Waning confidence in the CBI
The self acknowledgement by the CBI, an anti-corruption bureau, that they have not received a single complaint against any Central Government employee in Goa 2018, is a damning indictment against the organisation with respect to their credibility and efficiency to resolve cases of corruption. To believe that there is no corruption in Goa is simply a myth.
Clearly this assumes significance from the statement issued by Ashish Kumar, CBI Anti-corruption Branch SP, as reported by the media that “Many Central Government officers come to Goa, make money, create assets, many costly apartments are being purchased but no complaints are being filed against them”.
The reasons could be public apathy and lack of initiative to confront such powerful bureaucrats that are being posted in Goa by Central government is a difficult proposition, or the corruption issue being systemic and complex, there’s no clarity how to go about and that someone will be easily caught.
Certainly it has to be a well planned activity, in which a large number of entities being involved at different levels ensuring of extreme protection from the law with the assistance and connivance of powerful persons in authority. Often even if a complaint is made against a top officer, permission to prosecute him/her may not come forth immediately and may even be delayed indefinitely.
Often the case presented before a judge to seek conviction and punishment, maybe be weak riddled with flaws and uncertainties and the Courts may not accept easily and convincingly, thus giving relief to the accused person.
Thus cases against corrupt Central Government employees to bring to logical conclusion are tough and difficult to book the culprits, prosecute them successfully and earn a conviction in the court of law.
Antonio Diniz, Fatorda
Illegal assets and corruption in the States?
What is the job of CBI? Just waiting for people to complain and start inquiries? Are they not doing investigation by their own?
Then we don’t need CBI to stay in their department.
Earlier, I was sure CBI role was to find out and investigate any bribery, corruption, etc, by their own way which they have carried out, but as per the report published in Herald there are no complaints of any Central government employees having done any illegalities of any sort including corruption.
Many times people do not like to make complaints as they are then harassed and summoned many times for getting details of corruption, etc, which they try to avoid wasting their time and energy. This can also go wrong, that is the reason CBI is there to perform their job.
Stephen Dias, Dona Paula
Tiatrists and their well scripted plays
In the 130 years history of Konkani tiatr, we saw some gigantic tiatrists such as Minguel Rod, who enriched his tiatrs by introducing in his plays the best of ‘cantos’ especially the sorrowful ones that looked like Motets. During the first quarter of the century the quality of the existing tiatrists was good while a good number of them were very good song composers having a good knowledge of solfas since most of them were students of parochial schools.
During the first quarter of the century after staging of the first tiatr in Bombay by Lucasinho Ribeiro from Assagao, Bardez, the quality of tiatrists was very high because of this they managed to give a strong footing to tiatrs that helped them to survive till now.
Alexinho de Candolim was one of the most renowned, dignified and decent tiatrists of that era, he was known to be a fantastic singer and his songs carried rich topics. When he was denied the permission by his local Regidore to sing a song against the “Dadagiri” of the colonial Government, he ran to Bombay and rendered that song there.
His most popular Tiatr To Bauto Dhormancho scheduled then to stage in Bombay was stopped at the eleventh hour when the Intelligence Service in Bombay wrongly accused him of displaying Portuguese Bauto instead of Dhormancho Bauto and when he got the news a few hours before his arrest, he fled to Goa leaving tiatr and everything in Bombay. Tiatrists are known to face lot of problems from the authorities concerned to express their views openly and Alexinho de Candolim was one of them.
His Tiatro To Bauto Amchea Dhormancho is once again after about 75 years is released in Goa under the direction of his son Ruzai. It is lined up in many villages and it is worth watching. We can see the mind of the script writer and what was the mentality of those writers.
A Veronica Fernandes, Candolim
Degrees affiliated to Goa University
Recently one of the Goan students happened to apply for a passport, at the Margao Passport Seva Kendra (PSK). During the application process, the student produced the BBA degree acquired from an institution affiliated to Goa University as proof of higher education. An official at the PSK refused to accept it as a valid degree and considered only the 12th standard credentials for the passport.
Now the onus is on the Goa University to address this dilemma as this degree was affiliated to them. Similarly there are many issues which the Goa University is not aware of. There are post graduate courses run by the institutions affiliated to Goa University and do not even feature in the Employment Exchange for the students to apply for employment as and when it arises.
Since the CM holds the Education Portfolio, he should ensure that all the courses including the Post-Graduation programmes offered by institutions affiliated to the Goa University have to feature at the Passport Seva Kendra and employment exchange for the benefit of the students. As in the past many students have been deprived of opportunities which were in line with their functional area, just because their courses did not reflect on the application portal of the Employment Exchange.
Venan Bonaventure Dias,
Santo Estevam
Disqualification of the rebels
According to the latest news (Herald 01/11/22), the Congress rebels are likely to face disqualification on the basis of infringement of pertinent stipulations of the Para 4 of the Tenth Schedule of Constitution of India. Could they not be rusticated straight away for the “breach of trust” which is a social and civic crime?
The MLAs are just representatives or rather attorneys of the constituents. There is a strict bilateral agreement or contract, written or otherwise, expressing particular terms and conditions. Their commitments, in the present case, were supported by sworn oaths and affidavits. Based on such binding deeds, the political party sponsored their candidatures and wooed the voters.
Ultimately the rebels treacherously defrauded the party and the public at large. Are these grounds not enough for a legal prosecution? This malaise deserves to be completely eradicated for the sake of the common good.
Jaime Couto,
Ucassaim
Luck smiled on the Men in Blue
Dame Fortune smiled on India as the ‘Men in Blue’ held their nerve to pip Bangladesh by five runs in their Super12 T20 World Cup at the Adelaide Oval. Opener Litton Das, who smashed 60 off 27 balls, put Bangladesh in the driver’s seat, but his run out to an incredible KL Rahul throw from deep mid-wicket turned the match on its head.
The ‘Tigers’ never recovered from the blow and kept losing wickets quickly. However, the win brings the ‘Men in Blue’ a step closer to a semifinal berth.
N J Ravi Chander, Bengaluru
