India creates history
Congratulations to our Men in Blue for their thumping victory over the Black Caps to lift the T-20 World Cup for a record third time. In a series of firsts, dominant India became the first country to win the T-20 World Cup at home, the first to defend its crown and the first to win the trophy for the third time since its inception. It was total teamwork that enabled our team to achieve these records. After their defeat to South Africa during the Super 8, the think tank decided to bring in Sanju Samson to bolster the team’s chances. Thankfully, he did not disappoint the team and his fans. First his unbeaten 97 enabled our team to win over the ever fighting West Indies at Kolkata to qualify for the semi-final place. In the semi-finals, he followed it with a score of 89 to post a daunting target for England to chase, which they almost achieved in style. Then came the turning point with excellent catches by our players, especially the one Axer took to dismiss England captain Brook and the dynamic Jack, which turned the game in India’s favour. Similarly, during the final against our nemesis New Zealand, it was real fireworks from Sanju Samson, Abhishek and Ishan Kishan and finally Dube to post a fighting total of 257 for the Black Caps to chase. Alas, their top order crumbled to the spin of Axer Patel and then our Bhoom Bhoom Bumrah accounted for the middle and tail to enable our team to win by a huge margin of 96 and rewrite history. All in all, it was a fruitful World Cup win for Team India. Well done, keep the Indian flag flying!
Vinay Mahadevan, Dubai
Judicial gender gap
The International Day for Women Judges is observed on March 10. In Indian High Courts, there are 116 women judges out of a total working strength of 781. Only Punjab and Haryana, Madras and Bombay High Courts have reasonable representation of women. In the Supreme Court, Justice B V Nagarathna is the sole woman on the bench among the 33 judges. No woman has been appointed to the top court after 2021. It is Justice Nagarathna who has consistently advocated for more women judges at the entry level and in the higher judiciary. As Chief Justice of India Surya Kant recently said, High Court collegiums should identify more and more suitable women to be elevated to the benches. Lawyers from different states practicing in the Supreme Court could also be considered, he said. Women are well equipped to find solutions through dialogue, and they are highly sensitive to human rights and relationships. It is widely believed that women judges bring with them diverse approaches, varied outlooks and fresh thought processes.
 Ganapathi Bhat, Akola
Protecting young minds
In a major decision the tourism minister announced a plan to ban social media apps on mobiles for children below 16 years. Today information technology has reached the masses and children are becoming more addicted to it than adults. Mobile apps have both advantages and disadvantages but many children get affected because they access apps like YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, TikTok and reels. Apps which do not help children below 16 years in their academics should be strictly restricted. Both Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka have proposed the same. The minister has declared that such a proposal will be sent to the central minister to take proper action and possibly frame a policy on the use of apps by school children on mobiles. Recently we saw cases of school girls who jumped from their flats after viewing a play app on mobile phones. Such incidents are an eye opener and government should restrict the use of mobiles in schools and elsewhere if it is not related to academics. Mobile use by children came in during Covid-19 due to school closure and online classes during the pandemic but it continued even after the same ended. Today it is the need of the hour to place restrictions on the use of apps by school going children and it is a welcome step by the Goa minister. This will help children grow healthy and take part in outdoor activities on playgrounds. In Australia it is already implemented and Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, reels and YouTube are banned. We can follow them and implement the same in our state and country as well.
Raju Rammurthy, Vasco
Hormuz crisis deepens
With the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, the UAE has only 10 days of fresh produce left. With almost all supplies of every kind cut off, it won’t be long before the region runs out of food. Although the strait is 32 kilometres wide, the deep navigable channel is barely six kilometres and ships must keep three kilometres between incoming and outgoing lanes. Thousands of vessels are currently stranded on both sides of the strait. If the blockade continues longer, perishable goods being carried by cargo ships will turn to waste. The tragedy is people cannot even leave the region as most airports remain closed or operate below capacity. There were reports that Indian labourers were taken to glitzy malls and videos made to show everything is normal in Dubai.
Rekha Sarin, Benaulim
