Not worth it
Sir — Throwing a dinner party is apparently a dying art for the younger generations in Bengal as the hassle of cleaning the house and making elaborate recipes seem off-putting to many. While Bengalis hardly ever shy away from gathering for some adda, declining dinner invitations point towards a graver issue of gender inequality. Women generally have shouldered the burden of preparing food and cleaning the house, often remaining largely absent from the adda at dinner parties. Who can then blame young, Bengali women if they no longer want to host parties while only being able to attend them on the sidelines?
Bitan Saha, Calcutta
Gift a roof
Sir — The West Bengal state government released the first instalment of funds for the rural housing scheme for 12 lakh beneficiaries (“Mamata rolls out disbursal of housing grant”, Dec 18). With the Centre’s reluctance to release funds due to alleged irregularities in the rural housing scheme, the doles by the Mamata Banerjee-led government brought relief for many. Earlier the Centre provided 60% of the funds under its housing scheme while the state offered 40%. But several allegations related to nepotism and financial irregularities surfaced in 2022, following which the Union government stopped releasing funds to Bengal. The devolution of funds from the Centre to the state has not been addressed since and the project remains in limbo.
Banerjee’s decision has thus been welcomed by the people. By engaging all stakeholders, the state can also generate employment to boost the rural economy.
Jayanta Datta, Hooghly
Sir — The West Bengal government has begun disbursing the first instalment of funds after the Centre did not follow up on its promise of doing the same. Banerjee officially launched the distribution programme by handing over allotment letters to 42 beneficiaries at Nabanna Sabhaghar.
Around 28 lakh beneficiaries, who were identified through door-to-door surveys, will start to receive Rs 60,000 as the first instalment under the Banglar Bari scheme. While Banerjee’s eyes might be on the 2026 assembly elections, the step taken by her government is commendable.
Khokan Das, Calcutta
Innovative cure
Sir — Since the discovery of Penicillin, all antibiotics have been invented by foreign multinational companies. India is yet to discover any broad-spectrum antibiotic. However, for the first time, the antibiotic, nafithromycin, has been discovered using entirely indigenous technology. This is a major milestone for Indian pharmaceutical research. Nafithromycin has not yet been approved by the Drugs Controller General of India and cannot be mass-produced now. Nafithromycin will target bacteria that have already developed resistance to several antibiotics and can treat diseases like pneumonia. Currently, 23% of pneumonia cases in the world are from India. Nafithromycin is 10 times more potent than widely-used antibiotics and is also a safer, faster and more tolerable solution for patients as declared by the experts. This is heartening.
Somnath Mukherjee, Calcutta
Sir — Antibiotic resistance is a growing global concern (“New cure”, Dec 17). The factors contributing to antibiotic resistance include overuse and misuse of antibiotics, lack of new antibiotics and inadequate infection control. This issue can be mitigated by implementing antimicrobial stewardship programmes and promoting judicious use of antibiotics. The availability of over-the-counter antibiotics should also be prohibited. Research and development are necessary to discover newer antibiotics that can deal with the inefficacy of existing antibiotics.
Furthermore, vaccinations and other effective measures are important to reduce cases of infection. In this aspect, global cooperation and the sharing of medical research among nations can help too.
K.C. Dutta, Nagaon, Assam
Sir — The invention of the new drug, WCK 5222, which is undergoing clinical trial is a welcome development. Few antibiotics have emerged in the last few decades and many microbes have become resistant to these drugs. The rampant overuse and incomplete treatment have rendered many antibiotics ineffective against superbugs. Proper counselling of patients and banning the over-the-counter sale of antibiotics is the need of the hour.
Vinay Asawa, Howrah
Fill the classrooms
Sir — The current situation of school dropout in India is alarming. Several factors contribute to the high rate of school dropout. These include the indifference of parents regarding their wards’ education due to a lack of awareness. In many families, children are expected to earn for their families and are forced to quit school to work in the agricultural sector or be employed as domestic servants. Improving school infrastructure by ensuring adequate classrooms, mid-day meals, clean water, sanitation facilities and sufficient schools may reduce the dropout rate. There should be strict implementation of child labour laws as well.
D. Bhattacharya, Calcutta
