Scaloni needs
to be hailed
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One cannot and should not forget coach Lionel Scaloni’s contribution behind Argentina’s historic third FIFA world cup triumph. There was a lot of criticism when Scaloni was hired as the unqualified coach, who didn’t have even any club experience then. In fact, the late Deigo Maradona mocked Scaloni, saying “he’s not even capable of directing traffic.”
But slowly things turned for good when Scaloni led Argentina to the Copa America title in July last year after a 28-year title drought. In Scaloni, Argentina found a perfect identity revolving around Messi. He instilled a lot of self-belief in players and trusted them and the team management firmly, a trait that was missing in the team before. And this unflinching trust, despite Argentina’s shocking defeat against minnows Saudi Arabia in the opening game, seeped through the team to finally win the world cup after 36 years.
Ranganathan Sivakumar, Chennai
Recent Chinese incursions at the LAC
Our External Affairs Minister (EAM) Jaishankar has joined issue with Rahul Gandhi and raised in Parliament that the latter should not have used the word ‘pithai’ in the context of the clash between the Chinese soldiers and Indian jawans in the Tawang region recently.
According to Jaishankar, it disrespects our jawans. When will the BJP stop making plays with semantics rather than deal with reality. If there was a clash as reported with canes and sticks there would be ‘pithai’ on both sides.
There is no question of disrespect since our jawans are at the borders to fight and give as much and more than they get. Thus giving ‘pithai’ and taking ‘pithai’ is part of their job. Therefore the BJP should say what is the actual reality and deal with it. This reality is also actually seen by our soldiers standing guard on the icy heights and it is only our BJP Ministers and leaders who with their words try and decorate it as if it is something else.
Our Defence Minister talking of giving the enemy a bloody nose and the Chief of Army Staff saying that they are ready to meet any threat, should stop rattling their swords in the scabbards and take them out and show what they are capable of. The EAM also said in Parliament that the Army has scaled up its strength at the LAC in recent times but even then we get regular border incursions by China.
Does this mean China does not even bother about our Army build-up? The consistent attempts to hide facts about the Chinese aggression on our borders is leading to the perception of a different reality than what is on the ground.
Even in the Galwan incident with China sometime back, initially it was said that there were no casualties on our side and that our soldiers had inflicted severe damage on the aggressors. But finally it came out that we lost 21 soldiers while the Chinese lost only 4.
Our jawans are being used as cannon fodder from incidents ranging from Pulwama to the Galwan valley and now Tawang. This has to stop and India has to place action before words so that the enemy is more wary about us. Concluding we need a White Paper on the China aggression on our borders all along the LAC so that the country knows the true reality and not the manufactured one by the BJP that is diluted and wish-washy. The earlier the White Paper is presented in Parliament it is better.
Srinivas Kamat, Alto St Cruz
On the subject
of Layoffs
This is with reference to a recent article published in the ‘Comment’ column of the ‘Edit’ page of Herald Goa dated December 20, 2022. The writers Steve Correa and Srinath Sridharan very well discussed the current climate surrounding job opportunities back in India in view of the preference for more ‘young talent’ in jobs ,and more importantly the ability of corporates to ‘reduce costs’ to meet their profit margins. I would like to wholeheartedly state it that, the thoughts and expectations in the minds of recruiters described by them is exactly what is currently going on, not just in India, but around the whole world. A lot of people like myself, are doing countless internships with the hope that we can get permanent soon, as the demands and expectations of corporates have skyrocketed. Today’s companies are not ready to hire people and provide them with training. On the contrary, they prefer hiring them as Interns, paying them very less, giving them the so-called ‘entry-level experience’ and exploiting them in the short-run. As freshers, we have no option but to accept what is given to us so that we can get the 2-3 years experience that many demand in recent times.
Considering all of this, and the realities surrounding the lives of young freshers upon graduation, the point about staying loyal to companies is nothing short of old-school. Loyalty I believe comes when both sides agree to put in the equal amount of effort to ensure productivity and growth in the long-term, something which is really lacking a lot today given that on one hand – corporates want faster results and growth with less incentives to fuel great performance and on the other side, the employee with the high expectations placed upon him or her is not able to meet up to it. In other words, a fear is created in the minds of people and as a result they don’t want to stay too long in jobs.
To sum up, I would like to state that the above situation described is not something new that has occurred very recently. It has been happening over decades, with new generations coming in and occupying the workforce and is therefore a trend. However, I do believe that it was exacerbated with the pandemic and now the current inflation (soon-to-be recession) which is expected to affect the world economy very badly by 2023.
Bryce D’Souza, Parra
Solidarity glue
Solidarity is a unifying factor that glues people of different nations. It focuses more on results and less on expectations. The United Nations “International Human Solidarity Day” was observed on December 20. A hand is fought best when it is made a fist. Therefore unity in diversity is the cementing factor for countries to root, blossom and grow.
In as much as there are extremely well-to-do people, and luxuries of life, there are the poor, the hungry and the diseased—-this inequality needs to be plugged.
New and emerging infections keep returning, and the world needs a collective defence system that demands international cooperation and collaboration in the name of global solidarity.
Fostering stability among the nations through solidarity is all the more crucial because it underlines the importance of fighting against terror, and batting for peace. Similarly, the sociocultural milieu would be much poorer without the UN tackling the socio-economic and cultural issues as well.
Social solidarity is viewed as a crucial barometer to judge equality and rights. One cannot forget that the evil of racism was fought with the stick called solidarity.
Differences of opinion cannot harm solidarity. When solidarity grows to the extent that one perceives others’ causes and duties as his/her own, international peace cannot be too far away. Creating change when there are opportunities, and resisting all forms of exploitation by way of “solidarity” cannot be emphasised more.
Ganapathi Bhat, Akola
