Dhoni is an asset for India

A reader is all praise for MS Dhoni who led India to victory against Zimbabwe. Other topics: animal welfare, sign language, street signs

A reader attributes India’s victory over Zimbabwe to MS Dhoni’s extraordinary captaincy.

I refer to your report India mean business by pacing it nicely (March 15). India won due to the intelligence and coolness of one man: captain MS Dhoni. I congratulate him for his extraordinary leadership. The Indian side was almost vanquished at 92 runs for four wickets in the 23rd over, against Zimbabwe's total of 288 runs. The top Indian batsmen such as Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan and Ajinkya Rahane were sent back to the pavilion without scoring enough runs.

However, Dhoni and Suresh Raina played a stellar innings and led India to a victory. Together they scored 196 runs in 156 balls.

Dhoni has repeatedly proved his ability to remain cool and unflappable in tense situations. He is smart and refuses to be drawn into politics and irrelevant public pronouncements.

Rajendra K Aneja, Duba

Animal welfare law needs to be enforced

Animal breeders who are not licensed need to be jailed and fined as per the Federal Animal Welfare Law (Adoption appeal as time runs out for rescued animals, March 16). People who abandon their pets also have to be penalised as they are breaking the Animal Welfare Law 16/2007. They need to be blacklisted from adopting or buying a pet.

We need an organisation that is 100 per cent committed to enforcing animal welfare law with enforcement powers. Residents need to know that they will not get in trouble if they report an individual or an organisation for animal abuse or neglect.

For the Government to enforce the Federal Animal Welfare law, we need to inform the proper authority. A lot of people do not know who to inform – the municipality, police or the Ministry of Environment. We are their voice, they depend on us.

Adopt, don’t buy. Let us come together and take care of the amazing animals of this great country.

Wahid Al Riyami, Abu Dhabi

Get facts right on sign language

Regarding the article Make us heard, say the deaf (March 17), please use the term “interpreter” if this is what the writer means – not “signer”. And, what does she mean by “English sign language”? Does she mean BSL (British Sign Language)?

Also, please be careful while making claims such as “sign language is one of the easiest languages to learn”.

Sign language is not a universal language. Different countries and areas have distinct sign languages and they should be referenced as such.

Learning any language from scratch to fluency takes time, skill and dedication. To brush it off as “easy” doesn’t give people who are skilled in these areas (such as interpreters) the respect they deserve. It also discredits the many complex sign languages. When they are “proper” languages, they deserve to be referenced as such.

Robin Hopkinson, Abu Dhabi

Street numbers good for all

As Peter Hellyer pointed out in his opinion article Street signs decision puts the city on the right path (March 17), the confusion arose because the authorities changed street signs so many times.

The numbering system was good and easy to understand – odd numbers on one axis and even on another.

Now that the numbers have been reinstated, it works for most people.

Dave Pryce, Abu Dhabi

I appreciate Abu Dhabi Municipality's efforts to bring back the street numbers (Streets by number get residents' vote, March 15), even though I have noticed that the new street signs do not have the same shade of blue. But that's not a big issue. The main problem has been resolved and we should thank the municipality for making it easy for the public.

Ganga K Swami, Abu Dhabi