Bring the old FM Rainbow back!
My day would start with Namaskar Goa and end with Hard days night. I would enjoy English, Konkani and Hindi melodies for hours and also Hello FM in English Hindi and Konkani.
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From 1st October, everything is over. ! Now the only thing you can hear is news in Marathi, songs and khobro in Marathi and a few minutes of Konkani and English songs.
Konkani is our mother tongue. And there are many listeners like me who enjoy English songs. Why this injustice.
Namaskar Goa is full of news and hardly any songs!
I request the station director to hear to our request and give us Rainbow FM back with more Konkani and English songs and shows like the nostalgic Midday magic and Kantaram.
Kennedy Dias, FM Rainbow lover
Democracy dead and buried
Parliament on Monday suspended 78 Opposition MPs, 33 from the Lok Sabha and 45 from the Rajya Sabha for raising issues and demanding accountability for the December 13th security breach.
The total number of suspended MPs now total 92, unprecedented in the country’s history. The BJP is moving closer to an opposition- mukt Bharat and will use the Parliament now to bulldoze important legislations sans any discussion or debate. A rampaging autocratic BJP sarkar today is a mirror image of Mussolini’s fascist regime, any questions asked of it will be treated as an anti-national act, treason. All that the opposition MPs were demanding was a statement by the Home Minister on the incident and the actions taken thereof to plug the breach.
The PM has time for interviews with a newspaper, the HM lords it over in pressers and TV conclaves, their ministers are busy singing paens to Modi but none of them have time to answer valid questions. The winter session of Parliament is another washout with the government passing very crucial bills without vote or deliberations. Of what use is a new Parliament building for a new India if business is conducted only by the treasury benches. Democracy has been dead for a while in this country, now it has been buried too.
Vinay Dwivedi, Benaulim
Use seized money for people’s welfare
Often we read about the confiscation large amounts of cash and jewellery by agencies such as the Income Tax, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Enforcement Directorate etc. The money runs into crores of rupees and so will the values of the jewellery. As per norms, the above agencies would make an inventory of the illegal-gotten wealth as records to the government. Once this is done, perhaps the seized materials are kept in safe custody to be produced as evidence in the courts. Since it takes months and years for court cases to be completed and justice to be meted out, the gold ornaments could be melted and made into ingots and included in the country’s gold reserve.
The cash and the money obtained by auctioning the other precious metals and gems could be added to the treasury of the State wherefrom the seizures were made. The States could act as a modern day Robinhood and use this additional income for welfare measures to its people. After all, a major chunk of the ill-gotten wealth that is seized belongs to the citizens, especially of the poor and middle-class.
Sridhar D’Iyer, Caranzalem
Beautify a place but spare the trees
It is indeed sad to see age-old trees being harmed by nails piercing through their bark for holding loops of cables of various kinds. It is learnt that during the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) the trees were illuminated with lighting strips that were nailed into the trees. It is pertinent to note that putting nails, screws, and staples into a tree can cause a host of problems ranging from increased disease susceptibility to physical damage, all of which can lead to it’s death.
The outer bark of the tree is there to protect against disease and decay. The presence of the nail can create a wound that can allow water and fungi to enter, potentially leading to decay. A tree is a living organism and an injury such as this is damaging. It can also disrupt the flow of nutrients and water through the transportation vessels within the tree. Additionally, the nail can interfere with the natural growth and healing processes. When the nail corrodes, dissolved metals make it toxic. In the long run, it weakens the tree, and in a weakened stage, the tree may die from other stress such as heavy rains, drought etc. Use of trees for advertising purposes or beautification should not damage them in any way. Stringent guidelines need to be in place for event organizers, advertisers and contractors in this regard.
Adelmo Fernandes, Vasco
Artificial Intelligence is full of obscurity
American dictionary organization Merriam-Webster has recently announced that its word of the year for 2023 is “authentic.” The word is in gesticulation of the rise of Artificial Intelligence and spread of misinformation on social media platforms. Every year the dictionary company publishes its word of the year, highlighting the top-searched terms, and this year’s word “authentic” was a decision that it said was driven by “stories of conversations about AI, celebrity culture, identity, and social media.” Although the importance of authenticity transcends all kinds of industries and walks of life, it is a term that resonates with those of us working within the cyber-security industry in particular. Interestingly, Merriam-Webster’s word of the year for 2022 was “gaslighting”, which is a commonly misused therapy buzzword, and in a way this word is opposite to “authentic.”
Living in the digital age, the rise of Artificial Intelligence has left us in obscurity to separate what is real and what is fake. Social media, while offering unprecedented opportunities for global interaction, has unfortunately contributed to a culture that values quantity over quality, and falsity over authenticity. It is time to strike a balance between the virtual and the real, fostering relationships that stand the test of authenticity.
Ranganathan Sivakumar, Chennai
Dr Sequeira helped maintain Goan identity
It was Dr Jack Sequeira, whose vision and consummate dedication helped to maintain identity of Goa for posterity. Goans the world over cherish this unique distinctive, identity, preserve it and are legitimately proud. It is in fitness of reality that those who revel with this privilege hardly spare a thought to the architect of independent Goa state, a crown among the states of India.
Official monuments to all and sundry exist but not the revered memory of this stalwart. Goans of all shades, race, colour, religious affinity unitedly and devotedly secured Goa’s separate identity. MGP were bent upon extinguishing it by merging it with Maharashtra. The shabby treatment meted out to the promoter opened his eyes. The misguided populace could not understand the wisdom of being on our own. However in a fierce battle of unity, the opinion poll won the race. Today in a flash back the joy and revelry is revived. The United Goans Party was divided on the issue of opinion poll and poll for separate Sate once and for all, but differences apart they put the shoulder to the wheel together. In recognising the greatness of others, we honour ourselves. It is a pity that those who enjoy the power of separate state of Goa are indifferent to and ignore those who made this possible. Hail Dr Jack Sequeira, the father of successful Opinion Poll.
Nelson Lopes, Chinchinim
