Another Milestone for Sachin
ANOTHER milestone has been scaled down by Sachin Tendulkar by registering his 5th Test double century in the ongoing Test series against Sri Lanka. What a great achievement by the “Run Machine”. He is the leading run scorer and century maker in Tests and one-day international cricket.

Throughout his cricketing career, he has broken record-after-record making him the greatest batsman in the history of cricket. He can be compared with none other than the Australian legend Sir Don Bradman. Hat’s off to him, he has made India proud. Hope he keeps it up and gets to 50 test centuries which is very close at hand.
WENZEL D’MELLO, Mapusa

Unhygienic Mobile Handsets
ONE’S mobile phone may not be carrying only important contact numbers but a lot of unwanted germs. A recent study has shown that an average handset carries 18 times more potentially harmful germs than a toilet’s flush handle. The microrganisms include bacteria, yeast and moulds which can give the owner a serious stomach ailment. The analysis carried out by British experts show that handsets contain enterobacteria including the dangerous Salmonella. So the next time one borrows a handset to make that urgent call, he/she may better be careful.
ADELMO FERNANDES, Vasco

Looting the Exchequer
WHEN the BP oil rig disaster happened and the livelihoods of thousands of people were put to risk, Americans were prompt in seeking a concrete action plan within the first few weeks of the disaster. The administration took a month to respond but eventually came out strongly on the issue and coerced BP into committing to pay-up billions of dollars for the clean-up of the oil spill and also for the financial rehabilitation of thousands affected by the oil spill. But in Goa successive governments over a period of 10 years have wasted crores of rupees collected from tax payers towards removing River Princess but to no avail. Babus and lawyers have been kept perennially engaged with the matter of the princess. The loss to the tourism industry and to the village of Candolim over a 10-year period is stupendous and un-accounted for. 
VISHANT SHIRODKAR, Ponda

Action Against Global Warming
ONE can unambiguously say that in the recent past no phrase perhaps is used (or misused) more often than ‘global warming’. From anything to everything that transpires on this planet, is clubbed with global warming. In a report on the effects of global warming that appeared in this daily (NT, July 24), even the excess rainfall of about 8 inches that the state received till date was attributed to global warming. Let us ponder for a while and imagine what we would have said if instead of the marginal excess rainfall it was a deficit. Needless to say that we would still be harping on the same lines. We read that Goa is getting warmer but at the same time it is reported that the warmest recorded day was way back in 1989 (39.9 degrees). What is the implication? It vividly deduces that even more than 20 years ago there was such high temperature. The difference is, in those days fortunately the word global warming was missing from our list. Once it was reported that the widening of the two national highways, would entail cutting of thousands of trees. But who is preventing us from planting hundreds of thousands of trees all along these highways? That should be the way to fight global warming!
MICHAEL VAZ, Merces

Development Deficit in Maoist-Affected Areas
WHEN the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh recently chaired the meeting of Chief Ministers of Naxal-affected states, the same old medicine was doled out of how much resources are being earmarked for the development of areas hit by Naxal menace and the creation of a unified command for the law enforcement agencies in these affected states. Remember the Naxal areas are more tribal dominated and therefore more of a challenge to deliver development. So is this not another statement made by the PM for public consumption. The other is creating a unified command which is clearly a confrontational strategy which the tribals are already sick off being on the receiving end of it from both sides, the government forces and the Naxals. This was preceded by full-fledged discussions of the home ministry with the armed forces for their help in Naxal-affected areas. This again was extremely ill-advised and will serve nothing but alienating the people in the Naxal-affected areas all the more. Confrontation is not what is desired but withdrawal of all central para-military forces from the region and beefing up the police capability in these areas and arming them and empowering them to deal strictly and without mercy against the Naxals. This will serve two purposes, getting the local people to believe in normalcy since like in any other part of the country law and order is enforced only by the police and secondly, the interception and elimination of the Naxals will remove the fear that threatens the life of the local people in these areas. Simultaneously development should be undertaken at the district level by the local administration by taking the village panchayats into confidence and as much as possible deliver the development programmes through them. There are issues relating to use of jungle lands in these areas where the people predominantly are tribal and here a pro-active approach is required to lessen the disturbance of the tribal link with the jungle and jungle lands and encourage development only as much as the tribals seek. This forest policy should be more people oriented.
S Kamat, Alto Betim