MyVoice: Views of our readers 28th August 2022

Freebies make nation pauper

One wonders, if political parties in the country are becoming cunningly smarter at the cost of the nation, by extending freebies to the electorate in realising their agenda of winning elections in the country, hands down. This trend has been in the making for some time that began as loan waivers for borrowers of the agricultural community as a shortcut to stabilise the health of the agricultural sector in the country. As a result, borrowers who wanted to pay back the debt were in two minds. But, the trend seemed to grow and grow, with no restrictions whatsoever and legitimize these as means of equitable distribution of wealth of the country, in the guise of carrying out welfare measures for the have-nots in the society.

What these political parties failed to understand is the fact that they are treading into more unwarranted zones, over and above the prescribed definition of welfare measures that an elected government is already into. These political parties must know the welfare measure and freebies is divided by a thin line that a true lover of the country would intuitively understand.

This trend of cunning shortcut to fame being adopted by political parties in providing freebies cannot be tolerated by level-headed and conscientious citizens of the country; who are taxpayers to the exchequer, too. These freebies are given unasked by some political parties, like DMK, AIADMK, AAP, LDF and Congress to name a few. This strange culture created by the Tamil Nadu political parties, handing out mixer-grinder, TV set, sewing machine to one and all in the state that kept alive expectation of people to get more of this kind on a regular basis; and deem such measures to be duty of elected government is firmly ingrained in the psyche of the general public while maintaining all democratic rules intact and unviolated. The sad aspect is that the majority of parties that are in favour of freebies and support the trend are unaware of the detrimental effects they will have on the country's economy, stifling other long-term developmental and infrastructure measures either to go slow or abandoned. The Centre is vehemently opposed to this and the Supreme Court upheld Centre's concern must serve as an eye-opener to the selfish agenda of political parties for whom the freebie culture is more of a bait to convert voters into their camp, rather than genuinely being guided by concerns of the society and the country.

– K R Parvathy, Mysuru

II

This is not the first time that on the last day, important judgements had been delivered by the Chief Justice of India (CJI) and I shall cite here three examples. When PN Bhagwati was the CJI, he delivered a landmark judgement on conversions and as per the judgement, after conversion from the Hindu religion one automatically loses the benefit of reservations and it is another matter that many amendments were introduced later. Now we take the example of Chief Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar who delivered another significant judgement on his last day of service and that case was of instant Talaq practice. We would like to mention the period of Ranjan Gogoi as the CJI, who delivered the famous judgement of Ayodhya Ram temple.

Just for information last Chief Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde imposed a fine of Rs 1 on lawyer Prashant Kishor and in the case of failure to deposit fine he will face jail but ultimately the lawyer deposited the fine.

Keeping in view the complicity of subject matter, the CJI N V Ramana had avoided to deliver detailed judgement on freebies and instead referred the matter to three judges and next date of hearing is after four weeks. The Election Commission has been asked to issue instructions on freebies. However, in parliament, all parties are not on the same page and are having different views due to their own compulsions and in this context please see the conversation of DMK lawyer and CJI:

When Senior Advocate P Wilson, who is representing the DMK, sought to make submissions in the case today, Chief Justice of India NV Ramana told him, "Mr Wilson, the party you represent, I have a lot of things to say but I am restraining myself because of being the CJI. Don't think you are the only wise party. The way you are talking, giving statements...Don't think we are ignoring all what is being said in the court."

– Yash Pal Ralhan, Jalandhar

III

Just before retiring, CJI N V Ramana said that the Parliament is supreme. No doubt, it is so, in our laid down Constitution democracy.

But here the crux of the issue is that Parliament itself has become more immoral, corrupt and unethical, by virtue of the deeds of its own constituents viz. the Members of Parliament. Through the Members of Parliament, the sanctity and values of the sacred Parliament are lost extensively and are made subjected to question mark. In such circumstances, how such a Parliament can do justice to the people and the democracy. Our Parliament is there only to safeguard and protect their own rights and privileges and not for the people at large. For their own sake, they stand united themselves. But for the nation's sake, they differ quarrel with one another.

Under such circumstances, the apex court, Supreme Court of India, is the only remedy for the country. Had our Parliament sincerely worked for the nation and democracy during the past seven-and-a-half decades, our country would have been in a very better position now, in all respects. But that is not so. Every parliament member stood only for their sake, for their power sake and not for the sake of the people at large.

Then with regard to the subject matter, no political party stands against freebies. They live on that, they encash that and they fight the elections on that simple word. Freebies are not to be allowed and should not be announced before elections. After coming to power, the ruling party can take a decision to allow the freebies only to those who really deserve them.

So, taking the words of the outgoing CJI in all their sincerity, let us hope that our parliament will make all-out efforts to uphold its sanctity and values.

– TV Nageswara Rao,Visakhapatnam

Why politicians show off?

It is said that once PM Indira Gandhi was invited to a marriage in Chennai celebrated by a big Telugu politician. There she was shocked to see using holy rice grains made of gold to pour on the heads of the wedding couple as "Thalambralu"! It made her bear a bad impression about corrupt politicians belonging to a particular community in AP.

