Cold discomfort

Sir — The vagaries of climate change have made air conditioners perhaps the most ubiquitous thing on the planet after cell phones. In fact, the recurrent heat waves this summer have shot up sales of ACs by almost 20% in India. But what is ironic is that the very thing that is supposed to keep us cool is further warming up the planet. A World Economic Forum study predicted that emissions from ACs alone will raise global temperatures by 0.5 degrees by the end of this century. Worse, experts have now warned that the current generation of ACs will not even work in a hot and humid future. But they say imagination is the key to solving problems. Perhaps the only way out of the AC conundrum is to increase our heat tolerance by imagining a life without conditioning.

Gunjan Navare,Mumbai

Leadership crisis

Sir — The ties between India and its two hostile, nuclear-powered neighbours, China and Pakistan, are tense at the moment. New Delhi thus needs strong leadership to weather this storm (“Shah: Who should be PM, Modi or Rahul?”, June 11). While Narendra Modi’snine years at the helm have been characterised by authoritarian policies, the Congress scion, Rahul Gandhi, remains untested as a national leader. Despite his significant flaws, Modi seems to be the best bet for India in such a situation because of his years of political experience.

It must be noted that Rahul Gandhi alone will not be enough to challenge Modi in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. He will need to rely on a well-knit Opposition alliance. The bigger question is this: whether alliance partners will be able to give up their individual ambitions to nominate Rahul Gandhi as the prime ministerial candidate.

Aranya Sanyal,Siliguri

Sir — The headlines carried by the front page of The Telegraph on June 11, 2023, were signs of the times. They raised the question whether Indian politics will ever be able to climb out of the quagmire that the present ruling dispensation has created. The news reports, “’Humiliation’ and ‘huge pressure’”, “Godse a worthy son of India: Modi’s minister”, “Shah: Who should be PM, Modi or Rahul?”, “Congress flags rise of debt under Modi”, and “PM’s silence on Manipur violence hurts, says academic”, indicated that Narendra Modi’s style of governance, featuring hypernationalism and religious extremism, is shorn of decency and clueless about how to cure the afflictions of the people.

Jahar Saha,Calcutta

Sir — The silence of the prime minister, Narendra Modi, on several burning issues is questionable (“Vinesh questions PM silence”, June 11). The reason behind this is that the prime minister is a fair-weather leader. When the situation is conducive, Modi will be seen either campaigning or attending events. But during difficult circumstances, he prefers to maintain a cold silence. His brutal apathy to the protests by women wrestlers and the unrest in Manipur are cases in point.

S. Kamat Alto Santa Cruz, Goa

Calculated move

Sir — The Nationalist Congress party chief, Sharad Pawar, appointed his daughter and parliamentarian, Supriya Sule, and party leader, Praful Patel, as the working presidents of the party (“Praful, Sule get key NCP posts”, June 11). This is a big snub to Sharad Pawar’s nephew, Ajit Pawar, who has been eyeing the top post for long. It is evident that Sharad Pawar wants to keep the reins of the party in safe hands after the 2019 debacle wherein Ajit Pawar ditched the NCP to back the Bharatiya Janata Party-led state government.

H.K. Isha’ati,Mumbai

Steady fall

Sir — The decision of the former British prime minister, Boris Johnson, to step down as a lawmaker in the wake of an inquiry against him for misleading Parliament does not come as a surprise (“Boris declares war on Rishi”, June 11). Johnson’s meteoric rise in British politics has been matched by his steady downfall owing to a string of ethics violations, such as hosting alcohol parties at Downing Street during the Covid-19 lockdowns.

It is Johnson who steered the Conservative Party through Brexit and achieved an emphatic victory for the Tories in the 2019 general elections. But his flamboyant politics, with little regard for morality, now casts a big shadow over his political future.

M. Jeyaram,Sholavandan, Tamil Nadu

Bleak future

Sir — The World Day Against Child Labour is observed on June 12 to raise awareness about the negative impacts of child labour. A 2020 report found that roughly 160 million children worldwide were involved in child labour. This is deplorable. Child labour adversely affects a child’s physical as well as mental health. Government and society must come together to eradicate this social malaise.

F. Akhtar,Hyderabad

Emphatic win

Sir — The Australian cricket team deserves to be congratulated for winning its maiden World Test Championship title by defeating India by 209 runs (“India flunk final test, Aussies take mace”, June 12). This was India’s second defeat in successive WTC finals after losing to New Zealand in the 2021 inaugural edition. Some of the reasons behind India’s loss were their lack of depth in batting and bowling, poor selection policy, recurrent mistakes and a dearth of fighting zeal.

Australia’s bowling attack led by Nathan Lyon, who is the leading wicket-taker in WTC with 139 wickets, was too formidable for India’s batsmen who failed to cope with the bounce and swing on the Oval pitch. Aussie batsmen, especially Steve Smith, too showed more application and resilience than India’s top order.

Amarjeet Kumar,Hazaribag, Jharkhand