Allow students for opening ceremony
It is learnt that in order to galvanize crowds for the inaugural ceremony of the National Games, to be inaugurated by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Department of Education has reportedly asked secondary and higher secondary schools to depute 30 students each along with two teachers to attend the ceremony on October 26. This will obviously be an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the students to witness the National Games and support over 10,000 athletes.
The question that arises is why restrict the number to just 30 students per school? On what basis will schools choose these 30 students? Won’t the remaining students feel left out from such an important occasion? It is pertinent to note that the Diwali vacation for schools in the state have been rescheduled by the Directorate of Education.
The vacation has been advanced to October 25-November 18 in view of the National Games. It would be in the fitness of things to keep the doors open for all secondary and higher secondary students who are interested to attend the opening ceremony. Since the function at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Fatorda, is still a few days away the government could have rethink on the issue and allow all students to witness the function.
Adelmo Fernandes, Vasco
Verna junction is a traffic block
Government has done a splendid task of constructing a highway from Panjim to Margao via the new Zuari bridge to ease travel and reduce time to just half an hour. It was meant to cover the distance in one go without any hassles. But the journey is spoiled by two traffic blocks –one at airport road and other at Verna industrial junction which are just hundred meters away. The pleasure of covering the distance in short time is nullified due to these hurdles. Apart from this jam there are no hurdles on the entire route. It seems no thought has been given to these two crucial locations which have become a headache for the daily commuters. It is all the more surprising apart from Ministers who get priority, other MLAs, elected representatives or those NGOs coming on street for pretty issues have totally ignored this aspect. It may be all are moving in chauffeur driven a/c cars with tinted glasses, so ignorant of what is happening on the way. Will the concerned minister and officials wake up and take initiative to remove these hassles permanently to make the journey in one go in true sense with least time of travel?
B V S Priolkar, Margao
Surgical strike by doctors
Doctors today are more focused on titles, reviews and profit (TRP). This has led to the neglect of contents, indexes and appendix (CIA). Gone are the days when doctors were considered as life-savers and God.
Gone are the days when doctors charged a measly sum, when in fact, they deserved a lumpsum!
The medical profession once held sway. Today it has simply become another money making ‘way’! The trend it appears today is that only after one has knocked off a few ‘stumps,’ just as in cricket, that an appendicitis surgery is done. This undoubtedly leaves the patient feeling in
the dumps.
However, if the patient is daring, bold and unfazed. He could file a consumer complaint, to seek compensation and redressal for a shortage in service that left him feeling depraved.
Vinay Rodrigues, Margao
India’s hunger situation is ‘serious’
Global Hunger Index(GHI), the multi-dimensional yearly review system to measure hunger levels in the world, and undertaken by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) from 2006, has indicated that progress against hunger is at a standstill. There are many countries which have ‘moderate hunger’ ‘serious’, ‘alarming’ and ‘extremely alarming’ hunger indices. The dampening news is India’s situation is ‘serious’. The proportion of the undernourished as a percentage of population, wasting of children under five, stunting of under five children and under-five mortality are the four parameters that are used to rank the countries.
In the 2023 index, India has ranked 111 out of 125 countries, while it ranked 107 out of 121 countries in 2022, and 94 out of 107, in 2020.
This year, India had the highest child wasting rate in the world. Since India is the second largest food producer in the world, it is obvious that hunger is unrelated to food production. Successive governments have boastfully claimed that the country is blessed with a robust public distribution system (PDS). The National Food Security Act 2013, appears to have laid more thrust on staple diets rice and wheat with less-than-satisfactory focus on the nutritious coarse grains and pulses. Hunger has to be finely balanced with nutrition, if India has to better its GHI rankings in the years to come.
Ganapathi Bhat, Akola
Need to allow fuel into Gaza
The Israel-Hamas war has escalated, with Israel pulverising the Gaza strip with more air-strikes and preparing for a ground assault. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to crush Hamas and said there would be no humanitarian aid to Gaza unless Hamas freed its hostages. The Red Cross pleaded for fuel to be allowed in to prevent overwhelmed hospitals from turning into morgues. Meanwhile, India reiterated its call for a sovereign Palestine state, emphasising that its stance has not wavered. Dialogue and diplomacy can alone bring an end to the conflict.
N J Ravi Chander, Bengaluru
Pay air fare for evacuation
Considering the warlike situation in Israel, the Government of India has started to implement ‘Operation Ajay’ and Air India has evacuated Indian citizens from October 13, without charging air fare.
Air travel charges should be paid by those evacuated or they can deposit the money into the social welfare or military welfare funds. That would be true gratitude.
Jayesh Rane, Mumbai.
