[Goanet] Article to be published on the Goa research net platform

[Frazer Andrade]

Good evening
I am attaching below an image of my article titled Os Martires de Cuncolim,
which was published on OHERALDO (July 27,  2023 edition).
Also I am writing here the whole of the researched and compiled matter
submitted for publication.
Kindly find the same
With regards
Frazer Andrade



*Os Mártires de Cuncolim*

Cuncolim is a little village in South Goa, blessed with fertile soil and is
bound by deep rivers, which led to traders and artisans settling here.
Historian Teotónio Rosário de Souza, in his writings mentions that the
metal industry in this village, which made guns, was of extreamly good
quality. Afonso de Albuquerque mentions that they were comparable in
quality to the arms manufactured in Germany at that time. However in the 17
th century, the manufacturing of arms in Cuncolim was banned by viceroy Dom
Jerónimo de Azevedo.

It is the month of July. The anniversary of the Cuncolim incident (15th
July 1583) has just been a few days ago. One may come across many,
demanding the need for the state to commemorate the chieftains (gãonkars)
who were executed by the Estado da índia for killing five Jesuit
missionaries and several native Catholics, as the first ever revolt against
the Portuguese.  This is certainly a great example of the prevailing
amnesia about Goa’s past. This amnesia is not wholly but at least partially
induced on purpose. This is clearly seen from how the well-known Cuncolim
incident has been woven to satisfy as many nationalist tropes as possible.
The Portuguese are regarded as continuous oppressors, Goa as a land of the
Hindus, religious conversions as forced and violent, natives as Hindus
alone and as united against foreign rulers with no mention of castes. All
of this, makes the Cuncolim revolt, the first war of independence.

It is a fact that although nationalists insist that Goa was Hindu before
the arrival of the Portuguese, many Goans of the time were actually Muslim
while several others were part of indigenous communities with their own set
of distinct beliefs and traditions.

For Nationalists it is truly a matter of pride, since they believe that the
first ever revolt against the Portuguese (foreign) rule, in India (did
India exist in 1583?)  took place in our beloved state of Goa, in Cuncolim
on the 15th day of July in 1583. However one needs to understand that when
the Portuguese (Afonso de Albuuerque) attempted to conquer   Goa in
February 1510, he was welcomed by by some Goans but opposed by others. The
opposition was led by the Sultan of Bijapur and succeeded in driving away
the Portuguese by the end of May. It was in November that Afonso conquered
Goa for the second time. Thousands of soldiers and laymen lost their lives
in the battle and the turmoil that followed. Shouldn’t these individuals
who lost their lives (many of whom were Goans or residants of Goa) during
this period be considered as martyrs for the cause of seeking
independence?

During the initial years of the first half of the 16th Century, the
southern parts of Goa were mainly ruled by Adilshah. During this time it
was only three talukas i.e Tiswadi, Bardez and parts of Salcéte which was
inclusive of today’s Mormugão, that were under Portuguese governance.
Cuncolim was still under the control of the local ‘*Sanātana*’ Chieftains.
Salcéte came under the Portuguese rule in 1543.

Though Goa was very important a port for trade and control, and a major
strategic advantage for the Portuguese, their prime aspiration was
introduction and promotion of Latin Christianity (though Christianity was
first introduced into India and Goa by Saint Thomas, the apostle of Christ
Himself), in accordance with the papal bull ‘*Romanus Pontifex*’, which
granted the patronage of the propagation of the Christian faith in Asia, to
the Portuguese.

Cuncolim was inhabited by a devout ‘*Sanatana*’ population who mainly
belonged the warrior ‘Kshatriya’ caste. There were 12 ‘*vangodds*’ (clans)
of gãonkars living here. Their names, were Mhal, Shetkar, Naik, Mangro,
Shet, Tombdo, Porob, Sidakalo, Lokakalo, Bandekar, Rounom and Benklo. These
Gãoncars, had common ownership of the village and paid all taxes and were
also the ‘mahajans’ (founders and caretakers) of the main village temple.
In 1583, five Jesuit priests led by Pe. Rodolfo Acquaviva received orders
from their superior to go to Salcéte to find an appropriate site for
constructing a church.

The five Jesuit priests met at the Orlim Church on the 15th day of July in
1583, and from there proceeded to Cuncolim, accompanied by Gonçalo
Rodrigues a European (Portuguese) and 14 local neo-converts, with the
purpose of setting up a cross and finding a suitable space for building a
church. Meanwhile, the gãonkars from Cuncolim, after holding a meeting,
showed up in large numbers, armed with lances, swords and other weapons,
towards the spot where the Clergy had arrived.

In accordance to the writings of one Mr. Anthony D'Souza, in the *Catholic
Encyclopaedia*, Gonçalo Rodrigues 

[Goanet] Article: Suella Braverman: who is Attorney General declaring entry in Tory leadership race, could she be Prime Minister

[Gabe Menezes]

Suella Braverman: who is Attorney General declaring entry in Tory
leadership race, could she be Prime Minister

https://f7td5.app.goo.gl/eQEAJS

Sent via @updayUK

[Goanet] Article by Mr Peter Ronald D'Souza

[Marshall Mendonza]

https://amp.scroll.in/article/1018066/modi-governments-actions-against-the-christian-minority-reveal-a-deep-malaise-within-our-society

Re: [Goanet] Article: Qatar ruling family avoided £18.5 million tax on London super-mansion

[Roland Francis]

That much money means as much as a few rusty coins in an old tin to the 
Al-Thanis of Qatar.

Like all the other exposed wealthy people listed and to-be-listed in the 
Pandora Papers, the underlying cause is greed. 

In the Al-Thani family case I don’t know whether that greed can be traced to 
the inherent memories of their ancestral desert days of utter poverty or to the 
acts of an adviser who wanted to ingratiate himself with them.

Roland.
Toronto. 


> On Oct 5, 2021, at 12:26 PM, Gabe Menezes  wrote:
> 
> Qatar ruling family avoided £18.5 million tax on London super-mansion
> 
> https://f7td5.app.goo.gl/6FrDMT
> 
> Sent via @updayUK

[Goanet] Article: Qatar ruling family avoided £18.5 million tax on London super-mansion

[Gabe Menezes]

Qatar ruling family avoided £18.5 million tax on London super-mansion

https://f7td5.app.goo.gl/6FrDMT

Sent via @updayUK

[Goanet] Article: The age of misinformation amplified by partisan actors: ‘Belonging is stronger than facts’

[AF P]

https://www.chicagotribune.com/nation-world/ct-aud-nw-nyt-age-of-misinformation-20210507-s73io5bjovhkrh6nz2fhwdj6xq-story.html

The age of misinformation amplified by partisan actors: ‘Belonging is
stronger than facts’

By Max Fisher. The New York Times | May 07, 2021 at 1:20 PM

There’s a decent chance you’ve had at least one of these rumors, all
false, relayed to you as fact recently: that President Joe Biden plans
to force Americans to eat less meat; that Virginia is eliminating
advanced math in schools to advance racial equality; and that border
officials are mass-purchasing copies of Vice President Kamala Harris’
book to hand out to refugee children.

All were amplified by partisan actors. But you’re just as likely, if
not more so, to have heard it relayed from someone you know. And you
may have noticed that these cycles of falsehood-fueled outrage keep
recurring.

We are in an era of endemic misinformation — and outright
disinformation. Plenty of bad actors are helping the trend along. But
the real drivers, some experts believe, are social and psychological
forces that make people prone to sharing and believing misinformation
in the first place. And those forces are only on the rise.

“Why are misperceptions about contentious issues in politics and
science seemingly so persistent and difficult to correct?” Brendan
Nyhan, a Dartmouth College political scientist, posed in a new paper
in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

It’s not for want of good information, which is ubiquitous. Exposure
to good information does not reliably instill accurate beliefs anyway.
Rather, Nyhan writes, a growing body of evidence suggests that the
ultimate culprits are “cognitive and memory limitations, directional
motivations to defend or support some group identity or existing
belief, and messages from other people and political elites.”

Put more simply, people become more prone to misinformation when three
things happen. First, and perhaps most important, is when conditions
in society make people feel a greater need for what social scientists
call ingrouping — a belief that their social identity is a source of
strength and superiority, and that other groups can be blamed for
their problems.

As much as we like to think of ourselves as rational beings who put
truth-seeking above all else, we are social animals wired for
survival. In times of perceived conflict or social change, we seek
security in groups. And that makes us eager to consume information,
true or not, that lets us see the world as a conflict putting our
righteous ingroup against a nefarious outgroup.

This need can emerge especially out of a sense of social
destabilization. As a result, misinformation is often prevalent among
communities that feel destabilized by unwanted change or, in the case
of some minorities, powerless in the face of dominant forces.

Framing everything as a grand conflict against scheming enemies can
feel enormously reassuring. And that’s why perhaps the greatest
culprit of our era of misinformation may be, more than any one
particular misinformer, the era-defining rise in social polarization.

“At the mass level, greater partisan divisions in social identity are
generating intense hostility toward opposition partisans,” which has
“seemingly increased the political system’s vulnerability to partisan
misinformation,” Nyhan wrote in an earlier paper.

Growing hostility between the two halves of America feeds social
distrust, which makes people more prone to rumor and falsehood. It
also makes people cling much more tightly to their partisan
identities. And once our brains switch into “identity-based conflict”
mode, we become desperately hungry for information that will affirm
that sense of us versus them, and much less concerned about things
like truth or accuracy.

In an email, Nyhan said it can be methodologically difficult to nail
down the precise relationship between overall polarization in society
and overall misinformation, but there is abundant evidence that an
individual with more polarized views becomes more prone to believing
falsehoods.

The second driver of the misinformation era is the emergence of
high-profile political figures who encourage their followers to go
ahead and indulge their desire for identity-affirming misinformation.
After all, an atmosphere of all-out political conflict often benefits
those leaders, at least in the short term, by rallying people behind
them.

And then there is the third factor — a shift to social media, which is
a powerful outlet for composers of disinformation, a pervasive vector
for misinformation itself and a multiplier of the other risk factors.

“Media has changed, the environment has changed, and that has a
potentially big impact on our natural behavior,” said William Brady, a
Yale University social psychologist.

“When you post things, you’re highly aware of the feedback that you
get, the social feedback in terms of likes and shares,” Brady said. So
when misinformation ap

Re: [Goanet] Article on Goa’s battle against COVID by Ronak Kamat

[Ronak Kamat]

 fined for. I know plenty of Goans who 
take a respectable amount of precautions and have done so since the pandemic 
hit. A good way to deal with not wearing masks in a car or on a bike is warning 
such people. Fine them, maybe for repeated acts or when it is clear that they 
are endangering others. Not for small instances. Remember, they know what all 
goes on without a mask inside the State. 

So keep them by your side. Keep them in your prayers. 
That is the only way we will win. 

Ronak Kamat 
Writer, Film Maker





Ronak Kamat




> On 24-Apr-2021, at 6:37 PM, Frederick Noronha  
> wrote:
> 
> Ronak, please send the article as plain text, within the body of the email.
> It should go through.
> As attachments, it will get blocked. Thanks! FN
> 
> -- Forwarded message -
> From: Ronak Kamat 
> Date: Sat, 24 Apr 2021 at 13:19
> Subject: [Goanet] Article on Goa’s battle against COVID by Ronak Kamat
> To: 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- next part --
> 
> 
> Ronak Kamat 
> 
> 
> -- 
> 
> _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
> _/  FN * फ्रेड्रिक नोरोन्या * فريدريك نورونيا‎ +91-9822122436 
> _/  See a different Goa here, via 
> _/  https://youtube.com/c/frederickfnnoronha
> _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

[Goanet] Article on Goa’s battle against COVID by Ronak Kamat

[Ronak Kamat]

-- next part --


Ronak Kamat 

Re: [Goanet] Article: Shrinking tourism necessitates Goa to look for alternative economic sources

[Bernice Pereira]

These are excuses just to bolster the cause of Adani. Goa’s shrinking tourism 
is a temporary situation due to Covid. 

Bernice

Sent from my iPhone

> On 21-Apr-2021, at 1:13 PM, AF P  wrote:
> 
> https://www.deccanherald.com/brandspot/pr-spot/shrinking-tourism-necessitates-goa-to-look-for-alternative-economic-sources-976404.html
> 
> Shrinking tourism necessitates Goa to look for alternative economic sources
> 
> Apr 20 2021, 09:23 istupdated: Apr 20 2021, 09:23
> 
> Vedanta, JSW and Adani Group-backed MPT Goa plays a crucial role in
> the import and export of coal and other minerals. Thus, strengthening
> ports infrastructure is important in uplifting the state’s economy.
> 
> Goa’s shrinking tourism sector suffered another jolt as the state
> recorded almost 400 new covid-19 cases in a day on April 6. According
> to a KPMG report, Goa's tourism industry suffered Rs 2000 Cr to Rs
> 7000 Cr loss during the nationwide lockdown last year. With fears of
> the pandemic wave resurfacing, the state that thrives on tourism needs
> other industries for its economic and social upkeep.
> 
> Since Goa is bordered by the Arabian Sea, strengthening ports
> infrastructure and sea connectivity can potentially help in uplifting
> the state's economy. The Adani Group's project in Goa – of loading and
> unloading coal that is imported through Mormugao Port Terminal, is one
> such promising example. Operated by the central government and backed
> by private companies like JSW, Vedanta and Adani Group, MPT Goa
> employs over 2,600 people and has more than 4000 pensioners.
> 
> While only one out of the ten berths at the terminal makes up for
> Adani Group’s Project, the rest are operated by JSW and Vedanta.
> Nevertheless, such projects that are run through private-public
> partnership enhance the scope of the growth of any infrastructure
> including ports. The success story of MPT signals strong opportunities
> for developing ports in and around Goa which has the potential of
> impacting the lives of the locals directly.
> 
> Secondly, Goa’s fishing industry is perhaps underleveraged. With
> almost 10 per cent of the population working directly or indirectly in
> the fish trade, the sector plays a crucial role in uplifting the
> state’s economy. In its bid to make the coastal state a fisheries hub,
> the Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying recently
> announced an investment of over Rs 400 Cr. The plan includes the
> creation of about 30 fish landing jetties and fostering safe marine
> cultivation. However, like many other economic activities, the need to
> integrate sustainability is paramount to curb the environmental
> impact.
> 
> Other sectors that the state can tap into, include R&D and
> knowledge-based industries considering the high literacy rate of Goa
> that stands at almost 90 per cent and the fact that most of the
> population comprises of young workforce.
> 
> --- end --
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> ---
> Albert Peres
> Goa Culture List
> goaculturel...@gmail.com
> 
> +1 416-660-0847
> www.goaculturelist.ca
> Canada

[Goanet] Article: Shrinking tourism necessitates Goa to look for alternative economic sources

[AF P]

https://www.deccanherald.com/brandspot/pr-spot/shrinking-tourism-necessitates-goa-to-look-for-alternative-economic-sources-976404.html

Shrinking tourism necessitates Goa to look for alternative economic sources

Apr 20 2021, 09:23 istupdated: Apr 20 2021, 09:23

Vedanta, JSW and Adani Group-backed MPT Goa plays a crucial role in
the import and export of coal and other minerals. Thus, strengthening
ports infrastructure is important in uplifting the state’s economy.

Goa’s shrinking tourism sector suffered another jolt as the state
recorded almost 400 new covid-19 cases in a day on April 6. According
to a KPMG report, Goa's tourism industry suffered Rs 2000 Cr to Rs
7000 Cr loss during the nationwide lockdown last year. With fears of
the pandemic wave resurfacing, the state that thrives on tourism needs
other industries for its economic and social upkeep.

Since Goa is bordered by the Arabian Sea, strengthening ports
infrastructure and sea connectivity can potentially help in uplifting
the state's economy. The Adani Group's project in Goa – of loading and
unloading coal that is imported through Mormugao Port Terminal, is one
such promising example. Operated by the central government and backed
by private companies like JSW, Vedanta and Adani Group, MPT Goa
employs over 2,600 people and has more than 4000 pensioners.

While only one out of the ten berths at the terminal makes up for
Adani Group’s Project, the rest are operated by JSW and Vedanta.
Nevertheless, such projects that are run through private-public
partnership enhance the scope of the growth of any infrastructure
including ports. The success story of MPT signals strong opportunities
for developing ports in and around Goa which has the potential of
impacting the lives of the locals directly.

Secondly, Goa’s fishing industry is perhaps underleveraged. With
almost 10 per cent of the population working directly or indirectly in
the fish trade, the sector plays a crucial role in uplifting the
state’s economy. In its bid to make the coastal state a fisheries hub,
the Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying recently
announced an investment of over Rs 400 Cr. The plan includes the
creation of about 30 fish landing jetties and fostering safe marine
cultivation. However, like many other economic activities, the need to
integrate sustainability is paramount to curb the environmental
impact.

Other sectors that the state can tap into, include R&D and
knowledge-based industries considering the high literacy rate of Goa
that stands at almost 90 per cent and the fact that most of the
population comprises of young workforce.

 --- end --




-- 
---
Albert Peres
Goa Culture List
goaculturel...@gmail.com

+1 416-660-0847
www.goaculturelist.ca
Canada

[Goanet] Article: Story of Goa's Korgut rice...

[AF P]

What do we lose when we lose a grain of rice? | Story of Goa's Korgut
rice, grown in its Khazans, is story of the state

By: Sharanya Deepak
January 11, 2021 11:23:21 IST

https://www.firstpost.com/long-reads/what-do-we-lose-when-we-lose-a-grain-of-rice-story-of-goas-korgut-rice-grown-in-its-khazans-is-story-of-the-state-9059801.html

-- 
---
Albert Peres
Goa Culture List
goaculturel...@gmail.com

+1 416-660-0847
www.goaculturelist.ca
Canada

Re: [Goanet] Article: Gama-Pinto, Emma. moved to Canada after her husband's assassination

[Roland Francis]

Thanks for that Albert.
An interesting article. I have read about her before but this offers fresh 
insights.

Roland.


> On Nov 5, 2020, at 2:08 AM, AF P  wrote:
> 
> 1928-2020: Emma Gama-Pinto moved to Canada after her husband's
> assassination in Kenya
> 
> https://www.thewhig.com/news/local-news/1928-2020-emma-gama-pinto-moved-to-canada-after-her-husbands-assassination-in-kenya/wcm/ec769c37-ba01-4fb7-9ec0-67d1b54653db
> 

[Goanet] Article: Gama-Pinto, Emma. moved to Canada after her husband's assassination

[AF P]

1928-2020: Emma Gama-Pinto moved to Canada after her husband's
assassination in Kenya

https://www.thewhig.com/news/local-news/1928-2020-emma-gama-pinto-moved-to-canada-after-her-husbands-assassination-in-kenya/wcm/ec769c37-ba01-4fb7-9ec0-67d1b54653db

-- link included photos --

"She only moved in one direction and that was forward. She would move
towards the unknown. She had so much courage."
Andrew Duffy Andrew Duffy

November 4, 2020


When Emma Gama-Pinto died last month in Ottawa, her passing was marked
by a flurry of news coverage in the African press.

The Nation newspaper called her “a betrayed widow,” a victim of
Kenya’s early, nasty politics. April Zhu, a writer for The Elephant,
eulogized her as whip-smart, beautiful and fearless. In its obituary,
The Star Kenya recounted the details of her husband’s political
assassination, the young nation’s first.

Pio Gama-Pinto, a crusading member of Parliament and a father of
three, was gunned down in the driveway of the family’s Nairobi home on
the morning of Feb. 24, 1965.

Gama-Pinto’s daughter, Linda, said her mother did not let the
bitterness of that tragedy consume the rest of her life.

“She only moved in one direction and that was forward,” Linda said.
“She would move towards the unknown. She had so much courage. She was
fearless, she truly was.”

Emma Gama-Pinto died Oct. 28 from the complications of dementia. She was 92.

Emma Dias was born in Jamshedpur, India, where her father, a Christian
from the Portuguese colony of Goa, worked as a superintendent in the
Tata Steel mill. At the age of eight, Emma and her twin sister, Joyce,
were sent to a convent in Darjeeling, in northern India, where they
were educated by Irish nuns.

In her 20s, Emma travelled to Nairobi, Kenya, to visit her twin
sister, who had married a Goan man working in that country’s civil
service. It was September 1953. In Nairobi, Emma was introduced to Pio
Gama-Pinto, a 26-year-old journalist of Goan descent who was working
to overthrow British rule in Kenya. Rumour held that Gama-Pinto was a
communist.

“She was a devout Catholic and thought she would bring him back to the
church,” said Linda. “That was the romantic side of her. He was very
candid with her and told her he wasn’t a communist and there was no
need to worry about his soul. But he didn’t hide his vocation, which
was to fight for justice for the Kenyan people.”

Emma Gama-Pinto with her granddaughter,  Midori Emma Derome-Pinto.
Photo supplied / Courtesy of Linda Gama-Pinto.

Pio could not promise Emma much. He was poor, and a socialist, and she
would need to work. He lived in the servants’ quarters of a friend’s
home.

Still, Emma did not hesitate to follow her heart. The couple married
in January 1954, and after a short honeymoon, Emma completed a course
in shorthand and took a job as a secretary. Pio used some of their
wedding money to buy a printing press.

Five months later, Pio was arrested and thrown into prison without a
trial for lending support to the Mau Mau Uprising, an armed rebellion
against colonial rule by landless peasants. Emma would not see him
again until he was released from Kenya’s notorious Manda Island prison
four years later.

Pio resumed his activism as soon he was out. He met Malcolm X,
organized local trade unions and wrote in support of the Kenya African
National Union, the socialist party that would dominate Kenya’s
political scene after the country’s independence in December 1963.
Meanwhile, Emma raised their three children, Linda, Malusha and
Tereshka, while continuing to work as a secretary.

In July 1964, Pio became a member of the country’s Parliament, where
he clashed with the country’s first president, Jomo Kenyatta, and
accused him of “grabbing” English farms for himself and those allied
to him.

On the morning of Feb. 24, 1965, Emma was in the government office
where she worked when she received a call from her mother, who was
visiting from India.

“Pio has been attacked,” she told Emma.

“I am coming home right away,” Emma said.

Emma Gama-Pinto with her daughter, Linda, and her granddaughter,
Midori Emma Derome-Pinto. Photo supplied / Courtesy of Linda
Gama-Pinto

When Emma arrived, she could see Pio’s white Saab at the end of the
driveway. She walked toward her house when her mother stopped her:
“He’s still in the car. He has been killed,” she said.

Emma went to the car and saw her husband’s body slumped in the front
seat. A pink blanket covered him. Two gunmen had fired into the car as
Pio waited for a gate to open.

There were many theories about Pio’s assassination: that he had
complained too loudly about corruption; that he had angered entrenched
union and corporate interests. Two teenagers were arrested for his
killing. One was acquitted and the other man received a presidential
pardon after serving 35 years in prison.

Linda is among those who believes his assassination was ordered by Kenyatta.

After Pio’s murder, Emma discovered the family had no money in the
bank. M

[Goanet] Article: When Good People Don’t Act, Evil Reigns

[AF P]

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/13/opinion/activism-trump-masks-climate.html

When Good People Don’t Act, Evil Reigns

Stop thinking that the horrors of the world will simply work themselves out.

By Charles M. Blow

I have often wondered how major world tragedies and horrors were
allowed to unfold. Where were all the good people, those who objected
or should have? How did life simply go on with a horror in their
midst?

How did the trans-Atlantic slave trade play out over hundreds of
years? How did slavery thrive in this country? How was the Holocaust
allowed to happen? How did the genocides in Rwanda or Darfur come to
be?

There is, of course, nearly always an explanation. Often it is
official policy; often it is driven by propaganda. But I’m more
concerned with how people in the society considered these events at
the time, and how any semblance of normalcy could be maintained while
events unfolded.

It turns out that our current era is providing the unsettling answer:
It was easy.

As I write this, nearly two hundred thousand Americans have died —
many of them needlessly — from Covid-19, in large part because the
Trump administration has refused to sufficiently address the crisis,
be honest with the American people and urge caution. Instead, Trump
has lied about the virus, downplayed it, resisted scientists’ warnings
and continues to hold rallies with no social distancing and no mask
requirements.

Things are poised to get worse: Models now predict that the number of
Americans killed by the virus could double between now and Jan. 1.
According to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the
University of Washington:

“We expect the daily death rate in the U.S., because of seasonality
and declining public vigilance, to reach nearly 3,000 a day in
December. Cumulative deaths expected by Jan. 1 are 415,090; this is
222,522 deaths from now until the end of the year.”
ImageSupporters at President Trump’s rally in Minden, Nev., on Saturday.
Supporters at President Trump’s rally in Minden, Nev., on
Saturday.Credit...Doug Mills/The New York Times

And yet, Americans still flock to Trump rallies, Republicans continue
to defend his pandemic response and it is not clear that he will be
defeated in November. We are, in many states, back to restaurants and
bars, schools and churches, gyms and spas. It’s not as if we don’t
know that there is a deadly virus being transmitted through the air,
but it seems as though many Americans, weary of restrictions, have
simply made their peace with it.

We have a climate crisis that continues to worsen. Storms are getting
stronger. Droughts are severe. Rivers are flooding. The sea level is
rising. And yet, we don’t do nearly enough to stop it and may not do
enough before it’s too late to do anything.

Right now much of the West Coast is ablaze with hellish scenes of
orange skies, and yet too many of us entertain climate change deniers,
or, perhaps worse, know well the gravity and precariousness of the
situation and still haven’t changed our habits or voted for the
candidates with the boldest visions to save the planet.

Right now, China has detained as many as one million mostly Muslim
citizens, in indoctrination camps, hoping to remold many into what The
New York Times called “loyal blue-collar workers to supply Chinese
factories with cheap labor.”

And yet, the world does little. Many look away. Life goes on.

This is how these catastrophes happen — in full sight — and people
with full knowledge don’t revolt. People sometimes think that the
issue is far away, or if it’s not, that it’s too big and they are too
powerless.

They think provincially, or even parochially, concerned with their own
house, their own street, their own community.

“It’s too bad that those children are in cages, but I can’t worry
about that now, the clothes in the dryer need folding.”

“It’s too bad that an unarmed Black man just got shot by the police,
but I can’t worry about that now, the yard needs mowing.”

I guess in some ways this impulse is self-protecting, preventing the
mind and spirit from becoming overwhelmed with angst and rage. But,
the result is that evil — as a person or system — rampages, unchecked,
taking your personal laissez-faire as public license.

If you don’t complain, you condone.

But this mustn’t be. Stop thinking of yourself as weak or helpless.
Stop thinking that things will simply work themselves out. Stop
thinking that evil will stop at the gate and not trample your own
garden.

Gather the energy. Gather your neighbor. Fight, vote, email, post. Do
all you can to stand up for the vulnerable, for the oppressed, for the
planet itself. Don’t let history record this moment as it has recorded
too many others: a time when good people did too little to confront
wickedness and disaster.

As Edmund Burke wrote in his 1770 “Thoughts on the Cause of the
Present Discontents”: “When bad men combine, the good must associate;
else they will fall, one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a

[Goanet] Article: Catholics lionizing of Attorney General Barr (USA) is a disturbing trend

[AF P]

https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2020/09/13/catholics-lionizing-of-attorney-general-barr-is-a-disturbing-trend.html

Catholics lionizing of Attorney General Barr is a disturbing trend
By Michael Coren

Sun., Sept. 13, 2020

On Sept. 23, the 16th National Catholic Prayer Breakfast, an extremely
prestigious assembly of the good and the great of U.S. Catholicism,
takes place. At the event the Christifideles Laici Award will be
given, “In Honour and Gratitude for Fidelity to the Church, Exemplary
Selfless and Steadfast Service in the Lord’s Vineyard.”

The prize is named after Pope John Paul II’s exhortation, “to stir and
promote a deeper awareness among all the faithful of the gift and
responsibility they share in the communion and mission of the church.”

There are many Catholics who have given their lives to helping the
poor and marginalized, and recognition for such heroes is only
correct. This year’s recipient, however, is Attorney General William
Barr.

Barr is someone who has championed and extended the death penalty in
the U.S., supported Donald Trump in his most strident anti-refugee
policies, done the president’s legal bidding in almost any way
possible, and has often been accused of simple dishonesty. All of
which runs directly contrary to Catholic teaching. Yet he is known as
a conservative Catholic and is vehemently opposed to abortion.

The argument that those on the right who oppose abortion are pro-birth
rather than pro-life has long been offered but the case is actually
even stronger. They are merely pro-conception. Because for a mother to
remain healthy and have a successful pregnancy she requires a medical
system that will support her regardless of economic status.

Barr opposes socialized medicine. Indeed, the chances of a white,
middle-class woman and her baby surviving pregnancy in the United
States are far greater than those of a Black, poor woman — who are
also much more likely to be affected by the criminalization of
abortion because states promoting such policies are invariably in the
South.

Barr also opposes contraception, public and affordable day care,
taxation policies that would aid the poor, modern sex education in
schools, and almost every other policy that would reduce abortion.

The reaction, the incredulity, to the Barr award has been substantial.
Sister Helen Prejean, the Catholic activist and nun who was portrayed
in the movie “Dead Man Walking” wrote, “I raise my voice in fervent
opposition to the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast’s scandalous
offer of an award to Attorney General Barr for his ‘exemplary
Christlike’ behaviour. I urge the group to immediately rescind their
invitation, and I urge anyone reading this to join me.”

