View this post on the web at https://gerardsgazette.substack.com/p/the-smile-on-the-face-of-the-tiger
There’s been some encouraging news this week. And it’s not just the fact that the rains seem to be finally receding! 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 smile on the face of the tiger You see, the week began on a good note. On Monday, the Supreme Court of India imposed an interim order [ https://substack.com/redirect/ccde2210-88bc-42b1-89ef-82a88402ba76?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ] directing the state government to maintain status quo “in respect of the areas which are directed to be notified as a tiger reserve by the High Court.” [ https://substack.com/redirect/2f0888f7-78f9-4dcb-8542-5d07fd7468d3?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ] This is an area of roughly 750 square kilometres in the Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary as well in areas beyond, right up to the Cotigao Wildlife Sanctuary in the south. I was one of those who was able to watch the proceedings via an online stream (no longer available) before it was taken private and a few things stood out. The first was that the counsel representing the Goa government Adv Mukul Rohatgi, despite being the petitioner in the case, was not present when the matter came up for hearing and in fact the legal team was seeking a ‘pass over’. This despite it being notified in advance that the matter was placed ‘high on board’, which meant a hearing was expected to take place. When he did appear before the bench, he told the court that he was ‘not prepared’. However, he ultimately agreed to argue the case. Broadly, the state made the following arguments: That more than 1,000 square kilometres or one-third of the state would fall under this tiger reserve, that around 15,000 families would be affected by the notification, that the areas were already protected areas and as such there was no need for an additional layer of protection among others. In response, The Goa Foundation, the original petitioner before the High Court, responded that, in response to the NTCA’s recommendation that Goa notifies a tiger reserve, the Goa Forest Department has already done a ground exercise, and drawn up a plan for the tiger reserve, the core area of which excludes human habitation, which is what prompted the High Court to direct the state to notify this reserve in the first place. The SC then decided to delegate the matter to the Central Empowered Committee (the same one that recommended that railway double tracking was not required between Tinaighat and Collem ghat section of the railway line, which was ultimately accepted by the Supreme Court), and called for a report in six weeks. “We, therefore, request the CEC to examine the issue and submit a report within a period of six weeks from today… The CEC will give [a] hearing to all the stakeholders, including the State Government and the writ petitioner before the High Court,” the SC said. That’s the long and short of it. Although do keep in mind that celebrating too early is never a good thing and this is only an interim order. It’s what the final order says that really matters. And even then, as we are now seeing in the case of Mollem, victories can prove to be short lived. [ https://substack.com/redirect/2a9b4f8f-9a1d-4010-af17-e0c8cdb03f00?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ] Hope for Saulem, Pilerne In more encouraging news, the NGT has taken suo motu cognizance [ https://substack.com/redirect/ebb19b1c-97ad-44d4-ac3b-2df51d613d8f?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ] of a Times of India report that highlighted how land conversions in Goa, under the currently valid section 39-A were being liberally granted and has sought responses from various government agencies. The report in question [ https://substack.com/redirect/91cfaa39-4fa1-488a-a607-e71e11b30a90?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ], had highlighted how the TCP Department had granted a land conversion for 20,000 sq metres of sloping land in Pilerne above the Saulem lake. This is not one of your regular land conversions but is one of many examples that were used by activists back then of why the RP 2011 needed to be scrapped. With the RP 2011 scrapped, the newly drafted RP 2021 had rightfully marked this plot as orchard and a no development slope. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come. Corridor of uncertainty Yes that’s a cricket term and I’m not even sure if it’s apt. In cricket it means, a ball that’s bowled at the correct line and length, leaving the batsman in two minds — whether to play it or to leave it. What do I mean by that in this context? Let me explain. The Goa Chief Minister, this week, announced that the cabinet had approved a proposal for the construction of a ‘Koti Tirth Corridor’ at the site of the old Saptokoteshwar Temple at Naroa in Divar [ https://substack.com/redirect/945751c6-7648-4afc-8443-086360fddfd2?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ]. This, the chief minister said, was in order to take forward a recommendation made by a committee of experts [ https://substack.com/redirect/18b2c56d-e3f6-40d2-bb00-3a667e92532f?