FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2024
Tackling noise pollution
Just like air-pollution, water pollution or for that matter any other pollution, noise pollution too has a detrimental effect on the health of human beings. Environmental noise pollution can cause hearing impairment, hypertension, ischemic heart disease, annoyance and sleep disturbance. Changes in the immune system and birth defects have also been attributed to noise exposure.
Noise pollution also has an effect on wildlife. High intensity sound induces fear, which can force species to abandon their habitat. It also has an effect on pet animals like dogs and cats. Hence noise pollution needs to be dealt with equal importance by the authorities just like air and water pollution. It is understood that in Goa there is a dedicated 24-hour helpline 112 for registering complaints pertaining to noise pollution. The complaints registered with the police are reportedly forwarded to the nodal points maintained in the police control room and the duty officer forwards the complaint manually to the local police station of the area as per the location of the complaint for necessary action. It must be said that loud music played in the coastal areas can cause hardships to people living in the vicinity, especially senior citizens and little children. It can become a hindrance for students who burn the midnight oil preparing for the exams.
Since all provisions are not covered under the Noise Pollution Rules 2000, the government has reportedly stated that directions can be issued that habitual violators should not be granted any permission for playing music/using amplified sound systems and/or loudspeakers for two years.
Adelmo Fernandes, Vasco
Tragic incident could have been avoided
Hatred due to obsession or illusionary doubts can be avoided by engaging religious, older relatives or educated figures of the immediate society, don't we think? Rather keeping the brewing issue until it explodes, making it a history in a peaceful tiny village Mol-Agonda, also putting the innocents into trauma.
Most of the time, anger becomes a emotional abuse in many cases with none interested in taking a resolution to sort it at the soonest in the interest of the children, who have now to carry the cross for life - with grandma is now forced to play many roles being a senior citizen herself in this case. Note that, anger or rage is a natural and normal human emotion that tends to make its presence known in any relationship, even if it is not addressed at the person to whom it is being expressed. Unfortunately, rage relationships are expressed in uncontrollable ways, especially in a person who hunts birds or animals is worst, what does that tells you?
Many times often we shut down thinking, it is matured married couple's private issues having children and the dust will settle after some time, being normal - with positive thoughts even thinking that those gun shots noise could be fire crackers and not fire arms? Not forgetting that this strange sound will remain in our heart as well in the heart of innocent children. As lesson learned, let's try and intervene where possible, you never know - we may save a life or a family.
Gaston Dias, Sarzora
Forced to attend PM’s session?
The government staff were strictly instructed through a last minute circular to compulsorily report to office on Saturday, (October 23) to listen to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's special interactive session with beneficiaries and stakeholders of Aatmanirbhar Bharat Swayampurna Goa programme via video conference in Goa.
The heads of departments were also directed to submit a report along with photographs of staff who had attended the said event in the office. In short, the government employees were victimised through such mild threats and made to forcibly attend this so-called "interactive" session of our PM in different parts of Goa.
PM Narendra Modi as expectedly was seen interacting not with every Tom, Dick & Harry but with a few selective people.
Now, what was the real reason for forcing all the government employees, Panchayat/Municipal members, etc, to take part in such a useless interactive session and which discussed nothing about the ongoing destruction of Goa?
I think that the Goa government should henceforth politely advise PM Modi to have an open 'one-to-one" or 'face to face' direct session to hear the grievances of every Goan and then force all the government employees, Panchayat/municipal members, etc, to compulsorily attend such type of "interactive" sessions in more large numbers in Goa in future.
Jerry Fernandes, Saligao
Aryan's bail plea
A good decision. Let NCB get time to probe this case in detail and without pressure. He will come clean if no wrong-doing. Bollywood has already become a den of despoilers, desperados and depredators. Bollywood stars think they come under a special category that makes them to escape with impunity. I urge our Hon. PM to arrange to conduct a surgical strike on Bollywood to weed out drug trafficking.
Also, judges should not grant them bail howsoever they are loftily positioned. Granting bail to known criminals sets a bad precedence and spurs them to continue their heinous crime.
Krishnan Ramanathan, Ghaziabad
India condition ‘serious’ in GHI
Global Hunger Index (GHI), the yearly, multidimensional, review system to measure the "hunger levels" in the world, and undertaken by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) from 2006, has indicated a decreasing level of hunger in the world but still there are countries which have "moderate hunger" "serious hunger" , "alarming hunger" and "extremely alarming hunger" indices. The dampening news is India's situation is "serious". In GHI, countries are ranked on a 100-point-scale( 0 being the best and 100 being the worst). The proportion of the undernourished as a percentage of population, wasting of children under five, stunting of under-5 children and under-five mortality are the four parameters that are used to rank the countries.
India ranked 101 out of 116 countries as compared to 94 out of 107 in 2020. In 2017, India ranked 100 of the 119 countries, and in 2016 it "bagged" the 97th rank of the 118 nations. Ironically, India is also the second largest food producer in the world. Therefore, it is obvious that hunger is unrelated to food production considering India's GHI is 24.5 points.
The National Food Security Act 2013 appears to have laid more thrust on staple diets rice and wheat with less-than-satisfactory focus on the nutritious coarse grains and pulses. That is why hunger has to be fine balanced with nutrition for India to better its GHI rankings in the years to come.
Ganapathi Bhat, Akola
Crime does not pay
The going has got tough for Aryan Khan, son of Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, with a special Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act court refusing bail in the cruise ship drugs case.
The court observed that his WhatsApp chats revealed he was indulging in illicit drug activities regularly.
We believe Aryan was in contact with drug dealers and was part of a larger network. Though Aryan has moved the Bombay High Court, he is learning it the hard way that crime does not pay.
N J Ravi Chander, Bengaluru
