6 MARCH,2011

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Panjim I March 6, 2011 I Postal Reg. No. Goa 101 I Price Rs. 3.00 I Air Surcharge Rs 2 I Pages 16+10

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LIbYA ASKS UN TO SUSPEND SANCTIONS >> P12

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COMPETITION HOTS UP fOR WATER SPORTS ACTIvITY >> P4

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P9 Panjim orphaned by city fathers

INDIA bRACE fOR KEvIN O’bRIEN >> P16

DMK pulls out of UPA

Talks on seat-sharing for TN polls fail AGENCIES Chennai, March 5: Tamil

YEH DIL MANGE MO: King Momo and his ‘Queens’ wave to the crowd along the Carnival route in Panjim on Saturday.

The floats which drew an estimated 30,000 people failed to live up to the expectations.

Carnival gets off to a dull start TEAM HERALD Panjim, March 5: The fourday Carnival festival commenced in the capital city of Panjim even as the impact of pruned budget by the State Government was evident in the overall parade.

In absence of State Tourism Minister Nilkant Halarnkar, who is touring United States, Chief Secretary Sanjay Srivastava in the presence of Tourism Secretary D C Sahu flagged off the

All-male tour of Goa for women’s meet rocks Nagpur

parade near Old secretariat.

Thousands of people including foreign tourists thronged the street from Patto Bridge to Campal to witness the parade led by King Momo’s float, flanked by his ‘Queens’.

Officials said that nearly 30,000 people participated on the first day of the festival.

“Unlike Brazilian Carnival, nudity and obscene behaviour is strictly banned on floats. We had thoroughly scanned each float before it

HERALD REPORTER Panjim, March 5: Goa State three-day tour-cum-workshop junket to Goa by zonal chairpersons of the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) became a hot topic of an hour-long debate in the NMC on Thursday, with heated arguments and fistshaking between ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders and Opposition corporators. >Continued on pg 12

Several colourful floats, clowns and other interesting presentations rolled on the street with messages on environment protection, village and agricultural life, etc.

A local group had interestingly dedicated a float in memory of Paul, the psychic octopus, who became a pop culture sensation by correctly predicting the outcome of eight football World Cup matches.

111 floats participated on the first day of Carnival.

School officials get notice over harassment to student

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT Panjim, March 5: A recent

being rolled out on the street”, said an official from the Panjim Carnival Committee.

Some 200-odd policemen drawn from north Goa police stations and reserves and civil defense personnel were deployed on the parade route and various junctions to divert the traffic.

But it was still a mismanaged scene as people rushed in the middle of the road leaving the law enforcers helpless.

Commission of Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR) this week summoned three preprimary school teachers after a parent complained that his daughter was being harassed in the school.

Parent Shivdas Nasnod-

kar has alleged that Chubby Cheeks authorities were harassing and mentally torturing his daughter studying in Class 3.

“My child is scared and frightened to go to school now. I had raised this issue several times before the school authorities”, he said.

According to the com-

plaint letter to the SCPCR and Department of Education, the harassment began with the function organised to celebrate the school principal’s wedding anniversary on February 14, 2011.

Here, school parents were made compulsory to attend the gathering with an entry >Continued on pg 12

Nadu’s ruling DMK on Saturday ended its seven-year alliance with the Congress and pulled out of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government after running into roadblocks over seat sharing in Assembly elections only a month away.

The dramatic decision, announced after a meeting of DMK leaders including Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi, robbed Manmohan Singh’s Government of majority support in the Lok Sabha where the Congress-led UPA coalition will now have only 256 MPs. But with the DMK saying it would still give “issuebased support”, a stand sim-

The ghosts remained, the ghost buster got booted out Ex-CCP Commissioner’s report on the mess submitted to the Assembly. No action was taken TEAM HERALD Panjim, March 5: This isn’t a new story but its spirit lives on. In an effort to bust the scam of “ghost workers”, the CCP Commissioner Sanjith Rodrigues tenure died an unnatural death.

Barely a month into his second term as Commissioner in the present Corporation, Rodrigues realised that every month cash payments were doled out in the name of hundreds of daily wage workers. Inquiries revealed three things a) The workers were completely fic-

Goa issued 3148 TLPs to visa-less tourists What if even one of them was a terrorist?

