Letters to the Editor

Forget the past, bring peace to the world
Attaining peace is a wonderful pathway.
Beginning from infancy it takes a mainstay.
For mankind to survive without violence,
In all his effort to live in silence
Calm and quiet but strong and bold

Peace is love, care, truth and kindness
Enduring hardships and tolerating harshness
Anger, stress and hostility fly away in sanity
Struggle lies with those who love humanity
Achieving the success of peace is vital and dear.

Peace needs no weapons or arms to pull
But the power of the heart and soul
Unselfish love, towards the suffering sorrow
The future generation to prosper and grow
It needs truthful action to gain and earn

Alas! The time for action is running fast,
The leaders of nations can forget the past
It is their duty to bring peace to the world,
By love, care and thoughtful deed
Mother Earth will respond with joy indeed.

Best Internet filter for your child is you
With the Internet becoming popular in our society, specially among youngsters, it is time for us to give thought to making it a safe place to surf.

Talking to your children is the most important thing you could do to help them stay safe. Find out what they are interested in and where they go on the Internet. Make sure they understand that they can always talk to you if they encounter anything that makes them uncomfortable. Children are frequently afraid of getting into trouble or losing Internet privileges if they discuss upsetting Internet encounters.

Children also need to understand that they are not at fault if they receive unwanted material or wander upon an inappropriate website. Children are curious. At one time or another they are likely to encounter inappropriate material. Make sure they know they can talk to you about this openly and honestly.

It can be difficult. Your child may even know more about the Internet than you do; some children have been exposed to computers and the Internet since they were in kindergarten, or even before.

If you need help, you can find lots of low-cost classes. Most classes are relatively short, but will give you enough information to be able to find your way around a computer and investigate how it is being used. There are hundreds of filtering programmes out there. While there's nothing wrong with filtering software, understand that it may not be effective. As quickly as people develop filtering programmes, others are figuring out ways to get around them. Do not let your filtering software lull you into a false sense of security. The best filter is you!

Chat rooms or websites may advertise themselves as child-only or child-friendly. The problem is that there is no way to monitor who is really logging in. Most sites merely ask for the user to supply a birth date; there's no way to guarantee users are honest about the age they give.

Talk to your child about your rules and post them near the computer. You can even sign a family contract for online safety. You are the final word in your child's Internet safety! Learning how to keep your child safe online and talking to your child about it is the best way to look out for your child online. It will also make exploring the Internet a safe and rewarding experience.

Suffering at channelling centres
When a patient needs to consult a specialist, he has to get an appointment, in some cases two or three days before the consultation. In almost every appointment, the scheduled time is the same for all the patients.

Then everyone crowds round the consulting room, with many finding it difficult to get a seat, however ill they are. Why cannot a staggered time-frame be given to the patients - the first 15 patients can be asked to come within the first hour and the second 15 in the second hour. This will minimize crowding and also save time for the patients.

The other fact is that many consultant specialists do not come on time. Sometimes, they delay by two to three hours, while the poor patients suffer in silence. Why cannot the channelling centres and private hospitals check with specialists and give appointments accordingly? This will give a measure of relief to the suffering patients.

Those forgotten senior citizens
There was a big hue and cry upto the time of the Budget in 2003, by several Cabinet Ministers, mostly by those dissidents who joined the UNF in 2001, that there would be a four-figure increase for pensioners.

Unfortunately on the eve of the Budget, the Deputy Finance Minister announced that this much-talked-about increase would be only 10% of the basic salary. A majority of these pensioners draw an average monthly pension between Rs. 3000 to 6000 inclusive of allowances.

Hence this category will receive only a three-figure increase while those in higher pension groups would receive a four-figure increase. Yet they all belong to the category of pensioners.

We pensioners are people who once steered the state machinery. It is pathetic that the state looks upon this category of people as "oxen who have outlived their period of usefulness" and treats them as second class citizens.

The monthly pension paid to us is regarded as a charity allowance. At a time when this generation of senior citizens should rest, it is regrettable that the stress of economic factors has compelled them to continue doing some sort of odd job to make ends meet. Most of them are burdened with an additional responsibility of maintaining their unmarried daughters and unemployed sons - and even their grandchildren.

In this context, the 10% increase in salary has not given any relief in the wake of the sky-rocketing cost of living etc. I remember, the Deputy Minister of Finance, being a vociferous advocate for the upliftment of the down- trodden. We had great expectations that our grievances would be addressed sympathetically. Such is the irony of politics!

The Finance Minister has stated, that he hopes to appoint a committee to review the recommendations of the Tissa Devendra Committee and make necessary adjustments at the next Budget. By the time these recommendations are reviewed and redress granted, most of us will not be among the living.

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