Maintain gymnasiums in
the very best of ways
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With reference to the photo caption titled : Vagaries of time, salt and neglect (Herald, 20 December), unusable gymnasiums have become white elephants and it amounts to total waste of money.
The government must only employ honest, reputed, experienced and responsible contractors and should be directed to give written gaurantee for the work. Even the type of material to be used should be mentioned in the contract.
In the present case, the contractor should be heavily penalised and blacklisted for the shoddy work. The authorities should also maintain gymnasiums on a timely basis.
Peter Castellino, Mumbai
India’s pollution woes
are really disturbing
Studies and statistics have revealed a disturbing trend with regard to air pollution in India: most cities have crossed the threshold limit imposed by the World Health Organisation (WHO). Particularly, the particle pollution, or the particulate matter pollution (pm), is a cause for worry. India has exceeded the WHO standard threshold of PM 2.5 long ago.
A latest study conducted by a reputed international journal has said that over 1.5 million Indians succumb to the ill-effects of air pollution every year. 655 districts were analysed in a ten year period from 2009 by the journal. Shockingly, the journal has claimed that there is no city in India which can be considered safe from air pollution.
Of course, almost all leading countries of the world are struggling to keep their air clean and clear but India’s battle against poor implementation of air safety levels is conspicuous. It can also be recalled that the air quality index (AQI) that is nothing but an air pollutant concentration over an average period, is quite high in Indian cities.
Everything boils down to effective implementation and better regulation of vehicular emission and dust particles—-two major causes of air pollution.
Ganapathi Bhat, Akola
Boost internet
connectivity
The Department of Information Technology, Electronics and Communications reportedly launched free public Wi-Fi hotspots at 75 locations in Goa on Wednesday. It is learnt that there are 46 free Wi-Fi spots in North Goa and 29 in South Goa.
Eleven fully installed and operational 4G BSNL towers were also inaugurated. This aims to bridge the digital divide and ensure reliable and efficient internet access for all. Apart from providing easy internet access to tourists, the free Wi-Fi service will also benefit students and youth, who were unable to obtain internet access due to lack of connectivity. Free WiFi has several advantages.
It allows people to access the internet without a wired connection or cellular data plan. It can help people save money on data plans.
Free WiFi can provide access to educational resources and can be useful in emergencies. However establishing a dependable internet connection in rural areas can be challenging due to a lack of network coverage, physical barriers, and erratic electricity supplies. It may be recalled that during the COVID-19 pandemic students had to go to climb up the hills to get proper connectivity in order to follow online classes.
In order to give rural people access, it is imperative that fiber internet connectivity be extended to these areas. Incidentally Satellite Internet is one of the most popular options for rural areas. It uses satellite dishes to connect to the internet, allowing access to high-speed internet even in remote locations.
Adelmo Fernandes, Vasco
Time to make laws
gender neutral
Some women commit heinous crimes against men only because the laws blindly supports them. More than taking action on the woman, it’s high time to take action on the laws which empower women to commit these crimes against men.
Nikita Singhania, a Delhi resident is a cunning woman using the female victim card to escape her deeds to harrass her husband Atul Suresh Singhania who had been working in Bengaluru before he could take his own life. She should be put behind bars for her entire life for abetting her husband to commit suicide.
Harassment and maintenance laws in India should be made gender neutral and innocent men should be protected as per law. Unless and until we the people, the government and the law makers make amendments in the judicial system and constitution which make laws equally for men and women, nothing is going to be changed and women will continue to put the blame on men.
Jubel D’Cruz, Mumbai
Are simultaneous polls
good for India?
The proposal of holding simultaneous elections is fraught with a lack of clarity in its implementation and practicality for a country as vast and diverse as its expanse. The proposal has several loopholes, like midterm polls and the President’s rule, and there is a lack of consideration for regional parties as well.
Primarily, the proposal fails to address how precisely the central government plans to hold simultaneous elections for the nation’s 96.88 crore voters at the same time, as such a gargantuan exercise will be practically challenging to execute considering India’s demography.
Also, conducting all the elections in the same year becomes a major federal issue because it
would force current state legislatures to shorten or lengthen their terms to make the election dates coincide with the national deadline. The attempt to impose an artificial cycle of elections and restrict electoral choice compromises with the spirit of democracy, which is a direct threat to the constitutional recognition of India as a democratic republic. A rushed ill-conceived policy can produce unprecedented challenges to the polity of the nation.
Ranganathan Sivakumar, Chennai
Excellent work done by
Exposition Commissioner
Let me take the opportunity to congratulate the Commissioner for Exposition Sandip Jacques, IAS officer, who with his team, dedication, running up and down gave Old Goa a complete new look like Europe.
I visited the Exposition of St Francis Xavier’s holy relics with my family on December 14 and we were happy to receive a warm welcome and good service from the volunteers deputed there. As a person with disability, I was supposed to travel from the gate to the church and back but unfortunately I could not exit from the gate opposite to Greenyard restaurant, close to Divar ferry. I had to return back to the same gate and boarded the special auto rickshaw kept for PWDs.
The service of auto rickshaws for PWDs, senior citizens and the sick, is a blessing to us all which should be the idea in future religious or any other programmes in Goa.
Once again “Dev Boren Korum” to our Government of Goa, Sandip Jacques, volunteers, Goa Police and workers who are working day night to keep the Exposition area clean.
Jerry Luis De Souza, Divar
