Value of education

Sir,

Education is greatest power that man has. It is only education that defines the nature of man. Education that defines the future of man. Education not only creates a sense of discrimination on man it also makes him eminently suited to move ahead and face the challenges of future.
It is important to note that education is a main tool which makes man a real human being. Otherwise there is no perceptible difference between him and other animals. They and humans have same three basic usages viz to eat, to procreate and to sleep. It is only man, who, with his discrimination and inquisitive powers is entirely different from his fellow animals otherwise as said earlier there is no quantum difference between the two.
Thus it is imperative that we ensure that education is given and made available to each and every human being in the country. The State of education is still not as satisfactory as it should have been. It is not the matter of importance that how many people we make educated, the more important thing is how qualitative our education is. In these times when casteism, politics, superstition has taken centre stage we need to emphasise on rationality. Nowadays we have colued new terms in education which are detrimental to the Nation building. We must understand that our Nation is one and that education is needed which creates a sense of patriotism and fellow feeling among us. We thus need education of quality and not only of quantity.

Yours etc...
Reshmi Pathania
Sidhra.

Ban smoking

Sir,

Smoking is a real threat to man. Research have proved many times over that smoking is one of the most dangerous habits that man is confronted with. Over the history of man there have been many habits that he has acquired. Some are good and some are what we call bad. Although smoking has been around for so many years yet the effects of smoking upon the health came to the forefront when vigorous research was undertaken in this regard in west about half a century ago.
Now smoking is Western countries is almost banned. If any one wants to smoke there are small cabins where he can smoke, otherwise in offices, colleges or on the road side, smoking is almost absent. In our country where there has been a robust social history of smoking.
People are not as aware of the need to have a second look at smoking. Despite the fact that Government machinery has done its bit to make people aware of smoking there seems to be no let up in smoking. Even though statutory warnings are written on the pack of cigarettes yet people without any qualms take to smoking as a fish takes to water.
There is urgent need to make people aware that smoking is a scourage which affects not only our lives but also the lives of the people who are around when we smoke. Health of Nation is determined by the health of its citizens. In this regard smoking not only reduces our health but also indirectly reduces of productivity. Hence we ought to have a second look on smoking.

Yours etc...
Rameshwar Singh
Bantalab
Jammu

Infiltration

Sir,

A news report published in this paper (Feb 6) has yet again proved that infiltration across the border is continuing. Despite the best possible measures adopted by the army there has been infiltration going on in the border areas of Poonch and Rajouri.
The nature of the border with Pakistan is such that it cannot be plugged hundred percent.
The only other way to stop infiltration among other ways is to believe that Pakistan too will do its bit to disallow the infiltrators from entering Indian terrority.
Here everything comes around finally. Is Pakistan interested in curbing the activities of terror camps that have been set up in PoK very near the line of actual control.
But under no circumstances it seems that Pakistan is interested in doing its bit to stop the functioning of terror camps in Pak occupied Kashmir.
Reports emanating from different sections of media and even from Defence analysts in the country point out towards a deliberate attempt of Pakistan to allow infiltrators cross the LoC and sneak into Pakistan.
A frantic activity has been seen in the terror camps which have been estimated to number atleast fifty. It is widely believed that the Pakistani Government is not interested in stopping infiltration because they think it is to their advantage if Pakistan keeps a sizable portion of Indian army busy while a large part of its security apparatus is fighting insurgency in Swat, Waziristan and FATA areas.
Thus the main hurdle between normalising of relations is that there is a lot of malevolence and mistrust in the minds of rulers in Pakistan towards India.

Yours etc...
Vipin Mehra
Trikuta Nagar
Jammu