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ] set up by the Goa government to scrutinise applications for consideration and selection of suitable sites for reconstructions of temples destroyed during the Portuguese rule. What exactly the project will entail is not yet known, with the Chief Minister only saying that the approval has been given to the project to be taken up by the GSIDC. Nothing else has been decided and no plan or cost has been drawn up. Now there are two ways to look at this. In one sense, this is a ‘development’ of the ruins of the site of an old temple that was excavated several decades ago, known locally as porne tirth and since then, declared as a protected site by the state archaeology department. That’s the way some people -- most notably the local MLA Rajesh Faldessai [ https://substack.com/redirect/773124db-d270-4686-964c-086d90707b5b?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ] -- have chosen to look at it. In his press conference [ https://substack.com/redirect/773124db-d270-4686-964c-086d90707b5b?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ] following the Chief Minister’s announcement, he welcomed the move as the fulfillment of a long pending demand to develop the ruins from the point of view of tourism and religious purposes. He said that move would boost tourism on the island, and give a huge filip to the local economy that quite literally has very little other source of employment forcing people to move out. That is, of course, one way to look at it. But is that what the government, specifically the chief minister, has been saying? Sawant first proposed in the run up to the state assembly elections back in 2022 when he announced that, if reelected, the Goa government would rebuild temples destroyed by the Portuguese [ https://substack.com/redirect/7a565cb8-0a00-4609-a1e5-f5f7bd0dc723?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ]. “The Portuguese started destroying temples… There are other temples which need to be re-established. In the 60th year of Liberation, we have to start rebuilding temples destroyed by the Portuguese. I do not ask for anything. I request you for the strength to preserve Hindu and temple culture and re-establish those temples and culture,” Sawant had said. After elections, his government set up a “committee of experts” [ https://substack.com/redirect/bdcb105f-e6c3-4ea5-9696-252790493b2a?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ] for the "selection of suitable sites for reconstruction/restoration of temples destroyed during the Portuguese rule.” The committee reviewed documents, visited sites and called for information regarding sites of temples destroyed by the Portuguese. However, all they could come up with was three locations located in the old conquests (where all of the temple destruction reportedly took place) -- one in Chorao, another in Benaulim (both in private property) and the third at Porne tirth, Divar, the previously well known, documented and protected site at Naroa where the state archaeology department already owns nearly 10,000 square metres of land. In other words, the present site was not some new discovery chanced upon by the committee after a year’s worth of research, but something that is already known, and documented (and protected). Quite conveniently, the committee in its report [ https://substack.com/redirect/81e069f0-df81-41e0-aebf-cd6b8b573ff7?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ]noted that “since many temples were demolished, the committee found it may not be feasible or practical to reconstruct so many.” [ https://substack.com/redirect/9185c688-fa3d-42af-925a-c9c9b3ba554d?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ] Land acquisition would also be a challenge, the committee noted. Instead, the committee recommended that “a temple memorial (Smarak-Devalaya) to be built anywhere in the erstwhile Old Conquests, consisting of the modern Salcete, Bardez and Tiswadi talukas, which bore the brunt of the temple destruction spree... of the colonial policies during which more than a thousand temples were destroyed and re-establishing those deities whose original sites have been usurped by colonial rule.” The messaging has been clear. [ https://substack.com/redirect/2e2a049f-a85f-4eb3-a38f-8c58bd2a7713?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ] This is not simply the restoration of a site of historical and religious importance. The election promise, the mandate of the committee (whose report didn’t really add to our collective knowledge), and the accompanying rhetoric all point to only one thing -- the government already had a site in mind, they already knew what they wanted to do, they could have gone about doing it without all the song and dance and grandstanding about “rebuilding temples destroyed by the Portuguese.” But they did all that to drive home a point. The site was there, the land was there, the demand was there. But to carry forward a long pending project and furnish it as some triumph of good over evil (leaving no doubt over who they consider good and who they consider evil) replete with a report of a committee of experts to justify and legitimise the action, is exactly the kind of supremacism that Goa needs to avoid. This isn’t to say that this move should be opposed. In fact, there will be several who are waiting to see who says what about the government’s decision, in order that it can snowball into a communal issue. Thankfully, the people of Goa and the people of Divar have resisted provocation. Let’s hope it remains that way. But at the same time we need to recognize what is going on rather than pretend all is well. More than that, however, this is yet another reminder of how far things have changed in Goa. It doesn’t seem all that long ago that the Manohar Parrikar government of the BJP faced a massive backlash sometime around the year 2004 when he brought out a CD about Goa’s freedom struggle [ https://substack.com/redirect/5005bfb0-1a77-4edd-b9d7-f49622fdff74?