But, frankly, it will do limited good. The lionization of Barr is part
of an emerging pattern, one committed to trying to seduce the Catholic
vote in November’s presidential election. Shortly before the Prayer
Breakfast announcement a video sermon by Catholic priest Father James
Altman, pastor of St. James the Less Catholic parish in Lacrosse,
Wisc., went viral — already seen by more than half-a-million people.

In it he condemns Democrats as “godless” and roars that “You cannot be
Catholic and be a Democrat. Period.” Altman insists that, “We can see
in the many godless politicians, in the godless educational system, in
the godlessness of so many ‘sheeples,’ they are most definitely not
serving him, they are not fulfilling their purpose in life,” and then
shows pictures of Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi, both Catholic Democrats.

The language and anger is extraordinary for an ordained cleric but
while many in the church have reprimanded him, others have been
inspired. Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler, Tex., tweeted: “As the
Bishop of Tyler I endorse Fr Altman’s statement in this video. My
shame is that it has taken me so long. Thank you Fr Altman for your
COURAGE. If you love Jesus & His Church & this nation ... please HEED
THIS MESSAGE.”

Expect to see more of this in the weeks to come, as the Trump team
struggles to secure enough of the Catholic vote that was once solidly
Democrat. They made major inroads four years ago and while they know
that the vast majority of white evangelicals are still MEGA-committed,
it’s Catholic voters — particularly middle-class or in swing and rust
belt states — who are the one who will make a major difference.

I can only imagine what the progressive Pope Francis thinks of all
this. I’m sure there’s quite a word for it in colloquial Spanish!


Michael Coren is a Toronto-based writer and contributing columnist to
the Star’s Opinion section and iPolitics. Follow him on Twitter:
@michaelcoren

---
Albert Peres
Goa Culture List
goaculturel...@gmail.com

1+ 416-660-0847
www.goaculturelist.ca
Canada

[Goanet] Article by Marietta D'Almeida: What are you weighting for?

[Cedric D'almeida]

What are you weighting for? How simple changes to your diet could help you 
maintain a healthier life


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What are you weighting for? How simple changes to your diet could help y...

South Asians are up to 6 times more likely to have type 2 diabetes than the 
general population. Experts suggest ...
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[Goanet] [ARTICLE] The Sound of Konkani Christian Music - Melvyn S. Misquita

[Melvyn Misquita]

Did you know?

* There were no Goan Konkani carols before 1963
* The first Konkani carol was written on the steps of a church
* A humiliating experience inspired a Jesuit priest to compose the lyrics of 
over 300 Konkani hymns
* An acclaimed Hindu poet has penned the lyrics of a popular hymn
* There is a mammoth 18-verse hymn on St Francis Xavier
* The popular Goan Konkani hymn book Gaionancho Jhelo is nearly 60 years old
* The Gaionancho Jhelo contains over 550 hymns, over 2,000 melodies
* The youngest composer of a liturgical melody has been a 12-year-old boy

Melvyn S. Misquita interacts with five senior priests to piece together for the 
first time a comprehensive and fascinating story of the popular Konkani hymn 
book, ‘Gaionancho Jhelo’, used by millions of Goan Catholics during liturgical 
and para-liturgical services and celebrations in Goa and across the world for 
nearly six decades.



The Sound of Konkani Christian Music


By Melvyn Savio Misquita
2 August 2020
EMAIL: misqu...@outlook.com
PHONE: 9860597117

A. THE BACKGROUND:

Hymns are an integral part of the Catholic faith and millions of Goan Catholics 
have been singing numerous Konkani hymns during liturgical and para-liturgical 
services and celebrations in Goa and across the world.

But not many are aware of the dedication, passion and brilliance of one 
composer behind most of those Konkani hymns. The pioneering efforts of Goan 
Jesuit Fr Vasco do Rego (95), former Rector at the Bom Jesus Basilica in Old 
Goa (1979-95), and his collaborators, have led to his popular Konkani hymnal 
‘Gaionancho Jhelo’ (Garland of Hymns), sung by Goan devotees across the world 
for nearly six decades.

What began as a 3 paise hymn booklet sometime in 1963 is today a full-fledged 
Konkani hymnal, described by Fr Joaquim Loiola Pereira, secretary to the 
Archbishop of Goa and Daman, as “not just a book of religious poems, but a 
veritable summula of Catholic theology and spirituality, perhaps one of the 
best exemplars of a Catholic Hymnal ever.”

Incidentally, the Gaionancho Jhelo might not have taken shape, had it not been 
for an embarrassing experience faced by Fr Rego, while a seminarian pursuing 
theology in Belgium (1952-56). That unpleasant incident eventually led Fr Rego 
to compose Goa’s first Konkani Carol and later, hundreds of original Konkani 
hymns, many of which are part of a classic Christian music heritage today.

“We were among the students of Theology from 17 countries in that 
French-speaking Belgian Theologate. Two of us hailed from Goa. During our first 
Christmas there in 1952, all were asked to sing carols in their native 
language, group by group. When it was our turn, we felt deeply ashamed as we 
did not have in Goa a single Konkani carol in 1952,” recalled Fr Rego, who 
resides in Pune and continued to be the editor of Dor Mhoineachi Rotti till 
2019, a task that he dedicatedly carried out for ten years.

“What humiliated me most was that the Congolese companions of ours, these 
second generation Catholics, sang carols in their own language, and we Goans 
couldn’t do so, even though the Christian faith in Goa had been ours for over 
400 years.”

“At that moment, an indescribable inner communication made me understand that I 
myself would, someday, rectify this embarrassment and see that we have carols 
and other hymns of our own,” Fr Rego added.

B. THE PRECURSOR:

While the Gaionancho Jhelo is the best known and most recognised Goan Konkani 
hymn book for nearly six decades, it is not the first Konkani hymn book 
published in Goa. For, that honour goes to a little known hymn book published 
in 1960.

According to Fr Lino de Sá, Parish Priest at Our Lady of Candelaria Church, 
Camurlim-Salcete, the foresight of Fr João Baptista Viegas, then professor of 
music in Saligao Seminary, had led to the birth of the Konkani Hymn booklet 
‘Povitr Misachi Bhett Gaianamnim’ (The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in hymns).

“Before the appearance of Gaionancho Jhelo in 1963, an initiative of Fr Rego, 
there was a pioneering effort of Fr João Baptista Viegas, then professor of 
music in Saligao Seminary, to help towards active participation of the faithful 
in the Holy Mass, by publishing a booklet ‘Povitr Misachi Bhett Gaianamnim’ on 
February 5, 1960,” recalled Fr de Sá.

“This booklet contained nine hymns with lyrics by Belarmino Lobo from Colvale 
and music by Fr Viegas, besides a commentary on the respective parts of the 
Mass. It was printed with musical notations at Tipografia Rangel, Bastora-Goa. 
Fr Viegas also recorded the same hymns on a 73 rpm gramophone disc.”

“What a far-sighted vision this priest had to interpret in anticipation the 
mind of the Church, which was manifested two years later through the Second 
Vatican Council, with regard to the active participation of the people in the 
Mass!” Fr de Sá added.

Fr Vasco do Rego then recalled his association with Fr Viegas and his 
contribution to Konkani hymns.

[Goanet] Article on Observador - Eugenio Viassa Monteiro

[Bernado Colaco]

 It would be interesting to share ideas on Goa. Today it is faced with 
something not dissimilar to a debt trap economy. The lack of auto sufficiency 
has led Goa to be in dire straits specially in terms of agricultural produce 
during this very cataclysmic crisis. 
BC
-
During the lockdown I decided to write some articles showing some of the
best ideas put in practice in India. 

Other countries may learn and also follow an adequate path towards their
development.


Eugenio M.

 




  

[Goanet] Article on Observador (Lisbon) and the translation

[Eugenio Viassa Monteiro]

Mumbai, 20th April 2020

 

Dear Sir,

 

During the lockdown I decided to write some articles showing some of the
best ideas put in practice in India. 

Other countries may learn and also follow an adequate path towards their
development.

I put the link to the Portuguese version on OBSERVADOR (Lisbon) and I attach
its translation.

 

https://observador.pt/opiniao/a-vida-tem-mais-encanto-no-servico-aos-outros/

Hope you like it.

 

Best regards,

 

Eugenio M.

 

[Goanet] Article about the visit to Goa of Portuguese President (request of Frederick Noronha)

[Edgar Valles]

*GOA: O TEMPO NÃO VOLTA ATRÁS*

“*O tempo não volta atrás, mas o passado pode tornar-se o futuro, se
soubermos tirar partido do passado*”, eis a síntese lapidar de Marcelo
Rebelo de Sousa, ao referir-se às relações Portugal-Índia e, em especial, a
Goa.

O Presidente da República proferiu estas palavras numa conferência em Goa,
no sábado, em que destacou o sentimento que todos os portugueses têm quando
chegam à que foi a joia da coroa: “*Em Goa, sinto-me em casa. Já visitei
tantas nações…Países pequenos, médios e grandes, mas tenho de confessar que
esta é uma visita muito especial para mim. Faz-me lembrar o passado. Em
Goa, sinto-me completamente em casa*”.

No entanto, salientou que não tem sentimentos nostálgicos: *“Goa está
integrada na Índia, mas é diferente…um lugar único…único onde encontramos o
futuro, mas não nos fixamos no passado. É por isso que eu sinto que a minha
vinda a Goa não é nostálgica*”.

Alexandre Moniz Barbosa, diretor do Herald (principal jornal de Goa),
referiu no editorial de domingo, que “ Goa pode ser considerada a base para
um maior fortalecimento das relações entre a Índia e Portugal. Se Lisboa
pode ser a porta de entrada para a Índia em relação à União Europeia, Goa
pode, do mesmo modo, ser a porta de entrada de Portugal na Índia”. Ainda
hoje, há em Goa um significativo número de pessoas que fala português. O
Instituto Camões e a Indo Portuguese Friendship Society promovem o ensino
da língua portuguesa e a Fundação Oriente tem uma função cultural
relevante. A Universidade de Goa tem um Departamento de Português, com
licenciatura no nosso idioma.

Os benefícios para Goa de um aumento das relações comerciais, culturais e
mesmo políticas com Portugal é imenso. O que atrai os turistas indianos a
Goa, o estado mais pequeno da Índia, é a sua especificidade, o sentimento
de que estão na Europa sem terem passado pelo controlo da imigração. Tal
deve-se, em grande parte, à influência portuguesa, à longa história de
partilha com Portugal, que quase sessenta anos de integração na Índia não
conseguiram apagar.

Tal influência em nada prejudica a pertença de Goa à Índia. Porém,
persistem receios infundados, bloqueios mentais que prejudicam as relações
de Portugal com Goa. Ainda há quem, em Goa, não esteja convencido de que
Portugal é uma democracia, que deixou de ser uma potência colonial e que
não tem ambições neocoloniais. Certamente por isso, a própria visita de
Marcelo quedou-se por pouco mais de 24 horas, com um programa muito
discreto. Costa foi recebido com uma apoteose, em janeiro de 2017, a ponto
de haver quem, com ironia, dissesse que ganharia as eleições locais se
concorresse. Houve, obviamente, quem não gostasse de tal popularidade.
Marcelo, por isso, não podia beneficiar do banho de multidão de que tanto
gosta…

Seja como for, as relações estão no bom caminho e tudo indica que as
sombras do passado não irão sobrepor-se à esperança no futuro…

Edgar Valles

Ex-Presidente da Casa de Goa

[Goanet] Article: No Tata Nano production since Jan; only 1 unit sold in last 9 months

[AF P]

https://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/no-nano-production-since-jan-only-1-unit-sold-in-last-6-months-119070201018_1.html

Tata Motors has not produced its small car Nano since January this year,
and not sold a single unit since February this year, according to
regulatory filings by the company.

The company, however, said it has not taken a formal decision on stopping
production of the entry-level car, which was once dubbed as the 'people's
car' saying it continues to sell the car as per demand.

As per the filings by Tata Motors, the last time it produced Nano was in
December 2018 when it rolled out 82 units from Sanand plant.

Since then, from January to June there was no production of Nano.

In terms of sales it was only in February, during January-June period, this
year that Tata Motors sold one unit of the small car.

When asked if the company has finally decided to discontinue Nano, a Tata
Motors spokesperson said no such decision has been taken yet.

"We are selling as per demand," the spokesperson said.

There were no exports of Nano in January-June period too.

In the past, Tata Motors has hinted that Nano production would be stopped
from April 2020 as it has no plans to invest further on Ratan Tata's dream
car to meet strict emission norm under BS-VI and upcoming new safety
regulations.

In June last year, the company produced just one unit of the Nano and sold
three units in domestic market.

After that, the company continued to produce Nano at Sanand plant based on
market demand and has insisted that it hasn't taken a decision on the
future of Nano.

Nano, which was unveiled in January 2008 at the Auto Expo with much
expectations of being the people's car, could not live up to the billing.
The car was launched in the market in March 2009 with an initial price of
close to Rs 1 lakh for the basic model despite cost escalations, with Ratan
Tata insisting that "a promise is a promise".

---
Albert Peres
Goa Culture List
goaculturel...@gmail.com
416.660.0847

www.goaculturelist.ca

[Goanet] ARTICLE ON ST INEZ CREEK WAS A SUCCESS THANKS TO EDITOR OF THE GOAN

[Stephen Dias]

No time so many people calling and congratulating me plus  forwarding to
people etc.Also some cannot clearly read them as i clicked from mobile to
paper. Everybody liked my article. By the way i met Babush in his MLA
office at Miramar and I had a talk with him and requested that now it is
his duty to work to see the St Inez creek is brought to the original
position with clarity of waters and sewage connections to this existing
high rise buildings around the creek and removing all these lamanis ghantis
staying there. He told me he is going first contacting PWD, GSIDC, CCP CoP
and other government authorities to get it cleaned this creek.
Jose Manuel Noronha said my article is well written and thanked me for it.
My NIO colleagues also appreciated this article. I am continuously
receiving calls and messages not only from friends but few politicians
too.I am greatful to the Editor Joel for publishing it. Overall the article
nice but the ball is in the court of the Government and Chairman of Greater
Panaji authority.
I am forwarding this message Dr.Joe to everybody.
Thanks for your help too.
Stephen Dias

[Goanet] Article 370: India to revoke special status for Kashmir

[Gabe Menezes]

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-49231619
-- 
DEV BOREM KORUM

Gabe Menezes.

[Goanet] Article: NEW Colin D'Cruz on www.goaculturelist.ca

[AF P]

I've added a article and an interview with Colin D'Cruz on Goa Culture
List (Canada)If you are a reader of GoaNet you are familiar with
the contents, but its new to most Goan Canadians...may of who have
never been to Goa

https://goaculturelist.ca/

Hope to cover more  please keep me in the loop. And do send requests.

Will have coverage about the GOA-T's Viva Goa this weekend

---
Albert Peres
Goa Culture List
goaculturel...@gmail.com
416.660.0847

www.goaculturelist.ca

[Goanet] ARTICLE

[Joel Moraes]

God save our souls!
A mother’s womb is a sacred place for each one of us. We alllived in her sacred 
womb and she took good care of us all with deep pain andsuffering for nine long 
months prior seeing the light of this beautifulcreation of the creator called 
Earth. The earth should be the most sacred placein the life of every human 
being where we begin and end our journey called life. We all are very well 
aware that weare here to go. So why most our us turn out to be selfish and 
greedy throughoutour life. It’s a very simple truth that we all depend on this 
planet and it’snot the other way round but sadly we have destroyed enough of 
this beautifulplanet in spite of knowing that we all will leave this planet 
with nothing one day,some day. The way we, the human power act, it looks like, 
we the human race isthe sole owner of this earth when there are so many other 
species having equalrights as humans. We even went to such an extent to destroy 
their habitat andwhen they started to enter our boundaries, we thought of 
officially declaring themas Vermin. We even went to the extent of allowing 
mafias to pollute our clean/freshair and water, in the name of 
industrialization thus proving the true qualitiesof us, humans.

Does well known liars ever spoke truth and stuck to their word?Once termed 
dallals turned out to be theirsaviors and our politicians speak about so called 
word. They lie, cheat, ruin, loot and when they die, we build theirsamadhis and 
fire few gun shots inthe air as a mark of respect for all their wrong doings 
throughout their life?Some of them speak about feeling at home when they jump 
from one politicalparty to another for personal political gains. Were they 
staying in gutters allthese past years of their respective lives? Politicians 
like Jack Sequeira andcompany of those days saved Goa from merger with 
Maharashtra being in oppositionwhen the ruling headed by Bandodkar was all out 
for merger and our ten formerCongress MLA’s says they merged themselves into 
BJP for the overall developmentof their respective constituencies. What exactly 
development means? Filling ofGoa’s fertile land, razing of beautiful green 
hills, destruction of Goa’s thickforest, allowing cutting of thousands of 
coconut trees to make way for a Beerfactory when Goa had enough beer, selling 
of Goa’s rivers to the centre and nowselling of Goa’s coastline  to the 
mafias,etc.?

The people in power even tried to kill their own people byallowing application 
of formalin to the fish imported from other states whenGoa has enough fish for 
its own consumption. The  incompetentFDA director even went to the extent of 
saying  the presence of Formalin  in the fish is within permissible limits thus 
tryingto support  the Formalin fish mafia.People of Vasco been forced to 
breathe air polluted with coal dust. Coal dustdeposits been witnessed in their 
houses and our politicians speaks about development.People staying around the 
surroundings of Sonsddogarbage dump in Salcette were forced to breathe 
poisonous fumes and gasesdue to the recent burning of the garbage dump and 
nobody really cares. For agespeople in power has been trying to find a solution 
for Sonsddo garbage dump but sadly we the people been voting for thesame 
garbage since ages so garbage in Goa always progressed and will progress.We 
destroyed the natural smartness of our Goa and now we are planning smartcities.
Lord have mercy on us all.God save our souls.
Joel MoraisP.O.Cuncolim,Bencleamvaddo,Salcette,Goa.mob-9970561727

  

[Goanet] Article on diasporan Goans

[John Nazareth]

Hi Frederick

That was an excellent article you wrote for the Navhind Times on diasporan 
Goans.

Just a note of Gerald Nazareth. I didn't realize that he had just passed away.
Besides what you had mention Wikipedia also says "Gerald Nazareth was appointed 
a Judge of the High Court in Hong Kong in 1985. He became a Justice of Appeal 
on the Court of Appeal in 1991. Mr. Nazareth played a key part in arranging the 
swearing in of judges within hours of the handover of Hong Kong in 1997. He was 
one of the non-permanent judges of the Court of Final Appeal in Hong Kong[1] 
from 1997 to 2012."
Amazing guy.

He was from Moira and was also a nephew of John Maximillian Nazareth QC, the 
Kenya politician. Illustrious family.
(Not related to me. I'm from the other Nazareth clan of Moira.)

Cheers

John

[Goanet] Article: future of transportation? Spend 96 hours in India.

[Albert Peres]

Why This $4,000 Renault Is as Disruptive as the Tesla Model 3
Want to see the future of transportation? Spend 96 hours in India.

By Alex RoyJuly 18, 2017

http://www.thedrive.com/new-cars/12579/why-this-4000-renault-is-as-disruptive-as-the-tesla-model-3

--
Albert Peres

afpe...@3129.ca
416.660.0847 cell

[Goanet] Article: Collecting Data That Could Be Sold

[Albert Peres]

Your Roomba (autonomous robotic floor vacuum cleaner) May Be Mapping 
Your Home, Collecting Data That Could Be Sold


https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/25/technology/roomba-irobot-data-privacy.html

By MAGGIE ASTOR JULY 25, 2017

The Roomba 980 from iRobot, which was released in 2015. Some of the 
company’s robotic vacuums collect spatial data to map users’ homes. 
Credit iRobot, via Reuters


Your Roomba may be vacuuming up more than you think.

High-end models of Roomba, iRobot’s robotic vacuum, collect data as they 
clean, identifying the locations of your walls and furniture. This helps 
them avoid crashing into your couch, but it also creates a map of your 
home that iRobot is considering selling to Amazon, Apple or Google.


Colin Angle, chief executive of iRobot, told Reuters that a deal could 
come in the next two years, though iRobot said in a statement on 
Tuesday: “We have not formed any plans to sell data.”


In the hands of a company like Amazon, Apple or Google, that data could 
fuel new “smart” home products.


“When we think about ‘what is supposed to happen’ when I enter a room, 
everything depends on the room at a foundational level knowing what is 
in it,” an iRobot spokesman said in a written response to questions. “In 
order to ‘do the right thing’ when you say ‘turn on the lights,’ the 
room must know what lights it has to turn on. Same thing for music, TV, 
heat, blinds, the stove, coffee machines, fans, gaming consoles, smart 
picture frames or robot pets.”


But the data, if sold, could also be a windfall for marketers, and the 
implications are easy to imagine. No armchair in your living room? You 
might see ads for armchairs next time you open Facebook. Did your Roomba 
detect signs of a baby? Advertisers might target you accordingly.


Jamie Lee Williams, a staff lawyer at the Electronic Frontier 
Foundation, a digital rights group, said information about the size of a 
home and the amount of furniture in it could allow advertisers to deduce 
the owner’s income level. Eventually, it might even be possible to 
identify the brands the owner uses.


“Especially combined with other data, this is going to be able to reveal 
a ton of information about what people’s lifestyles are like, what 
people’s daily patterns are like,” Ms. Williams said.


Albert Gidari, director of privacy at the Stanford Center for Internet 
and Society, said that if iRobot did sell the data, it would raise a 
variety of legal questions.


What happens if a Roomba user consents to the data collection and later 
sells his or her home — especially furnished — and now the buyers of the 
data have a map of a home that belongs to someone who didn’t consent, 
Mr. Gidari asked. How long is the data kept? If the house burns down, 
can the insurance company obtain the data and use it to identify 
possible causes? Can the police use it after a robbery?


Some who reacted online on Monday and Tuesday were alarmed.

“Your friendly little Roomba could soon become a creepy little spy that 
sells maps of your house to advertisers,” tweeted OpenMedia, a Canadian 
nonprofit.


“Just remember that the Roomba knows what room your child is in,” Rhett 
Jones wrote in Gizmodo. “It’s the one where it bumps into all the toys 
on the floor.”


In its written response, iRobot said that it was “committed to the 
absolute privacy of our customer-related data.” Consumers can use a 
Roomba without connecting it to the internet, or “opt out of sending map 
data to the cloud through a switch in the mobile app.”


“No data is sold to third parties,” the statement added. “No data will 
be shared with third parties without the informed consent of our customers.”


“Informed consent,” of course, can be a vaguely defined term; Ms. 
Williams and Mr. Gidari noted that it might simply involve a privacy 
policy that few consumers read. But this criticism is “really applicable 
across the board to everybody’s privacy policy,” Mr. Gidari said. “It’s 
really tough to criticize one without criticizing all.”


Mr. Gidari added that in today’s technological climate, iRobot’s plans 
were unsurprising. “It kind of goes with the mantra that everything that 
can be connected will be connected,” he said, and a corollary “is that 
all the data that can be collected will be collected.”


But in the long term, what iRobot does with individual users’ data may 
not be the most important question. The third-party collection and 
dissemination of information about the inside of homes could have 
implications for the privacy laws that constrain the government and law 
enforcement.


The Supreme Court has held that Americans have “a reasonable expectation 
of privacy in your home,” Mr. Gidari said. “Once your home is turned 
inside out, does that reasonable expectation of privacy dissipate?”


---end---

--
Albert Peres

afpe...@3129.ca
416.660.0847 cell

[Goanet] Article for World Health Day (April 7th 2017) - Fr Cedric Prakash sj*

[Robin Viegas]

From: b sabha 


From: Fr. Cedric Prakash sj 
mailto:cedricprak...@gmail.com>>

Dear Friend

Greetings!

Here is an article for World Health Day tomorrow (April 7th 2017)

Kindly consider publishing it

Thanks

warmly

Fr Cedric
Fr. Cedric Prakash sj
Advocacy & Communications
Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) MENA Region
Rue de L'Universitie Saint-Joseph
Achrafieh 11002150 BEIRUT  LEBANON
Mobile:+961- 70-843-995
Tel:(Off)+961-1-332-601(Res)+961-1-200-456
 to 58(ext-1703)
Skype:cprakashsj Twitter:@CedricPrakash and @jrs_mena
Blog:https://medium.com/@cedricprakash
www.jrsmena.org
Like us on https://www.facebook.com/JRSMiddleEast

[Goanet] Article: This Article Won’t Change Your Mind

[AF P]

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/03/this-article-wont-change-your-mind/519093/

This Article Won’t Change Your Mind
The facts on why facts alone can’t fight false beliefs
   -- Julie Beck. Mar 13, 2017



..caution rambling, its the Atlantic Magazine
Radio version here:
https://soundcloud.com/user-154380542/this-article-wont-change-your-mind-the-atlantic-julie-beck

---
Albert Peres
416.660.0847

[Goanet] Article on Lisbon in the Guardian

[Con Menezes]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/oct/29/lisbon-web-summit-sun-surf-cheap-rents-tech-capital


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[Goanet] Article: Pope arrives in Sweden. Marks Protestant Reformation

[Albert Peres]

Pope arrives in Sweden to mark 500 years since Protestant Reformation

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/pope-francis-arrives-in-sweden-to-mark-martin-luther-protestant-reformation/

Pope Francis and Sweden’s Prime Minister Stefan Lofven during a 
welcoming ceremony at Sturup Airport outside Malmoe, Sweden, October 31, 
2016.


(includes 91 photos ...despite the criticism, Catholics and the Pope 
still have a tremendous influence and appeal in western countries 
including the USA)


MALMO, Sweden -- Pope Francis traveled to secular Sweden on Monday to 
mark the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, a remarkably 
bold gesture given his very own Jesuit religious order was founded to 
defend the faith against Martin Luther’s “heretical” reforms five 
centuries ago.


While the visit initially raised eyebrows, the Vatican and Lutheran 
church both insist the event is no celebration of Luther’s revolt. 
Rather, they say, it’s a solemn commemoration to ask forgiveness for the 
schism in Western Christianity and rejoice that relations have improved 
in the last five decades.


Francis has prioritized these deeply symbolic encounters to show that 
even while divided on dogma, the Christian faithful can and must work 
together and pray together, especially in times of religious persecution.

Pope Francis' summer residence opens to the public for the first time
Play Video
Pope Francis' summer residence opens to the public for the first time

“If we don’t do it, we Christians hurt ourselves by division,” Francis 
said in an interview this weekend with a Jesuit journal.


Francis arrived a few minutes ahead of schedule in Malmo, southern 
Sweden, and went immediately into an airport audience with Prime 
Minister Stefan Lofven, followed by a meeting with Sweden’s royals.


The main event of the day is an ecumenical prayer service to commemorate 
the anniversary with the head of the Lutheran World Federation, Bishop 
Munib Younan, at the Lutheran cathedral in Lund.


The Vatican and Lutheran delegations were to ride together in a bus - 
itself an ecumenical voyage of sorts - to attend an event highlighting 
both churches’ peace-making and humanitarian efforts. Testimony from 
refugees and the Catholic bishop of besieged Aleppo, Syria, top the list 
of speakers.


Francis continues his visit on Tuesday with a Catholic Mass in the Malmo 
sports stadium, added in at the last minute after Sweden’s tiny Catholic 
community balked that Francis was ignoring them and coming only for the 
Protestant commemoration.


“I wanted to insist on an ecumenical witness,” Francis said in the 
interview. “Then I thought about my role as pastor to a Catholic flock” 
and added in the Mass and an extra day.


The Protestant Reformation started in 1517 after Luther nailed 95 theses 
on the church door in the town of Wittenberg, denouncing what he saw as 
the abuses of the Catholic Church, especially the sale of indulgences.


Pope Leo X excommunicated him, but the church couldn’t stop his 
teachings from spreading throughout northern Europe or the world. 
Catholics persecuted Protestants and vice versa for hundreds of years.


St. Ignatius Loyola founded the Jesuit order in 1537, 20 years after 
Luther’s protest, in part as a response to the heresies being promoted, 
the Rev. Charles Connor, a church historian, wrote in “Defenders of the 
Faith in Word and Deed.”


“The work of the Jesuits in defending the faith must be looked at in the 
context of the Counter-Reformation,” he wrote. “The times called for a 
spirited defense of the faith. It was the time for Catholic renewal.”


Years ago, Francis spoke harshly of the Protestant reformers. But in the 
run-up to the trip, he has had only words of praise for Luther. He 
recently called the German theologian a reformer of his time who rightly 
criticized a church that was “no model to imitate.”


“There was corruption in the church, worldliness, attachment to money 
and power,” Francis told reporters this summer.


They are the same abuses Francis has criticized in the 21st-century 
Catholic Church he now leads.


© 2016 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not 
be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.


-- fair usage educational purposes only --

--
Albert Peres

afpe...@3129.ca
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[Goanet] article

[Devika Sequeira]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/The-challenge-of-being-different/articleshow/54664531.cms



*The challenge of being ‘different’*



*The AAP has still to prove it can go beyond political activism*



*Devika Sequeira*



After a surprisingly good start at its Panjim rally four months ago, the
Aam Aadmi Party has been unable thus far to harvest a crop of serious
enough contenders in Goa or match its audacious political hype at the
ground level.



