Goa elections, choose wisely
Indian National Congress is undoubtedly the grandest oldest party and has very successfully ruled India since Independence under various leaders and Goa has been no exception. 2017 elections the Congress was given a clear mandate by the Goans despite BJP being in the ruling and that too under late Parrikar as CM. What happened later is not even worth mentioning, best to be consigned to history books. But now on the eve of 2022 elections the Congress seems to hell bent in repeating history of 2017. The 10 MLAs disqualification case has been dragging its feet to eternity.
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Despite everything the Congress in Goa looks to be in a very strong position to contest elections alone. Under the able guidance of Chidambaram various committees and sub committees have been formed and the recent visit of Rahul Gandhi has really boosted up the spirits of the Congress workers and voters. Despite all these the Goa Congress is still dilly dallying with the idea of finding candidates and finding alliance partners. The latest formation of Pradesh Election Committee (PEC) is another example of lack of self confidence/delaying tactics. By doing so the Congress is rapidly losing its voters confidence and subsequently digging its own grave for the second time in a row. Time is running out…its now or never for Goa Congress.
Boaventura Vaz, Cavelossim
Keep discipline in school buses
It is learnt that the State government’s steering committee on Covid-19 management has decided to clear schools across all standards in Goa for opening from November 22. This is a welcome step as students have been missing physical classes for far too long.
The Goa Medical College dean has said that the third wave was more likely to be non-consequential. Since schools are set to commence, all precautionary measures need to be in place. It is understood that schools will have to follow staggering timings, especially in education clusters in order to ensure children avoid excessively milling with each other. No daily assembly would be allowed and local public health centre and community health centre doctors will visit schools for check-up.
As regards the Covid-19 related SOPs while the children could be made to follow social distancing by allotting one bench to each student it does not seem advisable to force the children to wear the mask during the school hours as it could cause breathing problems.
It is observed that children are very active in the school buses. Here is where necessary precaution needs to be taken. Following the norm of one student per seat in the school-bus would be advisable. The bus could carry out more trips. Children should not be allowed to mingle with one another while travelling in the school-bus. If one of the school teachers travels in the same bus then the teacher needs to maintain discipline while travelling. Or the bus conductor should be instructed to maintain discipline among the children.
Adelmo Fernandes, Vasco
Impact of fake news on society
This has reference to the report ‘Protect yourselves from fake news’ (Herald November 17, 2021). There is no doubt that a large amount of fake news has been in circulation in the electronic media, over the past few years. It seems like fake news has taken centre stage during the pandemic when people had a lot of free time, fiddling with mobiles in their hands. People don’t seem to understand however, the tremendous impact of fake news on society.
One can see how eager some people are, when they get some piece of sensational news on their WhatsApp and they just cannot wait to pass it on to everyone on their chat, Tom, Dick & Harry! People seem to have lost their sense of reasoning, their sanity. They fail to decipher even something which is so obviously untrue. It takes just simple thinking to understand whether the news is true but people seem to have lost their power of thinking and blindly forward the posts. Even a phone call to the contact numbers mentioned on some the posts would reveal the authenticity of that particular post.
There is also the Internet in order to check whether the news is true or fake. We are loaded with so much of information on our gadgets that we have neither the time nor the inclination to check the veracity of the information. Bharat Nayak, Founding Editor of The Logical Indian, puts it rightly when he says, Information overload is crippling us and had reduced our capacity for critical thinking. Needless to say, we must strive to get over this illness that seems to have taken a stranglehold over our minds. We need to protect not just ourselves from fake news but the entire society. Say ‘No’ to fake news now, before it does further damage.
Melville X D’Souza, Mumbai
Are good leaders left to choose?
There are elections coming up and a lot of leaders out there asking for your support. In some situations every single vote will make a difference as candidates put forward vastly different platforms and look for you to be on their side.
Political candidates provide the weakest link in our democracy. Political parties will have to improve the quality of candidates. The political parties will have to put up better candidates. The publicity gimmicks can sway votes, because our people often go along with whatever they come to believe is likely to be popular. Political parties are turning politics into a money spinner and neglecting the welfare of people.
Politicians do not work while in office but try to lure voters with money around election. When people keep voting for politicians regardless of their tainted character, pathetic performance and with no credible expectation of change, then the political leaders probably do look upon the voters as fools. Electors should consider all the developmental works that the leader has worked for and how much interest he had shown towards development.
A good leader should embark moral principles and values.
K.G Vilop, Chorao
The department that gives shocks
If there is one department that gives shocks to the consumers, it is the electricity department. The first shock is that every electricity bill is not for energy charges only but for 5 other charges viz fixed charges, FPPCA charges, electricity duty, meter rent and sundry charges. Then if you don’t pay the bill within 2 weeks time, you are billed for delayed payment charges. And for such bills immediate payment is demanded.
If you find that your bill is faulty, you can take up the matter with the engineer but only after you have paid it i.e first pay, then talk, which is another shock. Now as you know, power supply in villages is interrupted as often as you wash your hands and restored only after hours. There is no deduction in charges for loss or inconvenience caused by interruptions.
The department does have some patience before the supply is disconnected for non payment of bills and reconnects it only after all dues and also reconnection charges are paid. However, surprisingly, it continues to charge energy charges at minimum rates even though you have not used any electricity during the period of disconnection. This is the mother of all shocks.
Seriously, the department should have a relook at its billing policy. It cannot charge for something that it has not supplied. Lastly, there are many cases where people have to pay substantial outstanding dues to the department for one reason or the other.
Rodney de Souza, Assagao
