World peace
under threat
With two bitter wars between Israel- Hamas and Russia-Ukraine threatening to spiral out of control into a nuclear war, modern weaponry has made them deadlier and accumulated hatred makes them even harder to resolve.
Such a lot of death, destruction and violation of every human right going on with the UNO as an impotent observer! Trumpism is spreading worldwide. China is in an expansionist mode and together with nations like North Korea testing more and more weapons of mass destruction threatening its neighbors and world peace.
Such a lot of hypocrisy everywhere! In India, whilst propounding slogans like Sab Ke Saath etc everything is being done by the ruling party to divide and polarise the nation in the name of emotional issues like caste, religion and nationalism. Congress, the only all India Opposition party is termed as anti-national and in our democracy so is any criticism or opinion is unpalatable to the government. History too is being created by new narratives.
All things related to colonial legacy, however good some of them might have been, are to be reviled and discarded. With AI and media hype, truth is indeed very difficult to fathom! When we contemplate the cost of just one conventional missile, the hundreds being fired almost daily somewhere pounding the earth and the millions of people going hungry and in devastation, where are our humanity and fraternity of man gone? What is our religion?
John Eric Gomes, Porvorim
Palm trees protect against lightning
Lightning reportedly struck a turret of the 460-year-old Holy Spirit Church in Margao, causing some stones to fall onto the courtyard below damaging a scooter in the process. Luckily no one was injured. However damage was done to the formidable façade of the baroque–style church. Lightning also struck a building at Mangor Hill in Vasco damaging it partially and a house at Bogmalo.
Be that as it may, it needs to be noted that tall trees are normally found in front of churches in order to attract lightning towards it and away from the metal bell in the belfry. Palm trees act as natural conductors during lightning strikes and prevent loss of lives. These tall trees have a unique ability to mitigate lightning strikes. One of the primary reasons palm trees are effective in mitigating lightning strikes is their high moisture content. The trunks of palm trees are filled with water and sap, which can absorb and dissipate the electrical energy from a lightning strike. This high moisture content acts as a natural conductor, allowing the lightning to pass through the tree and into the ground without causing significant damage to the surrounding structures. In Goa, trees are being cut rampantly to make way for tall buildings. Hence high-rise buildings will always be susceptible to lightning strikes. This is probably nature’s way to warn against construction activities at great heights by indulging in hill-cutting and chopping down trees.
Adelmo Fernandes, Vasco
Religious beliefs
need to be respected
Velingkar's controversial religious remarks made against St Francis Xavier, the patron saint of the State are shameful. Freedom of expression does give us the right to insult or hurt religious beliefs of others. Ensuring peace and harmony in the country and communities is the most sacred duty of every citizen of this country. The ideals of justice, liberty, equality and fraternity in the preamble of the Constitution are relevant and meaningful because these ideals promote a common feeling of brotherhood. One should be careful while issuing statements and defamatory remarks should not hurt the sentiments of any particular segment of
the society.
K G Vilop, Chorao
Chennai Air show fiasco
leaves sour memories
It was anticipated that the IAF air show at the Marina beach, Chennai last Sunday would ever be remembered for its spectacular and stunning manoeuvres in the sky like any other air-shows held elsewhere in the country previously. But, the dazzling event at Chennai will be remembered and talked about in future more for the precious loss of a few human lives and many having suffered from dizziness and fainting due to searing heat and unbearable crowd gathering at the show. Perhaps, chiefly the IAF should take the blame for the misfortune because it aggressively pushed the occasion to set a new world record for the largest gathering at an air show, without taking into consideration two important aspects - the timing of the show at the peak noon and whether the extent of the beach area could really accommodate such a huge crowd turning out in lakhs in hot and humid conditions.
IAF is known for its eminence and reputation, and does it really require its fame and prestige to scale further heights just by aiming to set a new world record?
Ranganathan Sivakumar, Chennai
Exit polls go
for a toss
The exit polls are becoming unreliable and are piling up with more misses than hits. The exit poll results for the Haryana Assembly Elections, which predicted a clean sweep for the Congress, unexpectedly swung the exact opposite way. In Jammu & Kashmir, most exit polls predicted a hung assembly, but the actual result shows a decisive win for the Congress-NC alliance.
It is not the first time that exit polls proved to be erroneous. Notable instances include the 2024 Lok Sabha, 2023 Chhattisgarh, 2017 Uttar Pradesh, 2015 Bihar, and 2015 Delhi elections. These errors underscore the uncertainty of exit polls. Since in the last two or three elections Psephologists predictions have been going awry, Psephology is losing its earlier charm.
If psephology is a science and uses scientifically designed statistical tools, then at a given point all agencies should have the same projections, and exit polls should never go wrong. But the big question is, why do exit polls go wrong in India? Pollsters are predicting without any accountability. At the very least, viewers should be told every agency's past accuracy record. Hence one should be wary of the psephology, and it should be taken with a pinch of salt.
K V Chandra Mouli,
Mysuru