Vaccination awareness drive
To overcome the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, India is lucky to have 3 vaccines (Covishield, Covaxin, Sputnik V) and in the offing are an array such as Covovax, and from Biological E, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer and Moderna. The vaccination drive has taken off in a good way and we have seen crores of people getting vaccinated in the last few months. Yet, this is not enough since India has a large population and people fear and have misconceptions about the vaccines. There are reports of health workers being chased away by villagers and villagers fleeing or jumping into rivers to escape from getting jabbed. The woes are compounded by messages (mostly fake) on social media about the adverse effects of the vaccines.
One way to overcome the above hurdles is to have awareness drives conducted by State governments especially in villages and small towns. Health workers, volunteers, local teachers and NGOs could educate the people by explaining what is Covid-19, importance of jabs, what the vaccines contain, side-effects and remove apprehensions.
Sridhar D’Iyer, Caranzalem
Vaccination drives, a resounding success
As the number of jabs administered so far crosses the 3 billion mark, deaths worldwide that has crossed cumulatively the 4 million mark has reduced considerably in the near past to about one fourth, the peak rates which is a clear sign that vaccination drives have been a success though the Delta variant that was first detected in India is leading to anxiety.
The Delta variant’s spread has led to curbs not only being extended but also being re-imposed in several parts of the world. In India the death toll has reached the 3,98,000 mark and the vaccination drive has already administered slightly over 33 crore jabs which has also succeeded in bringing about reduction in fatalities which is now in the region of 800 deaths daily as compared to 4,000 deaths a day at its peak.
Also the new infections have reduced to below 30,000 per day from its peak of 4,14,000 daily about 90 days back. In the world it thus looks set that the total tally of deaths will be much less than the 18 million fatalities due to the previous pandemic of the Spanish flu about a century ago.
This definitely indicates that heath care facilities worldwide have shown a marked improvement in the last century.
Elvidio Miranda, Panjim
Discount on purchase of fuel
There appears to be no hope for any relief from the skyrocketing fuel price in Goa as the State government reportedly has no intention of reducing value added tax (VAT) that could reduce the prices of the fuel. At present the price of petrol remains at Rs 96 per litre, just Rs 4 from the century mark while the price of diesel stands at Rs 94 per litre in Goa. This price rise of fuel is burning a hole in the pocket of the common man.
It must be said that the rise in price of diesel has a ripple effect and will increase the price of essential commodities due to increase in the transportation charges. In 2012, former chief minister Manohar Parrikar had kept petrol price below Rs 60 per litre and had reduced VAT on motor spirit to 0.5% from 20% to provide relief to the common man.
If it is not possible to provide any relief from the spiralling price of fuel, the consumer could at least be given some discount at the petrol station if the amount of fuel that is filled in the vehicle is large. If possible, a discount could be offered to the consumer for every five litres of petrol that is bought. This could lead to an increase in the sale of the quantity of petrol and diesel at the petrol station and at the same time offer some relief to the consumer.
Adelmo Fernandes, Vasco
Forgotten children
Due to the pandemic there are many children who have lost both their parents and are almost abandoned and in pathetic condition. Will the government do something for this abandoned children who cannot sustain themselves as there is no breadwinner and the government is going on with Central Vista project in the name of development spending crores of rupees when these children are forgotten, future of a nation stands forlorn.
It is a herculean task for the government alone to implement the order of the Supreme Court and help children orphaned by Covid-19. I feel the NGOs and organisations with the best corporate social responsibility reputation can voluntarily take care of them.
First, no child should be left behind, especially the girl child. Second, no child should be forced to discontinue studies due to lack of money, care and because of stress. In other words, there should be no dropouts. Third, the government will have to create job opportunities for these children in future. While in school and college, they will need money not only for books and computers, but also for nutrition and sports.
Diomedes Pereira, Corlim
Some hope for tourism
The latest announcement by the Union government that free tourist visas will be issued to five lakh foreign visitors is like a ray of sunshine for the beleaguered tourism mavens in Goa who now foresee an uptick in charters when the season commences in October.
Over the past five years there have been @ 2.5 lakh charter arrivals annually and this segment generally tends to be very price conscious. Free visas could incentivise family packages as substantial savings stand be made on visa fees which constitute a major chunk of the travel budget. For the past many years stakeholders in the tourism and hotels sector have been imploring the government to offer visas gratis so as to increase/revive footfalls from travellers who have of late been opting for rival destinations like Sri Lanka, Nepal, Maldives and Thailand which have been better packaged.
But the more pertinent question here is when will we open our borders for international travel and vice versa, the success or otherwise of the free visa scheme hinges on that. With Covid still rampaging and consequently international flights at near standstill, it remains to be seen how cross border travel pans out eventually.
Vinay Dwivedi, Benaulim
The terror drones attack at airbase
As expected, we are back to the same stupidity (story) once again. No lessons learnt from the terror attack at the Pathankot Air Force Base some 5 and a half years ago where alertness and preparedness was slack. And now we let drones fly near our airbases. Even a civilian airport like Santa Cruz in Mumbai being within city limits has strictures about drones being flown in the vicinity. But for the Jammu Air Force Base being some 14 km from the Pak border we are not alert to flying objects in its close proximity.
Now again we will have the same old speeches about how terrorists are using the latest technology and that we will be alert from now on. But here the issue is not high technology but simple down to earth common sense. If there had been a rule that no flying objects within 5 km of the air base are allowed then this terror strike would just not have happened. Is our Air Force sleeping 14 km from a live Pak border?
No amount of excuses can be accepted for such lapses and the base commandant should be pulled up for this incident.
Reminds me of a joke. Once a man came up to an Air Force station gate and told the security that he needs to meet with the person in charge of Intelligence. The man was told we do not have anything like that and there is no need for intelligence here. Earlier it was a joke, now it is reality with people dead.
Srinivas Kamat, Alto St Cruz
