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| Thursday, 22 January 2004 |
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Letters | |
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Bogus doctorates and bogus professorships Second Thoughts on the above (30.12.2003) are very important for several reasons. Prof. Sunanda Mahendra has touched only on those who use the prefix, 'Dr.' Until early sixties we had two categories of lawyers. Proctors and Advocates. Legislation was brought in early sixties to call both categories as Attorneys-at-Law. Similarly, a law should be introduced to make it compulsory for Medical Council registered graduate Medical Officers to drop the prefix, 'Dr.' and to use M.D. after the name. Further, at all places of practice, whether in a hospital, clinic or where private practice is done, the nameboards, rubber stamps, letter heads, etc., should carry below the name, all medical degrees or diplomas prominently and clearly stated. Thereafter the 'Dr.' prefix will be the sole preserve of who have earned the 'Ph.D' from State recognised Universities. Then comes the most abused of intellectual terms, 'Professor'. Who is a Professor? The explicit meaning is, "a teacher of the highest seats of learning in a University. So how is it that when one retires, removed or resigns, he still retains the title of 'Professor'? The law should be made clear on this. It should be made a punishable offence to use the prefix, 'Professor' when not in service or entitled. METTHANANDA WIJEKULASURIYA, The Quran is the word of Allah almighty and Hadheeth are the word and deeds of the Prophet Muhammed (Sal). The Quran and its translations are in plenty. Hadheeths collected and compiled by several Imams are rare and difficult to obtain. There is a Hadheeth that I have often heard from preachers that say the prophet encountered a place like what they now call the Black Hole during his journey beyond the universe in early 7th century AD. The Archangel Gabriel who accompanied him on that trip had told the prophet at a point in space called 'Sidratul Munthaha' that he, the angle would be reduced to nothing if he goes any further and stopped there. This is what the Quran says about creation: Note: These translations are of A. Usuf Ali Human kind consists of male and female which are opposite to each other. Opposite like 5 and - 5 put together become zero. That shows zero or nothing is not what we imagine it to be. But zero is the equal of opposites and it is limitless. Therefore if heat, light, sound, neutron the base of matter etc. have been created out of nothing their opposite may jointly be forming the black hole, with its inherent attractive force. Man is equipped with what Adam has acquired by consuming the forbidden fruit and that can be construed to be divine as per some other Quranic verses suggest and would pass through the black hole without hindrance. There is another Hadheeth that say the prophet's life-span in this world was reduced by thirty years because of his journey in space on that famous night of Mihraj. In this computer age, if all Hadheeths can be brought under one heading it would help Islam very much. Will the Islamic nations do? M. L. M. SHERIFF, There are many kinds of devastations on the face of our planet earth, frightening the very existence of human race and other living creatures for time to time in parts of the globe. They are of two kinds - i) Natural devastations, catastrophes and ii) Man-made. Natural are earthquakes, volcanos, floods, tidal waves, storms, cyclones, bush fires - a few of there. In a moment, minute, the whole nation, a city or nation with there ancient and modern structures, buildings, towers, sky scrapers are razed to the ground, reducing to rabbles and debris. It takes again many years or centuries to bring back to normal life. These calamities are not at all preventive or checked up or averted. But man-made devastation are preventable or averted to certain degrees. They are deforestation, all kinds of pollutions, chemicals, toxics and worst of all wars and battles where two armies fight each other, killing human lives with modern sophisticated weapons. Bombs, missiles etc. are handled to destroy the other warring party, nation or country. Man destroys man for any riskful purpose or not. Man now explores other planets like Red Planet -Mars- to discover whether there is water, gas and finally whether human existence or not, while at the same time threatening our very own existence on the face of our Mother Planet-The Earth. "Peace on Earth" in the New Year 2004 which is the fourth year in the 21st Century and also fourth year in the 3rd millennium and first leap year with 29 days in February. Hoping the new year be a happy one. J. E. VETHANAYAGAM, Hitherto W/T was not deducted from non income tax payers on a declaration by the depositor in the application for a fixed deposit. From 2004 it will be necessary for non tax payers getting over Rs. 108,000 but less than Rs. 300,000 a year to get a direction from the Income Tax Department. This is needless harassment as even the Tax Department will have to accept a declaration by the depositor who will have to make several visits to the Department to get the Direction. 