Junking British era laws
Recently draconian British era criminal laws a bunch of them were scrapped by the Parliament as they were archaic, obsolete with characteristics of a burdensome legacy.
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In law, their efficacy in parlance of jurisdiction of the deliverance of laws had no relevance in the daily lives of citizens. Replacing these like the Indian Penal Code IPC in existence since 1860 by Bharatiya Naya Sanhita BNS 2023, Code of Criminal Procedure, CrPC, 1898, by Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023, India Evidence Act, 1872, by Bharatiya Sakshya, BS, 2023.
These are referred to a standing committee for further directions and subsequent notification. These bills will provide improvements and changes in criminal jurisprudence, as these British era laws were enacted at that time only to punish, stifle dissent and not to provide justice. There are around 1500 obscure and obsolete British era laws which are in line to be scrapped.
Notably the 1934 kite flying required permission from Indian aircraft association. Another bizarre law was to drive locusts from cities away by making noise, breaking these would entail punishment of 2 years imprisonment. Surprisingly other prominent obscure draconian laws like the Sedition and UAPA were untouched when there was a dire necessity for scrapping them. Many authors, journalists, comedians came under the hammer of these laws and are languishing in jails.
These were laws meant to silence opponents and to disqualify them. Needless to say, under a modern democratic setup where dissent and criticism give voice to those who require are paramount for a healthy democracy.
Ashley Noronha, Fatorda
PHCs should be well-equipped
It must be said that one of the mandatory requirements of any hospital or health centre is a power generator. With power outages being the order of the day at several places across the state, having a power generator could be a matter of life and death for the patients. Hence it is shocking to note that the Sanguem Primary Health Centre, which happens to be the lone government health-care facility in the entire taluka, is functioning without a power generator for several months. While the PHC officials had petitioned for an immediate replacement on a number of occasions, it is understood that a new generator is yet to be sent to the PHC. Although the PHC is equipped with a sophisticated X-Ray machine, it could obviously be useless and non-operational due to frequent power cuts and voltage fluctuation.
It is learnt that the PHC does not possess even one fully-equipped ambulance. It must be said that necessary facilities in a Primary Health Centre are very much essential. People from remote places cannot be expected to go to the South Goa District Hospital (SGDH) in Margao or the Goa Medical College Hospital at Bambolim for treatment which is already overburdened with patients. Hence it is prudent for all PHCs in the state to be well equipped.
Adelmo Fernandes, Vasco
Let’s build a Smart City
Hats off to Peter Fernandes for his bold and timely opinion piece on the Smart City debacle, on Herald of 19th October. He has minced no words, but told it as it should be told. Instead of pussy-footing around the ‘Smart City’ mess which is bringing so much distress to thousands of citizens, or ignoring it like most people do, Peter has squarely laid the blame at the door of those responsible.
Kudos to him for sharply contrasting the environment-friendly and people-centric rule of the erstwhile colonial rulers with the exploitative mentality of the present regime. For 450 years, the Portuguese preserved the Gaunkaris or Comunidades – the pre-colonial legacy of our forefathers. They did not interfere with their functioning – only strengthened them by codifying the unwritten rules and regulations.
The MG regime began the destruction, by decreeing land to the tiller, without understanding that the Comunidades were not Zamindars but a sort of cooperative of Gaunkars who owned shares in the Comunidades. By this one blunder, the Government began the destruction of agriculture in Goa and of Goa itself. The Congress, did nothing to save the Comunidades and continued the rot. The present regime as we can see, is into hyper-mode to destroy Goa by handing over Goa’s assets on a platter to the carpetbaggers flooding into Goa from all sides.
Peter Fernandes shows us that we need not crawl when asked to bend, but have to hit back and expose the robber-barons destroying our beloved Goa.
Xavier Cota, Betalbatim
Why silence over Manipur violence?
Narendra Modi has expressed shock in the Gaza killings but not a word has come out from him on the killings in Manipur now exceeding some 170 and the ghastly parading of naked women on the streets after their rape and the killing of students.
Modi should remember that Manipur is in India of which he is the Prime Minister and a killing of your countrymen should normally hurt you more than the killings in foreign countries of their citizens. The death of a family member is ten times more grievous than that of an unknown person. So also the death of a countryman is more grievous than that of a citizen of a foreign country. Expressing shock and grief at the death of foreigners in their country is a formality and you cannot do anything to control it but in your country you can being in an executive position can take action to stop the killings of your countrymen which Modi has failed miserably to do in the case of Manipur for the last 6 months now. Time now for our PM to act!
Srinivas Kamat, Alto St Cruz
Increasing accidents in firecracker units
The tragedies that took place last Tuesday in two fireworks units in Sivakasi, Tamil Nadu, which claimed 14 lives, expose the flaws and deficiencies of safety measures followed in most of such units in and around this place, which meets about 90% firecracker requirements of the country. The explosions are caused clearly due to violation of safety rules and regulations prescribed by the Explosives Act 1884 and Explosive Rules 2008. Most of the accidents in fireworks industries occur due to mishandling of chemicals. Also, while manufacturing fancy crackers, chemicals are mixed with water, and this requires sufficient drying time and ventilation to avoid accumulation of heat. Increasing accidents in firecracker units, perhaps indicate the lugubrious fact that crackers deflagrate humans more than we burn them.
Ranganathan Sivakumar, Chennai
