The Council for Social Justice and Peace (CSJP) celebrated the Justice and
Peace Sunday with a programme on "Village Self Rule: Our Right" at St Thomas
Parish Centre, Aldona on 22 August 2010. A number of people from the
villages of Moira, Nachinola, Aldona, Olaulim, Pomburpa, Salvador-do-Mundo
and Penha-de-Fransa actively participated in the program. The Parish
Councils of the respective parishes were instrumental in gathering the
people.
Reflecting on the experiments of Ralegaon Sidhi, Maharashtra, Mr. Soter D'Souza,
Director of Panchayati Raj, highlighted the five elements of Anna Hazare to
make a village self reliant. "Swaraj is our right and we also have duties to
perform towards our village" emphasised Mr. D'Souza. He drew enormous
inspiration from Hind Swaraj of Mahatma Gandhi to portray our lethargy and
alienation from our culture which has led us to an unsustainable development
and rendered us slaves of our political system and market forces. He called
on each one to give their valuable time for sustainable development of the
village.
Earlier Fr. Maverick Fernandes, Executive Secretary, CSJP briefly reflected
on the attempts of the Church in Goa to meet the demands of Millennium
Development Goals and thereby fulfill its responsibilities to the nation. He
also placed before the well attended audience the challenges ahead to
retrieve the powers that have been abdicated by the oppressive systems.
Towards the end of the program the CSJP released a publication on "Good
Governance and Responsibilities of the Civil Society" written by well known
Mr Averthanus DSouza through the hands of Fr Amandio Valadares, Episcopal
Vicar for North Goa.
(Report as published by CSJP on 24/8/2010)
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Goa-launch of the well-received *Into The Diaspora
Wilderness* by Selma Carvalho on Aug 29, 2010 (Sunday) at 11
am at Ravindra Bhavan, Margao. Meet the author, buy a signed
copy (only Rs 295 in Goa till stock lasts).
http://selmacarvalho.squarespace.com/