Oscar Rebello’s dismissal of rumours—set off by party strategists
themselves—that he was set to contest the polls and head AAP’s Goa
challenge is something of a setback to the party with no proven political
credentials here yet.  Apart from his ability to articulate and nuance the
political debate and focus on a pragmatic course for the state, Rebello’s
charisma alone could have galvanized the AAP campaign, reliant as it is on
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s appeal alone. The standoff with the
Centre over the governance of Delhi and the growing challenges of the
Punjab election are unlikely to allow Kejriwal too much spare time to court
the Goan voter.



The ploy to force Rebello’s reluctant hand is a measure of the growing
anxiety in the AAP camp as the elections creep closer. The fledgling party
which started off with the bravado that they were in the Goa race “to win
huge like in Delhi”, is being obliged to own up the reality is proving
otherwise. In BJP-MGP strongholds the AAP intrusion has been negligible, if
not non-existent. In his own understated manner Chief Minister Laxmikant
Parsekar has read the signals right when he says the AAP’s presence is good
for the BJP in Goa.



No doubt the AAP has managed to create a buzz in constituencies in Salcette
and Bardez, both with a large presence of Catholic voters. It is expected
to harness the angst of the voter disenchanted with the status quo and the
politically entrenched. Though the Congress banks heavily on these
constituencies, they are by no means its ‘strongholds’. In fact a
discernible anti-Congress sentiment plays out in these areas in every
election as was evidenced by the wins secured in the past by regional
parties such as the UGDP, Save Goa Front, Goa Vikas Party and independents
in Salcette, which alone has eight constituencies.  Margao, which is also
part of the eight, has in recent elections swung between the Congress and
BJP, depending on which way the current representative, Digambar Kamat, has
been inclined.



Like the Goa Forward—and perhaps the new party being fashioned out by
Babush Monserrate—AAP will be one among the many vying for and splitting
the “secular” vote. The BJP’s analysis of the AAP in Goa is spot on. The
pre-election landscape could change substantially though, if the Congress
is compelled into a pre-poll alliance with the Goa Forward.



Theoretically, AAP is an attractive proposition for those looking for
fundamental shifts in politics, policies and power equations in this
country. New World Wealth data released earlier this month shows India is
the second most ‘unequal’ country in the world after Russia where
millionaires control more than half (62 per cent) of its total wealth. We
are among the 10 richest countries in the world, yet 54 per cent of our
wealth is in the hands of millionaires.



For many, Kejriwal articulates the concerns of the constituency of the
voiceless, the crushed, the disillusioned and even the cynical who might
have never given politics a shot. “Where else to go? Whom else to support?”
I’ve heard this sentiment expressed over and over by voters who feel
short-changed by the BJP’s complete reversal on its stated positions and
wary of the Congress’ track record on nepotism.



Like the BJP, which first coined the phrase ‘the party with a difference’,
the AAP arrived on the promise of ‘being different’. The scandals that have
beset the party in Delhi and Punjab in recent months have shaken its claim
to the high moral ground. It’s inability to get down to the business of
governance in Delhi where it is locked in a continuing conflict with the
Governor and its failure to respond to the capital’s health crisis from
chikungunya and dengue which had claimed 20 lives by mid-September, have
exposed the party’s political immaturity.



Has AAP then become a victim of its own success, fixated more on winning
elections, than actually running the government? Those backing AAP would
argue it is too early to tell and the party must be given a shot at running
a state (which Delhi is not) before the media and other critics rush to
judgement. What we’ve seen so far of AAP and Kejriwal is a huge talent for
political activism. While protest and grandstanding are a good way to
corner the spotlight, they serve no purpose when one has to walk the talk.



*This article appeared in the Times of India, October 4, 2016*

Re: [Goanet] Article: Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy: Indians have highest ego per unit of achievement

[Roland]

This brings into question the whole concept of the All-India Services like the 
IAS.

While the fact that it is all-India is a good thing, the other aspects of it 
are either outdated or irrelevant to a modern progressive country, since it was 
created by the British for a colonially ruled India. Very few rules and 
procedures set in the 1930s and 40s have changed for the digital and modern age.

Too little emphasis is placed on a technocratic strategy and too much on an 
administrative mentality.

The real pity of it all is that you have countless capable Indians worthy of 
making good plans with even better success. See the private sector. The 
outdated bureaucratic machinery of government makes even the most promising 
recruit a dullard in a short while.

Murthy is right!


Roland Francis
Toronto.

> On Aug 16, 2016, at 2:03 PM, Albert Peres  wrote:
> 
> Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy: Indians have highest ego per unit of 
> achievement
> 
> Masoom Gupte | ET Bureau | Aug 16, 2016, 12.52 PM IST
> http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/tech-news/Infosys-co-founder-Narayana-Murthy-Indians-have-highest-ego-per-unit-of-achievement/articleshow/53719977.cms
> 
> Murthy talks about having worked with so many governments and that the 
> know-it-all attitude is why work doesn't happen fast in the country.
> 
> Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy delivered the fourth annual Independence 
> Day Lit Live lecture in Mumbai last week. The first question he was asked as 
> he reached the venue was if he found the 90-minute long commute from the 
> airport to the venue frustrating. Murthy brushed it off saying he's used to 
> worse in Bengaluru, his home city.
> 
> It was a good point to start the conversation since his lecture's topic was 
> city systems. Murthy quoted several numbers and international examples to 
> highlight what's holding Indian cities back from being world class.
> 
> "The biggest challenge for all of us, not just politicians or bureaucrats, is 
> that we, Indians, have the highest ego per unit of achievement. I would 
> humbly request, we be open-minded to those who have performed better than 
> us," he said.
> 
> He spoke of having worked with so many governments and realised that somehow 
> things don't move fast. It's partly due to the know-it-all attitude. He 
> shared that Nandan Nilekani (co-founder, Infosys and the force behind Aadhaar 
> cards) too had a similar experience while working with the establishment in 
> Delhi.
> 
> "Nandan was giving a lecture on his experience in designing and implementing 
> Aadhaar sometime back. Somebody asked him how difficult was it to work in 
> Delhi," Murthy said. Nilekani's response: The first hurdle that you come 
> across is that they (bureaucrats) say we know this. The toughest hurdle is if 
> they say we are already doing this. There isn't much to do then.
> 
> Murthy contrasted this attitude with his experience as an IT advisor to the 
> Thai PM, more than a decade back. "They (Thai officials) would make a 
> presentation and I would give suggestions. They would write those down. The 
> next time I went there, they would show me how they've (the suggestions) been 
> implemented," he said.
> 
> In comparison stands the Indian bureaucrat, who as per Murthy never writes 
> anything. Probably because he already knows it.
> 
> ---end---
> 
> -- 
> Albert Peres
> 
> afpe...@3129.ca
> 416.660.0847 cell
> 
> ---
> This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
> https://www.avast.com/antivirus
> 

[Goanet] Article: Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy: Indians have highest ego per unit of achievement

[Albert Peres]

Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy: Indians have highest ego per unit of 
achievement


Masoom Gupte | ET Bureau | Aug 16, 2016, 12.52 PM IST
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/tech-news/Infosys-co-founder-Narayana-Murthy-Indians-have-highest-ego-per-unit-of-achievement/articleshow/53719977.cms

Murthy talks about having worked with so many governments and that the 
know-it-all attitude is why work doesn't happen fast in the country.


Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy delivered the fourth annual 
Independence Day Lit Live lecture in Mumbai last week. The first 
question he was asked as he reached the venue was if he found the 
90-minute long commute from the airport to the venue frustrating. Murthy 
brushed it off saying he's used to worse in Bengaluru, his home city.


It was a good point to start the conversation since his lecture's topic 
was city systems. Murthy quoted several numbers and international 
examples to highlight what's holding Indian cities back from being world 
class.


"The biggest challenge for all of us, not just politicians or 
bureaucrats, is that we, Indians, have the highest ego per unit of 
achievement. I would humbly request, we be open-minded to those who have 
performed better than us," he said.


He spoke of having worked with so many governments and realised that 
somehow things don't move fast. It's partly due to the know-it-all 
attitude. He shared that Nandan Nilekani (co-founder, Infosys and the 
force behind Aadhaar cards) too had a similar experience while working 
with the establishment in Delhi.


"Nandan was giving a lecture on his experience in designing and 
implementing Aadhaar sometime back. Somebody asked him how difficult was 
it to work in Delhi," Murthy said. Nilekani's response: The first hurdle 
that you come across is that they (bureaucrats) say we know this. The 
toughest hurdle is if they say we are already doing this. There isn't 
much to do then.


Murthy contrasted this attitude with his experience as an IT advisor to 
the Thai PM, more than a decade back. "They (Thai officials) would make 
a presentation and I would give suggestions. They would write those 
down. The next time I went there, they would show me how they've (the 
suggestions) been implemented," he said.


In comparison stands the Indian bureaucrat, who as per Murthy never 
writes anything. Probably because he already knows it.


---end---

--
Albert Peres

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416.660.0847 cell

---
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[Goanet] Article: Major changes to Canada’s immigration system expected in fall (...looking for more Goans!)

[Albert Peres]

http://www.mississauga.com/news-story/6771893-major-changes-to-canada-s-immigration-system-expected-in-fall-says-minister-john-mccallum/

Major changes to Canada’s immigration system expected in fall, says 
Minister John McCallum


The Trudeau government is ready to introduce new changes to the current 
immigration system, minister of immigration, refugees and citizenship 
John McCallum announced Wednesday while visiting Peel region.


Mississauga News By Nouman Khalil

The Trudeau government is ready to introduce changes to the current 
immigration system, minister of immigration, refugees and citizenship 
John McCallum announced Wednesday while visiting Peel region.


McCallum’s visit to Peel was part of the government’s nationwide 
consultation process to bring essential changes to the immigration 
policy that was promised by the Liberal Party during the 2015 election 
campaign.


In Brampton and Mississauga, the minister met local members of 
parliament and stakeholders and discussed issues related to immigration. 
Top of the agenda is speeding up the process of family class immigration.


 “We’re working to meet our single most important commitment to reduce 
the processing time for family class,” said McCallum. “Right now, it 
takes approximately two years for a husband and wife to be reunited… it 
is unacceptable.”


McCallum said the Liberal government inherited a system that is 
presently creating concerns within the community and his team is working 
to streamline it by introducing a new and improved policy.


The new system – with changes to family and skilled class, economic 
category as well as visitors’ visa policy – is expected to be introduced 
in the coming fall season.


“We want to streamline the admission of economic immigrants as well as 
refugees and family class. We are going to make it much easier for 
international students to become permanent residents,” said the 
Markham-Thornhill MP.


In competition with other countries like Australia, the United Kingdom 
and the United States, he said the government currently working to give 
international students more points and make it easier for them to come 
to Canada.


“International students are at the top of the government’s list to 
become permanent residents because they are young, educated, and fluent 
in English or French,” said McCallum, adding the government is also 
working to improve visitors’ visa procedures, which are creating 
problems, especially in Chandigarh, India.
( 
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/offices/missions/chandigarh.asp  )


“Chandigarh is not the only place facing problems. We are determined to 
make it easier for people – particularly for visitor visas, weddings and 
funerals. We are determined to find a timely solution for it. Soon we 
will have a much quicker entry process,” said McCallum.


The minister said it’s a great achievement that the Trudeau government 
recently brought in 25,000 Syrian refugees in just four months on 
humanitarian grounds.


“The project has gone very well. It really makes me proud to be a 
Canadian because so many Canadians have come out to support this 
project. We stand out as a country that has truly welcomed refugees,” 
said McCallum.


---end---

--
Albert Peres

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416.660.0847 cell

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[Goanet] Article 50: the simplest explanation youll find.

[Con Menezes]

  
http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/36634702/article-50-the-simplest-explanation-youll-find

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[Goanet] Article: The Dalai Lama: Why I’m hopeful about the world’s future

[Albert Peres]

The Washington Post
The Dalai Lama: Why I’m hopeful about the world’s future

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-dalai-lama-why-im-hopeful-about-the-worlds-future/2016/06/13/e380973a-30a2-11e6-8ff7-7b6c1998b7a0_story.html

By The Dalai Lama. June 13
The 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, is the spiritual leader of Tibet. 
Since 1959, he has lived in exile in Dharamsala in northern India.



Almost six decades have passed since I left my homeland, Tibet, and 
became a refugee. Thanks to the kindness of the government and people of 
India, we Tibetans found a second home where we could live in dignity 
and freedom, able to keep our language, culture and Buddhist traditions 
alive.


My generation has witnessed so much violence — some historians estimate 
that more than 200 million people were killed in conflicts in the 20th 
century.


Today, there is no end in sight to the horrific violence in the Middle 
East, which in the case of Syria has led to the greatest refugee crisis 
in a generation. Appalling terrorist attacks — as we were sadly reminded 
this weekend — have created deep-seated fear. While it would be easy to 
feel a sense of hopelessness and despair, it is all the more necessary 
in the early years of the 21st century to be realistic and optimistic.


There are many reasons for us to be hopeful. Recognition of universal 
human rights, including the right to self-determination, has expanded 
beyond anything imagined a century ago. There is growing international 
consensus in support of gender equality and respect for women. 
Particularly among the younger generation, there is a widespread 
rejection of war as a means of solving problems. Across the world, many 
are doing valuable work to prevent terrorism, recognizing the depths of 
misunderstanding and the divisive idea of “us” and “them” that is so 
dangerous. Significant reductions in the world’s arsenal of nuclear 
weapons mean that setting a timetable for further reductions and 
ultimately the elimination of nuclear weapons — a sentiment President 
Obama recently reiterated in Hiroshima, Japan — no longer seem a mere dream.


The notion of absolute victory for one side and defeat of another is 
thoroughly outdated; in some situations, following conflict, suffering 
arises from a state that cannot be described as either war or peace. 
Violence inevitably incurs further violence. Indeed, history has shown 
that nonviolent resistance ushers in more durable and peaceful 
democracies and is more successful in removing authoritarian regimes 
than violent struggle.


*** It is not enough simply to pray. There are solutions to many of the 
problems we face; new mechanisms for dialogue need to be created, along 
with systems of education to inculcate moral values. These must be 
grounded in the perspective that we all belong to one human family and 
that together we can take action to address global challenges. ***


It is encouraging that we have seen many ordinary people across the 
world displaying great compassion toward the plight of refugees, from 
those who have rescued them from the sea, to those who have taken them 
in and provided friendship and support. As a refugee myself, I feel a 
strong empathy for their situation, and when we see their anguish, we 
should do all we can to help them. I can also understand the fears of 
people in host countries, who may feel overwhelmed. The combination of 
circumstances draws attention to the vital importance of collective 
action toward restoring genuine peace to the lands these refugees are 
fleeing.


Tibetan refugees have firsthand experience of living through such 
circumstances and, although we have not yet been able to return to our 
homeland, we are grateful for the humanitarian support we have received 
through the decades from friends, including the people of the United States.


A further source of hope is the genuine cooperation among the world’s 
nations toward a common goal evident in the Paris accord on climate 
change. When global warming threatens the health of this planet that is 
our only home, it is only by considering the larger global interest that 
local and national interests will be met.


I have a personal connection to this issue because Tibet is the world’s 
highest plateau and is an epicenter of global climate change, warming 
nearly three times as fast as the rest of the world. It is the largest 
repository of water outside the two poles and the source of the Earth’s 
most extensive river system, critical to the world’s 10 most densely 
populated nations.


To find solutions to the environmental crisis and violent conflicts that 
confront us in the 21st century, we need to seek new answers. Even 
though I am a Buddhist monk, I believe that these solutions lie beyond 
religion in the promotion of a concept I call secular ethics. This is an 
approach to educating ourselves based on scientific findings, common 
experience and common sense — a more universal approach to

[Goanet] Article: Adidas to make shoes in Germany again (using robots)

[Albert Peres]

Reboot: Adidas to make shoes in Germany again – but using robots

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/25/adidas-to-sell-robot-made-shoes-from-2017

Company unveils new factory in Germany that will use machines to make 
shoes instead of humans in Asia


Adidas said the robots would not replaces human workers in Asian 
factories immediately.


Agence France-Presse
Wednesday 25 May 2016 03.49 BST

Adidas, the German maker of sportswear and equipment, has announced it 
will start marketing its first series of shoes manufactured by robots in 
Germany from 2017.


More than 20 years after Adidas ceased production activities in Germany 
and moved them to Asia, chief executive Herbert Hainer unveiled to the 
press the group’s new prototype “Speedfactory” in Ansbach, southern Germany.


The 4,600-square-metre plant is still being built but Adidas opened it 
to the press, pledging to automate shoe production – which is currently 
done mostly by hand in Asia – and enable the shoes to be made more 
quickly and closer to its sales outlets.


The factory will deliver a first test set of around 500 pairs of shoes 
from the third quarter of 2016.


Large-scale production will begin in 2017 and Adidas was planning a 
second “Speed Factory” in the United States in the same year, said Hainer.


Hainer insisted the factories would not immediately replace the work of 
sub-contractors in Asia. “Our goal is not full automatisation,” said 
Gerd Manz, head of innovation and technology.


Adidas produced 301m pairs of shoes in 2015 and needs to produce 30m 
more each year to reach its growth targets by 2020.


Six subcontractors of Adidas in China declined to comment on the new 
factories or said they were not aware of them.


In the longer term Adidas is planning to build robot-operated factories 
in Britain or in France, and could even produce the shirts of Germany’s 
national football team in its home country, said Hainer.


The shoes made in Germany would sell at a similar price to those 
produced in Asia, he said.


Adidas is facing rising production costs in Asia where it employs around 
one million workers. Arch-rival Nike is also developing its 
robot-operated factory.


--
Albert Peres

afpe...@3129.ca
416.660.0847 cell

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[Goanet] ARTICLE BY DR JOE SOUZA IS GREAT NEWS FOR GOANS PUBLISHED ON NIZ GOENKAR AND GOANET

[Stephen Dias]

THESE ARE POSITIVE COMMENTS RECEIVED ON ARTICLE PUBLISHED BY DR JOE
D'SOUZA ON NIZ GOENKAR DATED 18TH MAY 2016.

REQUEST PEOPLE TO KEEP ON SENDING THEIR VIEWS AND COMMENTS  BECAUSE I
EXPECTED AT LEAST GOMANTAK TIMES TO PUBLISH HIS ARTICLE WHICH THE EDITOR
HAD DENIED. DR JOE  TOLD ME TO INFORM THE GT EDITOR OF COMMENTS RECEIVED ON
HIS ARTICLE.
 .SUCH A GOOD ARTICLE SHOULD HAVE BEEN PUBLISHED BY ALL THESE LOCAL EDITORS
BUT I  DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHY WAS NOT ACCEPTED. AND DENIED..
THIS IS JUST A BEGUILING  AND IN DUE TIME MORE COMMENTS WILL APPEAR..
THANK YOU MENINO AND FREDERIK NORONHA.

STEPHEN DIAS
DONA PAULA
DATE ; 19.5.2016


Sexual Crimes- Goans Need To Be Objective And Rational – by Dr. Joe D’Souza.
EX-PROFESSOR OF GOA UNIVERSITY.
Wednesday - May 18, 2016

“The accused is innocent until proved guilty beyond any doubt” so say our
legal system but sadly many Goans have been tried by media, ridiculed in
print and later condemned and convicted by media trials often slanted,
slighted and heavily opinionated against the accused, through a police-
media interaction and inter-relationship. Give a dog a bad name and shoot
it.

We Goans are best known for our crab mentality with a fair share of sadism
wherein we derive pleasure by accusing others, before our legal system has
pronounced him “as guilty”. There have been volumes in print declaring
Dayanand Narvekar as guilty of sexually exploiting a lady in his official
chamber as a Speaker of Goa Assembly. All this by his political opponents
and the press playing the dancing tune. The framing, shaming, blaming,
taming, damning and claiming of the “Great Sex Scandal” succeeded in
temporarily affecting Narvekar and seeing him unseated as a Speaker.
Through a media fiasco, the people’s faith in a fair and a just trial
seemed dented as nothing happened but the girl suffered as she was misused
politically. We haven’t learnt through history as to how media trials are
downing and drowning our own character “as Goans” and hence we continue to
suffer ignominy in the eyes of the Indian nation by our own folly.

>From Narvekar, to Sardinha’s  marks scandal, further on to PWD pipe scandal
of late Dr. Willy, the Vodithalla Trust  issue of Harish Zantye, the JICA
issue and many more of Churchill Alemao, the Rattol episode of Micky
Pacheco and the list can go on, implicating every Goan politician and a
public figure. The local as well as the national electronic and print media
are often full of “Goans bashing Goans” in the garb of justice. The end
result is that we Goans have to see our noses cut for no fault of ours, due
to the premature theoretical convictions by the Government-media interplay
of a vested interest group.

In legal parlance nothing may seem to be happening on the ground but to a
scientist- researcher in me can see the utter chaos and decay to Goa and
Goans where Goa’s economy, ecology, environment and holistic developing is
on a grinding halt. We are engrossed only in scams; be it the mining
trials, the SEZ, the land grab and the real estate scams and the shams
concerning sex exposes, now and then. Today Panjim is degrading, the
Mandovi River is dying, all around governance is at sixes and sevens, and
our Corporators are facing the challenge of seeing their leader Babush
Monserrate is bailed out of yet another charge of raping a minor girl. All
what is happening in reality is the rape of Panjim and the surrounding and
the people driven to accept as gospel truth what is placed in print before
their eyes without the due process of law.

By and large, newspapers are full of one sided versions and objective
reporting absent. To read; Rs.50 lakhs was paid to procure the services of
a minor girl and that the step mother had taken the money as a start, would
not even appear in any Arabian Night tales. Stupidly, the police in Goa
proposes it, the media disposes it and Aam ADMI of Goa is supposed to
de-compose it “For Rs.50 Lakhs” “said a business man” I see myself with the
10 best of “international escorts”. Is Babush so stupid, naïve and
gullible? Incidentally, one understands that money lending is the forte of
the accused as he knows the value for money. We must accept Babush is an
expert both in notes and votes.

The second charge that Babush and coincidentally the girl’s mother are both
involved in is a case of human trafficking. What a Joke. Goa today is a
paradise for migrant labour. Be it mining labour, those working in casinos,
industries and fishing trawlers all are migrants brought down to Goa by
labour contractors. Coincidentally I personally am aware of missionaries,
social activists and entrepreneurs who bring girls from Jharkhand, Orissa,
U.P, Karnataka etc to work as maids in Goa. Practically everyone who
employs these migrants has to pay for the travel expenses as well as the
trust money to the parents of the girl, besides other maintenance charges.
A maid at your door step is not a magical deed. Thousands of rupees have to
be paid if you desire to ha

[Goanet] Article: Why South Asians need to increase their divorce rate

[Albert Peres]

Why South Asians need to increase their divorce rate

http://www.canindia.com/why-south-asians-need-to-increase-their-divorce-rate/

February 19th, 2016 Pradip Rodrigues

Pradip Rodrigues, Mississauga, February 13 (CINEWS):

A whopping 40 to 50 percent of all marriages in North America WILL end 
in divorce this year. South Asians in the US number around 3.5 million 
and the divorce rate is estimated at anything from 1 to 15 per cent of 
all marriages, this isn’t a statistic to be proud about, because it 
points to a malaise that exists within the community. But that isn’t 
what cultural chauvinists among us  want you to believe,  they flaunt 
this low divorce rate as testament to our strong values, culture and 
tradition. It is a statistic often used to flaunt our perceived moral 
superiority over the debauched west. But talk to front line social 
workers, thinkers and councillors and what you hear are some horror 
stories that could break your heart.


High tolerance for mental and physical abuse

Domestic violence is a scourge afflicting our community not just in 
India but right here in Canada. Newlywed brides are often harassed over 
issues like dowry but very few would actually call out their husbands or 
the in-laws, such crime is rarely reported. Despite the fact that South 
Asians living in the West tend to be educated or atleast living in 
advanced countries that eschew violence against women, the fact that it 
still happens should be cause for concern. Seventy per cent of Indian 
marriages in North America are arranged and 87 per cent of all South 
Asians are foreign-born. This may in part explain why the hold of 
culture and tradition holds back thousands of men and women, mostly 
women from seeking liberation from a stifling or abusive relationship. 
They are often forced to endure mental and physical abuse for the sake 
of their children or the family name.


Caucasians have no qualms walking out of bad marriages

Caucasians and other mainstream Canadians for example for most part have 
few qualms about walking out of a marriage that isn’t working. They are 
unwilling to tolerate an uncouth and abusive partner for too long. For 
the average Canadian couple, if they are unhappy in a relationship they 
may at first seek counselling or a temporary separation before calling 
it quits. Among South Asians any such talk is swiftly dismissed 
outright. Counselling? Problem? What problem? As for separation, many 
imported brides have neither the means or the guts to walk out. The man 
is likely to live his own life and have mistresses and the woman of 
course is expected to put up a front for society.
What keeps bad marriages going is the absolute fear of losing status 
within the family and in the community. Then there is shame in being 
seen as a failure and the stigma children of divorced parents could 
face. It could adversely impact their childrens’ marriage prospects.
But even though there are possibly thousands of unhappily married South 
Asian couples living under the same roof trapped in sham marriages, 
there are a few enlightened ones who aren’t willing to accept the status 
quo. These are often second-generation South Asians or the educated in 
India who seek divorce or separation when things go bad in their 
marriage. This sort of separation is mostly possible when the woman is 
not only educated but gainfully employed and has the confidence of being 
able to provide not only for themselves but for their children if 
necessary. When husbands know that their wives are not economically 
dependent on them or vice-versa, there is a healthy respect and partners 
know they can’t take each other for granted.


Re-thinking traditional Indian marriages

A couple of years ago Geetha Ravindra published a highly popular book 
titled Shaadi Remix: Transforming the Traditional Indian marriage. The 
book delves into the breakdown of Indian marriage within a rapidly 
changing culture, explaining why the conventional criteria used to 
arrange marriages no longer ensure lasting, healthy relationships. It is 
replete with stories of how real Indian couples navigate a 
twenty-first-century world, provides guidance on alternative methods of 
choosing partners.


The book now adorns many bookshelves of young South Asians contemplating 
marriage and with good reason- the traditional Indian marriage is 
getting harder to maintain. While online sites like Shaadi.com continues 
to be popular among the youth, also getting increasingly popular is 
another site called Secondshaadi.com.
In fact Secondshaadi.com seems poised to grow twice as fast as 
Shaadi.com in the years to come.


A match-maker once told me that many of her male clients holding top 
jobs in the field of medicine or engineering are self-confessed failures 
at finding partners. They are reluctant to take their parents help in 
lining up a partner from India and have never really dated a girl here 
in Canada. Since dating is still more or less sociall

[Goanet] Article: India's Audacious Plan. Digital Banking

[Albert Peres]

India's Audacious Plan to Bring Digital Banking to 1.2 Billion People
A biometrics-backed ID system will make it easier for everyone—from 
rural villagers to urban dwellers—to ditch cash.


http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-04-10/india-s-audacious-plan-to-bring-digital-banking-to-1-2-billion-people

by Saritha Rai, Bloomberg.com

India is trying to yank its cash-based economy into the 21st century.

But how do you get 1.2 billion people, many of whom have never seen a 
bank or opened an account, to send digital payments to each other?

India's Digital Banking Plan

The government's answer is an effort it has named the Unified Payment 
Interface. Debuting Monday, it's a system designed to make transferring 
and receiving money as easy as exchanging e-mail or text messages.


The goal is to bring banking and financial services to hundreds of 
millions of citizens, many of them poor and disadvantaged, in one fell 
swoop. The network was created by India's retail banks and backed by 
India's central bank—and they're confident it will work because it's 
built on top of an even more audacious project: India's 
biometrics-enabled national ID system, called Aadhaar after the Hindi 
word for foundation.


So far, India's attempt to assign every citizen a unique 12-digit number 
associated with a person's unique iris, fingerprint or facial features, 
is succeeding—just last week, Aadhaar reached its milestone of 
registering 1 billion people. With more than 80 percent of Indians 
enrolled, it gives the payments system a solid base to build on.


"The interface will bring banking to the unbanked," said Vinod Khosla, 
billionaire investor and co-founder of Sun Microsystems. His 
Bangalore-based incubator Khosla Labs is backing an Indian startup 
called Novopay, which offers mobile banking at 44,000 kiranas, or 
neighborhood convenience stores, in the country.


More than 233 million Indians have never been to a bank, and most 
accounts have a balance of zero, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers. 
And even though India has the world's second-biggest population, there 
are only about 23 million credit cards in the country, according to the 
Reserve Bank of India.


India is hoping to replicate the success of a similar digital-payments 
scheme in Kenya. Introduced in 2007, Safaricom's M-PESA system lets 
people send and receive money via mobile phones. What's impressive is 
the sheer number of people doing so: 22 million, or half the African 
country's population. India's system is designed to work at a more basic 
level, with payments flowing between mobile, banking and other networks.


That also means mobile banking's growth potential is huge. India has the 
world’s fastest-growing smartphone market, which is projected to double 
in a few years from the current 220 million users. Soon, all it will 
take in India to send money is a phone number, an Aadhaar number or a 
simple virtual-payments address.


