Letters to The Editor — October 8, 2026

Gendered welfare

On September 28, the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam launched its flagship ‘Thai Maaman Thanga Modhiram [A gold ring from the maternal uncle’] initiative, allocating an initial ₹560 crore to provide a one-gram gold ring and other essentials to eligible newborns in the State. While presented as welfare, the scheme risks reinforcing the very gendered expectations that make daughters economically burdensome. Across India, rituals and kinship norms expect the father or the eldest son to bear expenses and provide gifts for the daughters’ weddings. The brother must also bear gifts (seer) for her newborn and, if the children are female, bear gifts for their weddings too. Historically, such pressures have contributed to son preference and female foeticide in India. Society already harbours the regressive idea of marriage as an economic transaction between two families. In this context, a government scheme that effectively provides dowry-like benefits to new mothers risks legitimising these expectations rather than challenging them.

Samyukta Mahesh,

Chennai

Medicine covers in Hindi

With reference to the report, “Coimbatore Medical College Hospital changes paper covers for medicines as instruction in Hindi kicks up a row” (The Hindu, October 6, 2026), I see no reason to object to printing instructions on medicine covers in Hindi, in addition to English and Tamil. A large number of migrant workers are employed in Coimbatore and Tiruppur, and they contribute significantly to the growth of these districts. Printing medicine instructions in Hindi would be a small gesture that could help such workers understand their prescriptions and take better care of their health. In Switzerland, I have noticed signboards in Tamil catering to the sizeable population of Sri Lankan Tamils settled there. Providing information in a language understood by a significant section of the population should be seen as an aid to communication rather than a threat to another language.

K.R. Subbarayan,

Coimbatore

Many patients seeking treatment at hospitals in Tamil Nadu come from outside the State, and some may understand only Hindi. Tamil Nadu also receives many tourists from other parts of India. Many people in the State are comfortable conversing in Hindi and do not consider it a hindrance; even auto-rickshaw drivers recognise the practical value of communicating with visitors in different languages. There is therefore nothing wrong with the travel and hospitality sectors using Hindi to facilitate their businesses. It can only help improve communication and serve visitors better. The language issue has become increasingly irrelevant to everyday communication, and it is time for politicians to move beyond it.

Ramdas Naik,

Chennai

I am writing to draw attention to an important democratic concern that deserves greater public debate: the inadequate representation of young people in India’s elected institutions despite their substantial presence in the population and electorate. India is among the world’s youngest major nations. Yet this demographic reality is not adequately reflected in Parliament, State legislatures and other institutions of political decision-making. This is not merely a question of age; it is a question of democratic representation and inter-generational equity. Young people will live longest with the consequences of decisions taken today on employment, education, technology, climate change, public debt, urbanisation, national security and economic policy. They therefore deserve a meaningful voice in shaping those decisions. A democracy is strengthened when its institutions reflect the diversity and composition of the people they represent. The media has an important role in bringing this issue into public debate. Election coverage often focuses on personalities, parties, caste equations and immediate political promises. Equal attention could be given to the age profile of candidates and elected representatives, how it compares with India’s demographic structure, and why capable young people often find it difficult to enter electoral politics. The objective should not be to promote candidates simply because they are young. Competence, integrity, public service, constitutional values and commitment to democracy must remain the primary considerations. But age should not become an invisible barrier to political participation. Political parties, too, need to create genuine opportunities for younger candidates and develop leadership pipelines that extend beyond established political families and long-serving political figures. Greater inter-generational representation would also bring different experiences and perspectives into legislative debates.

This is not a call for replacing older leaders with younger ones. It is a call for a political system in which age does not determine who gets an opportunity to represent the people. The question before voters should therefore extend beyond which party or candidate they support. They should also ask whether the legislature they elect adequately reflects the demographic composition, experiences and aspirations of the country. A sustained discussion, supported by data on the age profile of India’s elected representatives, could help bring this often-overlooked aspect of democratic representation into sharper focus. A young population should have a meaningful voice in shaping the future it will inherit. Greater inter-generational representation can only strengthen India’s democracy.

A. Mariafrancis,

Chennai

Examination portals

With immense frustration, I am compelled to express my views on the dismal state of Indian government examination websites. This is the seldom-discussed issue. The obsolete and user-‘un-friendly’ nature of sites is a burden. These sites suffer frequent glitches, difficult navigation and no responsibility from the institution to respond in a timely way. They are difficult to access by differently-abled students.

Paritosh Chauhan,

Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh