24 Mar 2017 | 09:01pm IST
Letters To The Editor
The latest assault and murder of the Irish womcn in Goa has once again highlighted the safety of women in Goa especially along the coastal belts which are more frequented by foreign tourists.
Usually Goa is a safe and so are our beaches but the same beaches can be even more dangerous under the cover of dark or after sunset especially for women travelling alone. Although there is police presence on most of the beaches it is not practically possible to provide police security and illumination along the entire beach stretch of Goa. The best thing possible which can be done is to avoid such isolated locations at night or women should not venture the beaches after sunset alone.
Our government should also provide safety guidelines at the airports/bus terminals /railway stations for all women especially foreign women tourists about the do’s and don’ts in Goa. Such initiatives will help to avoid any further damage done to our tourism industry and will help to project a good and safe image of Goa in the long run.
Anthony Fernandes, Kuwait
While congratulating the PI Sammy Tawares and his staff for cracking the murder case of Irish tourist Danniele last week within span of few days. It is not enough only to arrest the murderer Vikhat Bhagat,he should be hanged to death. The police should make this case very strong so that the court should not acquit him on flimsy ground.
The alleged murderers of the British girl Scarlet are acquitted by the court in spite of having all the proof and are moving freely without any fear. The police of Calangute are also responsible for their acquittal, because they made the case very weak. The case of Danniele should not be like that, the poor mother of Scarlet is moving from pillar to post to get justice for her daughter.
Whiterose Alemao, Carmona
Almost every country across the world is facing the problem of migrants. Migration takes place due to various factors; employment opportunity being the major cause. When one migrates he or she is the most vulnerable. Migrants lack basic facilities and the privileges that the government offers to particular sections of the people. They also remain ignorant of the happenings around them due to constant movement from one place to another. They are deprived of their social life.
Cases of the migrants should therefore be handled with utmost care and charity. We must look beyond associating them with voting banks. Sometimes their behavior of defecating in the open will taunt us, but have we thought whether they have sufficient place to lay their head to rest after the day’s work? Their rights are at stake and the government along with some NGOs must work towards assuring them their basic rights or work towards giving them what is their due. It is the migrants who day in and day out, work in the scorching heat to provide us smooth roads, or carry loads of provisions on their back from one place to another.
And after doing all this accusing them of what they have not done is not right from our part. Obviously this does not rule out checking their illegal functioning. The illegalities must be nipped in the bud.
The late former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa's ‘Amma Canteen’, which serve cheap meals to hundreds of thousands of people daily, have become immensely popular with the poor and the middle classes in that state. This scheme has succeeded in feeding poor people at affordable prices. Among other food items the menu includes hot sambhar rice and curd rice which are sold at a price much less than that in the restaurants.
Keeping in mind the elections to the Karnataka legislative assembly scheduled to be held in 2018, it is understood that the Karnataka government is also mulling the prospect of starting its own 'Namma Canteen' in the city initially on experimental basis. The government had been considering the proposal to have these canteens on the model of Tamil Nadu.
It is pertinent to note that the BJP-led government in Goa, which has been propped up by the Goa Forward Party (GFP) and Independent legislatures, has been speaking of preserving Goenkarponn or Goanness. One important aspect of Goan identity is it’s staple food, namely fish-curry and rice. However many poor people cannot afford the luxury of this much liked Goan food because of it’s prohibitive price. It would thus be a positive and welcome move if the Goa government would also start canteens across the state serving fish-curry rice at a subsidized rate on the line of ‘Amma Canteen’ in Tamil Nadu and the proposed ‘Namma Canteen’ in Karnataka.
Any candidate who gets elected to the august body for a period of five years should continue doing so as the people have elected him to be their representative for that period under a certain party label. Nowadays we find MLA's resigning immediately after a Government is formed because the loaves of office are beyond their reach, little realising the great inconvenience it causes his/hers electorate besides the heavy burden on the exchequer.
The Election Commission should make such members pay for the expenses incurred for hoisting another unwanted election on the people of that constituency making a mockery of the entire election process.
This refers to Thecla Pereira's article, "Empathy" (Herald, Other Voices, March 23). It is a great joy for a man who is going to retire from office after three and half years on attaining super(annuation) 60 years and from this world after perhaps a few more years to find that we have our daughters like Thecla Pereira to make this world a beautiful place.
Hedonism, greed, competition and conflict can only trigger violence to spell a complete DOOM for any system. Even a machine cannot work if its parts are not in harmony with one another. So, ultimately, the world is to listen to those like her who are endowed with a sensitive heart and a powerful pen.
A few days ago, I read an instructive incident where the dirt on someone's finger that got stuck at the time of his holding a sick dog and saving it in the process, appeared to him just like a medal he had won. This shows the higher turn of our nature which inspired Swami Vivekananda to write in a letter, -- "I have lost all wish for my salvation, -- may I be born again and again and suffer thousands of miseries so that I may worship the only God that exists, the only God I believe in, the sum-total of all souls, -- and above all, my God the wicked, my God the miserable, my God the poor of all races, of all species is the special object of my worship."
However, we need to be cautious that our ego should not get the medal of self-pride for saving a dog but our knowledge of oneness -- of the perfect identity of everything and everyone -- gets the medal of empathy.
After the tearing hurry and midnight coup to establish a saffron colored Government in Goa the selection of Yogi Adityanath as the CM of UP after a delay of seven days has shocked everyone.
On his part Adityanath has promised to work for all sections of the society by following the ideology of “sab ke sath, sab ka vikas’. However in less than a month we can see intense communal polarization in UP with many beef and even mutton shops being attacked and burnt down. Banning of pan and ghutka is a step in the right direction but the Government Babu’s will not be happy.
We hope that Adityanath will give justice to all sections of the society and follow the advice given to him by his father.
