Re: [Goanet] The Sting Operator Who Gave Up Anonymity
Sigh, how true my American friend. Your post tells of what happens when "a corrupt electorate meets corrupt politicians and a corrupt press and corrupt church leaders look on". It's not a tug of war of good versus evil because everybody is pulling on the same side. Great point you made there. An opportune time to appreciate the few brave and hardy souls who thinking its a tug of war, try to get in the game, but are swept off their feet. Goa does not even have the redeeming quality of the Indian electorate. Once in a little while, the rest of India will show their disgust at the whole thing by throwing an entrenched party out. In Goa they threw out Churchill and his merry men (and woman) but brought in an equally corrupt Parrikar and crew. The story of our once beautiful land! This is the cue for a couple of guys to rush in and accuse us of nostalgia and running away to foreign shores, thereby compounding the problem. Roland Francis 416-453-3371 > On Jul 25, 2016, at 6:20 PM, Jim Fernandes wrote: > > Roland, > > These days, money changes hands in the hundreds of thousands - especially > when elections are approaching! > > Believe it or not, this is an awesome time to be in Goa! Instead of people > bribing the politicians to get their work done, one finds politicians bribing > people! You name what you want; they'll get it for you. Things such as cars, > motor bikes, consumer electronics, help towards dowry or just hard cash are > all to be found. > > If you apply for a job in public sector in Goa, there is near zero chance > you'll get one - regardless of how well qualified you are. Unless you bribe > the authorities, you aren't getting that job. You want to be a police > officer? That's going to cost you lacs. Want any other job - its all in the > lacs. So how are young people supposed to make a living? > > Stupid Goans are still NOT aware that once the same old politicians get > re-elected, they will get raped for the next five years once again. Or do > they? > > And then you'll find the gentleman from Ribandar aiming his gun at the newly > minted MLAs and ministers in Panaji. Same old bull ... I am reading for past > 20 years on GoaNet. His wrath swings from BJP to Congress and back to BJP. As > the pendulum swings, so does his targets. Nothing much comes out of it > though. For a change, he should aim his gun (err ... pen) on corrupt > electorate. > > If one spends a little bit of time understanding India's (or Goa's ) problems > - they all boil down to just a few: > 1. They have a large set of openly corrupt politicians > 2. Corrupt people. A large segment of India's population has become corrupt > and Goans learned it from the rest of the Indians. I do not believe Goa was > this corrupt before liberation. > 3. Corrupt press. > 4. Corrupt church leaders. (I would be highly surprised to learn if leaders > from other religions are not corrupt) > > In short - the whole Goan society is corrupt. > > I wrote several times Goa needs to elect new people to represent themselves. > I never heard anybody responding that they are doing anything to recharge > Goans to change their destiny - other than Floriano from Goa Suraj. But > you'll find plenty of people complaining about corrupt politicians! > > What change can come in such a highly corrupt society? > > Zero. > > I probably made the best decision of my life when I bolted out of Goa in my > early 20's. Some day, I hope to return back to Goa - not to earn a living > there - but to probably spend what I earned elsewhere and hopefully, in the > process - change a few souls for the better. > > Jim F. > > >> On Sun, 24 Jul 2016 17:52:59 -0400, Roland wrote: >> >> Some readers mostly Diasporic, may not know that Bush (Mayabhushan >> Nagvenkar) is an old hand at sting operations. >> >> He has worked stings at election time in Goa where the Herald was involved. >> >> At press conferences as The Bush has revealed, party candidates distribute >> press notes along with a 500 or 1000 rupee note. The gratuity was for the >> words "paid advertisement" to be omitted. > ... > ... > ... >> >> Roland Francis >> Toronto. > >
Re: [Goanet] The Sting Operator Who Gave Up Anonymity
