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| Thursday, 4 April 2002 |
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Letters | |
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Abolish taxation on terminal benefits Persons who are retiring have paid a lifetime of taxes. They have contributed to society and the majority of them have not and do not draw or cannot draw from their EPF, ETF or their gratuity during their working life. The successive governments, however, have utilized these monies, for various purposes. Moreover, when they retire, their income and or their earnings come to an end. It will be very difficult for them to get even casual employment. This is the time when the retired are weak, both physically, materially, mentally and financially. The terminal benefits they receive is a blessing and any taxation on this benefit is indeed a crime. How many will retire in that one - year period and what is the income that the Government is going to derive? The taxation on terminal benefits, therefore, is quite negligible to a government but is a big slice off the final dues of the retiring person. Imported liquor and alcohol are consumed by those who have the means - those who can afford. Being a Dharmishta country, every action should be taken to curb and to reduce the consumption of this devil's brew instead of encouraging it. So increasing the taxation or leaving the excise duties as it is certainly not going to create an impact on the economy on those who want to consume liquor. The sickness and the medical bills that the consumers of liquor have to incur as a result of indulging in alcohol are going to be tremendous and this is also going to be a burden on the Government's purse. It should also be noted that more and more youngsters, will be drawn towards consumption of liquor. The medical profession, today, agrees unanimously that the cause of maximum deaths today is 'Alcohol'. The number one killer, destroyer of homes and destroyer of character and self. There is no necessity for further elaboration. The second greatest killer in the world is Cigarette Smoking. Go ahead and increase the taxation and excise duties on these, it will indeed be a boon to society. We, therefore, appeal to the Finance Minister and to the Government. "please, abolish all taxation on terminal benefits." ZULKIELI NAZIM - Colombo 6.
Surgical scissors found in woman's intestine I refer to the article on the above subject (DN Mar. 20). For the benefit of all professionals, I state below a practice followed by Key-holding Bankers in order to ensure that all valuables and important records are placed under proper control. Normally, ledgers, cash and valuables are kept in a safe or a vault. A list of the items that should be placed under proper control is available for the key-holders is pasted to the door. Before locking the safe or vault, the key-holders normally count the items to ensure that everything in the list has been brought in. If a single item is missing, it is called for immediately, and then only the Safe or Valut is locked. The list assist the relieving officers and any new officers who takeover the keys. Doctors too could follow a similar practice. They could maintain 2 trolleys to keep disinfected or clean instruments and another trolley with similar shape prockets etc. to accommodate the different instruments of different sizes after use. Just before placing the sutures after the operation, the officers responsible could go through the 2nd trolley, which should be filled with all used instruments by the attendants at the operation. This will ensure that there are no instruments in unwanted places while safeguarding the Doctors against looming legal suites. Not only the doctors, any other professional could follow the said practice. A.B. - Battaramulla.
Cigarettes: government revenue or people's health? The Treasury in the process to find means to bridge the budget deficit has taken a measure which seems against the accepted policy of the government to discourage smoking. This is clear when it decided to reduce the excise duty of the two cheaper brands of cigarettes-Three Roses by Rs. 1/- and Capstan by Rs. 1/50 a cigarette when it, inter alia advertises on the T.V. with visuals the evils of smoking mentioning that besides nicotine cigarettes contain over hundred chemicals injurious to health. The dubious reasons given for the reduction is to compete with the illicitly manufactured or smuggled cigarettes and the paradoxical justification to reduce health hazards. If the Government is of the belief that cigarette-smoking, whatever brand, is injurious to health, how could there be this exception even if it is assumed or misinformed that illicitly manufactured cigarettes are more harmful than those legally manufactured by a company in the country which seemed to be also concerned about the loss of revenue to the Government? Anyhow, the present price reduction of the two brands of cigarettes at the bottom of the price list is likely to attract the youth who generally imitate the upper classes, as they are now more affordable and later become addicts becoming a bigger health problem to the country-incidentally, a confirmed beede-smoker would not take to cigarettes even with a price reduction. What is necessary is to adopt more stringent measures to prevent the illicit import or smuggling of cigarettes and the material for their manufacture manually. Anyway, the bottom line seems to be that many of the decisions taken by governments with ostensibly good intentions, ultimately benefit businessmen or mudalalis like, for instance, the case of the paddy-farmer. TISSA AMARASEKERA- Kandy.