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n a gross security violation which could have immense ramifications, the immigration authorities in Goa have issued as many as 3148 Temporary Landing Permits in 2010, to foreigners arriving in Goa, who did not have visas. This violation is further compounded by the fact that the figure for 2010 is ten times more than the TLPs issued in 2006.

Security agencies in the country have warned of Goa being on the radar of several terrorist organisations and the entry of foreigners virtually unchecked, in an ostensible effort to boost tourism,

has compromised the security apparatus in Goa and the rest of the country.

Temporary Landing Permits, according to the Bureau of Immigration, can be issued only in an emergency for a maximum period of 72 hours or earlier if the passenger has a confirmed return flight. The risk is that there is no detailed background check of the passenger available on landing. Therefore, a permission which is granted only in rare cases has been used as a regular norm in Goa, giving access to these so called tourists to the rest of the country.

In 2006, 347 passengers got

TLPs against 1192 crew members. In 2010 3148 passengers got TLPs against 3969 crew members. Interestingly, while 850 Charter Flights landed in 2006, the number went up to about 1000 in 2010. Surely an increment of 150 odd flights would not have incremented the crew strength by a whopping three times!

Sources at the airport reveal that Minar Air and Ciceron Air Travel (CAT) have acquired a particular notoriety in their quest to push in more tourists, unchecked.

Many tourists or so called tourists misuse the conditions of the TLP too. On

ilar to that of the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Congress sources said there was no immediate danger to the UPA government.

The DMK move, however, took the Congress by surprise. One of its leaders, Satyavrat Chaturvedi, called the decision “sudden”.

The DMK move followed the Congress insistence on contesting from 63 of Tamil Nadu’s 234 assembly seats while a peeved DMK was willing to concede only 60.

As the Congress remained adamant and reportedly made it clear that it would also pick the 63 seats, Karunanidhi lashed out past Friday midnight, calling the Congress stand “unjustified”.

At the Saturday evening meeting, DMK leaders voiced bitterness vis-a-vis the Congress and decided it was time to part ways with a party they had allied with since the 2004 LS polls.

THe lOOT Of PANjim - 2

SUNDAY ANCHOR

AJAY THAKUR

THe NUmBeRS GAme n The UPA is in no danger of losing majority at the Centre n DMK with 18 members is third largest in the UPA n Congress has 207 MPs while Trinamool 19 n Others NCP (9), NC (3), IUML (2) and JVM and VCK (1 each) n With outside support of SP, BSP, RJD, JDS the strength of UPA minus the DMK stands at 311, well past the magic figure of 272

March 3, the Pernem police detained five Russian ‘tourists’ for overstaying.

They had landed in Goa on February 9, 2011 and got a TLP till February 15, by SP Immigration Tony Fernandes.

However, they were in Goa 18 days after their permit lapsed. Moreover, there are no explanations regarding the emergency situation, if any which required the SP immigration to give a TLP of a duration more than the permissible 72 hours.

The only silver lining is that the Bureau of Immigration under the ministry of Home affairs will soon take charge >Continued on pg 12

titious b) they were real but had no valid orders c) they had orders which had expired.

To his shock and horror, the Commissioner realised that officials in the Corporation were deeply involved in handing over cash payments against vouchers which were obviously forged in the name of these workers. He then coined the term “ghost workers”. In an attempt to bring transparency to the system and put the facts on the table, he submitted a detailed report on this as well as other scams of the Corpo-

ration to the Goa Legislative Assembly in July 2009, about a month after he assumed office on June 22, 2009.

In his report he mentioned that according to a circular issued by the Director of Municipal Administration, apart from specific daily wage recruitments, recruitment of daily wage workers in any Municipality/CCP was banned. He then mentioned “It has been noticed that daily wage workers at the CCP have been maintained on a regular basis and (as on date) 352 workers are >Continued on pg 12

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goa SNAPSHOT Theft case registered MARGAO: Margao police has registered a case of theft against unknown miscreants for lifting away cash and gold ornaments from the house of one Anand Govindanandan at Dongorim Navelim.

The police said the victim lodged his complaint on Saturday stating that unknown culprits stole away cash and gold ornaments amounting Rs 76,000 from his house on February 23.

The miscreants are believed to have effected entry into the house through the rear door. The Margao police are investigating.

Two-wheeler catches fire MARGAO: A two-wheeler parked in the heart of the Commercial Capital caught fire on Saturday noon near the Mabai hotel.

