Need to Promote Public Transport
CITIES across the globe are witnessing traffic congestion owing to the growing number of private vehicles jostling for a larger space on the roads. As also lack of adequate public transport infrastructure, is now emboldening the people to switch to a private mode of transport leading to congestion on roads. Pedestrians and cyclists are left with no choice with such “encroachment” of road space by the other vehicles. Public transport options like bus and metro are also not exploited to the fullest extent – owing to inadequate planning and lack of foresight. Both the systems have their own challenges to otherwise run and operate smoothly within any busy city. The urban policymakers should emphasise that the organisations employing workforce who use private transport to switch to flexible working options and thus reduce congestion on roads. As most of the workforce belongs to computer-based jobs, a unified policy should be framed to allow flexible working opportunities apart from encouraging work from home in busy cities. An effort should also be made by stakeholders to incentivise the use of public transport, promote eco-friendly transport through electric vehicles policy and popularise shared commutes thereby discouraging private vehicle travel completely. The move will help to bring down air pollution levels, reduce dependency on fossil fuels and also reduce traffic congestion to an extent.
VARUN DAMBAL, Bangalore
Restrict New Political Outfits
REGISTRATION of political parties should be strictly restricted initially for some interim period to avoid misuse for tax-exemption. Presently out of 2,301 political parties registered with Election Commission till the year 2019 with 52 more at doors of Election Commission demanding registration, very few have actually contested any election. Many political parties are registered simply for whitening black money though contributions made to and received by political parties are both exempted from Income Tax. Rule should be that only an interim registration may be provided to new political parties. In case, a registered political party does not field some stipulated percentage of candidates out of total constituencies where elections are to be held, then their registration may be automatically cancelled. New-to-be registered political party must declare in the registration form about the elections it desires to contest for the first time. Even those non-serious political parties who might not have contested any poll in last say three years should be de-registered. Discouraging registration of non-serious political parties will not only avoid misuse of tax-exemption, but will also result in minimising vote-splitters.
SUBHASH C AGRAWAL, Delhi
Use Central Funds To Revive Economy
AFTER the unexpected bonanza from the Union budget in the form of a Rs 300 crore grant to celebrate 60 years of its Liberation, Goa has enough reasons to rejoice. While there is a lot of speculations and suggestions as to how best the funds should be utilised, the CM’s statement that the money would not be spent only on celebrations does hold forth a whole lot of probabilities. Besides using the allocated fund on various works related to infrastructure, human development and giving facelift to various places of historic significance related to freedom struggle, the proposal to utilise part of the grant for the benefit of the marginalised people who have been hit hard by the COVID pandemic comes as a big relief to those who have been critical about the state government’s apathy towards their plight. But rather than gloat over the Centre’s generosity, it is time the state government woke up to the fact that with its financial mainstay(s) in the doldrums, extra efforts must be made to get its economy back on track. As the mining issue continues to meander along on an uncertain and indefinite course, tourism, which is an equally crucial economic activity for Goa, needs to be sufficiently boosted. Hence the decision by the state government to seek a special tourism package from the Centre for promoting the sagging industry should not be seen as an outrageous demand! Even while Goa joined the chorus of other states claiming a disastrous tourism season due to the pandemic, the suffuse of visitors attending the Christmas and New Year festivities in the state unmindful of the pandemic scare ostensibly hold out promises of improved tourism for the region. So the pandemic cannot be proffered any longer as an excuse. The show has to go on! The decision to go ahead with the traditional Carnival celebrations this year must be viewed from this perspective.
PACHU MENON, Margao