VOX POPULI
by
S Kamat
as
Aam Admi
Issue: 186
Date: 30.01.2017
Contents:
1. Amit Shah & The Parrikar Ploy
2.
Railway Accidents Wake
Up Call For Suresh Prabhu
3.
In Support of
Traditional Sport & Against Irresponsible NGO's
4. Nationalistic Sentiment Spreading Around The World
Amit Shah
& The Parrikar Ploy
The electorate in Goa should not fall for Amit Shah's ploy that
Manohar Parrikar will come back and head the government if the BJP are
successful in the upcoming elections. It is just being said so that those of
the voters who are undecided should vote for the BJP with this
comment what with the multiplicity of choices with the new parties
Goa Suraksha Manch and the Goa Forward Party among others . A rebuttal
has been made by the Goa BJP President in saying that the Legislature Party
after the elections results are out will name the Chief Minister. This is not
to kill the hopes and to leave the door open for some of the Chief
Minister aspirants within the local BJP for the post once the Central
leadership finally declares that Manohar Parrikar cannot be relieved from his
responsibilities at the Centre.
Railway Accidents Wake Up Call For Suresh Prabhu
There have been a spate of railway accidents in the tenure of
the present Railway Minister, Suresh Prabhu, touted to be one of the more
competent ministers of Narendra Modi's cabinet. There has been also an attempt
to deflect attention from the working of the Railways to blaming the accidents
on sabotage and that too from ISI across the border in Pakistan. Though the
claim deserves to be given attention and an investigation conducted to erase
these doubts, it is better that Suresh Prabhu and the Railways move
away from these flights of fancy and look internally in their working methods.
Cracks in the rails, missing fishplates, rails placed on the tracks, signalling
and driver errors are all controlled by improved working and a proper approach
to issues that need to be tackled and resolved. The emphasis of the present
minister has been to introduce bullet trains, hike tariff in the aim to compete
with airlines and introduce dynamic pricing which are all good ideas and need
to be done but their time has not come. It is understood among these measures
the tickets for the bullet train between Mumbai and Ahmedabad would be close to
many times of the air fare between the two cities and the dynamic fare system
has fallen flat with very low demand for the facility. The focus should have
been on improving passenger amenities, track restoration, better signalling
systems and track inspections to make the aam
admi's journey more safe and comfortable. Suresh Prabhu should therefore
wake up from building castles in the air and get his feet firmly rooted to the
ground and deliver on his portfolio. When you know that you are not performing
on the job it is easy to raise the old and convenient bogey of sabotage from
across the border since it is a sure fire method to deflect attention away from
yourself with the Indian people.
In Support of Traditional Sport & Against Irresponsible
NGO's
In the context of the recent uproar in Tamil Nadu over
Jallikatu since resolved will lead to demands in Karnataka for the holding of
the Kambala races as also bullock-cart racing in Maharashtra and the dhirio
- bullfights in Goa, to be legalised. One
needs to recognise that these traditional sports are required to be accorded
approval since they have been held since the days of yore. The number of
deaths on these could possibly be attributed to lack of practice which has
needlessly been given publicity in the media at the instigation of set-ups like
PETA. Such organisations like PETA and others need to be advised that they
first need to love their fellow human beings particularly those who are less
privileged and who depend upon simple and inexpensive ways to keep themselves
entertained. Following the dictates of the West in these matters by these NGO's
is not being responsible to our society. Aping opinions and values just to be
fashionable and justify the funding that these NGO's receive from their foreign
sponsors is completely wrong. The injuries to animals are no more
than those that we impose on them when we slaughter and kill to eat
meat.
Nationalistic
Sentiment Spreading Around The World
Many
have been critical about Donald Trump's speech at his Presidential inaugural
when he called for - America First. This is nothing new since every country in
the developed world has been lately putting their interests first
and raising the flag of nationalism. Brexit was a form of this sentiment
in the U.K. Pen in France has been gaining increasing popularity in the
Presidential elections in that country for the same reason. Standing up and
speaking up stridently for your own people is very popular in Western
democracies today. The greater outcry of these nationalistic sentiments if you
notice are coming from the countries that were considered progressive in
their immigration policies and welcomed citizens of other nations, mostly the
lesser privileged, to come and settle in their country. These same citizens in
their adopted country started first to take away employment opportunities from
the locals and then slowly some of the Muslims among them started to get
involved in terrorism. Apart from the gripe that locals have about their jobs
taken away, these emigrants lost the sympathy of the larger part of the people
in their country of residence because the locals largely felt completely
let down when the emigrants started involving themselves in terror. We see this
in a smaller way even in India where the people of a backward
State move to other States mostly the urban areas and take away jobs from the
locals. Thus we have to learn to live with the philosophy of - Think Local
- that is spreading around the world. It will change but not too soon since
it may take a decade or more that the prevailing sentiments will persist.
As for Donald Trump one thinks that he has been elected by the people he
should be given a chance to prove himself. We should not be overly critical
even before he puts his policies into practice. The principal to be
followed s give him a break and provide him an opportunity to trip and
fall over his actions. This way it will hurt America no doubt but it will hurt
America more if you do not allow Donald Trump to function as the US
President at all.
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