Most of us know how Jayalalitha as the CM had spent about Rs 200 crore in 1995 to celebrate the marriage of her foster son in Chennai. She used gilt-edged wedding cards worth each about Rs 3000 for inviting Governors, CMs, MPs and members of royal families only. Saaries worth lakhs of rupees each worn by Jayalalitha and her sidekick Sasikala, huge and costly spread of dishes, became the talk of the town! The India Today described it as 'The Mother of all Weddings"!

Perhaps to this category of big, fat weddings belonged the destination marriage celebrated by a sitting TRS MP the other day. It is said that, going by the size of the venue for the marriage reception, the number of guests invited and other arrangements, not to talk about dowry, other expenses for the marriage at Indonesia, the MP must have spent anywhere between Rs 300-500 crore.

It is ok with our general public, spending own money or borrowed but shouldn't our politicians and leaders observe some self-control when it comes to the way they perform marriages at home? When I was working in the Panchayat Raj Department, our minister without qualms and shame assigned to the different associations of departmental personnel the duty of making arrangements for the marriage of his daughter. One Congress Railway Minister even stooped further low and got laid new railway lines to ferry his guests to the wedding venue. Mining baron and politician Janardhan Reddy squandered away about Rs 550 crore on his daughter's wedding during the demonetisation in 2016. Congress Minister Kanwar Tarwar had run through about Rs 250 crore for his son's wedding in 2011. There are umpteen stories connected with the vanity with which our politicians ostensibly misuse their power for their personal purposes.

A true leader sets a trend or inspires his people with his humble and sober ways of living. So our leaders must not be spendthrifts when it comes to marriages and be models for ordinary people to wean them from keeping up with the Joneses.

– M Somasekhar Prasad, Hyderabad

Banks taking too large haircuts

It is quite disheartening to note that banks are taking disproportionately large haircuts to an extent of 69%. The figures till June 30, 2022 show that creditors realised Rs 2.35 lakh crores through resolution plans in 517 cases of the total claims of Rs 7.67 lakh crores. Immediately after the establishment of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) and NCLT (National Company Law Tribunal), the banking circle put large hopes on increasing high resolution value over the cases that would have been settled at the branch level. The hopes are belied and banks are getting more losses. If this is continued, people' hopes on the banking would be lost.

Some of the reasons that are told for plum meting recovery are the delay in the process of insolvency resolution; non-filling of vacancies in the tribunal, rise in the cases over the years, insufficient knowledge and training of stakeholders. One of the suggestions is to introduce the concept of benchmarks for the quantum of haircuts in the resolution plan. Any plan that does not comply with the benchmark should be considered ineligible. Moreover it is suggested that IBBI and lenders instead of realisation of asset for a lower value should revive the company if other things are good and the non-recovery is beyond the control of the company. If possible further credit also should be provided by the lenders. Anyhow delay in realising the asset value must be reduced.

– TSN Rao, Hyderabad

Rampant land grabs across country

Local authorities and state governments should be proactive in the prevention of encroachment of public land. Citizens should follow the rules and regulations and if they violate the rule of law, the violators should be punished. Encroachment of property is a serious concern in India. Citizens and authorities across India are finding it difficult to curb this menace. This not only puts additional strain on the infrastructure but also increases the burden on the Indian legal system. While property owners are mostly caught unaware when their property is encroached upon, handling such cases requires great care and legal help.

Supertech had built two towers in Noida Sector 93A, both of which were built illegally. The matter reached the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court ordered the demolition of the Supertech towers. Preparations have been completed to demolish the Supertech Twin Towers built in Noida. The Twin Towers will be demolished on August 28. The Supreme Court has also said in its order that the Supertech builder will pay whatever cost it takes to demolish the twin towers.

The question is of illegal construction or corruption. The Supreme Court also reprimanded the Noida Development Authority for granting permission for the construction of these towers. The biggest question is why permission was given for the construction of the twin towers of Supertech. Why did the responsible officers of the Noida Authority issue NOC to Supertech builder to build the tower? What will happen to those who bought flats in these towers? What can happen if the tower collapses? What kind of danger can the people living in the surrounding society? How will the debris be disposed of? This is an issue that concerns everyone.

The land is already a scarce commodity and illegal occupation of public land stresses the already dwindling land resource availability.

According to Section 441 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860, encroachment is when any person illegally enters the property of another person, to commit an offense or to intimidate any such person, who has the property and lives there illegally. Penalty for trespassing is provided under Section 447 of the IPC and includes imprisonment of up to three months and/or a fine of up to Rs 550.

If you want to deal with encroachment legally, you should approach the court accordingly. Each state has different municipal laws regarding the use of government and private land that generally allow such encroachments to be demolished. However, it is important to note that these laws lay down a set procedure for municipal authorities to deal with illegal encroachments, and their demolition is done only as a last resort action when all other steps in the process are over. go. Given the political and communal color of the recent demolition campaigns, the rule of law cannot be saved through judicial intervention alone and would require extensive political and people-to-people struggle.

