[Goanet-News] Goa news for August 17, 2008
Goa News from Google News and Goanet.org Visit http://www.goanet.org/newslinks.php for the full stories. *** EIH set to serve a Rs 650 cr spread in Goa, Bangalore - Sify [Aug 15, 2008] EIH Ltd, the flagship company of the Oberoi group, plans to invest Rs 650crore on two new hotels in Bangalore and Goa. The two properties are part of its ... http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/2-0fd=Rurl=http://sify.com/finance/equity/fullstory.php?id=14740764cid=20753cid=1236777611ei=8mKnSK7IIo3ShQPn3ejcDAusg=AFQjCNGlKRSKO44NIc8_H5NzRBdxkjjyTg *** Small State, big attitude - Hindu [4 hours ago] Goa may be the smallest State on the Indian landscape but it has huge attitude. Its older, non-British colonial legacy stares at you defiantly the moment ... http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/6-0fd=Rurl=http://www.hindu.com/mag/2008/08/17/stories/2008081750020100.htmcid=0ei=8mKnSK7IIo3ShQPn3ejcDAusg=AFQjCNE82jhu8nj9Jqfp3S7Eu7KLwmPVxQ *** Many histories - Hindu [4 hours ago] We tend to think of Goa as a quaint Mediterranean outpost transported, by a quirk of history, to the shores of the Arabian Sea. This is erroneous, since Goa ... http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/4-0fd=Rurl=http://www.hindu.com/mag/2008/08/17/stories/2008081750030100.htmcid=0ei=8mKnSK7IIo3ShQPn3ejcDAusg=AFQjCNHp4fz-3aNkL9QSUgNa1gG5K9EKWA *** Locating Goa - Hindu [4 hours ago] For English-speaking Indians unfamiliar with Goa, this little colonial anachronism seems as quaint as we ourselves must appear to historically ignorant ... http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/0-0fd=Rurl=http://www.hindu.com/mag/2008/08/17/stories/2008081750040100.htmcid=0ei=8mKnSK7IIo3ShQPn3ejcDAusg=AFQjCNGBp8W_Q8rc5uD0ueIjsDsKdLY2oA *** Mega real estate meet in Goa - Herald Publications [19 hours ago] ... estate the GIREM Urban Planning and Real Estate Leadership Summit, will be held from September 18 to 20, 2008 at Jupiter Resorts and Taj Exotica, Goa. ... http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/9-0fd=Rurl=http://oheraldo.in/pagedetails.asp?nid=8384cid=2cid=0ei=8mKnSK7IIo3ShQPn3ejcDAusg=AFQjCNHT4fooCfUXIV3QdJFEQo4SisQMZg *** Goa to have Rights commission: CM - Herald Publications [19 hours ago] PANJIM, AUG 15 #148; In a major announcement today, Chief Minister Digambar Kamat said his government has decided to set up a Goa Human Rights Commission and ... http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/8-0fd=Rurl=http://oheraldo.in/pagedetails.asp?nid=8379cid=10cid=0ei=8mKnSK7IIo3ShQPn3ejcDAusg=AFQjCNHkPhjEKXgSrrCF5oVw-tcZjEgWCA *** When Portuguese Goa celebrated India\'s I-Day - Times of India [Aug 14, 2008] PANAJI: On the day India kept its tryst with destiny, Portuguese Goa joined in the celebrations. At the stroke of midnight, August 15, 1947, Goa joined in ... http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/7-0fd=Rurl=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Goa/When_Portuguese_Goa_celebrated_Indias_I-Day/articleshow/3367196.cmscid=0ei=8mKnSK7IIo3ShQPn3ejcDAusg=AFQjCNFqmDKSdg-S3J64HqHZ0UFgKULuEw *** East India Hotels Ltd plans hotels in Bangaluru and Goa - domain-B , India - 7 hours agoOwner of the Oberoi brand, luxury hotel chain owner East India Hotels Ltd says it will invest Rs650 crore to strengthen its presence in Bangaluru and Goa by ... http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/5-0fd=Rurl=http://www.domain-b.com/companies/companies_e/East_India_Hotels/20080816_bangaluru.htmlcid=0ei=8mKnSK7IIo3ShQPn3ejcDAusg=AFQjCNGcKqs0_DaCzqr57JP0Mc_WYlmgBQ *** SEZ issue to dominate Goa Assembly session - Economic Times [Aug 15, 2008] PANAJI: The issue of special economic zones is set to dominate the Goa state assemblys 10-day session beginning Monday. The SEZs have been haunting ... http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/3-0fd=Rurl=http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/PoliticsNation/SEZ_issue_to_dominate_Goa_Assembly_session/articleshow/3369487.cmscid=0ei=8mKnSK7IIo3ShQPn3ejcDAusg=AFQjCNFBjEtZPtgh8_ugRE9ClhiEyz3pbg *** Bleeding airlines cut Goa flights - Times of India [21 hours ago] Fewer domestic travellers areflying into or out of Goa. And with travellers looking for alternative modes of travel, airlines have been forced to cut down ... http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/1-0fd=Rurl=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Goa/Bleeding_airlines_cut_Goa_flights/articleshow/3369928.cmscid=0ei=8mKnSK7IIo3ShQPn3ejcDAusg=AFQjCNFvqhBIBwagccj1lJ7M4YzdCnpdVQ Compiled by Goanet News Service http://www.goanet.org/newslinks.php
[Goanet] Reply to Fr.Ivo
From: Albert Desouza [EMAIL PROTECTED] Miracles are taking place in everyone's life. The very fact we are alive is a great miracle. ***I do agree with you: the Universe is itself a miracle, our existence is a miracle, every event of our life is a miracle. St.Augustine would speak of the Universe as a real miracle, to be admired. But I am discussing the miracles in the strict sense, for example, the Eucharistic miracles. These miracles are rare. We may not have witnessed them ourselves. We lay too much emphasis on saints and Mary, leaving the Heavenly Father without any importance and praises. ***The Church has not forgotten God, nor Mary, the Mother of God-Man, Jesus of Nazareth, nor the Saints. Everything has its own rightful place. Not much importance is given to the Bible. ***Bible is in the centre of the Liturgy. The Word of God is the Word Jesus. Our prayers are rote from memory. ***There are innumerous ways of praying. Memorization of prayers may help us, particularly in the difficult dry moments. Regards. Fr.Ivo
Re: [Goanet] Take a look...
--- On Fri, 8/15/08, Rajan P. Parrikar [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I have a prediction for 1000 years from now - I shall give you a 20% discount if you are interested. Looks like you are easily impressed with Powerpoint charts, graphs and tables. The least you could have done is peddle the latest piddle from Goldman Sachs instead of the one taken in 2003. Here - http://tinyurl.com/6x6dys Leaving the anger management issue aside, it is really amazing that Rajan knows so much about so many things in which he has never been interrogated by a committee of experts - making 1000 year economics predictions, judging the expertise of investment banking consultants, zooming his camera in and out on the identities of insiders and outsiders, etc. And all this without reading, looking at graphs and tables or doing a single google search. He can even get links to internet articles like the ones he has provided above and below without using a search engine. Cheers, Santosh --- On Fri, 8/15/08, Rajan P. Parrikar [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: What did you do, frantically search Google and shovel the first link that came up? Your trust in the consultants at Goldman Sachs to predict our economic future 5 decades from now is touching. .. A critique by economist Atanu Dey (Atanu works in India, has considerable field experience there. i.e. he doesn't simply blow hot air from distant places like Houston on things he knows nothin' about) - http://www.deeshaa.org/2008/06/22/goldman-sachs-10-point-reform-package-for-india/
[Goanet] More Women in the workplace - Maybe ? But...
Should society ideally create legislation to reserve 50% of jobs in large companies and organisations for women? Lets set aside the truth that women are better equipped emotionally and physically to create and nurture babies till adulthood. One major problem with women working 10-12 hour schedules (including commuting time) is that children do not get the attention that they need at home. Lack of adequate parenting is producing adults who are not as emotionally balanced as they would have been with home making mothers. We can see this happening in the west where often due to economic necessity (or plain materialism?) the %age of working women is far higher than it is in India. So the pro working women legislation should have a clause that insists that at least one parent should be at home when the kids are back from school to provide the nurturing-even if the father is not equal to the task. Economic laws would result in parents allowing the better paid partner the freedom to pick their job while the other would have to play homemaker, perhaps with a half day job. Allowing both parents to work full day jobs would result in an uneven playing field for families with only one full time working parent. Insisting that one parent was at home after school hours would create a level playing field nationwide.
[Goanet] Daily Grook #189
DAILY GROOK #189 _ HATE ABATE _ by Francis Rodrigues terrorist drive which spread, their lies alive now lies dead! _ puns word-play of all kinds, if you read between the lines! _ _
Re: [Goanet] Lourdes Miracles
From: Santosh Helekar [EMAIL PROTECTED] ...more importantly, modern science teaches us that it is foolish to draw premature conclusions from lack of knowledge about something at any given time. ***Right. Science has its limitations. These conclusions do not belong to its competence. Science certainly does not think it is very wise to resort to supernatural or miraculous explanations for the natural universe. ***Right. This task is beyond the scope of Science. Instead, it demands that we continue our honest and dispassionate quest for natural explanations. ***Right. Scientists should continue their work, without denying what is beyond their realm. Regards. Fr.Ivo --- On Sun, 8/10/08, Dr. Ferdinando dos Reis Falcão [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: There is a saying :A wise man knows what he says, a fool says what he knows. We as medical doctors mostly say what we know from books, literature, journals, and broadcasted news. But do we know what we say? We say if you smoke, it causes cancer, but do we know why Curchill, FidelCastro, and many others never got cancer? We say coconut oil is bad for the heart; did all from the Konkan and Malabar coast die of heart disease for all these centuries? Do scientists know why there is no Chaos in the movement of the Universe?
[Goanet] The hordes are coming
To Goanet - It is now the official policy of both the state and central govt to screw Goa and Goans. Indian Railways has proposed to lay a double rail line from Hospet to Vasco at a whopping cost of Rs 3000 crore, which is expected to not only give a big boost to freight traffic from the Mormugao Port Trust to the hinterland, but also bring in tourists from the nook and corner of the country by this cheap mode of transport...Chairman of the Railway Board, K C Jena...said, while addressing newsmen here this evening after laying the foundation stone for a Rs 7 crore holiday home at Margao for Indian Railway employees. The holiday home is expected to be complete within 24 months. http://oheraldo.in/pagedetails.asp?nid=8387cid=2 And in other news, the national land mafia has chosen Benaulim for their next [EMAIL PROTECTED] - India’s first mega event on urban development and real estate – the GIREM Urban Planning and Real Estate Leadership Summit, will be held from September 18 to 20, 2008 at Jupiter Resorts and Taj Exotica, Goa. http://oheraldo.in/pagedetails.asp?nid=8384cid=2 Disclaimer: No search engine was molested in delivering the above links. Regards, r
Re: [Goanet] Lourdes Miracles
--- On Fri, 8/15/08, Fr. Ivo C da Souza [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: ***Studies on the blood of Christ have revealed that Jesus had only 23 chromosomes plus one for a male or the additional Y determinant making a total of 24. It would be interesting to find out what it would take to strain the credulity of most people in this forum. It is impossible for a man with 22 autosomes and 2 sex chromosomes to have type AB blood, because the gene (alleles) for A and B antigens are on the 9th pair of chromosomes, each chromosome in the pair being inherited from each parent. So who is lying here? The man who claims Christ had type AB blood or the man who claims he was haploid? BTW, it is not possible to detect chromosomes in old dried blood, and the Shroud of Turin has been repeatedly shown to be a fake. To keep a count of tales that fail the laugh test, we have three so far in this thread, one of whose failure has been certified by Church authorities, namely the Julia Kim fiasco mentioned earlier. Cheers, Santosh --- On Fri, 8/15/08, Fr. Ivo C da Souza [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: d. The Flesh and the Blood have the same blood type, AB, which is also the same blood type found on the Shroud of Turin and all other Eucharistic Miracles.