"The robust system will help India leapfrog the desktop and the 
credit-card economy to become a mobile-first economy, accelerating 
e-commerce and driving a host of financial services," said Nandan 
Nilekani, who led the push to introduce Aadhaar and has been advising 
banks on the rollout of the new payments network.


The main challenge will be cost. In order for India's new digital 
payments system to succeed, transaction fees will have to be set very 
low in a country where the average monthly wage is about $300. While the 
network's backers say costs will come down, detractors said the banks 
will have to keep fees affordable. Success will depend on the 
combination of banks, startups, user experience and digital literacy, 
said Akanksha Sharma, senior analyst at research firm GSMA Intelligence.


Srikanth Nadhamuni, chief executive officer of Khosla Labs, said the 
best way to think of the project is by comparing it to how shampoo was 
introduced in India. Decades ago, most people couldn't afford to buy an 
entire bottle of shampoo, so Unilever, Procter & Gamble and other 
companies sold them in small sachets that people could afford to buy, 
paving the way for marketing everything from detergent to toothpaste in 
rural areas. Nadhamuni is betting that the new digital payments system 
will be be low-cost, high-volume, like a "shampoo-sachet revolution in 
the financial sector."


Flipkart, India's biggest online retailer, is getting in on the action. 
The e-commerce leader recently bought PhonePe, which is building a 
mobile application based on the Unified Payments Interface. The app will 
let Web shoppers pay for goods, daily wage workers manage bills and help 
migrant workers send money home—with just a phone number.


"UPI has the potential of transforming the entire payments ecosystem in 
the country," said Binny Bansal, Flipkart's co-founder.


---end---

--
Albert Peres

afpe...@3129.ca
416.660.0847 cell

---
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[Goanet] Article by Armando Gonsalves and comments by Stephen Dias

[Stephen Dias]

-
Every one must read my comments tomorrow on Niz Goenkar in response to
article of Armando Gonsalves.
 Big crowd is expected to assemble at the venue for a  peaceful
agitation presumably at Ferry Point of Panjim on Sunday ( pl. see the add
tomorrow 20th Nov) for the martyr son of Goa Fr. Bismarque Dias.

Stephen Dias

Re: [Goanet] Article: Punjabi now third language in Parliament of Canada

[Mervyn Lobo]

Albert,I guess every propagandist puts a spin on success, embracing the winners 
and distancing themselves from those that did not win. My incoming MP, Yasmin 
Ratansi, is an ethnic Indian woman from Tanzania. She does not speak Punjabi 
but speaks Swahili. I wonder how the Punjab Star classifies her and other 
Swahili speaking Canadian MP's of Indian extraction.
The MP from the district just across my street is Shaun Chen, whose parents 
migrated to Canada from India. His features are Chinese but he is silent on 
whether he speaks Punjabi or any other Indian languages.   
I doubt there is anyone in Canada who will vote for a MP just because s/he has 
the same linguistic skills as the voter.

MervynPS I am just waiting for the breakdown of the birthplaces of the new MPs 
to see if it breaks all previous records.





 From: Albert Peres 
 To: Eugene Correia ; "Goa's premiere mailing list, 
estb. 1994!"  
 Sent: Monday, November 2, 2015 5:14 PM
 Subject: [Goanet] Article: Punjabi now third language in Parliament of Canada
   
http://www.punjabstar.ca/punjabi-now-third-language-in-parliament-of-canada/

Punjabi now third language in Parliament of Canada

2015_11$largeimg02_Monday_2015_214713903

Toronto, November 2

Four years after Punjabi became Canada’s third most common language, it 
has now attained the same status in the country’s new Parliament after 
English and French following the election of 20 Punjabi-speaking 
candidates to the House of Commons.
Twenty-three Member of Parliaments of South Asian-origin were elected to 
the House of Commons, Parliament of Canada on October 19 parliamentary 
elections.

Three of them — Chandra Arya, born and raised in India, Gary 
Anandasangaree, a Tamilian and Maryam Monsef of Afghan origin — do not 
speak Punjabi, The Hill Times Online reported.

Of the 20 who speak Punjabi, 18 are Liberals and two are Conservatives. 
Among the newly-elected Punjabi-speaking MPs, 14 are males and six are 
females. Ontario elected 12, British Columbia four, Alberta three and 
one is from Quebec.

Prime Minister-designate Justin Trudeau is scheduled to unveil his 
Cabinet this week and some of these Liberal MPs are expected to be 
included in the front bench.

“The voice of the Indo-Canadian community will now be very well 
represented in the Parliament. In the overall aspect of it, the South 
Asian community won,” MP Deepak Obhrai of Conservative Party said.
In an interview with the paper, Navdeep Bains, a Liberal MP, said 
although 20 Punjabi-speaking MPs have been elected, these MPs represent 
all constituents regardless of their party affiliation or ethnic origin.
“It speaks to our commitment to diversity and allowing individual (MPs) 
to play an important role in our political institutions. The main issue 
to understand is that we have a very clear mandate to execute our 
platform and we also have a responsibility to represent our 
constituents, which are very diverse,” Bains said.
Iqra Khalid, the Liberal MP who was born in Pakistan, said the diversity 
of the newly-elected House reflects the true make-up of Canada.

According to Statistics Canada’s 2011 National Household Survey, 430,705 
Canadians identified Punjabi as their mother tongue, making it the third 
most common language after English and French.
The 430,705 native Punjabi speakers make up about 1.3 per cent of 
Canada’s population. The 20 Punjabi-speaking MPs represent almost six 
per cent of the House of Commons.



-- 
Albert Peres

afpe...@3129.ca
416.660.0847
 cell

[Goanet] Article: Punjabi now third language in Parliament of Canada

[Albert Peres]

http://www.punjabstar.ca/punjabi-now-third-language-in-parliament-of-canada/

Punjabi now third language in Parliament of Canada

2015_11$largeimg02_Monday_2015_214713903

Toronto, November 2

Four years after Punjabi became Canada’s third most common language, it 
has now attained the same status in the country’s new Parliament after 
English and French following the election of 20 Punjabi-speaking 
candidates to the House of Commons.
Twenty-three Member of Parliaments of South Asian-origin were elected to 
the House of Commons, Parliament of Canada on October 19 parliamentary 
elections.


Three of them — Chandra Arya, born and raised in India, Gary 
Anandasangaree, a Tamilian and Maryam Monsef of Afghan origin — do not 
speak Punjabi, The Hill Times Online reported.


Of the 20 who speak Punjabi, 18 are Liberals and two are Conservatives. 
Among the newly-elected Punjabi-speaking MPs, 14 are males and six are 
females. Ontario elected 12, British Columbia four, Alberta three and 
one is from Quebec.


Prime Minister-designate Justin Trudeau is scheduled to unveil his 
Cabinet this week and some of these Liberal MPs are expected to be 
included in the front bench.


“The voice of the Indo-Canadian community will now be very well 
represented in the Parliament. In the overall aspect of it, the South 
Asian community won,” MP Deepak Obhrai of Conservative Party said.
In an interview with the paper, Navdeep Bains, a Liberal MP, said 
although 20 Punjabi-speaking MPs have been elected, these MPs represent 
all constituents regardless of their party affiliation or ethnic origin.
“It speaks to our commitment to diversity and allowing individual (MPs) 
to play an important role in our political institutions. The main issue 
to understand is that we have a very clear mandate to execute our 
platform and we also have a responsibility to represent our 
constituents, which are very diverse,” Bains said.
Iqra Khalid, the Liberal MP who was born in Pakistan, said the diversity 
of the newly-elected House reflects the true make-up of Canada.


According to Statistics Canada’s 2011 National Household Survey, 430,705 
Canadians identified Punjabi as their mother tongue, making it the third 
most common language after English and French.
The 430,705 native Punjabi speakers make up about 1.3 per cent of 
Canada’s population. The 20 Punjabi-speaking MPs represent almost six 
per cent of the House of Commons.




--
Albert Peres

afpe...@3129.ca
416.660.0847 cell

[Goanet] Article: India’s Middle-Class Revolt

[Albert Peres]

India’s Middle-Class Revolt

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/08/opinion/indias-middle-class-revolt.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=opinion-c-col-left-region®ion=opinion-c-col-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region&_r=0

By THE EDITORIAL BOARDSEPT. 7, 2015

Protests by members of a relatively prosperous caste in India who want 
to be included in affirmative action programs highlight a major problem: 
India isn’t creating enough good jobs. This is a big challenge to Prime 
Minister Narendra Modi, who has built his political career on promises 
to reform and modernize the stalled economy.


Different groups of Indians have often demanded government jobs and 
university admissions that are set aside for people from tribal 
communities and the lowest rungs of the caste system who are among the 
poorest in the country. But the recent protests by the Patel clan, of 
the Patidar caste, are significant because the group is part of the 
middle class and is from Gujarat, a state that grew rapidly when Mr. 
Modi ran it for 12 years before becoming prime minister last year.


The fact that 500,000 Patels, who have been a big part of Mr. Modi’s 
electoral base, attended a rally late last month to press their demands 
is a rebuke of the prime minister’s economic policies.


The Patidar campaign, which is led by a 22-year-old firebrand named 
Hardik Patel, seeks a bigger slice of the economic pie. But no matter 
how officials decide to allot government quotas for the underprivileged, 
the main problem is that there is not enough pie to go around.


With half of India’s 1.2 billion people 25 or younger, the need to 
create more jobs is acute. Nearly half of all workers are employed in 
agriculture, a sector that produces just 17 percent of the gross 
domestic product. And most of the rest not in agriculture — about 85 
percent in 2012, the latest year for which there is data — work for 
employers with fewer than 20 employees.


It should come as no surprise that young Indians, especially those in 
the middle class like the Patels, are frustrated. Many have college 
degrees but still cannot land the kinds of professional jobs that they 
want. About 25 percent of college-age Indians were enrolled in higher 
education in 2013, up from 11 percent in 2003, according to the World Bank.


In theory, the increased number of educated workers should help to 
expand the manufacturing and service sectors. But companies in India are 
unable or unwilling to expand because it is so hard to operate there.


Chronic energy shortages, for example, make it expensive or impossible 
to set up factories in many parts of the country. Federal and state 
labor laws requiring that large companies get government approval before 
laying off workers encourage businesses to stay small or hire contract 
workers. And it can be very difficult to enforce contracts, because 
Indian courts are backlogged with cases that drag on for years.


Before last year’s election, Mr. Modi promised to create jobs by 
applying policies he had used to spur the Gujarat economy. So far, he 
has not been able to change many laws at the national level. And the 
protests in his home state raise serious questions about how successful 
his policies were for the average resident of Gujarat.


Mr. Modi now has less than four years before the next national 
parliamentary election to make good on his campaign pledge. If he 
doesn’t show results soon, the young electorate that swept him into 
national office could just as easily vote him out.


A version of this editorial appears in print on September 8, 2015,

---end---

---

Albert Peres

afpe...@3129.ca
416.660.0847 cell

[Goanet] Article: One billion tourists, one billion opportunities

[Albert Peres]

One billion tourists, one billion opportunities

Vatican City, 2 July 2015 (VIS) -

http://www.news.va/en/news/one-billion-tourists-one-billion-opportunities

'One billion tourists, one billion opportunities' is the title of the 
Message for World Tourism Day 2015 (27 September), published today by 
the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant 
Peoples.


The Message, dated 24 June, was signed by Cardinal Antonio Maria Veglio 
and Bishop Joseph Kalathiparambil, respectively president and secretary 
of the dicastery.


The document, as its title indicates, focuses on the opportunities and 
challenges that the great increase in tourism represents for 
contemporary society and notes that the concept of the 'tourist' is 
increasingly being substituted by that of the 'traveller', who does not 
merely visit a place but rather, in a sense, becomes an integral part of 
it. In the light of Pope Francis' Encyclical 'Laudato si'', the Message 
highlights that the tourism sector, by promoting appreciation of natural 
and cultural wealth, can promote their conservation or, paradoxically, 
their destruction. The Message finally invites the transformation of 
travel into 'an existential experience'.


'It was 2012 when the symbolic barrier of one billion international 
tourist arrivals was surpassed. Now the numbers continue to grow so much 
that the forecasts estimate a new threshold of two billion will be 
reached in 2030. To this data even higher figures related to local 
tourism must be added.


For World Tourism Day we want to concentrate on the opportunities and 
challenges raised by these statistics, and for this we make the theme 
proposed by the World Tourism Organisation our own: 'One billion 
tourists, one billion opportunities'.


This growth launches a challenge to all the sectors involved in this 
global phenomenon: tourists, businesses, governments and local 
communities and, of course, the Church too. The billion tourists should 
necessarily be considered above all in their billion opportunities.


This message is being made public a few days after the presentation of 
Pope Francis' Encyclical Laudato si' dedicated to care for our common 
home. We need to take this text into great consideration because it 
offers important guidelines to follow in our attention to the world of 
tourism.


We are in a phase of change in which the way of moving is changing and 
consequently the experience of travelling as well. Those who go to 
countries different from their own do so with the more or less conscious 
desire to reawaken the most hidden part of themselves through encounter, 
sharing and confrontation. More and more, a tourist is in search of 
direct contact with what is different in its extra-ordinariness.


By now the classic concept of a 'tourist' is fading while that of a 
'traveller' has become stronger: that is, someone who does not limit 
himself to visiting a place but in some way becomes an integral part of 
it. The 'citizen of the world' is born: no longer to see but to belong, 
not to look around but to experience, no longer to analyse but to take 
part in, and not without respect for what and whom he encounters.


In his latest Encyclical, Pope Francis invites us to approach nature 
with 'openness to awe and wonder' and to speak 'the language of 
fraternity and beauty in our relationship with the world'. This is the 
right approach to adopt with regard to the places and peoples we visit. 
This is the road to seizing a billion opportunities and making them bear 
even more fruits.


The businesses in this sector are the first ones who should be committed 
to achieving the common good. The responsibilities of companies is 
great, also in the tourist area, and to take advantage of the billion 
opportunities they need to be aware of this. The final objective should 
not be profit as much as offering travellers accessible roads to 
achieving the experience they are looking for. And businesses have to do 
this with respect for people and the environment. It is important not to 
lose awareness of people's faces. Tourists cannot be reduced only to a 
statistic or a source of revenue. Forms of tourist business need to be 
implemented that are studied with and for individuals and invest in 
individuals and sustainability so as to offer work opportunities in 
respect for our common home.


At the same time, governments have to guarantee respect for the laws and 
create new ones that can protect the dignity of individuals, communities 
and the territory. A resolute attitude is essential. Also in the tourist 
area, the civil authorities of the different countries need to have 
shared strategies to create globalised socio-economic networks in favour 
of local communities and travellers in order to take positive advantage 
of the billion opportunities offered by the interaction.


From this viewpoint, also the local communities are called to open up 
their borders to welcome those who com

[Goanet] Article

[Joel Moraes]

Politics for self development?

The Cuncolim Municipal Council has finally got the nod for the increase in 
number of wards for the forthcoming municipal elections to 12 from 10.Is it a 
good or bad news to Cuncollekars? Definitely it’s very good news for the 
present Council as it was their proposal to increase the number. Some of the 
reasons given were the population of the village have been increased, equal 
number of voters in all wards, to bring all round development and what not.
The population of the village has definitely been increased but I don’t see any 
rise in the number of Cuncollekars on the contrary we are on the decline. It is 
the migrant population which is been on the rise and our dirty politicians as 
usual helped them to get their names enrolled on the voters list to create 
thier personal vote bank. Does the proposal was to give some representation for 
the migrant population in our village or to accommodate some favorite political 
pimps ?
Now comes the equal number of voters in all wards. Really not aware of the 
number of voters, but definitely the voters on the ward borders can be shuffled 
to streamline the number where required. There is no need to increase the 
number of wards. Anyway foolish people like to propose foolish ideas and 
foolish people sitting on the top love to turn the foolish ideas in realities. 
Bureaucrats has always been used as remote control dolls by politicians in power
Last but not the least; they speak about something called as development. Does 
anyone of the present councilor can explain what exactly development means? 
Once upon a time there were no drains but rain water use to flow; now there are 
drains but sadly most of them are chocked. Luckily monsoon did not strike on 
time and they have not yet completed the basic monsoon preparations like 
cleaning of the drains. A unused public toilet from the heart of Cuncolim just 
went missing years ago and till now the Cuncolim municipal council is not aware 
of the same. Sewage discharged in the fields in front of their eyes and they 
turn out to be blind. Is this called as development? Sorry to say that the 
proposal to increase the number of wads was never in the interest of developing 
the village  but in the real interest of self development. To bring in the real 
development number is not important but a clean mind and a sincere heart is the 
basic need.Does any present
 councilor satisfy this basic requirement?
Now comes the delimitation. Again I can confidentially say that the same will 
be carried out taking personal interest into consideration and will 
we,Cuncollekars allow it to happen as per the wishes of Cuncolim’s  political 
pimps?I personally feel the number of wards should have been decreased. The 
reasons are simple. The government can save money on the wages of the elected 
councilors and secondly they can have a better cut. I hope the readers will 
understand.Lesser the number, better the share.
The village is historic. Looters ruined it. Great souls of the village been 
disturbed. Some looters have started paying for their sins. Wait and 
watch…..The remaining will pay miserably.

Joel Morais
P.O.Cuncolim,
Bencleamvaddo,
Salcette,Goa.
Pin 403703
Mob - 9970561727

[Goanet] ARTICLE APPEARED IN HERALD DT 19TH JUNE 2015 BY FR. VICTOR FERRAO

[Stephen Dias]

*Dear Dr. Oscar and Dr. F. Colaco,*

*I think article written by Fr. Victor Ferrao is self
explanatory and perhaps the whole concept of our discussion had between us,
must  be accepted as real and not imaginary. *

*Let us all act as per Fr. Ferrao direction for the real problem facing
Goa.*


*Stephen Dias*

*D.Paula*

*Date: 20.6.2015*

**


*Standing up for Goa and her children ; BY FR. VICTOR FERRAO*

T he name is the most beautiful sound that every person likes to hear. It
being essentially a sound image that is also rendered alphabetically
legible naturally belongs to the world of images.

Though the name represents us and becomes intimately linked to ourselves,
there still remains a gap between the self and its name. Images have a
representative function and are part of the imaginary dimension of our
life. Besides the imaginary, we have the symbolic dimension of our life.
Perhaps, if we consider body as a symbol, we might be enabled us to
understand the symbolic dimension of our life. Our embodied experience
leads the self to understand the body as its symbol.

Hence, the imaginary, the real and the symbolic are intimately intertwined
in our life. We experience the real but register it in the imaginary and
the symbolic order of our society.

Both the imaginary and symbolic represent the real but cannot exhaust it
entirely. That is why, in what we say there always remains the unsaid and
the ( un) sayable or in what we think there always persists something ( un)
thought and ( un) thinkable. Since we experience the real in the mediated
way through the imaginary and the symbolic registers of our life, it would
be important that we understand this complexity to be humanely responsive
to issues that emerge in our Goan society from time to time.

It would be interesting, if we consider the loss of the real in the context
of the discourse concerning the Catholic MLAs taking up the cause of the
Catholic community in the educational field. There is certainly a voiding
of real that seem to be filled by the imaginary and the symbolic.

The real issue remains shrouded in an imaging of the Catholic Church and
the Catholic MLAs through the symbolic lens. Somehow the real seems to be
lost on both sides of the divide. As a sense of loss has triggered the
gathering of the Catholic MLAs as well as the sense of being left out (
another kind of void) felt by the other side triggered a sense of recovery
of the lost new real.

Moreover, the complexity increases with many good meaning citizens feeling
another void where in, they saw the absence of the non- Catholic MLAs in
the gathering of their Catholic counterparts. This means, there remains
something absent, a void on all sides of the discursive formations on the
said issue. In the long run most of us are looking for different versions
of the real while the primary real ( the really real) issue is of education
of the underprivileged in the remote areas in Goa. We can already trace how
a dynamism that these gaps generate, produces a desire to fill them. But
unfortunately, desire cannot be fulfilled ( only needs can be fulfilled)
and we end up creating a chain of voids, absences and nullities that take
us away from the elusive real.

The gaze of this discourse has to return to the real. When we say the issue
is of the Catholic community, something remains unsaid. Something remains
absent. Perhaps, if we consider body as a symbol, we might be enabled us to
understand the symbolic dimension of our life. Something remains ( un)
thought and forgotten. In fact, the higher secondary schools and a single
primary and one secondary school are all temples of learning that serve
everyone, particularly the majority community. Certainly, the issue is
Catholic in its fuller sense.

That is, the issue is Universal which is the real meaning of the word
CATHOLIC. This means the issue is the issue of the Goan children,
particularly from less privileged backgrounds.

Can we truly become open and stand for these children? Let the void that is
constructed for these children trigger us to fight for them. The closing of
the educational possibilities for these innocent souls is the real that is
hiding under the cover of the imaginary and the symbolic.

One may have an issue with the means that Catholics used but the end is
still noble. Hence, instead of getting trapped in the imaginary and
symbolic gaps, let’s try to stand up as Goans and open the educational
infrastructure to the children of Goa.

Let’s not see the absences like the absent other MLAs in the gathering of
the Catholic MLAs or the absence of an ideal meeting of all MLAs in the
meeting of the Catholic MLAs, or even the absence of the interest of other
communities in the Catholic cause.

The reality is, it is the cause of our Goan children. This is all that
matters and this cause cannot be allowed to be voided at any cost. That is
why we must rise above the line that sides and slides over the 

[Goanet] Article: Dr. Colin Saldanha is the new chair

[Albert Peres]

http://www.mississauga.com/news-story/5670740-saldanha-appointed-new-chair-of-hospital-foundation-board

Dr. Colin Saldanha is the new chair of Trillium Health Partners 
Foundation’s board of directors.


Mississauga News By Joseph Chin

MISSISSAUGA – Dr. Colin Saldanha has been appointed the new chair of 
Trillium Health Partners Foundation’s board of directors.


As a family physician in Mississauga and a member of the board since 
2010, Saldanha has a long history of public service. He has served as 
chair of the Mental Health Task Force for the Mississauga-Halton LHIN 
and co-chair of the system access model in the development of a new 
psychiatric care model. As chair of the public policy committee of 
United Way of Peel Region, he initiated a non-pharmacological approach 
to mental health.


He has been honoured with the Sir Charles Tupper Award from the Canadian 
Medical Association for Political Action and Advocacy, the Governor 
General’s Medal for Volunteerism, the Sam McCallion Award for Community 
Service by the Mississauga Board of Trade, and the Paul Harris Award by 
Rotary International. Saldanha was also selected as the Mississauga 
Citizen of the Year in 2010 and recently received a Papal Knighthood.


“We are immensely honoured and proud to welcome Dr. Saldanha as chair of 
our board,” said Steve Hoscheit, president and CEO, Trillium Health 
Partners Foundation. “He has served as vice chair since 2013 and has 
been instrumental in advancing philanthropic engagement within the 
community. A healthy and strong community is an important priority for 
Dr. Saldanha and we very much look forward to working with him as we 
continue to our work in supporting our hospital with critical funding.”


--
Albert Peres

afpe...@3129.ca
416.660.0847 cell

[Goanet] Article: Google Maps Adds Lane Guidance in India

[Bosco D]

After introducing lane guidance across Europe last month, Google Maps is
now bringing the feature to India. This update will help drivers safely
make exits on highways and navigate flyovers without any hassle. Lane
guidance will be available for major roads across 20 Indian cities:
Ahmedabad, Ban...

http://thenextweb.com/apps/2015/01/16/google-maps-adds-lane-guidance-india/

Sent via Flipboard , your personal magazine.
Get it for free  to keep up with the news you care about.

[Goanet] article

[Pamela D'Mello]

http://scroll.in/article/698025/2014,-the-year-India-became-a-Hindu-state

-- 
Pamela D'Mello
Cell 9850 461649
http://pameladmello.wordpress.com

Re: [Goanet] Article: Pope Francis: Turning churches into 'businesses' is a scandal

[Mervyn Lobo]

On Wed, 11/26/14, Albert Peres wrote:
Vatican City, Nov 21, 2014 / 10:33 am (CNA/EWTN News)
By Elise Harris
Pope Francis condemned priests and laity who turn their parishes into a 
“business” by charging for things such as baptisms, blessings and Mass 
intentions – calling it a scandal that's hard to forgive.


Folks,
Some marketing professionals insist that the better business model is to give 
free membership, provide excellent services and then nickle and dime people for 
every thing they find they cannot do without. Others insist that an entrance or 
membership fee ensures a clientele that requires, and can afford to pay for, a 
high level of service.

Either way, there always are user fees. The bottom line is that you get what 
you pay for.

Mervyn

[Goanet] Article: Pope Francis: Turning churches into 'businesses' is a scandal

[Albert Peres]

Pope Francis: Turning churches into 'businesses' is a scandal

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/pope-francis-turning-churches-into-businesses-is-a-scandal-33377/

Vatican City, Nov 21, 2014 / 10:33 am (CNA/EWTN News)
By Elise Harris

Pope Francis condemned priests and laity who turn their parishes into a 
“business” by charging for things such as baptisms, blessings and Mass 
intentions – calling it a scandal that's hard to forgive.


“It is interesting: the people of God can forgive their priests, when 
they are weak; when they slip on a sin, the people know how to forgive 
them,” the Pope told mass attendees in the Vatican's Saint Martha 
guesthouse on Nov. 21.


“But there are two things that the people of God cannot forgive: a 
priest attached to money and a priest who mistreats people. This they 
cannot forgive! It is scandalous…”


The Pope centered his homily on the day’s Gospel from Luke in which 
Jesus turns over tables and drives out those who were selling things 
inside the temple, saying it is a sacred place meant for prayer and not 
for business.


While the many people who went to the temple to pray were good and 
searched for God, they were forced to pay in order to make an offering, 
the Pope explained, noting that although the temple was a sacred place 
to these, “there was corruption that scandalized the people.”


He recalled the biblical story of Hannah, the mother of Samuel, who was 
a humble woman that went to the temple and whispered her prayers in 
silence, while the priest and his two sons were corrupt and exploited 
the pilgrims who came.


“I think of how our attitude can scandalize people with unpriestly 
habits in the Temple: the scandal of doing business, the scandal of 
worldliness,” the Bishop of Rome said, observing how many parishes have 
a price list readily available for baptisms, blessings and Mass intentions.


The Pope then recounted the story of a young couple who were a part of a 
group of college students he led shortly after being ordained. When they 
decided to get married, they went to their parish to ask for the civil 
ceremony and Mass together.


When they asked, the couple was told that they couldn’t have the Mass in 
addition to the ceremony because the time slots for the ceremony were 
limited to only 20 minutes, the couple needed to pay for two time slots 
in order to have the Mass as well.


“This is the sin of scandal” the pontiff explained, and alluded to the 
scripture passage where Jesus tells those who cause scandal that it is 
“better to be thrown into the sea.”


When those who manage God’s temple and its ministry, including both 
priests and lay people, become businessmen, “people are scandalized. And 
we are responsible for this. The laity too! Everyone,” the Roman Pontiff 
continued.


Preventing scandal is the responsibility is everyone, he said, because 
if we see this business-mentality going on in our parishes we need to 
have the courage to say something to the priest.


“It is scandalous when the Temple, the House of God, becomes a place of 
business, as in the case of that wedding: the church was being rented out.”


Pope Francis noted how when Jesus made his whip and started driving the 
people out of the temple it was not because he was angry, but rather 
because he was filled with the wrath of God and zeal for his house.


Jesus, he said, has “an issue with money because redemption is free; it 
is God’s free gift, He comes to brings us the all-encompassing gratuity 
of God’s love.”


So when a church or a parish start doing business it’s like saying that 
salvation is no longer free, the Pope explained, which is why Jesus 
takes his whip out in order to purify the temple of the corrupt.


He noted how the feast of the day commemorates the Presentation of the 
Blessed Virgin Mary in the Temple, saying that Mary enters the temple as 
a young, simple woman like Hannah, and prayed that she would help keep 
God’s temple pure.


“May she teach all of us, pastors and those who have pastoral 
responsibility, to keep the Temple clean, to receive with love those who 
come, as if each one were the Blessed Virgin.”


---end---

--
Albert Peres

afpe...@3129.ca
416.660.0847 cell

[Goanet] Article: Why Germans Work Fewer Hours But Produce More: A Study In Culture

[Albert Peres]

Why Germans Work Fewer Hours But Produce More: A Study In Culture

knote.com. Eryn Paul, November 10, 2014

http://knote.com/2014/11/10/why-germans-work-fewer-hours-but-produce-more-a-study-in-culture/

When many Americans think of Germany, images of WWII soldiers and Hitler 
often come to mind. But what many people don’t realize is that Germany 
is the industrial powerhouse of Europe, and is a leading manufacturer of 
goods for export to developing Asian nations. We don’t hear about the 
superiority of German engineering in Volkswagen commercials for nothing!


The economic engine of the EU, Germany single-handedly saved the 
Eurozone from collapse in 2012. At the same time, German workers enjoy 
unparalleled worker protections and shorter working hours than most of 
their global counterparts. How can a country that works an average of 35 
hours per week (with an average 24 paid vacation days to boot) maintain 
such a high level of productivity?


