Give Army oxygen duty

We have been witnessing a large number of deaths caused by the non-availability of oxygen to Covid patients. The Army has pan-India presence and its officers of proven integrity can be made responsible to distribute oxygen to hospitals located in their respective districts. Army military hospitals can be roped in, boosted by non-medical officers to handle this major resource which is urgently required to save lives at this critical juncture. Army officers will not come under pressure from anyone to do favours to the powers that be. They will handle the job in the most transparent manner, much to the satisfaction of the general public.

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SIDDHITA MADAN, BY MAIL

Rope in Army

The suggestion ‘Time to optimally use armed forces during crises’ is apt and timely. The armed forces have in the past rescued people in tsunami-like natural calamities and disasters on several occasions. The ongoing surge of the Covid pandemic is posing a serious threat to the lives of people. The number of those getting afflicted and succumbing thereto is multiplying by the day. The civilians made responsible for the control of the surge have their own shortcomings and limitations. It is time that the armed forces are called upon to intervene and take charge of things and manage the loose ends systematically. The sooner they intervene the better.

KL Noatay, Kangra

States left in the lurch

Considering itself to be the ‘pharmacy of the world’ months ago, India enthusiastically exported medicines and Covid 19 vaccines to other countries, and is now reeling under pressure because of its own wrong strategy and myopic vision. We are in dire straits but have failed to cut through the red tape. The first consignment of Sputnik V vaccine landed in the country on May 1, but the first dose could be administered only on May 14. Above all, now the Centre expects that states will make arrangements of remaining vaccine doses themselves. Leaving states in the lurch when their financial backup is frail, is not the right decision.

Sunil Chopra, Ludhiana

Work as one India

Reference to ‘Tardy vax drive’; the Centre’s move to decentralise the vaccination drive to respective states will have a negative impact on the minds of the people of united India. The grave situation can be overcome only when it is fought on a war footing. The morale of the nation as one India is vital as no state is untouched by the Covid surge. The Centre should keep the command and not encourage federalism at such a time.

KRISHAN BHATIA, Hansi

King and his castle

Prime Minister Modi is laying the foundation of the Central Vista project on the corpses of people who are dying every day. In this crisis, when people are dying because of shortage of oxygen and beds, and even the dead are not getting a place for cremation, how come the leader of the country, which due to the lack of resources is taking help from other countries, be so hell-bent on making his new castle?

Gauravpreet Singh, Amritsar

Physics principle

It is unfortunate that instead of making efforts together to conquer the pathetic situation that has arisen in the country due to the second wave of the coronavirus, our state governments and the Centre are clashing with each other on the issue of making vaccines available to their people. This diversification of efforts has no use. They should learn from an important principle of physics called ‘superposition principle of forces’. According to it, the total force acting on an object is the vector sum of all the individual forces acting on it. Here’s the need of a total force to hold this deadly virus at bay, which is possible only if all individual forces (efforts) do not cancel out each other.

Kamalpreet Singh, Barnala

Masters of the game

Apropos of ‘Online games with Anand, other GMs raise $50K’, the five-time world chess champion Viswanathan Anand and all other Grand Masters who played a series of online exhibition matches to support Covid relief in India recently should be applauded for this initiative. These ace chess players played against 105 players for a fixed registration amount. The other four Grand Masters of the sport, who participated in that event, were Koneru Humpy, Harika Dronavalli, Nihal Sarin and Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu.

Sourish Misra, West Bengal

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