Letters to The Editor — January 21, 2026

The SIR exercise

The front page report, “SC flags ‘stress and strain’ by SIR to Bengal’s people” (January 20), reminded me of my experience in Chennai some years ago. The enumerator had noted my age as 55 years and my father’s as 65. My daughter’s name was misspelt. When I pointed all these out to the person sitting before the computer, he said I could go to the tahsildar’s office for corrections. The mistakes remained uncorrected. When it was time to vote, the election officer in the booth understood my predicament and allowed all three of us to vote. The Election Commission of India must be more serious in dealing with voters.

S.V. Venkatakrishnan,

Singapore

Recruitment, test

Many aspirants who wrote the examination on December 27, 2025, conducted by the Tamil Nadu Teachers Recruitment Board (TRB) for the post of Assistant Professor/College recruitment (2,708 posts), believe that the descriptive component, especially the essay section, leaves them vulnerable. The allocation of 50 marks for a single essay raises serious concerns, as it has the potential to significantly alter the overall score of a candidate.

There are worries that there could be foul play as bribery and favouritism are said to have been a factor in the interview selection process in previous TRB recruitments.

Swetha T.,

Chennai