ARE RONALDO & MESSI REALLY THE BEST??

Lionel Messi of Argentina and Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal are dubbed as two best football players in the world currently; both are playing in Spain, Messi for Barcelona and Ronaldo for Real Madrid. Both are doing extremely well for their respective clubs but when playing for their nations both perform much lower than the spectators expectations. Messi and Ronaldo are hailed in Spain and elsewhere in the world as the two best footballers of the world when they are playing for their clubs. Since this is the opinion of the world on these two players why both of them cannot perform for their nations the performance of their clubs? People feel that they are purposely not exerting all their efforts when playing for their nations because their nations are not paying them what their clubs are paying them.

According to me Messi and Ronaldo are players of club level where they both are like one eyed men among the blinds and as such they cannot rise to the occasions. It is not that they are purposely underperforming when they play for their nations but while playing for their nations their moves and play are checked and controlled by the top opponents and defenders of which type they do not encounter when they play at club level. World Cup, Euro Cup and Copa America are top tournaments where every player participating in these tournaments is playing for his national team. For these tournaments only the best players from the participating nations are selected. The level of game while playing for one’s national team is much higher than that of the club level. Every player of national level representing his nation is the best while at club level it is not so. Every player of Barcelona and Real Madrid is not a national player but every player of Spain is the representative of his top club.

In the recently concluded Euro Cup 2012 Ronaldo in the Portuguese national team was a big flop in the first two qualifying matches but later on he gained a little momentum but never to equate him with the best in the world. Lionel Messi in the last World Cup in South Africa while representing his national team Argentina never reached to his expected zenith and he also failed to come to the expected level turning a flop too.

The best players in the world play best soccer anywhere in the world and at any level, whether club level or national level. A best player is the one who always perform best of soccer in any condition. A really best player is capable of winning the match single handedly with his singular performance and solo efforts.

70 Years back Argentinian Alfredo Di Stefano and Hungarian Ferenc Puskas, 50 years back Portuguese Eusebio and Brazilian Pele, 40 years back West German Franz Backeneur and Gerd Mueller, 30 years back West German Karl Heinz Rumenige, Italian Paulo Rossi, Argentinian Diego Armando Maradona and 10 years back French Zidane according to my assessment were really world best and they could single handedly win their matches against top teams. While on the field they were not only playing their game but also making their colleagues to play as well by distributing and feeding the ball clearly and cleverly to them.

Currently Ronaldo and Messi are both very good players no doubt but they only play their game and have to be played by others, they both do not make others play as the above mentioned players did during their hey days. In the absence of stiff competition and also in the absence of highly talented and skilful players in the world now both Ronaldo and Messi are creating ripples. Otherwise neither of them is nearer to the above named oldies. In view of this, people should not expect from them stars from the sky, they have their own capacity and accordingly they perform. Currently what they display is all what they can.

Finally let me tell to all those soccer experts who equate both Ronaldo and Messi to the great Pele and Maradona to just shut their mouth.  Pele and Maradona are incomparable to any of the best before and after them, they are both unique, they both are a gift of God to the football world.  Between the two, Pele stands taller than Maradona.  And between Ronaldo and Messi, the former  stands higher than the latter especially in the air and sprinting with the ball.

A. Veronica Fernandes,

Kuwait.

RTI REVEALS DIRECTOR’S DAUGHTER POCKETED FOUR LAKHS AWARD NOT ENTITLED FOR.

 

By Aires Rodrigues


Ms. Shruti Nayak daughter of Director of Higher Education Mr. Bhaskar Nayak was in 2008 paid by the Goa Government four lakhs she was not entitled for under the ‘Goa Scholars’ scheme. This has been revealed in documents obtained from the Directorate of Higher Education under the Right to Information Act. Ms Shruti Nayak is currently teaching at MES College at Vasco.

As per the documents obtained under RTI, for the year 2007-2008 the department of Higher Education had issued an advertisement on 10th April 2007 calling for applications by 30th April for the ‘Goa Scholars’ scheme.

Ms Shruti Nayak had submitted her application on 30th April in which she stated that the course for which her admission is confirmed was M.Sc in Mathematics from Goa University. She did not however in the application form disclose that she had already commenced her M.Sc course in 2006. The ‘Goa Scholars’ award is for students who have obtained admission for post graduate studies and not for a course already done.

Interestingly in the note attached to her application on why she should be considered for the scholarship, Ms Shruti Nayak stated that she proposed to do her research through either TIFR (Tata Institute of Fundamental Research), IISC (Indian Institute of Science} or IIT (India Institute of Technology) and that not to financially burden her parents she required the scholarship. Four years after receiving the four lakhs from the Goa Government Ms Shruti Nayak is yet to do her PhD. The records of IIT Bombay show that Ms Shruti Nayak had on 4th & 5th June 2008 appeared for an entrance test and interview for PhD in Mathematics but was unsuccessful.

The documents obtained reveals that in 2007 while the selection process for the ‘Goa Scholars’ award was on, a note was moved that as the daughter of Director of Higher Education Mr. Bhaskar Nayak had applied for the Goa Scholar Scheme that the selection committee be reconstituted with someone else as its Member Secretary. Accordingly Mr. Vivek Kamat then Joint Director of Technical Education was appointed as Member secretary of the selection committee to replace Mr. Bhaskar Nayak. However Mr. Bhaskar Nayak continued as Director of Higher Education, the department which processed the application and paid Ms Shruti Nayak the four lakhs under the ‘Goa Scholar’ scheme.

