Phase out all old politicians
Owners whose vehicles are more than 15 years old will have to shell out eight times more money to renew their registration, according to a notification issued by the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways and which will come into force with effect from April 1, 2022, as the Centre prepares ground to phase out old/polluting vehicles in line with the national vehicle scrappage policy.
Registration renewal of a 15-year-old car will now cost Rs 5,000, compared to the existing fee of Rs 600. For motorbikes that are more than 15 years old, the renewal charge will now be Rs 1,000, compared to the existing Rs 300. Similarly, a fitness renewal certificate for a bus or truck older than 15 years will cost Rs 12,500 instead of Rs 1,500, and for old medium goods or passenger motor vehicles, the cost will be Rs 10,000. The notification says that an additional fee of Rs 50 for each day of delay after the expiry of certificate of fitness will also be levied.
And in case of delay in applying for renewal of certificate of registration, an additional fee of Rs 300 for delay of every month in case of private vehicles, and Rs 500 for delay of every month in case of commercial vehicles shall be levied.
Well, the ruling dispensation at the centre, after harassing the already over-burdened aam-Indians by continuously raising the prices of petrol, diesel, gas cylinders since the start of the pandemic now seems to be hellbent on forcing them to abandon their old vehicles and to buy some expensive brand new latest model vehicles by mischievously hiking the registration fees of all old vehicles in the name of dealing with air pollution in our country.
Looks like the main aim of the government is not to deal with air pollution but somehow to make money and to enjoy it’s own “ache-din” in our country.
Why doesn’t the same government bring out a similar scrappage policy to phase out all the politicians who are above 60 years or have already completed 15 years in politics and make them to compulsorily retire on the lines of all the government employees for the betterment of our country’s future? Coz this is a need of the hour but I don’t think that any government will ever bring such a proposal forward in our country even in the near future and that’s a saddest fact.
Jerry Fernandes, Saligao
Single-teacher schools in Goa
It is learnt that there are over 200 schools in Goa which have just one teacher handling students in multiple classes. This aspect has reportedly been highlighted in the proceedings in the Goa legislative assembly in the past. However no action has been forthcoming. What is shocking is that this very sorry state of affairs in Goa’s elementary education sector has come to the notice of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) which has reported that 16 percent of Goa’s schools have just one teacher.
A UNESCO report said that of Goa’s 1,486 schools as many as 239 are single-teacher schools. In this respect Goa is second only to Arunachal Pradesh which has 18 percent of single-teacher schools. UNESCO has also reported that Goa’s teaching community is dominated by women. Nearly 80 per cent of Goa’s teachers are women. According to the 2011 literary rate census Goa has a literacy rate of 87.40 percent. Kerala tops the list with 96.2 percent literacy rate. Almost 96.11 percent of males and 92 .07 females were literate in that state. Even states like Lakshadweep and Mizoram have a literacy rate of above 90 percent. Primary education provides learning and educational activities typically designed to provide students with fundamental skills in reading, writing and mathematics.
It establishes a sound foundation for learning and solid understanding of core areas of knowledge and personal development. One way to have more than one teacher in schools in Goa is to increase the honorarium paid to voluntary teachers.
Adelmo Fernandes, Vasco
Rising cost
The cooking gas or LPG price has been further increased to Rs 913.50 from Oct 6 which will be rounded to Rs 915. The cost is mostly likely to become a 4 figure amount in a few months time. The subsidy on gas had already been stopped. Due to the pandemic many people were ordering food from restaurants to restrict their movement out. Food ordered from restaurants was already taxed by the government. From this month, tax is also levied on the food delivered at home. Great job is being done by the Union Finance minister for the government. Being a lady one had expected her to be thrifty and control government expenses but on the contrary she is collecting more money from the common man by way of taxes for superfluous projects of phenomenal cost like Central Vista (Rs 13000 crores) and world class plane for the prime minister (Rs 8300 crores) which are neither in priority sector nor a necessity for the nation.
Rodney de Souza, Assagao
Opening up of Goa tourism
Goa could as well go easy on opening up tourism since the risk of a COVID 3rd wave is not over yet. With some tourists coming in after a limited opening up, we already have newspaper reports that the visitors are not following SOP guidelines. The danger of haphazard tourism is for Goans and not to the visitors since after their brief stay they will go away but it is us who will have to bear the spread of the infection.
We need to open up tourism, there is no doubt about that, but in a step by step and sure and steady way, balancing the economy needs and the rise in infection. As to giving international tourists more confidence to come to Goa, let them take their own decisions based on the inputs given to them by travel agents and others. No need for us to boost their confidence.
Srinivas Kamat, Alto St. Cruz
Transparent LPG cylinders needed
Public-sector Indian Oil introduced 5kg free trade LPG (FTL) cylinder conveniently named ‘Chhotu’ on Dec 11, 2020 to be available on production of an ID proof. Indian Oil should also implement its long-back decision to introduce new-look translucent LPG cylinders to replace age-old iron-cast cylinders also to effectively check pilferage of LPG from supplied LPG cylinders. There are always complaints that LPG gas is unauthorisedly taken out of new refilled LPG cylinders to be supplied to consumers.
For future, production of new iron-cylinders for LPG should be immediately stopped and even replacing existing old iron-cylinders by transparent ones gradually in a phased manner to start from metro cities.
Net payable price including of all central and local taxes should be rounded in multiples of rupees ten or fifty, because delivery-persons never return balance-money. System will further reduce financial-burden on the exchequer because of LPG subsidy.
At least LPG, if not petrol and diesel, can be brought under GST network for uniformity of prices throughout the country.
Madhu Agrawal, Delhi
Congratulations to Indian hockey
It is heartening that India has swept the International Hockey Federation’s annual awards based on a voting system. After fetching the maximum votes, all the eight available awards went to Indians and coaches of both senior national teams.
Harmanpreet Singh won the men’s ‘Player of the Year’ award, and Gurjit Kaur bagged the Best Player award in the women’s section. In addition, veteran PR Sreejesh and Savita Punia grabbed the best goalkeeper awards in the men’s and women’s sections.
However, Hockey Belgium questioning the credibility of the awards should raise eyebrows.
N J Ravi Chander, Bengaluru
