19 Feb 2018 | 06:03am IST
letters to the editor
While there is much bluster in the press about whether fresh mining in Goa should be conducted through auctioning of leases to private parties or under the management of public sector corporations, this is a relatively unimportant issue. The burning one is the recovery of value lost to the state.
The law is unequivocal about this (Section 21 of MMDR Act). It has also been re-emphasised by the Supreme Court in its judgement of 7 February, 2018 (Goa Foundation vs Sesa Sterlite and Others), which directs the state to ‘expedite recovery’.
The value of ore mined illegally in Goa between 2012 and now has been estimated at Rs 65,000 crores. The Orissa Government has recently recovered Rs 30,000 crores from miners. Goa, on the other hand, has recovered nothing. Is this a scam or merely ‘scum'?
It is high time to tell the taxi operators in Goa that they cannot take Goa and Goans for a ride any more. I cannot understand how the MLAs of the present Government and the opposition can keep on supporting them on this mission of exploiting the citizens and the tourists. How long will this be allowed to continue?
All have to understand that tourism provides employment and business opportunities for so many in Goa. This industry is being killed by these taxi mafia and one fine day everyone will feel the loss and the damage. We, the locals also have to face problems due to this behaviour and non- existence of competition of app-based taxis like Ola, Uber etc.
Competition provides better service and rates for all citizens. When other parts of India are having why we in Goa should be deprived of this benefit. The MLAs and others supporting them should realise that you need peoples support to get elected and the only support of this mafia will not suffice in your elections.
I appeal to the Government to be firm in dealing with this problem and the people of Goa will appreciate your governance of not being cowed down by these rogues.
The Goa branch of the Indian Water Work Association (IWWA) will host the 50th annual convention on water conservation and management at Kala Academy from February 19-21. The theme is ‘Water…the Elixir of Life’.
The organizers say that special technical sessions on smart water and smart city are included in the context of Panjim being developed as a smart city. This is not the need of the hour. Goa is facing a deadly crisis of water contamination. With the increase in population and no STP’s which connect all dwellings all water bodies are getting contaminated.
The Mandovi is certified as highly polluted by the NIO. We need desperate actions to correct this in a very short time. No one seems to be seized with this problem.
Provide the experts at the Convention with details of all STP’s in operation with the health status of the same and the number of dwellings with population which are connected to an STP, to septic tanks and open air. Show the number of open and bore wells in the area. Do this and you will know the health bomb we are sitting on!
Don’t be shocked if they advise the Government to stop all construction activities, shut all hotels with no STP’s, stop all bridges and construct the STP’s on a war-footing. Our Government alone will not do this.
Consumer-rights should be included in the University syllabus and RTI should also be included but both at school-level and college level.
It is a welcome decision to include Consumer-rights as part of graduate-level University syllabus from coming academic session.
Rather such course should be a consolidated one to also include chapters on Right-To-Information (RTI) Act to make young graduates fully aware of their rights for day-to-day need. Such inclusion of RTI Act in the syllabus will also be beneficial for new generation of officers to properly handle RTI applications.
Only recently several Central Information Commissioners in their verdicts have lashed out on Information Officers for their complete lack of knowledge in handling RTI applications, further recommending public-authorities to hold training-workshops for their officers.
Better is to start such courses in a single compulsory subject at secondary-level school education in self-interest of students in their lives. Similar course at graduation-level can also include some basic legal knowledge about some other commonly used Acts apart from advanced study on consumer-rights and RTI Act.
It is astonishing and heartbreaking to read about mass shooting, in which 17 people were killed and 15 injured when a former student opened fire at a high school in Parkland- Florida. The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on Wednesday.
Where the shooting took place, has a signifcant number of Indian students. On the spot at least a few students of Indian origin were within the danger zone, and were saved by grace of God and their sheer luck, said sources.
It is really heartfelt and an inhuman step taken by former student. The more we express contrition, the less it was. I extend my heartfelt prayers to the victims, the families of martyrs, 15 injured and academy body. Finally, I expect the assailant should be jailed so that no student dare take such inhuman move again.
Ashfaque Nadvi, Hyderabad
The reason women-centric laws have come to be feared as "legal terrorism" is that certain excesses are common to all of them, all these laws are easy to abuse. A mere allegation by a woman that she is victim of marital abuse, cruelty or dowry demands is enough to send the accused persons, including old-aged parents and teenage sisters, to jail. Bail is not easy in these cases.
Families spend years in defending themselves even if the charges are blatantly false. The stigma involved destroys and shatters the family completely. In all other crimes, including murder, the accused is presumed innocent till proven guilty. However, in women-centric laws, the accused is presumed guilty till proved innocent.
The principle of due process, which is essential for fair trial, has also been done away with because the accused has to suffer the ignominy and trauma of jail even before trial.
The sole testimony of the woman is considered enough to indict the accused. The definition of domestic violence has been widened enough to even include verbal abuse and emotional mental torture.
A law which puts verbal taunts at par with physical violence is unsound and irrational because it gives a free hand to make allegations to blackmail the accused but impossible for the accused to prove his innocence. The threat of undergoing jail even before commencement of the trial makes husbands and their families an easy target of blackmail.
