TUESDAY, APRIL 16, 2024
Voter alliances needed
The horrible decimation of Goans to Covid due to lack of honest politicians both in the ruling and Opposition is forgiven and forgotten! All are merrily planning for the 2022 elections as if they did a splendid job at the Centre, State and Opposition!
They are now working out the permutations and combination to ensure maximum success. The perennial politicians have brazenly put forward their ‘winnability’ over administration acumen without any qualms! They are now seeking political alliances!
The decimated public can only look on? We too feel that these has-beens are our only hope? Surely not. There has not been even one of the 42 elected who contributed a single iota to quell the decimation or even speak up! They were all in hiding Remember, a Country like Singapore with a 55 lakh population has just 34 deaths for the full pandemic till date. And small Goa: 3000 deaths for an internationally renowned destination? Goans were willfully and clandestinely denied oxygen causing their deaths. Goa did not get any relief by way of oxygen supply from the Centre until the HC stepped in. The HC gave 3 days to conduct an oxygen audit: have you seen it?
Don’t you think the voters must now form 'voter alliances' to retire the ‘vote bank’ winnable ones? Whatever the parties did has proven that it is ‘them against us”. What each party feeds us in their agenda is only to remain in power. They speak what you want to hear and will ditch the same when their seat gets threatened. They can neither do Goans proud at the Lok Sabha nor GST meetings.
Voters must have one common agenda: let the parties’ field only new faces who can act and speak meaningfully.
R Fernandes, Margao
More Goan youth needed in agriculture
This refers to the above subject ‘Pandemic United us: Xetkar’ (Herald Review, 20 June). Kudos to Kenneth, Neville and Stanley for coming together and joining forces in accomplishing success and satisfaction in a field completely new to them and particularly to the educational backgrounds they come from. While it is easy to say, "Life is what we make of it, it calls for a spirit of adventure, hard work and commitment to achieve the objective. Besides all these factors the most important is to have a willing and honest mentor to kick start the adventure in the right direction. This role of mentor was filled in by a talisman named Fr. George Quardos, SDB (popularly known as PaddyMan of Goa).
Vikant Sahay and Sagun Gawade must be appreciated for the excellent coverage in their article. It is hoped that the achievement and satisfaction that Kenneth, Neville and Stanley have accomplished will attract many more of the young to get involved in agriculture. Goa is blessed with all the positives to bring about a rewarding career as long as one is willing to work hard and commit to the profession.
Fr Quadros is a multi talented priest. He is blessed with the qualities that make him succeed with every endeavour that he takes up, some of which are as follows: pioneering water harvesting at Quepem, this brought recognition from Central Government and he was invited to join Water Resources Department, Delhi; mobile education by the roadside through the government sponsored Sarva shiksha abhiyaan.
Earlier having served at Don Bosco, Fatorda as Rector, he was instrumental in renovating the Chapel, thereby increasing the seating capacity from three to six hundred. He was also responsible for initiating the Don Bosco College of Engineering.
Thank you Fr George for your service to all who seek assistance and guidance.
Hilary D'Souza, by email
Liberty and vendetta
This refers to the Herald Upfront Editorial titled 'Liberty and bail in vendetta times' dated June 20. I congratulate Herald for being the true voice of the people and raising issues without fear or favour. Many activists have spent months and years in jail and their only fault is that they opposed the fanatics. The same fanatics who were banned by countries like the USA and UK and who are shameless visiting the same countries and embracing their leaders as if there is no tomorrow!
Another headline on June 20 is 'Cuncolim MLA files Rs 5 cr defamation case against singer'. What we see from the above two incidents is the amount of intolerance and hate of the politicians against the people who have been elected by the same people. If they can't face the honest criticism of the people they should resign and become sanyasis.
Matias Lobo , Tivim
Farming must be farmer friendly
We at Goencho Xetkar, register our sincere gratitude to you for highlighting our attempt to popularise mechanical farming in Goa, through the Herald Review dated June 20, under the title: "Pandemic United Us: Xetkar " by Vikant Sahay and Sagun Gawade. The brilliant full-page article has not only boosted our morale but it has also made several Goans appreciate our work.
Our aim is to make Goans, and especially the youth, who have left their heritage fields fallow due to various hardships, especially in getting the labour force, realise that there are modern, scientific options available to enable them to revive their fields.
Farming is a Goan tradition and the main occupation earlier. The Government will do well to encourage Goans, especially the youth, to use their education and skills in a more productive manner, and especially during this Covid-19 crisis. The procedures to get into farming need to be made more farmer friendly with proper incentives, thus there being need need to eliminate the old, archaic, cumbersome bureaucratic procedures. There is nothing constant in this world, except change.
To start with, the Government could initiate a dialogue to find out new ways to promote paddy cultivation through mechanised farming.
Neville Luis, Stanley Fds and Kenneth Lopes, by email
Govt depts have surplus staff in Goa
Chief Minister, Dr Pramod Sawant, keeping an eye on the fast approaching assembly elections has reportedly said that the government will soon fill around 10,000 govt jobs within the next 6 months in Goa.
Well, when there is surplus staff in most govt departments and most of whom are practically seen doing absolutely nothing but idling their time chatting on Facebook/Whatsapp, playing video games on mobiles, why is Sawant hell-bent on unnecessarily filling more thousands of govt vacancies and emptying the state coffers in Goa? When the government is practically finding it difficult to even pay the salaries of its present employees due to the current financial crisis, why is Dr. Sawant issuing such stupid statements and unnecessarily trying to hypnotise/excite all the gullible Goans by blindly promising them the sky just to bring his most deceptive BJP government back to power in Goa?
As per media reports, Goa's public debt is continuously rising and the outstanding debt has now touched almost Rs. 26,000 crore.
I personally feel that Sawant should stop bullying Goans unnecessarily by simply promising them of filling around 10,000 govt jobs in government departments and that too, at the time of the fast approaching assembly elections to finally turn them into big "Bhakraas" in Goa.
Jerry Fernandes, Saligao
