Darned well

Sir — The fashion industry accounts for 10% of the global pollution, ranking higher than even air travel in emissions. Fast fashion — cheap clothes that people over-purchase and then discard after a few wears — is especially responsible for the industry’s massive carbon footprint. While thrifting old clothes that people no longer want to wear is an encouraging trend, another way to check the waste of slightly damaged clothes is to revive the practice of ‘rafu’. This art, originating in Kashmir, includes darning small tears and fixing damages so that they become invisible to the naked eye. Rafugari, unfortunately, is a dying art.

Swati Dasgupta,
Calcutta

Bitter taste

Sir — The observation
of the Supreme Court regarding the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, N. Chandrababu Naidu, and his allegation against the laddoo prasad served at the Tirumala Venkateswara temple in Tirupati is welcome (“‘Spare God’: SC pulls up Naidu over laddoo row”, Oct 1). Such throwaway accusations can have dire consequences in a country like India where people are extremely sensitive regarding food and religion.

Santi Pramanick,
Howrah

Sir — Mixing religion and politics subverts the cause of secularism and affects the health of the body politic (“Not sweet”, Oct 3). Just like consuming meat and milk together can trigger bodily discomfort, the conflation of politics with religion produces acidic hate speeches. All modern societies have embraced secularism. India, too, should follow the principle of secularism enshrined in its Constitution.

Sujit De,
Calcutta

Sir — The controversy surrounding the Tirupati laddoos is reminiscent of the 1857 sepoy mutiny, which had been triggered similarly by rousing religious sentiments related to food. If there is any truth to the allegations made by N. Chandrababu Naidu, his government should take necessary steps to ensure that this problem is solved instead of stirring trouble for political gains.

Tapomoy Ghosh,
Burdwan

Sir — N. Chandrababu Naidu had formed a special investigation team to probe the adulteration of the ghee used in the Tirupati laddoos. He was clearly trying to ensure that the investigation remained under his government’s control. But his plan might not succeed as the Supreme Court has ordered an independent Central Bureau of Investigation-monitored SIT to look into the allegations. It must be noted that the prime minister, Narendra Modi, has predictably not uttered a word against his coalition partner.

Ranganathan Sivakumar,
Chennai

Sir — The Supreme Court has rightly observed that religion must be kept away from politics. It is encouraging that the court has ordered an independent CBI-monitored investigation on this issue.

N.R. Ramachandran,
Chennai

Sir — Political leaders ignore issues related to education, health, employment — areas that need hard work to have visible outcomes — and seek refuge in emotive issues. N. Chandrababu Naidu seems eager to prove his saffron credentials to his ally, the Bharatiya Janata Party, by making allegations about the adulteration of Tirupati laddoos. The Supreme Court admonishing Naidu for trying to fan religious tension tasted sweeter than laddoos to the common man, who has been disillusioned by such communalism as the voters of Ayodhya clearly demonstrated by voting against the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections.

R. Narayanan,
Navi Mumbai

Sir — The controversy surrounding the Tirupati laddoos is most unfortunate. Politicians clearly only want to foment trouble.

M. Pradyu,
Kannur