RED CARPET: Happy teachers welcomed students with flowers and balloons across the states when physical schooling re-commenced on Monday, February 21 with a decline of the third wave of covid-19. Positivity levels have comes down to less than 5% and there were deaths for the first time on Tuesday, February 22, 2022.
BY RAJAN NARAYAN
AND a few stray thoughts for yet another Saturday. For a Saturday following the week when the Congress accused the BJP of tampering with the postal ballets. For a Saturday following the week when after a gap of two years students returned to schools. For a Saturday following the week when women were wearing not only burqa but also dupatta to hide their face behind ghoongat. For a Saturday following the week when the world seems to be slipping into another third world war (after the coronavirus pandemic which many perceive as a biological world war).
AND a few stray thoughts on the Congress accusing the BJP of pampering with postal ballot. When there is a multi-cornered contest in every one of the constituencies, the margin of defeat or victory can be every small. Which is why unlike earlier elections both the BJP and the Congress are worried about the role of postal ballot.
For the benefit of those who may not be aware, government servants on duty are allowed to record their preference among the candidates in their constituency and post it to the chief electoral officer.
There are literally thousands of officials on electoral duty who obviously cannot cast their ballot vote. In addition to officials who are involved in the electoral process, virtually the entire police staff cannot cast their vote. This is because they are on security duty guarding polling stations around the clock. There is a group of 3,000 police constables and officers who are part of the Goa Reserve Police who have been posted to Uttar Pradesh on election duty.
It is the tradition of the Election Commission that Central Reserve Police personnel, the reserve personnel from other states, are posted to ensure that there is no electoral fixing. Even at the polling booths local police have a Central Reserve Police constable to keep a watch on the situations which may develop. All the personal security officer of the chief minister and members of the cabinet were transferred before the polling date so that they may not influence voters.
Government employees who are part of essential services like the Fire Brigade or even the garbage collectors do not get leave on polling day. So much so the total number of postal ballot votes could easily exceed 20,000. In the just over Valentine Day assembly elections in Goa on February 14, with as many as eight candidates contesting in Panaji itself, every vote counts. The margin of defeat or victory can be as low as ten votes or less.
The Goa Pradesh Congress Committee President Girish Chodankar has filed a complaint with the Chief Electoral Officer Kunal that Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and cabinet ministers are putting pressure on those who are eligible for postal ballot to vote for the ruling party. So what is even more significant is that the Chief Electoral Officer Kunal seems to have taken the complaint seriously. He has warned of strict action against political parties putting pressure on postal ballot voters.
There is another issue which might influence the outcome of the elections. Even though the code of conduct has been in force for more than two months before the actual polling day, recruitment has continued for government jobs. According to Election Commission rules no fresh recruitment of any government officials can take place when the code of conduct is in place.
The code of conduct concludes only on March 10 when the results will be announced. We understand that the Health Department headed by Vishwajit Rane and ironically even the Police Department headed by Home Minister Pramod Sawant are continuing their recruitment programs. Already there is a case pending in the High Court against mass recruitment of multi-utility workers in the Goa Medical College & Hospital.
Activists like Aires Rodrigues and others who have filed a public interest petition pointing out that almost 100% of those who have been recruited are from Vishwajit Rane’s Sattari taluka.
I myself recall that when I was in the GMC some time ago for three-week long treatment for prostrate problems, virtually all the multi-utility staff who attended to me hailed from Valpoi. The Congress has threatened to move the High Court to stop the continuing recruitment of staff in the Health and Home departments.
The fate of the 650 Indian Reserve Battalion (IRB) of police constables and officers posted in Goa has yet to be decided by the Chief Electoral Officer.
BACK TO SCHOOL
AND a few stray thoughts on how after a gap of two years students have returned to school. We were not aware that teachers and even principals missed their students so badly. Many principals and schools literally rolled out the red carpet for the return of students to school. In virtually every school the students were greeted with flowers and balloons! Historically, it is students who greet their teachers with flowers. Perhaps teachers are delighted that they did not have to hold zoom classes for students online anymore.
The irony of the covid-19 lockdown is that while students were barred from attending classes, it was compulsory for teachers to attend school. The teachers were expected to conduct zoom classes for students over smartphones. The majority of students did not have computers to take advantage of the zoom links. A student of the multi-media and mass communication course in Xavier’s has labeled the experience of returning to the campus as surreal.
Pure learning is sure to receive a boost as exposed to on ground activities, seminars and physical interaction with teachers makes a major difference to the learning process. Besides students themselves have been missing their classmates since they have been virtually imprisoned in their homes. We do not know whether now that physical schools have restarted, parents will confiscate the smart phones they had bought their children. Or the kids will have the best of both worlds as they will have physical classes as well as smart phones to play games.
The schools were required to totally sanitize school premises before reopening for classes. Students too have to observe covid-19 protocol like wearing mask and maintaining physical distance of at least a meter. Some private schools are playing safe and demanding a consent letter from the parents.