Working Hours Mean Working Hours
In German business culture, when an employee is at work, they should not 
be doing anything other than their work. Facebook, office gossip with 
co-workers, trolling Reddit for hours, and pulling up a fake spreadsheet 
when your boss walks by are socially unacceptable behaviors. Obviously, 
in the United States these behaviors are frowned up on by management. 
But in Germany, there is zero tolerance among peers for such frivolous 
activities.


In the BBC documentary “Make Me A German“,  a young German woman 
explained her culture shock while on a working exchange to the UK.


“I was in England for an exchange… I was in the office and the 
people are talking all the time about their private things… ‘What’s the 
plan for tonight?’, and all the time drinking coffee…”


She was quite surprised by the casual nature of British workers. Upon 
further discussion, the Germans reveal that Facebook is not allowed in 
the office whatsoever, and no private email is permitted.


Goal-Oriented, Direct Communication Is Valued
German business culture is one of intense focus and direct 
communication. While Americans tend to value small talk and maintaining 
an upbeat atmosphere, Germans rarely beat around the bush. German 
workers will directly speak to a manager about performance reviews, 
launch into a business meeting without any ‘icebreakers’, and use 
commanding language without softening the directives with polite 
phrases.Whereas an American would say, “It would be great if you could 
get this to me by 3pm,” a German would say, “I need this by 3pm”.


When a German is at work, they are focused and diligent, which in turn 
leads to higher productivity in a shorter period of time.


Germans Have a Life Outside Work
Germans work hard and play hard. Since the working day is focused on 
delivering efficient productivity, the off hours are truly off hours. 
Because of the focused atmosphere and formal environment of German 
businesses, employees don’t necessarily hang out together after work. 
Germans generally value a separation between private life and working life.


The German government is currently considering a ban on work-related 
emails after 6pm, to counter the accessibility that smartphones and 
constant connectivity give employers to their employees. Can you imagine 
President Obama enacting such a policy in the United States?


To occupy their plentiful Freizeit, most Germans are involved in Verein 
(clubs); regularly meeting others with shared interests in their 
community. Common interests in Germany include Sportvereine (sports 
clubs), Gesangvereine (choirs or singing clubs), Musikvereine (music 
clubs), Wandervereine (hiking clubs), Tierzuchtvereine (animal breeding 
clubs – generally rabbits/pigeons) and collectors’ clubs of all stripes. 
Even the smallest village in Germany will have several active Vereinen 
to accommodate residents’ interests. Rather than settling in for a night 
of TV after work, most Germans socialize with others in their community 
and cultivate themselves as people.


Germans also enjoy a high number of paid vacation days, with many 
salaried employees receiving 25-30 paid days (the law requires 20). 
Extended holidays mean families can enjoy up to a month together, 
renting an apartment by the seaside or taking a long trip to a new, 
exciting city.


Business Respects Parenthood
Germany’s system of Elternzeit (“parent time” or parental leave) is the 
stuff of fantasy for most working Americans. The United States does not 
currently have laws requiring maternity leave, while Germany has some of 
the most extensive parental protection policies in the developed world. 
The downside of these maternity leave benefits is that employers may 
avoid hiring women (with the fear that they will take advantage of the 
extensive benefits), and German boardrooms are consistently 
male-dominated at a higher rate than other developed nations, although 
the government is working to eradicate this trend. The financi

[Goanet] Article: Victim Russel Rebello found

[Albert Peres]

Body found aboard doomed Italian cruise ship Costa Concordia by workers
dismantling wreck

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/body-found-workers-dismantling-wreck-italian-cruise-ship-costa-concordia-article-1.1998136

'After 1,025 days, I promised my family that I will bring back home my
brother someday,' the brother of victim Russel Rebello said Monday. A
body — believed to be the missing Indian waiter — was discovered, the
last victim of the deadly 2012 capsizing off the Italian coast that
resulted in 32 deaths.

BY Jason Molinet NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Monday, November 3, 2014, 11:51 PM

The body of a waiter aboard the doomed Italian cruise ship Costa
Concordia has been found, ending the search for the shipwreck's last
victim, authorities said.

Workers clearing debris discovered the body Monday in a passenger cabin
on the eighth deck, said Carabinieri commander Capt. Massimo Pittaluga.

Russel Rebello, from India, went missing and was presumed dead — one of
32 people killed — when the Costa Concordia hit rocks and capsized near
the Tuscan island Giglio on Jan. 13, 2012.

The victim was found wearing a shirt that contained an identification
card for Rebello, but DNA a test will be done to confirm the body's
identity.

"After 1,025 days, I promised my family that I will bring back home my
brother someday," older brother Kevin Rebello wrote on Facebook. "When
was the biggest question, I had no answer to. Finally, my younger
brother Russel Rebello body has finally been found."

Salvagers righted the 114,500-ton ship in July by pumping air into 30
large metal boxes attached to the hull. The Concordia was transferred to
Genoa this summer, where it is being dismantled and scrapped.

The body was found by crews dismantling the vessel.

Now members of the Rebello family, which hails from Mumbai, can finally
have closure. Kevin Rebello said he planned to bring the body to India.

The captain of the doomed Costa Concordia, Francesco Schettino, faces
multiple charges including manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and
abandoning ship, while four crew members and an official with the ship's
operator, Costa Crociere, were sentenced to prison terms after pleading
guilty last year.

"I don't have words to express," Rebello said on Facebook. "Just my
pain, my tears. My heart (was) pounding harder and my body trembling
when I broke the news to my parents a while ago, who now will have a
sigh of relief, Their constant prayers have been heard. Thanks to
everyone who prayed and believed that one day he would be found."

Original Article includes photo:
VINCENZO PINTO/AFP/Getty Images:
Kevin Rebello shows a picture of his brother Russel Rebello.

---end---

--
Albert Peres

afpe...@3129.ca
416.660.0847 cell

[Goanet] Article: Portuguese kids compulsory Chinese

[Albert Peres]

​Mandatory Mandarin: Portuguese kids take compulsory Chinese class

http://rt.com/news/201651-mandarin-portugal-compulsory-language/

A town in northern Portugal has made Chinese obligatory for 8- and 
9-year old school children, in order to boost the kids’ abilities for 
future competition in the thriving Chinese market.


Sao Joao da Madeira, with only 20,000 residents, is regarded as the 
country’s shoe capital, specializing in luxurious footwear.


The authorities there are sure that a good command of Mandarin will 
ensure a foothold for the Portuguese in China.


"Chinese is the key which will open the doors to the world's biggest 
market," Dilma Nantes, Sao Joao da Madeira's city councilor on 
education, said.


The children also seem to enjoy learning Chinese and dream of visiting 
China.


"I would like to see the Great Wall," nine-year-old Eduardo told AFP, 
while his classmate Daniela reckoned Chinese was “not particularly 
difficult.”


Their teacher confirmed the children’s progress, saying with a smile, 
“they are learning very fast.”


The financial crisis has seen unemployment in Portugal soar by 17 
percent, making it one of the sickest economies in the eurozone.


China is the world’s biggest producer of footwear, with an astonishing 
number of 10 billion pairs per year. However, wealthy Chinese are fond 
of Portuguese shoes, the second most expensive after Italian - exports 
skyrocketed from 10,000 pairs in 2011 to 170,000 pairs in 2013.


Last year, revenue topped €20 million.

---end--

--
Albert Peres

afpe...@3129.ca
416.660.0847 cell

[Goanet] Article: two Konkani legends proved that music is truly ageless (Brampton, Ontario)

[Albert Peres]

http://www.daijiworld.com/news/news_disp.asp?n_id=268631#.VDaPwwI26OA.twitter

:: Original article includes good photos ::

Brampton (Canada), Oct 8: Performing before scores of Konkani music fans 
at the magnificent Rose Theatre, Brampton recently, two Konkani legends 
proved that music is truly ageless. And that, despite being 
septuagenarians, they could leave their fans blown out of their minds!


Their scintillating performance had most of the audience dancing in the 
aisles, and many speechless. Lorna kicked off the show with her 
spectacular singing. Her voice is as powerful, as it is enticing. 
Henry’s classical style of singing was as beguiling as his dancing. 
Lorna set the stage on fire with her powerful renditions, belting out 
her all-time favourites, holding the audience completely spell-bound, 
Henry swayed his hips, did some quick costume changes and sang to a 
crowd that was ready to take a nostalgic trip with him.


The three-and-a-half-hour concert got an electrifying start with the 
Radio Mango Team, comprising Gerry D’Mello, Marshal Fernandes, Nifa 
Alphonse, Wilson D’Souza and Milena Marques-Zachariah singing the 
Opening Chorus, set to the Radio Mango signature tune, composed by 
Lawrence de Tiracol.


With Wilson and Milena emceeing the show, every performance and skit 
followed each other with clockwork precision. The skits by Santhu and 
Monthu (Santosh D’Souze and Ronnie Monteiro) and Marshal Fernandes, 
Samson Santimano and Serah Barbosa sent the audience into a tizzy of 
hilarity and fun.


One of the highlights of the evening was the short yet powerful speech 
delivered by the chief guest of the day – Akhilesh Mishra, Consul 
General of India. He extolled the virtues of the Konkani language, while 
praising the unique musical and singing abilities of the Goan and 
Mangalorean communities. He made a commitment to help these communities 
realize their potential here in Canada.


The Goa Amigos, the band comprising versatile and accomplished 
musicians, and led by Norman Cardozo for Lorna and Joyson D’Souza for 
Henry, rocked the stage and the audience. They accompanied the artistes 
with their noteworthy professionalism and talent.


As the evening wound down, people’s enthusiasm climbed up. They wanted 
more, and Lorna obliged. The audience showed their appreciation by 
giving the performers a standing ovation. At the magnificent Rose 
Theatre, that sounded thunderous. Later, the two artistes were mobbed 
for autographs and CDs.


Goans and Mangaloreans went home awe-truck, vowing they had never seen 
anything like this before. It was, indeed, a fitting tribute to Lorna 
and Henry – the two legends who came together for the very first time 
and gave the audience performances that will be talked about for years 
and generations come.


--
Albert Peres

afpe...@3129.ca
416.660.0847 cell

[Goanet] Article: Peta's call to Muslims to observe vegetarian Eid misfires

[Albert Peres]

Peta's call to Muslims to observe vegetarian Eid misfires
Jamal Ayub,TNN | Sep 22, 2014

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bhopal/Petas-call-to-Muslims-to-observe-vegetarian-Eid-misfires/articleshow/43147780.cms

Peta's first shot at religious activism — a call to Muslims to observe a 
vegetarian Eid this October — has misfired.


BHOPAL: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals' (Peta) first shot 
at religious activism — a call to Muslims to observe a vegetarian Eid 
this October — has misfired. It met with violent protests here on Monday.


One policeman was injured and a Peta volunteer roughed up by protestors, 
which included women, and later whisked away by Bhopal police.


Peta woman volunteer "Benazir Suraiya" attempted to make an appeal to 
Muslims to go vegetarian at the legendary Taj-ul-Masajid, said to be one 
of Asia's largest mosques.


Camouflaged in a green hijab, to highlight the importance of 
vegetarianism, she walked towards the mosque gates with a couple of PETA 
volunteers holding a placard in Urdu and English which read: "Make Eid 
Happy for All. Try Vegan".


With less than a dozen policemen deployed, locals took the opportunity 
and shouted slogans asking her to turn back. She was forced to take 
cover along with another PETA volunteer in the market outside the mosque.


Within minutes the crowd swelled and Suraiya was left to fend for 
herself as PETA supporters fled the scene. "We are going to get a taxi 
for Suraiya. Police has been called for support too," said PETA 
volunteer Divya.


Bhopal-based PETA volunteer Akash said, "Girls were being targeted so 
they left the scene. Is Suraiya still there?" CSP police Sunil Patihar 
reached the spot to take control of the situation. According to PETA, 
Suraiya works for the group as its media and celebrity projects 
specialist. Sources said she is based in Mumbai and the group networked 
the event through volunteers in Bhopal and Indore.


PETA representative Grishma Mytra refused to take calls when contacted 
for a comment. The group urging Muslims not to perform animal sacrifice 
and donate the same instead for welfare of animals and people, did not 
go down well with the Muslim community which is gearing up to celebrate 
the festival in the first week of October.


"We are offended by this move of PETA. It is an insensible move which 
should have been stopped by the district administration, before it took 
place. This is a direct attack on our religious beliefs," said protestor 
Naved Khan.


Police whisked away Suraiya to an undisclosed location. No arrests have 
been reported.


---end---

--
Albert Peres

afpe...@3129.ca
416.660.0847 cell

[Goanet] ARTICLE BY PERCIVAL NORONHA TITLE " A WALK THROUGH OLD GOA"

[Stephen Dias]

*A walk through Old Goa*

 *Percival  Noronha*



The  reader is hereby invited to  take  a  stroll  through  the  Old  City
of  Goa  *–*   this walk will be a rare opportunity to embark on a voyage
of discovery,  perhaps  even  undertake a significant personal adventure,
one of the most amazing and fascinating that Goa can still offer to the
spirit and the senses. This visit would undoubtedly represent yet another
step towards cementing the cultural heritage of a glorious city worth
knowing and preserving. Indeed, the historical importance of Old Goa is
still of fundamental interest.  It was in this splendid Asian metropolis
that the heart of Portugal beat to the rhythms of missionary zeal, warfare
and commerce.  It was from here that the naval fleets sailed to the whole
oriental world to spread western civilization.



Old Goa was a magnificent city which housed at the height of its splendor,
more than two hundred thousand souls.  It was said of the city that, *“Any
one who has seen Goa, need not see Lisbon”.*  Yet, today, Old Goa is a mere
shadow of its past.  However, from the few monuments that have survived the
onslaughts of time, one can get an idea of the glory of the city that was
once known as *“Rome of the East”. * But, before we set out on our walk,
let us recollect some snippets of the past of this glorious city.



Old Goa, originally called Elá, is situated on the island of Tiswadi, on
the left margin of the river Mandovi.  By the end of the 15th century, it
was a centre under the domination of the kingdom of Bijapur, which had
developed rapidly thanks to its highly active commerce. After its conquest
by the Portuguese on the 25th of November 1510, it turned into not only the
centre of their Eastern Empire but also the centre of the spread of
Christianity in the lands of the East. It reached its pinnacle in the
middle of the 16th century, then declined speedily, losing its political
and commercial importance. This abrupt fall was due not only to the
fragmentation of the Portuguese Empire in the East, but to yet other
causes, especially the unhealthy environment of the city, which was
apparent in increasingly frequent and virulent epidemics. The city was
finally abandoned and the majority of its formerly famous monuments –
religious, civil and its admirable defensive system – fell into ruins.



By a strange coincidence, the topographic configuration of Old Goa is very
similar to that of the city of Lisbon. Like Lisbon, Old Goa is founded on
seven mounts which, since the days of the Portuguese conquest, came to be
known by the names they sport even today.



To the West, stands the Monte Santo (Holy Hill) or Monte Sião; to the East,
around two kilometers away, rises the lofty hill or, better still, the
hillock of Nossa Senhora do Monte, or the hill of the Vicar-General, which
is the highest point of the city. Next to this hill, is the hill of Santo
Amaro and to the North, not too far from the Monte hill, the hillock of
Nossa Senhora do Carmo spreads out.  To the South of the Monte Santo, right
in the middle of lush greenery, rises the hill of Boa Vista or Monte
Formoso.  Further ahead, one finds the hills of Forca and of the Santíssima
Trindade (Holy Trinity).



Like almost all other medieval cities, the Old City of Goa was also
defended by an enclosure which in the words of  Gaspar Correia, *“was
entirely walled with a large stone shield on the outside”* and a *“large
moat full of water”.* This fortification  had  four gates which came to be
known, after the conquest, as:  that of *“Da Ribeira”* (of the River),
through which Afonso de Albuquerque entered during the attack on Goa on 25th
 November 1510 and where the Chapel of  St. Catherine stands today; *“Da
Fortaleza”* (of the Fortress), or *“Dos Cais” *(of the Wharf), on the spot
where the Arch of the Viceroys was built in 1598; *“do Mandvi”*(of  the
Mandovi), on the location of the former Customs Office, behind  the Church
of  Divine Providence and the present-day Institute Pius X; and *“A dos
Bacais”* (of the cattle market), close to the present-day cemetery.  In
1679, during the rule of António Paes de Sande, another door – the fifth
door was added, which was named as that of the *“Nossa Senhora da
Conçeicão”* (Our Lady of  Conception).  This door is seen today in a fair
state of conservation.



In the middle of the 16th century, the city extended much beyond the old
Moorish enclave.  However, the military capability of the enclosure did not
satisfy the logistics of the time. Therefore, the viceroy D. Antão de
Noronha (1564-1568), in tune with the orders from Portugal, began building
the external fortification which extended over sixteen and half kilometres
in length. This fortification started at the  “Passo of  Daugim”  to the
north-east of the island of Goa (Tiswadi), where the Fort of  S. José
defended the entry way. This wall extended to the East till the Passo Seco,
where the fortress of São Brás was standing i.e. op

[Goanet] Article on Micky Correa

[Eugene Correia]

The article also has named many other Goan musicians. Read at
http://www.mumbaimirror.com/columns/columns/When-September-swings/articleshow/42589654.cms
?

Eugene

[Goanet] Article: Fr. Theodore Mascarenhas, Indian bishop-elect aims to show God's love to new flock

[Albert Peres]

Indian bishop-elect aims to show God's love to new flock
By Elise Harris

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/indian-bishop-elect-aims-to-show-gods-love-to-new-flock-66637/

Vatican City, Jul 10, 2014 / 08:04 pm (CNA/EWTN News).-

Fr. Theodore Mascarenhas, who was appointed Wednesday to be an auxiliary 
bishop of the Archdiocese of Ranchi in India's eastern state of 
Jharkhand, has voiced his enthusiasm for the task.


“I would like to be what Pope Francis asks us to be: a pastor who feels 
the smell of the sheep, who has the sheep close to him,” Fr. Mascarenhas 
told CNA July 10, the day following his appointment, expressing his 
desire to follow in the Pope’s pastoral footsteps.


“I will try my best, in spite of my human limitations and shortcomings, 
to be good to the clergy, to be good to the priests, to be close to the 
laity, and above all to try and show them the love and mercy of God. And 
I hope they too show the love and mercy of God to me. That’s my hope.”


Recalling the moment earlier this month when he was informed of his 
appointment, Fr. Mascarenhas, who is an official of the Pontifical 
Council for Culture, noted that there were just two others from the 
council present, as well as a crucifix on the wall.


Sensing that there was something the others wanted to say, the priest 
recalled that when they finally gave him the letter from the Pope asking 
if he would accept the appointment, he looked to the crucifix on the 
wall, saying to himself in silence,“okay, but this is in your hands!”


Ranchi is a city of 1.1 million, and the capital of a state seen as the 
heart of India's indigenous tribes. While he has never been to the 
archdiocese, Fr. Mascarenhas said he has heard it is “a great place with 
very, very warm people.”


“The people are open, simple, friendly and with great faith in God,” he 
noted, explaining that he has been told it is a place “where the word of 
God has made a lot of advances and where evangelization has very good 
prospects.”


In 2010, 4.4 percent of the more than 3 million people in the Ranchi 
archdiocese were Catholic; most of the population of Jharkhand are 
Hindu, while 14 percent are Muslim and 13 percent adhere to indigenous 
religions known as Sarna.


Fr. Mascarenhas expressed that “honestly it feels strange” to have been 
appointed a bishop, “because ever since the appointment has been made 
people look at you differently.”


“You within your own heart feel a sort of weight, a responsibility. And 
at the same time looking forward to a new task entrusted to you.”


Born in Camurlim, in west India's Goa state, in 1960, Fr. Mascarenhas 
was professed as a member of the Society of the Missionaries of St. 
Francis Xavier in 1979, and was ordained a priest of the society in 1988.


He holds a masters in political science, as well as a licentiate and 
doctorate in sacred scripture from the Pontifical Biblical Institute.
He is currently procurator general of the Society of the Missionaries of 
St. Francis Xavier in Europe, and a member of the Pontifical Committee 
for the International Eucharistic Congresses.


In addition to these, and his position on the Pontifical Council for 
Culture, he is a lecturer in scripture at the Pontifical Gregorian 
University and at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas.


Speaking of the great need for evangelization in India, the bishop-elect 
explained that it “is a very complex thing, because on one side we have 
rising extremist forces of all sorts that impede the evangelization 
efforts.”


These extremists come not only from fundamentalist Hindu or Muslim 
forces, but also from radicals in other Christian communities, he 
observed, affirming that there is a great need to bring these extremist 
voices “under control for good evangelization.”


“Evangelization simply means spreading the word of God, and the word of 
God is all about love, about mercy, and in that there can be no 
violence, there can be no fundamentalism.”


Describing how fundamentalism in India is different from that of the 
rest of the world, Fr. Mascarenhas stated that this is because “it goes 
against their own interests.”


“See, evangelization goes against the caste system, it breaks down the 
social order, and obviously people who have been in control are finding 
evangelization a threat,” he explained, noting that in general India is 
a very tolerant country, but this “small slice” is growing and “posing a 
threat not only to the Christians, but to the unity, integrity, and 
secularism of India.”


Referring to how Christianity is “a religion of dialogue,” the 
bishop-elect explained that one of his key strategies in combating 
fundamentalism will be in “keeping channels open, talking to everybody.”


“We talk to everybody, we see their viewpoints and we expect that they 
will respect us. I think if we can live in love and respect a lot of 
unnecessary problems will be avoided in the world.”


Fr. Mascarenhas also revealed that althoug

[Goanet] Article: India archdiocese launches suicide prevention helpline

[Albert Peres]

India archdiocese launches suicide prevention helpline
By Antonio Anup Gonsalves

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/india-archdiocese-launches-suicide-prevention-helpline/

Article includes Photo:
Archbishop Filipe Neri (center) launches the suicide prevention helpline 
with director Fr. Mario Saturnino Dias (second from right). Credit Fr. 
Mario Saturnino Dias.



Goa, India, May 28, 2014 / 02:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).

The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Goa and Daman has launched a 
round-the-clock emergency suicide prevention helpline to proactively 
address the escalating suicide rates in the region.


“Life is given by God, and only he has the power to take it back,” said 
local archbishop Filipe Neri Sebastião do Rosário Ferrão at the May 24 
announcement of the “God Saves Life-line” initiative.


“In today's society, we need to offer hope to the people that God has 
created them in love and that He still loves them…and this hope is what 
'God Saves Life-line,' is expected to offer.”


Archbishop Rosário Ferrão inaugurated the project by leading a prayer 
service and imparting his blessing while commissioning the initiative to 
the Diocesan Center for Missionary Animation in Old Goa. Located about 
eight miles from the capital city Panjim, the center is near the 
renowned Basilica of Bom Jesus that holds a reliquary of St. Francis 
Xavier and draws daily an average of over five thousand devotees and 
visitors.


“Life is important and its precious gift of God for we are created in 
His image and likeness,” Fr. Dr. Mario Saturnino Dias, creator of the 
project and director for the center told CNA May 25.


“It's concerning to witness while reading daily newspapers reports the 
scourge of modern times that people are undertaking extreme steps in 
committing suicide,” he said, adding: “Every human being has also an 
inner urge to live and also an urge to save life irrespective of caste, 
creed or religion.”


The director recounted that over the last two decades, the suicide rate 
in the country has been “mounting steadily.” Over 180,000 suicides were 
reported for 2010 and claimed a younger population between the ages of 
15 to 29 years. According to the priest, many suicides also go unreported.


The National Crime Records Bureau, Ministry of Home Affairs reports that 
the average suicide rate in Goa is 15.8 per 100 thousand – above the 
National Average of 11.4 – an “alarmingly distressing” fact putting the 
state in tenth position country-wide.


“To me saving one life is as important as saving thousand lives,” Fr. 
Dias said.


“If somebody becomes aware of receiving hope in hopelessness; finds 
openness of love, care, affection, concern and positive energy, 
assistance of qualified counselors a depressed life situation can bring 
optimistic change.”


He noted that the challenges youth face in India range from family 
poverty, drug abuse and alcoholism, failure in love affairs, dowry 
disputes, rural illiteracy, ignorance, and superstitions, agricultural 
challenges, to bankruptcy loans and many other causes.


Fr. Dias strongly emphasized the “important of role of the parents” in 
upbringing of their children.


He urged parents, “Teach your children to appreciate life and be trained 
to accept gracefully the many frustrations which are part of life so 
that their tolerance level is increased.”


Callers are assured of confidentiality and can also be provided help 
through a state-wide network of government services like hospitals, law 
enforcement and legal bodies such as police, the fire department and 
associations like Society of St. Vincent de Paul, Caritas and other 
Church bodies.


“It is a good sign a helpline has been launched...such helplines act as 
a preventive measure to the members of the society to avert tragedy and 
save life,” Dr. Ivonne Pereira, head of the Dept. of Psychiatry for Goa 
Medical College told CNA.


Dr. Ivone also released the sixth issue of “Celebrate God's Love” a 
magazine published by the Centre as an effort to re-evangelize those 
whose faith is dwindling.


Ashok Menon, director of Goa Fire and Emergency Services, also released 
new promotional car stickers for the “God Saves Life-line.” He said the 
personnel assisting in the calls should be able to “know not just what 
to do but how to do as they offer their services in helping people in 
distress.”


Local individuals experiencing suicidal feelings or those who want to 
prevent suicide by another person displaying such tendencies can call 
the “God Saves Help-line” at: +91832 22-8-44-33.


---end---

--
Albert Peres

afpe...@3129.ca
416.660.0847 cell

[Goanet] Article: Toronto - Hindu bride and Jewish groom? Someone will bring them together

[Albert Peres]

Hindu bride and Jewish groom? Someone will bring them together
KELLI KORDUCKI

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/toronto/hindu-bride-and-jewish-groom-who-will-officiate/article19972870/

Rabbi Eva Goldfinger has two basic criteria for the weddings she 
performs: no God, and no sexism.


Ms. Goldfinger, Life Cycle director and adult educator for the Oraynu 
Congregation for Humanistic Judaism in Don Mills, is one of a growing 
body of religious leaders tweaking tradition to accommodate interfaith 
unions in multicultural Toronto. And though her brand of secular Judaism 
might be (quite literally) unorthodox, her attitude of inclusion is one 
increasingly shared.


“People don’t get married for religious reasons,” she says. “People get 
married for love and for having children and for getting the support 
system to have your dreams met. So we need to support that.”


Since 1984, the number of weddings Ms. Goldfinger has officiated have 
reached the thousands. Each year, she estimates that roughly 65 per cent 
of these are with partners of mixed faiths, many of them co-officiated 
with representatives from other religious traditions: Hindu, Muslim, 
Catholic, Anglican, Baptist, and even a Mormon priest. The option to 
integrate elements of two faiths in a wedding ceremony appeals to many 
in this city of cultural fusion. And the rate of intermarriage, says Ms. 
Goldfinger, is on the rise.


Between 1991 and 2001, interfaith marriages and common-law partnerships 
across Canada increased from 15 to 19 per cent. Statistics Canada 
projects that by 2031, nearly 31 per cent of Torontonians will be 
non-Christian, up from approximately 21 per cent in 2006. As Toronto 
becomes less religiously homogenous as a city, more and more romantic 
partnerships will reflect that increased diversity.


In turn, religious organizations will be forced to consider the impact 
of these interfaith couples on their communities, and decide for 
themselves whether accommodating members with different beliefs poses an 
existential threat or, alternately, the very means to that community’s 
survival.


The major Christian denominations have their own policies regarding 
interfaith marriage. While the Catholic Church permits couples of 
different faiths to wed, a mixed-marriage petition must the filed in 
advance and both parties are urged to commit to raising children in the 
faith. The Anglican church abides by a similar, if less formalized, 
attitude.


In other major religions, intermarriage is traditionally frowned upon; 
in Toronto, clergy such as Ms. Goldfinger are helping to open up the 
field. “You have a choice,” Ms. Goldfinger argues. “You either embrace 
interfaith couples, or you lose them altogether.”


Samira Kanji, President and CEO of the Noor Cultural Centre, a hub for 
Islamic cultural education, acquired a licence to perform marriages in 
2005 to meet a growing number of requests, many from mixed-faith couples 
looking to combine traditions. From the beginning, Ms. Kanji’s centre 
has offered Muslims and their non-Muslim partners the option to receive 
a traditional Nikkah, or Islamic wedding ceremony. The rite is replete 
with an interfaith homily that allows for religious input from both 
sides, grounded in the pluralistic teachings of the Quran.


“We’re very cognizant of the Islamic tradition,” says Ms. Kanji. “But in 
Islam, there’s no hierarchy, no papal figure that decrees what’s 
accepted practice and what isn’t. So there’s room to manoeuvre.”


While Noor remains relatively unique in its degree of flexibility – 
Islamic organizations that will perform a Nikkah for a Muslim bride and 
non-Muslim groom in particular are few, according to Ms. Kanji – she 
points out that people’s relationships with ancient spiritual 
revelations have always adjusted with the social contexts of their 
times. Being responsive to a community’s demands is what keeps tradition 
alive.


Noor’s numbers reinforce Ms. Kanji’s view. Of the 29 marriages performed 
by the centre’s officers in 2013, 13 were interfaith, mostly involving a 
Muslim bride and non-Muslim groom.


