Science Congress
It is quite unfortunate that the Department of Science and Technology and the Indian Science Congress do not see eye to eye. The crux of the problem lies in the government’s unwillingness to accord complete autonomy to the Science Congress in the selection of scholarly papers to be presented. Some of the government-sponsored papers presented at an annual meeting a few years ago had nothing to do with science. To restore the formidable reputation of the Congress, the government must keep its hands off the meet and leave the selection of papers to scientists.
Kurian Mathew,
Kochi
End of the landline?
BSNL has served notice to all its landline customers to migrate to FTTH (Bharat Fiber/Fiber to the Home) or face disconnection of the phone line. This is nothing but forcing a subscriber who does not want data connection to their landline to opt for FTTH. There is also the burden of spending money to install a modem for FTTH. If there is power failure/electricity shutdown, the modem will not operate, rendering the line dead. BSNL being a 100% government owned company should not coerce subscribers who use a landline connection for domestic or business use to opt for such a connection. This order by the BSNL corporate headquarters must be withdrawn.
C.K. Mathivanan,
Chennai
