[Goanet] Scam ... or building a Konkani dictionary?

[Frederick Noronha]

Someone read it as a thinly-disguised, self-serving get-rich-quick scam.
Would you agree? Or, do you see it as a legit attempt to crowd-fund a
dictionary for Konkani? Check out and debate the issue here:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/ckedict/

FN :: +91-9822122436 (Connect via WhatsApp)
ᐧ

[Goanet] Let Your Mind Wander

[Roland Francis]

It’s not just your brain that makes you smart according to Annie Murphy Paul in 
this interesting podcast. She suggests also thinking outside the brain.

“Intelligence is the domain of the mind, that much is obvious. What isn't 
obvious is what makes up the mind. Most people will say the brain, and there 
are hundreds of books that will endorse this.

Science journalist Annie Murphy Paul, author of The Extended Mind, wants to 
dispel us of our brain fixation. It's not that the brain isn't important, or 
even critical, but it isn't acting alone. Paul explores how intelligence is 
tied to the rest of our bodies, to our circumstances and the company we keep.”

https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-59/clip/15876815

Roland.
Toronto.

[Goanet] Felicitations

[Nelson Lopes]

Felicitation
People sometimes feel proud and rightly so that they are honoured
appreciated and recognised..What is the ocassion ,and moment in time to
spring these surprises?
The motive  is not to apprise your worth, but to get a mileage now that
elections are near. THE FLURY of felicitation is to provide them an
opportunity  ,publicity to be seen as goodwill ambassadors

This is another gimmick to woe common and prominent people to assure  them
of allegiance to party in power. Why suddenly create an ocassion to
felicitate, when there is no rightful  moment Felicitations dates must
confirm with known ocassions. People hungry for such public glare must
simply ask why they were not recognised so far and have the gumption to
refuse flatly ,as the awards are not to encourage worth of social standing,
or promote them but political interests and party  benefit
Hence felicitation not linked with right moment in time it is a farce,
which gullible fall . THE felicitation at National, statel  panchayat, NGO,
and other social organisational level are pure eyewash to promote
political patronage

Nelson Lopes Chinchinim

Nelson

[Goanet] The Nature of Nationality

[Antonio Menezes]

Roland Francis on Nov 11 ...
I do not think it has something to do with the genetic make up.
Corruption in mild sense has always been part of our culture,
the blame , if there is to be, could be pointed to  some of the
dictates in Manusmriti the treatise that deals with Hinsu social
laws, especially from casteist point of view,,
How can one explain that a brahmin can perfectly tell lies
to save his skin and get away with it ?

[Goanet] Online History Hour

[XCHR Info]

*XAVIER CENTRE OF HISTORICAL RESEARCH*



Cordially invites you to an *online* *presentation on*



*RESONANCE OF THE FEMALE VOICE: WOMANISM AND THE CHURCH IN PORTUGUESE GOA*

*By Dr. Sushila Sawant Mendes*



*Abstract from the Speaker*

In the pre-Portuguese period, the female voice was stifled with the
then-existing social norms of child marriage, sati, polygamy, dowry,
*patnidharma,* enforcement of strict widowhood, and other systemic denials:
such as education, ownership of property, divorce, and widow marriage.

The Portuguese administration and the Church in particular did much in the
resonance of the female voice. Polygamy and sati were prohibited and
divorce was permitted. There was free movement of women in society, unlike
their Hindu counterparts. Helpless women took refuge in the charitable
institutions of the church. Women could now inherit property. The life of a
Catholic widow was much more humane. The Church today encourages Small
Christian Communities whereby it gently enters into the domain of family
and community service. This study analyses the role of a pro-active Church,
within the framework of a colonial and patriarchal Goan society.

*About the author/speaker:*  Prof. Sushila Sawant Mendes is the author of
the book ‘Luis de Menezes Braganza: Nationalism, Secularism and
Free-thought in Portuguese Goa’. She has worked as the Head of the
Department of History at Government College of Arts, Science and Commerce,
Quepem for 31 years. Prof. Mendes has also served as Officiating Principal,
Vice-Principal, and the In-charge of the Internal Quality Assurance Cell of
the College. She has headed the Steering Committee for National
Accreditation and Assessment of the Quepem College which has since been
accredited with an ‘A’ grade.

She presents research papers regularly at State, National, and
International Conferences many of which have found a place in books on the
history of Goa. Dr. Mendes is a trustee of the Silver Star Appeal, a
foundation devoted to the awareness of diabetics. She has recently been
awarded the State Teachers Award for Excellence in Higher Education for
2020-21.



*On*

*Thursday, November 18, 2021*

*at 6.30 pm IST **(**3.00 pm CET, 9.00 am ET)*

*Online Platform: ZOOM*

Zoom Meeting ID:  413 220 7601

https://bit.ly/3H6hnck


[image: SUSHILA MENDES.jpg]


Hope to see you there...



Fr. Malcolm Barreto, S.J.

