LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

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Appreciating all Sports EquallyWHEN the TRPs for IPL were skyrocketing, I was amused to read that hardly anybody was interested in watching the Olympics. We must rise above the cricket mania and learn to appreciate and value of other sports as well. The government must wake up, at least after seeing the facilities provided to athletes by China at the Beijing Olympics. I am sure that India has all the strength and ability to compete with the rest of the world. Providing good support to athletes only after having won medals is inappropriate. Athletes must be rewarded, however even before they are stars of the nation. They should be provided with the best of facilities and financial support. The government should be ashamed by looking at the pitiable conditions under which Mr Sushil Kumar won the nation a medal. I hope things change now and all sports get equal recognition and honour in India.

DR Manmohan Singh’s promise of a ‘human face’ of his government when he took over seems to have completely come off if you see the Jammu agitation, the Amarnath issue and its reverberations in Srinagar and the rest of Kashmir. So many lives have been unnecessarily lost. From the manner in which the issue has been tackled it seems that there has been no crisis management, no conflict resolution techniques and the government is simply going about the whole thing in a very reactive manner. This is only making matters worse. What was expected of the PM was to go out and send a strong message to the agitators and counter-agitators on the government’s stand. This would have made it clear to everyone around the seriousness with which the PM is looking at the issue? In fact the PM should show his purposefulness and resolve by sacking Mr Shivraj Patil since it is under his watch that things have taken a turn for the worse. Mr Patil has been clearly proved ineffective in tackling any matter as also terrorism. It is time to heal open wounds of Kashmir since otherwise we will have the separatist flags flying more vigorously than ever in this troubled state.

IT is understood that there are over ten thousand names of unemployed youth registered with the employment exchange. Obviously it is impossible to accommodate all these youth in government service. There are several private companies in the state that can provide alternate employment for all those registered with the employment exchange. It would be best for everyone involved for private companies to work in tandem with the employment exchange so as to provide youth with adequate placements within their companies.

THE derogatory remarks made by the state Home Minister with reference to the proposed Goa-Bihar train – that its introduction could lead to an influx of beggars from Bihar – has created a furore across the country. The minister was quick to state that he was misquoted, while the opposition leader has sought an apology from him. On the sidelines of this debate it would be worth delving a bit and ask how well have we shielded ourselves from begging! We know beyond doubt that we have been perennially begging for power from the neighbouring states wherein it was much easier for us to set up a generating plant of our own. Most of our food grains, fruits, vegetables, poultry, meat etc is bought from outside. Almost the entire labour force through which Goa has been built, which we ridicule unabashedly as ‘migrant labour’ is obtained from the rest of our country. The leading technical institutes seek the assistance of the major companies in other states for job placement of our pass outs, when we could have created an employment base here. The list is endless! It is truly a ticklish problem as to who isn’t a beggar!