SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 2024
Daughters are family’s precious jewels
National Daughters' Day on September 25 is a day to celebrate and cherish our daughters who bring so much of love into our lives. Although we don’t really need a reason to celebrate our children, it’s nice to be given the opportunity to pay our daughters some extra attention and show them how much they are loved. A daughter is a very special creation in the family. They are created by God. They are not only delicate and lovely, but they are also a strong pillar of the family. Sometimes sweet, smiley faces and beauty, encapsulates the joy of parenthood and becomes the cornerstone of strength in the families.
Daughters' Day is a special day set out to celebrate girls for being equal opportunity human beings. The stigma that some cultures have placed around the girl child has not only demoralised girls, but have also taken away their dignity as human beings. Therefore, this special day is meant to erase the bad memories and stigmas which are attached to having a girl child instead of a boy child.
World Daughters' Day is celebrated on September 26, though some countries like India celebrate it on September 25. Daughters' Day is a day when parents should make their daughters feel that they are not a burden to them and that they are blessed to have wonderful daughters as their children. Fathers and daughters make an absolutely delightful pair. It is very frequently seen that fathers are extremely caring and protective about their girl child or their daughters.
The joy of raising a daughter into a fully-grown woman means a lot to parents, thereby, showing that a girl child needs special treatment as the flower of the house. As a result, creating beautiful and sweet memories for daughters matters a lot.
Jubel D'Cruz,
Mumbai
Strict Covid check necessary at border
In another incident, Pernem police on Thursday reportedly arrested two staff of a private bus on charges of failing to stop for mandatory Covid checks at the Patradevi check-post. It is learnt that the staff of the State registered bus were arrested and the bus was detained by the police and further investigation is in progress. It may be recalled that earlier on Tuesday, two drivers and a conductor were arrested after an interstate bus sped past the Patradevi check-post in an apparent bid to escape Covid related checks at the border.
Several videos posted on Social Media show how people from neighbouring States cross the Goa border on foot in order to escape being checked for Covid-negative certificates or complete immunisation records. It is pertinent to note that the graph of the number of daily Covid cases reported in the State has levelled to some extent. However, the number of cases in the neighbouring States is on the rise. Those who enter the State without the mandatory Covid related certificates could be spreading the virus in Goa. This poses a risk of a spike in the number of Covid cases in the State despite all precautions being taken by Goans.
There is every possibility of private buses charging extra cash, those passengers who do not possess a Covid negative certificate or a full immunisation report. There could be a big racket going on at the Goa border which the police need to investigate and book the culprits under relevant sections of the law.
Adelmo Fernandes,
Vasco
Better late than never
After much dithering the Centre has finally allowed door to door vaccination for people with disabilities, special needs and any other challenges that may impede movement or access to designated Covid centres and also to the bedridden and citizens with restricted mobility. This equitable citizen centric approach should have been adopted a long while back but the sarkar for some reason kept procrastinating on the proposal from various quarters. Now the onus shifts to the States for rolling out door to door vaccinating in the shortest possible time, detailed SOPs have been formulated in this regard.
As per Ministry of Health data available only 16 crore doses have been administered to this category of people, imagine how many more could have benefited had the scheme been launched last year itself, anyway better late than never.
Rekha Sarin,
Benaulim
Owner to be blamed for cracker blast
The powerful blast at a cracker warehouse in New Tharagupet, Bengaluru, that killed two people and severely injured four others was a disaster waiting to happen. Besides damaging vehicles parked at the site, the explosion shattered window panes and glasses of buildings within 200 metres. Though the godown was in use for several years, the owner disregarded safety protocols and was guilty of not possessing a licence from either the BBMP or the Deputy Controller of Explosives. But, on the other hand, one must laud the Fire and Emergency Services staff for their timely intervention, which averted a much bigger disaster.
N J Ravi Chander,
Bengaluru
Persons in public life must be clean
Persons in public life are expected to be moral exemplars of morality and ethics as they have publicly pledged to uphold and defend that realm. For those holding a Public Office, there can be no dividing line between their Personal and Public lives.
The private lives of public figures are wide open to public scrutiny. What they do in their private life matters and does impact their public responsibilities. Can they be ethical in public if they are dishonorable in private?
When to get appointed even as a peon one needs a police clearance, it is highly appalling that persons with extremely serious criminal cases pending against them are holding public office.
Truth and integrity must always be the overriding characteristics of those who are privileged and entrusted to serve others as public officials. Repaying that trust by being accountable and acting responsibly with integrity is crucial in a democracy and to ensure good Governance. Failure to do so only leads to anarchy and a failed state abounding in corruption and a breakdown in the rule of law.
The French Nobel Prize winning Author and Philosopher Albert Camus had rightly said “A man without ethics is a wild beast loosed upon this world”.
Aires Rodrigues,
Ribandar
Zero accountability, government's right
Through an affidavit filed with the Delhi High Court in response to a PIL the Centre has informed that the PM Cares fund is not a Government of India fund and the amount collected by it does not go to the Consolidated Fund of India. The PMO in an honorary capacity works as its trustees to manage and disburse donations for needy causes and the auditing is overseen by chartered accountants drawn from the CAG, which incidentally is a government body.
The submission before the court also states that the PM Cares fund does not fall within the ambit of the RTI act and it is not constrained to disclose information about its functioning, administrative structure, fiduciary duties or how it utilises the money. This is another example of the opaqueness with which the Centre functions, not a sliver of transparency; recently demands for a parliamentary probe into L'affaire Pegasus met the same fate. The monies collected by the PMC is from the public, and purportedly spent on welfare of the public. Never have we witnessed such a state of affairs.
Vinay Dwivedi, Benaulim