[Goanet] Re.Take a Look
Santosh, Ref statement identities of insiders and outsiders ; Given your high scientific knowlege; don't you from the comfort of sitting in the USA; see any problems to Goa with a high uncontrolled migrants influx. Arwin -- Message: 11 Date: Fri, 15 Aug 2008 23:34:59 -0700 (PDT) From: Santosh Helekar [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [Goanet] Take a look... Leaving the anger management issue aside, it is really amazing that Rajan knows so much about so many things in which he has never been interrogated by a committee of experts - making 1000 year economics predictions, judging the expertise of investment banking consultants, zooming his camera in and out on the identities of insiders and outsiders, etc. And all this without reading, looking at graphs and tables or doing a single google search. He can even get links to internet articles like the ones he has provided above and below without using a search engine. Cheers, Santosh
Re: [Goanet] Lourdes Miracles
From: Santosh Helekar [EMAIL PROTECTED] I think as of January 21, 2008 Julia Kim and her followers have been excommunicated by the Archbishop because of the possibility of fraud, and the embarrassment these unruly miraculous events that she is staging, might be causing the Church. ***Yes, you are right. The Archbishop of Kwangju Andreas Choi Chang-mou issued the decree of excommunication latae sententiae on Jan. 21, 2008, on Julia Youn Kim and her followers for the sake of healthy faith life, unity and communion of the church. The Archbishop has been directing them since 1998. The Archbishop has not denied the Eucharistic phenomena, he has ruled the chaotic situation created by the propanda in the diocese and other places: building a shrine in Naju, South Korea, going from diocese to diocese for healing ministry, clashing with the bishops through newspapers and Internet. It requires Archbishop's permission. The problem is with the discipline, not with the charisms, provided that there is right discernment in handling visions and miracles. **When Dr.Santosh is demanding a scientific proof of the Eucharistic miracles, we should demand from him a scientific handling of the data offered to us by the case. He cannot handle them in an un-scientific way. Half knowledge is dangerous. Dr.Santosh can produce more miracles by attributing atheistic and agnostic affirmations to the Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor of Westminster. Nobody is forbidden to speak of miracles. Jesus of Nazareth has worked them as it is well attested in the Gospels. The Church has witnessed to them from the beginning of her history. The Church teaches us about miracles in the Council Vatican I and The Catechism of the Catholic Church. Our faith is not based on miracles alone. They confirm our faith. He has also forbidden his subordinates and co-religionists from propagating these fake miracles on the internet and through the print media. I guess that would apply to Fr. Ivo as well. ***I am not propagating false miracles, which would not be miracles at all. I am not an agent of Julia Youn Kim. I am defending the teaching of the Church herself in the light of biblical Revelation and investigating it in the light of modern science, which is open to miracles through its concepts of relativity and uncertainty of quantum physics. There are criteria given by the Church to discern miracles. There are Eucharistic miracles in different parts of the world. Physicians have investigated them. They are real miracles. There are books on Eucharistic miracles. Regards. Fr.Ivo
[Goanet] Ayurveda ... in Goa
A brief introduction to one of the early players in this field: Ayurveda, in Goa? Yes... indeed (1/4) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ig2du5pi7dk Panchkarma, ayurveda and a herbal pool (2/4) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TFZDs9qcFA Massage, ayurveda and more (3/4) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaLMg3WCfZg Yoga and Ayurveda/Goa (4/4) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CCE8lpa-8Q FN -- FN * Independent Journalist http://fn.goa-india.org Software for Kids Blog: http://softwareforkids.wordpress.com
[Goanet] FRIDAY BALCAO on the Coastal Management Zone (CMZ) Notification 2008
- Welcome to the FRIDAY BALCAO - Dear Cybergaonkars on Goanet, We continue with FRIDAY BALCAO on 22nd August from 4pm. to 6pm. at Goa Desc Resource Centre No.11, Liberty Apartments, Feira Alta, Mapusa Goa. TOPIC: Coastal Management Zone (CMZ) Notification 2008: Getting to know the document to make suggestions/objections. SPEAKER: Sujeetkumar M. Dongre (Officer In Charge) Goa State Office - Centre for Environment Education(CEE) We invite you to express your viewpoint by attending the Friday Balcao event but if you cannot attend, then please send your views and action plan suggestions by post to FRIDAY BALCAO Post Box 78, Mapusa 403 507 or by email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] best wishes, Roland Martins --- Don't miss out on the discussion. Information is power, Share it equitably. Lets make things happen in Goa !! --- GOA DESC RESOURCE CENTRE Documentation + Education + Solidarity 11 Liberty Apts., Feira Alta, Mapusa, Goa 403 507 mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] --- Working On Issues Of Development Democracy = __._,_.___
[Goanet] DNAIndia.com : No potholes by Monday: BMC
This message was sent to you by [EMAIL PROTECTED], as a service of dnaindia.com -- Comments from sender : G'day Goanetters. PIGS WILL FLY! rubygoes -- Full Story can be found at http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1183440 No potholes by Monday: BMC The BMC's latest claim that there would be no potholes on city roads by August 17 might come as good news for Mumbaikars, but the city will have to wait and watch. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = For news updates throughout the day, visit dnaindia.com http://www.dnaindia.com = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = © 2005-2008 Diligent Media Corporation Ltd. All rights reserved.
[Goanet] Yesterday's GEAC meeting: Bt Brinjal trials in Goa....
Dear Goenkars, Goa seems to be keen on heading from one disaster to another. As if real estate, mining and drugs were not bad enough, it now wants to rush where other states refused to budge ...Genetically Modified food crops. QUOTE Permission to conduct Multilocation Research Trial (MLRT) on Bt. Brinjal hybrids Bt GO 112, Bt Udupi Gulla, GO 112 and Udupi Gulla containing cry 1Ac gene at ELA Farm, Department of Agriculture, Govt of Goa during Summer- monsoon 2008 instead of at KVK Goa. UNQUOTE The Directorate of Agriculture, Goa, needs to answer a few questions first. I cannot imagine my former parent department adopting BT brinjal for trials. The entire department does not have a Plant Breeder or Plant Pathologist to carry out such a trial. The text of the report in a local newspaper in Goa today [16 Aug. 2008] is copied below. Also visit: www.csa-india.org; www.indiagminfo.org Mog asundi. Miguel -- Forwarded message -- HERALD 16 August, 2008 Front page anchor story: *Ela Farm to test-grow genetically modified brinjals?*** ANIL PANDEY PANJIM, AUG 15 – Goa may soon become a testing ground for genetically modified vegetables, as the 88th meeting of the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee has recently approved a multi-location research trial (MLRT) on BT Brinjal hybrids containing the cry 1 Ac gene at the State-run Ela Farm during summer-monsoon 2008. A private Indian player — the Jalna-based Maharashtra Hybrid Seed Company (Mahyco) — had offered the gene 'event' embedded in its genetically modified (GM) brinjal to the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), Coimbatore, and the University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, in 2006. These State agriculture universities (SAUs) were to use Mahyco's material for backcrossing with their already developed brinjal varieties. Mahyco sourced the cry 1 Ac gene construct for its BT brinjal mainly from Monsanto, the United States life sciences multinational that has a 26 per cent stake in the company. The transfer was facilitated through the USAID-funded and Cornell University-managed Agricultural Biotechnology Support Project II. The company says it will not charge any royalty for trial runs, but only commercial sales made by the universities. This sounds like a clever move of avoiding direct research costs, and reaping huge royalties from using the State infrastructure to market its GM seeds. Whether a one-time lumpsum payment was also negotiated for the deal has not been revealed. Mahyco has been accused of conducting field trails of GM modified crops without informing farmers. *Greenpeace-India *and* the Centre for Sustainable Agriculture (CSA)* had protested field trials of GM BT trials on okra (ladies' fingers) and brinjal, on fields in Andhra Pradesh. The CSA said the farmer did not even know that a BT trial of GM brinjal was being carried on his field. His family — and probably others in the area — unknowingly consumed the yet-to-be-tested BT brinjals, without knowing about their properties or side effects. No GM brinjal has been released for an advanced stage of field trials in open conditions anywhere in the world, and that this is the first time the GEAC could be giving permission for large scale group open trials for a food crop in India – a country that has repeatedly proven itself incapable of regulating GM technology, and has allowed contamination as a routine affair. Proliferation of illegal BT Cotton in the country is proof of the serious irreversible lapses that could happen at the trial stage. Vegetables, more than other food items, go through very little processing and are directly consumed after cooking, and therefore require great caution in decision-making, says expert Nethra Putti. It seems almost impossible to keep GM and non GM streams separate. Pollen travels, and if the trial of BT brinjal was to happen in Goa, it is very likely that local varieties may get contaminated. More than two-thirds of conventional crops in the US are contaminated with genetically modified material, says a report on the Global Policy Forum: 'Revealed: Shocking New Evidence of the dangers of GM crops'. An announcement in August 2006 that an unapproved variety of GM rice had been found at low levels in US long-grain rice sent shock waves through the food industry. *GeneWatch, UK*, and Greenpeace run an online register of GM contamination incidents, recording 132 incidents that have arisen at every stage of development, from the laboratory, to the field, to the plate. Claims that the GM seeds increase profitability are dubious. The spate of suicides by cotton farmers has not reduced – in fact it has increased – despite BT Cotton being planted in most parts of the country. A CSA study compared 120 BT cotton fields with 123 non-BT cotton varieties. It showed that the cost of cultivation per acre for BT cotton was 67 per cent higher, while net income or profitability was 37 per cent lower for BT Cotton compared to
Re: [Goanet] Lourdes Miracles
