Respect the Tiranga
Har Ghar Tiranga, Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav from August 13 to 15 was a successful drive. I have put the tiranga outside my residence and was proud of being a Indian and for this I don’t need a certificate to prove that I love my country; love for my nation is in my heart.
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Independence Day is over but we can see that our tiranga still continues flying high in Goa. Many people are confused about the National flag to be removed and kept home safely or it has to fly every day. Our tiranga is put anywhere on trees, street poles, shops, etc which have fallen down by strong winds. While the citizens were permitted to fly the national flag at home, offices and even inside their vehicles, most people have ignored the correct way of using a tricolour. Citizens of India clicked their pictures and posted on Facebook, WhatsApp to mark the Anniversary.
Seraulim dam was decorated with national flag light work and many people attended the dam sites but people had to pay to enter. I think government made lot of revenue in selling flags in schools, shops and even going to each house.
Our government of Goa should give the correct information to the people of Goa whether the national flag should still remain flying high throughout the State or people should remove it and keep it in a safe place at home. Respect our tiranga, our brave soldiers and freedom fighters have given their blood for the love of our nation.
Ronnie D’Souza, Chandor
Safety gears at construction sites
It can be noticed that at several mid-size construction sites (bungalows, flats) the workers are not provided with or do not use protective gears such as helmets, gloves, hard boots, gumboots, safety harness, etc. At major construction sites the workers may have some of the gears yet we can see bare feet workers or those wearing rubber slippers.
The site supervisors and contractors need to be firm and see that the safety gears are worn and protocols are strictly followed. Hope the contractors have insured the workers in case of any untoward incidents.
Sridhar D’Iyer, Caranzalem
The heartless greet and fete of the convicts
There is resentment and uproar and rightly too, over the release of the 11 convicts who acted worse than animals and were rightly sentenced to life imprisonment in the Bilkis Bano rape and murder case. It is a shame that these animals who don’t deserve any sympathy for the way in which they gang raped three Muslim women one of whom was pregnant at that time and murdered seven other Muslims including a three-year-old child by mercilessly smashing its head against a hard stone!
It is also unfortunate that knowing fully well the background of the case, the Supreme Court allowed the remission petition filed by one of the 11 criminals to be decided by the same BJP Gujarat government who were the rulers of the state when these atrocities were committed by the above criminals! As expected, the Gujarat government has released all the 11 convicts without even making consultation with the Union government which is mandatory as the case was handled by the CBI.
Hope the immediate release of the hardcore criminals by the BJP government overlooking all norms and the manner in which the released convicts were greeted and feted by some of the heartless hardcore Hindutva elements which shockingly included a few heartless and shameless women though the convicts have gangraped three Muslim ladies, must have touched the conscience of the Apex Court.
One only hopes that the highest court will order/advise the Gujarat government to cancel the remission given to the convicts and send them back to jail for life.
Tharcius S Fernando, Chennai
Release of convicts marks a new low
The ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ release of the 11 convicts involved in the infamous Bilkis Bano case marks a new low in Gujarat politics. The criminals raped three women, including a pregnant Bilkis Bano and murdered her three-year-old child and six men on March 3, 2002. The remission granted by the Gujarat government, based on recommendations made by a committee set up on a reference by the Supreme Court on a plea by a convict, couldn’t have been possible without the Centre’s sanction.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Independence Day speech about fighting misogyny and respecting and empowering women makes one wonder about its significance.
N J Ravi Chander, Bengaluru
Gross miscarriage of justice
Gujarat government’s decision to grant remission of sentence to 11 lifers in the Bilkis Bano raises several disturbing questions. In May the SC had ruled without going into the merits of the case that the Gujarat government must decide on the convicts’ freedom based on a 1992 policy that allowed remission for those who had served 14 years of their life imprisonment term. But this made it a matter of careful discretion for the State and there were more than enough grounds for it to apply the discretionary powers the other way.
There is a previous SC verdict in which the court ruled that the state must determine “whether the offence is an individual act of crime without affecting the society at large” before granting remission. Surely the heinous nature of the crime and the tragic context and aftermath; 14 people including several women and Bilkis’s daughter were massacred and a heavily pregnant Bilkis herself was subjected to brutal gangrape during the 2002 Gujarat riots constituted enough grounds not to apply the remission statute. There are thus absolutely no grounds to let those 11 criminals go scot free. That it was done otherwise is a mortal blow to societal norms at large and a gross miscarriage of justice given what Bilkis Bano had to suffer. A judicial review of the Gujarat government’s criminally flawed decision to let out the 11 convicts is absolutely essential, it sends out a wrong signal and a complete travesty of justice.
Vinay Dwivedi, Benaulim
World Photography Day
World Photography Day is an annual, worldwide celebration of art, craft, science and history of photography.
Every year, World Photography Day is celebrated on August 19. The day commemorates the importance of cameras and photography in our lives. Photography enthusiasts around the world celebrate the art of capturing pictures on this occasion.
The first durable colour photograph was taken by Thomas Sutton of London in 1861. He was an English photographer, author and inventor. It was a set of three black and white photographs taken through red, green and blue filters.
On August 19, 2010 World Photo Day hosted its first global online gallery. Almost 270 photographers shared their pictures and people from over 100 countries visited the website. This marked the first official, globally reaching World Photo Day.
The first digital photograph was taken in 1957, almost 20 years before Kodak’s engineer invented the first digital camera. The photograph was a digital scan of a shot initially taken on film that depicted Russell Kirsch’s son and had a resolution of 176×176.
People use the medium in a variety of ways, from taking selfies to documenting wars and human rights abuses. Photography is an art form that can be intensely personal and also project ideas publicly in a simple manner. The saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words” remains true even now.
Jubel D’Cruz, Mumbai