Many complaints from residents have been made to authorities as well as many letters written to the newspapers regarding the deplorable, chaotic and filthy condition of Station Road Dehiwela but unfortunately without any results. This must arguably be the worst road in Sri Lanka. Station Road, Dehiwela, is a very busy road, serving 2 girls schools, a supermarket, post office, a bank, church, several business establishments and of course the railway station. Let me briefly outline some of the problems faced by the people who use this road. 1. Only a part of the road has pavements but even these have been taken over by three-wheelers, street vendors, including fishmongers and Coca Cola booths. Dehiwela/Mt. Lavinia municipality has set a world record by officially blocking pavements meant for pedestrians and constructing Coca Cola booths. 2. Three wheelers occupy a large part of the pavement. They park/wait near the busy Galle Rd/Station Rd junction unconcerned about traffic regulations. 3. Buses occupy half the road and bus drivers are a law unto themselves stopping/waiting to pickup passengers wherever and whenever they please. Vehicles are allowed to park near the Galle road junction causing serious traffic jams. The Police are either not concerned or are afraid to act. 4. All the road users including schoolchildren are forced to walk on the road at considerable inconvenience and risk to their life and limb. It is a national disgrace that a road supposed to be maintained by a premier municipal council is in such a chaotic and filthy condition. When I see the beautifully landscaped pavement near the Dehiwela Zoo (not done by the Municipality I am sure), I am filled with both anger and sadness. I do not live in Station Road but use it regularly. I can only imagine the plight of the residents. S. JAYARATNE-Dehiwela.
Reorganize, restructure and re-engineer the CEB At a recent panel discussion on the TV of a private channel those that spoke for the CEB exposed the need of a drastic change. The issue of a large number of un-metered, 'assessed' bills was attributed to the ever-increasing newly connected consumers, said to outnumber the meters CEB indents. How puerile an argument: stupid the planning? Assessed bills lead to connived piracy. Heavy energy-loss in transmission, put at over 20%, is wastage of over one-fifth of the energy generated. Did generation plans, system designs and tariffs take this high loss, a factor as of tolerable level? It now says of need for expensive equipment to tackle it? To a question on what the alternate contingency plans were that the trade union of engineers proposed for the severe power crisis they foresaw to approach, the answer was evasive. CEB is said to be an electrical engineers' monopoly, managing even the finances, manpower, administration, procurements customer care besides planning and the technical services. Granted, they may possess covering qualifications, yet the blend of a cross-disciplinary attitudinal mix needed for effective inbuilt checks and balances, then suffers. With a brotherhood of electrical engineers, bound by profession, study, specialization, or by colleagueship in university, camp, or batch; - the monitoring, supervision and controlling aspects for effective management, also seriously suffer. Even appraising and rewarding performance tends to bias and discipline lax. As an organizational entity a mind-set that could tend even to be monolithic and conceited, would set in. May an enlightened Minister, therefore, Restructure, Reorganize and Re-engineer the CEB for benefit of all. E.D.W. JAYAMANNE-Mount Lavinia.
