Modern hassles

Sir — In the 21st century, Feluda might have nabbed the nefarious A. Burman and rescued the young Mukul long before they reached the Jaisalmer Fort. Why you ask? Because in the 21st century, when his taxi had a puncture, instead of being delayed, Feluda could have just booked a camel on Uber as a woman in Dubai recently did. That is, of course, if he did not find another cab on Uber first. This is one of the many problems of modernising classics like Feluda stories. While directors have tried to give Feluda a mobile phone and make him internet savvy, modern technological marvels detract from the core of the tales. For instance, if Feluda had a smartphone connected to the internet, would he ever have had the opportunity or need to contact the brilliant Sidhujyatha?

Sarbajaya Mukherjee, Calcutta

Essential tenets

Sir — Hearing a batch of public interest litigations, the Supreme Court has dismissed the possibility of deleting the terms, “socialist” and “secular”, from the Constitution (“Don’t want a secular India? Top court asks”, Oct 22). In response to the petitioners’ argument that the terms, “secular” and “socialist”, were incorporated during the infamous Emergency era and that B.R. Ambedkar had disapproved of socialism, seeing it as a restriction on individual liberty, Justice Sanjiv Khanna cited several court judgments that underline the significance of both terms as well as the necessity to implement socialism in the Indian context. But for the words to carry weight, the court needs to also address the regular incidents of communal violence, hate speech, the bulldozing of Muslim-owned properties, mob lynchings and so on.

Aayman Anwar Ali, Calcutta

Sir — The Preamble to the Constitution describes India as a “sovereign” and “democratic republic”, with two added terms — “secular” and “socialist”. No petition can erase these fundamental tenets of the Constitution.

Murtaza Ahmad, Calcutta

Sir — The Bharatiya Janata Party leader, Subramanian Swamy, and his fellow petitioners who challenged the 42nd Amendment to the Constitution and sought the deletion of the words,“secular” and “socialist”, from the Preamble clearly have no respect for the diversity of this multi-religious country or any concern for the welfare of the economically downtrodden. Their goal is to see India evolve into a fully capitalist Hindu rashtra.

Kajal Chatterjee, Calcutta

Sir — Proponents of Hindutva try to peddle the notion that a citizen of the country can be more or less Indian on the basis of his or her religion. Secularism embodies the ideal of fraternity, which is an inclusive and humane idea; it is the talisman that keeps our country united. Hence, it is important to ensure India’s continued existence as a secular democracy. We have no option but to win the ideological battle for secularism.

G. David Milton, Maruthancode, Tamil Nadu

Lives at risk

Sir — Death by electrocution during rains has become far too frequent in West Bengal owing to the lack of a proper drainage system and overhead wires being left hanging (“Scan on unregulated electric connections”, Oct 27). This points to the inefficiency and the apathy of the government.

Asim Boral, Calcutta

Sir — Cyclone Dana has damaged a lot of property in South Bengal. Lightning injuries have become common during cyclones and storms. Since they are regular occurrences in the region, the Centre and the state government must find effective measures to prevent the loss of life and property.

Jayanta Datta, Hooghly

Sir — Lamp posts with exposed live wires that can lead to electrocution are all too common on Calcutta’s streets. The power supply authorities should checkthe street lights and take remedial action wherever necessary.

Sourish Misra, Calcutta

Diverted attention

Sir — The lack of reading has led to a generation that is unable to articulate its thoughts because of a limited vocabulary (“A stunted act”, Oct 25). Members of this generation have little knowledge of the rules of grammar and syntax as most of their education comes from WhatsApp forwards. Once upon a time, while commuting by trains, one could see many people reading newspapers. But now one sees nearly every single person glued to his or her cellphone.

Anthony Henriques, Mumbai

Sir — It is a shame that people no longer read the newspaper from cover to cover with commitment and enthusiasm like they did in the past. Our attention is now easily diverted by digital technology and we no longer have the devotion required for sustained reading. India has a rich repertoire of ancient literature, especially in languages like Tamil and Telugu, that dates back to 12th century CE. We should honour the toil of our forefathers by keeping the tradition of reading alive instead of endlessly scrolling on our phones.

T. Ramadas, Visakhapatnam

Fill the gaps

Sir — The Central government has directed states to fill vacancies in teaching positions in schools as soon as possible — Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand have the highest number of such vacancies. Educational institutions are facing a severe shortage in terms of both funds and quality teachers. This also applies to higher educational institutions, including Central universities. The Union government will need to pay attention to Central universities too in this regard.

Abhijit Roy, Jamshedpur