Taking into account the involuntary and coercive encroachment, the judgment of Olga Tellis requires true adoption of the Supreme Court's guidelines. Rehabilitation of slums and not the destruction of slums is the only way forward.

- Satyavan Saurabh, Barwa (Sivani) Bhiwani,

Key trait of

a religion

All religions are basically good and are meant to promote harmony and brotherhood in society. But, a religion or two are often in the news for their overkill, overdoing things with a view to increasing their numerical strength globally, resorting to conversions, adopting mundane means. There is no prize for guessing what these two are that indulge in making their numbers swell. There are other religious groups that are least bothered or concerned about converting others to their fold or toe to their thinking - and Hinduism truly stands out in this context. Why is Hinduism so special and extraordinary acclaimed to be the best, even by believers of other religious groups? The speciality of Hinduism which views all creatures, vegetation of the universe as manifestation of God Almighty is the innate reason why Hindus are not prone to needless and unnecessary violence unlike others. What makes one a cruel and uncompromising religion in the world is the regimentation and blind preaching practices indulged by the religious heads to constantly drum on the followers as the only religion best for the humanity; while decrying other religious groups and treat them as an hindrance for the spread of their fair.

The subtle, vital truth to view humanity in its diversity is totally forgotten and deliberately ignored. Hindu Sastras clearly point out that any religion must be ready for transformation, according to changing times; and evolving aspirations of the society – without diluting vital and basic tenets ingrained as values and essential truth. What is the secret that keeps alive Hinduism in India over the centuries is the concept of universal brotherhood, universal love, universal vision, taught by our great Rishis, Saints and Gurus from time to time.

K V Raghuram, Wayanad

Embodiment of unconditional

love & service to all the needy

26th August marked the 112th birth anniversary of MOTHER TERESA, a messenger of God. She was an embodiment of humility and benevolence. Her strength lay in her great healing power and immense love for humanity. Above all, she didn't believe in judging people but loving them. Working happily and unconditionally, she sacrificed whenever needed. As a flower of unlimited fragrance, she worked with the sweat of her brows as if she was an instrument of almighty. For her peace began with a smile and the biggest infirmity was harbouring the feeling of being unwanted. She never discriminated against people with different diseases, Leprosy or Tuberculosis.

– Dr Sunil Chopra, Ludhiana

II

She was born on 26th August 1910 in Greece. She came to India in the year 1929. Later she settled at Kolkata, serving the destitute with Love and affection. Persons who were suffering from leprosy, Tuberculosis, and unwanted by society, and who were about to die, got solace from her. She is personification of love and compassion. Her team comprises 4,000 nuns. She served people in other countries, too. She was awarded with Nobel Prize in 1979 and was awarded with Bharat Ratna in 1980. She was a rare lady with unconditional love for humanity, and remains in our hearts forever.

– Kantamsetti Lakshman Rao, Visakhapatnam

Take preventive measures to check tomato flu spread

There is currently no test or treatment for the virus. The best way to stop further transmission and defend yourself against the tomato flu virus, according to the researchers, is to isolate infected cases, maintain good hygiene, sanitize the nearby items or environment, and prevent infected children from coming into contact with items shared with uninfected children

It is disheartening to learn that people are in a panic as medical practitioners are warning about a mysterious virus known as the "tomato flu," that is spreading across the country. This novel, highly contagious virus that has been discovered in Kerala is what causes 'tomato fever,' according to a study that was published recently in the Lancet Respiratory Journal.

"In several areas, the virus is thought to primarily infect infants between the ages of 1 and 5. To date, apart from Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Odisha, no other regions in India have been affected by the virus," says a report published in The Lancet. The report made it very obvious that, to date, the virus has not spread to any other parts of India except Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Odisha.

This new rare viral infection is in an endemic state and is considered non-life threatening. The infection causes rashes, skin irritation and dehydration, and painful blisters, and sometimes it may be fatal as well, according to doctors. Early signs include a high fever, tiredness, body aches, and extremely painful joint pain. These symptoms are followed by red blisters that resemble monkey pox-like lesions and slowly enlarge to the size of a fruit.

The symptoms also match those of Covid-19, dengue, chikungunya, the flu, and hand, foot, and mouth disease, thus before someone is identified as having tomato flu, numerous tests are performed to rule out many other possibilities.

Notably, the illness does not offer any significant risks for life. The self-limiting, non-lethal tomato flu can be treated by unwinding, drinking lots of fluids, and sponging the rash with hot water.

There is currently no test or treatment for the virus. The best way to stop further transmission and defend yourself against the tomato flu virus, according to the researchers, is to isolate infected cases, maintain good hygiene, sanitize the nearby items or environment, and prevent infected children from coming into contact with items shared with uninfected children. The easiest approach to prevent the flu is therefore, to practice good cleanliness, and parents are urged to seek assistance from a health professional if they see any symptoms in their children.

– Dr Krishna Kumar Vepakomma