No such thing as free lunch
There has been a lot of hullabaloo in the media and civil society about ‘freebies’ being doled out/promised by parties. It should be made mandatory for political parties to disclose the financing and trade-offs required to the voters for any freebies offered as there is no such thing as a free lunch in this world. Such a move would introduce some semblance of accountability and reduce the urge for ‘competitive populism’ among political parties. Apart from adversely impacting production and resource allocation, offering freebies also leads to imposition of high indirect taxes and environmental damage among other repercussions; take the instance of Punjab where successive governments with their offer of free power have led to the State’s water table falling to dangerously low levels. Farmers are busy utilising the ‘free’ power to extract groundwater and push things to dangerously unsustainable levels. The PM and de facto head of the ruling party very cleverly used the term ‘revdi culture’ to diss the opposition’s ‘free everything’ electoral promises conveniently forgetting the fact that the BJP is the progenitor of these vacuous offers. There is a very thin dividing line between what constitutes a ‘freebie’ and what counts as a genuine ‘welfare scheme’. Supreme Court intervention is a must to root out this culture which gnaws at the innards of the economy, hollowing it out and the worst part is that most of these promised ‘freebies’ are mere jumlas, they are not even acted upon once the party grabs power. Politicians certainly don’t pay a single dime for the freebies from their own pockets; everything is paid for by honest taxpayers.
Vinay Dwivedi, Benaulim
Honour and pride for Goa
On August 27, 2022 at the Vatican, Bishop Filipe Neri Ferrão will become the first-ever Archbishop of Goa to be elevated to the Cardinalate in 465 years, which is a huge moment not only for Aldona, but for the whole of Goa and Daman. It also means an added religious event to celebrate on this remarkable day like any feast.
Archbishop Filipe, a Capricornist [Goal oriented] – born on January 20, 1953, an Indian prelate of the Catholic Church, who has been the Archbishop of Goa and Daman since 2004, was ordained as priest on October 28, 1979. Although Bishop is the highest level of Holy orders in the Church, being named a Cardinal simply confers one additional honorific for Goans of all faith to be proud of and pray for his success. Bishop Filipe will be the first Cardinal from Goa since an Episcopal was established in 1533, and note that the Catholic Church currently has only four serving Cardinals in India – haven’t this taken Goa to another level. It is important to know that Episcopate is the highest degree of the sacrament of Holy orders and the Cardinalate; on the other hand, it is an administrative degree that makes the subject an elector of the next Supreme Pontiff – what an honour and pride for Goa!
As the famous quote speaks: “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” – Bishop Filipe Neri Ferrao is surely one of them.
Gaston Dias, Sarzora
The Gandhi legacy
Mahatma Gandhi was a silent hero of his generation never outsourced ethics. He dreamt it; lived it. Gandhi taught us to invent our own ethical world. Gandhi was perpetually for experiments. Walking, fasting, weaving, printing, cooking and protesting were all his experiments. Gandhi’s ethics doesn’t appeal to the new generation. I feel Gandhian ideals are increasingly irrelevant in the present world. Despite Gandhi being deified by politicians unerringly on the days of his birth and martyrdom, the true spirit of Gandhian ideology is seldom remembered by people. I concede that Gandhi’s leadership did appeal to the ethics of his generation. Without Gandhi, India perhaps would have been free earlier than 1947. But, it was Gandhi’s legacy which has helped us to become more liberal and democratic nation.
Diomedes Pereira, Corlim
Merit: The sole guiding factor
After 75 years of Independence, it is high time that the golden rule has to be to aim to get the best qualified person for every position – irrespective of sex, caste, creed or religion. Only this could pave the way for our great nation to be progressive and truly Independent. In this competitive world it is about time to do away with the skewed policy of reservations for jobs and in electoral politics as well. Admissions to all professional colleges must also be strictly on merit. The Constitution of India provides for the Fundamental Right to Equality, without discrimination on the grounds of sex, caste, creed or religion. The very concept of reservations is all about petty vote bank politics. Merit is the key to genuine and rapid success. James Barksdale, an American Business CEO advised that ‘Where we compete on merit we always do very well’.
It is appalling at how plagued we have become by a sheer sense of illogicality. The government must financially help the economically challenged in pursuit of further education so that they can compete with the mainstream on a level playing field. Very ironically, while on one hand the law provides for equality, on the other hand there is a policy of reservation, which by its very genesis a favour. Equality doesn’t brook favours. A contradiction in terms!
The late Nelson Mandela famously said, ‘My respect for human beings is based not on the colour of a man’s skin or authority he may wield, but purely on merit’.
Aires Rodrigues, Ribandar
Release of the rapists
There is resentment and uproar and rightly so, over the release of the 11 convicts who acted worse than wild animals in the Bilkis Bano rape case. It is a shame that these animals who don’t deserve any sympathy for the way in which they gang raped three Muslim women one of whom, Bilkis ,was pregnant at that time and murdered seven other Muslims including a three- year- old child of Bilkis.
It is also unfortunate that the Supreme Court allowed the remission petition filed by one of the 11 criminals to be decided by the same BJP government in Gujarat who were the rulers of the State when these atrocities were committed by the above criminals! As expected, the Gujarat government has released all the 11 convicts without even making consultation with the Union government which is mandatory as the case was handled by the CBI.
Hope the release of the hardcore criminals by the BJP government and the manner in which the released convicts were greeted and feted by some of the heartless hardcore Hindutva elements which shockingly included two shameless women must have touched the conscience of the Apex Court.
One only hopes that the highest court will order/ advise the Gujarat government to cancel the remission and send the criminals back to jail for life.
Tharcius S Fernando, Chennai
Kargil heroes
India won the Kargil war because of the soldiers who fought fiercely for the future of our nation. It is so heartbreaking that the stories of these bravehearts are being slowly erased. We have to save our history.
India has a legacy of Kargil. A tale of extreme bravery and gallantry. Many of our soldiers fought fiercely for the peace and prosperity of our people. But today, we seldom find these incredible stories of our real-life heroes in our educational syllabuses.
Jubel D’Cruz, Mumbai
