Rise dissenters
The returning of national awards and honours which started off as a unique way of protest by an intellectual against the growing intolerance in the country, has now, according to Arundhati Roy, the latest to join the bandwagon, metamorphosed into ‘a political movement initiated by writers, filmmakers and academics in the country who have risen up against a kind of ideological viciousness and an assault on our collective IQ that will tear us apart and bury us very deep if we do not stand up to it now’. But here we are talking about thinkers and those scholastically attributed. The issue is not about ‘a society that suffers from intellectual malnutrition’ as has been argued, but about the co-existence of various communities of people within the parameters of a civilized society. When the highly hyped image of a nation thriving on its unity in diversity is under a cloud for the government’s seemingly prejudiced communal views, people from every community, every strata of society should have been expressing their displeasure, and in a very vociferous manner at that. But with every passing day, there is only a substantial rise in the league of armchair critics to show for all the dissent.
What we require is a people’s movement; a crusade of the people, for the people and by the people and it has to be a collective effort, not one resting squarely on the shoulders of one individual. What this entails is an active participation of more educated and committed individuals whose perception of a career in politics needs to change drastically.
Pachu Menon, Margao
Special stamp?
In order to receive the new ration cards under the National Food Security Act, it is mandatory to submit a Rs. 20 special adhesive stamp. However, there seems to be a great confusion about this stamp. Many people, esp. the senior citizens, make a futile trip to the Post Offices to buy this stamp. But the Post Offices do not sell this stamp at all. During my recent visit to the Margao Head Post Office, I witnessed many people, notably senior citizens, who visited the Post Office to procure such stamps. The Rs. 20 special adhesive stamp is not a postage stamp. Post offices sell only postage and revenue stamps.
The people who visited the post office also claimed that the panchayat officials told them to buy the stamp from the post office. Public servants should stop misguiding these people. It would be better if the sale of special adhesive stamps is arranged at the place where ration cards are distributed. It will help people receive their ration cards is a hassle free manner.
K B Dessai, Fatorda
About tolerance
Tolerance is not the opposite of intolerance; in fact, they are country cousins. Both: tolerance and intolerance are attitudes of confrontation: One is passive, the other is violently aggressive. The meaning of tolerance is: to passively ‘put up with’ or to ‘bear with’ situations. Such an attitude does not solve problems. It merely puts the problem on the back burner. It can ignite a fire at any moment. In fact, both ‘tolerance’ and ‘intolerance’ are inflammable; they vary only in degree. Once we get that sorted out in our minds, we are more likely to deal effectively with the problem.
What categorizes intolerance and what categorizes tolerance is the same driving force - Hate. To be sure, it is in different degrees that hate operates; none the less it is hate. We may not judge the other, but we have to love the other. That love is what we are called to bestow even on an enemy: It is sacrificial love that has been historically symbolized for us in history: it is where we die to ourselves in order to love the other.
Nazar da Silva, Moira
