Traffic police
In the past few months, the traffic police have been busy fitting reflective collar belts on more than 1,000 stray cattle across Goa. A police officer said this voluntary work was taken up by the traffic police headquarters (NT November 18). The collars may reduce road accidents caused by the cattle during night time when they loiter or laze on the roads and highways. The step taken, although not new and has been carried out by some village panchayats, needs to be appreciated. But traffic police need not put their lives at risk by taking the bull by the horn. The task could be outsourced to the animal husbandry and veterinary services (AV&HS) department, which will have trained personnel to fit the collars, attend to the injured or famished cattle and move them to shelters. The traffic police headquarters is burdening itself when there is a shortage of manpower and the police are already stressed dealing with drunken driving, accidents, nakabandhi, etc. When traffic police are absent at crucial sites and at places where traffic lights either do not work or are not installed, is it advisable to use them to collar the cattle? Let the urban local bodies comply with the Supreme Court’s recent orders to control stray cattle, dogs and other animals. Instead of straying into unknown fields, the traffic police need to regulate and maintain orderly traffic and strictly enforce the rules.
Sridhar D Iyer, Caranzalem
Handling children
In a tragic incident that has left the community stunned, a 13-year-old Class 8 student from Marcaim reportedly died by suicide late Sunday night, allegedly after her mother scolded her for spending too much time on mobile phone. It is learnt that the minor locked herself in her room and used a boot lace to hang herself. The death of the child by suicide is a tragedy, having lasting and profound impacts on the family, friends and the community at large. Saligao police have reportedly registered an FIR against a teacher at Verem after a 17-year-old girl and her guardian alleged serious mental, emotional and psychological harassment. She was allegedly subjected to repeated humiliation, false accusation and public insult by the teacher. It must be said that the behaviour of children of today is different from the children of yesteryears. Today’s children can be emotionally different due to a combination of developmental factors, environmental pressures like social media and academic stress, and changes in parenting styles. It is necessary to handle adolescents with maturity. Modern children face a unique set of stress from a young age, and while some differences are a result of biological development, others stem from increasing emphasis on emotional intelligence. To handle adolescents with maturity it is necessary to maintain calm and listen to their perspective. One needs to strike a balance by encouraging their independence by giving them space, and at the same time establishing clear guidelines. Parents need to show genuine interest in their lives by spending quality time with them and offering support, rather than lectures, when they face challenges.
Adelmo Fernandes, Vasco
Hidma’s neutralisation
The neutralisation of one of the most dreaded Naxal commanders of the now banned CPI (Maoist) Madvi Hidma, in the forests of Andhra Pradesh’s Alluri Sitharama Raju (ASR) district, is a massive triumph for the security forces. Originally hailing from Bastar in Chhattisgarh, and a man who rose from the ranks, Hidma had hoodwinked the forces time and again. Trained in guerrilla warfare, Hidma alias Santosh, was the “architect” of many scariest Naxal ambushes and posed a huge challenge for the security forces. The 2010 Tadmetla attack that martyred 76 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel and the 2013 Jhiram valley attack that killed several top state Congress leaders are recounted with horror by the locals and the police alike. Tech savvy and fleet footed, the 44-year-old carried a reward of Rs 50 lakh, and his killing has perhaps sounded the death knell for the Naxal movement in the country.
Ganapathi Bhat, Akola
On Rahul Gandhi
Rahul Gandhi should give up politics if the results of the Bihar assembly elections of six seats for the Congress are anything to go by. Under his leadership in the states, the Congress has been mostly a single digit party in terms of number of seats won for some years now. Rahul seems to be thus hell-bent on bringing the demise of the Congress party. His penchant for concentrating on non-issues, vacuous and directionless leadership and a regular tendency to seek pointless headlines has resulted in this state of affairs. In the Bihar assembly elections, the Mahagathbandhan alliance comprising mainly of RJD and Congress got more than 30% of the vote exceeding that obtained by JD(U) and BJP, but it translated to just about 27 seats. Thus it is clear that somewhere the strategy was missing, which if properly aligned, should have seen more seats for the Mahagathbandhan combine.
Srinivas Kamat, Mysuru
