Great honour for Indian culture
It is a great honour for the Indian culture that a son of a Punjabi family Rishi Sunak that migrated to Kenya during the construction of Kenya-Uganda Railway and later to the UK was appointed Prime Minister of Britain. Some Indian political leaders like P Chidambaram, Shashi Tharoor, and Mahua Moitra also wished that in future a leader of the minority community could occupy a highest position in the Indian political scenario.
Of course, it is possible, but on condition that our majoritarian elite forget the principle that has governed their political beliefs and that is “what is yours we share, and what is ours remains with us”.
Antonio Menezes, by email
Politics of
freebies in India
Over the years the freebies have become an integral part of politics in India, be it for making promises in the electoral battles or providing free facilities to remain in power. Political parties promise to offer freebies to secure the vote of the people. Resultantly, the peoples’ mind has now changed as they to expect everything free from the government. If States keep spending money for supposed political gains, their finances will go awry and fiscal profligacy would prevail. It amounts to an unethical practice that is similar to giving bribes to the electorate. The government’s moral duty is to liberate the poor from the tyranny of poverty. Freebies should be stopped because mindless announcements by opportunists are pushing the economy towards disaster. The freebies must be prohibited.
K G Vilop, Chorao
Introduce variable Dearness Allowance
The government should introduce for government employees a variable system of payment of dearness allowance linked to the monthly average of inflation percentage so that employees can tide over the steep hike in especially food prices as well as the withdrawal of subsidy payment for LPG which is making the cost of living unbearable for the working class. It has been noticed that the revenue collection by the government in the form of GST, Excise, Corporate Tax and Income Tax has been quite robust and thus part of this benefit can be passed on to the employees so as to alleviate tight spending measures that households have to adopt. It would also be judicious on the part of the government to go slow on development projects by resorting to austerity as the lives of the people are more important during these hard times. Similarly, the private sector should also be made to follow suit by making inflation-linked DA payable to all its employees. In such times, the interests of the people should be of paramount importance while going slow on conspicuous spending which should be restrained.
Elvidio Miranda, Panjim
Kohli wraps up Indo-Pak match in style
In the Indo-Pak cricket match played at Melbourne as part of the T20I World Cup on Oct 23, 2022, Virat Kohli silenced his critics in exceptional style. After all the hullagulla being made out about the loss of form that was plaguing Kohli’s game, he has come out from that debacle and showed the truth in the statement that – Form is temporary but class is permanent. And Kohli has got class. His scored an unbeaten 82 under tremendous pressure with India having lost 4 quick wickets and that too in an Indo-Pak cricket match. It was as if Kohli was carrying India’s prestige singlehandedly on his shoulders though Hardik Pandya at the other end gave him more than adequate support. Some of the shots that Virat played were unimaginable particularly the two sixes in the same over against the pace bowler Rauf were sublime. Even after Pandya got out things were not easy and the match went down to the last ball in the last over with a run required. Ashwin got it easily by chipping over the fielders who were closing in to stop the single. And then King Kohli went into raptures deservedly and gracefully accepted the kudos from his teammates. The first match of the T20I World Cup was sealed, signed and delivered by Kohli to set up a blazing start to India’s campaign in the tournament. We hope they will come back with the trophy this time.
Srinivas Kamat, Alto St Cruz
Learn from
British
Currently the British political and economic situation is not stable (like many other countries that go through the same from time to time!). However, what I am impressed with is how much more mature and respectful British Democracy is! We hear words like “Moral obligation”. “I take responsibility” etc, the contenders and the PM regularly give press conferences and media/people ask questions without fear, we see leaders resigning if they don’t deliver as they promised! Leaders are elected via proper democratic regulations after facing rounds of questioning/scrutiny from party workers! Do we hear any of the latter in India?
British focus is on the important issues like economy, jobs, inflation, etc, and not on religion, caste, creed etc. The principles of each political party are respected and politicians don’t jump from one party to another constantly and regularly change their party principles!
Indian senior politicians are self-proclaiming India as “Mother of all democracies” but at this stage I think we are more like the “as one disgust of all democracies!” Can the Indian democracy aspire to reach such high democratic standards or even show some improvement towards the same?
Arwin Mesquita, Colva
Make power dept staff accountable
The Control Room of the Electricity Department is meant for citizens to file complaints in case of power failure. However, the general experience of the complainant is that most of the time the allotted number of the control rooms either remains non-functional or is out of order or the employees are not around to attend the calls. It is learnt that the Control Room of the Electricity Department at Sanguem was gifted with a mobile phone by a councillor of the Sanguem Municipal Council. The mobile has been recharged for three months and it is understood that if the department fails to recharge the number, the concerned councillor would do it and bear the cost. Now, the department employees will be left with no excuse and will have to attend the calls. This seems like a novel way to make the staff accountable and responsive to the complaints of the citizens and take prompt action. This practice needs to be followed by those elected to civic bodies and village panchayats across the State. The particular mobile number needs to be well publicised in the locality along with that of the respective councillor and panch member so that if the staff at the control room does not respond to the call of the complainant, the concerned councillor or the panch member can be informed of the same.
Adelmo Fernandes, Vasco
Britain’s youngest premier
UK’s ex-Finance Minister Rishi Sunak has scripted history by becoming the country’s first Indian-origin Prime Minister. He is also Britain’s youngest premier in modern times. Sunak takes over during one of the most turbulent eras in British political history, with the economy in dire straits triggered by spiralling energy prices in the wake of the Ukraine war and a budget shortfall that has eroded its financial credibility internationally. But Sunak’s elevation is a moment of pride for India.
N J Ravi Chander, Bengaluru
