Letters to the editor dated October 8, 2020

The refers to the editorial ‘Quad complex’ (October 8). Ever since the Indo-Pacific forum, the Quad — comprising the US, India, Japan and Australia — was founded in 2007, China has hardly hid its hostility towards such a strategic framework gaining ground.

While dismissing Quad as a pitiful threat, China shouldn’t forget that its post-pandemic aggression on multiple fronts is driving Quad to turn into a credible political coalition. With China beginning to challenge India by altering the status quo along the LAC, India has to play a pivotal role in the ongoing consolidation of Quad.

Sholavandan, TN

It is naive to expect that Quad will be a game-changer in the geo-politics of the region. Many such myriad blocks are symbolic in nature and invariably ritual parleys end with no tangible outcomes. The US used this platform to settle scores with China while the other three countries were stolid and rightfully refrained from joining the US-led chorus. India ought to diplomatically engage with an intransigent China on one-on-one basis rather than using circuitous routes to settle disputes.

Noida

According to media reports, the Delhi government has allowed restaurants to operate round-the-clock, aimed at providing a major relief to city restaurants amid the Covid-19 outbreak. But, curiously enough, the buck does not stop here. The government, while toying with the idea of a ‘Delhi Model’ of ease of doing business, has also announced other ‘innovative’ steps, such as initiation of a process to abolish police and health trade licences from local bodies for restaurants. Notwithstanding its claim that such steps will help the industry generate more employment in the city through higher demand (a fallacious thinking), one fails to comprehend the decision to abolish health trade licences within 10 days. Can all restaurant owners in the national capital be allowed ‘free play’ in such vital health-related matters?

Bengaluru

Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna were awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for developing the CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) method of gene editing or “genetic scissors”.

“Genetic scissors” is a ground-breaking piece of technology that has revolutionised life sciences; it can be used to make specific and precise changes to the DNA contained in living cells; it can be productively harnessed in biomedical research, clinical medicine, livestock and agriculture; it holds out the prospect of curing inherited diseases.

Investigation into its potential to treat sickle cell disease, an inherited blood disorder that affects millions worldwide is currently under way. CRISPR is being used to make simple diagnostics tests for Covid-19.

It is true that the highly sophisticated CRISPR technology can be an ethical minefield; for instance, there is a moral dilemma about whether to use it to correct genetic defects in human embryos and a genuine apprehension that it could be used to create ‘designer babies’.

Maruthancode, TN

This refers to ‘Farm reforms can be transformative’ (October 8). As part and parcel of farm reforms, good storage facilities should be made available to the farmers. This is especially required when there is a bumper crop.

Due to the lack of modern storage facilities, many a times our farmers are forced to sell their bumper stock to middlemen at cheaper rates.

Groups of farmers can be financed by banks to build modern storage facilities on co-operative society lines. This will prevent unauthorised middlemen from hoarding food. Also, there’s a need to build good roads to facilitate smooth movement of foodgrains from one place to another, which will enable the farmers to quickly transport their bumper crop to far-flung markets for a good price.

Thane

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Send your letters by email to bleditor@thehindu.co.in or by post to ‘Letters to the Editor’, The Hindu Business Line, Kasturi Buildings, 859-860, Anna Salai, Chennai 600002.

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