From: Santosh Helekar [EMAIL PROTECTED] ...any scientific procedure requires that properly blinded and objective researchers obtain quantitative data about the probability of occurrence of the phenomenon under observation in the special condition under study, and then compare this probability with that of its occurrence in a control (properly matched) group of people under appropriately controlled conditions. Since the so-called miracles are by definition rare events, this is a monumental task. ***Precisely, they are rare and extraordinary events. They cannot be compared with others, because all the hypotheses of placebo effect and spontaneous remissions are excluded. There is a long follow-up. In a real scientific procedure one would have to track down at least a large random sample of people suffering from the specific type of disease in question, who have ever made a pilgrimage to Lourdes, and investigate what happened to them. This is obviously extremely difficult to do. But if one could do this, and it turned out that all these other 167,323 individuals were dead or dying from the disease, in spite of undergoing an intensive regimen of prayer or immersion in holy water, then one would have to find out if the tiny probability (let us say 2 out of 167,323) of miraculous recovery from the dreaded disease was significantly higher than the probability of this recovery occurring in a comparable sample of control (properly age-matched, gender-matched, etc) people who had the same disease but did not go to Lourdes for treatment. ***Physicians there can control only those cases coming to Lourdes, not of the whole world, as you only admit. We cannot exclude that there can be miracles in other parts of the world. Some of them may not be documented. There will not be cures for all the cases. We do not expect divine feats in every disease and every case. But we only verify some extraordinary cases, which are well documented, and conclude that they are extraordinary, miraculous cases. It should be obvious to those of you who have followed the logic here that if it turns out that two or more individuals from this latter group had also recovered spontaneously from the disease, then no particular benefit from the pilgrimage would be deemed to have occurred. ***Physicians will exclude that this is a case of spontaneous remission. Care is taken, for example, with cancer, which is usually not admitted for the canonization of Saints. The descriptions provided by Fr. Ivo in his last two posts, and all other published information on this miracle business, show that nothing of this nature has ever been done. **In the case of Eucharistic miracle of Lanciano, how can you perform this scientific procedure? This miracle business is more complex and requires a different methodolgy, which has been used by scientists and theologians. But suppose you undertake such a genuine scientific project, and it turns out that there are 50 other cases of spontaneous cures in the Lourdes group and only 10 in the control, and the difference is statistically significant. Would we then conclude that we have witnessed extraordinary events or miracles? Would it entail any kind of supernatural explanation at all? ***Are there so many and such spontaneous cures in the hospitals? How to explain these phenomena in situations of intense faith and prayer? Can just a warm concern (or psychological and social factors) for the dying person bring him/her back to a normal situation? This does not happen always, but if it happens even rarely can we speak of spontaneous remissions or of placebo effect? Absolutely not! There is a much more parsimonious explanation for this observation. This explanation has been codified in several decades of clinical trial literature as the Placebo effect. ***I would be for a natural effect of placebo. But is it a placebo effect in those cases which have been documented after long and intense research by the International Medical Panel? These rhetorical questions have a self-evident answer: This cannot be placebo effect. It requires a different explanation. Can Science explain it? A biased answer against the existence of God and against miracles does not solve the problem. ...and this indeed turns out to be their last impenetrable bastion of complacency - of being content with living in a state of blissful ignorance. ***Science will never be able to answer all these problems, or rather mysteries, and do away with our blissful ignorance... I thank Dr.Santosh for trying to give his answers for our eternal questions, though they may not be convincing... Let us continue our research and formulate our statements with more precision... Regards. Fr.Ivo
[Goanet] Talking Photo: FOX and the GOA CITY HOSPITAL
Talking Photo: FOX and the GOA CITY HOSPITAL First, welcome to New GOA CITY HOSPITAL (Govt. of Goa) http://www.flickr.com/photos/joegoauk1/2768043420/sizes/l/ The same hospital will also be seen in the forthcoming bollywood thriller with Sunny Deol, Arjun Rampal etc likely to release in Oct/Nov this year. Now, the FOX http://www.indiaglitz.com/channels/hindi/article/40166.html [EMAIL PROTECTED] for Goa NRI related info... http://in.groups.yahoo.com/group/GOAN-NRI/ For Goan Video Clips http://youtube.com/joeukgoa Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com
[Goanet] How Not To Organize a Goan Convention
Start plans about 4 months before the convention date. Dilly-dally about a website. When one is created, let the person who created it, finance it, but you must control it. Discuss grand plans for costly venues without caring about the funding. Expect commercial sponsors to come up with thousands of dollars a) at a late hour and b) when you expect less than a hundred delegates. If there are no sponsors, shaft the paying delegates with a big fee by promising them a hot lunch. When few want to pay, let your comrades in free to make the numbers as the minimum promised to the venue has to be paid anyway. Dismiss international visitors' accommodation questions with a casual let them find their own. Bring enthusiastic overseas speakers (some of whom drive for more than 10 hours and fly for more than 20) to give them the privilege to lecture to a room of 5 people. When things seem scary, try to rope in your local established Goan Association and sulk when they refuse. Be confident of managing with 7 to 8 people half of whom don't or can't attend regular meetings. If you feel the urge to go on a cruise or a holiday during critical planning time, it doesn't matter. Call for meetings in restaurants, discuss while imbibing alcohol and have slanging matches. Invite your friends during such meetings, stage a walk out with them before the bill comes and make those remaining split the tab. Shoot the critics rather than shoot their message, with malicious and vitriolic posts outside of Goanet (they have been rejected there). Get some attendees to pretend it was a huge success so that the same mistakes are repeated. Ignore the huge mass of local Goans with they are not serious. Pretend 80 serious Goans 95% of whom have come for a holiday to the city, have left a legacy for Goa. When you incur a loss and face resignations, tell the committee they can't leave until accounts are settled (dip in your pockets folks, you thought you could get off with just giving your free time and work?) Roland Francis Toronto +1 (416) 453.3371
Re: [Goanet] Take a Look
--- On Sat, 8/16/08, Arwin Mesquita [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Ref statement identities of insiders and outsiders ; Given your high scientific knowlege; don't you from the comfort of sitting in the USA; see any problems to Goa with a high uncontrolled migrants influx. Arwin, I have already said many times that the problems of overcrowding, squalor, misuse of land and destruction of the natural environment, for which migrants are blamed and spurious issues such as the mythical unique Goan identity are raised, can be addressed by enforcing the laws, and practicing honesty and good civic sense. Now can you please tell me what the similarities between your and Rajan's many identities are? Cheers, Santosh
Re: [Goanet] Ayurveda ... in Goa
Rico, moi mogal bhava, Upkar korun ia ayurveda-centreachem address di. Mogan, Alfred irmao. Date: Sat, 16 Aug 2008 15:00:42 +0530 From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: goanet@lists.goanet.org Subject: [Goanet] Ayurveda ... in Goa A brief introduction to one of the early players in this field: Ayurveda, in Goa? Yes... indeed (1/4) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ig2du5pi7dk Panchkarma, ayurveda and a herbal pool (2/4) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TFZDs9qcFA Massage, ayurveda and more (3/4) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaLMg3WCfZg Yoga and Ayurveda/Goa (4/4) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CCE8lpa-8Q FN -- FN * Independent Journalist http://fn.goa-india.org Software for Kids Blog: http://softwareforkids.wordpress.com _ Connect to the next generation of MSN Messenger http://imagine-msn.com/messenger/launch80/default.aspx?locale=en-ussource=wlmailtagline
[Goanet] Floriano's timely rumblings
Dear fellow Goans, The seasonal moans and groans of Floriano over the recent developments in GBA are to be expected. We cannot forget this weekend with Goans realising how Fr. Maverick's remarks made in private got twisted out of context in public. It's impact has been felt by the newspaper vendors with their regular customers removing one publication from their order list. As usual the compulsions of a politician like Floriano who carries the burden of a political organisation cannot be expected to risk talking the facts these days. The stakes are damn high and the exchange rates are booming as some of the political party sponsors have gone in panic mode and are in a desperate hurry to get the RP 2021 off the ground. Over night corruption seems to have dissappeared in governance thus putting the Nitoll Jinn in a jinx. The campaign by jagrut Goem against Taleban de Taleigao just yesterday has sudddenly gone into cold storage last week. And we cannot forget that If media persons can be hired to distort the facts and cast suspicions over people's movements, it is not at all suprising that Floriano has mysteriously forgotten about the then Convenor of GBA having swallowed his own words a couple of days later and accepted the collective reservations on the interim report. No one can overlook that one prudent Pradnya only consults builders and officials to reach her conclusions in an article claiming that Gram Sabhas have no powers to oppose mega projects. Now vigorously agitating for devolution of powers also seems to have been conveniently disowned by Floriano as it is no more beneficial these days. Floriano bab forgets that Goa is a small place and so his neighbour's sound system disturbs him into invoking the Madhya Pradesh Act and similarly latest exchange rates get echoed at the tintos. Migrant settlers claiming to be champions of the goan cause are also desperate to propagate that the growing incidents of goans demanding their land rights are unconstitutional. These are the days to make hay while the sun shines because tomorrow may be a gloomy day with the effects of global warming on the goan people already being felt by builders and migrants in the coastal villages. -Soter D'Souza
Re: [Goanet] Goan friends work hard to get their A-levels
Hi Bernardo Just curious! How does Portuguese citizenship have anything to do with A level results? I have been an A-level examiner for years and nationality simply does not feature in them. But you may know something I don't and it would be enlightening if you illuminated this matter please! Cornel --- Bernado Colaco [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Clearly hard work pays off congrats to the kids and thanks to their Portuguese citzenship!
