23 Dec 2019 | 05:36am IST
Letters to the editor
Something that has puzzled me for quite some time now, is the word OCI, meant to read as Overseas Citizen of India. Now, if a person of Indian Origin, voluntarily and consciously decides to surrender his/her Indian Passport, in favour of another, he/she then ceases to be a Citizen of India. He/she would normally acquire a new nationality. For e.g Portuguese , British, US, Canadian, etc as the case may be.
In these circumstances, how is it then that they can still be called Overseas Citizens of India? Wouldn't Overseas Ex citizens of India or (P.I.O.) Person of Indian Origin indeed be a more appropriate term? Point to ponder.
Ruben de Oliveira Fernandes, Alto Betim
Where are the Mando lovers?
This is in response to your write-up on Mando Festival, in your Café of today, by Ajit John. I am a veteran of Mando Festival attendee since 1969/70 and I feel very sorry to see it so miserably attended. The first day, Dec. 18, hardly 100 attendees attended it, half of them were the close relatives of the participants performing there.
Where are all those people gone now who were coming in such a big numbers to watch it and that too by paying costly tickets and wearing rich costumes befitting the rich cultural dignity of this Festival? I was even shocked to see none among the well known earlier prize winners present there. I think they also lost their interest in this great cultural item of Goa.
What went wrong to see that its prominence is gone down so much? Is marketing gone into wrong hands or the organisers failed to woo the audience? Where are all those earlier gigantic groups from Mapusa, Saligao, Candolim and other places gone? I still remember how I made it popular among the concerned people in early seventies in my village the greatness of this festival otherwise with the exception of Dr Monteiros others were ignorant.
When the organisers were facing difficulties we from Kuwait supported them financially. Not only that, to protect and to spread Mando culture among us, we even organised Mando Festival in Kuwait with the participation of about 10 Goan groups and this was attended by the capacity attendees in one of the 5 Star Hotels.
I am disappointed for lack of interest among Goans in this great event which was free of charge.
A Veronica Fernandes, Candolim
Save what is remaining of Goa
As we gear to usher in 2020 let our firm resolve be to do everything possible to save what now remains of our Goa. We need to keep a very watchful eye on every act of corruption and nepotism while we ensure that no Human Right of anyone is ever violated. Let our care and compassion be always for the defenseless downtrodden. Let us all vow to be the true guardians and alert watch-dogs of Goem, Goenkar and Goenkarponn. May we at all times be inspired and guided by those words of High Court Justices Gautam Patel and Nutan Sardessai “Goa is a land truly worth fighting for”.
Let us hope better working and living conditions for the overworked police constabulary and our grossly under paid Home Guards not forgetting our municipal workers who have been receiving a very raw and shabby deal despite having a awfully tough job to do.
Aires Rodrigues, Ribandar
Is NRC & CAA a blessing in disguise?
More than ten people have lost their lives and the 'Sab ke Sath, Sab ka Vikas' Government is unable to quell the ever growing protest all over the country. This shows that the 'Garib maa ka beta' does not understand the feelings of the poor who will be the worst sufferers of the nation wide NRC and CAA.
Instead of making India a 'Congress mukt Bharat', the NRC and CAA may be a blessing in disguise to make India a 'BJP mukt Bharat'.
Of late the BJP government in the Centre and as well as at the State Level, though in power for almost 7 years, are still blaming the Congress regime for all the mess in the country. Firstly, what one fails to understand is, if for seven years you cannot correct the mess than you are incapable of leading a country for the next years, this is loud and clear.
Secondly the BJP in most of the States have been reduced to a minority by its own by people’s mandate. It’s because they have imported MLAs from the Congress that they are ruling in most of the States. So, if Congress MLAs were part of the previous mess and now they are being imported into the so called "Mr Clean" party, how can BJP expect to clear the mess when the mess mentality is in power? Even after 10 years they will still be blaming the Congress. Which means the BJP is not fit to rule the country, State.
It’s a shame that the Congress and Regional party MLAs for greed of money have swung against people’s mandate. It won’t be too late when one will see how BJP ditches these imported MLAs closer to election, a lesson learnt by an upcoming Regional party. Had this Regional Party and independent MLA, kept their promise to the people of Goa, to support the BJP till Parrikar held its chair, then today the story would be different.
Once kicked, and now not in power, it’s when you expose the wrongs of a government that a few months back you were part of. Mann Ki Baat 2019. Let’s hope 2020 has some new fun innings!
Custodio Marques, Telaulim
While cutting the onions many of us cry bringing tears to our eyes but for the past one month we are crying to buy onions because it has become expenses more than petrol. All the food items are increasing day by day but our salary still remains the same. In the name of rain every year this whole sellers and retailers are fooling us and our poor farmers who work hard in the fields in all the seasons are always suffering. They are looting us by keeping the stock in rooms and stores and selling them when the prices rise.
Even when the quality is bad we buy onions because we need them in our daily cooking. Are we going to lose our weight or going to die if we stop eating onions at least till the prices come down to its normal rate? Request our Goans not to give in to the demand for onions so that the prices come back down soon.
Also request our Goa State government to immediately look into the matter and try to solve the problem which the public are facing due to the high onion price.
There have been several incidents of rape reported in the country wherein the victim has been burnt alive. The minor girl who was raped in Unnao in UP was torched while she was going to the court. The Veterinary doctor who was raped in Hyderabad was also burnt. Investigators probing the gang rape of the doctor in Hyderabad have claimed that two of the four suspects had confessed to raping and burning nine other women.
This is an absolutely dangerous trend. The rape victim is in all probability burnt alive by the rapists to silent the rape survivor and destroy all evidence of a rape having taken place. Be that as it may the fact that an expelled MLA was sentenced to life imprisonment in the Unnao rape case comes as a welcome news.
It shows that no one, however powerful, is above the law. It is understood that the family members had hoped that the rapist would be given a life sentence as only capital punishment would have given them security. The fear of the family members is not unfounded. A man who was in a position of power can prove dangerous to the family of the victim even when behind bars. This fact has been proved time and again.
