Train conductors
Although Section 100 of the Railways Act says railways cannot be blamed for the passengers losing their luggage, it also says “unless it is proved that the loss is due to negligence or misconduct on its or its employees” part. Conductors and attendants of trains are entrusted with the job of securing the safety of passengers. Therefore, railways needs to be on its toes to prevent passengers from being robbed. Recently, the Delhi High Court ruled that a passenger was responsible for the safety of his luggage and that railways was not liable for any theft unless there was misconduct or negligence on the part of its officials. The absence of an attendant or a conductor per se cannot mean negligence unless the “coach was left open for someone unauthorised to enter”. Interestingly, the court said that there was nothing on record to suggest that the complainant passenger could not have been robbed of his valuables by a co-passenger.
Ganapathi Bhat, Akola
Dismal performance
by Goa teachers
According to a recent media report, 80 science and maths teachers from government high schools in Goa who are undertaking training under the National Education Policy (NEP) at the Indian Institute of Science in Karnataka have failed to pass the pre- and post-tests of Class X examination taken earlier by students with scores as low as 4 out of 100 – a damning indictment on the quality of education imparted in government schools in the state and a sad reflection on the recruitment process of teachers. Little wonder then why students are compelled to flock to coaching classes and private tuition classes to secure a good percentage at the Board exams. It is time for the Goa government to do some serious introspection and undertake a complete revamp of the selection process for high school teachers so that our students do not suffer at the hands of incompetent teachers.
A F Nazareth, Alto Porvorim
Tariff war
We should be ashamed as a country for pandering to an irresponsible nincompoop like Donald Trump. Not only are we playing up to Trump but counting brownie points on how in the tariff war unleashed by him, we have got off lightly. In his delight of reactions from countries around the world to his tariff war, Trump has been using intemperate language and saying that all countries are calling him up and queuing to sign trade agreements. One needs to remember that we are the first country to bend down and seek a trade agreement soon after Prime Minister Narendra Modi had met Trump on his US visit. We should not have pushed the panic button, but adopted a wait and watch policy. As we have seen now, Trump has been forced to pause his new tariffs by the US bond market going into a tailspin and fears of a US recession becoming seemingly real and greater unease within the Republicans as to the implications of the new tariffs on American people. We should have anticipated this and taken our time to respond to the proposed US levies. But for this one needs political intelligence within the US and a high capacity of skill to understand the implications of the new tariffs. Unfortunately, we sadly lack this and our embassies in foreign countries confine themselves to simple consular work. Thus our reactions have been those that are apparent and if it is reciprocal tariff we will also subscribe to Trump’s tariff war. But if we have to do it then we need to do it with gusto like China has been doing and expanding it to non-tariff areas like banning Hollywood films. If we in India from the beginning had shown that we have some spine and stood up to Trump then he would have thought twice before pursuing his tariff war agenda. With both, China and India, the two most populous nations ranged against him, Trump would have been forced to hit the pause button much earlier. But with our simpering attitude and the tendency to cut corners to make deals, Trump was emboldened to pursue his agenda on tariffs with more vigour. If you see Trump’s public utterances he seems confident that India will reduce tariffs on US goods. The India tariff reductions will not be limited to the US since the EU has already asked us to reduce import duties on cars to 0% which our trade ministry has confirmed that progressively by December of this year we will bring it to zero. Thus one needs to ask what happens to the policy basis on which these tariffs were originally formulated. Concluding, there is some method in Trump’s madness on the tariffs since he wants to bring back manufacturing to the US but then this cannot be done overnight and there should be a progressive and gradual process to this so that the disruption in the world economy is kept to the minimum.
Srinivas Kamat, Mysuru
