Flight bans shackling tourism
The extension of ban on scheduled flights till November end by the Centre has dealt a body blow to tourism stakeholders who were looking forward to a complete revival of the industry. A few operators who had received bookings for mid November after India revived issuing visas in October will now have to cancel the same at immense loss both to the intended traveller and the agency. Starred hotels and operators handling domestic clientele are luckily doing well while others who depend on high spending, long stay foreign tourists have been severely impacted.
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To add to their woes, Russia which sends the maximum number of charters is almost in complete lockdown owing to the resurgent pandemic there, moreover many Russians are vaccine averse making them ineligible for international travel.
The first scheduled flight shall touch Goa’s shores hopefully in mid December provided there is no third wave in the offing. If all goes well tourism should start firing on all cylinders starting with the Christmas-New Year period but the constant flip flop of government policy is not helping matters for now.
Rekha Sarin, Benaulim
Change Indian cricket from its roots
With two back-to-back defeats in the T20 World Cup and an upcoming game against Afghanistan on Nov 3, India is staring at an unceremonious exit from the tournament. The diehard fans of India are working out the maths for India qualifying to the 2nd stage but one must say that this is in the realm of fantasy. If one studies the chronology of the matches and the results that have occurred then instead of the record books, the Indian team has been playing, it seems, according to the dictates of the black books of the bookies.
A loss to Pakistan must have made many bettors millionaires, if they had called against the odds. Then the defeat against the Kiwis must have plunged the odds for India qualifying for the next level and/or winning to an all-time low. Thus if India rises from the ashes, so to speak, a lot of people betting right may again become millionaires twice over. But a loss against Afghanistan will unleash the cat amongst the pigeons and douse any hopes for India. There is every chance that this could happen since Afghanistan in their last two games, took Pakistan to the wire and then convincingly beat Namibia.
The BCCI and the players instead of chasing money need to chase playing good competitive cricket. Thus the players need to have their contracted salaries cut by 50% but allowing them to earn the full 100% based on an incentive system linked with the winnings they show in the season and/or year. All advertisements/endorsements by contracted players need to be stopped. This will make the players play proper cricket to protect their earnings rather than the present casual approach where irrespective of how they play, their earnings are assured.
Srinivas Kamat, Alto St. Cruz
Political tourism and local economy
This is in reference to your editorial ‘Political tourism is a stimulus to the local economy’ (November 2). Tourism is an essential component in Goa’s economic development, today much due to Covid. Foreign and local tourists are not coming for businesses and pleasure as earlier before the pandemic. However, in the run up to the coming elections plenty of politicians are coming to Goa and this has been called by Goa’s Chief Minister as Political Tourism, who has welcomed if this injects rejuvenation in tourism industry through so many ways.
Never before had Goa witnessed arrival of political leaders before. Parties opposed to the BJP say that any citizen of India can go to any part, right enough, the other plea is they are deeply worried about misrule in Goa and to project an alternative for betterment of the State and people. All around Goa had the presence of the INC and BJP and some smaller parties wedded to local needs. Some may term arrival of other party leaders now as ‘poaching’, BJP may deride, so too the Congress, one needs to welcome them, showing black flags not a sign of Goa’s heritage and refinement.
As per reports Goans have welcomed the AAP and TMC, what actually happens in the ballot box times will tell whether the people want a continuation of the present rule or a fresh alternate by other formations. Be that as it may, every admirer of Goa must hail political tourism for the economic benefits. Not only hotels and taxis would benefit, advent of political leaders and party workers will definitely encourage many other areas necessary for political work. Incomes will rise and spending too creating manifold demands and increase on supply side.
As an outsider but a lover of Goa will leave the matter to the Goemkars to make their destiny bright and fulsome, in the way they prefer.
Parthasarathy Sen, by email
Need to promote generic medicines
In order to bridge the gap between medical practitioners and patients’ needs the State government on Monday launched a telemedicine platform at Goa Medical College and Hospital, Bambolim. The initiative will reportedly enable doctors to attend to the patients through video consultations from anywhere in the State at any time. This will help the administration decongest the hospital premises.
Another aspect that needs to be taken into consideration is the high cost of the medicines prescribed by the doctors which could be beyond the reach of the poor. Here is where the need for generic medicine is felt. A generic drug is a medication created to be the same as an existing approved brand-name drug in dosage form, safety and efficacy. Generic medicine works in the same way and provides the same clinical benefit as its brand-name version. While brand name drug refers to the name given by the producing company, generic drug refers to a drug produced after the active ingredient of the brand name drug.
Generic drugs are cheaper because the manufacturers have not had the expenses of developing and marketing a new drug. When a company brings a new drug on to the market, the firm has already spent substantial money on research, development, marketing and promotion of the drug. According to the World Health Organisation, if doctors prescribe generic medicines, then health expenditure can be reduced by 70% in developed countries and developing countries. Generic drugs consumption is only 10-12% of the total drug market. These cheap generic drugs can be a boon for the poor people.
Adelmo Fernandes, Vasco
Life certificate is an avoidable harassment
Life Certificate, to prove that one is alive, is an unnecessary harassment every November, for senior citizens, and is absolutely avoidable. For getting monthly pension Aadhaar Card is a requisite.
If Death Certificate is linked to Aadhaar card, pension will automatically cease as soon as the Death Certificate is generated. As the Death certificate is mandatory for all cremations/burials there should be no necessity of submitting a Life Certificate every year.
Robert Castellino, Calangute
Commence biometric attendance again
After the Covid cases rose in number in Goa, the biometric attendance was stopped and staff of Government Offices started misuse. They came late to office and even ran away early. However, now since most population of Goa is vaccinated, it is high time that biometric attendance is resumed to ensure discipline in offices. I request the Government to ensure this.
Sadanand M Raikar, Colva