1) This will not prevent a dishonest tax payer from evading W/T. All he has to do is to spread his deposits in several banks etc., so that each yield less than Rs. 108,000. He will certainly not declare such income and pay more than 10 per cent. 2) Income tax is levied only on the amount in excess of the tax free limit whereas W/T is on the full amount. (A person who gets Rs. 109,000 will pay Rs. 10,900 while a person who gets Rs. 107,000 will not have to pay anything). 3) For Income tax a person is taxed on his share only if it is a joint deposit whereas for W/T the number of depositors is not taken into account. I would urge the Minister to i.) exempt non tax payers from W/T on a declaration as done hitherto. ii.) deduct W/T only on the amount in excess of the limit iii.) In case of a joint deposit, the W/T free limit be allowed for each person. C.F., The assault on the Bulathsinhala Divisional Secretary by a group led by a UNP parliamentarian at a musical show, has attracted universal condemnation from all sections of the right thinking people. It also resulted in a walk out by all Divisional Secretaries and District Secretaries (Govt Agents). The Ceylon Administrative Service Association which is generally not a strike prone union also threatened to join the walk out if no immediate action was taken to bring the offenders to book. The government responded fast, thanks to the intervention by the Prime Minister and saved a situation that would otherwise have paralysed the administration altogether. This was not the first occasion when public servants were subject to this type of ignominious treatment and it would certainly not be the last if no deterrent punitive action is taken against those responsible for this reprehensible act. Reportedly a disciplinary inquiry has been initiated by the party high command against the MP concerned. Hopefully suitable action would be taken on its findings in due course of time. The people however do not set much store by these inquiries, least of all on those conducted by political parties against their own M.PP. The people consider them only as a ruse to sweep the dirt under the carpet and to forget the affair once the dust is settled. There had been several such inquiries in the past but the public are not aware of any deterrent punishment meted out to the offenders. In this respect the UNP would do well to take a cue from late President JRJ in dealing with misdemeanour of party members. He kept the M.PP in their places without allowing any transgressions. Those undated letters of resignation from the M.PP would have helped him a great deal in this regard. I recall how the late President JRJ once relieved a top diplomat - a political appointee - from his duties when a certain misdemeanour on the latter's part was brought to the President's notice. It was a private affair no doubt; but the President was only concerned how badly it reflected on the dignity of the post held by the officer and the service he belonged to. On another occasion the President even threatened to disband the mighty Jathika Sevaka Sangamaya when it was becoming a little bit recalcitrant and creating embarrassment to the government of the day. Like the public servants, the M.PP should also be bound by ethics of good behaviour both inside the House and outside. They should not be allowed to take the law unto their own hands and treat the public servants like their domestic staff; they should also not expect public servants to be at their beck and call at all times of the day and night. Public servants and legislators belong to two different arms of the democratic system under which we operate; one cannot do without the other. Politicians must understand this fact and treat public servants as equals and not underdogs. One hopes that Bulathsinhala affair would pave the way for such an understanding rapport between our legislators and public servants. Let me make it clear that the frontline politicians of all our political parties are thorough gentlemen and the people have nothing but praise for how they conduct themselves on the political scene. The problems are created by a minuscule minority of the rearguard. P. G. A. HENRY, The general public are deeply concerned on the failure of the President and Prime Minister to arrive at a consensus over the issue of Presidential take over of the three ministries including that of Defence. According to a recent press report a minister of the EU has described the take over as being within the Sri Lanka constitution. The Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe's position is that he cannot proceed with the peace process without the Defence Ministry coming under him. But peace talks had stalled about eight months ago when the Tigers declared that they will not join in peace talks as the six rounds of talks held so far have borne no fruit. Meanwhile, Tigers visited several countries for advice and drew up a framework for an interim self-governing authority which according to Chris Patten of the EU goes far beyond a federal structure. But the government has not made any comments on it and it is believed that the Prime Minister is still studying it. From the time the CFA was signed, Tigers taking advantage of a weak document have freely expanded and consolidated their position and violations of the CFA in the process have been ignored by the government. It behoves the government to tell the people why this is so and what the peace plans are to keep the pledge of transparency given at elections. I.P.N., |
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