Work in unison towards peace I can't read the P.M's mind for a certainty, but attempting to do so from what I see taking place, I believe he has a very sound strategy. A strategy that will work in bringing peace, while safeguarding the territorial integrity of Sri Lanka and equitable sharing of power in the affected regions within a democratic framework. It will give the one's who are currently seen as adversaries an opportunity to join the democratic mainstream and correct past wrongs done on all sides. The adversary has to go along or face the consequences of an international onslaught for failure. The risk posed to the P.M. is the failure of politicians to comprehend his strategy, and thus work negatively to undermine his efforts. He can't spell it out to them in depth, as the cons are not for adversarial consumption if they haven't figured it themselves. The politicians need to give leadership to the P.M. as he is the man with the strategy. The President hopefully should be able to grasp his strategy and work in unison with him. She can not go public or among her supporters with scenarios. She can't work against it. It will bring no political mileage! What the public needs to know is that there will be difficult negotiations within a logical and reasonable time span(not a few months), but there will be no trade off on the nation's territorial integrity. In fact, an adversary may do well in attempting clandestinely cause dissent to the process by playing the politicians against each other. The politicians should not let this door ever open. Too much is at stake for the nation and her people. Sep. 11, 2001 brought a different dimension into global thinking from powerful countries. This has quite a lot to do with events currently taking place. Here's my best wishes to the President and the P.M. to work in unison. NOEL- Canada Ref news item under above heading (DN Mar 13). Politicians are people who contest elections by spending millions of rupees to get elected to the house of representatives to serve the people. But if they misuse their powers as Members of Parliament and grab State lands, then it is a crime. They should be given the maximum punishment irrespective of their position or party affiliations. When People's Alliance was in power they too probed land grab by certain politicos of the UNP and some were found guilty and they were punished. They were not only punished by the State one such person a very senior politician from Gampaha district was completely rejected by the voters at the December 5th general election. When People's Alliance Members of Parliament crossed over to the Opposition there were several news items in daily papers regarding involvement in land grab by some of them. But PA government did not take any action against them for such land grab when they were in their fold. That is where the mistake lies. Government will have to spend millions of rupees on probes. If the politicians are honest and sincere there is no necessity for probes and the money spent on probing could be diverted to a development project. T. J. VICTOR SILVA- Ja-Ela.
2002 - the year of every disabled person to become an activist At the Campaign 2001 international conference held in December 2001 in Hanoi, Vietnam under the auspices of ESCAP, a resolution was jointly moved by me and Prof. Sultana Zaman of Bangladesh after the presentation of my paper on "Education, Training and Vocational Rehabilitation for people with disabilities" - that the year 2002 be declared the year of every disabled person to become an activist. The resolution was unanimously adopted by Prof. Sultana Zaman (Bangladesh), Ms. Fathmath Afiya (Maldives), Munishwar Pandey (Nepal), Zurfi Kahan (Pakistan) and Samir Ghosh (India). It was proposed that this matter be referred to the newly appointed Secretary-General of the South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Q. A. M. Abdul Rahim. It is heartening to note the keen enthusiasm of the Secretary-General, SAARC and the keen interest of Prof. Sultana Zaman of Bangladesh and other representatives from Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka that steps are now being taken for granting recognition by SAARC to regional apex bodies in the formation of a "SAARC Disability Forum" which will herald in a new era in the year 2002 for every disabled person to become an activist. J. P. PATHIRANA-Jayanthipura.
Why only animals? why not fish! Recently, there have been many an article published on abattoir and of the animals slaughtered daily. Everybody is talking about meat conveniently ignoring the amount of fish daily sacrificing lives for man's hunger. If we take in numbers the lives of fish we take are very much greater than that of animals. Why we only forget the case of fish? We have to face the reality. As long as the man is carnivorous, no point trying stop both. K.U. PUSHPAKUMARA - Pitakotte.
