THURSDAY, DECEMBER 07, 2023
Ways to stop robberies in places of worship
Nowadays thieves do not spare even places of worship and target shrines, temples, chapels and churches. Generally, these places are isolated or located in interior villages. Hence, it becomes convenient for thieves to enter and steal from the donation box, ornaments from the idols and even take away the idols! The thieves may damage the CCTVs, if installed, or these may not be working or may not properly capture the robbery being committed.
At least in temples, after the night prayers, the priests could remove the ornaments from the idols and other materials (bells, plates etc.) and place these in safe vaults installed within the sanctum sanctorum. The floor- or wall-mounted vaults would be operated by alphanumeric codes which only the priests and chairman of the managing committee would know. There could be alarms attached which would blare if the vaults are tampered and this would wake up the people in the vicinity.
Sridhar D Iyer, Caranzalem
Set up mini garbage treatment plants
The residents of Saligao and Cacora have reportedly expressed their serious concerns about the huge quantity of wet waste that is being transported to Saligao and Cacora waste treatment plants. They have rightly asked as to why they alone should continue to bear the brunt for the mismanagement by the Margao Municipal Council.
Unfortunately, the government seem to be hell-bent on ignoring their concerns and making their life miserable by still allowing the Margao Municipal Council to casually transport the Sonsodo wet waste.
I think that the government of the day should stop wasting crores of rupees in organizing self-glorifying events in the state and instead should spend the same money to set-up its mini-garbage treatment plants in all the villages on top priority.
Jerry Fernandes, Saligao
Should we use Bharat over India?
Our Constitution accepted both India and Bharat as the name of our country, but rightly gave priority to India over Bharat by declaring “India that is Bharat” and not vice-versa. This was a judicious step. Many countries like Japan, Germany and China gave priority to their respective international names over their local names to get maximum advantage in international trade, politics and global recognition. Nippon gave priority to its internationally popular name Japan. Bundesrepublik Deutschland also did the same to its international name Germany. Similarly Zhongguo does not mind to be recognised as China. South and North Korea embraced the English name for the same reason. Spanish España also accepted English Spain as the official name of their country. There is no problem in retaining two names of a country. But it is a wise decision to give priority to internationally accepted name over the local name. If the process of replacing internationally recognised name of our country with the local name continued, it would cause extensive damage to India’s exchequer and international position.
Sujit De, Kolkata
Constitutional rights or dictatorial rule?
The Constitution of India declared India as a secular and a socialist country protecting it’s unique social, religious and cultural diversity. The meticulous planning by the main architect Dr B R Ambedkar along with many others who conceived the Constitution had no controversies for 68 years of independent rule until the BJP took over the reins of governing India.
What is exactly the primary cause of the failure that has put our country in such a spot that we are being dictated what we should eat, what religion we should follow, how we should dress or what we should learn? The root cause of facing such a trauma that has made the lives of every middle class and lower class citizens is no one else but we ourselves. It’s unbelievable to realize that we forget so fast what we went through during the five years of torture and yet we voted these liars and thieves back to power. What is it that we have not gone through during these past nine years under the rule of PM Narendra Modi? Name it --demonetization, double tracking, transportation of coal, privatization of ports, religious disharmony, atrocities against minorities, diversion of Mhadei river favoring Karnataka and now they are trying to manipulate the Constitution to favor their motives of making India a Hindutva Country. There has been a very long silence from us giving consent to all this but any more silence will finish our customs and cultures.
Don’t forget no lawmaker or Court can change the DNA ‘secular’ and ‘socialist’ which is in the Constitution giving leverage to practice any religion and nobody can alter this.
Savio D’Costa, Chandor
Garbage menace is a ticking bomb
As very rightly stated, garbage menace is a ticking bomb (O Heraldo September 21, 2023) not just for the state but for the rest of India as well. ‘When we throw anything away it must go somewhere’, very true! The Earth is not a dumping ground. What goes around comes around. This is what we all need to understand. We cannot play with nature and get away with it. We must stop polluting our rivers and lakes with sewage or else a day will come when we would all be struggling to get even a drop of drinking water.
We seem jubilant at discovering water molecules on the moon while destroying water resources on Earth. It does not work that way! Revival of the polluted river Sal though, is encouraging. The bottom line is, we need to reduce generating of garbage, to revive and conserve our existing water resources including rain water harvesting. Long live the Earth!
Melville X D'Souza, Mumbai
Is women reservation bill a poll gimmick?
Since Independence we have seen the women representation in the Parliament and Assembly is wafer thin and in Goa Assembly we now see MLAs’ wives are ruling the roost. There have been many efforts, debates and controversies around the women’s reservation bill which was passed in Rajya Sabha in 2010, this women’s reservation seeds were sown by the ideas of Rajiv Gandhi and Narasimha Rao governments. This is a fact and I am not exaggerating as I don’t support Congress party I try to vote for a clean corrupt free candidate but the women reservation didn't move forward . Issues relating to ensuring greater representation of women in politics had been discussed even prior to Independence, and in the Constituent Assembly. In India, the issue got momentum in 1970s. The women’s reservation bill passed in 2023 will be historic since women will climb to the position of Chief Minister and even Prime Minister. Since Indira Gandhi became Minister there has been no women PM. Since it is not being implemented from 2024 general elections then the people of the country will say that it is just another poll gimmick or a Jumla just ahead of the general elections only to woo the voters.
Diomedes Pereira, Corlim
