Keep Goa Clean
SEVERAL writers of this column have expressed their concern over the nuisance of garbage in public places, the damage caused to the environment and to the image of Goa as a tourist destination. In addition, Goa’s natural beauty draw film crews from Bollywood and elsewhere to increasing film their movies in the state. Recently, the scenic locality of the village road linking Torda and Salvador do Mundo, Bardez, where the pristine backwaters of the River Mandovi run alongside the road was used by a Bollywood film troupe for shooting. At that time the village road was closed for traffic thereby causing hardship to the villagers going about their normal activities. The road closure was supervised by private security with police personnel in attendance. Moreover, the members of the shooting troupe littered the area and waste and debris was left lying all over the place. Considering that our gram panchayats are not equipped for clearing such garbage, I request the police authorities, who obviously give clearance for such activities, to include a clause while giving clearance that they shall not leave behind any garbage and have their own arrangement for removal of the garbage caused by them. 
S R LOTLIKAR, PANAJI

Threat from Within-I
IT is a cause for concern that though so many days have passed since the Margao blast, nothing credible has been unearthed to ascertain who is responsible for the heinous act. No one has been categorically pinpointed, nor have any arrests been made. It is alarming that the entire country is seized under the wave of an internal threat trying to destabilise the country. The Chairperson of the Law Commission has minced no words in stating that local extremist elements have penetrated the country’s administration, armed forces, legislature and even the judiciary. That is a shocking revelation leaving us clueless on the state of affairs dictating the country. The relentless Maoist attacks in the North, abducting people at will and executing them is becoming a norm. The hijacking of the Rajdhani Express for five hours in West Bengal by the Maoists on Tuesday is another concern. And this has happened when the top executives of the state were taking stock of the ominous Maoist threat. Fortunately, all the passengers were spared. What is even more threatening is the fact that the wounded and humiliated LTTE cadre after their depletion from Sri Lanka are yet again on the prowl, having sneaked into India and continuing their nefarious designs by giving logistics to the Maoists, posing threat to south-central India. A truly dangerous situation!
MICHAEL VAZ, Merces

Threat from Within-II 
IT has been several days since the bomb-blast in Margao and what is most astonishing is that the police have not made any arrests so far. In fact, they have hardly made any headway into the case.  The standard version which the cops give to the media is ‘investigations are in progress’. What progress has been done is any one’s guess. In addition, the unfortunate incident has taken on political colours. While the home minister seems adamant to take action against the Sanatan Sanustha, other leaders like the Chief Minister seem to be soft-pedalling. A prominent Goan politician has disclosed to the electronic media that the Sanathan Saunstha has spread it’s tentacles into the bureaucracy, the legislature and even the judiciary. This is a very serious concern. If there is even an iota of truth in these allegations than a free and fair trial into the incident will be a far cry. Under such circumstances it would be advisable to hand over investigations into the Margao bomb blast over to the CBI.
ADELMO FERNANDES, Vasco

Rational Thinking over Religious Dogma
MR Michael Vaz has made very relevant comments in his letter Science and Religion (NT, October 27) in reference to a letter by Eduardo Manuel Sequeira (NT, Oct 16). Despite the scientific progress that the human race has achieved, many people tend to believe still believe in the Word of God. So firm is the belief that they start rejecting scientifically established theories such as Darwin’s theory of evolution etc. Several noted scholar’s like Mr Sam Harris and Mr Richard Dawkins–most of them atheists–have written ample on the topic. Like any other scientific theory, even the theory of evolution can be subjected to criticism and is open to challenge, but it is not a sign of intelligence to accept dogmatic propositions against a scientific theory. Despite this, a progressive and developed nation like the United States ran into a controversy. In 1925 the Tennessee Legislature overwhelmingly approved legislation making it a crime to teach ‘any theory that denies the story of the Divine Creation of man as taught in the Bible, and to teach instead that man has descended from a lower order of animal’. On a personal note, I have realised through my study that the theory of evolution is visible not just among the species but in many other problems. Several algorithms like ‘genetic algorithms’ based on this concept of evolution are very useful in ‘artificial intelligence’. Even fields likes economics, linguistics etc have made use of theories of evolution and ‘survival of fittest’. In fact several studies have been published about how evolution is affecting religious beliefs as well. Slowly but steadily, the rational thinking capabilities of human beings is winning over pure faith on religious dogma. If we go by ‘survival of the fittest’, religious dogma seems to be the lease fittest of all.
AKSHAR PRABHU DESAI, Canacona