Pandit Roopnauth Sharma is the founder of Mississauga’s Ram Mandir, a 
Hindu temple boasting a community of over 3000 members. Of the 50-60 
marriages he performs annually, he estimates that some 15 per cent of 
these involve mixed-faith couples. As his community expands, so too does 
the number of interfaith marriages he performs in a year.


“I don’t believe any man has the right to say, ‘You cannot marry you 
because you don’t believe in this or that,’” says Mr. Sharma. “You 
believe in each other, and that’s what important.”


Despite a growing number of willing religious officiants, some couples 
still opt for a non-denominational ceremony that blends elements of 
faith with personal flourishes. Bradley Rabins and Hector Mejia’s 
August, 2011 wedding took place at the downtown venue Arcadian Court, 
with a non-denominational officiant. Yet, it was held under a c

[Goanet] Article: Hinduism and Modern India

[Albert Peres]

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2010/01/22/january-22-2010-hinduism-and-modern-india/5510/

FRED DE SAM LAZARO, correspondent: India has long lured spiritual 
tourists from the West, as a place to escape the modern world. But over 
the past two decades, India itself has tightly embraced that modern 
world, at least in urban areas where the large and growing middle-class 
lives. ..,


--
Albert Peres

afpe...@3129.ca
416.660.0847 cell

[Goanet] Article: Goa-born designers promote 'kashti' saree in Bollywood

[Albert Peres]

Madonna and other pop stars make a living while parading around their 
underwear, so why not? In all depictions of the crucifixion, front and 
centre of every Catholic Church, the Lord is depicted in his underwear. 
So again, why not?



Goa-born designers promote 'kashti' saree in Bollywood

http://www.goanews.com/news_disp.php?newsid=4265

PTI, PANAJI | 14 September 2013 18:37 IST

Goa-born designer sisters Riddhi and Siddhi Mapxencar are happy with 
their styling of actress Ileana D'Cruz in the forthcoming Bollywood 
movie 'Phata Poster Nikla Hero'.


The designers have depicted Ileana as a Marathi 'mulgi' (a typical 
Marathi girl) in a dance sequence where she wears a 'kashti' saree.


"We were given a brief about the whole song. Ileana was to be depicted 
as a "Marathi mulgi" in a kashti saree (a traditional Marathi style of 
saree).


"It was a dance sequence number so we had to pre-stitch the drape and 
give it a whole feel of the real draped kashti," Riddhi said.


Siddhi said the colour of ensemble had to be bright and vibrant keeping 
in mind mood of the song. "Also, there were rigorous dance movements 
which had to be performed by Ileana so pre-stitched kashti saree was a 
perfect choice."


The designer duo has styled some of the top names in the Hindi film 
industry including Katrina Kaif ('Ek Tha Tiger'), Sonam Kapoor ('Thank 
You' and 'Players') and Akshay Kumar ('Oh My God').


Riddhi said they managed to execute the assignment for 'Phata Poster...' 
in a day's time. "Film work is usually done on short time bounds. It was 
work of a few days though we managed it skillfully in a day's time."


Asked to compare between fashion and dress designing for films, Siddhi 
said, "ramp is mostly theme-based and we have control over style, ideas 
and colour.


Film scripts and looks are predetermined, so we have to imbibe the 
requirements smartly and at the same time maintain our touch."


--
Albert Peres

afpe...@3129.ca
416.660.0847 cell

[Goanet] Article: Off Topic: Washington is renaming street

[Albert Peres]

Of course, all Embassy incoming mail will need to be postal addressed. 
Directories, maps and website will have to be changed. Brilliant.


AP

---
Washington is renaming the street outside China’s embassy after jailed 
dissident Liu Xiaobo — and China is furious


http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/06/26/washington-is-renaming-the-street-outside-chinas-embassy-after-jailed-dissident-liu-xiaobo-and-china-is-furious/

The Telegraph | June 26, 2014 2:08 PM ET

SHANGHAI — China has reacted with fury to plans to rename the street 
outside its Washington embassy in honour of its most famous political 
dissident.


Earlier this week, a U.S. congressional committee voted to change the 
Chinese embassy’s address to “Liu Xiaobo Plaza” — a tribute to the 
literary critic and dissident who has been in prison since 2009 for 
organizing a “subversive” pro-democracy petition called Charter 08.


The name change was “a way to highlight Liu’s unjust imprisonment,” said 
a statement posted on the website of Frank Wolf, the Republican 
congressman behind the initiative.


The move enraged China. “We believe that the U.S. people will not like 
to see a U.S. street be named after a criminal,” a spokesman for the 
Chinese embassy was quoted as saying by the Washington Post.


Friends, relations and supporters of Mr. Liu celebrated the initiative, 
which was timed to coincide with this month’s 25th anniversary of the 
1989 Tiananmen Square protests, in which he played a central role. Xia 
Yeliang, a Chinese academic, said Liu Xia, the dissident’s wife who 
herself has been under house arrest since 2010, had shown enthusiasm 
after he told her of the vote by telephone.


“She immediately laughed, a very loud laugh, a joyful laugh,” Prof. Xia 
said.


He added that he had asked her to pass the message on to Liu Xiabo, but 
that the telephone line had gone dead. Liu Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel 
Peace Prize in absentia in 2010, and Prof Xia said he saw it as a 
tribute to all of those who protested and lost their lives in 1989.


Original article includes:
Photo:
File photo of protests for the release of Liu Xiaobo — the jailed 
Chinese dissident whom U.S. officials have decided to rename a street in 
front of China's embassy after.


Photo:
Mike Clarke/AFP/Getty ImagesFile photo of protests for the release of
Liu Xiaobo — the jailed Chinese dissident whom U.S. officials have 
decided to rename a street in front of China's embassy after.


--
Albert Peres

afpe...@3129.ca
416.660.0847 cell

[Goanet] Article: Goa Lok Sabha Election Results 2014

[Albert Peres]

Election Results 2014: BJP Wins Both Lok Sabha Seats in Goa
May 16, 2014 15:14 IST

http://www.ndtv.com/elections/article/election-2014/election-results-2014-bjp-wins-both-lok-sabha-seats-in-goa-525477

Panaji: BJP won the Lok Sabha polls in Goa by defeating Congress in both 
the parliamentary constituencies in the state today.


BJP retained the North Goa seat, while wresting Congress' South Goa bastion.

Sitting MP and BJP candidate Sripad Naik won in North Goa defeating 
Congress' Ravi Naik, while Congress' Aleixo Lourenco Reginaldo lost to 
BJP's Narendra Sawaikar in South Goa.


Sripad Naik polled 176,124 votes as against 87,145 votes by Ravi Naik 
followed by votes of Dattaram Desai from AAP, who polled 11,791 votes.


In South Goa, Sawaikar polled 198,776 votes as against Reginaldo who got 
1,66,446 votes. A woman candidate Swati Kerkar contesting on AAP ticket 
got 11,246 votes, Trinamool Congress Party leader Churchill Alemao 
polled 11,941 votes.


Goa had gone to polls on April 12 wherein 76.82 per cent voters 
exercised their franchise.


The record voting was nearly 21 per cent more than 2009 polls which saw 
55 per cent of the voters cast ballot.


The 1998 Parliamentary polls had recorded 68 per cent votes.

Issues like special status for Goa, eradication of drug menace, 
resumption of legal mining and special package for the people affected 
with the then ban on the mining industry were high on the agenda of the 
political parties.


The voting percentage indicated that there was huge polling in the 
mining belt, where people were demanding resumption of economic activity 
in their belt. After the counting, it was indicated that the votes were 
polled in favour of the BJP in this belt.


However, the traditional voters of Salcette taluka with a predominantly 
Catholic population preferred to remain with the Congress party as 
Lourenco polled more votes as against the BJP candidate.


--
Albert Peres

afpe...@3129.ca
416.660.0847 cell

[Goanet] Article from Epaper Sakal - 29 Apr 2014, Edition: GTGOA , Page: 006

[epaperfeedback]

This message was sent to you by stephen dias, epaperfeedb...@esakal.com

as a service of   http://epaper.esakal.com 
Comment From Sender:
 This is class 1 article written by Fr.Victor Ferrao on Modi's Deception 
published in Gt. 29.4.2014.
Cherios fr.Victor


Stephen Dias, D.Paula


  Full Story Can be Found at: 
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[Goanet] Article: Australia - NHMRC rule homeopathic remedies useless for human health

[Albert Peres]

NHMRC rule homeopathic remedies useless for human health

http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/nhmrc-rule-homeopathic-remedies-useless-for-human-health/story-fneuzlbd-1226878166107

Sue Dunlevy National Health Reporter
News Corp Australia
April 09, 2014 12:00AM

AFTER a lengthy investigation the nation’s peak medical research body 
has delivered its verdict on homeopathic remedies — they are useless for 
human health.


The judgement is likely to influence a crucial government review which 
is deciding whether the 30 per cent tax rebate for private health 
insurance coverage of complementary therapies should continue.


Australians spend almost $4 billion a year on complementary therapies 
like vitamins and herbs and almost $10 million on homeopathic remedies.


Have homeopathic remedies worked for you? Leave your comment below

The National Health and Medical Research Council will today release a 
guide for doctors on how to talk to their patients about the lack of 
evidence for many such therapies. Doctors will also be told to warn 
patients of possible interactions between alternative and conventional 
medicines.


The council has also produced a 300-page draft report that reviews the 
evidence for homoeopathy in treating 68 clinical conditions. It 
concludes “there is no reliable evidence that homoeopathy is effective 
for treating health conditions”.


Homoeopathy is a 200-year-old form of alternative medicine based on the 
principle that substances that produce symptoms in a healthy person can 
be used to treat similar symptoms in a sick person.


The theory is that homeopathic remedies stimulate the body’s ability to 
fight infection by using molecules in highly diluted substances that 
retain a ‘memory’ of the original substance.


Its worth has long been debated.

In 2009, the UK House of Commons Science and Technology Committee 
released a report which argued “there has been enough testing of 
homoeopathy and plenty of evidence showing that it is not efficacious” 
and that homeopathic products “perform no better than placebo”.


NHMRC chief Warwick Anderson said health care choices should be based on 
good evidence.


However, Australian Homeopathic Association spokesman Greg Cope said he 
was disappointed at the narrow evidence relied on by the NHMRC in its 
report.


“What they have looked at is systematic trials for named conditions when 
that is not how homoeopathy works,” he said.


Homoeopathy worked on the principle of improving a person’s overall 
health and wellness, and research such as a seven-year study conducted 
in Switzerland was a better measure of its usefulness, he said.


There are about 10,000 complementary medicine products sold in Australia 
but most consumers are unaware they are not evaluated by our medicines 
safety watchdog before they are allowed on the market.


Complementary medicine sceptic Professor Ken Harvey said the NHMRC’s 
ruling on homoeopathy was “not unexpected” and its implications could be 
wide ranging.


“One would conclude on the basis of this report a government committee 
revising whether natural therapies should continue to get private health 
insurance tax rebates would conclude it doesn’t warrant a private health 
insurance rebate,” he said.


The NHMRC report also raised questions about how colleges that provide 
homoeopathy training could continue to meet government training rules 
and regulations, he said.


---end---

--
Albert Peres

afpe...@3129.ca
416.660.0847 cell

[Goanet] Article: Mexican-made Micra carries micro price (India's next competitor)

[Albert Peres]

India's next competitor ... Mexico


Mexican-made Micra carries micro price

http://www.wheels.ca/feature/mexican-made-micra-carries-micro-price/

Published April 7, 2014
Mark Richardson Mark Richardson

The new Nissan Micra comes off the assembly line at the Nissan assembly 
plant in Aguascalientes, Mexico. Many will be headed directly for 
Canada, where it will be the lowest-priced car on the market.
The new Nissan Micra comes off the assembly line at the Nissan assembly 
plant in Aguascalientes, Mexico. Many will be headed directly for 
Canada, where it will be the lowest-priced car on the market.


AGUASCALIENTES, MEXICO—Down here in central Mexico, a new Nissan comes 
off the assembly line every 38 seconds. The Japanese automaker has two 
plants in this dusty city, but there’s no dust on the shop floor, and 
the finished cars are lined up and gleaming as far as you can see.


They’re waiting for trains to take them to markets in North and South 
America, and Europe. They’re mostly Sentras and Versas, but now there’s 
a new car among them — the Micra — and those trains will travel directly 
to Canada without stopping.


The tiny Micra hatchback won’t be sold in the United States. Americans 
prefer sedans, and they’re dubious of its small size.


It’s their loss. When the first new Micras arrive in showrooms in late 
April, they’ll be available as the cheapest car in Canada, starting at 
$9,998.


This is a very big deal. Currently, Canada’s cheapest car is the Chevy 
Spark, which starts at $11,945.


The below-$10,000 Micra has a manual transmission and no 
air-conditioning, but an automatic with a/c is available on the $13,298 
version, which is still cheaper than all but the most stripped-down 
Spark or Mitsubishi Mirage. In fact, with the exception of the $14,895 
automatic Spark with a/c, every other car in Canada with these two 
options lists for more than $16,000.


The most expensive Micra, with fog lights, Bluetooth, rear-view camera, 
power doors and windows, tops out at $16,748. This should cost about 
$20,000, after delivery and taxes.


How does Nissan do it? It insists the car is profitable to make and sell.

“You know our CEO, Mr. Carlos Ghosn?” says Canadian spokesperson Didier 
Marsaud. “Trust me, you don’t bring a business case to Mr. Ghosn saying, 
‘Mr. Ghosn, we will not be profitable on this product.’ This is a basic 
rule within Nissan.”


Ironically, though, the Micra is cheaper in Canada than in Mexico, where 
it sells for the equivalent of about $500 more.


Only in India, where it’s sold with fewer features, can it be purchased 
for less money.


This was not an easy business case to make, says Andrew Wilton, Nissan 
Canada’s chief marketing manager for small cars. But he insists the 
Micra is still profitable for dealers, even in the basic model.


Part of the savings is found by its assembly here in Mexico. There’s no 
skimping on the quality of parts or production — the Canadian cars are 
all tested to the same standards as any other car approved by Ottawa — 
but labour costs are considerably cheaper.


A skilled assembler here earns about 500 pesos a day, plus about half 
again in health and insurance benefits. At nearly 12 pesos to the 
dollar, that’s about $63 for a 12-hour shift. That’s about how much a 
Canadian worker costs per hour.


As well, there’s economy of scale. The Micra is one of four different 
models that come off Nissan’s two flexible assembly lines in this town, 
and its original plant north of Mexico City produces six more models.


In fact, Mexico will produce 850,000 Nissans in this financial year — 
with about 35,000 of them headed for Canada. Since the first Mexican 
Sentra arrived in 1993, the plants have shipped 352,000 vehicles to Canada.


The Micra is a whole new model for us, and Nissan hopes it will help 
boost its total Mexican production by 33 per cent this year alone.


The second plant in this town opened last November, just 19 months after 
the first shovel went into the ground, and it builds only Sentras for 
the U.S. market. Business is booming.


Transportation for freelance writer Mark Richardson was provided by the 
manufacturer. whe...@thestar.ca


--
Albert Peres

afpe...@3129.ca
416.660.0847 cell

[Goanet] Article: A New Capital of Call Centers (India's next competitor)

[Albert Peres]

India's next competitor ... Philippines

---
A New Capital of Call Centers

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/26/business/philippines-overtakes-india-as-hub-of-call-centers.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

By VIKAS BAJAJ
Published: November 25, 2011 100+ comments

MANILA — Americans calling the customer service lines of their airlines, 
phone companies and banks are now more likely to speak to

Mark in Manila than Bharat in Bangalore.

Over the last several years, a quiet revolution has been reshaping the 
call center business: the rise of the Philippines, a former United 
States colony that has a large population of young people who speak 
lightly accented English and, unlike many Indians, are steeped in 
American culture.


More Filipinos — about 400,000 — than Indians now spend their nights 
talking to mostly American consumers, industry officials said, as 
companies like AT&T, JPMorgan Chase and Expedia have hired call centers 
here, or built their own. The jobs have come from the United States, 
Europe and, to some extent, India as outsourcers followed their clients 
to the Philippines.


India, where offshore call centers first took off in a big way, fields 
as many as 350,000 call center agents, according to some industry 
estimates. The Philippines, which has a population one-tenth as big as 
India’s, overtook India this year, according to Jojo Uligan, executive 
director of the Contact Center Association of the Philippines.


The growing preference for the Philippines reflects in part the 
maturation of the outsourcing business and in part a preference for 
American English. In the early days, the industry focused simply on 
finding and setting up shop in countries with large English-speaking 
populations and low labor costs, which mostly led them to India. But 
executives say they are now increasingly identifying places best suited 
for specific tasks. India remains the biggest destination by far for 
software outsourcing, for instance.


Executives say the growth was not motivated by wage considerations. 
Filipino call center agents typically earn more than their Indian 
counterparts ($300 a month, rather than $250, at the entry level), but 
executives say they are worth the extra cost because American customers 
find them easier to understand than they do Indian agents, who speak 
British-style English and use unfamiliar idioms. Indians, for example, 
might say, “I will revert on the same,” rather than, “I will follow up 
on that.”


It helps that Filipinos learn American English in the first grade, eat 
hamburgers, follow the N.B.A. and watch the TV show “Friends” long 
before they enter a call center. In India, by contrast, public schools 
introduce British English in the third grade, only the urban elite eat 
American fast food, cricket is the national pastime and “Friends” is a 
teaching aid for Indian call center trainers. English is an official 
language in both countries.


The Philippines has “a unique combination of Eastern, attentive 
hospitality and attitude of care and compassion mixed with what I call 
Americanization,” said Aparup Sengupta, chief executive of Aegis Global, 
an outsourcing firm based in Mumbai, India, that acquired Manila-based 
People Support in 2008 and now employs nearly 13,000 Filipinos. American 
companies are reluctant to discuss their outsourcing strategies, but 
privately some executives acknowledged that early on, they focused 
primarily on saving money. But as they gained experience in different 
countries, they realized that was not the best strategy.


“Certain phrases people use and idioms are important,” said an executive 
at a large American company that handles service calls through the 
Philippines. He spoke on the condition that he and his firm not be 
identified. “We are getting better at it, but of course it is still a 
hot button.”


Analysts said call centers in the Philippines appeared to have helped 
American businesses respond to complaints from consumers who said they 
could not understand Indian agents. But it is unlikely to satisfy 
critics who say outsourcing is sending too many jobs abroad as millions 
of Americans struggle to find work.


This year, for instance, US Airways stopped outsourcing customer service 
to Manila and hired 400 agents in Arizona, California and North Carolina 
as part of an agreement with the Communications Workers of America union.


Some American companies like Delta Airlines have said they moved call 
centers back to the United States to appease angry customers who wanted 
better English. Entry-level American call center agents earn about 
$20,000 a year, about five times as much as similar agents in the 
Philippines and six times as much as Indian agents.


Nevertheless, the financial benefits of outsourcing remain strong enough 
that the call center business is growing at 25 to 30 percent a year here 
in the Philippines, compared to 10 to 15 percent in India, according to 
Salil Dani, research director at the Evere

[Goanet] Article: India Is Becoming A New Frontier In Mining Personal Data

[Bosco D]

My last article described how Indian marriage web sites publish far more
intimate details about people than Americans are accustomed to, including
details such as blood type and HIV status. These disclosures cover millions
of people. Indians are totally fine with it: the upside of revealing such
...

http://www.forbes.com/sites/adamtanner/2014/04/03/india-becoming-new-frontier-in-mining-personal-data/

Sent via Flipboard

[Goanet] Article: Vatican to Digitize 41 Million Pages of Ancient Manuscripts

[Albert Peres]

Vatican to Digitize 41 Million Pages of Ancient Manuscripts
by Laura C. Mallonee on April 3, 2014

http://hyperallergic.com/117932/vatican-to-digitize-41-million-pages-of-ancient-manuscripts/ 



http://www.mss.vatlib.it/guii/scan/link.jsp

What happens when a wide swath of history — previously only explored by 
white-gloved librarians and erudite historians — is made available to 
anyone with a solid internet connection? Thanks to the Pope, we’ll soon 
find out.


The Vatican Apostolic Library has announced it will digitize all 82,000 
manuscripts in its 135 collections with the help of a Japanese IT 
company. That’s 41 million pages spanning nearly 2,000 years of church 
history that will soon be clickable, zoomable, and presumably, 
printable. When all is said and done, you’ll be able to read the Psalms 
handwritten across 13th-century vellum on your iPhone — so long as you 
speak ancient Greek.


The news comes just months after the Polonsky Foundation funded the 
digitization of 1.5 million pages from both the Vatican and the Bodleian 
libraries, as we wrote about here. (The first batch of those manuscripts 
went online in January; take a look). While the earlier project is 
limited in scope, covering only Greek and Hebrew manuscripts and a 
selection of early books, the latest effort will preserve the remainder 
of the Vatican’s entire collection, reaching from the 2nd century into 
the 20th.


NTT DATA, the firm hired for the job, is starting out with a manageable 
chunk of some 3,000 works, to be scanned and uploaded over a four-year 
period. Once that first round is digitized, you’ll be able to spend 
screen time with Botticelli’s wonderfully weird illustrations for 
Dante’s Divine Comedy, which he drew for Lorenzo the Magnificent (the 
patron who had the artist’s painting “Primavera” hanging in his house). 
You’ll also be able to peruse the illuminated Urbino Bible, a remarkable 
Florentine miniature commissioned by Federico da Montefeltro, whose 
curious profile Pierro della Francesca famously depicted.


The hallowed library has been stocking its bookshelves since 1541, when 
it was founded by Pope Nicholas V — you know, the guy who issued the 
Papal Bulls condoning the slave trade. And since separation of church 
and state has never been the Vatican’s strong suit, the digital archive 
will have much relevance beyond the world of Christendom.


For example, the first phase will include 11 graceful watercolors of 
Japanese dancers dating from between the 16th and 18th centuries, a 
pre-Colombian Aztec book, an illuminated Hebrew manuscript from the 
Mishneh Torah of Maimonides, and 73 fragments from an early Kufic 
Qur’an. If those aren’t old enough for you, how about a volume of Virgil 
dating to 400 CE, once studied by the painter Raphael? It contains one 
of the few surviving examples of illustration in a Roman text.


Whether the new digital archive is merely an inevitable outcome in our 
technological age or another step by Pope Francis to try to make 
Catholicism more accessible, it’s an exciting project for those who want 
to explore world history firsthand. Who knows what discoveries lie in 
wait for the bored, bright kid who loses himself in that online trove?


--
Albert Peres

afpe...@3129.ca
416.660.0847 cell

[Goanet] Article: For Migrants, New Land of Opportunity Is Mexico

[Albert Peres]

Immigration story 2005-2010: Mexico to US: 1.37 million, US to Mexico 
1.39 Million. Net change +20,000 Mexico, US workers alone and not 
including family reunification, student visas retirees, etc.


---
Country at a Crossroads

For Migrants, New Land of Opportunity Is Mexico
By DAMIEN CAVE Published: September 21, 2013

Article Link (follow link for many comments):
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/22/world/americas/for-migrants-new-land-of-opportunity-is-mexico.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&;

Graphic. Migration to Mexico:
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/09/22/world/americas/migration-to-mexico.html?ref=americas

MEXICO CITY — Mexico, whose economic woes have pushed millions of people 
north, is increasingly becoming an immigrant destination. The country’s 
documented foreign-born population nearly doubled between 2000 and 2010, 
and officials now say the pace is accelerating as broad changes in the 
global economy create new dynamics of migration.

Country at a Crossroads

Rising wages in China and higher transportation costs have made Mexican 
manufacturing highly competitive again, with some projections suggesting 
it is already cheaper than China for many industries serving the 
American market. Europe is sputtering, pushing workers away. And while 
Mexico’s economy is far from trouble free, its growth easily outpaced 
the giants of the hemisphere — the United States, Canada and Brazil — in 
2011 and 2012, according to International Monetary Fund data, making the 
country more attractive to fortune seekers worldwide.


The new arrivals range in class from executives to laborers; Mexican 
officials said Friday that residency requests had grown by 10 percent 
since November, when a new law meant to streamline the process took 
effect. And they are coming from nearly everywhere.


Guillaume Pace saw his native France wilting economically, so with his 
new degree in finance, he moved to Mexico City.


Lee Hwan-hee made the same move from South Korea for an internship, 
while Spanish filmmakers, Japanese automotive executives and 
entrepreneurs from the United States and Latin America arrive 
practically daily — pursuing dreams, living well and frequently succeeding.


“There is this energy here, this feeling that anything can happen,” said 
Lesley Téllez, a Californian whose three-year-old business running 
culinary tours served hundreds of clients here last year. “It’s hard to 
find that in the U.S.”


The shift with Mexico’s northern neighbor is especially stark. Americans 
now make up more than three-quarters of Mexico’s roughly one million 
documented foreigners, up from around two-thirds in 2000, leading to a 
historic milestone: more Americans have been added to the population of 
Mexico over the past few years than Mexicans have been added to the 
population of the United States, according to government data in both 
nations.


Mexican migration to the United States has reached an equilibrium, with 
about as many Mexicans moving north from 2005 to 2010 as those returning 
south. The number of Americans legally living and working in Mexico grew 
to more than 70,000 in 2012 from 60,000 in 2009, a number that does not 
include many students and retirees, those on tourist visas or the 
roughly 350,000 American children who have arrived since 2005 with their 
Mexican parents.


“Mexico is changing; all the numbers point in that direction,” said 
Ernesto Rodríguez Chávez, the former director of migration policy at 
Mexico’s Interior Ministry. He added: “There’s been an opening to the 
world in every way — culturally, socially and economically.”


But the effect of that opening varies widely. Many economists, 
demographers and Mexican officials see the growing foreign presence as 
an indicator that global trends have been breaking Mexico’s way — or as 
President Enrique Peña Nieto often puts it, “the stars are aligning” — 
but there are plenty of obstacles threatening to scuttle Mexico’s moment.


Inequality remains a huge problem, and in many Mexican states education 
is still a mess and criminals rule. Many local companies that could be 
benefiting from Mexico’s rise also remain isolated from the export 
economy and its benefits, with credit hard to come by and little 
confidence that the country’s window of opportunity will stay open for 
long. Indeed, over the past year, as projections for growth have been 
trimmed by Mexico’s central bank, it has become increasingly clear to 
officials and experts that the country cannot expect its new 
competitiveness to single-handedly move it forward.


“The fact that there is a Mexican moment does not mean by itself it’s 
going to change our future,” said Ildefonso Guajardo Villarreal, 
Mexico’s economy minister. “We have to take advantage of the Mexican 
moment to do what is required of us.” The challenge, he said, is making 
sure that the growing interest in his country benefits all Mexicans, not 
just newcomers, investors and a privileged few.


Mexico has f

[Goanet] Article: Message of His Holiness Pope Francis for the 48th World Communications Day (long)

[Albert Peres]

"Communication at the Service of an Authentic Culture of Encounter"
 -- Pope's Message for World Communications Day

http://www.news.va/en/news/communication-at-the-service-of-an-authentic-cultu

1 June 2014

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today we are living in a world which is growing ever 'smaller' and 
where, as a result, it would seem to be easier for all of us to be 
neighbours.  Developments in travel and communications technology are 
bringing us closer together and making us more connected, even as 
globalization makes us increasingly interdependent.  Nonetheless, 
divisions, which are sometimes quite deep, continue to exist within our 
human family.  On the global level we see a scandalous gap between the 
opulence of the wealthy and the utter destitution of the poor.  Often we 
need only walk the streets of a city to see the contrast between people 
living on the street and the brilliant lights of the store windows.  We 
have become so accustomed to these things that they no longer unsettle 
us.  Our world suffers from many forms of exclusion, marginalization and 
poverty, to say nothing of conflicts born of a combination of economic, 
political, ideological, and, sadly, even religious motives.


In a world like this, media can help us to feel closer to one another, 
creating a sense of the unity of the human family which can in turn 
inspire solidarity and serious efforts to ensure a more dignified life 
for all.  Good communication helps us to grow closer, to know one 
another better, and ultimately, to grow in unity.  The walls which 
divide us can be broken down only if we are prepared to listen and learn 
from one another.  We need to resolve our differences through forms of 
dialogue which help us grow in understanding and mutual respect.  A 
culture of encounter demands that we be ready not only to give, but also 
to receive.  Media can help us greatly in this, especially nowadays, 
when the networks of human communication have made unprecedented 
advances.  The internet, in particular, offers immense possibilities for 
encounter and solidarity.  This is something truly good, a gift from God.


This is not to say that certain problems do not exist.  The speed with 
which information is communicated exceeds our capacity for reflection 
and judgement, and this does not make for more balanced and proper forms 
of self-expression.  The variety of opinions being aired can be seen as 
helpful, but it also enables people to barricade themselves behind 
sources of information which only confirm their own wishes and ideas, or 
political and economic interests.  The world of communications can help 
us either to expand our knowledge or to lose our bearings.  The desire 
for digital connectivity can have the effect of isolating us from our 
neighbours, from those closest to us.  We should not overlook the fact 
that those who for whatever reason lack access to social media run the 
risk of being left behind.


