The name of the City of Bombay has been changed to Mumbai by an administrative decision by the government of the State of Maharashtra and ratified by the Union Government. But the change of name of the High Court of Bombay (a name of the then State of Bombay established by Parliament legislation before the reorganization of States of India), which has a rich history of jurisprudence right from the erstwhile colonial days, and now its jurisdiction extends to the entire State of Maharashtra and Goa and UT of Daman, requires a constitutional amendment to change the name to Mumbai. Thus unless there is a constitutional amendment to change the name from HC of Bombay, passed by Parliament and then ratified by the States, there cannot be a change of name from Bombay to Mumbai which is the present confusion in the name of the HC and the name of the capital city of Maharashtra. Hence it is not wrong to fix the sign board as High Court of Bombay at Goa at Altinho ( Herald dated 24/06/2015).
More importantly it is essential that the State of Goa has its own High Court as mandated in Article 214 of the Constitution of India where the dispensation of justice will be delivered fairly without unjustifiable delay for judicial decisions on the mere excuse of administrative reasons.
Moreover the present system of judicial supervision from HC Bombay is a back door merger of our State to the State of Maharashtra, as the third pillar of democracy which is the judicial wing, is in the hands of another State, for which the Goans have fought against through the historic opinion poll. Besides there will be no scope for persons from the State of Maharashtra who cannot converse either in Konkani or English to be employed in our State, but it will rather create more employment for our people.
Rui Ferreira, Panjim
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The Three Big Enemies
It is clear that humankind has now three more enemies to deal with: Big Pharma, Big Food and Big Auto”. Blockbuster drugs like “statins” (which treat cholesterol, vilified as a heart disease provocateur) and “gliptins” (for diabetes) prescribed enthusiastically by physicians, generate more than trillion dollars revenues for Big Pharma. The drug companies in turn plow big money into the political system to get protection and profits.
The other two, Big Food and Big Auto, combine to subvert an active lifestyle based on traditional coarse grains and rough activity to turn us into sedentary couch potatoes feasting on mass produced, industrial grade carbs and refined foods. To make matters worse we overindulge in foods containing sugar, the “sweet poison” now rated as more injurious to our health than tobacco.
But the eminent Indian diabetologist Dr. Chidananda Rajghatta opines, “We can combat these enemies with a public policy that encourages lifestyle changes. Yoga or any other type of workout sans political motives and religious underpinnings is but a small first step. Many more twists and turns will also be needed to avoid the clutches of these Big Three.”
Dr. Francisco Colaco, Margao
Sad demise
The sudden demise of Sister Nirmala who succeeded Nobel laureate Mother Teresa as the superior general of the Missionaries of Charity has plunged the Roman Catholic community in general and the destitutes of Kolkata in particular into gloom.
Joining the Missionaries of Charity at the young age of 24, Sister Nirmala was a gem of a person and a wonderful human being. She always wore a smile on her face and was spoken of in the same breath as Mother Teresa. A lifetime of service to the poor and underprivileged is always a tall order but Sister Nirmala lived up to it with unending love, care and compassion.
The Padma Vibhushan which came her way in 2009 was her crowning glory and a fitting recognition of her efforts and contribution to humanity. Sister Mary Prema who steps into Sister Nirmala’s shoes is in the perfect place to carry the legacy forward.
N J Ravi Chander, Bengalu