Administrator, XCHR
Xavier Centre of Historical Research
B B Borkar Road, Alto Porvorim, Goa 403521, India.
Tel: +91-832-2417772 (Office)

*www.xchr.in* 
*facebook.com/xchr.goa *

[Goanet] Toxic Air knows no Boundaries (Dhaka Tribune, 12/11/2021)

[V M]

https://www.dhakatribune.com/opinion/op-ed/2021/11/12/op-ed-toxic-air-knows-no-boundaries

Precisely one week ago, China’s capital city went into high alert
about its dangerously deteriorating air quality. The municipal
government in Beijing immediately clamped down on unnecessary traffic,
shut down some major highways, closed all children’s playgrounds, and
warned citizens to stay indoors until the crisis could be brought
under control.

Beijing’s administrative authorities responded with such alacrity
because the AQI (air quality index) had soared to 220, which is
considered to be just one step below full-scale emergency in that
country.

Here’s the kicker. On that very same day it was business as usual in
New Delhi, even though its own AQI was hovering at an abysmal 313. And
many other cities across the subcontinent were even worse, with Meerut
peaking at an almost unbelievable 440.

All this was just one more lowlight, in an unremitting pageant of bad
news for all of us in South Asia. There is no getting around the
facts. When it comes to this most vital category of health – the
literal air that we breathe – our part of the world performs worst,
right across the board.

Thus, at the very moment of my writing – noon on 11th November – the
worst AQI of any city on the planet is in Lahore (468), followed by
New Delhi (265). Also in the bottom ten are Karachi (175), Mumbai
(162) and Dhaka (157).

According to IQAir, the Swiss technology experts who maintain the
excellent AirVisual real-time air quality information platform
(www.iqair.com), amongst the 30 cities with worst air quality in the
world in 2020, an appalling 20 were in India alone, along with
Manikganj and Dhaka in Bangladesh, and Lahore, Bawahalpur, and
Faisalabad in Pakistan.

Aggregated slightly differently by country, which takes into account
many additional locations outside the major cities, the IQAir results
are not particularly different. The three worst polluted in the world
are ranked like this: Bangladesh, Pakistan and India.

It should be noted these awful findings exist on a continuum, where
very few cities or countries can legitimately claim they are doing a
good job at managing air quality. For years, the World Health
Organization has been warning that over 90% of children in the world
are compelled to breathe air that fails to meet safety guidelines.

But even by those very poor standards, air quality is especially bad –
and only getting worse – in South Asia, and the roots of that problem
are exactly the same as most of our other problems: poor governance,
lack of accountability, and the disenfranchisement and disempowerment
of the vast majority of our citizens.

If you are looking for a pithy bottom line, it is this: poverty kills.

This is why, on releasing the WHO data in 2018, Director-General Dr
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, “air pollution threatens us all, but
the poorest and most marginalized people bear the brunt of the burden.
If we don’t take urgent action on air pollution, we will never come
close to achieving sustainable development.”

He was being remarkably polite. In fact, our reality of murderously
toxic air puts the lie to every national claim to progress and
betterment. What is the point of any soaring stock exchanges, or
burgeoning imports and exports and ramped-up consumer data, if the
very act of breathing is killing us?

Make no mistake, that is where we have reached.

Just a few weeks ago in September, the University of Chicago released
its Air Quality of Life Index, which warned that all across
Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan, the average citizen would live
an astonishing 5.6 additional years if air pollution was curbed to
meet WHO guidelines.

If the levels of pollution persist at 2019 levels (actually they have
become significantly worse) the residents of Delhi and Kolkata will
lose 9 years of life expectancy. For Dhaka, that number is an equally
unpalatable 7.7 years.

It doesn’t always have to be this way.

For an example of how to turn things around, we only have to look at
Beijing. From being the international byword for toxic air at the turn
of the new millennium, it has brought the situation well under
control. In the 2020 data from IQAir, the giant Chinese capital isn’t
even in the worst 100 cities in the world.

The same can happen everywhere, it takes only political will along
with visionary leadership.

When the University of Chicago released its index earlier this year,
Michael Greenstone, the director of its Energy Policy Institute,
summarized the situation very nicely: “High levels of air pollution
are a part of people’s lives in [South Asia], just as they were in the
US, England, Japan and other countries in the past. The last several
decades have seen tremendous progress in many of these countries, but
this progress did not happen by accident – it was the result of policy
choices.”

[Goanet] "Goa: A Time That Was" A discussion on 17th Nov. at Sunaparanta Goa Centre for the Arts, PanjimGoa.

[Praba Mahajan]

Dear friends,

Here is some info related to a program w.r.t. "*Goa: A Time That Was*"
on 17th Nov.,'21 at 5:30 pm, at Sunaparanta Goa Centre for the Arts, a
non-profit arts initiative that hosts gallery shows, events and
community-based programming in Goa, India.

Please see the *LINK* given* below* for the FACEBOOK page of Sunaparanta
for Detailed Info. given for the Program on 17th Nov. '21.
Also given is info related to * an ongoing exhibition *on "*Goa: A Time
That Was*".

The *Exhibition* depicts 3 periods in Goa's history and becomes the
starting point from where perceptions of belonging and identity are
questioned and  re-negotiated.

This Exhibition will be on view till 20 November 2021.
---

At Sunaparanta Goa Centre for the Arts, Altinho, Panaji - Goa
Wednesday, 17 November 2021, 5.30 pm
Open to all | Limited seats | Prior registration is required
For more details: Call 0832 2421311 | Email: i...@sgcfa.org
-
LINK:
https://www.facebook.com/Sunaparanta/

best wishes,

Praba Mahajan
Mumbai.