Proper qualification
After fixing minimum educational qualification of class X for candidates contesting panchayat polls, the Haryana government now reportedly wants to make class XII mandatory for aspirants to urban local body elections. Once implemented, Haryana will be the second state in the country after Rajasthan to have mandatory educational qualification for councilors elected for the urban local bodies. Incidentally Rajasthan has already fixed class X as minimum qualification for panchayat and class XII for the civic bodies. Since there is no prescribed educational qualification necessary to stand for elections to the state assembly and the parliament, ironically there could be instances where the members of the panchayat and the municipal bodies could be more qualified than some of the members of the legislative assembly and even members of parliament in these two states. If educational qualification is the prime requirement for landing a government job, why shouldn’t it be made mandatory for political aspirants who wish to stand for elections at various levels of the administration?
Adelmo Fernandes, Vasco
Curious amendment
One fails to understand why the government prefers to be coaxed into action only when jolted out of its reverie by strident public demands! This time around it has been the ‘national disgust’ at the release of the juvenile delinquent convicted in the Nirbhaya caseNow that the Parliament has passed the Juvenile Justice Bill with an overwhelming majority, the irony is not lost on any one either. It is indeed a shame that a bill introduced and passed in the Lok Sabha had to wait for well over a year before public outrage on the matter compelled the elders in the Upper House into a hurried discussion for securing the passage of the ‘modified’ Act. The lowering of age limit for trying juveniles accused of heinous crimes as adults from 18 to 16 years throws open a whole lot of possibilities that could have the judicial system in a wrangle over various other legalities that could eventually crop up. For instance, what if a youngster who is just fifteen is accused of an atrocious crime? Of course it remains a mere matter of conjecture that changing a law or making amendments to it will address the issue of crime against women, especially in a country like India where gender disparity has been at its peak all through these years.
Pachu Menon, Margao
Probe allegations
Some people have always doubted the authenticity of ISL “ the Indian Super League. The allegations that it are being smartly tweaked to a pre-written script was always there with the joke doing the rounds that Nita Ambani always gets to know the result of the matches a day in advance. Most of us have dismissed such allegations as loose talk by mischievous minds.
But when someone like Dattaraj Salgaocar cries foul and talks about fixing of matches, these allegations no longer remain in the realm of loose talk. Being born into a family owning one of India`s oldest and Better known football clubs, Datta bab is no stranger to football and above all, he is the son-in-law of the Ambani khandan. Are the fans of ISL really being taken for a royal ride? It’s time for a probe to dispel doubts or fix the blame. If there is an iota of truth in the allegations, the bubble of deception should not be allowed to grow further because ultimately it will bust on its own leading to the ruin of Indian football.
Jesuin George Fernandes, Cansaulim