While these drawbacks are real, they do not justify rejecting social 
media; rather, they remind us that communication is ultimately a human 
rather than technological achievement.  What is it, then, that helps us, 
in the digital environment, to grow in humanity and mutual 
understanding?  We need, for example, to recover a certain sense of 
deliberateness and calm.  This calls for time and the ability to be 
silent and to listen.  We need also to be patient if we want to 
understand those who are different from us.  People only express 
themselves fully when they are not merely tolerated, but know that they 
are truly accepted.  If we are genuinely attentive in listening to 
others, we will learn to look at the world with different eyes and come 
to appreciate the richness of human experience as manifested in 
different cultures and traditions.  We will also learn to appreciate 
more fully the important values inspired by Christianity, such as the 
vision of the human person, the nature of marriage and the family, the 
proper distinction between the religious and political spheres, the 
principles of solidarity and subsidiarity, and many others.


How, then, can communication be at the service of an authentic culture 
of encounter?  What does it mean for us, as disciples of the Lord, to 
encounter others in the light of the Gospel?  In spite of our own 
limitations and sinfulness, how do we draw truly close to one another? 
These questions are summed up in what a scribe – a communicator – once 
asked Jesus: 'And who is my neighbour?' (Lk 10:29).  This question can 
help us to see communication in terms of 'neighbourliness'.  We might 
paraphrase the question in this way: How can we be 'neighbourly' in our 
use of the communications media and in the new environment created by 
digital technology?  I find an answer in the parable of the Good 
Samaritan, which is also a parable about communication.  Those who 
communicate, in effect, become neighbours.  The Good Samaritan not only 
draws nearer t

[Goanet] Article: 2014 Gates (Foundation) Annual Letter dismisses 3-Myths

[Albert Peres]

2014 Gates (Foundation) Annual Letter dismisses 3-Myths that block the 
progress of the poor.


- Poor Countries are Doomed to stay Poor
- Foreign Aid is a Big Waste
- Saving lives leads to overpopulation

HTML:
http://annualletter.gatesfoundation.org/

PDF:
http://annualletter.gatesfoundation.org/~/media/Annual%20Letter%202014/PDFs/2014_GatesAnnualLetter_ENGLISH_1.pdf

Worth reading...

--
Albert Peres

afpe...@3129.ca
416.660.0847 cell

[Goanet] Article: India blocks visit by NDP MPP Jagmeet Singh

[Albert Peres]

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2013/12/30/india_blocks_visit_by_ndp_mpp_jagmeet_singh.html

India blocks visit by NDP MPP Jagmeet Singh

By: Richard J. Brennan Provincial Politics, The Toronto Star
Published on Mon Dec 30 2013

NDP MPP Jagmeet Singh says he has been refused a visa to enter India 
because of comments he has made about that country’s human rights record.


While NDP MPP Jagmeet Singh says the Indian consulate in Toronto refused 
to say why his visitor's visa request was rejected, he said he was told 
unofficially it was because he’s an “outspoken critic” of India’s 
treatment of minorities.


Singh (Bramalea—Gore—Malton), a Sikh who has visited India many times, 
has never had a problem before he recently applied to go there on Dec. 
24 to receive a humanitarian award.


While Singh says the Indian consulate in Toronto refused to officially 
say why he was rejected, he said Monday that he was told unofficially it 
was because he’s an “outspoken critic” of India’s treatment of minorities.


The Indian consulate in Toronto declined to talk about why Singh was 
denied the visa.


“The issue of grant or denial of visa is a sovereign right of any 
country. The Consulate does not discuss or explain the Government’s 
sovereign decision on specific visa applications,” an official said in 
an email statement.


Singh, who was born in Canada, acknowledged he has made comments 
publicly at meetings, in the legislature and in the media, where he was 
“very critical” of the treatment of Sikhs, Christians and Muslims in India.


The MPP explained he was asked in the summer if he could visit India to 
receive the SEWA Sikh of the Year Award for his humanitarian work. 
Instead, Singh, a 34-year-old lawyer, received his award in a video 
presentation.


He explained that SEWA is non-profit organization based in India that is 
committed to social justice initiatives such as ending drug abuse and 
promoting the equality of women by opposing both the dowry system and 
female feticide.


Singh said denying an elected official entry is unusual for India and 
may be a first.


“I got my passport back on Dec. 16 and the passport had no visa in it” 
even though it showed a visa had been applied for.”


“They (Indian consulate) confirmed, ‘You have not been given permission 
to travel to India’ ” and it was only after Singh requested a meeting 
with a consular official that he got a hint of why he was blocked.


“He said officially, ‘We are not giving you any reasons. We don’t have 
to give you a reason. I can tell you it was the home ministry that 
flagged this’ . . . but the suggestion was and what I believe is that it 
was because of my human rights work and being an outspoken critic of the 
track record of India,” Singh said.


---end---

--
Albert Peres

afpe...@3129.ca
416.660.0847 cell

[Goanet] Article: Cyclone Phailin hits. Results

[Albert Peres]

Good work India. Consider the fact 10,000 were killed during a similar 
storm.


Mitigating factor: New technology and channels of communication leading 
to faster and higher level of cooperation in areas of planing, 
preparation and response...


---
Cyclone Phailin hits 90 lakh people; 23 dead, lakhs of homes damaged

PTI | Oct 13, 2013, 09.54 PM IST

GOPALPUR/SRIKAKULAM: Cyclone Phailin on Sunday left a trail of 
destruction knocking down lakhs of homes affecting nearly 90 lakh people 
and destroying paddy crops worth about Rs 2,400 crore, but Odisha and 
Andhra Pradesh escaped from widespread loss of life.


As the largest evacuation efforts in the country's recent history helped 
keep casualties to the minimum, reports from the two states tonight said 
that 23 people died, all but two of them in Odisha. Most of the 
casualties were caused by wall collapse, uprooted trees and in floods.


Communication links were vastly disrupted by the strong winds that went 
upto a speed of 220 kmph when the "very severe" cyclonic storm crossed 
the coast near Gopalpur last night and weakened before turning into a 
depression. Ganjam district in Odisha bore the brunt of the storm.


According to IMD tonight, Phailin weakened further turning into "deep 
depression" with wind speed of 45-55 kmph and currently lay over 
northern Chhattisgarh, parts of Orissa and Jharkhand. According to M 
Mohapatra, scientist (Cyclone Warning Division) of the meteorology 
department, the "cyclonic storm" has now turned to "deep depression" 
with the wind speed of 45-55 kmph. It currently lays over northern 
Chhattisgarh, parts of Orissa and Jharkhand. It is expected to weaken 
further late tonight, he said.


A Panama-registered cargoship M V Bingo carrying iron ore was reported 
to have sunk in rough seas in the impact of the cyclone off the coast of 
West Bengal, but the crew were spotted in a lifeboat by a Coast Guard 
Dornier aircraft.


Authorities in Odisha evacuated nearly nine lakh people, the largest in 
recent history, ahead of the storm to cyclone shelters and public 
buildings like schools to avoid a repeat of the monstrous 1999 super 
cyclone in which nearly 10,000 people were killed.


"We are on the whole quite satisfied with the type of evacuation that 
was done," Vice chairman of National Disaster Management Authority M 
Shashidhar Reddy said. In Gopalpur, where the storm struck first, 
"almost 90-95% people had been evacuated".


Defence and paramilitary personnel were deployed to carry out relief and 
rehabilitation measures and restoring infrastructure badly affected by 
the storm.


The IMD earlier in the day said Phailin has weakened into a cyclonic 
storm with wind speed between 60 and 70 kmph.


Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik said the primary aim was to 
minimize loss of human lives and they have successfully managed to do 
so. "Property to the tune of several crores has been 
damaged...Rehabilitation will now be done."


Giving details of the devastation, Odisha revenue minister S N Patro 
said 14,514 villages in 12 districts have been affected, hitting a 
population of 80,53,620.


Over 2.34 lakh houses have been damaged and more than 8.73 lakh people 
evacuated.


Over five lakh hectares of standing crops have been destroyed by the 
gushing waters causing an estimated loss of Rs 2,400 crore, he said.

Power situation under control: Power ministry

There were some disturbances in electricity transmission due to cyclone 
Phailin which struck Odisha and Andhra Pradesh last night, but were 
attended to in time, the power ministry said.


"Required load and generation were managed in a balanced manner so as to 
secure stable transmission frequency," it said in a statement.


In Andhra Pradesh, the load was reduced to about 9,000 megawatt (MW) 
against normal demand of 10,000MW and in Odisha, it was 600MW against 
the normal demand of 2800MW.


Based on IMD information, extensive prior preparations were undertaken 
to tackle the effects of cyclone Phailin in the context of power 
requirements," it said.


Advance preparations were made to manage generation and load balance for 
unhindered and secure grid operation. Power stations in the region were 
also monitored, it further added.


As required load and generation were managed in a balanced manner so as 
to secure stable transmission frequency.


Also three Emergency Restoration Systems (ERS) of PGCIL were put on 
standby readiness in AP and Odisha for quick deployment in the event of 
damage.


The National Load Dispatch Centre under the control of POSOCO was 
operating 24 hrs and in touch with the regional dispatch centres of 
POSOCO and the state load dispatch centre (SLDC).


A high level team headed by additional secretary in the ministry was 
coordinating all the steps required including 2 hourly reports to all 
concerned, the statement further added.


--
Albert Peres

afpe...@3129.ca
416.660.0847 cell

[Goanet] Article 10612-Coconut Oil and Medium-Chain Triglicerides

[Con Menezes]

http://www.coconutresearchcenter.org/article10612.htm

[Goanet] Article on Mary Sequeira in OHeraldo

[Eugene Correia]

Check the Review section of today's OHeraldo (epaper) for my article on the
double international Mary Sequeira (need D'Souza), now 81, who is to be
honoured on Aug 29 with the Dhyan Chand Award for lifetime achievement in
sport.
Late but better than never.

Eugene

[Goanet] Article: Why does America lose its head ...

[Albert Peres]

Why does America lose its head over 'terror' but ignore its daily gun 
deaths? -- Michael Cohen, The Observer


http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/apr/21/boston-marathon-bombs-us-gun-law 
 (link includes comments)


The marathon bombs triggered a reaction that is at odds with last week's 
inertia over arms control


--- 
The thriving metropolis of Boston was turned into a ghost town on 
Friday. Nearly a million Bostonians were asked to stay in their homes – 
and willingly complied. Schools were closed; business shuttered; trains, 
subways and roads were empty; usually busy streets eerily resembled a 
post-apocalyptic movie set; even baseball games and cultural events were 
cancelled – all in response to a 19-year-old fugitive, who was on foot 
and clearly identified by the news media.


The actions allegedly committed by the Boston marathon bomber, Dzhokhar 
Tsarnaev and his brother, Tamerlan, were heinous. Four people dead and 
more than 100 wounded, some with shredded and amputated limbs.


But Londoners, who endured IRA terror for years, might be forgiven for 
thinking that America over-reacted just a tad to the goings-on in 
Boston. They're right – and then some. What we saw was a collective 
freak-out like few that we've seen previously in the United States. It 
was yet another depressing reminder that more than 11 years after 9/11 
Americans still allow themselves to be easily and willingly cowed by the 
"threat" of terrorism.


After all, it's not as if this is the first time that homicidal killers 
have been on the loose in a major American city. In 2002, Washington DC 
was terrorised by two roving snipers, who randomly shot and killed 10 
people. In February, a disgruntled police officer, Christopher Dorner, 
murdered four people over several days in Los Angeles. In neither case 
was LA or DC put on lockdown mode, perhaps because neither of these 
sprees was branded with that magically evocative and seemingly 
terrifying word for Americans, terrorism.


To be sure, public officials in Boston appeared to be acting out of an 
abundance of caution. And it's appropriate for Boston residents to be 
asked to take precautions or keep their eyes open. But by letting one 
fugitive terrorist shut down a major American city, Boston not only 
bowed to outsize and irrational fears, but sent a dangerous message to 
every would-be terrorist – if you want to wreak havoc in the United 
States, intimidate its population and disrupt public order, here's your 
instruction booklet.


Putting aside the economic and psychological cost, the lockdown also 
prevented an early capture of the alleged bomber, who was discovered 
after Bostonians were given the all clear and a Watertown man wandered 
into his backyard for a cigarette and found a bleeding terrorist on his 
boat.


In some regards, there is a positive spin on this – it's a reflection of 
how little Americans have to worry about terrorism. A population such as 
London during the IRA bombings or Israel during the second intifada or 
Baghdad, pretty much every day, becomes inured to random political 
violence. Americans who have such little experience of terrorism, 
relatively speaking, are more primed to overreact – and assume the 
absolute worst when it comes to the threat of a terror attack. It is as 
if somehow in the American imagination, every terrorist is a not just a 
mortal threat, but is a deadly combination of Jason Bourne and James Bond.


If only Americans reacted the same way to the actual threats that exist 
in their country. There's something quite fitting and ironic about the 
fact that the Boston freak-out happened in the same week the Senate 
blocked consideration of a gun control bill that would have strengthened 
background checks for potential buyers. Even though this reform is 
supported by more than 90% of Americans, and even though 56 out of 100 
senators voted in favour of it, the Republican minority prevented even a 
vote from being held on the bill because it would have allegedly 
violated the second amendment rights of "law-abiding Americans".


So for those of you keeping score at home – locking down an American 
city: a proper reaction to the threat from one terrorist. A background 
check to prevent criminals or those with mental illness from purchasing 
guns: a dastardly attack on civil liberties. All of this would be almost 
darkly comic if not for the fact that more Americans will die needlessly 
as a result. Already, more than 30,000 Americans die in gun violence 
every year (compared to the 17 who died last year in terrorist attacks).


What makes US gun violence so particularly horrifying is how routine and 
mundane it has become. After the massacre of 20 kindergartners in an 
elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, millions of Americans began 
to take greater notice of the threat from gun violence. Yet since then, 
the daily carnage that guns produce has continued unabated and often 
unnoticed.


The same day o

[Goanet] Article: Through good deeds, light takes over the dark

[Albert Peres]

Boston Marathon explosions: FBI releases images, video of two suspects

 -- Rick Westhead Staff Reporter (Toronto Star)
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2013/04/18/boston_marathon_explosions_fbi_releases_images_of_two_suspects.html

The images were released hours after President Barack Obama and first 
lady Michelle Obama attended an interfaith service at a Roman Catholic 
cathedral in Boston to remember the victims, including an 8-year-old boy.


BOSTON — The FBI released photos and video of two baseball hat-wearing 
suspects who are believed to be armed and dangerous and may be 
responsible for the deadly Boston Marathon bombing.


The two suspects, who appear to be in their 20s, are shown to be walking 
purposefully, one behind the other, through downtown Boston at 2:47 p.m. 
on Monday, 13 minutes before the bombs exploded.


One of the suspects wears a black baseball hat with a Bridgestone Golf 
logo, sunglasses and a black jacket over a white V-neck T-shirt.


The other is shown with a white hat worn backward and a black jacket. 
Both men are carrying backpacks in the photos and videos.

Photos View gallery

Suspects wanted for questioning in relation to the Boston Marathon 
bombings April 15 are revealed during an FBI news conference in Boston, 
Thursday. zoom


“We are enlisting the public’s help to identify the two suspects,” FBI 
Special Agent Richard DesLauriers said.


“Within the last day or so, through that careful process, we initially 
developed a single person of interest,” he said, adding that 30 
law-enforcement agencies are working the case. “Not knowing if the 
individual was acting alone or in concert with others, we obviously 
worked with extreme purpose to make that determination.”


Investigators subsequently determined they are looking for two suspects. 
It’s possible that the FBI has secured other video and photos of the 
suspects that it hasn’t released.


DesLauriers did not say whether he believes the bombing was the result 
of a homegrown plot or one with roots overseas.


A former FBI agent said in an interview with The Star that with the 
release of the photos, the public should be confident that the suspects 
would be caught.


“Look at (former Boston crime boss) Whitey Bulger. The FBI got the tip 
that led to him being caught one day after they released his photo,” 
said the agent, who didn’t want to release his name because he still 
consults with the bureau on cases.


Bulger evaded police for 16 years before he was arrested in California 
in 2011.


Amid the frenzy over the release of the suspects’ pictures, Brent E. 
Turvey, a forensic scientist, criminal profiler and author of the 
textbook Criminal Profiling, said he’s concerned over whether the FBI 
has narrowed its focus on the right suspects.


“The FBI tends to jump the gun on releasing information like this and 
people’s lives can be ruined,” Turvey said.


For instance, Turvey said the FBI was positive it had the person when 
Richard Jewell was questioned in the Atlanta Olympic Park bombing in 
1996. He was later cleared.


As it tried to crack the high-profile case of a string of letters sent 
with anthrax that killed five people in 2001, the FBI called scientist 
Steven J. Hatfill a “person of interest” crime. The government later had 
to pay him a multimillion-dollar settlement.


“My first thought with Boston is, ‘I hope they’ve got the right people,’ 
” Turvey said. “My second thought is about how young the two suspects 
look and how well they blend in, in Boston.”


The FBI’s update to the public and media came hours after U.S. President 
Barack Obama was once again called to play the role of 
“comforter-in-chief” and salve the collective wounds of this battered city.


“Every one of us has been touched by this attack on your beloved city,” 
Obama said at an interfaith memorial service at Cathedral of the Holy 
Cross. “Every one of us stands with you.”


It was a cathartic address that seemed to hit the right notes for a 
local audience still scarred after Monday’s bombings, which killed three 
people, including an 8-year-old boy, and injured 176 others.


“We may get momentarily knocked off our feet but we will pick ourselves 
up,” Obama said, referring to Bill Iffrig, a 78-year-old runner who was 
blown off his feet by one of the bomb blasts but still completed the 
marathon. “We will keep going. We will finish the race.”


Obama noted that “to the chagrin of Chicago and New York,” Boston sports 
teams would again host championship celebrations, and come next April, 
“the crowds will gather . . . the American public will return” for the 
next Boston Marathon.


“Boston is the perfect state of grace,” Obama said. “Every one of us has 
been touched by this attack on your beloved city. Every one of us stands 
with you. Boston may be your hometown but we claim it, too. It’s one of 
the world’s great cities.”


The president later visited patients at Massachusetts General Hospital, 
and spoke with a trauma

[Goanet] Article: Catholic school board, Government of Portugal formalize agreement. Why not Goa?

[Albert Peres]

Happening in the in Mississauga the city next to Toronto, Canada. 
Question: Why has something like this not happened in Goa schools?


The Japanese, www.japanfoundationcanada.org and Germans, 
www.goethe.de/ins/ca/tor/enindex.htm?wt_sc=toronto provide similar 
language support. Maybe many additional countries. I have not yet 
investigated.


Centro de Língua Portuguesa/Instituto Camões does provide courses for 
adults and those 16 and over in Goa. See:
http://lists.goanet.org/pipermail/goanet-goanet.org/2012-June/91.html and 
www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhnl-UZa1jc


Why not get them directly involved with much younger students and 
involved in school system directly?


---

School board and Portugal sign deal
http://www.mississauga.com/news/article/1601592--school-board-and-portugal-sign-deal

It's official. Consul General of Portugal Julio Vilela (far left) was at 
the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board’s Mississauga 
headquarters recently, where he, Dufferin-Peel Board Education Director 
John Kostoff (centre) and Trustee Peter Ferreira took part in an 
official signing ceremony for a Memorandum of Understanding that will 
see Portugal providing the Peel school board with support and resources 
for its International Languages program.


The Catholic school board and the Government of Portugal have formalized 
an agreement that will help local students learning to speak Portuguese.


The Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board and the Portuguese 
government recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding that will see 
Portugal providing the Peel school board with support and resources for 
its International Languages program.


The agreement with the board and Instituto Camoes, a Portuguese 
government agency responsible for planning and implementing the policy 
for disseminating and teaching the Portuguese language and culture abroad.


Instituto Camoes has donated textbooks for use by students in the 
board’s Portuguese International Language program. Those classes are run 
on Saturdays by the Adult and Continuing Education Department for 
elementary and secondary students.


Instituto Camoes is also offering to arrange the purchase of teachers’ 
resources at a discount as well as provide teacher training.
Consul General of Portugal Julio Vilela was at the board’s Mississauga 
headquarters recently, where he and school board representatives took 
part in an official signing ceremony for the agreement.


--
---
Albert Peres

afpe...@3129.ca
416.660.0847

[Goanet] (Article) Existential depression in gifted individuals

[Albert Peres]

-- This article by James Webb discusses existential depression among 
gifted young people. He examines what it is, how it may manifest in a 
gifted child, and what a parent can do to help their child through these 
difficult feelings. He points out that gifted young people are more 
likely to have this type of depression because of their more highly 
developed sensitivities. --

http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/Articles_id_10269.aspx/


Existential depression in gifted individuals
Webb, J.

Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted (SENG)

It has been my experience that gifted and talented persons are more 
likely to experience a type of depression referred to as existential 
depression. Although an episode of existential depression may be 
precipitated in anyone by a major loss or the threat of a loss which 
highlights the transient nature of life, persons of higher intellectual 
ability are more prone to experience existential depression 
spontaneously. Sometimes this existential depression is tied into the 
positive disintegration experience referred to by Dabrowski (1996).


Existential depression is a depression that arises when an individual 
confronts certain basic issues of existence. Yalom (1980) describes four 
such issues (or "ultimate concerns")--death, freedom, isolation and 
meaninglessness. Death is an inevitable occurrence. Freedom, in an 
existential sense, refers to the absence of external structure. That is, 
humans do not enter a world which is inherently structured. We must give 
the world a structure which we ourselves create. Isolation recognizes 
that no matter how close we become to another person, a gap always 
remains, and we are nonetheless alone. Meaninglessness stems from the 
first three. If we must die, if we construct our own world, and if each 
of us is ultimately alone, then what meaning does life have?


Why should such existential concerns occur disproportionately among 
gifted persons? Partially, it is because substantial thought and 
reflection must occur to even consider such notions, rather than simply 
focusing on superficial day-to-day aspects of life. Other more specific 
characteristics of gifted children are important predisposers as well.


Because gifted children are able to consider the possibilities of how 
things might be, they tend to be idealists. However, they are 
simultaneously able to see that the world is falling short of how it 
might be. Because they are intense, gifted children feel keenly the 
disappointment and frustration which occurs when ideals are not reached. 
Similarly, these youngsters quickly spot the inconsistencies, 
arbitrariness and absurdities in society and in the behaviors of those 
around them. Traditions are questioned or challenged. For example, why 
do we put such tight sex-role or age-role restrictions on people? Why do 
people engage in hypocritical behaviors in which they say one thing and 
then do another? Why do people say things they really do not mean at 
all? Why are so many people so unthinking and uncaring in their dealings 
with others? How much difference in the world can one person's life make?


When gifted children try to share these concerns with others, they are 
usually met with reactions ranging from puzzlement to hostility. They 
discover that others, particularly of their age, clearly do not share 
these concerns, but instead are focused on more concrete issues and on 
fitting in with others' expectations. Often by even first grade, these 
youngsters, particularly the more highly gifted ones, feel isolated from 
their peers and perhaps from their families as they find that others are 
not prepared to discuss such weighty concerns.


When their intensity is combined with multi-potentiality, these 
youngsters become particularly frustrated with the existential 
limitations of space and time. There simply aren't enough hours in the 
day to develop all of the talents that many of these children have. 
Making choices among the possibilities is indeed arbitrary; there is no 
"ultimately right" choice. Even choosing a vocation can be difficult if 
one is trying to make a career decision between essentially equal 
passion, talents and potential in violin, neurology, theoretical 
mathematics and international relations.


The reaction of gifted youngsters (again with intensity) to these 
frustrations is often one of anger. But they quickly discover that their 
anger is futile, for it is really directed at "fate" or at other matters 
which they are not able to control. Anger that is powerless evolves 
quickly into depression.


In such depression, gifted children typically try to find some sense of 
meaning, some anchor point which they can grasp to pull themselves out 
of the mire of "unfairness." Often, though, the more they try to pull 
themselves out, the more they become acutely aware that their life is 
finite and brief, that they are alone and are only one very small 
organism in a quite large world, and that

[Goanet] Article: William Faulkner’s Nobel Prize Speech

[Albert Peres]

William Faulkner’s Nobel Prize Speech
Stockholm, December 10, 1950

I feel that this award was not made to me as a man, but to my work — a 
life’s work in the agony and sweat of the human spirit, not for glory 
and least of all for profit, but to create out of the materials of the 
human spirit something which did not exist before. So this award is only 
mine in trust. It will not be difficult to find a dedication for the 
money part of it commensurate with the purpose and significance of its 
origin. But I would like to do the same with the acclaim too, by using 
this moment as a pinnacle from which I might be listened to by the young 
men and women already dedicated to the same anguish and travail, among 
whom is already that one who will some day stand here where I am standing.


Our tragedy today is a general and universal physical fear so long 
sustained by now that we can even bear it. There are no longer problems 
of the spirit. There is only the question: When will I be blown up? 
Because of this, the young man or woman writing today has forgotten the 
problems of the human heart in conflict with itself which alone can make 
good writing because only that is worth writing about, worth the agony 
and the sweat.


He must learn them again. He must teach himself that the basest of all 
things is to be afraid; and, teaching himself that, forget it forever, 
leaving no room in his workshop for anything but the old verities and 
truths of the heart, the old universal truths lacking which any story is 
ephemeral and doomed - love and honor and pity and pride and compassion 
and sacrifice. Until he does so, he labors under a curse. He writes not 
of love but of lust, of defeats in which nobody loses anything of value, 
of victories without hope and, worst of all, without pity or compassion. 
His griefs grieve on no universal bones, leaving no scars. He writes not 
of the heart but of the glands.


Until he relearns these things, he will write as though he stood among 
and watched the end of man. I decline to accept the end of man. It is 
easy enough to say that man is immortal simply because he will endure: 
that when the last ding-dong of doom has clanged and faded from the last 
worthless rock hanging tideless in the last red and dying evening, that 
even then there will still be one more sound: that of his puny 
inexhaustible voice, still talking.


I refuse to accept this. I believe that man will not merely endure: he 
will prevail. He is immortal, not because he alone among creatures has 
an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of 
compassion and sacrifice and endurance. The poet’s, the writer’s, duty 
is to write about these things. It is his privilege to help man endure 
by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope 
and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the 
glory of his past.


The poet’s voice need not merely be the record of man, it can be one of 
the props, the pillars to help him endure and prevail.


--end--

---
http://www.mcsr.olemiss.edu/~egjbp/faulkner/lib_nobel.html

William Faulkner officially earned the Nobel Prize in Literature for the 
year 1949, but he did not receive it until the following year, because 
the Nobel Prize committee could not reach a consensus in 1949. Hence, 
two Nobel prizes were awarded in 1950, for the prior year and for the 
present one. The speech Faulkner delivered was not immediately 
intelligible to his listeners, both because of Faulkner’s southern 
dialect and because the microphone was too distant from his mouth, but 
when it was printed in newspapers the following day, it was immediately 
hailed as one of the most significant addresses ever delivered at a 
Nobel ceremony.


---
Albert Peres
afpe...@3129.ca
416.660.0847

[Goanet] Article: Kodak serves an important lesson

[Albert Peres]

New Straits Times Online
05 February 2012
www.nst.com.my/opinion/editorial/kodak-s-last-days-1.42251

Editorial

Kodak’s last days
The folding of Eastman Kodak serves an important lesson: firms must 
adapt or die


AT A time when most people in the developed and developing world own a 
digital camera or a mobile phone with camera function, it is hard to 
believe that the company that invented and produced the world’s first 
digital camera has gone bankrupt. Indeed, the Eastman Kodak Company is 
more than just a 131-year-old producer of photographic film and 
paraphernalia; its invention and production of simple cameras, 
photographic film, and photographic paper in the late 19th century 
revolutionised photography for the masses. Generations of happy memories 
are immortalised on Kodak paper. Photography would not be what it is 
today, were it not for Kodak.


So, how is it possible for a company whose shares in 1997 stood at US$93 
per share, to take such a tumble, that, a week after it filed for 
bankruptcy on Jan 19, its shares stood at just 36 cents (RM1.11) per 
share? To attribute Kodak’s fall to “the march of modern technology” 
would be to present only a half-developed picture. Kodak is in this 
position not because it was unable to innovate. In fact, it was the 
earliest innovator; a lot of the technology that consumers enjoy in 
Apple, BlackBerry producer Research in Motion, and HTC products are 
allegedly technology created and patented by Kodak, and for which it is 
suing these companies for patent infringements. But, as part of its 
bankruptcy restructuring, Kodak now has to put its digital-imaging 
patents up for sale. Analyses of Kodak’s performance have it that 
although Kodak was good at research and patenting, it was not good at 
commercialising its products.


Perhaps the earliest indicator of where it went wrong was in 1975, when 
Kodak produced the first digital camera, but then dropped it for fear 
that it would threaten its photographic film business. It is said that 
Kodak was so tied to its film business that it did not prepare for the 
future soon enough. And by the time it decided to, it was too late. In 
many ways, Kodak’s demise exemplifies the demise of many things whose 
death results from the inability to make changes in time. Darwin’s 
evolutionary theory, more easily remembered through the phrase “survival 
of the fittest”, stresses that the ability to adapt will ensure 
survival. So, although Kodak has served society well in the past, in 
business, sentimentality won’t keep you alive.


Whether it is in business, or politics, or print media, we all need to 
prepare for change well before change happens; whether we like it or 
not. Heed this warning: adapt or die.


