SORRY, COWS OF GOA!

The bovine animal has loads of patience but if they go squat happily in the middle of roads and in dimly-lit street-side corners and pavements…oops an deadly accident can happen! What right have cows to lurk around snoozing where moving traffic may miss them and before they can brrrrake…there’s a cow hit accident and someone ends up in hospital ruing over a cussed bovine animal on the streets of Goa! Take a look at this picture, an annoyed public group PAWSITIVITY has taken to “garlanding” cows on roads with reflectors – let’s hope this will reduce accidents on our roads of Goa which extend so much hospitality rights to the holy cow or so to speak!

NOW COW RIGHTS?

JUSTICE Shekhar Kumar Yadav of the Allahabad High Court, whilst rejecting a bail petition of a man booked under the UP Cow Slaughter Act, has reportedly  urged the Central government to bring a bill in Parliament for “protection of cows” and to declare “cow protection as a fundamental right of Hindus.”

Justice Yadav also advised the Central government to declare the cow as a national animal and pass strict laws against those who harm cows.  So now may be cows in India will  have more rights than human beings!

Yes, today most animal lovers have a lot of compassion for animals, but not for humans. It’s almost like religion where people love God, but hate humans. It is really funny to see one particular state, that is Uttar Pradesh, headed by cow devotee, Yogi Adityanath, being more worried about the safety of cows than the women of UP who are exploited, raped and murdered routinely.

Hey, when about 20% of the world’s requirement of beef is exported by India, how come judges like Shekhar Kumar Yadav have suddenly woken up to cow protection so seriously and that too seven long years in our country? It’s all drama leading up the upcoming  UP elections, nothing else.

First, Judge Yadav  should ask the Central government to give the people of India their right to a roof over their heads, employment, food reassurance, protection for women. Education for children who are forced to begging or work in labor camps from their childhood….it is ridiculous to give cows rights but not the poor children of India. The orange brigade is going crazy. Please retire this judge who is probably playing UP’s CM tune for his own political gains.

— Jerry Fernandes, Saligao

PLASTIC MILK BAGS

WE live in a world of plastics. Manufactured parts, fabrics, made from hydrocarbons as the raw materials pumped up from the ground as crude oil. This crude oil then goes into making toys, clothes, packaging materials, a thousand other material uses, including plastic bags to carry “fresh” milk to our homes for our own daily consumption. Finally, we thoughtlessly discard all our plastic and “plasticky” things in the waste bin as dry litter.

In front of my house there is a garbage dump by the roadside and people from well-known housing societies dump their waste in plastic bags and all the waste is collected and taken to the waste processing facility. The garbage dump is not a problem, as it is a necessary space for garbage to be collected where I live, but with time if it is not taken flies, dogs, cows, crows, other animals split open plastic bags of food and consume it along with the plastic bags sometimes.

The most heart-rending sight is of hoofed animals, including hungry cows, goats and pigs, chewing on empty plastic bags that previously had milk in them. They make up one of the biggest waste items in terms of volume, discarded plastic milk bags or sachets. Some rag pickers collect these discarded milk bags and make some money selling them to re-processing units.

I feel sorry for the hungry animals for in their haste to obtain residual milk and food in the plastic bags, they also consume the bags and these create trouble for them of injurious kind. In foreign countries milk is delivered in hard plastic containers which are also recyclable, but because they are made of stiffer hard plastic, the hoofed animals will not want to chew and ingest them like they do plastic bags.

I understand milk in plastic bags for costs reasons. But are these bags food grade plastics or simply cheap plastic sheeting turned into disposable containers? Food grade plastic containers never have residual industrial chemicals in them. But ordinary plastic bags, packets and bottles contain Polyvinyl Chloride PVC dioxins, phthalates, ethylene dichloride and other toxic chemicals.

So when street animals feed on these discarded food in plastics  they accumulate toxins in their body. These are our animals: They give us milk and meat too in some cases. Micro plastics are a problem because of their sheer volume of usage in food industry and packaging industry. Who is going to do anything about this? We as a people have no conscience! We only live to eat and throw and die – and kill mother earth.

— Stephen Dias, Dona Paula

POLICE MISSION

THE mission of the police is to give people an efficient, law abiding and responsive law enforcement machinery. The acts of improper behaviour that we witnessed in the police force indicates all is not well. There is need to weed out with an iron hand the rotten apples from within the policing establishment to that there is more credibility in the eyes of the public.

Truthfulness must always be at the heart of policing and is fundamental so that public have genuine confidence and trust in police. Every cop must be a dedicated public servant for he has sworn to protect public safety at all times. Police must always uphold law and never dare to  breach it. Steps must be taken to ensure a disciplined police force. But this may be difficult to achieve as like all other government recruitment, many have found their way in through political patronage or by paying for the job.

Integrity being the foundation of law enforcement, anyone lacking it should never be in it at any level.  The zero tolerance of any indiscipline displayed by SP Sobhit Saxena must be emulated by all senior and junior officers so that discipline flows smoothly down the ranks.

— Aires Rodrigues, Ribandar

TEMPORARY INSANITY

TEMPORARY insanity can lead to violence. Crimes of passion suggest that there was no malice before bur a crime was committed in the heat of passion. It turned into a case of homicide committed by a spouse upon catching the better half in bed with another lover to one of manslaughter. The essence was temporary insanity at the discovery.

Police and military forces must be well disciplined and not prone to temporary insanity given their job responsibility of protecting the citizens. Yet we see, like in Mellauli, mining protests by the elderly, lockdown breakers, etc, and the way police attack peaceful protestors – temporary insanity? Why?

Police top brass must explain and resort to psychologists for answers. The recent case of a wife catching her constable husband red handed in a compromising position with a colleague, had the husband pushing and beating his wife. Psychologically, the wife suffered from temporary insanity, not the husband. It shows the major folly in training of PCs who are supposed to remain calm and level headed in trying and testing conditions. This is a serious matter police force higher ups must redress.

— R Fernandes, Margao

 RIP FOR CONGRESS?

ALL India Congress President Sonia Gandhi has reportedly retained Girish Chodankar and Digambar Kamat as State Party President and Leader of the Opposition, respectively, despite strong demands from senior leaders/grassroot party workers for their immediate removal for inwardly behaving like BJP collaborators-cum-sympathisers and daringly working against the party since the last few years in Goa.

Today, both leaders are mischievously  importing the same old out-dated leaders (including habitual opportunist defectors from other political parties) in the Congress,  by roaming around everywhere and side-lining their own loyal young leaders/grassroot party workers, and dreaming of forming the next government post-elections.

Digambar Kamat is inwardly a known die-hard BJP sympathizer and former BJP leader. Today if he is still sitting in the Congress party then it’s only because he’s dreaming of becoming the chief minister of Goa once again with the help of newly recruited chamcha leaders in the party, fully promoted by his right-hand man Girish Chodankar.

Otherwise, what has been the performance of Digambar Kamat as  a Leader of Opposition in the Goa assembly all these years? Absolutely nothing. I personally feel that as long as clueless Central leaders keep entrusting the responsibilities of the party into the hands of such known BJP collaborators/sympathisers by sidelining all minority community leaders, especially from Salcette/South Goa (the traditional bastion and actual backbone of the Congress) and the grassroot party workers, the Congress will never be able to dislodge the current ruling BJP government and make a comeback!

Under the latest Congress set-up it would definitely be  advantage BJP, which will easily form the next government for a third consecutive time in a row, whether the people like it or not. The Central leaders of the Congress have already dug their party’s grave! It’s  RIP for the Congress Party in Goa.

–Jerry Fernandes, Saligao