The six member selection committee headed by then Vice Chancellor of Goa University Prof Deelip Deobagkar short listed 27 out of the 53 who had applied for the award. Out of the 27 short listed only 17 appeared for the final interview of which 5 were selected for the ‘Goa Scholars’ award for the year 2007-2008 including Ms Shruti Nayak.

The ‘Goa Scholars’ scheme was launched in the year 2003-2004 to promote pursuit of post graduate studies and to ensure that economic conditions or financial difficulties do not come in the way of such pursuit.

The scheme aims at assisting meritorious students to undertake post graduate studies in institutions of proven excellence in India or abroad. Over two years Rs two lakhs per year is paid to those taking post graduation studies in India and a one time amount of 15,000 dollars to those studying abroad.

This is a clear case of cleverly trying to manipulate and cheat the government. The four lakhs illegally pocketed by Ms Shruti Nayak should be immediately recovered from her by the Goa government with interest and action should be taken in the matter in accordance with law. In public interest all disbursement of public funds should be meticously scrutinized and monitored.

Though Director of Higher Education Mr. Bhaskar Nayak had officially stayed out of the selection committee, he should have been well aware that his daughter had applied for a scheme under his department for which she was not entitled to.

Mr. Bhaskar Nayak who is holding charge as Director of Higher Education since July 2007 is also the Principal of Government College of Arts, Science and Commerce at Quepem from 2005. Mr. Nayak had earlier held the post of Director of Higher Education from 2002 to 2005.

MAID TORTURED IN KUWAIT BY HER LEBANESE EMPLOYER.

Maid torturing in Kuwait is become so common that residents in Kuwait are become accustomed to take it as a normal happening. People are become accustomed to know that locals are subjecting their maids to torturing because there are many cases where the locals are involved in performing such cruelties on their poor maids but now foreigners have also started torturing their poor maids in Kuwait and that too very ruthlessly.

Here below I reproduce a news item from the local English Daily Arab Times dated 3rd of this month to make the people aware of the harshness of the employers and sponsors here towards their poor maids. In this case, the poor maid is from Indonesia but it can be for any Goan maid as well. For this reason I alert our Goan maids coming to Kuwait to work as maids to be very careful. They must have somebody or the other as their own relative to enquire about them while they are employed as maids in Kuwait. Constant enquiring of the how about of the maids by their relatives or friends or well-wishers in Kuwait must be imperative because some of the employers are worse than wild animals, they don’t know to treat human beings as humans. It is these wild animals who are spoiling the good image of Kuwait.

QUOTE “COMPLAINT FILED WITH HAWALLY POLICE”

“LEBANESE WOMAN HELD FOR TORTURING INDONESIAN MAID”.

KUWAIT CITY. July 2: Police have detained for interrogation an unidentified Lebanese woman for torturing her Indonesian maid for four years, reports Al-Anba daily.

The arrest came when the housemaid accompanied by a representative from her Embassy, filed a complaint with Hawally Police Station.

In her complaint the made wrote the woman tortured her for four years to such an extent she finally got used to her brutal behavior.

The maid has submitted a medical report which shows she is suffering from a broken and deformed finger due to frequent torture, fractures in the teeth due to beating with blunt object, bruises in the face, congestion in the eyes and effects of a sharp object being inserted in her sensitive part in addition to wound scars on the head and different parts of her body.

According to the security sources when the maid arrived at the police station she was in a pathetic condition and it even shocked the police officers and the investigator.

During the investigation the maid said she tried in vain several times to escape from the female sponsor. She added her sponsor was very careful when she left the apartment. She kept her locked inside a room that had no windows.

The maid added she finally managed to escape because the woman forgot to lock the door of the apartment.

Deputy Attorney-General has ordered the maid to be referred to a hospital and the sponsor to the Public Prosecution.

During interrogation the female sponsor is said to have admitted to torturing the maid. UNQUOTE.

From the above news report one can easily conclude that in Kuwait many of the maids are treated like slaves in the mediaeval period. This mentioned incident must be just like a tip of an iceberg and like this there may be innumerable victims suffering cruelties and torturing from the hands of their cruel employers and sponsors. In fact maids in Kuwait are made to work more and paid less and in the eyes of Labour Laws they are invisible. As once Time Magazine correspondent writing on the woes of maids in Kuwait said that “in Kuwait maids are only existing,  in the eyes of law they are not living”.

It is horrible to know that a Lebanese employer in Kuwait by being a foreigner who is like a beggar in somebody’s land is treating her maid so mercilessly. I don’t know what is wrong with these Lebanese, good that they are only Lebanese Arabs and not Western French holding French Passports. Even in many of the companies where Lebanese are holding high posts there you will find lot of discriminations against non-Lebanese. In some companies gangs of Lebanese are sprung up and these gangs with their domination over their management discriminate against non-Lebanese.

My point of publishing this news item is to caution many of my Goan sisters coming to Kuwait to work as maids should thoroughly find out in advance the real character of their employers either locals or non-locals. In this society there is not much respect for human rights. And in the words of Mahatma Gandhi “the society that treats its weaker section badly is a sick society”.

A. Veronica Fernandes,

Kuwait.