[Goanet] Goan friends work hard to get their A-levels (portuguese citizenship)
Thank you Portugal. Because you bestowed on Goans the benefit of Portugese citizenship we could be something. Once again grateful to all the people who helped in processing our documents, the consulate in Goa and Conservetoria in Lisbon. Deu borem corum
[Goanet] Life is a misery for “Married Bachelor s” in UAE
Life is a misery for “Married Bachelors” in UAE Leaving their families and children in their home countries, a large number of expatriates are forced to live a bachelor’s life in the UAE. They are unable to bring their families here because of high rents and the spiralling cost of living.They miss their children as much as their children miss them back home. The suffering is part of their deal for a better future as they try their best to cope with the situation, which is not always possible. T Ramavarman speaks to a number of expatriates to know their views. When 33-year-old Jose Landicho, who works as a surveyor in a private firm in Dubai, receives a call from his two-year-old son back home in Manila, the Philippines, his heart aches. However, he quickly recovers and consoles his son with the usual ploy, 'I will come home tonight, and bring a gift for you.' Discreetly he tells his wife over the phone to buy a gift and give it to the son the next morning. The following day, he makes the child believe that he had come home late at night and had left a couple of hours later. The case of 40-year-old Hussein, a store-keeper-cum-accountant in a foodstuff firm in Abu Dhabi, is no different. His six-year-old daughter yells over the phone from his home in Goa, India: 'Papa, be with us. All my classmates are accompanied by their dads when they come to school. Why are you not here to drop us at school?' 'There is no life when the family is not with you. I can't bear this any longer. I'm planning to go back for good when my current contract comes to end by November,' says an exasperated Hussein. Helmi Mohammed Saleh, 32, who hails from Yemen, leaves his family at Ajman to work in the Human Resources Division of the Gulf Contracting Company in Abu Dhabi. 'I'm very upset over being away from my family. But it is very expensive to get a flat in Abu Dhabi. So I stay here as a single and go to Ajman over the weekends to join my family. My mother is there with my wife and three children,' he says. 'I feel sad as well as happy to be staying here alone,' says Saud Afroze Khan, who works as an accountant with the firm, Olenter, in Dubai. Saud left his wife in Karachi, Pakistan, soon after his marriage. 'Happy because I can lead a casual life without much personal responsibilities. I can devote more time to work and entertainment. But I feel sad because I miss a partner in life, especially on holidays,' he says. Mohammed Baroodi, who hails from Hartoon in Sudan, says he has been here for the last 21 years working in the purchase section of a private firm. 'I had to send my wife and three children back about seven years ago because of the rising costs here. I miss my family. Initially it was extremely difficult, but now I've learnt to adjust with the predicament,' he adds. These are only miniscule representation of the plight of the phenomenally rising population of 'married bachelors' working in UAE. With the sky-rocketing rents and cost of living they cannot afford to bring their families here. Unfortunately, the rising cost of living has not yet reflected in the wage levels of the expatriates in the region. And with the growing travel expenditure, frequent travels to home have been curtailed. According to recent reports, a survey by Arabian Business indicated that nearly 60 per cent of the expatriate population in the Gulf region are contemplating moving away from the region in the wake of the rising cost of living here. The worst hit are those in the lower-middle class. For the low-income workers, labour camp accommodation and minimum level of food provide some solace. But those who earn between Dh2,000 and Dh7,000 struggle to find accommodation and lead a decent life. 'Until two or three years ago, it was possible to lead a comfortable life and make some saving, even in a salary of Dh2,000 a month. But now you can't get a single room accommodation in less than Dh3,500. In areas like Abu Dhabi there is also an acute shortage of rooms,' says Muralidharan from Kerala, India. Muralidharan, who works as a designer with Emirates Steel Wool in Abu Dhabi, said he was now sharing a room with four 'married bachelors' at Electra. 'If the landlord asks me to vacate, I will have no option but to go back home. At the new rental levels I will not be able to take up a fresh place, unless my salary is doubled,' he said. Some of the expatriates complain that the rent hikes are arbitrarily imposed on them by the landlords. 'Take it or leave it' is often their attitude. 'My landlord almost doubled the rent three years ago from Dh26,000 to Dh48,000. I was compelled to pay that rent. I could not have relocated to a new place with my family,' says Piroz Khan from Kerala, who works as accountant with a private firm in Abu Dhabi. Piroz says he has now sent his family back to Kerala as his son wanted to study there, after completing the higher secondary
Re: [Goanet] Origin of word Tarvotti
Date: Fri, 15 Aug 2008 21:21:21 + From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [Goanet] Origin of word Tarvotti Selma said: So if possible, what is the word tarv, is a Portugeuse word absorbed by our language, or does it have a Konkani origin. Any help appreciated. --- Hi, Agbot is a Konkani word for a ship that sails in shallow waters eg. Goa to Bombay, Kerala etc. Tarvot is a Konkani word for a Liner that sails accross the Oceans. QED. ED. 'Ag' is fire; hence, 'agbot' was the degeneration for 'steam ship'. It was not limited to small or large ships but all those powered by steam. AT _ Discover the new Windows Vista http://search.msn.com/results.aspx?q=windows+vistamkt=en-USform=QBRE
Re: [Goanet] Lourdes Miracles
--- On Fri, 8/15/08, Fr. Ivo C da Souza [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: **In the case of Eucharistic miracle of Lanciano, how can you perform this scientific procedure? So after all this talk about using a scientific procedure to certify miracles, we have a concession that such a procedure cannot be performed in this case. --- On Fri, 8/15/08, Fr. Ivo C da Souza [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: ***I would be for a natural effect of placebo. But is it a placebo effect in those cases which have been documented after long and intense research by the International Medical Panel? It is quite natural that Fr. Ivo has not been able to understand my arguments as to why what the so-called international medical panel does, is not even cursory scientific research, let alone an intense one. As far as science is concerned, the panel has clearly never done anything to rule out simple explanations such as the placebo effect and spontaneous remissions. A long follow-up is useless in this regard. An embarrassing example from the 60's makes this amply clear. On the recommendation of the people voting for the majority in the international medical panel meeting, a woman with a condition called Budd-Chiari syndrome was certified to have been miraculously cured from that disease in 1963. A few years later, as expected, the miracle ended like all other such hoaxes. The miraculously cured woman died from the same disease. As one Vatican official now concedes: What seems like a miracle now may not be one in a hundred years. Such are the advances of science. Declarations of miracles are not infallible teachings. If there is any doubt about the futility of this miracle-mongering nonsense, the above candid admission should dispel it. Cheers, Santosh
Re: [Goanet] notes from goan convention
Gilbert Lawrence writes regarding Eugene's posts, (You provided a service to Goans by giving us the story behind the story and a segway for others who provided the 'not so pleasant facts' like the poor attendance.? ) Eugene's posts were largely innuendo and personal attacks. He has provided information about the committee, organization and planning without being a part of the committee or naming a source within the committee that has provided these insinuations. The committee members I have spoken to swear they have not spoken to Eugene. Only a committee member can talk about the inside story. Eugene arrived on the Toronto scene only on the Convention date. His 2 main contributions to the event was to try to get in free when he arrived, and later to stand up and rudely attack a speaker. There are better ways to phrase a question and Eugene appears to remain clueless as to why he was offensive. The committee members who worked tirelessly to present this convention would be pleased to work with any other planning committee to provide pros and cons of our experiences. Why praise an agitator who from the time of his arrival at the scene of the convention was problematic. How can one depend on a story of personal attacks to form the basis of future conventions. ( It was just that the journalist in me sprung forth when I found that there were too many undercurrents?) To my knowledge Eugene is not a journalist, besides writing his personal feelings on issues and reporting gossip, his claims to journalism can be held by anyone who writes on the internet. His final post 4 was heavily edited and denies the Goanet readers to see the extent of the ramblings of a man who is not in control ( 'not so pleasant facts' like the poor attendance.? ) The academic portion of the convention was planned for 100-120 people as was evident in the venues we used. It would have been impossible to achieve the level of interaction and intimacy the convention provided if we had larger groups. Quite frankly I cannot imagine any room that could have housed 10,000 people for an effective presentation even 20 years ago. Should the next Convention's goals be to have a much larger crowd, than their organizational plans and goals will have to be different from the Toronto group. We had a 100-110 people, 80 were paid registrants and the rest were volunteers, observers, presenters. (It is often an unpleasant task to write about people and groups that one knows on a personal basis and not as professional subjects. ) Neither I nor Kevin know Eugene on a personal basis. My first interaction with him was at the registration desk at the convention (when he wanted a free entry, claiming he had already paid) at which point I was courteous and tried to seek him help from the treasurer, since he claimed to have pre-paid, but was found to be untrue. I never interacted with him on a personal basis then or now. Gilbert there are many positive aspects of the Toronto Convention. Should you or anyone else serious about hosting the next convention want to take advantage of the momentum and change in people's hearts, particularly towards the awareness of connecting with their Goan identity and connecting with their homeland, then now is the time to move. Join the committee that is hosting the next convention if it is in your neighborhood Lisette Saldanha
[Goanet] reply to Gilbert
Hi Maria. I placed some issues and ideas for consideration, hoping future Goan conventions will benefit. Goan conventions place emphasis on preserving Goan identity in the diaspora; which they should and I am all in favor. Yet some committee members spend the year writing on Goanet why it is not needed to preserve Goan identity in the Diaspora. I think association leaders should lead. If leaders only cater to a particular interest, it runs the risks of alienating those without those interests, and are thus excluded. This narrows the scope of the association instead of expanding it. Such organizations shrivel sooner or later. Therefore associations need leaders with a broad vision. And it needs those who will 'walk the talk'. To follow the lead of the Lisbon convention, which you outlined in your posts, in my humble opinion, the Goan diaspora across all continents should be formally connected on an ongoing basis with an international committee. In the past there have been rumblings from individuals representing local groups, that they are against this. They perceive national and international committees will encroach on their local independence. Yet I encourage some of our leaders to call-on and co-opt individuals with a broad vision to help break this mindset and set a larger agenda for an international committee like the Annual International Goan Convention, etc. I appreciate and thank you for your response and your excellent two posts. Keep up the good work. Anything I can do to help, please feel free to let me know. Regards, GL --- maria gomes My personal opinion after years of involvement in many of Casa de Goa's activities is that different people are interested in different activities and the challenge is to cater to these different interests, if possible. Not all associations can do so and therefore the next best option is to identify what a particular association can do best and then stick to it. Not all associations can be mass associations. Finally, I am all in favour of sharing the lessons we have learnt in these last 2 conventions, in whatever way the organisers of the coming Convention find most adequate. That is the gist of the final comments of Part II of my report that I have just sent. Thanks for the positive reinforcement of your last paragraph. At Casa de Goa, we certainly treasure our Convention experience.
