Flood havoc in Sri Lanka
Dear Sir,
The recent floods and landslides have left a trail of despair and destruction in Sri Lanka.
The heaviest rains in a quarter of a century pounded the island state last month, triggering huge landslides.
The death toll has now risen to triple digits, as receding waters lay bare the extent of the disaster’s damage.
Hundreds of houses have been destroyed and thousands partly damaged.
All affiliated organisations of the Sri Lankan embassy in Doha were summoned by ambassador W M Karunadasa recently to seek help from members of the Sril Lankan community living in Qatar.
Many displaced families, who have lost all their belongings in the floods, are living in relief camps. Food and clothes are urgently needed by them.
The community members are urged to support the ongoing aid drive. A list of ways to donate for the flood victims has been issued by the mission. People can donate cash or items. Materials like dry foods, clothes (new ones only) are welcome. A special counter has been set up at the embassy related to this.
Abdul Rahuman
P O Box 24491
Doha
India’s Congress lacks a good leader
Dear Sir,
The more than century-old Indian National Congress (INC), which spearheaded India’s freedom movement, desperately lacks an effective leader who is able to tackle all its internal issues, let alone those created by the opposition parties.
The Congress must have a leader who knows the pulse of the people, not a distant and remote one.
Rahul Gandhi, being groomed by some powerful quarters to head the party, doesn’t have much influence among the party cadre at present, it seems.
Ever since the Congress party had lost in the general elections two years ago, nothing has been done seriously to rework its strategy to regain the lost confidence of the people.
The sad part is that most of the senior leaders in the party have not set an example for their followers.
The new generation, it seems, has no one in the party to identify with or to see as an inspiring icon to follow. Hence the party continues to lose its strongholds in the country.
Ramachandran Nair
(E-mail address supplied)