Safeguarding our temples of justice
We will remain ever indebted to our Chief Justice of India NV Ramana for all his arduous efforts to regain and restore the much needed independence of the Judiciary.
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His three immediate predecessors having taken the Judiciary to a point of disdain by compromising its very sanctity and sovereignty, Justice Ramana has only another eight months in office to realign the wheels of Justice which had gone awfully off track.
As the custodian of this pillar of hope, Justice Ramana, has been having an uphill task of battling a government that has been all out to erode judicial values. Justice Ramana has ably taken head on, the powers that be in his noble mission of protecting and safeguarding our Temples of Justice.
It is imperative that every judge across the nation dispenses justice without fear. The bedrock of our democracy is the rule of law and a judiciary which is truly independent. A judiciary that is accountable only to the Rule of Law.
Aires Rodrigues, Ribandar
Preserve our unity in diversity
This has reference to the report ‘No country should the audacity to cast an evil eye on us’ (Herald, December 27). That was indeed a very bold and encouraging statement from the defence minister, Rajnath Singh. Yes, rightly stated, no country should have the audacity to cast an evil eye on our country, the greatest democratic nation that we claim to be. We need to preserve and protect our territorial integrity at all costs.
The statement that, ‘we want to manufacture the Brahmos missiles not to attack any other country…….’ also needs to be noted, with the chef minister of UP adding, ‘it is clear that it does not provoke first but also does not spare anyone who provokes it’.
While it sounds good to hear such statements, we need to see some action on the ground. We are seeing the intrusion of Chinese troops onto our borders on several occasions. The might of the Chinese is increasing all around us. We need to build up our capability of containing the Chinese because the danger from outside is real. In the meanwhile however, we also need to look into the dangers posed to us from within. There are disturbances in the entire country on various counts. Places of worship of the minority communities are being attacked, vandalised and demolished.
At times, it seems our country is getting divided on communal lines. If we are to stop the danger from outside, we need to tackle the dangers that we face internally. We need to first preserve our ‘unity in diversity’. That will send out a strong message to the outside world that we cannot be taken lightly. Can we walk the talk?
Melville X D’Souza, Mumbai
Stinging rebuke by the CJI
None other than the Chief Justice of India has expressed grave concern over the executive’s growing tendency to disregard and disrespect court orders and mentioned that unless there is co-operation from both the executive and the legislature, delivery of justice to the people would be a pipe dream. The higher courts have been mandated to ensure that government’s decisions and legislations were in sync with the Constitution and no laxity should be shown if they are otherwise.
Popular majority by way of electoral success cannot be a defence for arbitrary or partisan action by the Centre which should acknowledge the supremacy of the judiciary in a functional democracy. The CJI’s utterances assume added significance in light of India slipping from 27th to 53rd position in the democracy index and its egregious classification as an ‘elected autocracy’. Courts do not have the power of the purse or the sword and its judgements are only good when executed, ensuring justice is the duty of the government but sadly it is observed more often in breach than in the normal course of things.
The Centre would do well to take cognisance of the CJI’s remarks and act to restore the citizenry’s faith in the judicial system.
Vinay Dwivedi, Benaulim
A season of begging
Apropos to “Fatorda cops arrest 6 beggars” (Herald, December 27, 2021), begging has made its presence felt in late 2019 and early 2020 due to Covid-19 and lockdown became necessary to contain the rise of Coronavirus. Livelihoods suffered drastically while lives were lost to Coronavirus.
Many daily wage earners and labourers had no work during and after lockdown. They had no money to feed their families. They could not see the plight of their families that included young children and women. They were forced to take to begging for their survival. But people had no money to spare for beggars. Alms giving has, in recent times, reduced considerably. During festive seasons these six beggars thought that they could go all out and make money that lasted them for a few months. But police cracked down on them and have detained these beggars whose plight brings tears to eyes.
Poor men and women have no right to live with dignity. Begging also is no longer an option. Police lathi-charge beggars and stop them from begging. Can we scare beggars away with police batons? How long can we keep them off our streets?
We need a permanent solution. Policing is not one of them. In the days leading up to Assembly Elections in Goa, politicians are promising the moon to the voters of Goa. Maybe they will do well to stop by and hear grievances of beggars.
Gafaar Shaqoor, Margao
False cases and compensations
On Dec 22, the Kerala High Court ordered the State government to pay Rs 1.5 lakhs to an eight-year-old girl who was falsely accused of theft by a lady cop belonging to the Pink Police unit. The judge also ordered disciplinary action against the cop and to pay an additional amount of Rs 25,000 towards legal expenses.
The question is: why should the Kerala government be burdened with the payment when the cop was at fault? Perhaps in the past too such compensations may have been paid by other State governments to people who were unjustifiably accused and/or jailed. Just because the cops are government employees does not mean that the employer bears the compensatory amounts and legal fees. If a cashier in a government office embezzles money the government does not repay to itself! The employee should be held responsible and made to pay the amount set by the court or make good the loss. If the government is made to pay then the money should be recovered from the employee’s salary. Otherwise, the employees would be emboldened to carry out illegalities with the thought that their friendly government will shell out the compensations on their behalf.
Sridhar D’Iyer, Caranzalem
State needs job opportunities
Unemployment is an age old problem but nobody seems to talk about it, now, since the assembly elections are approaching fast, politicians are talking about only giving doles, freebies and cash. From where is the money going to come? Is it from the political parties or from tax payers? If from tax payers means again general public will be affected as taxes will be increased.
If the money is given like this then those women who do manual work in the field or any other work may stop working and this will make them idle and lazy. One party says they will give unemployment allowance to those unemployed until they get the job, but without creating employment facilities how they will get job. Instead of giving free money create job opportunities, give jobs, make them work and pay for their hard work. This will keep them fit and active.
In Goa we have designated Industrial Estates only but there are no industries and it seems no initiative has been taken to get Multi National Companies (MNCs) as central government has launched so many schemes to make India a manufacturing hub. This is the best chance to take the benefit. Try to bring some good industries, which will help in generating more employment. We have lot of educated/qualified people; like engineers and other professionals but no proper opportunities. Bringing some good industries like IT, electronics, etc, will solve lot of unemployment problem.
Suresh M Velguenkar, Saligao
