Goa’s property mystery
Before having an eye on anonymous properties, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant should first ask the authorities to ensure that Government land is not encroached or grabbed. Does the government even have an inventory of all land it owns? Creating such a comprehensive inventory should be a priority as government assets need to be secure and safe. Government officials as custodians of government property on behalf of the people must ensure this happens as a matter of urgency at all costs given the alarming rate of land grabbing.
Have come across at least one such 6000 sq mts prime government land at Curchorem in South Goa which has mysteriously changed hands with various mining companies through illegal sale deeds executed over the years.
Will Pramod Sawant who within his party circles is better known as Mr. Property Sawant please tell us as to how he has amassed so much property and that to so swiftly. Please tell us how it was possible and your modus operandi. It may help many to follow in your footsteps to rise from Rags to Riches. If you say that it was all by your very hard-earned money, our young generation must all endeavour to be Ayurveda practitioners.
Mahatma Gandhi’s prophetic words ‘the Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not every man’s greed’ has been ignored. On the contrary, Man’s greed for land grabbing and unsustainable development with no infrastructure has continued to flourish.
Winston Churchill had said “If Independence is granted to India, power will go to the hands of rascals, rogues, freebooters; all Indian leaders will be of low calibre and men of straw. They will have sweet tongues and silly hearts. They will fight amongst themselves for power and India will be lost in political squabbles. A day would come when even air and water would be taxed in India”.
Aires Rodrigues, Ribandar
BJP destabilizing State Governments
The BJP Government in the country has to be condemned for engineering defection in at least four states.
In Karnataka, the BJP formed the Government after splitting the Congress, which had received the mandate of the people. Similar was the case in Madhya Pradesh where Congress MLA’S where ensnared by the power hungry BJP. In Goa, the practice seems to have become a perennial one. And by now it is Maharashtra, where the Shiv Sena has been at the receiving end. The BJP seems to have thrown away political ethics to the wind in a show of unabated greed to wrest power in the country. Even now, in Rajasthan, where there is a popular mandate in favour of the Congress, the BJP is trying to destabilize the constitutionally mandate Congress Government. In West Bengal, where the BJP was forced to face a humiliating defeat, the TMC Government has been resisting every attempt to cede power. One can understand that the Mamata Bannerjee led TMC has been boldly defending any attempts by the BJP to impose its position of bullying. TMC has been far too strong for the BJP to even remotely be able to manipulate the strong mandate of the people of West Bengal.
Stephen Dias, Dona Paula
Bond music composer
Creating and leaving behind one of the most popular and iconic music theme in the history of world cinema, Monty Norman the prolific composer and lyricist has died at the age of 94.
Norman famously composed the score for ‘Dr. No’, the 1962 Bond film that starred Sean Connery. His musical theme for this James Bond movie later went on to become the iconic theme music for all Bond movies. The moment 007 comes to our mind automatically the theme music too starts ringing in our ears. Even today in a world where the most modern techno music is used in movies nothing can excel the Bond music theme which surprisingly has been an inspiration for so many film makers and composers to do something similar for their creations especially movies based on detective and spy stuff .
M Pradyu, Kannur
Jumbo care
The largest animal on land, elephant was accorded the “National Heritage Animal ” status in 2010. The gigantic, but lovable animal is, as a consequence, placed in schedule 1 of the Indian Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. Protection of the endangered species is everyone’s responsibility. 16 of the 28 Indian states have elephants in their forests. Many projects are in place in India to save the magnificent creatures from extinction.
It may be recalled there are 32 elephant reserves in India, and the number of elephants in the country, as per the 2017 data, stands at 29,964 though some unverified reports put the number at 27000.
But these numbers do not reflect the stark reality: between 2014 and 2019 as many as 23,000 elephants were killed in India. In Odisha alone, there were 61 elephant deaths in 2020–21, and between 2009-10 and 2018–19, 730 jumbos lost their lives both due to natural and unnatural causes—-the latter accounting for most elephant deaths.
In early 2021, Odisha’s Karlapat wildlife sanctuary was gripped by a mysterious disease—that was later termed as hemorrhagic septicemia— resulting in the death of seven female elephants over two weeks. The ” mass deaths” of elephants was described as the ” largest ever” elephant deaths in Indian forests. Now, again in Odisha, discovery of three elephant carcasses in a short span has shocked wildlife connoisseurs. Two elephants were said to be shot at by poachers while one was electrocuted ostensibly by the evil design of poachers.
Only a few days ago, another elephant carcass was recovered from the Tikarpada forest range in Angul district. It is very sad that human greed has left no animal untouched. Steps have to be initiated to keep the big animals safe in their homes. Accident, electrocution and poaching have killed plenty of elephants in the country. Asian and African elephants are more vulnerable to all types of threats.
The government is duty– bound to take necessary measures aimed at the health conservation of elephants. Jumbos held captive in zoos and other places require particular attention. Securing the elephants in a non–exploitative and sustainable environment is key to their overall well being.
Ganapathi Bhat, Akola
Bail, not jail should
be the norm
The Supreme Court has held that an accused should not be deprived of liberty and are languishing in jail because of delay on part of the investigating agencies in concluding the probe. It is estimated that @ 70 % of the 500, 000 prisoners in jail are either undertrials or against whom no chargesheet has been filed till date. A duty is enjoined upon the prosecution to complete the investigation within the time period prescribed per extant laws and failure to do so should enable the release of the incarcerated individual. This right enshrined is an absolute and indefeasible one inuring to the benefit of the suspect. Such a right cannot be taken away even during unforeseen circumstances like war , natural calamities, pandemic or pestilence. As per law no magistrate can authorize the detention of the defendant in custody beyond 60 or 90 days depending upon the severity of the offence and the accused has to be mandatorily released on bail on expiry of the stated period. But in New India, all investigation bodies have become handmaidens (accomplices) of the government, they try their utmost to prevent the release of an undertrial whom the sarkar perceives as being inimical to its interests.
Vinay Dwivedi, Benaulim
