Thanks Camillo. Way to go Lionel. It helps to paint character portraits as devices that aid memory. Metaphor after all is when certain qualities, attributes in one thing / aspect are seen in something else. In general and for reasons hard to pin--too many of our people are very slow to get a grip on things. In essence pointing out: we the people without the SUVs, pony tails, designer clothes, Page 3 mentions and that swagger that comes with piles of cash, engraves the decrepitude and affirms in image to the sodden mind (aka frak mendu).
A certain kind of modernity is being played out in Goa. And the more I think (and its easy to accuse me of self-hatred, but I am not blowing wind) even the ones who want lucked out. It was not effort in the way one things of process and progress (whatever one may think that be for ones own). What is sad is that how the Upper Classes and those with their hands at the till have managed to explain what it is that modernity delivers. You put it well in conveying that although it does, it does not for the many (forget the all). India should have gone a different route, and Goa certainly could have. The eyes of these bastards says it all, but few have that ability now to see. We have lost the ability my grandfather did and I have to see minds. Frightening? Not at all. Change also comes when people of the same ilk, as in say caste break rank. But such has not been the case or a gift to our sanity. Even their well-wishers and some of their supporters to a large degree are temporarily on the sideline on account of feeling insulted being of the same temper shall we say. Say boo, and the glue will hold together fast. The breakdown is complete. Its not that Goans do not want jobs. Its that one should not be made to do a job when the job creators are high on their shastric pedestals. Demanding obeisance. Basically seeing it as their patrimony and that theirs is the only way you could have a job--by grovelling. Its the same old same old in a modern package. To come close to sounding crotchety: Instead of Ruby undergarments for the wives its now Victorias Secret, and upwards. Then its riling up all and sundry if some bloke draws a pale assed drawing. What a Kalyugian joke. Such Bakasurian appetites. Not even cannibals eat their own (far as I know). Or to put Boyles Law in perspective for our politico-engineers: The angle of the dangle is equal to the mass of the arse provided the heat of the meat is constant! Hem gheyat. Vadat. Piyat. Nidat, Niyal korit mog korat, ani itor. Enuf for now. Venantius J Pinto > Message: 7 > Date: Mon, 29 Apr 2013 11:20:27 +0530 > From: Camillo Fernandes <camillofernan...@hotmail.com> > To: "goanet@lists.goanet.org" <goanet@lists.goanet.org> > Subject: [Goanet] Mining does not help Goans- goanspirit.com -by > Lionel Messias > > > Lion Roars - 2 > April 22-28, 2013Mining doesn?t help GoansThey keep telling us how the > tourism industry is our savior notwithstanding our firm dependence on St > Francis Xavier. They said the same about the mining industry, only we > discovered that some of the biggest gainers were a few of the men who turn > out as your duly elected MLAs, and particularly even those who contested > and lost. The thousands that get the fringe jobs because of the mining > industry are largely migrant workers. Many of the barge owners too are > non-Goans or politicians with deep pockets. And that goes for the barge > crew too. Point is the tourism industry really doesn?t help you and I, the > real aam aadmi. In other words, we the people without the SUVs, pony > tails, designer clothes, Page 3 mentions and that swagger that comes with > piles of cash.Point is also, tourism has also degraded Goa to the worst > extent. Only, it has never been recognized as so. With the exception of > perhaps two originally Goan owned 5-star hot > els, all the rest are owned by big chains based outside Goa. If my > memory services me correct, no Goan has built possibly even a single > 3-star-upwards hotel in Goa in the last decade. On the other hand, take > the case of the shack owners who literally have to beg for a license on > which the government has put a cap and which as happened this year, were > issued quite late in the day. But when it comes to licensing hotels, it > matters little where you want to build one.Ordinary stakeholders can?t > protest evenIn fact if you are an MLA like independent Rohan Khaunte it > could be a breach of privilege if you protest outside his office, as come > cab drivers found out this month. The Goa Speaker Rajendra Arlekar called > it an attempt to intimidate Khaunte. The first time MLA invoked the cab > drivers wrath when he said in a legislative debate that taxi drivers were > fleecing customers, esapecially tourists. We ask where in India do cabbies > not fleece you? Might we add that in Goa, the > y are also rude and bully you on the road. A millionaire businessman > (assets: Rs 5,87,89,835/source: Association for Democratic Reforms) Khaunte > has perhaps taken few cab rides in his life, so he wouldn?t know.Neither > does tourismNot really. Here is a case that passes as the best example of > both environmental degradation and that Goans do not get jobs in the hotel > industry. The Goan Real Estate Pvt. Ltd, owners of Hotel Grand Hyatt, were > investigated on August 29, 2012 for certain violations in Nashi and > Pirabhat in Bambolim. The investigating agency was the supposedly > toothless Coastal Zone Regulating Authority which issued a typical show > cause notice (GCZMA/TIS/BAM/12-13/01/154 dated May 17, 2012). A year later > and no action has been taken. Nada. Goanspirit learns that till date the > GCZMA had not even asked them to give a verbal representation of their > wrongdoings.The August (pun intended) inspection (we have the report) said > this: ?Illegal filling up of mud and hav > e also dumped construction material at the site illegally. Dumped mud of > approx. 9,000 sq mts. Illegally constructing a retaining wall of > approximately 700 m?. The inspection report confirmed that the degradation > was on ?on the HTL (high tide line) of river Zuari?. What transpired was > the GCZMA ordered ?stop work at site with immediate effect.? But no action > was taken.Now the GCZMA likes to appear toothless but that it is not, > clearly. It was constituted by the Ministry of Environment & Forests, > Government of India on the direct orders of the Supreme Court to deal with > violations of the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) notification. The > additional Collector and additional district magistrate in north and south > Goa are the officers responsible for executing its directives. Read that > as ?carrying out demolition of unauthorized constructions in order to > effectively tackle the serious problem of volations of CRZ Regulations and > the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986?.Accordi > ng to the CRZ Notification of 2011, the entire belt of 100 metres from > the high tide line (HTL) of the river and 200 metres from the HTL from the > sea is designated as the No Development Zone (NDZ) and hence no > construction of any kind is permissible on this belt. Yet at item no. 9 of > the site inspection report ?Distance of seaward boundary from river/sea > High Tide Line? ? the inspectors said, ?On the HTL of River Zuari?. > Clearly, this is a violation because ?all > re-construction/construction/development/repair between 200 m to 500 m of > the HTL from the sea and 100 m from the river, require the prior approval > of GCZMA under the CRZ Notification of 2011". It?s crystal clear. Yet the > only NDZ violations that have ever faced the axe in Goa were those > committed by small-timers as happened recently in Canacona and some years > ago in Baga. No big company has so far had even the most blatant > infraction demolished. None whatsoever and never will.Hard > evidenceGoanspirit has a list > of the 545 people employed by Goan Hotels & Clubs Pvt Ltd, owners of the > Hotel Grand Hyatt, Bambolim and there are seriously few Goans in the list ? > less than ten per cent. The list we have has details of their educational > qualifications and actual addresses. The list is titled ?workers employed > and industrial trainees?. In a separate list of 33 trainees, there is a > huge dearth of Goans (residents or otherwise) again. We also have their > list of 38 ?contractors and contract workmen? and there are two Goans in > it. A subsidiary called Rare Hospitality & Service Pvt. Ltd which > outsourced 18 people, hired only one Goan. It outsourced 11 gardeners > through another subsidiary Suraj Gardeners, none of whom are Goans. > > ------------------------------