Opinion - Letters to the Editor   

Speaker’s appeal

Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee’s appeal to journalists (May 12) is thought-provoking, genuine and noteworthy. He rightly reminds them of their responsibility to safeguard the interests of the rural poor by focussing on their problems. Journalists should expose the loopholes in the implementation of government welfare schemes meant for the poor in rural India. Instead of glorifying the lifestyle of urban elites, the media should give wide coverage to rural heroes who overcome poverty and exploitation by the rich in rural India.

G. Parashuramrao,

Karimnagar

There are only a handful of Indians among the richest but India is home to almost half of the world’s poor. The irreversible process of globalisation and free market economy has made a few sections of society very rich with unimaginable comforts in no time.

If we really want to lift the rural poor from poverty, we should have the will to do it. Land reforms should be implemented on a war-footing. Unfortunately, instead of distributing land, we are grabbing land from the villagers in the name of creating special economic zones. Before generating more employment opportunities for the rural poor, the government should make provision for them to access higher education. And the media, visual and print, should play a sincere role in bringing the common issues of the rural poor to the mainstream.

A. Irudaya Raj,

Nagapattinam

I agree that issues of concern, including rural poverty, should be highlighted in newspapers. There is no doubt there are committed journalists who work hard to write on issues of rural distress.

But there are non-journalist financial writers who also do their bit for the cause. I have been writing on rural issues for 45 years in English and Kannada newspapers. We must encourage more of such writing in popular regional newspapers so that the people’s representatives can get an insight into issues of rural distress.

K.K. Ammannaya,

Udupi

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