before the initiative is kicked off. Bamboo survives and grows through underground rhizomes, which take years to develop. The succulent seedlings may germinate under favourable soil and moisture conditions, but they will be vulnerable to grazing by the village cattle and goats, especially after the rains, as well as to bush fires — factors that are ubiquitous to forests across the country.

Elephants roam over very large stretches, something they are wont to do by force of their instinctive nature and they are in the habit of destroying forests while searching for forage. Regenerating small patches of forests with bamboo and other fodder crops thus has very limited mitigatory effects so far as marauding elephants are involved. Attempts like the one in question being made in the Athagarh Division will succeed only if these are made a part of an integral approach involving large scale rehabilitation of forests, creation of large water bodies and fodder banks, including villagers and local communities to ensure that elephants do not carry off the seeds with themselves and ensuring prompt payment of reasonable compensation for crop damage and attacks on humans. The forest department needs to think harder before implementing this plan.

Biswajit Majumdar,
Nagpur

Step too far

Sir — The decision to close Confucius Institutes would be a knee-jerk reaction to the ongoing crisis between India and China (“Great walls”, Aug 8). These institutes are aimed at providing an insight into the history and culture of China, this closure ensures that a Herculean effort would be needed to restart such an exchange — if at all. Deriving their name from the famous Chinese educator and philosopher, Confucius, these institutes are not for profit and were started in 2004. The initiative to start these institutes was a positive one and benefited citizens in 162 countries and regions who wanted to learn the Chinese language, and about its culture and lifestyle. Such institutes help develop harmonious relations among countries at a time when protectionism is peaking. ]

India’s reaction is thus premature and unwarranted. It followed suit on the action being taken by other countries when it should have stood out and set an example.

Vinay Asawa,
Howrah

Sir — Confucius Institutes were started by China to promote the learning of Mandarin and educate people about the Chinese culture in 162 countries and regions. While China claims that these institutes are aimed at helping people better understand the culture, roles of CIs have been questioned in many quarters. There have long been accusations that China uses the institutes for political and commercial purposes like spying on foreign entities and overseas Chinese students. The institutes’ learning materials allegedly distort contemporary Chinese history too.

It is thus not surprising that the United States of America stopped funding programmes at universities that host CIs. Sweden has shut down all CIs in the country. The Indian government, too, has decided to review the presence of CIs. Given the dubious manner in which the Chinese authorities function, there is definitely a case for shutting down all CIs in the country at a time when Indian and Chinese troops are up in arms at the border. This is justified and broadly consistent with the Central government’s decision to ban some Chinese apps which threaten Indian users’ privacy.

This however does not mean that learning Mandarin language or doing research on Chinese culture should be stopped or discouraged. Rather India can turn to Taiwan or Singapore for assistance in setting up Mandarin language learning centres. In fact, India’s pivot towards Taiwan was also witnessed when New Delhi chose a high-profile career diplomat as India’s next envoy to Taipei. It is time to take China’s hegemony in the region head on.

Khokan Das,
Calcutta