Court on caste count

The Supreme Court of India has said that “any government needs to know how many people are backward and need welfare”. But the Court assumes, like most people, that caste indicates the living standards of its people. It is a fact that every caste, from the supposedly ‘highest’ to the supposedly ‘lowest’, has the very wealthy to the very poor. The caste census will only help the politicians at election time, not help the government find who needs economical assistance. The Court seems to be cleverly, but unwisely, backing the government’s caste census, saying that the government needs to know who is rich and who is poor (Front page, “SC says nothing wrong in caste count, rejects plea against move”, May 21).

The government should devise a scheme by which it finds people living below the poverty line, irrespective of caste, religion, region and language. And help them.

Manuel Aaron,

Chennai

‘Melody’ moment

The gesture of Prime Minister Narendra Modi gifting a packet of ‘Melody’ chocolates to Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni seems to have gone contagiously viral on social media and grabbed much attention.

It was fortuitous that the names blended so well. While a packet of eye-catching and mouth-watering ‘Melody’ may have made the Italian leader happy, it is hard to quantify how much it has contributed to strengthening, as against ‘sweetening’, relations between the two countries. Leaders too are human like the rest of us and they are quite within their rights to give a personal touch to their diplomatic encounters if they choose to (Front page, May 21). However, it becomes farcical when it is done to make reels for the consumption of supporters.

G. David Milton,

Maruthancode, Tamil Nadu