Margao PSI Ravi Desai who rushed to the spot used his presence of mind and tried to extinguish the fire with the help of a water pipe from the Margao Municipal garden. The fire brigade later joined in the operation.

By the time the fire brigade reached the spot, the fire was extinguished.

The cause of the fire is being ascertained.

2 arrested for assault PORVORIM: A resident of Corjuem-Aldona has accused two persons of assaulting her husband on Saturday morning.

In her police complaint, Shashikala Bandodker stated that her husband, Shyamsunder, was assaulted at about 11.45 am by two persons with an iron road.

Since Shyamsunder sustained injuries he was treated in the hospital.

Mapusa police has registered a offence against the two persons under Sections 324, 341 and 506 of Indian Penal code. The reason for the assault is stated to be previous animosity.

Modesty outraged PORVORIM: A woman from Siolim has accused two unknown persons of outraging her modesty.

In her complaint, Susan Fernandes told Mapusa police that the incident took place while she was travelling in a bus from Siolim to Mapusa.

Police has registered the offence under Sections 341, 354 read with 34 of Indian Penal code and is investigating the case.

2 tourists rescued at calangute CALANGUTE: Two tourists from Bangalore were rescued at Calangute on Friday .

Lifeguards Gopal Narvekar and Yogesh Dubey rescued two tourists from Bangalore while they struggled to swim ashore.

Abbas and Zeeshan, both 21 years of age, were among a group of 10 tourists who went for a swim in the Calangute sea.

The duo were seen swimming vigorously by the Drishti Team but after a while they were unable to move, perhaps due to fatigue.Noticing the duo in distress, the lifeguards swam across and brought them safely ashore with the help of a Jet-Ski.

8 beach structures demolished CANACONA: In a surprise move, tourism department officials demolished eight thatched structures at Rajbag-Tarir beach on Friday.

According to sources, some tourism officials along with a few labourers descended on the Tarir-Rajbag shore, the home ward of Canacona Municipal Chairperson Ratnakar Dhuri, and razed eight thatched structures, which some local people allegedly were using to sell juices and fruits on the beach.

When contacted, Dhuri informed that initially he had no knowledge of the tourism department demolition squad reaching the municipal shore, but he later learnt about the development.

"Those were only thatched structures which the tourism department had cleared from the beach at Tarir-Rajbag on Friday," Dhuri said.

Dhuri was, however, unable to answer why the municipal administration had failed to demolish the illegal structures, prompting the tourism department to take action.

PINC (Panjimiites Initiative for Change) has seen these social workers get into tongue lashing against the corrupt and scam-ridden CCP affairs and also are moving door to door appealing people to vote for the right candidates.

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Goa I Sunday 6, March 2011

You must understand, he cannot fool people all the time. He throws money and wins votes. He managed it for the first time. Let every Panjimite ask if they really want a person like Babush as their MLA. — Manohar Parrikar

If the Congress had not pulled me down, I would have politically finished Babush once and for all

The elections to the Corporation of the City of Panjim will be, on paper, be fought by individual candidates backed by panels. But it’s really a battle which is bigger than thirty wards. It’s a battle for political space and power. It’s a battle between Manohar Parrikar, called the “creator” of Babush Monseratte and his creation, the MLA of Taleigao who wants to be MLA of Panjim.

In an interview to Sujay Gupta, Manohar Parrikar discusses a range of issues from his tag of “creator” to his past mistakes Sachin Ambadoskar

Herald: Babush Monseratte’s growth is a result of your patronage. You created Babush Parrikar: I did not create Babush. When he became an MLA for the first time, no one expected him to win. He had come with a mandate.

That was a year when the BJP fell short of the majorty mark. We had 17 MLA’s and the Congress had 16. I had no option but to make up the numbers and had to ally with the MGP and the UGDP. At that point of time, no one knew who Monseratte was or what he would be.

you that he grew.

Parrikar: Did he get involved in a single controversy in my government. I sacrificed my government when I knew that he had to go after he started manipulating the ODP plans of Taleigao. When I realised that I could not have a man like him in my government, I took Pratapsinh Rane and other opposition leaders into confidence. They however played politics and my government went. If I they had understood what I was saying and given me some time, I would have finished Babush once and for all.

Herald: so are you saying you inducted an unknown Monseratte, but it is under

Herald:What happened next?

