Assault on memory?

This refers to the article “How do you solve a ‘wicked problem’ called Gen AI” (May 8).

The need for continuous increase in the use of digital gadgets in teaching and learning has become debatable.

MS Word lessened the need for remembering the spelling of even simple words, search engines like Google are at hand for information and now generative AI is making analytical thinking redundant.

With internet tools, students find a library an unnecessary asset. Selection of appropriate AI-based tools and regulating their use in pedagogy is a challenge for the faculty.

YG Chouksey

Pune

Pitfalls of rupee trade

Apropos ‘Perils of trading globally in Re’ ( May 8), internationalising Rupee is a good move. Political stability and consistency in economic growth are the two major factors that need to be weighed in before attempting to venture in.

The net trade balance with the proposed 18 countries with which India is planning to trade in INR currency is negative In short, there are seven countries India has trade deficits with.

To begin with India can start off trading in INR, with smaller countries having trade surplus and assess the situation over a period, address the practical issues arising out of the proposed practice and then replicate the model to other bigger surplus trade countries. But political instability could play spoilsport.

RV Baskaran

Chennai

SEBI probe

Apropos ‘SEBI lens on Hindenburg for….’ (May 8), it is surprising that SEBI has asked for an extension to submit its findings. The matter has already been lingering for several months now. It is believed that SEBI along with stock exchanges has advanced systems and mechanisms to conduct market surveillance in real time and spot possible infractions and wrong-doing by market participants almost as they happen.

The recent move to T+1 settlement on Indian bourses is a shining example of Indian regulators’ global leadership; therefore quoting the time taken by other global regulators may not be in order.

The Adani group, a key player in India’s infrastructure space, handles many key projects of the country. Timely, fair, unambiguous investigation and reporting by SEBI will add yet another feather in its cap.

V Vijaykumar

Pune

Covid relief

The announcement by the WHO that Covid-19 is no longer a health emergency has brought the curtains down on one of the world’s most debilitating pandemics in recent history, which took a catastrophic toll on human lives and livelihoods in countries across the globe.

Originating in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, Covid-19 spread its wings to almost all parts of the globe and forced countries to impose stringent lockdowns to keep the contagion under control.

While the developed world found its robust health care system crumbling, developing nations struggled with their poor health infrastructure to cope with the tragedy unleashed by the pandemic.

While the development of vaccines for Covid-19 at an unprecedented speed, coupled with mandatory mask wearing and other Covid-19 health protocols, helped countries restore normalcy, questions about whether the Covid-19 virus has emerged out of a laboratory in China or been transmitted from animals to humans remain unanswered.

M Jeyaram

Sholavandan (TN)

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