Tricky light
Sir — Appearances can be deceptive. A woman in the United Kingdom recently mistook the bright red glow emitted by the LED lights of a tomato factory to be the aurora borealis, a phenomenon that is now visible from several parts of the United States of America. Much to her chagrin, she was disabused of her notion as soon as she shared photographs of the glowing red sky on social media. It is perhaps lucky that there is no chance of seeing the northern lights from India or else the widespread use of LED lights in the festive season would have led social-media obsessed people to spot the aurora borealis everywhere.
Nina Bhattacharya, Calcutta
Number game
Sir — The chief minister of Tamil Nadu, M.K. Stalin, recently urged newlyweds at a mass wedding ceremony to have as many children as possible. His anxiety is shared by those demanding that the state-wise allocation of seats in Lok Sabha be frozen on the basis of the 1971 census (“Daft logic”, Oct 24). If the Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre carries out a fresh delimitation exercise, Tamil Nadu, which has managed to bring its population in check, might be severely outnumbered in Parliament.
Khokan Das, Calcutta
Sir — A delimitation exercise could disempower India’s southern states, which are more developed and have smaller populations. To ensure federal stability, delimitation should be postponed until all states reach the national goal of having a total fertility rate of 2.1.
H.N. Ramakrishna, Bengaluru
Sir — M.K. Stalin and his counterpart in Andhra Pradesh, N. Chandrababu Naidu, should remember that chief ministers pushing for higher birth rates might adversely affect women’s rights. India is already a populous country. It cannot afford couples having more than two children.
S.S. Paul, Nadia
Sir — A few months ago, M.K. Stalin took pride in the fact that Tamil Nadu accounts for over 40% of the female participation in the workforce across India’s manufacturing sector. This was made possible because women in the state have fewer children. Now he is urging them to have more children for the sake of retaining Tamil Nadu’s seats in the Lok Sabha. Hopefully his plea shall bear no fruit as none decides to have children based on such considerations.
Gopalaswamy J., Chennai
Sir — For fear of losing political clout after a population decline in their respective states, the chief minister of Tamil Nadu has asked people to have more children without considering the fate of those who take this advice seriously. Will the state bear the burden of these children or leave families to fend for themselves?
V.S. Jayaraman, Chennai
Sir — N. Chandrababu Naidu is part of the coalition at the Centre which has been pushing for stricter population control policies. But he has gone the opposite wayby encouraging people inhis state to have more children, calling the rising average age of people in the state a matter of concern. Naidu seems to be trying to avoid the fate of China, which now regrets the population control measures it took in the 1980s.
Jang Bahadur Singh, Jamshedpur
Dry throats
Sir — The Bombay High Court has chastised the authorities for the plight of the residents of the Kambe village in Maharashtra who received water only twice a month despite a good monsoon. This is unfortunate. The court has instructed that water be supplied to the villagers daily for at least a few hours as this constitutes a fundamental right.
Jayanthy Subramaniam, Mumbai