Roland, These days, money changes hands in the hundreds of thousands - especially when elections are approaching! Believe it or not, this is an awesome time to be in Goa! Instead of people bribing the politicians to get their work done, one finds politicians bribing people! You name what you want; they'll get it for you. Things such as cars, motor bikes, consumer electronics, help towards dowry or just hard cash are all to be found. If you apply for a job in public sector in Goa, there is near zero chance you'll get one - regardless of how well qualified you are. Unless you bribe the authorities, you aren't getting that job. You want to be a police officer? That's going to cost you lacs. Want any other job - its all in the lacs. So how are young people supposed to make a living? Stupid Goans are still NOT aware that once the same old politicians get re-elected, they will get raped for the next five years once again. Or do they? And then you'll find the gentleman from Ribandar aiming his gun at the newly minted MLAs and ministers in Panaji. Same old bull ... I am reading for past 20 years on GoaNet. His wrath swings from BJP to Congress and back to BJP. As the pendulum swings, so does his targets. Nothing much comes out of it though. For a change, he should aim his gun (err ... pen) on corrupt electorate. If one spends a little bit of time understanding India's (or Goa's ) problems - they all boil down to just a few: 1. They have a large set of openly corrupt politicians 2. Corrupt people. A large segment of India's population has become corrupt and Goans learned it from the rest of the Indians. I do not believe Goa was this corrupt before liberation. 3. Corrupt press. 4. Corrupt church leaders. (I would be highly surprised to learn if leaders from other religions are not corrupt) In short - the whole Goan society is corrupt. I wrote several times Goa needs to elect new people to represent themselves. I never heard anybody responding that they are doing anything to recharge Goans to change their destiny - other than Floriano from Goa Suraj. But you'll find plenty of people complaining about corrupt politicians! What change can come in such a highly corrupt society? Zero. I probably made the best decision of my life when I bolted out of Goa in my early 20's. Some day, I hope to return back to Goa - not to earn a living there - but to probably spend what I earned elsewhere and hopefully, in the process - change a few souls for the better. Jim F. On Sun, 24 Jul 2016 17:52:59 -0400, Roland wrote: > Some readers mostly Diasporic, may not know that Bush (Mayabhushan Nagvenkar) > is an old hand at sting operations. > > He has worked stings at election time in Goa where the Herald was involved. > > At press conferences as The Bush has revealed, party candidates distribute > press notes along with a 500 or 1000 rupee note. The gratuity was for the > words "paid advertisement" to be omitted. > ... ... ... > > Roland Francis > Toronto.
[Goanet] The Sting Operator Who Gave Up Anonymity
Some readers mostly Diasporic, may not know that Bush (Mayabhushan Nagvenkar) is an old hand at sting operations. He has worked stings at election time in Goa where the Herald was involved. At press conferences as The Bush has revealed, party candidates distribute press notes along with a 500 or 1000 rupee note. The gratuity was for the words "paid advertisement" to be omitted. Reminds me of a common practice with bus drivers in Goa after 1961. The last few buses to Cavelossim from Margao every evening would fill above capacity since people would like to hang out in Margao at bars, restaurants and shopping places until they could. Besides the bus passed through Hariya Baand, Benaulim, Varca, Orlim and Carmona to the end point Cavelossim, a well travelled route. At the Margao New Bazaar crossroad, there would always be a cop since this was a lucrative place for bribes. The bus drivers, hard working and work worn, knew they could not avoid paying but it didn't mean they liked it. So to show their disgust, as the bus approached the said point, a traffic cop would appear from nowhere and the bus driver would pretend to slow down. Just as the cop neared, the driver would speed up and instead of putting the 5 or 10 buck note in the cop's palm, he would fling it to the road and make the cop shamelessly bend to pick it up. Herald, inspire of previous stings, like that traffic cop, seems to have no qualms with dirty money. http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.culture.region.india.goa/132513 Roland Francis Toronto.
