Traffic challans
must be paid online
The traffic cell on Wednesday has announced that starting from March 1, cash payments will no longer be accepted for the compounding of traffic challans issued under the Motor Vehicle Act and Rules. Instead, all challans will now be compounded digitally in a shift towards online payment methods.
It has also said that the new system will only accept payments through two modes — QR code payment wherein a QR code will be generated on the e-challan machine, which can be scanned by violators to make the payment or pay through the online portal wherein a direct link will be provided to violators through the official website
Sounds like a very good decision and many will say that with the implementation of the new system, the cops from the traffic cell will now finally fall in line.
And what about all the senior citizens/some uneducated poor people who do not have a single debit card, who do not know how to use this online facility despite of having a mobile phone and who go to exclusively use only cash in their day to day affairs in Goa? Will their vehicles be confiscated right on the spot and taken to the police station just because they do not know how to use the online payment facility while compounding of traffic challans in Goa?
Just don't understand why the government is so much in a hurry to bring such sudden new changes when it still cannot provide it's citizens with the basic facilities like free uninterrupted Internet, education, descent jobs, good roads, water, electricity etc in the name of going fully digital even after 64 years of Goa's liberation.
Jerry Fernandes, Saligao
'Idli-sambar' row
unwarranted
The Calangute MLA on Thursday reportedly waded into controversy around sub-letting of beach shacks to non-Goans, pointing to this practice as one of the principal reasons for the decline in tourism across the state. It must be said that the opposition by the MLA to sub-letting of the shacks is understandable.
But how this is related to the decline of tourism in the state is debatable. It was also suggested that selling of idli-sambar in shacks should be stopped. Idli-sambar is available everywhere across the country and there is no point in stopping to serve it in the shacks. Several Indian tourists visit Goa and there can be no restriction on what they eat at the shacks. Isn’t idli-sambar served in the Udipi restaurants in the state?
How can one have control on the menu of the shacks? Tourists from other states could be strict vegetarians and hence should have a free choice of what they eat. How can serving idli-sambar in the shacks have a negative impact on the promotion of our culture? Instead of deciding on what the tourists should eat and what not to eat, it would be in the fitness of things to concentrate on stopping the rowdy behavior of the local tourists who seem to have no fear of the local law-enforcing agency. They drink on the beach, drive recklessly, even causing deaths due to road accidents, pick up fights with the locals, indulge in eve-teasing of Goan ladies and carrying out other illegal activities.
Adelmo Fernandes, Vasco
Proper fishing
nets needed
I am a Dutch tourist staying in Benaulim. Every time I walk the beach and see the fishermen pull in their nets, I am always kind of mad. The "holes" in the nets that they are using, are so small, that nothing can escape.
Small fish are caught in the net and are just disposed off/left on the beach. By this, the fishermen are destroying their own livelihood. Why is there no restriction on how small these holes can be, so that the young fish can escape/grow up.
Giovanni Santuz, by email
CBSE's two board exams
creates confusion
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE's) proposal for two Class ten board exams from 2026 has sparked a row. The board had gone for such innovations in the past too and though some of its novelties had gone well with the students some did not. Public examination undoubtedly has always caused anxiety and apprehension among parents, teachers and students and now with the boards experimentation of two semester's- doubts, apprehension and worries have risen. Exams normally cause unnecessary stress for students, parents, and teachers and now with two exams within a short span, many of them feel , will only increase the pressure of direct stakeholders.
Teachers fear that it might disrupt the entire academic calendar of schools effecting other school activities. Parents and teachers doubt whether students will take the first exam seriously as they know that there is a second one. Even though bettering ones performance in the second exam sounds viable it only gives stress and anxiety to the students. Expectations of the teachers and parents will further enhance anxiety and pressure in the students.
Institutional heads are anxious about the work load that they will have to encounter. Normally examinations follow evaluation and now with another examination and evaluation , teachers fear, will over burden them. Schools that are exam and evaluation centres may find it difficult to conduct other classes and execute school activities.
Teachers fear that for those engaged in invigilation and evaluation it will be 'marathon work ' as they will not even get a short break. Schools also fear about resources management. Though two CBSE board exams can provide flexibility it also raises concerns about student teacher stress, school work load, resource allocation and so on. The board has to seriously take in the views of the various stakeholders especially the students , teachers, parents and make a thorough study, debate, deliberate, evaluate the challenges and then only implement the new system.
M Pradyu, Kannur
Impact of weaker Rupee
It is unprecedented in the history of India that Rupee stands depreciated so steeply by about a whopping 5% to 87.20 against the dollar from 83.50 in August, 2024! This is a great blow not only to the importers but also those who have acquired foreign currency loans from overseas lenders as they have to shell out more in rupees to buy dollars from the banks. Moreover, the weaker rupee has become double trouble for the students who have gone abroad for their higher studies; (i) Shelling out more Rupees to buy the required foreign currency to pay their tuition fees periodically (ii) Tightening of post education visa norms which dims chances of higher pay and repayment of loan sooner back home.
Though there may be various factors for the steep slide in the value of rupee against dollar, the skewed policies of the BJP government and their failure to gauge the fall in advance and guard against the same are the main reasons for the same. When the priorities of the government linker around winning election after election by hook or by crook and attending religious meets like Kumb Mela in Prayagraj and Mahashivratri celebrations in Coimbatore, imposing Hindi on Non- Hindi speaking states and spending more time in finding ways and means to stay put in power, all unconnected to strengthen the economy of the nation, such things detrimental to the progress of the country are bound to happen.
Tharcius S Fernando, Chennai