Rebuilt temples within your heart
Goa has always been a place of communal harmony. But over the years, some people’s hearts are filled with hatred, greed and intolerance.
If you enjoyed reading this article, you can help support our journalism by adding OHeraldo as a preferred source.
We all enjoy the fruits and shade of a tree. Does it matter who planted it? By digging it, we will only uproot the tree. So why rake up the past.
Rebuild temples within your heart so that God can dwell there. Your thoughts and attitudes will then change. The person who professes his own religion well can appreciate and understand the richness in other religions. No matter if you are Hindu, Muslim or Christian, all religions preach the truth.
We Goans, have shown our unity by protesting against the linear project, building in heritage sites, hill cutting, quality of roads, bridges. Do the politicians segregate the voters based on religion before elections? All these stunts are to divert attention and hide the fact of their inability to govern.
Irrespective of our religious beliefs, we are all Goan and nothing can divide us.
Malcolm Remedios, Campal
Noise pollution
We have been complaining about the coal pollution caused by the coal trains every hour or so. But there is also noise pollution and we have been suffering the effects silently. Noise pollution is such that the engine horns are blown at high pitch that one cannot sleep. As a matter fact, there is Noise Control Act by which the noise cannot be beyond certain limit. Is Indian Railways exempted from this law or that they are the super authorities and nobody can question them, or is that the engine drivers are not properly guided or instructed. The drivers should realize they are going through populated and not jungles and not the Western Ghats. Or is it that they are under the influence of alcoholic drinks and do not know how hard they are blowing the horns. The railway authorities should train them properly. Or else, the local authorities should take action on the basis prevailing laws.
Antonio F. Fernandes, Arossim
A criminal waste
Strongly disapproving the practice of wasting a large number of post graduate medical seats every year, the Supreme Court emphasized that it is the duty of the Centre and the Medical Counselling Committee to ensure that not even a single seat remains vacant as the country needs more doctors and specialized medical professionals. During the 2021-22 academic session 1,456 post graduate medical seats remained unfilled after conclusion of counselling. The admission process needs to be streamlined and additional mop up sessions should be conducted to allow students seeking admission. With a dismal doctor to population ratio of 0.08 doctors per 1000 (WHO recommends 1 doctor for every 1000 population) in the public healthcare system even after including Unani medicine practitioners, homeopaths, ayurvedacharyas etc. the prospect of even one medical seat going waste is criminal. As it is, India has only 1,301,319 allopathic doctors registered with state medical councils and we are facing a shortfall of 600,000 doctors and 2,00,0000 nurses countrywide. In light of this, the government and private medical colleges should hold multiple counselling sessions if required to admit doctors for UG and PG courses to make up for the shortfall. Suitable legislation too needs to be brought in for this purpose.
Vinay Dwivedi, Benaulim
Theft by a child
In an incident which has shocked people of Vasco, a boy of about seven years has reportedly been accused of allegedly stealing cash of about Rs 20,000 from a pet shop in the port town. It is learnt that a group of two women and two children had arrived at the shop as customers and while they managed to distract the staff on duty, the child managed to open the counter and allegedly stole cash. The entire incident was reportedly captured on CCTV. Stealing is a very serious crime. However, it is shocking to note that small children are involved in such crimes at such a young age. Engaging children in theft by adults is a much greater crime. The women accompanying the child should be apprehended by the police and punished as per law. Little children could be used to commit theft since usually the shop owners and the staff-on-duty do not keep a watch on kids. These little children could be moving about in the premises. This advantage could be taken by the adults accompanying them to coax them to commit theft. Little children have impressionable minds. If thought to steal at a very young age sets in, they could become professional robbers when they grow up. A family, especially parents, plays a big role in the development of the child.
Adelmo Fernandes, Vasco
Gritty and stylish Mithali
Whenever Indian women’s cricket is spoken of, the name of Mithali Raj will always stand out. The Test and One Day skipper has called it quits. Mithali has had an eventful 22 year cricketing career. Not surprisingly, she was the most capped international cricketer. Also, 8 hundreds and 85 fifties in international cricket bear testimony to her consistency and class. The 39-year-old led India in two 50 over World Cup finals -2005 and 2017. However, she couldn’t lead India to victory. As the highest run- getter in international cricket, Mithali always focused on her game. The most successful Indian women’s captain. A gifted technique, of course honed through hours of work at the nets, immensely aided her in scoring runs in tons. Cover drives and lofted shots were her trademark shots. Former Indian captain Shanta Rangaswamy has described Mithali as the “best women’s batter ever”. At her best, Mithali was a “poetry in motion”, Shanta said.
More than anything else, Mithali had to painstakingly build her career withstanding all pressures that is generally associated with sportspersons, especially women, in India. But Mithali’s contribution to Indian women’s cricket lay in inspiring many young girls to opt cricket as a career instead of a pastime sport. From being played under handful of spectators, mostly game officials and pass holders, Indian women’s cricket has grown into a head-turner drawing significant crowds thanks to the likes of Mithali, Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur to name a few. The “lady Tendulkar” will be a hard player to replace in the team. However, Mithali can offer much more to Indian women’s cricket by way of coaching. She has been a batting consultant already; she may be destined for more.
Ganapathi Bhat, Akola
Poor response
to solar power
Speaking on June 5, World Environment Day, the Environment Minister Nilesh Cabral lamented the fact that in Goa there are hardly any takers for solar power generation despite the fact that the government offers subsidies to the consumers. Since his colleagues Sudin Dhavalikar holds the Power and Renewable Energy and Vishwajit Rane the Town and Country Planning portfolio, the three of them could come out with rules that would mandate all new constructions (bungalows, flats, hotels, office buildings etc.) to submit the proposal for solar power generations along with their applications for various clearances. Unless this is done and working solar panels installed the occupancy certificates should be withheld. Similar could be the case for rain water harvesting, as Mr. Cabral is also the PWD minister. The government should give the approvals on a fast track basis so that the interested parties could start the work. The promised subsidies should be released in due course of time. There might be people who only need the approval and are not dependent on the subsidies.
Sridhar D’Iyer, Caranzalem