Re: [Goanet] Lourdes Miracles
Kabira khada bazaar mein, maange sabki khair, Na kehu se dosti, na kehu se bair -- Kabir Miracles are to be ignored for betterment of our life. I totally agree with V.Gadgil. I am also surprised and happy ...not to read Question everthing at the end. Shrikant Vinayak Barve Unlimited freedom, unlimited storage. Get it now, on http://help.yahoo.com/l/in/yahoo/mail/yahoomail/tools/tools-08.html/
Re: [Goanet] How Not To Organize a Goan Convention
Roland I am addressing this directly to you. You have expressed your unhappiness a number of times (here on Goanet) re the fact that 8 people were able to organize the 2008 International Goan Convention. These 8 people delivered what WE agreed to do notwithstanding the perpetual naysayers that are always found in our community. These 8 people are : Francis Clara Rodrigues Kevin Lisette Saldanha Ben Antao Walter Tavares Mervyn Lobo Bosco D'Mello There were many people invited to meetings; many were afforded an opportunity to share their ideas; some wanted to be copied on correspondence but did not want to do any work. Most disappeared into the darkness. The truth of the matter is - the above 8 individuals stuck it out through thick and thin to deliver. Some community members were scampering a week before the convention to get on the program after dismissing it for months. We did our best to accomodate everybody albeit I'm certain there were lapses too, I'm sure. It is just not possible to get everything right at such complex events. I must also add, we were fortunate to have a few volunteers who supported specific activities/events. There are some who have aired their views (here on Goanet and privately) one way or the other after the Convention and behaved very strangely..each one is responsible for (her)himself and will face the consequences. Life is an Equalizer!! The objectives and activities of the Convention are open to debate. The success or failure of each Convention event is open to debate. Bouquets and Brickbats are always welcome as far as the Convention events are concerned. Those interested in the Convention came. Those not interested did not. And those unhappy that the Convention was even held notwithstanding their absence of support to the above 8 individuals are bitter. Such is Life!! What is unacceptable is your choice to use Goanet to settle scores. By your support of Goanet do you really believe this to be the purpose of Goanet - a platform to administer retribution? By all means criticise aspects of the Convention albeit in your case, Roland, you have forfeited that right as you did not attend. All you are doing is relying on hearsay and gossip to generate even more bitterness. Stop Roland!!! Stop!!! Find other avenues to settle your scores. You have already hurt your credibility. While your acts of generosity towards Goan causes is not lost, your recent emails to Goanet are very distressing. The cause of Goa and celebrating Goanness is bigger than the perceived hurts you and I feel, Roland. I get abuse in my mailbox regularly albeit it has subsided lately. 99.99% of those messages get no response from me!! In closing I would like to say, it matters nought if you refuse to believe that the 2008 International Goan Convention in Toronto was a success or not. The event was planned, organized and staged by EIGHT individuals..not any longtime Goan association or professional group..EIGHT people..what it should tell everybody is if a few Goans want to get together and do something tangible in the interests of Goa, it can be done!! And those motivated by what you are doing will support you!!! The myriad causes of Goa beckon you, Roland..abet them, do not denounce them!!! Goa needs the positive energies of all her sons and daughters!!! - Bosco Toronto, CA
Re: [Goanet] Ayurveda ... in Goa
Alfred! Just google for ayurveda + goa and you'll find options. This one is at Saligao. FN 2008/8/16 Alfred de Tavares [EMAIL PROTECTED]: Rico, moi mogal bhava, Upkar korun ia ayurveda-centreachem address di. Mogan, Alfred irmao. -- FN * Independent Journalist http://fn.goa-india.org 784 Nr Convent, Saligao 403511 Goa India Ph +91-832-2409490 M: +91-9970157402 Software for Kids Blog: http://softwareforkids.wordpress.com
[Goanet] On being sued
A malicious lie has been circulated by one of the key organizers alleging that a former president of GOA told the writer that I was sued after the 1988 International Goan Convention. Merwyn mentioned it in one of his posts on Goanet, though he said a delegate to the 2008 Convention was sued in 1988. I wrote to him twice to check with the person who is said to have told the original writer. I also wrote to the former president of GOA and current president of IGO to let me know when I was sued, why I was sued and where I was sued. So far no reply from her. Also no reply from Merwyn. In their efforts to discredit me they are going to extreme lengths. They are also covering each other instead of coming out and clarifying. An apology from the concerned person would be in order, but the person will not do it. Eugene Correia
[Goanet] From GIANT to PIGMY
This year convention theme was Goan Identity and Networking Today (GIANT). Since the convention had a workshop on Identity - Youth Perspectives, it would be be nice to build up on this workshop by having a theme on youth and their identity crisis. If the convention is held in 2010 instead of 2009, it could also commenmorate 20 years anniversary of the first youth convention, just as this year's convention commenmorated 20 years of the first International Goan Convention in 1988. The theme could be Perspectives on Identity of Goan Mixed-up Youth (PIGMY). From GIANT to PIGMY, think of it. Eugene Correia
[Goanet] COMMENT: Look in the Mirror, Mr Gupta (by Venita Coelho)
Look in the Mirror Mr. Gupta By Venita Coelho [EMAIL PROTECTED] As a member of the GBA and part of the Core Committee I read with concern Sujay Gupta's column 'Oscar Rebello fell to Goa's Traitors'. He propounds a conspiracy theory led by a cabal that was 'jealous' 'sold out' and 'enraged with the support and goodwill that Oscar had'. According to him this conspiracy began with the letter allegedly rejecting the Interim Task Force report that the same 'forces with the GBA' 'prevailed upon' Sabina Martins to send. It ended with a plot to 'force' Oscar Rebello and 'his trusted aides Ritu Prasad and Patricia Pinto out of the Task Force'. FACT: The letter that was sent out rejecting the procedures adopted in formulating the Interim Report of the Task Force RPG 2021 was the end of a long process of analysis and understanding. Across two months discussions and analysis and no less than five meetings were held to find agreement and consensus on our stand A letter that is two months in the making can scarcely be described as being forced through. The minutes of the GBA prove that the letter itself was the end result of a process of very careful consideration. Not the result of so called 'forces' bullying the rest of group. FACT: Patricia Pinto and Ritu Prasad continue to be members of the GBA and part of the Core Committee. Ritu, in fact, heads the effort to revoke amendments to Section 16 and 16A to the TCP Act, 1974. Public presentations have been conducted by these two members and Pravin Sabnis in Panjim on 02 August and in Margao on 09 August, 2008. Surely that in itself is enough to nip in the bud fantastic theories of whole sale conspiracies of ouster and backstabbing. The columnist then calls the GBA 'mainly a body of internet tigers and a bunch of rabble rousers'. FACT: The GBA includes social activist Roland Martins, who has ensured door delivery of cooking gas and exposed many a fraud by marketing agencies; Architect Dean D'Cruz who is a member of the TF; Soter D'Souza who is the Director of the Centre for Panchayati Raj; Fr. Maverick Fernandes, the Executive Secretary of CSJP; Sridhar Kamat, a practicing Engineer and a poet; Sabina Martins, a well-known figure on gender issues besides being a Chemistry teacher at Sharada Mandir; and others who are established names in their chosen fields of work. The columnist dismisses all the above people of great personal integrity and impeccable professional qualifications and proven track records. His own track record makes for woeful reading. His so called 'expose' on the 'naxalites' in the mining business was fully exposed by Dr. Claude Alvares of Goa Foundation in the pages of this very paper. Without taking away at all from all that Dr. Oscar has contributed to the GBA, a people's mass movement is not a one man effort. It has been the effort of no less than two dozen NGO's and over thirty Core Committee members. The very same leaders who went to the people and motivated them to protest the Regional Plan 2011are now being labelled 'rabble rousers'. According to the columnist the Task Force in its report 'completely neutralized the absolute discretionary powers of the government (granted) by the amendment ( 16 and 16A) to the TCP act.' FACT: No Rule can ever neutralise a Law. Rules can be changed by the Administrative Secretary. Laws need legislative powers to change. While the Regional Plan may be visionary in trying to incorporate people's participation the fact is that it operates within the mandate of the TCP Act, 1974, with no powers to change or over ride it. The fact is the opposite of what your columnist states - amendment to section 16 and 16A actually completely neutralizes all that the Regional Plan seeks to do. FACT: What the Amendment does in fact do is leave a back door open for the government to hustle in PPP projects by conveniently labelling them government projects. All such government projects fall outside the purview of the Regional Plan. Any right thinking and right meaning individual can surely see the dangers inherent here. FACT: So serious are the implications of amendment to section 16 and 16A to the TCP Act, that all members of GBA have put their weight behind opposing the Amendment. Ritu Prasad, who, according to Sujoy Gupta, has been 'backstabbed', and 'forced out' by 'traitors', leads the fight to get the amendment revoked. She and members of the GBA are currently involved in visiting MLAs to explain the situation, and in holding a serious of public workshops to bring the facts to the public. The columnist's frivolous interpretation of the implications of a very serious amendment reveals his shallow journalistic abilities or his vested interest in misleading the readers or both. In the same vein of superficial understanding he states that 'a comprehensive plan for people's participation' is provided for by the requirement that the plan proposal be explained to the people through a Taluka Committee. FACT: The
[Goanet] Goa news for August 17, 2008
Goa News from Google News and Goanet.org Visit http://www.goanet.org/newslinks.php for the full stories. *** EIH set to serve a Rs 650 cr spread in Goa, Bangalore - Sify [Aug 15, 2008] EIH Ltd, the flagship company of the Oberoi group, plans to invest Rs 650crore on two new hotels in Bangalore and Goa. The two properties are part of its ... http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/2-0fd=Rurl=http://sify.com/finance/equity/fullstory.php?id=14740764cid=20753cid=1236777611ei=8mKnSK7IIo3ShQPn3ejcDAusg=AFQjCNGlKRSKO44NIc8_H5NzRBdxkjjyTg *** Small State, big attitude - Hindu [4 hours ago] Goa may be the smallest State on the Indian landscape but it has huge attitude. Its older, non-British colonial legacy stares at you defiantly the moment ... http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/6-0fd=Rurl=http://www.hindu.com/mag/2008/08/17/stories/2008081750020100.htmcid=0ei=8mKnSK7IIo3ShQPn3ejcDAusg=AFQjCNE82jhu8nj9Jqfp3S7Eu7KLwmPVxQ *** Many histories - Hindu [4 hours ago] We tend to think of Goa as a quaint Mediterranean outpost transported, by a quirk of history, to the shores of the Arabian Sea. This is erroneous, since Goa ... http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/4-0fd=Rurl=http://www.hindu.com/mag/2008/08/17/stories/2008081750030100.htmcid=0ei=8mKnSK7IIo3ShQPn3ejcDAusg=AFQjCNHp4fz-3aNkL9QSUgNa1gG5K9EKWA *** Locating Goa - Hindu [4 hours ago] For English-speaking Indians unfamiliar with Goa, this little colonial anachronism seems as quaint as we ourselves must appear to historically ignorant ... http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/0-0fd=Rurl=http://www.hindu.com/mag/2008/08/17/stories/2008081750040100.htmcid=0ei=8mKnSK7IIo3ShQPn3ejcDAusg=AFQjCNGBp8W_Q8rc5uD0ueIjsDsKdLY2oA *** Mega real estate meet in Goa - Herald Publications [19 hours ago] ... estate the GIREM Urban Planning and Real Estate Leadership Summit, will be held from September 18 to 20, 2008 at Jupiter Resorts and Taj Exotica, Goa. ... http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/9-0fd=Rurl=http://oheraldo.in/pagedetails.asp?nid=8384cid=2cid=0ei=8mKnSK7IIo3ShQPn3ejcDAusg=AFQjCNHT4fooCfUXIV3QdJFEQo4SisQMZg *** Goa to have Rights commission: CM - Herald Publications [19 hours ago] PANJIM, AUG 15 #148; In a major announcement today, Chief Minister Digambar Kamat said his government has decided to set up a Goa Human Rights Commission and ... http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/8-0fd=Rurl=http://oheraldo.in/pagedetails.asp?nid=8379cid=10cid=0ei=8mKnSK7IIo3ShQPn3ejcDAusg=AFQjCNHkPhjEKXgSrrCF5oVw-tcZjEgWCA *** When Portuguese Goa celebrated India\'s I-Day - Times of India [Aug 14, 2008] PANAJI: On the day India kept its tryst with destiny, Portuguese Goa joined in the celebrations. At the stroke of midnight, August 15, 1947, Goa joined in ... http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/7-0fd=Rurl=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Goa/When_Portuguese_Goa_celebrated_Indias_I-Day/articleshow/3367196.cmscid=0ei=8mKnSK7IIo3ShQPn3ejcDAusg=AFQjCNFqmDKSdg-S3J64HqHZ0UFgKULuEw *** East India Hotels Ltd plans hotels in Bangaluru and Goa - domain-B , India - 7 hours agoOwner of the Oberoi brand, luxury hotel chain owner East India Hotels Ltd says it will invest Rs650 crore to strengthen its presence in Bangaluru and Goa by ... http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/5-0fd=Rurl=http://www.domain-b.com/companies/companies_e/East_India_Hotels/20080816_bangaluru.htmlcid=0ei=8mKnSK7IIo3ShQPn3ejcDAusg=AFQjCNGcKqs0_DaCzqr57JP0Mc_WYlmgBQ *** SEZ issue to dominate Goa Assembly session - Economic Times [Aug 15, 2008] PANAJI: The issue of special economic zones is set to dominate the Goa state assemblys 10-day session beginning Monday. The SEZs have been haunting ... http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/3-0fd=Rurl=http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/PoliticsNation/SEZ_issue_to_dominate_Goa_Assembly_session/articleshow/3369487.cmscid=0ei=8mKnSK7IIo3ShQPn3ejcDAusg=AFQjCNFBjEtZPtgh8_ugRE9ClhiEyz3pbg *** Bleeding airlines cut Goa flights - Times of India [21 hours ago] Fewer domestic travellers areflying into or out of Goa. And with travellers looking for alternative modes of travel, airlines have been forced to cut down ... http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/1-0fd=Rurl=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Goa/Bleeding_airlines_cut_Goa_flights/articleshow/3369928.cmscid=0ei=8mKnSK7IIo3ShQPn3ejcDAusg=AFQjCNFvqhBIBwagccj1lJ7M4YzdCnpdVQ Compiled by Goanet News Service http://www.goanet.org/newslinks.php
