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A letter from the Beggars’ Association
of India
Beggars come in various forms. Some fake injuries and pretend that they are desperate enough to evoke sympathy from the public and get money. Some pretend to be new and lost in the city. Some are kidnapped and are forced to beg, and yet others carry just a few months’ old kidnapped babies in their arms. There are also beggars who don’t accept anything less than Rs 10.
This incident took place a few years ago. One day as usual, I stood at the bus stop waiting for my bus to arrive when a man in tattered clothes approached me for alms. Feeling sorry for him, I opened my wallet and gave him a coin of Rs 2. He took it, and then threw it back on my face and said, “Aaj kal do rupaiya mein kya milta hai? Mujhe kum se kum dus rupaiya de do.” (“Now-a-days, what do you get in Rs 2? Give me not less than Rs.10”).
When I wrote about this incident in the ‘Letters to the editor’ column of a local newspaper, I received a letter from the Beggars’ Association of India that said, “Rs 10 is the minimum amount one must give to a beggar.” The letter was handwritten in English and it had an address with a rubber stamp on it of the Beggar’s Association of India. After this incident, I vowed never to help beggars but give the same money to charitable institutions or put it as a love offering in church.
JUBEL D’CRUZ
Mumbai, India
Heavy rainfall
It also rained last year on the occasion of Eid-ul Adha and the people, out of ignorance, tied the sacrificial animals to the electric poles and a number of animals were killed by electrocution. Karachi received heavy rainfall coupled with a cool breeze and thunderstorms in most areas Sunday afternoon. Many areas of the city, including Saddar, Gulistan-e-Jauhar, Sharae Faisal, II Chundrigar Road, North Karachi, North Nazimabad, Safoora Goth, Defence and Clifton, witnessed downpours.
Not only animals, last year 19 people died from electrocution. More than 70 people lost their lives in rain-related incidents between 2014 and 2019. Avoid fallen electricity poles and power lines or anything in contact with these. Be careful not to touch water—or anything in contact with water—near where there is a downed power line. Remember: Do not tie sacrificial animals to the electric poles during the rainy season.
FATIMA TAQI
Karachi
Awareness
of Hepatitis
Every year more than 200,000 people in Africa dye from complications of viral hepatitis B and C-related liver disease, including cirrhosis and liver cancer. Sub-Saharan Africa has one of the highest burdens of disease with over 60 million living with chronic hepatitis B, 4.8 million of whom are children younger than five years old.
Viral hepatitis affects adults, adolescents and children in this region and also occurs as a co-infection in people with non-communicable and communicable diseases. Among people living with HIV, globally four million people have HIV-hepatitis co-infection. There should be intensified awareness of the dangers of Hepatitis in poor countries and treatment should be available to reduce the number of people that die from this disease.
HANDSEN CHIKOWORE
London
Beggars in Karachi
Through the courtesy of your newspaper, I would like to draw the attention of government and concerned authorities towards the problem of beggars in our city. These days the number of beggars has increased in all part of the city. It needs immediate attention. No street or market is free from beggars. The beggars we see are just their tools. Even small children are forced for begging by their parents. They encourage many others to become beggars because it is an easy way of earning. Some of the beggars are found with guns or other dangerous weapons.
Beggars also do criminal activities. They have so many criminal gangs. Child lifter gang cut off the limbs of the lifted children and force them to sit in busy places for begging. Begging in an evil, but in Pakistan it has become a profession. Government must take effective measures to clear the streets and roads from the beggars. The concerned authority are requested to look into the matter seriously and to find a proper solution to the problem.
Masooma Ahmed
Karachi
Online classes dilemma
This year, COVID-19 has caused some serious damage to the entire world. Industries, businesses, the economy of the countries everything is affected. The education system around the globe was also shaken by it, leaving the authorities confused as to how to solve this matter, and they came up with the solution of taking online classes and online exams.
This looks pretty easy and simple way out, but in a third world country like Pakistan, it is very difficult for the stakeholders – students as well as teachers – because of the limited resources. Students all the way from Pakistan who enrolled themselves in different universities and were living in hostels are now taking classes from homes. It has become very difficult for students who live in small towns and have less or no internet connection.
The majority of the students can’t understand what their teacher is teaching them because of internet connectivity issues from either the teacher’s side or from the student side, or they face low voice issues. And a lot of issues like students muting their teacher’s mic or logging out their teachers during online lectures. We’re already facing a lot of problems because of this pandemic, our education authorities should come up with a solution for this problem or they should postpone the semesters until the pandemic is over or until they decide to reopen universities with proper SOP’s.
KHIZRAN ZEHRA BALOCH
Karachi
Covid-19 and education
As covid-19 continues its unrelenting assault, upending lives and lifestyles of people world over, it has greatly disrupted the education system. Countries around the world switched to online system of study. Pakistan also followed the suit. However, there are stark differences between first world countries and underdeveloped countries like ours. This fact has been neglected by HEC while formulating policy for online education. Resultantly, students are encountering numerous difficulties to attend online classes.
In rural areas of Pakistan, students are unable to attend to the classes due to lack of internet-related issues. Students cannot afford heavy packages of internet and gadgets required.
ADIL AHMED
Shikarpur
