Clean up
Sir — When one thinks of Mount Everest, one does not usually imagine that it has a miniature hill of around three tonnes of human excrement. Hearteningly, climbers on the world’s tallest mountain will now be required to bring back their faeces when they descend. Nepal has directed climbers and the sherpas who assist them to carry their excrement back in special ‘poo bags’ — biodegradable bags with chemicals that will solidify the waste. While the initiative is praiseworthy, one hopes that the porters, who are primarily Nepalese, will not be forced to carry these poo bags, as they do the rest of the luggage.
Abhijit Sarkar, Calcutta
Fake pledge
Sir — The prime minister, Narendra Modi, has apparently assured the Bharatiya Janata Party candidate from Krishnanagar that he is exploring legal options to return the roughly Rs 3,000 crore taken from the poor and seized by the Enforcement Directorate to the people of the state. This seems to be another jumla and is a clear breach of the Model Code of Conduct since it may influence the voters. Will the Election Commission of India take action against this?
The prime minister’s promise is also legally dubious: the assets seized under money laundering cases are part of the chain of evidence and are not for the Centre to give away. Modi’s claims of being committed to fighting corruption are hypocritical given that Opposition politicians with graft charges against them are let off the hook the moment they switch over to the saffron party.
S.K. Choudhury, Bengaluru
Sir — Narendra Modi seems to have claimed that he will explore legal processes to return around Rs 3,000 crore that the people of West Bengal allegedly had to pay in the form of bribes in various scams. This is nothing but a lie, one of the many that are spewed in the run-up to the elections. In 2014, for instance, the BJP had promised that the money stored by corrupt politicians in Swiss banks would be brought
back and Rs 15 lakh would be credited to the bank account of each citizen. That promise amounted to nothing. Voters should be similarly wary of Modi’s promises this time around.
S. Kamat, Mysuru
Unhealthy code
Sir — A code of ethics for pharmaceutical companies will be as ineffectual as the Hippocratic oath is among doctors owing to the political clout of the former (“Weak teeth”, Mar 26). The electoral bonds data have revealed that political parties have received large sums from pharmaceutical companies. Commissions are rampant in the medical profession. Social activists and doctors’ organisations should help the government implement medical laws and keep an
eye on violations.
Basudeb Dutta, Nadia
Sir — The government’s decision to keep the Uniform Code for Pharmaceutical Marketing Practices, 2024 optional has rightly sparked controversy, with critics accusing the authorities of capitulating to pharmaceutical companies. The Alliance of Doctors for Ethical Healthcare, an open network of medical professionals, is a particularly vocal critic of the government’s approach, deriding the new marketing code as ineffectual. Stakeholders across the spectrum are justified in calling for decisive action to hold pharmaceutical companies accountable.
S.S. Paul, Nadia
Sir — The editorial, “Weak teeth”, highlights the concerns about the introduction of the voluntary UCPMP. In the absence of a strong legal framework to check the malpractice of offering freebies to doctors, the incestuous relationship between pharmaceutical companies and doctors will continue to flourish.
Sanjit Ghatak, South 24 Parganas
