Wrong play
In Bihar, the RJD and the JDU are obviously two big forces to reckon with. The Congress on the other hand, if it went to the polls alone, it will hardly win four to five seats. Yet, the RJD and the JDU wisely resolved to leave some 45 seats to the Congress in the last assembly election. They very well knew that the Congress may not have voters centralized in particular constituencies to win them the seats, but they definitely had sizeable voters spread all over the state who could not be ignored. Babush, it appears, is too immature to understand these maths, whereas Nitish and Lalu have their feet firmly on the ground. Babush was carelessly flying high. The Panaji election was a good lesson for him to learn. UGDP may enable him to associate with some party, but surely will not help him enhance his voter’s strength. He has severed all ties with the Congress. Consequently, he loses all rights to call them spoilsports. The sooner he introspects on his actions, the better for him.
Arvind Kakodkar, Chicalim
No amendment
Lands occupied by mundkars must not be included in the Agricultural Tenancy Act of Goa, Daman and Diu. The amendment should be removed from these lands, which will benefit the mundkars and bhatkars, as agricultural tenancy on such lands claim ownership of the entire lands. This will deprive the mundkars and the original ownership of the bhatkars of their rights. Some lands were given on a caretaker basis, but the mundkars declared them as agricultural tenants on mundkarial land, which have coconut palms and fruit bearing trees, and declared them as deemed purchasers of the land. The fifth amendment of the Agricultural Tenancy Act has not benefitted the Mundkars either. Land grabbing will take place in the name of agricultural tenancy.
Camilo D’Souza, Vagator
Dogs vs humans
This is regarding the letter about the stray dog menace in Aldona. Finally there is a decent discussion on this. It is easy to talk about stray dogs being part of the community and it is the community’s responsibility to care for them. But what happens when these dogs turn rabid and attack people? I know of many incidents where dogs have chased and nearly injured people on motorbikes. Not long ago an elderly lady was nearly bitten by a stray dog in the city. These incidents are not abating, no matter how much the animal rights groups say they are. They are of course doing an admirable job of caring for strays but there is a limit to the kind of caring that we should extend to these animals. At the end of the day, if a human attacks another human, he is put in jail. But if a dog attacks a human, it is not the dog’s fault. That is not logical. There can be adoption programmes, but there also has to be population control. Culling them in a humane manner is the logical approach.
Amey Kurtakar, Margao
