Ugly sight

Sir — Spitting on the road and just about any other place is a common sight in this country. It spread infectious diseases. This bad habit thrives owing to the worse practice of chewing paan and gutkha. Civic sense is sadly missing among Indians. Paan and gutkha spit also leave red stains, making it an ugly sight.

A couple of days back when I visited the passport office, I was happy to see security guards not allowing gutkha and cigarette packets inside. Similar steps can be taken at all tourist spots, workplaces, government offices and hospitals. This would automatically discourage people from consuming such harmful substances. School children should be educated about this bad habit of spitting and how it spreads germs. More public awareness campaigns must be organized to tackle this menace. There should be stricter laws with punishment and fines to check this problem.

Kiran Agarwal,

Calcutta

Sir — The concluding scene described by Uddalak Mukherjee in “Spit personalities” (Aug 29), flashed before my eyes when the driver’s seat of a car in front of me opened and a man spit out gutkha juice on a newly painted road divider. These would be the same people who will applaud the cleanliness in other countries. All appeals to work towards a Swachh Bharat seem to be falling on deaf ears.

It seems to me that sustained social media campaigns are the only solution to this potential problem. The case of Ranu Mondal, the woman from the railway station in Ranaghat, who has now become a sensation overnight is a case in point. Films and television also have a major role to play. They should stop depicting any spitting scene. Just adding a tag line does not cut ice anymore. At the same time, awareness should also be created about keeping our surroundings clean to prevent diseases like dengue.

Alok Ganguly,
Kalyani

Sir — A Chinese eatery has fluffy white ducks and teacup pigs that their patrons can play and spend time with, for a fee of course. The trend of cafes and restaurants having animals and birds is on the rise. Few consider what these animals may feel like under the constant glare of human attention. A comment by a patron at the Chinese eatery about the ducks there best sums it up: “They’re really fun and very obedient — not like those swimming ducks.” Have they ever wondered what prompts this obedience that is contrary to their character? Not all those with duck faces want to feature in selfies.

Shreena Das,

Calcutta

Wrong move

Sir — The Uttar Pradesh police has registered a case of criminal conspiracy against the journalist, Pawan Jaiswal, after he shared a video on social media showing students at a state-run school having just roti with salt as their mid-day meal. The students had apparently been served the same food for some time because no senior officer had taken the pain of visiting the school located far away from the district headquarters. Ironically, while India has over one-third of the world’s malnourished children and our mid-day meal scheme is the world’s biggest school nutrition programme. Governments must thus go all out to ensure that mid-day meals are nutritious and equal.

Journalists who expose lapses in the scheme should be commended rather than booked, as Jaiswal has been by Yogi Adityanath government. In democracy, governments must uphold the media’s right to free speech. In various recent cases, we have seen how the right to justice and the right to food are buttressed by the media. But the incident in Uttar Pradesh is a case of shooting the messenger.

Khokan Das,
Calcutta

Sir — The first information report against a journalist for highlighting how poor students are deprived of their rights at mid-day meals is a blow to the freedom of the press. His arrest is a clear attempt to stifle this freedom. This is why India ranks as low as 140 among 180 countries on the World Press Freedom Index.

S.S. Paul,
Nadia