A pinch of humour

Sir — The ability to observe, critique and satirise the actions of leaders on a worldwide social platform is, on the whole, unique to the youth of today. Memes showing Winnie the Pooh (a common caricature of the Chinese president, Xi Jinping) hanging on to a balloon after a Chinese spy balloon was spotted flying over the United States of America is proof of this. The successful intersection of memes and politics appears to be exclusive to Gen Z, who deal with the fallout of international crises the only way they know — through dark humour. This is not a trivialisation of politics as is often argued.

Roshni Sen, Calcutta

Clever ploy

Sir — On January 1, the Union government terminated the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana. The Union budget 2023-24 has thus reduced the allocation for food subsidy from Rs 287,000 crore during 2022-23 to Rs 197,000 crore. However, the government has decided to provide free rations to about 820 million poor people under the National Food Security Act till December 31, 2023.

With this, the government has played to the gallery. The ‘free’ tag for the NFSA will undoubtedly help the government during the upcoming elections, both in the states and at the Centre. Free and subsidised food for the poor should be a welfare measure and it cannot be treated as an election freebie.

Shovonlal Chakraborty, Calcutta

Seek answers

Sir — The editorial, “Fixed limit” (Feb 10), aptly highlighted the dilemma of raising the cap of Rs 8 lakh in annual income for qualifying for the other backward classes quota. While the editorial has raised a number of questions about the motivations behind the government’s thinking when it comes to the OBC quota, it does not answer these questions or take a firm stand.

Sukhendu Bhattacharjee, Hooghly

Ties that bind

Sir — At an event of the Bohra Muslim community in Mumbai, the prime minister, Narendra Modi, said that he should be treated like a visiting family member. This is heartening. As a family member, surely the prime minister will know the problems ailing his family. One hopes that he extends this familial feeling to all castes and communities in India.

Sufiyan Nazeer Al Qasmi, Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh

Deep divisions

Sir — Sankarshan Thakur’s article, “An inbetween place” (Feb 8), highlighted how deeply ingrained caste divisions are in India. As a civil servant in a remote village in eastern Uttar Pradesh 40 years ago, I saw how the caste system manifested itself with my own eyes. Equality is enshrined in the Constitution, but ground realities are quite different.

Amit Brahmo, Calcutta

Lost glory

Sir — Parliament has lost its former glory. The ruling party and the Opposition are at each other’s throats and no constructive debate can take place in such an atmosphere. The Speaker and the chairman of the respective Houses are as much to blame as they are often biased towards the treasury benches. Hardly a day passes without adjournment of the sessions.

Murtaza Ahmed, Calcutta

Case dismissed

Sir — The Supreme Court has dismissed a plea seeking a complete ban on the BBC. The court has rightly said that the writ petition has no merit and is dismissed. This dismissal should serve as a warning for those trying to stir up mischief.

Bhagwan Thadani, Mumbai

Positive message

Sir — The prime minister, Narendra Modi, must be lauded for wearing a jacket made from recycled plastic bottles. Recycling has always been the prime minister’s pet project. His tireless efforts to send a positive message must be appreciated.

T.S. Karthik, Chennai

Threat perception

„Sir — There has been much talk about ChatGPT endangering the jobs of journalists. But the news industry itself has been dabbling in it for some time now. When one visits any major news website, chances are that at least some of the articles have been specifically selected for that viewer. These websites often track reading habits and then apply machine learning to figure out which articles to show you so that you stay on at the site. For all our grouses with the social media companies, news media did learn a trick or two from them. At least in the near future, artificial intelligence will be a tool in the hands of a journalist rather than the journalist itself.

Pratyush Bose, Calcutta

Parting shot

Sir — Rahul Gandhi should not disappear from the scene now that the Bharat Jodo Yatra is over.

S.R. Pal, Calcutta