Managing unlocking

Apropos of the editorial ‘Lockdown and Livelihood’ (June 27), most states are caught in a catch-22 situation. Lockdown cannot be enforced indefinitely and unlocking is increasing the rate of infections. Given the fragile condition of Indian economy, prolonged lockdown is injurious to the livelihoods of a majority of people. The unemployment rate is already touching over 23 per cent, which is an all-time high. Locking people indefinitely has another flip side of psychological stress and ailments it may cause to many. The best way to move forward is to unlock cautiously, making social distancing norms punishable with hefty fines, markets to be opened on a staggered basis and encouraging people to work from home. It has to run side by side. No further lockdowns, please.

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Ashok Goswami, Mumbai

Safety and survival

Refer to ‘Lockdown and livelihood’ (June 27); though the shutdown period gave a window to equip the healthcare system with facilities to tackle the virus, the economic damages started outweighing these factors, and resulted in the opening up of commercial activities. The unabated spread of the virus indicates that the new lifestyle is here to stay for some time. A balance is to be maintained between safety in health and survival for livelihood, at least till a vaccine is available.

Piyush Kant Jain, by mail

Real beauty

Apropos of ‘Towards a fair world’ (June 27), mere change of words won’t help; a change of heart and mindset on the part of society is needed to overcome the attitude of overlooking inner goodness, and also to get over this deeply ingrained ‘stigma’. A good-looking person without a good heart is like a beautiful glass without a drop of water to drink. Learn to appreciate the gift given by the Almighty, as it is. Beauty comes from within.

Harshvardhan Tehri, by mail

We are all to blame

Did you tell your child what colour skin is when he/she was in kindergarten, learning to identify colours? Considering dusky, brown or black skin colour as inferior has become a part of our outlook. We don’t even acknowledge its presence any longer. Why only blame Fair and Lovely producers when we are all at fault? We waited for a George Floyd to lose his life to take up the issue of racial discrimination. We sold falsehood to our children when we said white/fair is pretty and dark is ugly.

Priyanka, Amritsar

Adopt Mumbai model

Refer to ‘The bended knee way’ (June 27); the Mumbai mohalla committee movement is a successful example of community policing and should be launched at the national level. It will not only encourage sponsored community participation but also self-initiated participation in which the community mobilises itself and safeguards one other’s rights and interests. It will bring a behavioural change in society and encourage cooperation between citizens and police, reduce crime, increase accountability and lead to effective patrolling.

Anshika Sharma, Mohali

Zorawar’s expeditions

‘Dogras and their run-ins with China’ (The Sunday Tribune, June 21) doesn’t come clear on the exploits of Gen Zorawar Singh. Details of his campaigns tell us that he was a part of the army of the Lahore Darbar styled as the Sarkar Khalsa of Ranjit Singh. The expansion of the Sikh Empire was the strategic policy of Ranjit Singh to frustrate incursions from China and the Gorkha mainland. Gulab Singh was a satrap of the Sikh Empire till he bartered Kashmir for 75 lakh after British victory in the First Anglo-Sikh War. Zorawar’s expeditions were at the behest of the Sikh Raj. The writer has erred by giving the impression that Raja Gulab Singh as a sovereign and Zorawar as his army commander acted independently of Sarkar Khalsa.

Gurpreet Singh, President, Institute of Sikh Studies, Chandigarh

Learning from history

The article ‘How Ranjit Singh kept the invaders at bay’ (June 27) is an apt piece to recall the iconic Maharaja Ranjit Singh. We should apply this approach to the present-day scenario with China. History is, after all, read to learn from the past. The government needs to deal with invaders with an iron fist. Any weakness will only embolden their imperialist designs. There is no dearth of courage in the Army but will the political class emulate the great Maharaja?

Rajiv Joshi, Chandigarh

Fought Abdali, too

The Sikh struggle against the Mughals from 1709 to 1770 cannot be ignored (‘How Ranjit Singh kept the invaders at bay’). The Sikhs fought many wars against Ahmed Shah Abdali. When Ranjit Singh came on the scene, there were 14 misls or jathas in Punjab. He was in one of the misls. Sikh Raj was the culmination of efforts of thousands of Sikhs during those 61 years.

Manmohan S Narula, Amritsar

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