When will our politicians learn to stop thinking about self or party interest and start thinking about the welfare and well-being of the State?
Jesuin George Fernandes
The newspaper headlines now-a-days are pretty disturbing – editors may have their own reasons for putting the most depressing news on the front page with even the cartoon relegated to a small 4 x 5 cm strip in a quiet corner.
A fallen plane or priest is a newsworthy event, making instant headlines!
But hardly anybody talks about the many planes that are still flying and the many priests that are doing
wonderful work in the vineyard of the Lord.
Nobody who reads the headlined news on a daily basis and takes it too seriously can hope to survive (let alone thrive) for long.
But as they say, there is only a thin line that separates tragedy from comedy.
Sad depressing news taken with a pinch of humour often becomes palatable; at times even finger-licking good!
Take a pragmatic look at some rather unfortunate events that have unfolded in the recent past, which taken too seriously could easily leave one feeling stressed and helpless.
Goa’s much-talked about political scene
The one who came on a stretcher sacked the ones who came on wheelchairs for being sick and unfit to discharge their duties!
‘Physician heal thyself’, one is bound to think, but to put things in perspective, all of them should have resigned gracefully a long time ago and made peace with the world.
Even a sensible Monarch under such circumstances would have passed on the baton instead of trying to cling on to the throne like a stubborn child holding on to his toys.
If God wants, even a dried up
branch of a tree can sprout leaves overnight...
I wish that all of them get well and wholesome again, if not through medical science at least through a miraculous divine intervention, give up active politics and use their long experience in trying to clean up a rotten system.
When will our politicians learn to stop thinking about self or party interest and start thinking about the welfare and well-being of the State?
Formalin imbroglio
The formalin issue is still burning on the forefront with no tangible solution in sight.
There is however a complete reversal in roles by the main characters involved - those opposing a ban on fish imports at the height of the issue are today asking (or at least pretending to be asking) for it.
The kingpin of fish import business, a seemingly atoning Ibrahim Maulana himself is demanding an Food and Drugs Administration testing lab at every city fish market and that too with FDA officer Iva Fernandes at the helm!
On the other hand our Health Minister Vishwajit Rane still denies that formalin was found in the raid on the morning of 12th July and appears to be bent on sending the concerned Food and Drugs Administration officer home through a departmental inquiry for a faulty report.
Now if formalin was not found, why was the Health Minister Vishwajit Rane rooting for a ban on fish imports in the aftermath of the fish market raid?
The ‘fun’ never seems to set on ‘formalin’ which for wrong or right reasons has become a part of Goan lingo within a short period of time – One minister issues a statement supporting a ban on fish imports only to be contradicted by another Minister the following day.
The assumed-to-be-powerful Town and Country Planning (TCP) Minister Vijai Sardesai surprisingly has no qualms in blaming the Chief secretary for coming in the way of a ban on fish imports.
But if bureaucrats decide on such issues and policy matters, then why do we need ministers?
A genuine concern for public health is the last thing one can expect our politicians to be bothered with.
Today the talk centres around restoring confidence in the fish eating public; obviously the guys have
realized that restoring confidence is the only key to reviving the one flourishing (but now deserted) Dubai-styled state-of-the-art Margao fish market.
But confidence cannot be restored by penalising honest upright officers who have brought the serious issue of fish poisoning to centre stage.
Confidence cannot be restored by resorting to a litany of lies and half-truths...
To restore confidence; one has to be open, honest and transparent!
If the govt had admitted the presence of formalin and taken sincere steps to contain the menace it would not have got itself entangled in the web of lies of its own making.
In the midst of all this fishy chaos, it is heartening to see the unity displayed by Goans in boycotting the fish markets and showing the powers that be the strength of our collective might.
Most politicians think that public memory being short, public sentiments matter only during election times when everyone can be swayed with money, wine and chicken biryani.
Goa is like a mini-India in many ways; we may even have a huge record-breaking statue in the near future!
If Goans unite on crucial issues plaguing the State the way we have in boycotting fish markets, we can certainly show the way to ‘aache din’ to the rest of the country.
