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HomeOpinionLettersLetters to the Editor: 23 August, 2019

Letters to the Editor: 23 August, 2019

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FEATURE LETTER DIARY 679x400 e1545637164261

Raj Thackeray next

The day of reckoning saw Raj Thackeray is in line for an ED inquiry. It remains to be seen how the ED turn him into a harassed victim or his cadres will, as usual, lose the plot and take law into their own hands. Whatever be the outcome, the government left no stone unturned obviously deploying police and paramilitary forces barricading roads and taking preventive measures. The trouble shooters were taken to custody to avoid untoward incident happening. The fact of the matter is that an MNS style stir had been planned to take on the administration and its Sainiks had decided to descend in droves outside ED office.

Ramaswamy Subbu D

 

Independence Day and Mahatma Gandhi’s vision of ‘Swaraj’

India has celebrated its 73rd Independence Day on August 15, 2019. As we celebrated our 73 years of independence, we were reminded of Mahatma Gandhi‘s vision of ‘Swaraj’. On this day in the year 1947, India became a sovereign and independent nation and it was a new beginning for us as our country was freed from the British rule at last. On every Independence Day, we remember the sacrifices, pains and struggles of all our freedom fighters, who fought bravely for the freedom of our nation.  We also pay our homage to them on this day.  Many of our freedom fighters even gave up their lives to free the nation from the tyranny of the British rule.

Jubel D’Cruz

 

Government should adopt Dadar Athornan Institute of Parsi community

It refers to media-reports about the Dadar Athornan Institute set up about a century ago to train persons from fast-eliminating Parsi community as Parsi priests by admitting students at an early childhood age from class I to class X, on verge of closure because of shortage of funds. Since population of most-talented Parsi community of the world having sharply declined, funds from the community are not enough to run the Institute.

Concern on fast declining Parsi population have been raised again and again including even by the then President Pranab Mukerji. Apart from other steps taken to increase Parsi population, it is time that Maharashtra government takes over responsibility for funds to run the only institute to train students as Parsi priests namely The Dadar Athornan Institute also as a gesture towards the community which has provided most talented persons in every field including cricket, trade, industry and even in service-sector for taking up big projects in its dedicating spirit towards society as a whole where the basic principle is to live for the society rather than for self.

It is also time to amend articles 331 and 333 of the Constitution providing at least one of the two reserved seats in Lok Sabha presently for Anglo-Indians only to a distinguished personality from Parsi community.

Madhu Agrawal

 

HC seized with PIL on frequent change in sizes of currency notes

It refers to the Bombay High Court asking Reserve Bank of India RBI to file a reply on a Public-Interest-Litigation PIL filed by The National Association for the Blind, seeking RBI assurance that sizes of currency-notes will not be changed in future, because it creates problem for visually challenged people who take time to get familiar with new sized currency.

But it was after more than half-century that currency-size was last changed in the year 1967. Problem was caused because new-sized currency in different denominations was introduced in phases ranging to more than two years after it started just after demonetisation of old currency notes of rupees 500 and 1000 on 08.11.2016. RBI should rather assure that in future currency-size if required to be changed will be done in one go for notes of all denominations.

Main problem was in respect of coins when new two-rupee coins were introduced some years ago exactly in same size, shape and weight of then prevailing old one-rupee coins, where coin-blanks of prepared for (old) one-rupee coins were used to mint new-sized two-rupee coins. It created big confusion and problem even to normal people what to say about visually challenged people. RBI should also ensure that similar sized coins in different denominations may not be simultaneously in circulation.

Bombay High Court should also simultaneously take cognizance of totally unpopular and at times unacceptable coins of rupees ten and now-to-be introduced twenty-rupee coins. System should be to have either coins or currency-notes for a particular denomination.

RBI should stop minting of coins of rupees ten and twenty, and instead introduce plastic-currency with longer life in these two denominations as assured long back by the then Union Minister of Finance Namo Narain Meena on 12.03.2013 in a written reply in Rajya Sabha. One-rupee notes re-started just for bureaucratic craze of bearing their signatures should be discontinued to be printed as these are not even seen by members of public ever since these were re-issued on 06.03.2015 after a gap of two decades.

Subhash Chandra Agrawal


(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)

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