Letters to The Editor — July 11, 2026

Platform bans

Australia’s move may sound decisive (Front page, “Modi hails Australia’s social media ban on minors, signals curbs” (July 10) but a blanket age cutoff risks pushing children into darker, unregulated corners of the Internet, where harm can multiply. India’s digital landscape — with thousands of young users, diverse languages, and patchy identity verification — makes enforcement difficult. A ban that cannot be implemented fairly becomes performative rather than protective. Instead of chasing a legislative headline, we should invest in digital literacy in schools, require platforms to adopt safety-by-design measures rather than relying solely on age gates, and create rapid-response mechanisms for online abuse. Protecting children is non-negotiable, but good intentions without effective implementation can create more vulnerability than they prevent.

K. Chidanand Kumar,

Bengaluru

Breaking the ice

Although Mani Shankar Aiyar is often regarded, rightly or wrongly, as someone sympathetic to Pakistan, he presents a convincing case for not shying away from an India-Pakistan dialogue (Opinion page, ‘Parley’, July 10). As Jawaharlal Nehru observed, “The only alternative to coexistence is co-destruction.” Since no country can choose its neighbours, it is wiser to build bridges than burn them. Reviving people-to-people dialogue would be a pragmatic way to cut through the fog of mutual distrust.

Ayyasseri Raveendranath,

Aranmula, Kerala

Enforce helmet rules

Despite the Motor Vehicles Act making helmets mandatory, many schools and colleges continue to ignore this basic life-saving rule. I have sent emails, personally visited institutions, and shared photographs and videos showing students riding without helmets. Unfortunately, most institutions have shown little interest.

Manikandan Gopinath,

Chennai