Mainpur CM's apology
is too little, too late
Chief Minister M N Biren Singh’s apology for the ethnic violence that has ravaged Manipur since May 2023 is too little, too late. Over 250 lives have been lost, thousands displaced and women brutalised in unimaginable ways. The ongoing conflict between Meiteis and Kuki-Zos has led to an estimated 260 deaths, over 60,000 people have also been displaced in the strife-torn state. The CM, once a football player having played for BSF, has dribbled on, pinning blame on external forces, Myanmar’s militias and drug cartels so far.
Allegations of bias against the Kuki-Zo community have further eroded any trust in his leadership but surprisingly, he still continues to reign – thanks to NDA governments at the
Centre. His apology is a transparent attempt to deflect blame rather than take responsibility. Since Biren has finally tendered his apology, its high time for PM Modi to pay a visit to the strife torn state to get the clear picture of the grave events that made the world take a note of it.
Importantly, Manipur needs a leadership overhaul and a political solution grounded in justice, equality and genuine dialogue. Singh must face the consequences of his failures.
Gregory Fernandes, Mumbai
Need to halt downslide
of tourism in State
There have reportedly been mixed signals on tourist turnout in Goa in December 2024. But one thing is for sure, while there has been a rise in the number of local tourists, there has been a notable shortfall in the arrival of high-spending foreign tourists.
It must be said that the local tourists do not bring much in terms of revenue for the state. According to the stakeholders, business has been down by 15 to 30 percent depending on the category of the hotels.
Obviously foreign tourists are opting for other tourist destinations like Vietnam, Thailand, Sri Lanka and other East Asian countries which could be offering better value as foreign destinations. Several factors explain why these countries have outpaced India in attracting foreign visitors. Southeast Asia has invested heavily in tourism infrastructure, streamlined visa policies, and launched aggressive marketing campaigns that promote their destinations as accessible and affordable.
Key issues including high taxi-rates and cleanliness concerns at beaches does not augur well for Goa. The beauty and greenery is getting destroyed in a hurry as ugly concrete structures are coming up everywhere. After the closure of mining activities in the state, Goa was relying heavily on the tourism sector for the state revenue. But improper planning, lack of affordable transport choices has been the bane of tourism in the state. It is time that the government retrospect on what has gone wrong and take necessary remedial steps.
Adelmo Fernandes, Vasco
Overcoming manpower
shortages in govt dept
There are number of posts lying vacant in various government departments. From low level jobs to high end jobs, there are fundamental flaws in the way the recruitment is done.
Thereby promotions are hard to come by. Still some employees are sitting in same post even after serving for more that 18 years. There is a dire need for skilled professionals. Government servants have been retiring in large numbers and the smooth functioning of such departments gets affected when vacancies are not filled on timely basis.
Manpower shortage in any department does affect its working and people finally suffer. The vacant posts should be filled up for smooth functioning of the departments.
K G Vilop, Chorao
Hypocritical
apology!
After waiting for 19 long months and heartlessly allowing more than 250 people to die, torching of equal number of churches, many houses , properties and and business establishments, parading women naked, fondling, raping and killing them in Manipur, Chief Minister Biren Singh who is alleged to be behind all the above atrocities has opened his mouth to say 'sorry' to the people of Manipur.
He has advised the people to forgive and forget everything and start a new life from the New year. What a hypocrisy! We don't find any remorse or contrition in his apology but a cunning dialogue to escape from the atrocities allegedly committed by him and his government. If he had come forward to resign as the Chief Minister accepting responsibility for what has happened, one can agree that he is doing it with remorse. On the contrary and in the absence of any concrete action worthy of mentioning coming from him or the BJP government at the centre, people will not accept his apology as one coming from his heart.
One really wonders why Prime Minister Modi has not come forward to remove Biren as the Chief Minister despite repeated demands from the opposition parties and all peace -loving people of the country which would have brought violence under control to a large extent. However, we cannot expect this from our tall leader who himself has not found time to visit the burning state even once to diffuse the tense situation there, in the past 19 months. This, despite his frequent visits within and outside the country.
Tharcius S Fernando, Chennai
Stop meddling with
animal habitat
This has reference to the report ‘Forest department digs trench at Bondbag to prevent human-animal conflict’ (Herald, January 2, 2025).
Trust our authorities to come up with bizzare solutions to the problems created by the authorities themselves. The forest department has dug a one-kilometer trench to stop wild animals from entering the village Bondbag Bethora. According to the news report, the villagers allege that the cutting of trees for constructing roads and highways has led to this human-animal conflict. This may be true to a large extent because you cannot enter wild territory and expect to be safe from the consequences. This is the case with several locations in cities like Mumbai as well. The message is clear, as I have mentioned before, keep off animal territory, leave alone the forest and let man and animal live in harmony. Are the authorities listening?
Melville X. D'Souza, Mumbai
Cervix cancer
awareness month
January is a month that is designated as cervical health awareness month in general and cervix cancer awareness month in particular. Cervix, a female genital organ lying below the corpus of the uterus, is very prone to infection. It is the second most common cancer in women in India.
In 2020, more than six lakh cervix cancer patients were diagnosed globally of which more than three lakh succumbed to the disease. Cervix is an accessible organ, and symptoms like post coital bleeding are manifested early, so cancer screening has been a fairly success story.
Right from the Papanicolaou (Pap) smear screening to the Human Papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine administration, a considerable volume of work has ensured early diagnosis of the disease.
All women above the age of 30 should be screened for cervical cancer. All women aged 21 to 29 should go for Pap test three yearly. Women in the age bracket of 25 to 65 have to have HPV test every five years or pap test every three years.
2 doses of HPV vaccine are recommended for girls aged 9 to 14 years with a gap of atleast six months between them. If delayed, then the 15 --26-year age group must have three doses. "Learn. Prevent. Screen" is the relevant theme for the cervix cancer awareness month.
Ganapathi Bhat, Akola