FRIDAY, APRIL 19, 2024
India, historical reality
Till 2014 our politicians have looked at our own weaknesses and have organized themselves to keep India rather safe within its own borders which we have inherited from British colonial rule. It would appear there is a school of thought who think India in terms of international superpower status. It is but quite natural.
I am not a pessimist but historical reality would tell us that we at this juncture for the next century or so, we should think on keeping India safe within its borders. One does not want what happened to former Soviet Union or for that matter to former Yugoslavia. We have to be careful for Brahmanism and casteism make us a nation divided against itself.
Never in our past India stretched from Kashmir to Kerala and Assam to Kutch. So let us stop dreaming like bombastic Mussolini did for Italy during the Second World War.
A.C. Menezes, Chinchinim
Restore Goa’s economy
We need to commend our very proactive Governor Satya Pal Malik for leading by example through austerity measures at the Goa Raj Bhavan in view of the current COVID-19 pandemic.
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and his jumbo cabinet must also follow suit and curb all needless expenditures that is being incurred by the State on their upkeep. The Government in public interest must scrap the Zilla Panchayat which over the years has been an unnecessary idling extra layer of governance in our tiny State.
The cash-strapped Goa Government which is borrowing galore to tide up its expenditure, needs to now ensure that every paisa from the State exchequer is very judiciously spent. It is particularly appalling when expenses are recklessly incurred on non-priority areas. It is an irony that the State cries over lack of funds while at the same time we see very glaring unjustified expenditure.
For rationalisation in government spending, strong and honest austerity measures need to be taken at all levels with criminal waste of public funds on superfluous expenditure strictly prohibited. Fiscal accountability and responsibility has to be an ongoing sustained process. It is now the bounden duty and responsibility of the authorities to work towards restoring Goa back on the road to economic recovery.
Aires Rodrigues, Ribandar
Church and the Goan scenario
This refers to the letter ‘Open Church doors’ by Ayres Sequeira (Herald, May 22). It is indeed time that the churches in Goa should be opened for regular services as rightly pointed out by Sequeira. The effect of the COVID-19 in Goan villages has been a non-existent factor so far. The expatriates returning to Goa are quarantined before they get home. Life in the villages during the last two months has been going on as usual with people maintaining caution as recommended by the Government with no socializing, mo parties, no celebrations of any sort. So opening the churches with some precautionary practices in place would certainly be in order and to a great extent could be seen as the need of the hour.
After all, spirituality which leads to a sound morality is one of the important dimensions of human life. The Government has so far tried to take care of the physical and may be to some extent the mental well being of the general populace but without meeting the spiritual needs of the people which are paramount. As the philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin said, “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.”
One may say that you can pray at home. Indeed this is true for most of the time. For Christians and more so for the Catholics, the celebration of the Mass and other sacraments are sacrosanct and participating in these events with their physical presence cannot be compensated by any other means. Despite this fact the church authorities and the laity have to be credited for the due regard they showed to the government directives.
For a start, especially in cities church services could be held in a controlled manner with social distancing in place by way of maintaining minimum distance between worshippers. Use of masks should be maintained.
In churches which have compounds around the building, spots could be marked for each person. Use of tele-screens can be placed outside the main building for participants. If airports, railway stations and other establishments can be made operational with customers who do not even know one another, where is the problem to open churches for communities where people are generally familiar with each other? Parishes are quite capable of handling the disciplinary requirements through their local organizations and volunteers. Opening of the churches will help bring about a fair amount of confidence among the people in general.
Eddie Viegas, Vasco Da Gama
Market cleanliness,onus on shopkeepers
The Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan has recently appealed to all states and Union Territories to ban sale of tobacco products and spitting in public places in order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus infection. In this context the Panjim Mayor has come down heavily on the shop owners in the Panjim market. He has warned of shutting of the shops if cleanliness is not maintained in the vicinity and spitting continues in the market which is a public place. This is a step in the right direction and should be followed by other municipal bodies as well. The onus of keeping the surrounding clean should be on the shop-keepers.
It is not possible for the municipal staff and the police to keep a constant watch on those spitting in public places even though the authorities have been booking the violators under the already existing law of Goa Prohibition of Smoking and Spitting Act, 1997. It should be the responsibility of the shop-keepers to see that the area around their shops is maintained clean and that people do not indulge in spitting.
Only a strict warning by the civic body that the shops will be shut if the shop-keepers do not maintain hygiene in the surrounding areas will yield the desired result.
Adelmo Fernandes, Vasco
Kudos to Mapusa Municipal Council
It was observed on last Friday the MMC had cleared out all the vendors and customers as many of them were without masks and no social distancing observed, an excellent decision taken by the authorities of MMC.
Now, the fact remains, the customers are unaware as to know, where the vendors are assigned the place to enable them to buy their essentials. It is requested that the MMC authorities give a statement in all the newspapers to enlighten the customers the places assigned to the vendors.
Aureo Cunha Gomes, Mapusa