[Goanet] Goan Music-2: HERALD(Goa), Aug 17, 2008
GOAN MUSIC-2 By Valmiki Faleiro ‘Dipti vonti, Sulo kinni.’ What on earth is this, you may wonder. If you read me last week, you’d know it’s the title of an 18th century Konknni hymn. Which brings me to what “Goan Music” means to me. Simply put, Konknni music – in its entire ‘gamut.’ From ancient folk songs, to post-1510 hymns and mandos, to modern songs (tiatr, cinema, ‘cantaram’), whether sung by Alfred Rose or Ulhas Buyao, Lorna Cordeiro or Varsha Usgaonkar, or those lovely folks from Mangalore. The first category (ancient) is now, alas, practically dead in Goa. Random strains may be heard among Goans settled in South Canara from the mid-16th century. Even 17th to 19th century songs, mostly hymns, reside in archived score sheets – unless resuscitated, as “Dipti vonti...” recently was at the Holy Spirit church concert. Some old mandos survive, as does the unique 19th century hymn, “San Franciscu Xavier-a, tuji kudd-i Goeam xara,” a rendition almost in the mando meter. “San Franciscu Xavier-a…” is Goa’s most popular hymnal tribute to the ‘Goencho Saib’ ever. By that hymn hangs a queer story. Let’s look at it today. Respected friend and Church historian, Fr. Nascimento Mascarenhas, wrote about it in Bonaventure D’ Pietro’s ‘Arso’ (Vol 1, Feb-1995.) Dr. Jose Pereira, US-based/Curtorcar academician-chronicler, I’m told, also wrote about it. Over to the story. Mestre Raimundo Floriano Feleciano Barreto (Feb 16, 1837 to July 23, 1906) scripted, set to music, and conducted the first public rendition of “S. Franciscu Xavier-a.” He was a ‘gaunkar’ of Loutulim, a village that produced a bumper crop of gifted maestros and a large chunk of our mandos. Raimundo was the ‘Mestre da Capela’ of the Se Cathedral. He lived in St. Matias, Divar, and, in the 1850s, married a girl from there, Maria Adelaide (Adelina) Guilhermina Cecilia da Silveira. Besides conducting Goa’s largest choir at the Sé Cathedral, Mestre Raimundo, as “Economo,” recovered land rents due to the Cathedral from the villages of Piedade, Vanxim, etc. of Divar. He maintained accounts. He also collected monthly grants to the Canons of the Cathedral from the Treasury in Panjim and disbursed their salaries. Travel from Divar/Old Goa to Panjim, those days, was by rowboat. (The steam engine was yet to be invented.) Mestre Raimundo was returning from Panjim one evening, money of the Canons’ salary drawn from the Treasury in the bag he tightly clutched. With reason: river waters were choppy and the boat tossed more than usual. Passengers were apprehensive. The boat had reached the Ribandar area, when it suddenly rolled, jettisoning everyone into the waters. A lady who saw that happen raised an alarm, and villagers rushed to join the boatman in rescuing the drowning passengers. As Raimundo sunk to the riverbed, sure end within sight, he prayed to ‘Goencho Saib,’ vowing that if saved, he’d pay with his best talents a tribute in the Saint’s honour. Saved, he was. But not the bag with money for the Canons of the Cathedral. The cruel Canons of the Sé would have none of his story. They demanded Raimundo make good the loss, by recovering the moneybag from the riverbed or from his assets. Mestre Raimundo sold his ground-plus-one storeyed mansion at St. Matias, to a Silveira of the same locality, and paid the dues to the Canons. Yet, he owed another debt, that of redeeming the vow made to ‘Goencho Saib’ as he drowned in the mucky riverbed of the Mandovi that day. He worked on this, silently. The result was kept a closely guarded secret by the composer-conductor and his choir, until the next Dec 3, at the feast Mass of the saint at the Basilica, where it was unveiled. Yes, it was “San Franciscu Xavier-a, tuji kudd-i Goeam xara.” The entire congregation, led by the Archbishop-Patriarch and clergy, was awestruck. Never had such a hymn – so Goan, so magical – been heard before. The Canons of the Cathedral, to be sure, were all there. They were dumbstruck. Perhaps remorseful. That hymn reverberates every Dec 3, to this day. Mestre Raimundo had five children: Eugenio rose to be Postmaster General in Zanzibar, remained a bachelor and helped build a new family mansion at Goltim-Divar. Two others (Alberto Santana Caetano and Faustino Eugenio Maria) became priests. Ana Paula remained a spinster. Caetano Francisco Celestino married Aduzinda Maria Morina Julia Pinto. I know. Because a branch of Mestre Raimundo’s great-grandchildren are my maternal first cousins. The eldest of them, Luis Alberto, married Ivette Silveira – born to the self same mansion that Mestre Raimundo sold to pay off the salaries of the Canons of the Cathedral. Coincidence? (To conclude) (Ends.) The Valmiki Faleiro weekly column at: http://www.goanet.org/index.php?name=Newsfile=articlesid=330 == The above article appeared in the August 17, 2008 edition of the Herald, Goa
Re: [Goanet] Anjuna - ‘Rebello Mansion’!
To Goanet - Domnic Fernandes wrote: When you come to Anjuna from Mapusa, if you take the road on the right from St. Michael’s Church, and, if you proceed straight from four-road junction at Bhatti, the Rebello Mansion is located on the left of the main road leading to Xapora, about two hundred meters away from the junction. It is the first house of Grande Chinvar when you enter from the east. It attracts attention of every passer-by not only because it is fully visible to the eye but also because it is typically painted in white wash with dark blue borders around doors, windows, pillars, etc. Is this the one? http://www.parrikar.org/images/samples/anjunahouse.jpg I took this photograph on June 22, 2007, on a glorious monsoon morning. It is magical, the ambience in these parts at that time of the year. Right across the road is another enchanting sight of a chapel ensconced in a lush green field. This blue and white stucco house is set in what was once ‘Bhavnnichi Bhag’ (the garden of the devadasis), which was attached to the temple of Betal in Grande Chinvar. There still exists a ‘tollem’ (pond) which was part of the temple; it was restored/rebuilt in last May. Oh! I was looking for traces of the demolished Vetal temple in Anjuna. Well, I'll be there soon. Dr. Pandurang Phaldesai lists Anjuna as the site of an ancient Vetal temple in his book, Kaleidoscopic Goa - A Cultural Atlas. Other demolished Vetal temple sites in Bardez catalogued by him are: Siolim, Tivim, Pilerne and Punola. Warm regards, r
[Goanet] Running ... into some music
A SATURDAY evening, it was Riza's day out. At the end of her single-digit years, she's still terribly patient with her father and enjoys the work-outings. Which could mean anything from running along picking up computer hard-disks to repairing spectacles, and a whole lot of other mundane tasks. All these appear interesting to her, as long as it's in Panjim, as long as she's bribed with an ice-cream thrown in, and preferably there's a visit to her favourite Cafe Tato too. Just before the 8 pm deadline, when Panjim goes to sleep and tea-restaurants (like the otherwise-tolerant Cafe Prakash) close, I peeked into my engineer-musician friend Rui Lobo's office. It seemed open. A kid (more on him later) stood outside, on the ground floor door of the old colonial-time building at the corner near the municipal garden. Or what's left of it, in its poorly maintained state, and no friendly musical evenings. Rui wasn't in. But Roque was. Roque Lazarus [EMAIL PROTECTED] is a musician who's cybersavvy. Hence he was quick to take up my offer for a brief video interview. First, he played something in Konkani for me [1]. View the resultant videos below. Then, we spoke about his views on music, how musicians are doing in current day Goa, and how things are evolving here [2]. We even managed to squeeze in an interview with his student, a schoolboy by the name of Anthony Lopez, from the nearby village of Taleigao, who sang a soulful love-song called 'Sokalim' (By Morning) composed by his teacher [3]. The same young lad who was waiting outside. Roque has been in e-touch with me for some time now. He's one of the musicians here who's into the Net, perhaps because his age of 32 allows him to be one of those who grew up with these technologies. See the YouTube page of this former Don Bosco student [4]. For that matter, he's even linked up with MP3.com [5]. His music brought a smile to me, and its quaint quality (taking Goan traditions into the cyber age) pushed me into listening to it many times over. Check it out... [1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8AppHIxsnY [2] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=votdSF8L-2k [3] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmhFMZrWTGA [4] http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=roquelazarus [5] http://www.mp3.com/artist/roque-lazarus/summary/ -- FN * Independent Journalist http://fn.goa-india.org Software for Kids Blog: http://softwareforkids.wordpress.com
[Goanet] GOACAN to organise presentation on CMZ Notification at Colva on Sunday
--- Do GOACAN a favour, circulate this email to your family members, relatives, neighbours and friends. Help others be BETTER INFORMED -- -- GOACAN to organise presentation on CMZ Notification at Colva - GOACAN in collaboration with the Colva Civic and Consumer Forum is organising a presentation on the Coastal Management Zone (CMZ) notification 2008 issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), Government of India on Sunday 17th August at 3.30pm at the Colva Church Hall, Colva. The presentation on the draft notification will be made by resource person Mr. Sujeetkumar M. Dongre, Officer In Charge, Goa State Office of the Centre for Environment Education (CEE). It may be noted that the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India, has issued a Coastal Management Zone (CMZ) notification 2008 vide their notification number S.O.114 (E) dated 1st May 2008. The draft notification which is open for suggestions and objections will eventually replace the existing Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) notification 1991. The objective of the 2008 notification is protection and sustainable development of the coastal stretches and marine environment through sustainable coastal zone management practices based on sound scientific principles taking into account the vulnerability of the coast to natural hazards, sustainable livelihood security for local communities and conservation of ecologically culturally significant coastal resources. Various NGOs individuals in Goa and across the country have studied the notification and observed that some of the points are not in accordance with sustainable development of the coastal resources and have already filed their objections in writing to the MoEF. To have a wider view and suggestions from the local communities on the notification, the MoEF, has asked CEE, a national centre of excellence in environmental education of the MoEF to facilitate various consultations along the coast of India. After the Goa consultation organised by CEE on 8th August, GOACAN on its part has taken the initiative to reach the 2008 notification to the various Village Panchayats and Municipal Councils likely to be affected by the notification by networking with the various Consumer Forums. The first effort by the Consumer Forum volunteers was to raise the issue at the special Gram Sabha held on Friday 15th August wherein a resolution was passed and a copy of the Central Govt, gazette notification was handed over to the concerned Village Panchayats. GOA CIVIC AND CONSUMER ACTION NETWORK --- promoting civic and consumer rights in Goa --- GOACAN Post Box 187 Margao, Goa 403 601 GOACAN Post Box 78 Mapusa, Goa 403 507 mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- __._,_.___
