Letters To The Editor

Disrespecting priests

and religious

There was a time when we displayed utmost reverence for the priest's and religious, so much so we trusted them and shared our grievances with them, asking them to pray for us and our intentions. They were our prayer house interceding for us. But until recently there is lot of indifference showed towards Clergy and religious. As if they do not mean anything to us now, just because a few due to their weaknesses have been scandalous in their behaviour.

What we ought to learn here is not to stereotype a behaviour to all in the same fold. The stabbing of an Indian priest abroad is a matter of concern. If the faith enhancer is been attacked, what will happen to the Christ that he proclaims? We also must understand that Eucharistic celebration is where a priest stands In Persona Christi (In the Person of Christ) and what he does at the altar is the action of Christ. So we ought to revere him and devoutly receive the body of Christ that is later shared unlike shooing away because you do not like the Priest. These kind of ideologies need to be refreshed with fresh perspectives. 

The clergy and religious though not different from the people of God or the faithful, need to be given due respect and shown utmost concern in achieving their needs. The faithful have an extra responsibility to guide the clergy and the religious when they are trading the wrong path. The faithful ought to also sense the need of the clergy and the religious, and come to their aid when needed and not leave them alone on this path.  All of us are a creation of God and all of us need the support of one another. Thus as pilgrims when we journey let us extend ourselves completely towards the other in meeting each other's needs.

Carlos Luis, Varca

Save electricity

Apropos to the letter “Save ink and trees” (Herald March 22) it is observed that at several bank ATMs a request appears on the screen which reads something like “Save Trees. Do Not Print Receipt”. It is true that production of paper mean cutting down of trees. Trees are necessary to protect the environment. Another important way to protect the environment is to reduce the use of electricity. However it is seen that at every bank ATM the air-conditioner and the lights are kept on throughout the day and night. The question to be asked is whether it is absolutely necessary to keep the lights on in the ATMs during the day when the sunlight seems sufficient. A customer may be inside the ATM room for a minute or two. Does this necessitate the use of air-conditioners 24X7?

 The sudden change in the temperature could in fact have an adverse effect on the health of the customer as he/she moves from the hot temperature outside to the coolness of the ATM room for a minute or so and then moves back to hot temperature outside. The banks may be in the position to pay the electricity bill for the use of air-conditioner and a few tube-lights in the ATM room. But then, in order to reduce global warming and other adverse effects on the environment, there needs to be minimal use of electricity. It would thus be in the fitness of things for banks to see that lights in the ATMs are put on only after dusk and possibly do away with the air-conditioners in the ATMs altogether in order to reduce the use of electricity.

Adelmo Fernandes, Vasco

Rabies exercise

This is in reference to a news item that appeared in a section of the Press stating the Goa government working towards elimination of canine rabies from India.  That the goal will be attained by only vaccinating dogs, both domestic and strays; and a hotline established for public to report any dog seen with signs of rabies. The news smacks of ignorance about rabies and that it can be eliminated. Permit me to enlighten our ignorant government about facts of rabies.

Rabies is a viral disease transmitted to humans by animals mostly through bites and scratches. The infected animal is not restricted only to the dog, domestic or stray, but also to cats, bats, skunks, and a varied other animals. The virus cannot be eliminated, but incidence of rabies can be controlled.

The yearly incidence of deaths due to rabies in Goa is in single digit, whereas the incidence of dog bites is in hundreds. This exercise undertaken by government is just an eyewash to fool the public. It will not reduce the menace of dog bites in the country nor rabies. If the government is really concerned about the public welfare in reducing rabies, they need to reduce the numbers of stray dogs roaming freely all over and attacking humans. They need to reduce the heaps of garbage seen all over, especially leftover food disposed off indiscriminately. They need to apprehend people feeding strays with poultry and other animal waste on city roads. No one objects to dog lovers to take the strays home and feed them.

Dr. Ferdinando dos Reis Falcão, Margao

Mixed bag

­The National Health Policy, 2017 (NHP) has flattered to deceive. The problems plaguing the healthcare delivery in India is brought out well; but the ways to redress them on a war-footing is missing. The NHP falls short in assuring the people of an adequate healthcare delivery, taking care of shortage of personnel,  bridging the glaring infrastructural lacunae, growing beyond its excessive focus on primary health care, enhancing public access to healthcare, augmenting the cost --effectiveness ratio and fine mixing the rural -- urban healthcare imbalance.  Mere provision of funds aren't enough: ways and means towards prudent utilisation of finance to make healthcare percolate the interiors of the nation is far more important. 

Research, an invaluable tool for personality development, has not been dealt with the seriousness it deserved. While the draft policy of the government stated its lofty ambition of hiking the  healthcare expenditure to 2.5 % of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2017, the final NHP has now extended the deadline to 2025. Even then, it is far below the World Health Organisation's (WHO) 5 % norm. The government has also disappointed the common man by not including right to health in the fundamental rights list. However, the NHP cannot be dismissed outright because it indeed incorporates  some salient features like health to women in rural India, free drugs and emergency services, aims to reduce the maternal, neo-natal and infant mortality rates and fathoming the fact that deaths due to non-communicable diseases are closing -in on those due to the communicable ones because about 40 per cent mortality in India is attributed to non-communicable diseases like cancer, diabetes mellitus and heart ailments.

Ganapathi Bhat, Akola

Our glasses need 

to be transparent

A pair of specs should be as clean or swachh as it gets. Unfortunately, the logo of Swachh Bharat Abihiyan does not care a fig about it. It has written presumably on Gandhiji's glasses, "Swachh" for his right eye and "Bharat" for his left one in bold font covering almost the entire focal point. 

No one can see clearly through such an opaque or aswachh specs. The catch line proclaims, "It is a step towards cleanliness" ("ek kadam swachhata ki aur"). But if someone dares to take a step wearing such a pair of glasses, it can even cause him fatal accident. At least, our glasses must be transparent! We should have had a better logo for Swachh Bharat Abihiyan (SBA).

Sujit De, Kolkata

Check on Modi

Though the appointment of the most controversial and religious fanatic Yogi Adiithyanath as the CM of UP has come as a surprise to many, a careful analysis of the entire episode would prove that selection of a person like Yogi who is a very powerful leader is just to clip the wings of Prime Minister Narendra Modi who was trying to become the most inevitable Numéro uno leader among the saffron clan. 

It is also a fact that the RSS, an organization meant for and managed by the upper caste never expected Modi, a BC man to acquire this much of accolades, encomium, honour and success by his words and deeds. Despite the fact that the BJP won two states clearly and another two by tactics only because of the charisma of Modi, the above is the only reason for the RSS installing Yogi as 

the CM of UP much against the wishes of Modi. 

Yvonne Fernando, Chennai

Hefty donations 

from schools

Pre-primary schools and primary schools have mushroomed in Goa. Some of them are run by religious congregation while others are run by private bodies. These institutions are sucking blood from poor people by taking big donations varying from ten thousand to twenty thousand and that too without a receipt in cash. 

Its high time the Income Tax office raid these school premises or send a dummy candidate and close down these schools for ever and put  the owners behind bars. There are number of them running in Mapusa, Tivim and other places. Even the children of the primary are made to pay money under some pretext or other. 

A school in Mapusa run by the religious has taken sixteen thousand as donation for the nursery but the receipt given is only for five thousand.

Is someone interested to help poor children to study?

Ana Marie Fernandes, Calangute