No pao, eat cake?
If you cannot afford our pao then eat cake! That seems the message which is given to us by the Baker Associations in raising their pao prices from Rs 3 to Rs 5. Pao has been the main constituent of the Goan breakfast and often in our dinner menus. The first thing in the morning we like other than ‘The Goan Everyday’ is the arrival of our Poder, who even our dogs eagerly await with their tails wagging. Raising pao prices to such a high level will make our dear friend poder at our doorstep look like a villain after this exorbitant price hike. This hike will force our housewives to look for alternatives as the traditional pao after the hike will be a luxury of the few. The government should also consider increasing the subsidies for our Goan bakers to shield them from any flour price increase so that Goans can again look at the pao with delight and not anguish.
Allwyn Jorge, Carmona
Hasty announcement
It seems the government has been a little hasty in announcing acceptance of 7th pay commission recommendations. Instead it should have been an item in election manifesto. The employees must have been taken by surprise by this sudden change in view of their earlier bitter experiences. There has been no memorandum, no morcha, and no agitations with threat of strike etc or further more resorting to one day / indefinite strike. After being tuned to such mental set up for years together, it becomes hard to digest such unanticipated situations and what one get loses significance. As expected the employees are not satisfied, the reason put forth being getting less pay in hand, forgetting enhanced amount for savings which could have been modified. So there is rejection with immediate call for strike which is ridiculous. The opposition parties are ever ready to grab such opportunities for political survival and gains. This issue could have been sorted out with discussions. As is it there will be no public sympathy for such recourses though there is stiff competition to grab government jobs even at a premium. Perhaps they would have accepted same thing without murmur after great deal of bargaining.
B V S Priolkar, Margao
RSS and English
The RSS in Goa seem to not work in conjunction with their compatriots in Delhi. The news today about the RSS opening and running English medium schools in Delhi comes as a surprise given their stand on MoI in Goa, but it’s not surprising given the popularity of English across India. Now on the Indian television news channels one will see many members of the BJP, the RSS and other political parties speaking very good English. There is no doubt that they have learned this language knowing fully well that they have to communicate better in Parliament and on the news. It is only in Goa where many politicians speak broken or very poor English. Perhaps the MoI is more important that they think.
Amey Kurtakar, Margao
