Release DSS
Following expose on the delay of release to the beneficiaries of Griha Aadhaar and DSS, Herald, May 12, the Social Welfare Minister, Subhash Phal Desai had promised to release the first instalment by the mid of May and the final by the end of the month. However, only the first instalment has come and the final five till May have not been paid to the beneficiaries. We are now in the middle of June, waiting.
Giving due respect to the seniors and the ladies, the late Manohar Parrikar initiated the schemes for the welfare of the beneficiaries. Their remittances were made on time not keeping anyone waiting. However, the Pramod Sawant govt doesn’t make the said releases promptly but spends Rs 20 crores for rebuilding destroyed temples and 40 crores for the new Raj Bhavan and floats Garib Kalyan Sammelan to hoodwink the poor citizens. Where’s all that money coming from?
Ayres Sequeira, Salvador do Mundo
Land grab issue, very disturbing
This has reference to the reports published on the land grab issue. It is very disturbingly we now have white-collared crime galore by way of fraudulent sale and transfer of properties being done with forged fabricated documents. This is happening with political patronage and, in some cases, with the involvement of advocates having no scruples notaries and government officials beginning from the Talathi in the coastal belt of Bardez. In these well-orchestrated crimes, a lot of people wake up to the reality that they have suddenly become homeless and landless. For those victims who are abroad, it must be further heartbreaking. Dead persons are being shown alive and vice versa while grabbing land going on undeterred in broad daylight.
This is a very serious issue which needs the attention of the Judiciary and the Legislature especially in Inventory Proceedings matters Mutation Proceedings calling for records of the title of documents before passing orders ie Land Inscription Certificate under which the said property inscribed ie Art. 8 of the Portuguese code of Registration in whose name the inscription in favour of a person is the proof of the title of such person or his heirs/successors shown in Revenue Records of Form IX and Form I and XIV.
Approaching the Police by filing a complaint will also not help especially if the authorities are in consonance with the opposite parties and especially if you are a Non-Resident Indian or person of Goan origin. The land grabbers and looters have taken shelter under the
Goa Succession, Special Notaries and Inventory Proceedings Act, 2012. They have nothing to fear!
Antonio Jose de Souza, by email
Bulldozer (in)justice
The Centre is bulldozing the Constitution and human rights with insolence and impunity never seen before and the courts seem to be in a state of systemic passivity when confronted by this blatant misuse of government machinery (literally) to target a particular community. UP, MP, Gujarat, Assam, Tripura (all saffron states) and Delhi are in the bulldozer club with more about to join them in the near future where the force of the government is brought to bear upon people who are arbitrarily identified as suspects by the ruling dispensation. HCs and the SC should take suo moto notice because the courts’ core duty of determining guilt and punishment premised on due process is being rapidly usurped by the state. Not only is guilt being determined outside the courts now, but punishment is being meted out by the government without so much as a by your leave. This practice has no place in constitutional democracies, yet over the past few months, the judiciary has become more and more irrelevant in the whole scheme of things, completely overshadowed by the evil Goliath which is the executive. It falls to the higher courts to create a judicial barrier to bulldozer justice; when courts make strong interventions even recalcitrant systems correct themselves. A fine example is the SC’s directions on the Lakhimpur Kheri probe which ensured that the accused is back in jail.
The justice system for all its limitations and failings still works as
a protector of human rights, the esteemed lordships must not allow it to be corroded and dismantled by partisan governments; the time for a massive judicial pushback is now lest our country slides into autocratic anarchy. If the Courts fall, the country falls.
Rekha Sarin, Benaulim
Goa, Goem and Goenkarponn
We live in a state in which: The Velingkars cast aspirations on the Christian faith and a Dominic gets arrested for practising his faith. The religious leaders and the citizens of all faiths live in peace and harmony but the government leaders seem to wish to create disharmony among the people by raking up irrelevant issues of the past eras of temples and conversions. The ministers are so overloaded with multiple portfolios that they seem to suffer from amnesia so much so that they even forget the identity or positions of their own colleagues/ex-colleagues. The policies are so uncertain that any legally approved and passed documents by one minister/department may be termed illegal by the next minister depending on which side the ex-minister is.
The government is happy that the crime detection and solution rate is higher than the crime prevention rate (did someone say “prevention is better than cure”). The panchayat elections file is playing musical chairs between thè Government, SEC and the courts, citing OBC reservations and monsoons as reasons as if both the issues have suddenly popped up their heads.
To counter the rapid increase in fuel cost, one minister advised the citizens to purchase electric vehicles and another ex-chief minister is planning to export water to gulf countries and import petrol. On world environment day our leaders religiously promise to safeguard our environment and biodiversity and plant mangroves on the river banks and spend the rest of the year cutting down hills and destroying forests.
Boaventura Vaz, Cavelossim
The bogey of a ‘rashtra bhasha’
Every once in a while some Tom, Dick or Harry decries that India doesn’t have a national language and a vitriolic controversy resurfaces. A UP minister went so far as to say that Hindustan is not a place for those who don’t speak Hindi, they should leave the country and go elsewhere. Where should 78 crore non-Hindi speakers go? In theory, a national language may pass muster but forcibly imposing it on a multilingual country could have disastrous consequences. Hindu nationalists seeking a Hindu Rashtra have tried time and again to foist Hindi upon us but failed; it is another matter that they invariably send their kids abroad to be educated in the best schools which have English as the medium of instruction.
English is now the most widely spoken language in India besides Hindi, for 150 million people it is the language of choice. India’s language policy should focus on the future and not the past, it should try to create opportunities for the young, not try and satisfy the egos of divisive politicians. English is the global language of opportunity and progress, that is the reason many govt schools are emptying and half of India’s children are studying in non-elite private schools.
If India has managed so long without a national language why fix something which ain’t broken; why risk the breakup of our country or civil war? If we don’t learn from the mistakes of our past, we shall surely repeat them.
Vinay Dwivedi, Benaulim
