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Welcome to yet another edition of Gerard’s Gazette, a weekly newsletter in which I attempt to break down the events of the week gone by and offer a bit of context, as well as a dose of news you may have missed and news behind the news. If this is your first time here, thank you for signing up, and I hope you stick around! And, as always, if you like what you are reading, make sure you pass it around. Thanks for reading GERARD’s Gazette! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. The ‘power’ of coal: Legacies turned to dust Coal was back on the agenda this week in Goa [ https://substack.com/redirect/ef0ec88b-f9f9-406b-b761-ee7eccf09de3?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ]. It all started with a seemingly innocuous tweet by the Ministry of Railways, who, in an attempt to highlight their achievements, tweeted about the commissioning of the Hosapete-Vasco da Gama railway line. In their tweet (since deleted) the Ministry of Railways said that the benefits of the line included faster transport of “coal, iron ore & steel transportation in the region. The second benefit, the tweet said, was to boost tourism to Goa and Hampi. Opposition parties -- as they should -- were quick to latch on to the tweet to allege that the tweet revealed the “true intentions” behind the railway double tracking. [ https://substack.com/redirect/3cb77f7f-a19d-4836-a9c8-a1e3bd0c3c2c?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ] Why does this matter? The first thing to note is that none of this is new. In 2010, the Ministry of Railways sanctioned the doubling of the existing Hospet-Tinaighat-Vasco railway line in the states of Karnataka and Goa of a total distance of 363 kms. The first phase of 312 kms between Hospet and Tinaighat involved easier terrain atop the largely flat Deccan plateau and has already been completed and commissioned. Not recently, as the tweet seemed to suggest, but back in 2018. [ https://substack.com/redirect/a80ae418-917e-4ba8-a5e5-2084fe1d0e9a?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ] Even on the Goa side -- the Tinaighat to Vasco da Gama section -- the section between Collem (Kulem) and Margao (Madgaon) has already been double tracked and commissioned. It is only the ghat section (between Tinaighat and Collem) and the coastal section (between Margao and Vasco) that is remaining. The latter is being forcefully pushed through in villages like Velsao, where villagers are constantly pushing back against Railway work [ https://substack.com/redirect/cc344d65-44f6-499d-b99c-2f97ff38ce40?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ]. Permissions for the ghat section have been set aside by the Supreme Court. [ https://substack.com/redirect/d112a6ca-2dd8-4a63-8096-b20a5dc7914a?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ] In effect, what the opposition parties were collectively saying was that, the Ministry of Railways in speaking the truth, had inadvertently exposed the Goa government’s lie that the track expansion was not for coal expansion and that coal handling capacity in Goa will not be expanded. Which brings us to the question of coal. More specifically, what do we make of the opposition’s allegations and the ruling’s denials? To its credit, the opposition unearthed an old, but not forgotten video, of former Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar saying that double tracking will not be allowed in Goa [ https://substack.com/redirect/a662e630-793b-4f9d-97ee-b339b3f26c13?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ], as it would bring no benefit to the state, but only to corporate honchos (he didn’t name any) and besides, it entailed a huge cost for the state. It is true that Parrikar, who was Goa’s chief minister in 2013, when the video was recorded, is on record opposing the double tracking project in Goa (which if you’ve been paying attention was sanctioned in 2010). Watching the video in isolation, might leave you with an impression that Parrikar was actually against double tracking and coal handling and that his successor Pramod Sawant’s about-turn (U-turn) on the issue is one of the many nails he has driven into the coffin containing Parrikar’s legacy. But what you do need to keep in mind is that in the year 2013, when the video was recorded, the Congress was in power at the Centre and the BJP was in the opposition. It shouldn’t come as a surprise then, that Parrikar had no hesitation in accusing the then central government of corruption in allowing the two major companies -- JSW and Adani -- to lease berths at Goa’s Mormugao Port and use it to transport coal and steel from the Port to their steel plants in north Karnataka. The same Parrikar showed none of the aforementioned vigour in opposing the same double tracking project no sooner the BJP came to power the following year in 2014 and when the Goa Against Coal movement began in 2017 (or thereabouts), Parrikar showed none of the earlier bravado [ https://substack.com/redirect/aceb358d-3c9a-491c-a7ad-198c4dfdc82d?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ], when a delegation called on him to oppose coal handling at Mormugao Port and instead labelled it as a pollution problem that needed to be contained, while ensuring that livelihoods were not lost [ https://substack.com/redirect/a614ab6a-bea9-47e5-b14d-ae19fab5513c?