Re: [Goanet] COMMENT: Look in the Mirror, Mr Gupta (by Venita Coelho)
Dears, The text below has appeared in the OPinionatED column of the HERALD todayu 18 August, 2008. It puts Sujay Gupta's PR campaign in the right perspective after he botched up the one on the Advalpal agitiation against mining and trying to paint the NGO's campaigning against mega housing projects or for restoration of the Reis Magos Fort [INTACH, Mario Miranda and Gerard D'Cunha specifically] by questioning their sources of funds. Venita Coelho is an active and vocal member of the GBA Core Group. I vouch for what she has written. It is correct as per the records of the GBA maintained by me for the GBA Core Group. The changes to the Sections 16 and 16 A of the TCP Act, 1974, have been published in the Official Gazette of Goa on 05 March, 2008 [Ordinance] and 13 May, 2008 [Act]. The Bill, passed unopposed on 25 March, 2008, is the subject matter of the Private member's Bill that will most likely come for discussion on FRIDAY 22 August, 2008. This Bill is reportedly being moved by the Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Manohar Parrikar, to repeal the Act notified on 13 May, 2008 and the Ordinance that preceded it [which remains in force till 31 August, 2008, if the Act is repealed and the Ordinance is not]. Assembly proceedings will be telecat live from today on Prudent Media network, perhaps, Doordarshan also. Mog asundi. Miguel On 8/17/08, Goanet News wrote: 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'
Re: [Goanet] COMMENT: Look in the Mirror, Mr Gupta (by Venita Coelho)
To Goanet - Venita Coelho wrote: >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. I am mostly in agreement with the thrust of what Ms Coelho has to say in this piece. Mercenaries like Sujoy Gupta and other non-Goans skunks posing as editors are a blight on the Goan landscape. That said, the names cited above by Ms Coelho raise questions. Let us leave aside the remark about "impeccable professional qualifications" which mean nothing. (Some of the biggest crooks in America boast Harvard and Princeton pedigrees.) At least one of the fellows from her list is part of the Margao builder lobby and is playing both sides. And the amusing thing is, THIS IS NO SECRET! What in the world is Ms Coelho thinking, including this lowlife in her roster of the virtuous? Warm regards, r
Re: [Goanet] COMMENT: Look in the Mirror, Mr Gupta (by Venita Coelho)
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Sun, 17 Aug 2008 > 23:52:53 -0400> Subject: Re: [Goanet] COMMENT: Look in the Mirror, Mr Gupta > (by Venita Coelho)> > Just a line to say how much I appreciate Goanet News> I > am kept in touch with the more important happenings in Goa my fatherland > > that I love dearly> > George Menezes > How far from the FATHERLAND, have you drifted to, my dear George? BTW, is'nt VATERLAND for the Huns? For Goans is'nt our sweet Goa...always our MOTHERLAND??? I remember the doggerel I wrote when, steeped in feni, I embarked the Sabarmat for my long jaunt that stii, merrily, progresses: Farewell, Goa... the land of my birth... farewell, my sweet motherland... with your shores of sand... Will I never more see the green banks of Mandovi.. or, the bridge over it ready? & it went for several unabashed stanzas...on the then indulgent O heraldo or Goa Today. That was in sixties! Alfred de Tavares, Stockholm, 2008-08-16 _ Explore the seven wonders of the world http://search.msn.com/results.aspx?q=7+wonders+world&mkt=en-US&form=QBRE
Re: [Goanet] COMMENT: Look in the Mirror, Mr Gupta (by Venita Coelho)
Hi Venita, Very good analysis of Mr.Gupta's column. I regularly receive and read goanet articles. Keep up your good work. Cheers from distant NZ. Edwin Pereira adidas NZ [EMAIL PROTECTED] "Impossible is Nothing"
Re: [Goanet] COMMENT: Look in the Mirror, Mr Gupta (by Venita Coelho)
Just a line to say how much I appreciate Goanet News I am kept in touch with the more important happenings in Goa my fatherland that I love dearly George Menezes
[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: Th
