letters to the editor

Whatever may be the outcome of the Gujarat polls, it has shown how dirty Indian electoral processes can get with the politicians only worried about their being in power and have no concern for real progress of the country and upliftment of the deprived people. 

Congress wants to encash the Patidars & other OBCs by dangling the reservation carrot and with sudden discovery of their Hindu identity.  One can understand their desperation for a good electoral result to save the sinking ship.

The biggest disappointment has been the conduct of the BJP's star campaigners who sacrificed the progressive view points of development, clean politics and corruption control and have resorted to some very petty and baseless accusations to foment religious and caste divide.

PM's accusation that some body has given 'supari' for eliminating him plus Pakistan wants a particular Muslim leader to be the CM of Gujarat are going to haunt him in the coming times and certainly in the next general elections.  If there is any truth in his statement then, are the Indian intelligence agencies sleeping? Whatever may be the case, Prime Minister of a country like India, who projects himself as a great statesman on the international arena should not indulge in cheap electoral gimmicks. December 18 will show how mature Indian democracy is.

Everette Assis Telles, Margao

While it is laudable that a trial court in Tirupur has awarded death sentence to six persons in a case of ‘honour killing’, the courts should also take serious action against those goons who commit heinous crimes when a Hindu girl marries a Muslim boy calling it ‘love jihad’, a term coined by some sick mind. Even when both the girl and the boy truly fall in love with each other and  get married ,these religious fanatics intervene and try to separate them calling even such a marriage a ‘love jihad’.

 The courts should come forward to treat ‘love jihad’ also as  a criminal act like ‘honour killing’ and award exemplary punishment to those who commit atrocities against those  inter-religious couples.

Tharcius S.Fernando, Chennai

It refers to Indian Railways announcing optional sweet dish of hot Gulab-Jamun in place of usual ice-cream in case the passenger does not want to take ice-cream due to conditions like weather, liking, suitability etc. The move was aimed to prevent left-out packed ice-cream cups being kept by serving-staff. 

It is a usual practice that serving staff earns money by selling such unused packed food-items left by passengers to others desiring extra either at cost or by way of tips. But Indian Railways has not taken into account large number of diabetic passengers who will neither take ice-cream nor Gulab-Jamun or any other sweet dish. Even many passengers do not take even food-trays because of their avoiding onion and garlic.

Already most airlines have replaced food-serving by selling variety of packaged food-items according to choice of passengers. Indian Railways should stop practice of compulsorily charging food-cost in select trains, and start selling packaged branded food by giving some sale-commission to serving-staff, eliminating begging tips by serving-staff.

Scope of Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC) should be increased for manufacturing bakery-items and other such items by setting manufacturing-units in different parts of country. One-time planned investment will create huge employment opportunities and increased revenue earnings for Indian Railways. Rather IRCTC then can take charge of mid-day meal in schools where complaints of inferior food and finding dead insects, rats, lizards etc are quite common.

Madhu Agrawal, Delhi

Margao Municipal Corporation has revised upwards the wages of certain labour categories. Could this be a take away from the Rajasthan visit?

In October 2016, there was an all India strike by Unions/contract workers to protest the low minimum wages. The previous day of the strike, the Govt. proposed a 48% hike in the same to stall the strike. All States in India followed the strike: except Goa where the minimum wages are higher than the National. 

One of the duties of the MMC is to sweep clean all streets under its jurisdiction daily. I see this happening near the Municipal Garden/Municipality. Never seen this in Aquem, Borda, Fatorda! Definitely not around my building. I have seen shopkeepers daily burning litter outside their premises including plastic. The MMC online site informs its taxpayers that if the road around their houses has not been swept clean, they can complain to the MMC! So, taxpayers, please do your bit for Swaach Bharat. All councilors have been allotted a gang of such sweepers for this purpose. All these people fall in the NMR category: nominal muster roll. I have read in these very papers how in some States, such people end up as servants of the Govt. employees! Many of the names on the roll are fictitious. Hope these are not some of the takeaways from the recent jaunt.

Davorlim Panchayat has recently decided to fine anyone burning plastic! Commendable, they must let us know which State they visited. Does MMC have this rule? If so, then they must fine their own sweepers for reportedly burning rubbish. If not, then please visit Davorlim Panchayat and act.

Pollution is not only on the ground but air as well. I have seen parked 4 wheelers with the a/c running! Surely we need a rule here?

R Fernandes, Margao

The exercise of demonetization last year was a ‘coup’ that bodes very badly for the common men especially those who earn their living by the sweat of their brow. 

Our Prime Minister should be asked to stand in long serpentine queues to exchange his own money and that he should not be given more than Rs 4,000 for his daily expenses, only then will the people of India accept that the Prime Minister has led from the front in his so-called fight against black money. 

Jubel D’Cruz, Mumbai