[Goanet] The Sting Operator Who Gave Up Anonymity
http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/nation/the-sting-operator-who-gave-up-anonymity The Sting Operator Who Gave Up Anonymity *The multiple exploits of Mayabhushan Nagvenkar, the journalist who exposed Goa’s paid news racket, pulled off a prank by planting a fake Nazi story in several well-read dailies, and has held up a mirror to the media in other ways * *By Aimee Ginsburg* The ambience at Clube Nacional is perfect, and one immediately envisions the film version of this story: lone journalist, snubbed by (many of) his peers for his collegial exposés, sits at a table in a dimly-lit tavern, sipping his glass of milky *feni*. He stares out the second storey window, past the oldest building in Panaji, to where the Mandovi river twinkles in the rainbow lights of yachts and stars. Below, the streets of this business quarter are quiet. Most people have gone home by now, certainly all the women and children; dogs are looking for dinner in the gutters. The man, slightly burly in a plain sweater, is reading a piece of paper. Is it a document proving his claims of corruption against one of Goa’s premier daily newspapers? Is it a copy of the criminal defamation suit filed against him last week? Just then, the proprietor comes over, looking like the Portuguese have never left, and puts a plate of Chicken Cafreal and hot fresh pao on the table. “I saw you on TV, man,” he tells the journalist, whose name is Mayabhushan Nagvenkar and is obviously a regular, “I saw you on TV!” As he turns to go, he rests his hand, ever so briefly, on the journalist’s shoulder. “Normally there would be more journalists here, for their after-work drinks,” says Nagvenkar, known in Goan media circles as Bhushan, or The Bush, “but at election time, they are busy with all kinds of extras.” One of the extras for journalists in the past week was a meeting with the chief electoral officer on the topic of paid news. In the course of the tutorial, it was explained politely and with simple, easy-to-understand charts that it is not allowed for journalists, editors or management to take money or favours from political candidates. (“It is absolutely normal,” says Nagvenkar, “to go to a press conference for political candidates and be handed press releases with Rs 500 or Rs 1,000 notes attached. Many, if not most, of these guys pocket the notes as if nothing happened. I have never heard of a journalist being disciplined for it, or for any other similar transactions.”) One of the topics mentioned at the paid-news tutorial was a complaint filed by Nagvenkar, veteran investigative journalist, to the Press Council of India and Election Commission, against *Herald*, one of Goa’s leading English dailies. Nagvenkar, in an elegant sting operation, seemingly showed that *Herald* is open to paid-for, self-promoting interviews with political candidates that appear in print as authentic editorial content. Nagvenkar is not new to sting journalism—in 2005, he and partner Jamshed Khan had stung six MPs, Shakshi Maharaj and Paras Nath Yadav among them, showing that they were taking kickbacks. All six were suspended from a session of Parliament as a result. In this current sting, Nagvenkar pretended to be the fictional Bernard D’Costa, a first-time candidate for Parliament. Over the course of four phone calls, he negotiated a deal with the paper’s marketing manager, Tulsidas Desai. It was agreed in the end that D’Costa (alias Nagvenkar) would pay Rs 86,400 for an interview, 15 inches x eight columns long, and that there would be no label marking it as an advertisement—the crux of the matter. D’Costa was invited to submit the questions he would like asked. For another Rs 50,000, three similar interviews would be broadcast on the newspaper’s TV channel. Nagvenkar asked if this is how it had been done with an interview of another candidate, published several days earlier (without any advertorial label), and if that candidate had paid the same fee. The manager said, “Ya, ya, ya, ya, ya.” Nagvenkar’s account on his blog is a darkly amusing, strangely satisfying read. All conversations were recorded by Nagvenkar and published here: paidnewsingoa.blogspot.com/2011/10/goas-paid-piper-paid-political.html . With the publication, all hell broke loose. For a moment, at least. Then, everything went back to normal.The complaints with the PCI are pending; no one has lost a job; the paper comes out every day as usual (Sujay Gupta, editor-in-chief of *Herald*, declined answering any questions for this story). One thing that has come out of the sting so far: Desai, the paper’s marketing manager, has sued Nagvenkar for criminal defamation. Nagvenkar, whose day job is with one of India’s national news agencies, is well prepared for the battle. “It’s not as if paid news only happens at *Herald*,” says Nagvenkar,“it happens everywhere. There is as much corruption in the media as in any of the institutions it covers. In the big metros, you can cover your tracks. In a small place like