[Goanet] A participatory process called elections
Ms. Coelho has nicely argued the difference between reactionary participation and pro-active participation in the planning process. Soter has trashed Floriano just for reading the Interim Plan document and expressing his views which differ from that of the GBA. Now I have a question: We have a great participatory process in our democracy. It is called elections. Can any of the GBA honchos tell me why in 2005 the GBA abandoned this participatory process and left the field to the rogues? The participatory process mentioned by Ms. Coelho sounds great but when you abandon elections and try participating this way, it seems to be like using a back door. It is still not too late. One participatory process is coming in Pale soon. Will the GBA have the guts to participate in this? I mean --- what is the reason for not participating in elections and still taking the moral high ground ? Is the GBA and the NGOs afraid of failures ? I salute Floriano for taking the bull by the horns, and going through the pain of failures. Unless the peoples' agitations take the bull by the horns in Pale and in all other places, I feel that this issue of regional plan/ planning etc is not going to get resolved completely, as the elected representatives can always put a spoke in the wheel by making different laws such as the TCP amendment. regards, Samir
[Goanet] Locating Goa
Locating Goa RAHUL SRIVASTAVA Ethnography of Goa does a thorough job of detailing the state's social, spiritual and material history. It is refreshing to come across such a skilful translation... For English-speaking Indians unfamiliar with Goa, this little colonial anachronism seems as quaint as we ourselves must appear to historically ignorant Englishmen. Such is the condemned fate of all descendents of colonialism who have to repeatedly explain themselves to a world that keeps forgetting, inventing, or mythifying history every minute. The fact that all histories are complex is a truism. However, what is undeniable is that Goa needs a special lens to understand its complexity. Compared to modern categories of the sub-continent's history, over here you get touched more easily by momentous European events like the inquisition, the enlightenment, or the French revolution. The proximity of these critical events is unsettling and underlies everything in this work, making for pure education. In a completely unself-conscious tone, Pereira, a celebrated 20th century Goan scholar, details the social, spiritual and material history of Goa. He does this in the mode of the ethnographers of his day - by paying great attention to every possible minutiae from food to clothing to flora and fauna. Unlike British ethnographers studying quaint Indian customs though, he does his job with greater and obvious identification with the subject. He is conscious of the intensely political nature of his simple observations - an awareness that is never openly expressed but easily evident in the arrangement of facts and the choice of extracts and quotations that punctuate the text. The slippery location of Goan identity that continues to concern its citizenry even today is evident in these subtle gestures. What the ethnography seems to suggest is that the very desire to understand Goa's specific history produces its uniqueness. Everything becomes vivid here - its dominant Catholic and Hindu dimensions and the sub-textual Islamic, Brahmanical and tribal ones. Everything is special here not only because it has been touched by the great critical events of Europe but also because there is a fierce desire to understand its significance. It is refreshing to come across such a skilful translation that introduces this slice of the sub-continent's history to English speakers who otherwise remain mostly intrigued, ignorant or puzzled by Goa. It takes a particular translator's skill to carve out a frame for this historical lens to make it unobtrusive, yet appealing to a contemporary gaze. The translation takes into account today's context and re-produces it in ways that resonate within. That much liberty translators have and Aurora Couto does a splendid job. Her introduction is clear, precise and as exhaustive as the length permits. She quotes contemporary as well as older scholars to substantiate her summarising of the author's life and its location within Goa's social and intellectual history. One is never sure whether it is her or the author's skill that pulls the reader into the text. I found myself reading it from start to finish at one stretch, gulping in detail after detail, getting hypnotised even by the lengthy descriptions of local medical practices, musical instruments, the dossier of superstitions and religious beliefs. I have read a good number of ethnographic accounts, having been trained in anthropology, but this was one of the few that I actually enjoyed reading. I suspect the translator did a fair bit to showcase the brilliance of the anthropologist in elegant prose. Maybe all anthropologists should get their works translated by good writers - even if it happens to be from English to English! Ethnography of Goa, Daman, and Diu, A.B. de Braganza Pereira, translated by Maria Aurora Couto, Penguin/Viking, 2008, p.367, Rs. 699. http://www.hindu.com/mag/2008/08/17/stories/2008081750040100.htm ~(^^)~ Avelino
[Goanet] Bleeding airlines cut Goa flights
Bleeding airlines cut Goa flights16 Aug 2008, 0509 hrs IST, Gauree Malkarnekar,TNN http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Goa/Bleeding_airlines_cut_Goa_flights/art icleshow/3369928.cms In view of the grim scenario, airlines have cut flights. Airlines have themselves officially admitted that they are **reducing 25% of their flights,**says Mohan Gera of MGM International. With the end of the tourist season in May, the number of planes landing at Dabolim airport has gone down considerably. According to Nilesh Shah of Raj Travels, most airline companies have cut flights. Indian Airlines has cancelled its Bangalore flight and very often calls off its last flight of the day to Mumbai. Go Air has withdrawn its Hyderabad and Delhi flights and reduced the frequency of its Bangalore flights, while Indigo has cut down its Mumbai, Kolkata and Cochin flights, he said.Spice Jet, which was flying two planes to Mumbai and Delhi daily, has brought this down to one. Jet Lite has withdrawn its Ahmedabad operations and Air Deccan has cut down its Mumbai and Bangalore flights, Shah further informed. In Today's TOI the story titled Slump in air travel is a phase it says Goa's Dabolim airport features among 4 of India's top 13 domestic airports including Bangalore, Chennai and Guwahati where domestic traffic has fallen by as much as 5 (five) per cent. So how to reconcile the two accounts? The apparently marginal 5% drop may have to be viewed along with previous growth rates of over 25%, resulting in a downward swing of a whopping 30%! That is nothing to sneeze at. The Goa government would do well to man action stations instead of complacently passing off the drop as a temporary phase.
[Goanet] Small State, big attitude
Small State, big attitude RAHUL SRIVASTAVA Goa may be a backpacker's paradise. But it also has one of the most cosmopolitan and heady public spheres, thanks to an engaging acceptance of eccentrics, ideologues as well as classical minds. Goa may be the smallest State on the Indian landscape but it has huge attitude. Its older, non-British colonial legacy stares at you defiantly the moment you step onto its red, iron-filled soil. Portuguese Christianity and Hinduism, mutants from long term association with each other, provide a solid base for its vibrant, even volatile intellectual atmosphere. The papers are saturated with opinions and it's easy to get involved in political debate on any street at any given point of day or night. While that may sound like an ordinary description of the sub-continent as a whole, consider this: Goa has managed to miraculously combine fiery news reportage, jingoistic editorials, reactionary anti-outsider rhetoric, half-hearted nods to secularism with highly informed environmental concerns, a pre-Marxist socialist rhetoric, genuine demonstration of religious co-existence (even if a wee bit grudging) and an amazingly cosmopolitan attitude to produce a heady public sphere that is more urbane than its relaxed, village-filled landscape lets you imagine. No wonder the State has managed to create a record of sorts in the realm of political activism, managing to stall SEZs and large-scale development projects (at least for the time being). Its political establishment may be as corrupt and communal as the rest of the country but it still manages to demonstrate a civil face when confronted with an agitated citizenry. Goa's intellectual history reflects a good amount of its contemporary glory via an expatriate population dispersed all over the country and the world. Its list of novelists, short-story writers, poets, historians and political commentators is long. A high literacy level, the eccentric and passionate love for learning that many communities aggressively fostered, a concentration of India's biggest fountainhead of urban modern education, the Church and the presence of institutions and public libraries that idealised learning, helped foster a lively context for intellectual practices. Greatest resource Surprisingly, what matches the length of intellectuals and artists of Goan origin are those from elsewhere who have adopted the State as their home. They continue to nourish its soil. Anyone who comes here immediately understands that the greatest resource the State has - more than libraries and bandwidth - is time itself. But time that is encased in throbbing and vibrant intellectual activity. This ability of providing oases of peace and tranquillity right in the middle of constant banter about politics and general hyperactivity (thanks to Goa's global tourism) is what attracts artists and intellectuals in large numbers. Such an architecture of space and time is organically linked to the way the State is organised, with its complex urban system of villages and townships, connected by roads and communication networks. However, at the end of the day, what makes it truly fertile is its ability of tolerating eccentrics, passionate ideologues and classical minds along with backpackers and other nomads. As long as no one invents fake Goan identities for themselves. That would be foolish and unnecessary - after all it makes better sense to remain an eternal outsider - a rare privilege in this retro modernist age of native, primordial identities. Rahul Srivastava is an urban anthropologist who also writes fiction for younger readers. He is based in Goa and Mumbai. http://www.hindu.com/mag/2008/08/17/stories/2008081750020100.htm ~(^^)~ Avelino
Re: [Goanet] Bleeding airlines cut Goa flights
To Goanet - Philip Thomas wrote: The Goa government would do well to man action stations instead of complacently passing off the drop as a temporary phase. Rejoice, Goans! Let us pray that the number of flights in and out of Goa drop to less than 5 per day. Anything and everything to keep Indians away from Goa should be encouraged. Warm regards, r
[Goanet] Goa Assembly Session to be Shown Live
Goa Assembly Session to be Shown Live Panaji, Aug 17: Goa's news channel Prudent Media is creating history in Goa. The TV channel would telecast the forthcoming Assembly session live, from Monday 18th August. In addition, Goa is the first state to telecast the whole Assembly proceeding. Few states telecast Assembly live, but it is limited only to the Question Hour. Speaker Pratapsing Rane has permitted to telecast the whole proceeding of the session live. Prior to the session that would begin at 2.30 pm, Prudent Media would also telecast a live 30-minute programme on Monday. The programme would begin at 1.30 pm. It would also include a walkthrough the Assembly complex. The live programme, to be held outside the Assembly complex, would include a live debate on the functioning of the Assembly. Veteran legislator Adv Ramakant Khalap and veteran journalist Prakash Kamat, presently writing for The Hindu, would participate. Sandesh Prabhudesai, Editor-in-Chief of Prudent Media would anchor the programme. This programme would also show live as well as recorded comments of the ministers, MLAs, former speakers and deputy speakers as well as the general public. In an interview to Prudent Media, Speaker Pratapsing Rane, Chief Minister Digambar Kamat, Opposition Leader Manohar Parrikar and Deputy Speaker Mauvin Godinho have congratulated Prudent Media for telecasting the Assembly live. They have also appealed to the people to judge their MLAs after watching the live telecast. http://www.daijiworld.com/news/news_disp.asp?n_id=49924n_tit=Goa+Assemb ly+Session+to+be+Shown+Live ~(^^)~ Avelino
[Goanet] Many histories