Parrikar: Babush’s house

him. Educated people are wary of him. Let every honourable Panjimite ask if they really want a person like Babush as their MLA. Let him win an election without money power. Actually let him try and win even with money power. Let there be a snap poll without canvassing and see if he stands a chance

became the Congress office, all MLA’s were bundled there and the next congress government was formed in his bedroom. And they call me his creator.

Herald: But Babush grew from strength to strength.

He won elections. He is a serious challenger to you for the Panjim assembly seat Parrikar: You must understand, he cannot fool people all the time. He throws money and wins votes. He managed it for the first time.

The middle class is wary of

Herald: Mr Parrikar, you are an intelligent man. You do realise that a lot of your efficiency has been undermined by your label of being communal Parrikar: I can now admit to this much. Even if I know I’m not the way I’m portrayed, I did things inadvertently which may have conveyed that impression.

generation next, build brand ‘Panjim’ and a human touch.

The city, which is currently facing a traffic mess might see introduction of Mass Rapid Transport system, once the panel gains power.

‘Priority like Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) and hop-in and hop-out buses for an efficient public transport network will be introduced,’ the manifesto reads.

The Panel has also proposed to have a creative parking facility including innovative parking solutions using latest technologies.

CCP will be going for polls on March 13 in which BJP backed panel ‘Panjim First’ is pitted against Education Minister Atanasio Monserratte supported panel.

The manifesto, which was unveiled in the presence of Leader of Opposition Manohar Parrikar and candidate for Mayor Ashok Naik also led emphasis on providing door to door tax collection and online payment of fees, taxes and license fees.

For the first time, a 24x7 helpline for services of plumbers, electricians and masons would be made available at reasonable fees.

“We would try to eliminate red-tapism, corruption and bureaucratic hassles through transparent and innovative solutions,” Parrikar said adding that around Rs 3 crore direct scam has been noticed by us in last five years.

“If you go to its depth, it might vary from Rs 8 to Rs 10 crore,” he said.

Parrikar has also assured

HERALD REPORTER

SHWETA KAMAT Panjim, March 5: The oncoming Corporation of the City of Panjim (CCP) polls has something which otherwise might be called as a politically incorrect. social activists like Oscar Rebello and Arvind Bhatikar, who, otherwise, find BJP leader Manohar Parrikar ideologically wrong, are supporting almost half of the candidates in his panel.

PINC (Panjimiites Initiative for Change) has seen these social workers get into tongue lashing against the corrupt and scam-ridden CCP affairs and also are moving door to door appealing people to vote for the right candidates.

In a recently held press conference, PINC announced their 29 favourites out of 30 wards including NCP General secretary Avinash Bhosle. The NCP leader seemed to be only odd face in the list.

“We have given you a choice of candidates, who are young, who have no money and are clean,” Rebello said.

“There are some candidates who have swimming pools in their house,” one of

the candidate said only to be rebutted by Rebello. The practicing doctor said that ‘they have offered comparatively a better list of candidates, whom you can grill and make perform.’

PINC has come as a relief for BJP backed panel as they have another force, which is anti-Babush.

There are 15 BJP backed candidates, followed by 15 Independents including social activist Aires Rodrigues and four NCP candidates.

“Anyone who supports us are welcome. Each vote counts in such kind of situation,” Parrikar said offering a cautious reaction on PINC. PINC, which is the first ever attempt by many social activists to directly get involved in the civic polls, has a former IAs officer, doctors, professors, freedom fighter, and other like minded individuals.

Rebello told Herald that they have been going around in each wards after their regular working hours and asking people to vote for PINC recognized candidates. Election analyst said that increase in voting percentage will work in favour of BJP backed and NCP backed panel.

Panjim, March 5: Mass transport system, collection of taxes at your door step, elimination of corruption and plugging of revenue leakages are the highlights of manifesto unveiled by BJP backed ‘Panaji First’ panel on saturday. shut down of illegal casinos operations in the city and beautification of st Inez creek are other major highlights of the manifesto.

The city manifesto of the ‘Panjim First’ panel released at the hands of MP shripad Naik has assured corruption free-governance.

The manifesto has been divided between seven major heads - traffic and parking solution, innovative facilities, better infrastructure, responsive governance,

looking back The BJP-MGP love-hate affair started in 1994 when the saffron brigade got four legislators elected that year with the support of Goa’s oldest regional party.