I read the thesis of Dr. DP Athukorale [DPA] under the above title (DN. Mar. 13). It is classical specious thinking and reasoning. After enumerating 15 physiological and anatomical accounts purporting to be exclusive to meat eaters, he boldly concludes 'Therefore man has been created to become a vegetarian'. I do not know if he checked with the creator and why man was created in the first place, or why he exists. I don't know why animals were thereafter created for his food. But I am not writing an 'attack' on vegetarianism or a polemic for the butcher and the fisherman. People hunted for millions of years before planting food. Hundreds of tribes in the tropical forests of South America yet hunt. They do not suffer chronic sickness. They just die. And I want to discuss two classes of false reasoning in the article by DPA, the psychologist Thouless has given in his book "Straight & Crooked Thinking'. The first is the common one of confusing 'all' and 'some'. All vegetarians are not healthier physically and mentally than meat eaters. Some live long and some die young. About a year ago I was vegetarian for misguided health reasons and had to give up when my wife found it difficult to cook only for me. [We also do not have servants]. Nevertheless most of my vegetarian friends are dead. There is no such thing as an "All or none law". Some 'get it' others don't. No one knows why some rascals like me have a healthier contented life than good people like DPA. I eat meat and I also wear shoes. The other false argument is based on the hypothetical concept of 'causation' in medicine. Every hypothesis is true until proven false. If is 'c' is the cause of disease 'd' there is no reason why 'c' cannot be pushed into infinite recession. What is the cause of 'c' etc? Buddhists may find 'c' in karma-vipaka or Christians in the inscrutable wisdom of God and Muslims in the will of Allah. For Brahmins and Hindus, vegetarianism and the sacred cow is culture for 4000 years. But listen to the warning of the Buddha: "If you think about ripening of action, it will make you mad." To select just one item from the listed 15, I know that herbivo have large abrasive-resistant teeth because there is silicon in grass or may be the creator put it in. So away with nonsense and let me come to the nitty-gritty question. To re-phrase the title, should people necessarily be herbivorous? In the wild, carnivores rarely eat carnivores. Meatless Eskimos will starve to death. And that is how it was and how it always will be. Sadly, DPA is now a full time crusader and a well-meaning fanatic - to save everyone from a predatory culture. "The fanatic" says Santayana "is one who redoubles his effort when he has forgotten the cause". In a previous article, responding to DPA, I quoted the Jivaka Sutta and the stand taken by the Buddha on eating meat. There is nothing sacrosanct or benevolent necessarily resulting from not eating meat. Hitler who slaughtered millions was a strict vegetarian. The Buddha and his disciples ate any food offered to them and practiced metta (compassion), karuna (loving-kindness), mudita (sympathetic joy) and upekkha (equanimity). But the vegetarian Indians and the no-pork eating Muslims seem to ritually murder each other annually. Let me conclude referring briefly to another popular bit of crooked reasoning: "If x persons are vegetarian, then y number of animals will be saved". The argument is then built and the 'if' quietly ignored for the triumphant conclusion 'vegetarianism saves animals'. What if all the people came to the beach on a Sunday, how cheaply we can stop erosion - with teaspoons! And what if all doctors were compassionate, how much people would love them? Kingsley Heendeniya- Nugegoda
Is killing a vegetable the same as killing an animal? Flesh eaters often say if you eat vegetables you are also taking life. But there is a difference between taking the life of a calf and that of a vegetable or fruit. Does a potato cry out when it is taken from the earth in the way a calf does when it is taken from its mother? Does a coconut scream in pain and terror when it is plucked from the coconut tree, the way a cow does, when it is being led to slaughter house and is having its throat cut. And how sad, lonely and frightened can a tomato or an apple feel? Plants are mostly non-mobile and lack obvious excretory and nervous systems and sensory organs. We don't need a polygraph to demonstrate that plants have consciousness of a sort but this consciousness is obviously of a rudimentary kind far different from that of mammals with well-developed nervous systems. Nor do we need tests to prove that cows, pigs, fish and birds experience pain to the same degree as human beings, for, it is common observation that animals wince, howl, wail and show terror when injured and make every effort to avoid pain. Actually many fruits and vegetables can be picked without killing or harming the plant. These include berries, melons, nuts, legumes, seeds, pumpkins, brinjals and many other fruits and vegetables. Potatoes are taken from the ground after the plant had died. Most vegetables and fruits are annuals harvested at or near the end of the natural life. Many scientists now concede that fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and grains are best suited to human body. We know that we cannot subsist for long without food and all food is matter that was once alive. Since we can subsist well without flesh, why take animal life in addition to plant life if we need to survive. Dr. D.P. Atukorale - Colombo 07 |
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