Too much change
Some people want to change the history of our nation. We can notice that with changing in names of our towns, villages, railway stations, museums, airports etc. It looks funny since the names have been changed after the place was known for 300 to 400 years with those names. For instance Bombay to Mumbai, Bangalore to Bengaluru, Madras to Chennai etc. Railway stations like Victoria Terminus (VT) to Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST). Even airports and stadiums are not spared. Some fanatics and fundamentalist elements who consider themselves as patriotic and historians, with their Swadeshi concepts want to change many things. They forget the contribution of the British people towards Bombay. Today whatever respect Bombay receives is only because of British efforts, architecture and the hard work towards building such a beautiful city.
Bombay and Goa have many similarities, there are so many Goans settled in Bombay since British rule specially in South Bombay. Both Bombay and Goa were Portuguese colonies and later Bombay was gifted England. Goans’ contribution to Bombay is enormous. Recently some fanatics are even planning to change the name of Goa into Gomantak. We don't need such fanatic mentalities who want to change our identity and our culture.
Satyajit Prabhudessai, Benaulim
Goodbye Smriti
Smriti Irani was the sacrificial goat at Amethi to challenge the scion of Gandhi family. She was rewarded for this act of bravery of going down with a fight. Being called Beti by PM, she was rewarded with the post for which she has no experience and academic qualifications. Past Ministers were illustrious men of letters and academic brilliance; as such her posting was flawed from the start. Unwittingly she took on more than she could chew, albeit with the blessings of RSS and some BJP stalwarts. She created enormous controversies in academic field and for herself, rattling the party, which was forced to come to her aid at times.
Nelson Lopes Chinchinim
End annulments
Now that the Supreme Court has categorically stated that church annulments of marriages by the ecclesiastical tribunal do not have legal sanctity or validity, it is time for the church to put an end to the present practice of granting annulments based on the code of canon law. It will save a lot of couples from the charge of bigamy when they re-marry after obtaining church annulment. Secondly, it is no secret that the church’s code of canon law has undergone several amendments since its promulgation, resulting in the new code of canon law 1983 by Pope John Paul II. Hence, if the indissolubility of marriage and its sacramentality are impediments in the code of canon law that prohibit the church’s acceptance of divorce by a court of law, then it is time that the ecclesiastical discipline as laid down in the code of canon law be made more flexible and adaptable to the needs of present times. This will hopefully put an end to the travails of divorced and re-married Catholics who are presently barred from the reception of Holy Communion and consequently not in full communion with the church.
A F Nazareth, Porvorim
