This refers to the article “Substandard fire detectors” (June 14). Indeed, safety is of paramount importance in every place. Negligence of safety may lead to loss of property and life. Whether it is one’s home or the workplace, safety procedures and measures should be implemented beforehand in order to ward off any untoward incident. Undoubtedly, fire detectors play a major role in prevention of fire hazards as they alert us beforehand. Fire detectors should be of good quality, otherwise they may not serve the purpose.
As has been observed, sometimes fire detectors are unable to alert the concerned people about the fire hazard. This is probably due to defects in the device, which may well be of a substandard quality.
The importance of home safety can be understood from the fact that every year millions of people around the world die or are permanently disabled in fire incidents. Hence, a safety policy should be implemented in homes in order to avoid any accident. In fact, a written safety policy is the beginning of any safety program. A policy is a basic guideline that dictates the thinking style as well as the actions to achieve the desired goals or objectives of home safety. And in this line, fire detectors hold a prime position.
On one hand, the link on fire safety education that was attached with the article was beneficial, while on the other hand, some nasty videos in the link marred the good aspects of safety values. The attached videos should be relevant to the topic only in order to serve the purpose in a broader sense. — Anees Lokhande, Alkhobar
India’s next president
It is saddening to see how the post of the president of India is bein tarnished in the name of caste, religion, community politics, etc. History tells us that all Indan presidents enjoyed a national consensus and brought laurels to the country. All of them played their respectives roles with utmost impartiality. With the UPA coalition government announcing Pranab Mukherjee, a veteran of Indian politics, as the presidential candidate, it is believed the credibility of the institution of the president will return. In the present circumstances, Mukherjee is the best choice as he holds a long and distinguished record of public service spanning over five decades. Already, several parties have announced their support to his candidature.
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) too should come forward and support him. The 78-year-old Mukherjee is a man of unparalleled experience. Secular, sauve and respected across the country, he has in-depth knowledge of the Indian constitution, history, economy, as well as national and international politics. He has the rare distinction of having served the nation as the finance, defense and foreign minister, and of holding the post of the leader of the House in the Lok Sabha.
He has presided over Cabinet meetings for last 25 years in the absence of the prime minister and has headed a large number of committees of groups of ministers. Mukherjee is a highly educated man with degrees in history, political science and law, but he chose to serve the nation. He is also a devoted family man, and has two sons and a daughter. The need of the hour is to have a president who is acceptable across party lines and Mukherjee fits this criteria. — Ramesh G. Jethwani, Bangalore
Pakistani media
A leaked video, which is widely circulating on several Pakistani news channels and the social media, claims to show the dark side of the Pakistani media. The country’s media and its famous talk shows have received a serious blow and have lost their credibility after the surfacing of the video, which shows an off-record conversation between two famous talk show hosts and a controversial construction tycoon. Rumors are abuzz that some top TV anchors received huge amounts of money, property and other benefits from the construction tycoon, who is involved in a legal battle with the son of the chief justice of Pakistan’s Supreme Court. Now, media ethics, code of conduct and media accountability are hot topics for discussions across the country. The conversation revealed that a certain famous talk show had been fixed to favor the construction tycoon. During the program, the two hosts received several calls from its viewers, including the prime minster’s son and the TV channel’s owner. The chief justice has rightly said that this is a conspiracy against the judiciary. Some sources are using the top construction tycoon against the judiciary, which is very unfortunate. The reality is that after the recent rulings of the Supreme Court against the prime minster and the disqualification of the interior minster, a few hidden miscreants are trying to target the judiciary and the chief justice. — Khawaja Umer Farooq, Jeddah
