Nothing but shameful
Shame on the Sanquelim Municipal Council Chief Officer for revoking permission to hold a public meeting in his constituency by the people of Goa who are concerned about the wellbeing of the future generations and wants to protect the environment and rivers of Goa.
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Nothing will happen if the Sanquelim weekly Bazar is not held for one week. We can even close all the bazars in Goa to protect our rivers. We the people of Goa will fight for our land and resources and not for leaders who pay lip service by only saying, “bivpachi garaz na”.
Matias Lobo, Tivim
Serpents in society
This has reference to the article ‘Serpents seldom fail to hole up on aircraft’ (Herald, January 13, 2023).
That was a spine chilling account of serpents making their way through aircrafts, landing up in the arms of the pilot, by Narayan Hariharasastry. It is indeed a very frightful scenario, the very sight of a snake, even on the ground can run a chill down one’s spine, leave alone in an aircraft and that too in the cockpit.
A thought comes to my mind, and I think of those who befriend others and slowly but surely sow seeds of poison like suspicion, jealousy, hatred, etc., in the their minds. There could be those who brainwash the others with wild, untrue stories about somebody in order to disrupt marital or family relationships. Yes, there could be so many such serpents in society. Even Eve & Adam fell prey to the guiles of the serpent. The rest is history.
As Narayan Hariharasastry says, serpents seldom miss any opportunity to stay holed up in the nooks and cranies on aircraft and their associated ground equipments. So also there could be people who would make their way into the nooks & cranies of your heart & mind and then strike at the opportune time, gloating over their achievements. We need to be watchful of such serpents in society.
Melville X D’Souza, Mumbai
Practice before preaching!
The launching of the worst attack on Brazil’s State Institutions since its return to democracy in 1980 by the far right backers of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro just ousted in elections is indeed a repeat of what former US President Donald Trump’s workers did in Washington on January 06, 2021 to register their protest against Biden’s victory in November 2020 elections.
These two leaders, Trump and Bolsonaro are the ones who were invited by the Modi government to be the Chief Guests at our Republic Day Parade in 2020 and Bolsonaro whose supporters have conducted the riots now, accepted and ‘graced’ our Republic Day Parade in 2020 as the Chief Guest. However, Trump whose supporters caused havoc in Washington after he lost the elections, was given a rousing welcome when he visited India prior to his defeat in the US Presidential election.
Now Prime Minister Modi has joined world leaders in speaking against vandalism blamed on Bolsonaro’s Right backers and has advocated that democratic values should be respected by all ! On hearing his sermon to others on respecting democratic values, one is only reminded of how all democratic norms and values were trampled over by Modi’s BJP to usurp power in states like Goa, Manipur, Meghalaya, Karnataka, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Maharasthra, using unethical practices like inducing the elected members of the other parties to defect to BJP etc. Should not one practice the values himself before preaching the same to others?
Tharcius S Fernando, Chennai
RIP Sharad Yadav
The demise of former Union Minister Sharad Yadav brings the curtains down on a chequered political career spanning almost five decades. A staunch socialist and an anti-Congressman, Yadav was elected to the Lok Sabha seven times and Rajya Sabha thrice, winning from three States – Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. He was part of the leaders who formed the Janata Dal in 1987 to wrest power from Congress and strongly supported the Mandal Commission. Yadav termed modern and educated women ‘parkati’; besides this one jarring note, he enjoyed a remarkable career, including being honoured as an outstanding parliamentarian. RIP!
N J Ravi Chander, Bengaluru
Doctors practising using fake certificates
Recent CBI raids across India exposes doctors racket of practising using fake Foreign Medical Graduate (FMG) certificate is shocking. The report says that, so far, 73 foreign medical graduates, possessing fake qualifying certificates of Foreign Medical Graduates Examination (FMGE), conducted by National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS), have been identified by the CBI.
May be more candidates might have got certificates through illegal means since the Union Health Ministry’s search is based on limited access to NBEMS data of registered doctors in the country. Such fraudulent and fake registration by non-qualified persons will be detrimental to the health and well-being of citizens. It has inter-State ramifications in health sector. But the question is how dozens of foreign medical graduates allegedly got themselves registered with State Medical Councils (SMCs) or Medical Council of India (MCI) without clearing the FMGE. Where the law enforcers of the government sleeping and not able to catch them and bring them to book. It is very sad state of governance. Regular random check need to be conduct across India.
K G Vilop, Chorao
Trifling issues
do no good
Following the TN State name controversy triggered by Governor R N Ravi, it seems there are some who toe his line for calling the State as ‘Tamizhagam’ instead of ‘Tamil Nadu.’ I wish to emphasize that the word ‘nadu’ in ‘Tamil Nadu’ in no way represents an autonomous region as claimed by the TN governor, whereas it actually means the ‘home land’ of the people of the State. There are some Panchayat towns and villages in TN like ‘Orathanadu’ and ‘Pappanadu’ (in Thanjavur district). What should we do with these two, as their names end with ‘nadu’? Though the word ‘rashtra’ in ‘Maharashtra’ literally translates into ‘country’, it actually indicates the land of Marathas. Similarly, ‘nadu’ in Tamil Nadu truly and essentially means the land of the Tamils. Therefore the question of ‘nadu’ in ‘Tamil Nadu’ implying ‘sovereignty’ doesn’t arise by any means. The TN governor may well know that these kinds of trifling issues will in no way help the progress of the State, but will only escalate the stewing hostility between him and the State Chief Minister M K Stalin.
Ranganathan Sivakumar, Chennai