All the teachers and Administration staff have of course been vaccinated before the resumption of physical classes. However, no decision has been taken on vaccinating the children, though one or two vaccines have been cleared by the Director-General of Drugs.
BURQA POLITICS
AND a few stray thoughts on women wearing not only burqa but also dupatta to hide their face ghoongat-style. In the wake of the widespread clashes in Karnataka it needs to be pointed out that the hijab is not an exception. There are other communities which also demonstrate their religious identity both in educational institutions and work places, particularly in government offices. There are many schools and even colleges in UP and other BJP-ruled states which insist that college students be attired only in salwar-kameez while attending college classes. Some colleges even specify that the girls should wear a dupatta covering their the top half of their body. There I also the tilak or mark on the forehead which is common amongst boys from several orthodox south Indian schools.
We have personally seems students flaunting their caste marks on their forehead. For instance in Tamil Nadu which prides itself on having abolished caste, two sets of Brahmins, the Iyers and the Iyengars, wear their cast marks prominently on their forehead. In several north Indian states girls attending colleges see the Muslim girls in hijab and Hindu girls in salwar-kameez with dupatta to announce their femininity. We are inclined to blame the parents of boys who who pick up on these gender biases.
In most western countries most schools and colleges co-educational. Sudha Murthy, chairperson of the Infosy’s Foundation, recalls in her autobiography that she was the first girl student to be admitted to the BVB engineering colleges in Dharward on merit. The principal and the college board tried to discourage her father, who was a doctor, to persuade his daughter not to insist on being admitted to the engineering college. This was primarily because the college had no facilities for women like an elementary washroom! Incidentally, Sudha Muthy was also the first women engineer to be appointed at TELCO at the Tata Motors Jamshedpur plant.
There are many senior IAS officers including Chief Secretary of Goa Puneet Kumar Goel who wear a caste mark on their forehead. Judges and chief justices of High Court and the Supreme Court where caste marks. Unlike a democracy like France the Indian Constitution guarantees freedom of worship, which presumably permits the right to wear whatever attire is considered right to indicate the wearer’s religious status.
However, it is debatable whether students should be permitted to wear religious symbols to school or college. Religion is a private matter and should be limited to the home or places of worship.
DRUNK DRIVERS
AND a few stray thoughts on the State government stepping up its drive against drunken drivers. This comes in the wake of a series of accidents in which pedestrians and two-wheeler drivers have been killed by speeding motorists. Over the last 30 days the State government has registered over 200 First Information Reports (FIR) against those found driving under the influence of alcohol.
However, the anti-drinking drive started after the tourism rush ended after New Year celebrations. Ironically, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant actually directed the police to be easy with drivers driving rashly under the influence of alcohol. Goa is among the few states in the country which does not implement the amendment to the Motor Vehicles Act, which has increased penalty and fines for traffic offences substantially. It is clear from the statistics released by the Police Department itself that Goans do not have much respect for traffic rules.
During the special drives the traffic police booked more than 40,000 Goans of both sexes for traffic violations. The largest number of cases for traffic violation is 23,959 – that is, for driving without wearing a helmet. There have been 739 cases of dangerous driving and 8,194 cases of driving without a license. The number of underage drivers exceeded 1,000.
This traffic offenses have to be taken seriously in the larger and smaller interests of Goans themselves. This is because there were as many as 226 deaths due to traffic offenses in the last one year of which 152 were motorbikers. Rash and negligent driving seems to be normal for Goans.
In some parts of Goa such as the Miramar beach-Dona Paula bypass, young people even have motorcycle speeding driving competitions. Very often with fatal consequences. It would appear that the new Director-General of Police Indra Dev Shukla is serious about taking action against those violating traffic rules.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR
AND a last stray thought on signs that the world is poised or already into a third world war. The president of Russia Vladimir Putin has signed a pact with two separatist-controlled regions of eastern Ukraine. Historically, Ukraine was a part of the United Soviet Socialist Republic which included several countries like Poland and Czechoslovakia, Kazakstan and Ukraine among others. Many of this countries declared themselves independent of the Soviet Union.
However, as in the case of Arunachal Pradesh, which is claimed by China, Russia continues to consider Ukraine its property. Ukraine, however, has joined the European Economic Community which includes many former fiefdoms of Soviet Russia. Russia has sent its troops to the Ukraine borders and some have entered Ukraine for armed conflict.
Ukraine is a much sought after country as it is a major producer of petroleum and natural gas. Europe gets over 40% of its natural gas and oil from Ukraine. Both US President Joe Biden and the European Economic Community have warned Putin of retaliatory action against Russia. There are several Indian professionals working in Ukraine as well as over 250 students specialising in various courses.
The Ukraine conflict is expected to further increase in prices of petroleum and domestic cooking gas in India. The world seems to be on the verge of a third world war with both the US and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisations imposing sanctions against Russia. Russia has already taken over the issue of passports and vaccines in parts of Ukraine which are controlled by rebels who support Russia. Both US and the NATO have threatened armed action against Russia and are committed to defend Ukraine against any military action by Russia.