Can Trump be allowed to contest US Presidency?
How the US of A can consider election of a convicted person like Donald Trump for President is something that is quite difficult to digest. Sleight of hand and deft accounting that has been found not according to the laws of the land led to Trump’s conviction.
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But he continues to claim that he did not do anything wrong. He probably fails to understand that his interpretation is not the law. For a man who has been President casting aspersions on the judge and the court shows a complete lack of respect of the judiciary.
This was also seen in the Capitol Hill attack case in which Trump had been implicated where he accused the courts to be biased against him. There are two other States which have banned him from the ballot for the upcoming Presidential elections.
It cannot be that the courts in different States have an axe to grind against Trump so he has to look at himself before blaming the entire world around him for his problems. The surprising thing is that a large number of Republicans are rallying behind Trump preparatory to the party convention shortly which is expected to ratify his candidature for the Presidency as the official nominee.
How they can support Trump, a convicted felon and who has scant respect for the judiciary one of the pillars of the world’s most powerful democracy is astonishing. The Supreme Court in the US also did not come up with any definite judgment when the matter was brought before them whether Trump could run for the Presidency when he was facing criminal charges as also the accusation of wanting to overthrow the results of the last Presidential election when Biden was elected.
They indulged in what-if scenarios in the long term since it was a constitutional issue and went into long winded arguments which did not arrive at any definitive decision.
Independent observers felt that this happened because 4-5 of the judges in the Supreme Court had been approved by Trump when he was the President and they were returning the favours now. Thus Trump may not be far wrong when he alleges bias in the judiciary. For the benefit of the US of A it is best that Donald Trump’s name is struck off the ballot of the upcoming Presidential elections legally so as to stop him from having any other recourse to contest the elections.
Srinivas Kamat, Alto St Cruz
India heading towards inequality
Our political leaders do not pay heed to Noble laureate Amartya Sen’s suggestions of giving priority to human development. As a result, India is heading towards more inequality. In a recent paper, the French economist, Thomas Piketty and others observed, “The Billionaire Raj headed by India’s modern bourgeoisie is now more unequal than the British Raj headed by the colonialist forces.”
Yet the authorities have been giving their total attention to GDP growth, ignoring dismal performance in human development.
Heads of the inequality coin show that India has 271 billionaires, which is the third highest in the world (The 2024 Hurun Global Rich List). Tails of the same coin reveal the struggle of the common people to get health care and education for their children in our country, which ranks 134th in the global human development index behind Bhutan (125) and Bangladesh (129).
When will the authorities listen to him and start the journey for inclusive welfare for all the people of our country?
Sujit De, Kolkata
Step up action against drunk driving in State
Alcohol destroys families and it causes violence. The recent tragedy in Gujarat’s Botad district involving spurious liquor that has claimed more than 40 lives, adds to the long list of deaths from unregulated, unsafe alcohol. Liquor consumption tragedies cannot be attributed to hooch alone. Clamping down on liquor production and sale, or prohibition, is not the solution. Ensuring that all alcohol sales happen under safety regulation coupled with measures that would limit excess and underage consumption must be the way forward. The way to minimise liquor-related tragedies is not prohibiting its consumption as in Gujarat and Bihar, but by bringing alcohol consumption under the regulatory radar with clear parameters for sale and consumption. This must be supported by strict enforcement of related laws such as stepping up action against drunk driving.
Jubel D’Cruz, Mumbai
NY pitch reportedly unfit for cricket
It is unfortunate that the quality of the pitch and the outfield at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York, where some of the T20 world cup games are being played, are reportedly sub-standard and unfit for cricket.
Not only matches played here so far were low-scoring, but the playing surface turned out to be borderline dangerous as well. Though India won against arch rival Pakistan in the titanic clash last Sunday, the game certainly lacked the zest and zeal that a T20 game produces.
It has been reported that pitches were brought in from Australia and prepared in Florida in haste, before being transported to New York, which meant that the pitch and square got no time to settle in. Pitches in world cricket are increasingly becoming the centre of controversy, and it doesn’t bode well for the game.
Ranganathan Sivakumar, Chennai
FDA should keed tab on roadside vendors
The Margao Municipal Council has recently invited applications for members of the Town Vending committee.
This is a good policy under the guidelines of the National Policy on Urban street vendors 2009. In similar circumstances, there are street vendors in every village panchayat – many who operate by the road side and
neither the civic bodies nor FDA conducts raid to check the hygiene of such road side kiosks which sell eatable items.
Even the bakery bread is nowadays sold on the road without any name or registration number. Will the Director of Panchayat issue such similar guidelines for Panchayats to invite road side vendors and form their committee as they need to have FDA and Road traffic guidelines for such business.
This will give the vendors protection of livelihood and regulations of street vending rules 2016.
Gregory E D’Souza, Siolim