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ]. In other words, Parrikar’s so-called opposition to double tracking was nothing more than political convenience -- just like pretty much everything else he espoused. Nearly all of the causes he embraced when in the opposition -- removal of casinos, Mauvin’s power scam and illegal mining -- were conveniently disowned no sooner the tide turned. It might be tempting to describe this as a bug that has now bitten leaders like Krishna “Daji” Salkar [ https://substack.com/redirect/a7b91e47-7e23-4406-a35a-13fd76f24d03?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ] and Sankalp Amonkar. But, it’s not a bug. It’s a feature. It’s not Pramod Sawant who has buried Parrikar’s legacy, it dug its own grave and jumped inside [ https://substack.com/redirect/b204d73f-0b4f-4b93-9af6-8105d9d8c40d?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ]. So when Sawant says that there will be no increase in coal handling capacity at Goa’s Mormugao Port, treat it like you would a Parrikar saying that casinos would be out of the Mandovi in 100 days, double tracking would not be allowed in Goa or that Mauvin Godinho had scammed the state exchequer [ https://substack.com/redirect/dfacf132-61bc-41d2-81a5-7fde9bddd8c6?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ]. After all, even the port’s own figures show Goa’s coal handling continues to grow [ https://substack.com/redirect/3ddf4477-5f65-4b52-ace7-85f41e3119e9?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ] (albeit gradually). Out of luck? This was a week during which the much-awaited meeting of the GST council, formally agreed to ‘simplify’ the tax and reduce it to two slabs (actually three). But the change has made one group (besides those trying to buy 350+cc motorcycles) very unhappy -- yes it’s the casino industry I’m talking about. The industry, who is already unhappy at being made to pay 28% GST on the full face value of the transactions rather than at Gross Gambling Revenue (GGR) are now even unhappier that that rate has now gone up to 40% [ https://substack.com/redirect/d559ccfd-c32c-4852-94ce-828972b50264?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ]as it has been placed under the 40% ‘sin’ category pricing (alongside motorcycles above 350 cc for some reason). As a result, the Deltin Group, Goa’s largest casino operators, has put on hold plans to develop a massive, albeit controversial, township at Dhargal in north Goa, while also raising doubts about the future of the casino industry itself in Goa [ https://substack.com/redirect/b3f41810-648b-49c6-949f-5e3335f90ca7?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ]. This comes alongside news some weeks ago that DLF was also reconsidering plans for its 50-crore villas at Reis Magos [ https://substack.com/redirect/aeffe534-c6f7-416a-b6a3-19ec41d4d507?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ]. Might this offer a glimmer of hope that the pace of destruction might be slowing down a bit. Too early to say anything, of course. Did I mention that motorcycles above 350 cc are also under the 40% GST bracket? Alongside private jets and yachts for personal use? BITS and pieces Yet another student passed away in ‘unnatural’ circumstances at the Goa Campus of the Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS) sparking an outpouring of concern and calls for an inquiry into the string of deaths -- that has now touched five over the last ten months. Three of the five are said to have died by suicide, while the other two including the one this week remain inconclusive as the police are yet to offer a final conclusion as to the cause of death. The Chief Minister has now ordered an inquiry into the deaths and assured the state that, depending on the recommendations in the report, that will be authored by the District Collector, the state government will issue instructions to the institute. Deaths among students, are unfortunately, not uncommon, especially in high profile institutes where students are under pressure from parents and peers to deliver scores that can land them the very best jobs. But here in Goa, which has not seen these kinds of ‘patterns’ before, the string of deaths has raised many questions --for which no answers are forthcoming. There are of course theories floating around, but while this newsletter does include gossip, I try to stay away from unfounded speculation especially when young lives and reputations are involved. Hopefully the management, the student community and most importantly the parents come together to foster an atmosphere of learning rather than ‘studying’ at least for the sake of those who might be struggling to cope. That’s all I have for you this week. Make sure you comment or write in, should you have something, anything to say. I would also invite you to contribute via sending in your views, especially on a subject you know something about, and I will be happy to include it as part of the newsletter. You are also welcome to write in with leads and tip-offs or anything that you think might be interesting enough to include here. As always, please share and help spread the word. Until next week, then. Tchau! Thanks for reading GERARD’s Gazette! This post is public so feel free to share it. 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