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ] that projected Catholics in poor light. Back then, there was no doubt that even though the contents of the CD spoke about the atrocities of the ‘Portuguese’ who the real target was. His successor is seemingly being given a free pass for provocations that are far worse than anything Parrikar would have ever thought of doing. A weakened opposition, silent community leaders and a vindictive government have all contributed to this [ https://substack.com/redirect/00fd032b-1c9b-4c40-8336-7cc7a937760b?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ]. There’s a term that I’ve learnt during the last few weeks -- creeping normality [ https://substack.com/redirect/d0ad3816-e027-479e-9ef9-4409d1e17b51?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ] -- and now that I’ve learnt it, I see it everywhere -- from the rise of Hindutva in Goa [ https://substack.com/redirect/d77e033c-be1b-4dff-8f33-fed513ab7cd4?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ], to the land conversions taking over the state when as recently as 2022 the people of Pernem rose in revolt against the Pernem zoning plan, to the Bhumiputra bill being brought back in parts [ https://substack.com/redirect/f155b8d2-cd72-4678-9efd-bdfcf44c96d9?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ], and not witnessing even a fraction of the protests they witnessed the last time round. Perhaps one day I’ll write a longer piece on this. “Smile, my boy, it's sunrise!” Those were Robin Williams [ https://substack.com/redirect/03194943-8a04-476e-81f1-1b2021f19bde?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ] last onscreen words. They are also the haunting last words of Rishi Nair, a 20-year-old student at the Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS) Goa campus. On his blog ‘A few thoughts’ [ https://substack.com/redirect/faaf270d-8155-499d-a5df-9aba63cb32e0?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ] he penned his final post dated September 03, 2025 [ https://substack.com/redirect/275d5d2a-c2ee-40a0-b90c-9dfd7a2331a8?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ]. He was found dead in his bed the following morning. This week the findings of the post mortem examination [ https://substack.com/redirect/1992e6a4-3546-4989-b2dd-a7c073c6f0c8?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ] were made public and confirmed the presence of prescription pills, narcotics and that he died on account of choking on his own vomit. “Since this drug has reached the blood, it will have its sleep effects on the deceased person and he vomits during such sleep, there are chances of aspirating it in the lungs. Further, all three detected narcotics substances (Methamphetamine, amphetamine and acetaminophen) are known to cause gastritis and instant vomiting,” the report said. According to the institute Nair was said to be “courageously managing a personal health challenge” and had recently transferred from the Institute’s Hyderabad Campus to Goa on account of the medical issue. “We understand he had been courageously managing a personal health challenge, undergoing clinical treatment of late. His parents also moved to Goa to support him in his academic pursuit for one semester,” the institute had said in a statement. I get that the media has reported with a fair degree of sensationalism that the post mortem report found narcotics in his system. Last week, when I wrote about the death, I referred to “theories floating around” [ https://substack.com/redirect/c84d2ab7-1463-4c93-90e5-9688766d550b?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ] regarding the circumstances of his death. That was because I was tipped off by a source about this being a possible case of drug use, but chose not to say so until it was officially confirmed. Everything we know so far, now tells it that it is more than just that. I really am not an expert in matters such as these, but it’s clear that the lad didn’t receive the support he needed and if the blog post is anything to go by, this does appear to be yet another death by suicide. This means that four out of five deaths on campus have been suicides. If you or a loved one are at risk of suicide, call a crisis helpline for immediate assistance, or find further resources here: https://outlive.in/get-help-now [ https://substack.com/redirect/9cc38ad8-88f6-42d5-a6dd-589134cef2e2?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ] 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. Unsubscribe https://substack.com/redirect/2/eyJlIjoiaHR0cHM6Ly9nZXJhcmRzZ2F6ZXR0ZS5zdWJzdGFjay5jb20vYWN0aW9uL2Rpc2FibGVfZW1haWw_dG9rZW49ZXlKMWMyVnlYMmxrSWpvM01qZ3pOREF4TlN3aWNHOXpkRjlwWkNJNk1UY3pOVE13TnpZd0xDSnBZWFFpT2pFM05UYzRNVGN3TlRBc0ltVjRjQ0k2TVRjNE9UTTFNekExTUN3aWFYTnpJam9pY0hWaUxUSTJPVEF5TmpBaUxDSnpkV0lpT2lKa2FYTmhZbXhsWDJWdFlXbHNJbjAuajVENk1felo5TnVPSGV6OFlSVHFwYTBQQkZ4N3BlLUFtdXNpaHlURjZLdyIsInAiOjE3MzUzMDc2MCwicyI6MjY5MDI2MCwiZiI6dHJ1ZSwidSI6NzI4MzQwMTUsImlhdCI6MTc1NzgxNzA1MCwiZXhwIjoyMDczMzkzMDUwLCJpc3MiOiJwdWItMCIsInN1YiI6ImxpbmstcmVkaXJlY3QifQ.dGpJ47bCKXnP-P39i2lz6JDqU-GUyTNiXtJiNcgGmjY?
