SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 2024
Waste collectors
We have clapped and banged thalis, lighted diwas/candles for the front line warriors much before the pandemic reached its peak in India, while this sort of appreciation was started in Europe and West countries as they were the hardest hit and truly the front line warriors deserved all sorts of accords.
The situation in Goa is turning out of control, when the Government begun lowering its guard to check on the possible spreaders of the Covid-19 virus. We have forgotten that a very important person who handles the waste is the one truly to be called a front-line warrior too. To earn his daily bread and butter he risks his life to collect the door to door wet /dry and biomedical waste unknowingly from houses that have been designated as home quarantine.
Lack of coordination between the Health Dept. and the Panchayat authorities of the village is not acceptable which may cost the life of such innocent people and family will lose their bread winner.
I request the Health Minister to appoint a separate contractor to collect the waste that is being generated from such homes that have been designated as home quarantine and fix a nominal fee to be paid by such patients.
This will protect the waste collector who goes to every door to pick up the waste which may be a source of spreading the virus to others. Secondly the health centres and Panchayats should submit the names of all the labourers who have been employed by the contractor as waste collector’s to be insured or provided treatment if they contract the virus and if death occurs the family should be compensated.
The Disaster management funds or funds from construction worker should be utilised for such labours who are directly involved in waste collection. Its time we respect these workers too.
Gregory E. D’Souza, Siolim
Beware of Cat Que Virus disease
At a time when India is still grappling with the novel coronavirus pandemic that started in China’s Wuhan, scientists have warned of another virus CQV(CAT QUE VIRUS) from China that has the potential to spread diseases in India.
The CQV is an anthropod-borne viruses or arbobiruses. Scientists at the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune have found the presence of the antibodies for the CQV in two out of 883 human serum samples that were collected across India. But it is said that virus was not found in any of the human or animal samples at the time of the study.
The ICMR has revealed the presence of CQV in a species of mosquitoes called Culex, and also in pigs in China and Vietnam. Notably, India, too is home to species of culex mosquitoes. And this arthropod-borne virus (arboviruses) is usually carried by culex mosquitoes and pigs, and could cause fatal illness in humans in India.
K.G.Vilop, Chodan
Rape culture needs to end
Another rape and murder from Hathras village has made headlines pan India. Protests have erupted across the nation for this dastardly act. The torture news has sent chills down the spine. Few other incidents that caught attention were in 2012 in Delhi, in 2017 at Unnao, 2019 at Hyderabad.
Though only handful of cases end up in waking up India as a whole, there are many more that go unnoticed.
87 rape cases per day were recorded in India in 2019 according to the official data and in 93% cases, the perpetrators were known to the victim. This is just the tip of the iceberg.
India's culture has deeply rooted patriarchy mired in misogyny. Women are always looked upon low, they are always victims of impish behaviour. The four convicts of 2012 Delhi rape case wanted to teach the girl a 'lesson' for allegedly cuddling her friend at late night. This 'victim-blaming' should end. Such issues need to be dealt with at grassroot levels.
The laws against rape in India are one of the harshest in the world, but the problem lies in their implementation. The lackadaisical approach by those on duty allows the perpetrators to find caveats to slide out of the accusations.
Since the number of victims gathering courage and registering the offence are only a handful, at this juncture, if the law enforcement officers are trained on how to deal with the victims of sexual abuse or assault, there will be increased reporting of such incidents.
The society has to be more humane and benevolent towards those vulnerable. All this also leads us to one important question: if the "death sentence" of the 4 rapists of 2012 Delhi rape-murder was meant to counteract such crimes, then the validity of this death penalty should be reconsidered.
Raghav Gadgil, Khandola
Protect ecology and villagers
In recent time, we witnessed the protests led by the villagers of Melauli and others at Melauli. The villagers of Melauli say with one voice that they do not want the IIT project to be implemented in their village.
According to them such a project will destroy the ecology of the village. Well, there is no doubt on that front. Further, the elders in the village say that they be made the owners of the Alvara land in Class 'A' category. Both reasons seem to be logical as the villagers have been residing and cultivating the crops on the said land for several years. And they are ready to die for their cause.
In many government projects, the government has to face the ire of the people. It only shows that the Government lacks willingness to take all the stake holders on board before planning and executing the projects. Using absolute power and brutal force to implement such projects will only aggravate the situation.
Therefore it is pertinent here that Government takes villagers-friendly measures. It has to take villagers into confidence thereby protecting the ecology of the village and villagers’ interests as well.
Rui Pereira, Navelim
Capitalism form of economy
Capitalist form of economy has many critiques and proponents. The former’s main accusations are, ‘that capitalism is inherently exploitative, unsustainable and creates economic inequality, is anti-democratic and leads to an erosion of human rights while it incentivizes imperialist expansion and war.
Goa is such a small place with a very great commercial value if put up for sale. Being small it can be easily bought by Indian Capitalists alone. What will be the fate of locals if this is done? Capitalists are eying every inch of Goa: for pleasure or profit. They need berths(marinas) for their yachts. They are ready to buy or lease - for 99 years- private jetties along all the rivers. They can and are ready to buy entire beaches or islands - Terekol, Divar…! For profit, they are open to buy the sanctuaries and even the Port.
What’s blocking them is the fact that all these lands are not the property of the Goa Govt. Locals are not ready to part with the same. Hence, the first step is to get the lands transferred to the govt.
This is now being done by various laws being enacted. First the rivers have been taken over, next the Port, and the beaches. The HTL is now a mere 50 mts: enticing the ‘crooked’ Officials to sell off or lease the same. The Capitalists ready to buy Goa outright or through the Central Ministers. The local Govt. has been acting as a broker with not even a semblance of protest.
More alarming is even PSU’s are being sold off to crony businessmen. India is moving from a part Social Capitalism to complete private crony Capitalism which does not bode well.
R Fernandes, Margao
