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Symposium on Pre-Primary & Primary School Education &
Primary School Students Chess Tournament
More information at:
http://lists.goanet.org/pipermail/goanet-goanet.org/2008-January/068222.html
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We all know about the blame game of Goa. You pretend to want to pin the
blame but end up heaving a collective sigh of "mea culpa". Well the SEZ
imbroglio has thrown up a new game which we tentatively call the number
game. The Asia Age resorted to it recently and now we have the same thing
in Hindu Business Line.
The trick is to set up a relatively small number (e.g. the area of Goa in sq
kms) and then compare with it what is actually a fraction of that by stating
it in a small unit (hectares) which results in a large number. In Asian Age
3700 sq kms was "nearly gobbled up" by 1000 hectares (10 sq km only!).
This is what we find in HBL:
<Goa is a small State, with an area of just 3,704 square km,...In this
context, giving away 1,20,770 meters of land from Goa's scarce land resource
for 18 SEZs with no benefits to the State was not acceptable>
Now its another matter that seemingly humungous 120,770 (sq) m is a piddling
0.12 sq km! What are these guys (in this case the redoubtable MAS) talking
about?
This game reminds me of the trick some creatures in the natural world play.
When faced with a bigger opponent they puff themselves up to fool the former
into thinking they are too hot to handle! Maybe we can call it the empty
vessel strategy.
