Aires and Lionel and others like them should be congratulated for their service to Goa as citizen watch keepers....I hope they will start citizen watch groups in Goa, if they have still not done so. I was first introduced to the NRI commissioner's office at the Global Goan Convention. I read with interest the achievements listed recently by the NRI office, and frankly, I thought they were substantial, though I have nothing to compare it to. Some of the noteworthy efforts were to create a centralized office of employment abroad. Many Goans have told me how they had to pay huge bribes to the intermediary to obtain a job abroad.Also there were efforts made and legislature introduced to protect domestic workers in the middle East The other achievement was the change in the law that allowed the returning NRIs to take repossession of their ancestral homes. This was a huge emotional gift for us. The achievement that I thought was the greatest, was the Migration Study, the second ever done in India, the first being in Kerala. Migration studies do not reap immediate benefits, but besides being a source of pride to our children and grandchildren, help the legislators formulate meaningful laws, and to a scientist like me, explain clusters of genetic aberrations and what and where to look at these for medical purposes. Isn't it neat that we have all descended from Africans?
Expenditures:...we will only understand this if we have access to the itemized costs. In any case, if abuse does exist, it seems to be across the board amongst most highly placed government employees. I would suggest then, that this is a system problem, and that the government of Goa give the system accountability and transparency....Is there no central Controller who oversees all these expenses? Commissioner's persona This is only relevant in the context of communication and achievement. Goan offices as a whole do not have the technological savvy we take for granted. One of you wrote that the NRI Comissioner does not type....In North America we would have promptly introduced voice activated systems, Skype, and phone conferences. I would say that the problem with communication is that Goa lags behind in the use of Technology. And finally, time to be a little vulgar...have you heard of the quote from some Hollywood actress about President Jack Kennedy?..."I rather he s--w a woman than he s--w our Nation. Celina Pereira MD