---
Albert Peres

afpe...@3129.ca
416.660.0847

[Goanet] Article: Harper (Canada) readies for all-out trade push with India

[Albert Peres]

Stephen Harper readies for all-out trade push with India

By Mark Kennedy, Postmedia News October 28, 2012
http://www.canada.com/Stephen+Harper+readies+trade+push+with+India/7460568/story.html

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Stephen Harper travels to India next week to 
meet political and business leaders in a delicate courtship that could 
be integral to Canada’s economic future.


This is the prime minister’s second visit to the country. When he went 
in 2009, he publicly praised India for its new economic and political clout.


“This south Asian tiger has awoken, and the world is standing in awe,” 
he said. “Facing the greatest global recession in half a century, our 
two countries need to work together for our common prosperity.”


When he returns to India Nov. 3 with a high-powered political and 
business delegation, Harper is intent on getting results.


Among the prime minister’s objectives:

· Triple annual bilateral trade with India — from $5.2 billion to $15 
billion — by 2015.


· Reach a comprehensive free trade deal with India next year, part of a 
broader goal to liberalize trade with Europe and some Pacific Rim 
nations. One of Harper’s cabinet ministers has cited a Canada-India 
joint study which suggests a trade agreement between the two countries 
could boost the Canadian economy by at least $6 billion and create 
nearly 40,000 jobs.


· Establish Canada as a prime future supplier of energy for India, now 
the world’s fourth-largest energy consumer, with consumption expected by 
double by 2025. Canada is keen to export liquefied natural gas to India.


· Promote Canadian businesses for their reliability and their ability to 
compete with companies throughout the rest of world scrambling for a 
share of the booming Indian marketplace. In past years, Indians have 
questioned whether Canadian companies have the long-term resolve to 
adjust to the Indian business culture (personal business relationships 
and patience in negotiations are central).


· Seal a nuclear co-operation agreement, announced with great fanfare in 
2010 after decades of distrust sparked by India’s use of Canadian 
nuclear technology for a weapons test in 1974. The new agreement is 
meant to turn a diplomatic page but was delayed in its implementation 
over an “administrative” dispute. Canada wants to sell its uranium and 
build nuclear reactors to India, but also wants details on how the 
nuclear materials are used for peaceful purposes. India has balked at 
this request for information.


· Foster a more trusting political relationship with India, a future 
international powerhouse which already has a diaspora of one million 
people in Canada. India wants to make it easier for its citizens — such 
as those in the bustling Indian IT sector — to come to Canada as 
temporary workers.


In recent months, Harper’s government has lavished attention on India, 
sending several key ministers on official visits — including John Baird 
(foreign affairs), Ed Fast (international trade), and Joe Oliver 
(natural resources).


Fast, Oliver and three others — Gerry Ritz (agriculture), Bal Gosal 
(sport) and Tim Uppal (democratic reform) — will be among a team of 
politicians and business leaders who join Harper on the trip.


After decades of distrust and benign neglect, experts say the time is 
ripe for closer ties.


“It is one of the great engines of global consumption of the 21st 
century,” said Rana Sarkar, president of the Canada-India Business Council.


“It will also be one of the great sources of innovation. We will start 
seeing it from clean energy to the manufacturing supply chain to services.”


Naval Bajaj, president of the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce, said the 
country of his youth has changed “drastically” since he came to Canada.


“The lifestyle has changed big time. Before 20 years, could I think of a 
cellphone in India? No. But now, a person on the street selling 
vegetables or in a rickshaw, — they all have them.”


India, home to 1.2 billion people, is the world’s largest democracy. It 
has experienced an economic boom, with GDP growth last year of 7.2 per cent.


Half its population is under the age of 25. Those are people who will 
get jobs, pay taxes, and become consumers.


India’s urban population is 350 million and is expected to reach 590 
million by 2030.


It’s forecast that 41 per cent of the population will be part of the 
middle class by 2025, making it the fifth-largest consumer market in the 
world.


Peter Sutherland, Canada’s high commissioner to India from 2000 to 2003, 
said predictions about the growth of the middle class are “dazzling” and 
the Canadian business sector must take notice.


“All these things, you just can’t ignore,” said Sutherland.

“There’s a lot of buying power. As these people enter the middle class, 
their consumption habits change. Their dietary habits change, they want 
to start buying things like cars instead of bicycles or motorbikes. All 
the things we take for granted 

[Goanet] Article published by journalist Mr. Lambert Mascarenhas

[melitocosta]

Dear Sir

Please send me the article published in Goa Journal, which I erased by  
mistake in my computer. Thank you very much.

Jose M. Costa
melitoco...@net.sapo.pt

Re: [Goanet] article

[manuel tavares]

Commenting on Eugene Correia's article in September 8th 2012 issue of 
Herald.
We have to firstly congratulate Dr.Wilfred Mesquita on his appointment as 
NRG Commissioner and wish him every success in his tenure.
Eugene's article covers all the salient points concerning the department of 
NRI or NRG. The mere change of guard at the ministry is not the solution 
neither are the significant funds utilized to promote the conventions 
justifiable. These could be utilized more significantly to open possibly a 
centre in Goa where NRG's could receive advise and possibly guidance with 
relation to their affairs be they property, investments etc. This must be 
looked into by the new commissioner and as stated, matters arising out of 
the conventions so far held should be put on the web site . There should 
also be comments of what solutions have been achieved thus far,and what 
actions will be taken to redress outstanding matters. Active participation 
by the department on the web site by way of questions and answers could 
provide a forum for discussion and provide ideas of how solutions can be 
found for common and not so common problems, and active participation by the 
department will surely be appreciated and a welcome change,  vis-vis the the 
dormancy of the last commissioner who went on trips, being wined and dined 
and not producing any significant results. With regard to the Tech industry, 
lack of infrastructure is not the only drawback. There should be other 
incentives like being able to repatriate profit freely tax incentives and 
cutting down the paperwork, beside the corruption and other issues which 
make it restrictive and uninteresting for NRG's to set up operations. 
Education in the  relevant fields whereby interested parties could have 
access to qualified personnel is another factor.These could be overcome by 
initiating training for would be Goan entrepreneurs by travel to the west to 
update their skills and ensuring that they return home and establish viable 
projects in Goa. Here too incentives could payoff. Availability of capital 
could also be another hindrance. Here's where the Government can step in by 
providing infrastructure and establishment grants and loans for new 
startups, and establishing relevant facilities at institutes of higher 
learning to turn out graduates in the relevant fields. The commissioner 
needs to play his part in ensuring that this happens.




Regards..Manuel ( Eddie) Tavares.


- Original Message - 
From: "Eugene Correia" 

To: "Eugene Correia" 
Sent: Saturday, September 08, 2012 9:56 AM
Subject: article



A piece I wrote in OHeraldo, dated Sept 8.

Eugene

Re: [Goanet] Article by Selma Carvalho in Heraldo - the UK Goan Festival 2012 (Response by Rose Fernandes)

[Gabe Menezes]

On 9 August 2012 11:41, Melvyn Fernandes  wrote:

> Dear fellow goanet readers
>
> It appears that at long last my best friend has followed my advice, taken
> off her sunglasses, and written about the Goan Festival in Cranford as it
> was.
> Words of her article I particularly liked were "chourico-stuffed pao"
> (with chourico minus pao photograph) as for a while now, I have
> affectionately referred
> to this event as the "Chourico-Pau Festival" attractive to the sorpotel
> and pullao mindset within our community. Videofeeds and photographs brought
> back
> memories to me of Friday market day in Mapusa, happy hand movements could
> easily be mistaken as scenes from a chourico stock exchange where, for
> many, these delicacies are more valuable than gold. Even long haul
> aircraft flying over the grounds slowed down to have a look.
>
> Speaking to a number who graced this festival, I am surprised at how many
> are grumbling about the price they had to pay for their chouricos until I
> managed to get them to see reason, the price of upwards of GBP fifteen
> pounds per kilo was cheap when one considers the work involved, the time
> taken
> and above all the cost of pork when bought from farmers who keep their
> dokors free roaming.
>
> In her article, she also mentioned "threatening-looking audio equipment".
> This equipment must have threatened not to work properly as one person
> interviewed by the editor of Niz Goenkar expressed disappointment that he
> had to hear the Mass in the near sound of silence.
>
> Hope my friend did not spend took much time observing doddery old men when
> there was a field full of young men with chests puffed-out, bulging biceps,
> showing off bling jewellery glittering in the sun. It was good to see
> photographs and videos showing our community enjoying themselves in a
> Sunburn
> Festival all of their own and grazing on street food without having to
> travel all the way to our Goa.
>
> Where was I when all this was action was taking place, preparing Puff
> Pastry Patties (PPP) to put into my chest freezer. Only got myself to
> blame, being a
> woman of Goan esteem, the Festival will be my considered diary date for
> 2013, but only considered .
>
>
>
> Rose Fernandes
> Thornton Heath, Surrey, United Kingdom
>
> 9 August 2012
>


COMMENT: Rose you write with a verve and a swerve! I got feed back from one
punter who went with the intention of buying 6 - 7 kilos of the stuff;  It
was almost towards the endthey asked for £6 a kilo and a deal was
struck! Now that is what I call enterprise at its best.


-- 
DEV BOREM KORUM

Gabe Menezes.

[Goanet] Article by Selma Carvalho in Heraldo - the UK Goan Festival 2012 (Response by Rose Fernandes)

[Melvyn Fernandes]

Dear fellow goanet readers

It appears that at long last my best friend has followed my advice, taken off 
her sunglasses, and written about the Goan Festival in Cranford as it was. 
Words of her article I particularly liked were "chourico-stuffed pao" (with 
chourico minus pao photograph) as for a while now, I have affectionately 
referred 
to this event as the "Chourico-Pau Festival" attractive to the sorpotel and 
pullao mindset within our community. Videofeeds and photographs brought back 
memories to me of Friday market day in Mapusa, happy hand movements could 
easily be mistaken as scenes from a chourico stock exchange where, for 
many, these delicacies are more valuable than gold. Even long haul aircraft 
flying over the grounds slowed down to have a look.

Speaking to a number who graced this festival, I am surprised at how many are 
grumbling about the price they had to pay for their chouricos until I 
managed to get them to see reason, the price of upwards of GBP fifteen pounds 
per kilo was cheap when one considers the work involved, the time taken 
and above all the cost of pork when bought from farmers who keep their dokors 
free roaming. 

In her article, she also mentioned "threatening-looking audio equipment". This 
equipment must have threatened not to work properly as one person 
interviewed by the editor of Niz Goenkar expressed disappointment that he had 
to hear the Mass in the near sound of silence.

Hope my friend did not spend took much time observing doddery old men when 
there was a field full of young men with chests puffed-out, bulging biceps, 
showing off bling jewellery glittering in the sun. It was good to see 
photographs and videos showing our community enjoying themselves in a Sunburn 
Festival all of their own and grazing on street food without having to travel 
all the way to our Goa.

Where was I when all this was action was taking place, preparing Puff Pastry 
Patties (PPP) to put into my chest freezer. Only got myself to blame, being a 
woman of Goan esteem, the Festival will be my considered diary date for 2013, 
but only considered . 



Rose Fernandes
Thornton Heath, Surrey, United Kingdom

9 August 2012

Re: [Goanet] Article

[Mervyn Lobo]

Pachu Menon wrote:
> Malayalee associations in the state are platforms for cultural and social 
> contacts and for cooperation between Goans and Keralites. Moreover, 
> they also play an important role in promoting cultural ties between the two 
> states. Yet, when efforts are made by a concerted few to broaden their 
> thoughts and widen their horizons to serve the humanity, shouldn’t their 
> endeavors be appreciated? 
> 
> It could rightly be said that ‘Kerala Sangamam’ serves the Malayalee 
> community in Goa, ‘both in life and after death’!  
---

Pachu,
Your article reminds me of the time in Tanzania when half the teachers in some 
schools were from Kerala and others were Goans.

The Malayalee associations you describe also remind me of the 
Goan associations in Tanzania and here in Toronto. They were set up to provide 
help for those in crises as well as to provide social and cultural services for 
those who need the same.

This is the essence of forming an association in a new place of domicile. When 
a club house is built, it soon becomes a "home away from home." These 
associations also provide a united front when the authorities need to be 
approached.

All an all, congrats, a nice article from you.

Mervyn2011

[Goanet] Article

[Pachu Menon]

Sir,

 

Please accept this write-up of mine
and do publish it if found OK by your editorial standards.

 

Regards

 

PACHU MENON

    

117, SUPREME BOMBI PLAZA,

 

DAMODAR COLLEGE ROAD,

 

COMBA,

 

MARGAO,

 

GOA - 403 601.

 

Tel: 0832 - 2703040.

 

 

THE MONTH OF HADES

By PACHU MENON

In all religions there is a creator
and the opposite. Just as in ancient Greece, Hades was the opposite of Zeus;
similarly, Yama, Mara and Pluto are known all over the world by different
names, but all for one purpose – to reap the souls of the living!  

There is life and then there is
death! Though the ultimate truth, nothing could be more ominous and sinister
than death. But if such quirks of fate were to be attributed to the
remorselessness of these Gods, it could well be said that the March of 2012
will go down in the history of Goa as that month when even the Almighty for
once decided to forsake the living mortals and dare allow the snatching away of
a few lovable ones from their midst.

And this shortcoming of providence
couldn’t have been more in evidence than in the untimely death of Matanhy
Saldanha, the state Tourism, Environment and Forest Minister!  

Activists and politicians differ in
the sense that while the former fight for a cause and demand for it to be
brought to a logical conclusion; the later prefer to keep an issue alive so
that they could gloat in the glory of the unstinted publicity garnered. It
wouldn’t be wrong to say that Mathany Saldanha was an activist, a champion of
the underprivileged and the down trodden to his very last breath; who turned a
politician ‘by default'. A crusader who perceived that the road to a sensible
and amicable settlement of every issue depended solely on the arbitrariness of
the political class in the state, Mathany’s decision to get himself
‘politically baptized’ is an outcome of this deep realization. 

The moving eulogy proffered by his
tearful niece “Goans don’t weep for me but weep for yourselves and your
children,” aptly sums up the legacy of dreams that Mathany had envisaged for the
state. Indeed Goa has lost a Niz Goemkar
and a man of principles! A teacher, an activist and an environmentalist; these
are the tags that will always live with him, even after his death! 

All the good work Mathany did or
visualized should not just be restricted to glorious elegies and epitaphs. The
Goans should realize that it is not about publicizing how popular Mathany was
with the masses, but understanding that here then was a man whose zeal and
passion for restoring Goa to its true glory could never be undermined. The
greatest tribute to such a personality would be the selfless and sincere
endeavours by committed individuals to carry forward his bequest, fulfill his
dreams and make Goa a better place to live in for future generations to come. 

Likewise, the unfortunate passing
away of writer, researcher and environmentalist, Dr. Kasturi Narayan Desai,
brings to fore another aspect of the cruel twists of kismet! 

Associate Professor of Botany at
Farmagudi’s PES College, Dr. Desai is a familiar figure to those involved in
environmental issues in Goa. In her own words, “I am convinced that my prime
work as a teacher is to bring awareness about different aspects of nature and
natural resources to different sections of public besides school and college
students.” 

Her area of expertise, and concern as
well, was the dwindling sand dune vegetation along the coastal belt. The dune
system is a fragile ecosystem which acts as barriers to storms and waves. If
this ecosystem is not protected the sea enters the land causing erosion of the
coast. 

Though acknowledging that decision
making with regard to natural resources is left to the politicians and the
bureaucracy; but with a firm belief that there is very little awareness amongst
the masses about the importance of sand dunes with relation to the environment,
she set about traversing the length and breadth of the state educating the
people about the nuances of living in tune with nature. 

It is all the more amazing to note
that Goa is Kasturi’s adopted state by virtue of her marriage to renowned
educationalist Narayan Desai. Her efforts have thus been seen as a noble effort
to bridge the cultural disparity between the states of Bengal and Goa. Her
achievement as a prize-winning translator, having won the Sahitya Akademi
Translation Award last year, is enough proof of this enterprise.  

Nevertheless, defying all religious
mores and the unthinkable, it has been her posthumous wish to donate her body
for advancement of medical knowledge that has taken everyone by surprise!
However, having known her so well for the past several years, I can vouch for
that streak of emotional verve in her that makes her do the most unexpected at
times. 

The loss of veteran Tiatrist Remmie
Colaco and noted industrialist and social worker Ashok Kare is another blow
that the state is yet to recover from. Never in the history of this t

Re: [Goanet] Article(s): Meet Narendra Modi

[Santosh Helekar]

Albert Peres wrote:
>
>Meet Narendra Modi, chief minister of Gujarat and the brightest star in 
>the Hindu-chauvinist Bharatiya Janata Party. 
>Profile April 2009 ATLANTIC MAGAZINE
>India's new face. - Robert D. Kaplan 
>http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2009/04/india-8217-s-new-face/7332/

>

Good to see that the Atlantic Magazine was rightly calling the BJP the Hindu 
chauvinist party as far back as April 2009. It is always refreshing to read 
articles that call a spade a spade, rather than engage in left-wing or 
right-wing ideological denials. Let us hope that religious chauvinism does not 
rear its ugly head again in Goa with the new turn of events.

Cheers,

Santosh
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[Goanet] Article(s): Meet Narendra Modi

[Marshall Mendonza]

Thank you Albert for posting links to two very informative and interesting
articles on Narendra Modi. There is wealth of information which was not in
the public realm so far.

Regards,

Marshall

*Meet Narendra Modi, chief minister of Gujarat and the brightest star in
the Hindu-chauvinist Bharatiya Janata Party.

Profile April 2009 ATLANTIC MAGAZINE
India's new face.
   - Robert D. Kaplan
**
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2009/04/india-8217-s-new-face/7332/
*


*---
March 1 2012 The Caravan. A journal of politics and culture
The Emperor Uncrowned. The rise of Narendra Modi
   - Vinrod K. Jose
**http://www.caravanmagazine.in/Story.aspx?Storyid=1315&StoryStyle=FullStory
*

*--
Albert Peres
**afperes at 3129.ca*
* 416.660.0847 cell*
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Support Goa's first Tiger Reserve

  Sign the petition at: http://www.goanet.org/petition/petition.php

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[Goanet] Article(s): Meet Narendra Modi

[Albert Peres]

Meet Narendra Modi, chief minister of Gujarat and the brightest star in 
the Hindu-chauvinist Bharatiya Janata Party.


Profile April 2009 ATLANTIC MAGAZINE
India's new face.
  - Robert D. Kaplan
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2009/04/india-8217-s-new-face/7332/


---
March 1 2012 The Caravan. A journal of politics and culture
The Emperor Uncrowned. The rise of Narendra Modi
  - Vinrod K. Jose
http://www.caravanmagazine.in/Story.aspx?Storyid=1315&StoryStyle=FullStory

--
Albert Peres
afpe...@3129.ca

416.660.0847 cell
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   Support Goa's first Tiger Reserve

 Sign the petition at: http://www.goanet.org/petition/petition.php

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[Goanet] Article: Air India's all women crew to fly three continents, plus

[Albert Peres]

Newark flight track:
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/AIC191

Aircraft:
http://www.airliners.net/photo/Air-India/Boeing-777-237-LR/1916518/L/&sid=cd4392018802d0fb8a6e0eccf6331ad2

 AP

---
http://www.thehindu.com/business/article2970967.ece

Air India's all women crew to fly three continents
 -- Vinay Kumar

Air India, to mark the occasion of International Women's Day will be
operating all women crew international flights to one city in each of
the three continents namely USA, Europe and Asia on Thursday.

The three flights to be operated by the national carrier from Mumbai
will include an ultra long haul flight AI 191 to Newark, AI 131 to
London and AI 342 to Singapore.

Air India Express, a wholly owned subsidiary of Air India, will also be
operating its flight IX 241 from Mumbai to Bahrain/Doha with all women
crew to mark this occasion. Also on the domestic routes, AI 669 from
Mumbai to Bhubaneshwar and AI 649 from Mumbai to Raipur will be operated 
by all women crew. Flights from other cities are also being planned to 
commemorate the occasion, Air India said in a statement here on Wednesday.


Capt. Samiara along with first officer Mandeep Kaur will operate AI 342
from Mumbai to Singapore, while Capt Rashmi Miranda and Capt. Priya
Acharya with first officers Rima Naik and A Divya, will operate AI 191
from Mumbai to Newark. The third flight AI 131 from Mumbai to London
will be operated by Capt Sunita Narula with first officer Reshma Rajwani.

Air India Express flight, IX 241 from Mumbai to Bahrain/Doha will be
operated by Capt Sathya Rajmohan, Chameli Krothapalli with D Mooga and
Rhythm Vyas as first officers.

On the domestic routes the airline will operate three flights from Delhi 
– AI 439 and AI 801 on the Delhi-Chennai and AI 213 on the

Delhi-Kathmandu routes. AI 439 will be operated by Capt Aakanksha Verma
and Capt. Deeksha Suri. AI 801 will be operated Capt. Nivedita Bhasin
and Capt. Chitra Mirchandani and AI 213 to Kathmandu will be operated by 
Capt. Kamal Kant and Capt. Meenakshi ex-Delhi. AI 669 from Mumbai to
Bhubaneshwar will be operated by Capt Gitanjali Khadria and Neelam Bisht 
while AI 649 from Mumbai to Raipur will be operated by Capt S Deshmukh 
and Shikha Harne.


All the activities for the above flights will be handled by women employees.

Over the years, Air India has operated many flights, both on
international and domestic sectors, with all women crew. For the first
time in the aviation history, Air India operated an ultra long haul
flight from Mumbai to New York with all women crew to commemorate the
same occasion in 2010 and followed it with another long haul flight on
Delhi/Toronto sector in 2011.

Air India has a large contingent of over 160 pilots flying its fleet of
wide and narrow body aircraft on international and domestic routes. Air
India has more than 5,000 women employees on its workforce.

--
Albert Peres

afpe...@3129.ca
416.660.0847 cell
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[Goanet] Article: The secret to happiness

[Albert Peres]

Robert Fulford on the secret to happiness: Sip it in small doses

http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2011/12/24/robert-fulford-on-the-secret-to-happiness-sip-it-in-small-doses/

Robert Fulford, Dec 24, 2011

Christmas week is the federally mandated Happy Time of Year, a period so 
charged with chirpy gladness that those who don’t share in the happiness 
may experience a mild form of guilt, as if failing in their civic duty 
to be joyful.


But that uncomfortable feeling can also assail us at any other moment in 
the year. Why should I allow myself to be less than happy when many 
millions of humans have never had anything like my good luck in this life?


Reading about a world of disasters and atrocities, and then shifting 
mentally to some sadness or annoyance in one’s own life, can lead to 
painful cognitive dissonance and nasty inward-turned questions. What 
right have I to be sad or annoyed by trifles? Compared with many, in 
fact compared with most, shouldn’t I be singing with joy each day?


But what if I’m not? What if my wide-ranging exercise in comparative 
grief fails to restore my perspective and I still feel like complaining? 
That’s when I consult Anton Chekhov.


I think of Chekhov as a happy man. He couldn’t have been delighted that 
he grew up in poverty with a scoundrel for a father and then, at the 
height of his success as a writer, contracted the tuberculosis that 
killed him at age 43. He had every reason to curse his luck. But his 
letters, his stories and his plays demonstrate that he understood how to 
be happy.


He was most alive, he knew, in the act of discovery. He was a doctor who 
never stopped using his knowledge to help people around him. And his 
writing demonstrated his intense curiosity and his self-nurtured 
intelligence. He had the ability to seek out complicated human 
situations and make sense of them.


He found happiness in his accomplishment, a point that’s often reflected 
in his writing. In the play Uncle Vanya, when Vanya complains about his 
lot in life, his wise young niece, Sonya, reminds him that only work is 
truly fulfilling.


So far as history records, Chekhov spent little time thinking of his 
sickness, his failures and his sometimes wretched childhood. He was 
apparently not concerned with what might have made him unhappy. He 
illustrates the point that you’re unlikely to achieve happiness by 
concentrating your thoughts on your sad lot in life.


If Chekhov were alive today, he would be the perfect research subject 
for Ellen Langer, a Harvard psychology professor who teaches courses on, 
among other things, the causes of happiness. Her central theme is 
“mindfulness,” a word that she’s made almost her own.


For Langer, as for Chekhov, the recipe for a good life is: Pay 
attention! She argues that “The essence of being mindful is to notice 
new things. Noticing leads to engagement and engagement leads to 
fulfilment.” After 30 years of research, she can say confidently that 
“mindfulness is literally enlivening.” It’s heartening when, now and 
then, common sense proves valid under peer-reviewed laboratory 
conditions. Research also reveals that we should seek satisfying work, 
which is what Ecclesiastes suggested 2,200 years ago: “There is nothing 
better for a man than that he should … enjoy good in his labour.”


Psychologists also agree that whatever form happiness takes, it isn’t 
permanent. It’s a sometime thing at best. Daniel Gilbert, the Harvard 
psychologist who wrote Stumbling on Happiness, explains that we’re not 
supposed to be happy all the time. Constant joy sounds pleasant but we 
are designed otherwise: “Emotions are a primitive signaling system.


They’re how your brain tells you if you’re doing things that enhance — 
or diminish — your survival chances.” Moving through various emotional 
states is a necessary and inescapable part of life. A pill that will 
make you happy all the time should be avoided.


It’s best to look for no more than ephemeral bursts of happiness — but 
don’t miss them out of mindlessness. Gregory Currie, a University of 
Nottingham philosopher, recently made me happy (something philosophers 
don’t often accomplish). In a Times Literary Supplement article, Currie 
remarked on a common human error: When we fail we blame circumstances, 
but when others fail we blame their bad character. He called that “an 
error as crazy as thinking that wherever I happen to be marks the centre 
of the universe.”


Reading his words, I remembered that when I was young I often made just 
that mistake; but in later years I began to correct myself and now (I 
swear) rarely succumb. Reflecting on this minor advance in conscious 
self-improvement, I felt quite happy.


For a little while.

-- Published in the National Post

--
Albert Peres

afpe...@3129.ca
416.660.0847 cell

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[Goanet] article by juino de souza

[juino desouza]

*From: Juino De Souza,*

*JB VILLA, Park Street, *

*B.B. Borkar Road**, Alto Porvorim- Goa*

*Mob: 9923133412*

* *

*25th November 2011*

* *

*To;*

*The Goanet members*

* *

* *

*Church diverted the issue by appealing to wrong authorities to change IFFI
dates*

*By*

*Juino De Souza*

It is surprising to read that the Catholic Church in Goa has appealed to
the International Federation of Film Producers Association (FIAPF) and to
the Film Federation of India (FFI) to ensure that IFFI does not coincide
with the novena and feast of St. Francis Xavier from next year.  The
question is why next year and not this year?  Who has seen the next year
and whether the same congress government who are against changing the dates
of IFFI will be voted to power in the ensuing elections?

Yes! The closing date if IFFI can definitely be advanced to 2nd December if
there is a political will. Can we allow the hard work and efforts of
hundreds of lay catholic individuals and several groups including *Save Old
GOA Action Committee* who actively participated in the campaign and had
even staging demonstrations and waving black flags on the opening day of
IFFI to go wasted?

The Chief Minister, Digambar Kamat was all along willing to consider the
request from the next year onwards and which was known to the community,
then of what purpose does the Church announcement SERVE?? Surely the
Catholic community has been let down by such a weak statement coming from
the Archdiocese of Goa

The community was confident that they were not alone in the battle and that
the church will offer total and complete support, then why the sudden
turnaround? The deeper question is: Who is responsible for influencing the
Church? Which are these powerful political bigwigs who have succeeded in
exerting pressure?  This deserves to be probed.   The issue here is serious
and needs to be trashed openly and without reservation primarily because it
concerns ‘Catholic Sentiments’ as St.Francis is the patron saint of Goa and
called by all Goans as "Goencho Saib"

Clearly the Church has tried to divert the issue by making an appeal to the
wrong authorities viz the FIAPF and FFI when both these bodies have no role
to play in fixing the dates for IFFI. We are all aware that IFFI programme
schedule is decided by the Director, Directorate of Film Festivals,* *Ministry
of Information & Broadcasting, Govt. of India in consultation with
Government of Goa, (ESG Panaji) and not by any other body.

A MOU is always signed each year between these parties at the beginning of
IFFI, further the Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Smt.
Ambika Soni in order to set a new paradigm to the festival had set up of an
Expert Committee in 2009 which also does not carry the name of a single
international representative.

The FIAPF based in Paris is purely an organization composed of member
associations from leading audiovisual production countries and helps
producers formulate policies and coordinate action in key areas such as
Copyright and related intellectual property rights' legislation,
Enforcement of IPR legislation and anti-piracy action, Deployment of
digital technologies and their impact on the audiovisual value chain,
Technology standardization process, Media regulation, Private and public
sector film financing mechanisms and Trade-related issues is therefore in
charge of supervising international film festivals to that extent.

The FFI which is a member of FIAPF is an apex body of the Indian producers
(around 18,000), distributors (around 20,000), exhibitors (around 12,000)
and studio owners, headquartered in Mumbai.

Irrespective of the Church directives if the government fails to change the
dates immediately, the Catholics will have no option but to show unity in
action through the power of the ballot.

Juino De Souza

(The writer is a lawyer, author, TV host and social activist based in
Porvorim)

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