Forty-four years ago, Mauritius gained its independence after 166 years of British rule. It’s greatest achievement must be the fact that, over the past few years, it has been able to successfully remove its total reliance on sugar production and to diversify its economy. In fact, Mauritius has moved from sugar to a cyber island in order to keep abreast with development and be able to compete with other developing countries.  Its population has increased tremendously and this has created a social explosion. The country has developed so quickly that its people fears other social and economical problems are on the way.

Xavier-Luc Duval does not want to see any board of a parastatal body with more than 65 % of its members of one community. This is an attempt to fool the people of Mauritius. It won't make any difference if members of every community are nominated on the various Boars of Directors. What is required is that qualified and experienced people of whatever community be allowed to rise up the ladder to the highest positions in parastatal institutions or be nominated from outside to such positions.

The training to become a commercial aircraft pilot costs well above 3 million rupees.  A few years ago Air Mauritius had a cadet scheme where they were financing the training of young Mauritians who, afterwards, had to work for them. This was really good considering the majority of Mauritians are not rich. If you were intelligent, you had a passion for aviation but came from a middle class or poor family, this scheme was of great help.

The decision to « recompose » a board with 65 % of its members of one community has been taken by “le comité ministériel, présidé par le ministre des Finances, Xavier-Luc Duval”. The ridiculous thing about it is some weeks back it was the Government's approach to put an end to community declaration with respect to standing as candidate for an election.

Les personnes qui tombent souvent amoureux, et qui sitôt une histoire d’amour terminée en commencent une nouvelle, sont d’une certaine façon des victimes. Elles sont à la recherche d’affection et ne parviennent pas toujours au but recherché.

Le dénominateur « sou », qui subsiste dans notre « 50 cs », s’est confondu depuis toujours au centime (le ‘cent’ anglais). On devrait en fait dire « centième ». Notre pièce de « 50 cs » s’appelait alors le « schilling » (orthographe en cours dans le Commonwealth). Le quart-roupie se disait « six-pence », alors que pour le billet de vingt cents, c’était le « dix-cash ».

Once we were kid as well. Time has changed, but that does not mean that a teacher can hit a pupil. There are other ways to penalise the child, i.e., by taking away privileges if pupils do not do their homework. I always feel that teachers should have psychology training as part of their teacher’s training. They should learn to control their anger. They should learn how to deal or control children in a more humane way.  

À chaque fois que mes petits pieds pianotaient dans ton ventre, c’était pour te dire : « JE T'AIME » ! J'étais privé de mémoire visuelle certes, mais je languissais de contempler ton visage maternel. Mais la dureté de ton coeur étouffe mon message.

Is there a lesson to be learnt from the Rodriguans polls? The recent election and the verdict there invite some serious comments about the stand of Navin Ramgoolam’s government today. The victory of the OPR is a sonorous slap to the central Government in Mauritius.

Alors que notre Constitution fait de la liberté, la règle, et la détention, l'exception, Maurice est peut-être la seule juridiction où il existe un système d'accusation provisoire selon lequel un suspect est d'abord arrêté et incarcéré  et ce n'est qu'après qu'une enquête préliminaire est menée pour déterminer s'il y a matière à poursuite ou non.

The reality, incontrovertibly established by psychologists and other cognitive scientists, on the basis of controlled experiments and counter-checks by other researchers, is that, irrespective of their educational level or their cultures, their social status, people are more sympathetic to their “in-groups” than to their “out-group” partners.

Le débat sur le Best Loser System (BLS) continue à faire rage. Ceux qui sont opposés à l'abolition de ce système campent sur leur position tandis que ceux qui sont pour l'abolition sont plus que jamais décidés à en finir une fois pour toutes avec ce système qui alimente la division et la méfiance.