Toxic romance

Sir — ‘Don’t go for looks, go for maturity and loyalty’ is the popular advice for those looking for romantic partners. But Generation Z has found a problematic equivalent of this guideline. Shrekking, in reference to the ugly green ogre, Shrek, refers to a dating method popular among teenagers these days where one dates someone less attractive in the hopes that this person will treat him or her better in return, like Fiona did with Shrek. The toxicity of such a strategy notwithstanding, one wonders whether going out of the way to date down indicates how rare it has become to find the right person.

Nimisha Seal,
Mumbai

Stupid idea

Sir — The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief, Mohan Bhagwat, has urged Indian couples to have at least three children (“Bhagwat springs 3-child formula”, Aug 29). This marks the entry of a new debate in Indian politics. Bhagwat’s concern for India’s low total fertility rate is undoubtedly rooted in hyper-nationalism. It will be interesting to see whether Bhagwat’s advice strikes a chord with the masses.

Jayanta Datta,
Hooghly

Sir — Mohan Bhagwat’s exhortation to every Indian family to have three children is a veiled advice to the Hindus to increase their population. Bhagwat’s statement does not take into account the prohibitive costs of education, healthcare and living in the present times.

The TFR in the United Kingdom, Russia, China, Brazil and other countries is below the replacement level of 2.1 births per woman. But they are attempting to tackle this through robust policymaking, which includes tax benefits for families, cash bonuses for births, and childcare subsidies, instead of issuing a clarion call for couples to have more children. India should have a more comprehensive policy to mitigate low TFR.

Avinash Godboley,
Dewas, Madhya Pradesh

Sir — Despite harping a lot about controlling India’s burgeoning population, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led dispensation has failed to pass a law on population control. Mohan Bhagwat recently stated that every Indian couple should have three children as the communities with a TFR below 3 face the threat of extinction. The demographic change is a right-wing ploy to create fear about Muslims and illegal immigration. Though Hindutva organisations have often urged Hindus to have more children, Bhagwat did not mention any religious community in his recent statement.

As the world’s most populous country, India is under pressure to reduce its population. The government is struggling to provide education, security, medical care and employment to everyone. Given the limited sources and the fierce competition, it is only logical that educated Indian couples want to keep their families small.

Jang Bahadur Singh,
Jamshedpur

Ignored factor

Sir — Suryaprabha Sadasivan’s article, “Heal the mind too” (Aug 28), points out that the mental health of trafficking survivors receives scant attention. The author goes deep into the problem to highlight that the survivors’ emotional vulnerability precedes trafficking. Government programmes have failed to address this issue. Sadasivan rightly concludes that survivors need leadership opportunities and autonomy to define their own healing journeys.

Jahar Saha,
Calcutta

Move online

Sir — The organisers of a Ganesh Puja in Calcutta this year introduced a QR-code scanner for giving pranami, instead of a traditional donation box. This is timely given the increasing trend of online payments. It will not be surprising if there is no daan peti at all at the pandals in the coming years.

Sourish Misra,
Calcutta