More vehicle scrapping facilities needed
It is learnt that Goa is likely to get a vehicle scrapping facility at Marcaim which reportedly will be operational by next month. The facility will have the mandate to scrap commercial vehicles which are more than 15 years old. It may be recalled that the Registered Vehicle Scrapping Policy of Goa was announced in 2023. The key objective behind the policy is to figure out those unfit vehicles and methodically recycle them. The eventual aim is to eliminate the pollution in the environment caused by such vehicles. Data shows emission from just one end-of-life vehicle is equivalent to that of 11 new cars put together.
Recycling the old car will lead to getting incentives for buying a new vehicle. While the maximum age for petrol-related vehicles is 15 years, diesel-fuelled vehicles have a life cap of 10 years. It is learnt that the owner of any car older than 15 years found on Delhi roads is fined Rs 10,000. As India embraces clean energy, combating high carbon emission from old vehicles has become a priority. All private vehicles must go for re-registration at the RTOs after completing 15 years, and undergo a fitness test. If they clear the test, registration will be renewed for another five years and the same process will have to be repeated every five years. Given the number of vehicles which need to be scrapped in Goa, more such vehicle scrapping facilities need to be started.
Adelmo Fernandes, Vasco
Is India free from extreme levels of immorality?
The recent rape and murder of a 31-year-old resident doctor in a hospital in West Bengal has brought chills to one’s spine.
After her overstretched duty of 36 hours, when she decided to rest in the seminar hall at around 2 am, she was gang raped, tortured brutally and murdered. Her pelvic girdle was torn apart. Yes, you have read it right.
It is overwhelming to imagine the plight of the helpless soul in such a situation. Her legs were found in two different places. Her glasses were embedded into her eyes, and she had several brutal injuries on her face and body. How haunting it must have been for the father to find her daughter in such a state.
Immediately after the murder, the hospital officials coined the incident as a suicide. To add fuel to the fire, the building opposite this very seminar hall has been under renovation since the incident. Looks like the culprit has very powerful political connections. Evidence is being tampered with and buried manoeuvred.
After 78 years of “Independence”, it is disturbing to find another Nirbhaya case repeated. There might be many unnoticed cases too. As a mother of three daughters, this incident has made my heart weep profusely.
It is pathetic state of law and order in India that even such brutality with evidences gets dragged for years and gets thrown in the bin. The wisdom behind immediate punishments for such crimes in Islam curbs the rate of such crimes. Such punishments should be enforced, to terrify the criminals and provide justice to the grieving parents. Time to speak up and act now. If not “Now”… Then “When”?
Farheen Shah, Navelim
Noise pollution is deafening Goa
The issue of Noise pollution is getting to be a serious issue in Goa, Mumbai and all across the country. The organizers of parties, events, etc., just do not seem to, rather don’t want to understand the impact of noise emanating from loud music on the old, the elderly, the sick, special children, the less privileged. And so, it is commendable that over a hundred villagers protesting at the Anjuna police station against all-night rave parties have succeeded in silencing the noise that would have shattered the peace of the villagers.
Another menace is the impact of noise emanating from fireworks of each and everyone, also the stray dogs who tend to behave weirdly. The festival season is nearing and people are apprehensive of the fireworks and loud music throughout the day and night. The authorities ought to take proactive action and the organizers of public events ought to ensure that noise pollution is contained. And the citizens ought to take responsibility to ensure peace.
Melville X D’Souza, Mumbai
Attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh
The Kashmir-like attacks on Hindus are recurring in Bangladesh since the fall of the Sheikh Hasina Government. Hasina’s ouster was triggered by student-led protests against a quota system for government jobs. Even her government was accused of widespread human rights abuses, including the extrajudicial killing of thousands of her political opponents, during her rule. Several Hindu temples, households and businesses have been vandalised. Minorities have undergone all sorts of coercions and are living in an unsecured future. Many Hindus had links to the Awami League, so they may have been targeted for their political affiliations.
The population of Hindus in East Pakistan (Present Bangladesh) was 35% in 1947 and now it is less than 8%. The fundamentalist forces are targeting the minorities in the wake of the chaotic situation. The central government should approach the UN to press for protecting the Hindus.
K G Vilop, Chorao
India needs to catch-up with scientific research
The link between educational institutions and research is too vital to be repeatedly stressed. India needs to catch-up with the rest of the world in diverse areas of scientific research. A good research covers observations, experiences, theory and case studies and an excellent research is one that is multidisciplinary. An admixture of old and new ideas contribute to the richness of a research work.
Brain drain was both a cause and an offshoot of poor research in the past. There is a marked shift in that aspect of late but insufficient original inventions is glaring. There has to be a palpable eagerness to cash-in on the availability of quality of research materials for a conducive “research environment”.
A climate of multi-channelled network of partnership needs to be infused in higher temples of learning. A deep study of highly trained individuals should consistently evoke curiosity to be termed a “research”.
Eyes should see what others have seen but the mind has to think differently.
The Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF) setup in early 2024, under the Department of Science and Technology and with the Prime Minister as its chairman, aims to “seed, grow and promote research in India”. But its functioning and progress cannot be veiled by opaqueness.
Ganapathi Bhat, Akola