Many histories ZERIN ANKLESARIA The various strands of Goa's composite culture are all strung together here. We tend to think of Goa as a quaint Mediterranean outpost transported, by a quirk of history, to the shores of the Arabian Sea. This is erroneous, since Goa, or Govapuri or Aparanta as it was, is a land of many histories, outlined in the new and very prestigious tome on the subject. Within the last 50 years, exciting discoveries have been made of Early Stone Age tools, and in 1993 more than 120 tools of the Middle Paleolithic period were uncovered under a layer of debris in a cave, proof that it had been inhabited. Mesolithic rock carvings were also found in two locations, largely of animals, incised with such skill that they are still clearly identifiable as deer, ibexes, and so on. The prize find was a Megalithic Mother Goddess in granite, fully eight feet long and two and a half feet broad, holding a newborn baby. Eons later, in the time of the Chalukyas, a huge Ganesh idol was carved on a rock at Reddi, an image that is still an object of worship. In early times, Goa, known to Greek geographers as Arike, was the major port for its rich hinterland, and had a flourishing trade with sea-faring nations. A large number of gold coins are still turning up, originating from places as various as Rome, Venice, Arabia and Aksum, a major centre of Christianity in ancient Eritrea and Ethiopia. Arab traders had settled on the Konkan coast centuries before the Muslim conquests, probably dealing in horses, and African farmers in the first millennium A.D. used iron implements of Goan provenance. During the reign of the Kadambas, precious metals and cloth, food grain and spices were exported; also exotic items such as camphor, perfumes, elephant tusks and hippopotamus teeth for their supposed aphrodisiac qualities. Repressive interlude The 450 years of Portuguese rule were largely repressive. The infamous Inquisition was enforced for more than two centuries with greater severity than in the home country, and all manner of absurd restrictions were enforced with the idea of effecting cultural change. At weddings no songs could be sung, and the couple was not to be anointed in the traditional way. Newborn babies were no longer to be placed on raw rice, nor could their birth be celebrated with banquets. Dietary and sartorial rules decreed that salt must be cooked with rice, not subsequently added, and dhotis and cholis were proscribed. The planting of tulsi was also forbidden. But there were unintended benefits. Goa became the centre of a hybrid culture with an intellectual vitality that combined Brahmin scholarly traditions with those of Catholic priests, who came in large numbers. The fame of the Rome of the East spread throughout the Christian world, and the enclave acquired a distinctive character which helped it to assert its identity as a separate State after Liberation. Since then progress has been rapid despite political instability and rampant corruption. Goa is the most prosperous of our small States and its per capita income, at about Rs. 50,000 per annum, is the highest in India. The book seeks to be all-inclusive, covering the numerous strands of Goa's composite culture. Apart from history, there are essays on literature and language, architecture, the arts, Goan identity and much else, and a reviewer has to be ruthlessly selective. There are also aids to serious study such as an index, a glossary and an annotated bibliography. A detailed chapter is devoted to music, describing traditional forms such as the mando and the dulpod, and outlining the achievements of the Mangeshkar family, Kishori Amonkar and the inimitable Remo. That other famous Goan, Wendell Rodricks, is also here, contributing a fine essay on costumes and displaying some of his creations. In one, the model wears nothing above the waist except two mussel shells held precariously together with bits of string, and matching clam shell earrings. Though she dares to bare, would we dare to wear? One wonders. Gourmet cooking comes as naturally to Goans as music, and half a century ago the chefs in Bombay's leading hotels were all Goan. To have one at home was a potent status symbol, and the Malabar Hill dowagers would stoop to Byzantine intrigues to capture such a prize. So, if Mrs. A, having dined on light-as-air pastry and gut-churning vindaloo, succeeded in luring Francis into her kitchen with lavish inducements, Mrs. B, in aggrieved retaliation, would purloin Adeline, with matching offers, to keep an expert eye on her grandchildren. Mario Cabral e Sa writes with verve about famous foodies and their eccentricities. One wined and dined his guests on the choicest dishes and smoked Havana cigars which he lit with 100-rupee notes. At the other extreme Victorino, the doyen of Goan cooks, started on a princely salary of one rupee a month, and would advise his apprentices to taste the food while the pot boils. Exemplifying
Re: [Goanet] Inflation soars to 13/17 year high
Mario Goveia wrote: Because you are an investment professional, once again, I must caution you that your remarks in a public forum like Goanet may mislead others who are not as astute or knowledgeable about investing, nor are watching commodity prices and other financial information all day long. Mario, I have been called much worse names than an investment professional. Fortunately, those who resort to name calling are those whose opinion is worthless anyway. Secondly, thanks for your words of caution but anyone who makes investment decisions based on emails on the internet, really deserve what will be coming their way. When gold hit $1,000 per ounce earlier this year you ostentatiously told everyone on Goanet, without any smiley face to punctuate your remarks, that it would hit $1,650 per ounce, but covered yourself by saying you had no idea when it would do so. (-: Yes, I remember that :-) For every adviser you can show me who will predict a price and a time line, I can show you a complete idiot. Surely, you must know as a master-investor that the time value of money is an essential element in the success of any investment. Avoiding at least an approximate range of timing when making a forecast is a major omission, making the forecast essentially useless for anyone seriously interested in your opinion. Hey, now I really am aglow with your term master-investor. You should be doing this to me more often ;-) As a reciprocal gesture I will re-read your Marxist idea of depending on funds FROM the Govt for your business plan to succeed. Now, citing only the US inflation rate, which just hit a whopping 5.6% versus India's inflation rate of 12.4%, you are once again touting gold as an investment. This time you used a smiley face. I hope this means that you are kidding. US inflation is at a 17 year high! At two percent annual inflation, a pensioner loses more than 25% of his purchasing power in ten years. At 5.6% inflation, he will lose that amount in less than four years. Hey! if inflation is good for a country, G. Bush, M. Singh and R. Mugabe are true patriots. As for gold, take a quick look at how much gold one unit of each of the currencies of the above countries could buy when these leaders came to power and compare it to how much gold one unit of the same currencies can buy today. On the off chance that you are serious, here is an article that should add some perspective for others less familiar with investing as to what is going on in the financial markets. For those who like doing there own research, take a few minutes to find out what gold does in times of inflation. Also be really familiar with the term 'Stagflation. There is a lot of money to be made by those who can read key economic signals. Finally, here is a quote from my guru, Keynes, that I keep on my desk. Lenin is said to have declared that the best way to destroy the Capitalist System was to debauch the currency. By a continuing process of inflation, governments can confiscate, secretly and unobserved, an important part of the wealth of their citizens. By this method they not only confiscate, but they confiscate arbitrarily; and, while the process impoverishes many, it actually enriches some. [...] Lenin was certainly right. There is no subtler, no surer means of overturning the existing basis of society than to debauch the currency. The process engages all the hidden forces of economic law on the side of destruction, and does it in a manner which not one man in a million is able to diagnose. Mervyn3.0 BTW, This has been one of the most pleasant beer drinking days in Toronto. Its 1.00 am in the morning and here are pictures from World Gold, oops World Goa day. http://www.flickr.com/photos/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/2769879372/ __ Be smarter than spam. See how smart SpamGuard is at giving junk email the boot with the All-new Yahoo! Mail. Click on Options in Mail and switch to New Mail today or register for free at http://mail.yahoo.ca
[Goanet] Bleeding airlines cut Goa flights
Hi Philip The huge growth in air travel to Goa and other destinations was due to low fares offered by airlines. Due to various reasons, the low fare era has gone, and so the air traffic has dropped. It is as straightforward as that; nothing more to read into it. regards, Samir
Re: [Goanet] Floriano's timely rumblings
Oh dears, We must understand that Soter, my good friend, is wedded to the Panchayati Raj. Therefore any dissent or questions raised against this solemnised marriage brings- in self-defence bouts. Let my good friend deny what I have boldly stated: That the existing Goa Panchayat Raj Act, 1994 is a piece of paper which is fit to be used for the clean-up job in the toilet and not for GOA's clean-up. Let my good friend also deny my having told him personally that the devolution of powers he is harping on vis a vis 73rd and 74th constitutional amendments is a lot of HOG WASH. That he should be gunning the Panchayat Act first to get it streamlined and then talk about devolution of powers. The hyenas that have gotten fat in the panchayats already, will be attaining SUMO Wrestlers' girth in no time if these powers are devolved to them. (BTW. my good friend is giving a talk on Panchayati Raj at Nachinola today. Hope he manages to convince Freddy Fernandes, the Nachinola Panchayat DADA to go on a lean diet :-)) Soter should be more concerned of people like Fr. Maverick et al (the Church) who are responsible for giving clear chit to the rogues in the Congress, as if the crooked , corrupted and self-centered Congress is the ultimate saviour Goa. The intelligent Goan public knows very well who is 'sleeping with the enemy', when and for what reason. The slip is longer than the flowing robes. My good friend wants to take this as an accusation, then so be it. I want to know from my good friend and/or his acomplises who are brushing shoulders with the Aam Admi Champion, if they have done any of the following: 1. Tell the Aam Admi Champion that he should not be and cannot be the chairperson of the Task Force. 2. That he should take out Datta Naik from the Task Force ( Datta Naik is responsible to bring in the Aam Admi Champion out of the BJP because he could not get his work done through MP or Babush Monserrate). Let my good friend also say that the entire INTERIM REPORT OF THE TASK FORCE is bad in taste. If so, how awful. To me, all what I and the organisations that I am heading, including the Goa Su-Raj Party, have been asking for, such as 'comunidades', 'mining' 'ground water preservation' , 'agricultural lands and agriculture etc etc are very much included. I am additionally happy that the interim report has voiced the apprehensions of the TF against the devolution of powers to the Panchayats without tightening the belt. There are some openly challengeable sections in the TF Interim Report which are branded as Aam Admi Champion/Datta Naik's trade marks such as : SOCIAL INFRASTRUCTURE (POLICIES AND SPATIAL CONTROLS): 4. The Governemnt should establish land estates on the lines of Industrial Estates exclusively for building affordable houses. (this is camouflaged by adding) 'The Government should also promote the foremation of housing Co-operative Societies ( which already exists). 5. Comprehensive schemes for low cost housing need to be introduced especially for migrant population who are an integral part of the society so as to make Goa slum free ( this is the vote-bank charter and I do not know how Dr. Oscar Rebello agreed to the inclusion of this. Migrant workers an integral part of the society???, my foot - The Goa Su-Raj Road Map says that Labour Contractors in Goa must set up all inclusive 'Labour Camps' and dispatch the labourers to their home State the moment their 3, 6 month contract is over). 6. The Government should provide land in major settlements in Goa at a concessional rate to organised housing Industry (Datta Naik/Aam Admi consortium at work here?) or the professional body i.e. CREDAI ( CONFEDERATION OF REAL ESTATE EEVELOPERS ASSOCIATION OF INDIA( more specifically Datta Naik, GCCI ) Goa and make it mandatory to provide houses for construction workers. ( look at the cheek) 7. Strong political will on part of Government and effective implementation to enforce existing laws in order to stop building of illegal dwellingunits, slums etc ( this infact is a googly to divert attention. There has never been a political will to do this and never will be untill Goa Su-Raj takes over). In the Follow-up work to be done: it says: 2. The Government should revisit its housing policy so as to: b) Rationalize FAR's wherever required. (If the FARs are down graded in the villages i.e. bring them down from 80% to 50 percent or less, and increase the same in cities, this is acceptable. ) Therefore, there are a few things in the TF Interim Report which are self-interest googlies ( in konkani we say ' eoh tantun sirkaileat', but to throw the baby out with the bath water is offensive. GBA should have been more prudent than that. Plus, I am asking this very potent question and I want my good friend to answer it, truthfully. WHAT WAS THE HARM THAT WOULD BE DONE IF GBA HAD TO WAIT FOR ANOTHER FEW DAYS FOR ITS CONVENOR TO
