Firecrackers pose health hazards
The festival of Diwali, which is being celebrated tomorrow, is incomplete without bursting firecrackers. But, as we all know, the firecrackers pose grave health hazards. When lit, the combination of chemicals from firecrackers generates poisonous oxides. Exposure to chemicals is a threat even while storing or carrying firecrackers. Also the noise of fire-crackers, well beyond the threshold of human tolerance, traumatizes the young, old, sick and pets alike. One can no longer buy the argument of children cherishing firecrackers, as the current younger generation has greater awareness of the serious hazards the crackers pose. Bursting firecrackers is certainly not advisable given the significant relationship between air pollution and respiratory infections. The fireworks that lit up the night sky during Diwali may be a feast to our eyes, but they poison the environment and the ecosystem.
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Ranganathan Sivakumar, Chennai
Avoid fire crackers during Diwali
The bursting of fire crackers is like rubbing salt on the lot, of patients with respiratory disorders. Those who light fire crackers leave if for the sanitation workers of the local municipal councils, zilla parishads, to clean the waste. People bursting crackers would litter and force someone else to clean it up. This is called the limit of shamelessness.
Major metropolises and cities of the country have been left in a precarious position.
Apart from Diwali, firecrackers can be seen during election results, meetings of leaders, also during their visits to the particular area in the constituency, cricket matches, marriage processions etc. Diwali crackers cause fire accidents, burns, eye injuries. Hence fire crackers are to be avoided during Diwali. Instead of enjoying sweet food during Diwali, the stomach fills up with the fumes of air pollution.
Jayesh Rane, Mumbai
KTC should keep a tab on its drivers
It must be said that in Goa one of the prime reasons for road accidents, some of them fatal, is drunken driving. The Goa Traffic Police officials have said that the drive against drunk driving would be a daily affair and strict action would be taken against those found driving in an intoxicated state.
Traffic cops armed with alcometers are seen checking private car drivers for drunken driving. But then what about drivers driving buses of the state owned Kadamba Transport Corporation (KTC) allegedly under the influence of alcohol? It is learnt that a KTC bus driver drove a packed bus from Panaji bus stand en route to Valpoi allegedly in an intoxicated state on Thursday thereby endangering the lives of the passengers and other road users.
On reaching the highway in Old Goa the alarmed passengers, witnessing the driver’s dangerous behaviour, forced the bus to stop. The passengers claimed that the driver couldn’t sit properly and was leaning while driving. A video which has gone viral on Social Media shows the driver slumped on the passenger seat after the bus halted. The driver was reportedly arrested subsequently. But the question that remains unanswered is how a driver in an intoxicated state was allowed to take to the wheels. An accident could have had disastrous consequences. It seems prudent to also keep a check on drivers of KTC buses for drunken driving.
Adelmo Fernandes, Vasco
Country for reserved, not deserved?
What is the meaning of democracy in a country that swanks about giving equal chance to every citizen and reserves seats? I am interested to work for the betterment of people, I worked day and night with the people, I gained respect in their eyes, masses told me to stand for election, I agreed, democracy gave me a right to stand for the election but I found my region is reserved, where is my right now? To whom shall I ask my right?
To whom shall I show the preamble of India to prove I am right? When I read it, it says equality of status and of opportunity, where is my opportunity now? “You cannot move with the blanket of reservation in a state of democracy”
Pranay Sawant Dessai, Curchorem
Glaring inequalities of income and wealth
According to the World Inequality Report 2022, India is the most unequal nation in the world. India’s top 1% of the population hold more than one-fifth of the total national income and the bottom half just 13%. The report stated that the economic reforms adopted by India have mostly benefited the top 1%.
It has been observed that the deregulation and liberalisation policies implemented in India since the mid-1980s has led to “one of the most extreme increases in income and wealth inequality in the world”.
The report suggested that a modest progressive wealth tax should be levied on multimillionaires. Even modest progressive taxes can generate significant revenues for government because of the high concentration of wealth. In our country, write-off of huge amounts of bank loans for the rich has been done without a slight frown of disapproval while subsidies for the poor is constantly being questioned.
This glaring inequality must immediately be addressed. Our banking sector needs to sanction more micro-loans for farming, cottage and small enterprises that can mainly generate employment and less NPA-generating macro-credits.
Moreover, the poor who are reeling from high inequality, rising inflation, nagging unemployment and negative growth in real wages as per the Economic Survey of 2022-23, must not be further burdened with GST. High GST can only exist on luxury items. But essential items like food and medicine must have zero GST.
Sujit De, Kolkata
Tamil Nadu should learn from Goa
The Sports Authority of Goa as well as the Government deserve accolades for their splendid performance in conducting the 37th National Games in an astounding manner which I could watch through the DD telecast. Being a small State involved in this herculean task is in fact a motivation to other States as we could watch the enthusiasm shown by the Goans. From Day One, with the opening ceremony till the end on November 9, everything went on in an apple-pie order. The desire to establish a Sports University in Goa is an eye-opener to many other States. In Tamil Nadu, we have a young and energetic Sports Minister and I wish and hope he will follow suit.
Rajakumar Arulanandham, Chennai