The alliance then supported Francisco Sardinha to form the government in 1999 and in 2000, when Parrikar became the chief minister after ousting Sardinha, the MGP supported him from outside. liance then supported Francisco Sardinha to form the

government in 1999 and in 2000, when Parrikar became

to recover all the pending dues, which would generate revenue worth crores of rupees.

“Panel won’t allow government to get tax free regime,” he said.

‘Panaji First’ panel has also assured to complete the work of the city municipal market along with the completion of market complex at Mala.

The Panel has also decided to restore the state’s only football stadium at Campal to its original glory.

Parrikar said that the attempts are made to lure voters by offering them huge sums.

“The oppositions are investing their money so that they can gain once they get elected. Our investment is our efforts,” he said.

Customs staff told not to leave Margao HERALD REPORTER Panjim, March 5: North Goa Collector and Returning Officer Mihir Vardhan on saturday asked the officer of Commissioner of Customs and Central Excise to direct its employee Michael Fernandes not to leave Margao till the Corporation of City of Panjim (CCP)

polls conclude.

The order was passed following a complaint by contesting candidate Aires Rodrigues alleging that Michael was violating the Code of Conduct by helping his wife Vivina Nasnodkar, contesting candidate of ward no. 30 in the election campaign.

Incidentally, lawyer activist

The wheel turns as MGP, BJP plan a future tion partner in the current Digambar Kamat government, is in favour renewing the old friendship which was broken in 2002, when Manohar Parrikar abruptly dissolved the assembly.

The BJP-MGP love-hate affair started in 1994 when the saffron brigade got four legislators elected that year with the support of Goa’s oldest regional party. The al-

Herald: so what does this election mean to you?

Parrikar: More than me, a victory in this election will give confidence to the people of Panjim that elections can be won without the force of power and money. That confidence is very important.

CCP polls: PINC BJP manifesto assures shut down of illegal casinos could come in handy for BJP

CORRIDORS OF POWER

The wheel comes a full circle or shall we say the political wheel continues to move in circles. The “now we are friends”, “now we are not”, MGP and the BJP are planning to join hands yet again.

BJP senior leader Gopinath Munde and the MGP leader Lahu Mandrekar have both made conciliatory gestures of coming together.

The MGP, which is a coali-

For instance the decision to cancel the Good Friday holiday was did not originate from me. There was a central government circular to cut holidays and it was a routine decision. I realised later that its impact would be different. My PR skills were also not very good. I was abrasive sometimes even with the press. You know it.

the chief minister after ousting Sardinha, the MGP supported him from outside.

The alliance came to an end in 2002 when Parrikar, the then CM, dropped Pandurang Raut as a minister and Ramkrishna Dhavlikar who was the chairman of the Economic Development Corporation, which later led to snap polls that year.

Thereafter, they never

aligned again even though then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was in favour of alliance. Parrikar however did not agree.

Seven years later in 2009, the BJP made an effort to form an alliance during the last Lok Sabha elections in an effort to secure the North Goa Lok Sabha seat.

However, MGP's senior members were not keen on

Aires is also contesting from the same ward.

Meanwhile, on directions by the state Election Commission, the Old Goa police have intensified patrolling in Ribandar.

The police have been directed to be on the watch for violations of the Code of Conduct after Michael has been accused of dis-

tributing money, gifts and alcohol to the voters in ward no 30.

Aires has further urged the Customs and Central Excise officials to probe into the huge disproportionate assets acquired by Michael during the last five years while his wife was a corporator at the Corporation of City of Panjim.

Suraj Nandrekar the alliance considering the bitter experience of the past, where the BJP ate into MGP's traditional vote bank.

Certain sections within the MGP feel that the situation is similar again.

This section is uncomfortable about parting ways with the Congress and losing its lone minister in the present cabinet Party leaders of both the BJP and the

MGP agree leaders agree that they should unite to consolidate the Hindu vote.

It is pertinent to note here that the alliance with the BJP in the past has never helped MGP grow.

Instead BJP was successful in diverting most of MGP’s traditional votes.

Feedback: suraj@heraldgoa.com

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goa

The Goa government has claimed that they have no finances to spare to fix the problem forcing the officers to match the fingerprints manually. The software, Fingerprint analysis and Criminal Tracing System, malfunctioned in 2006 and has remained in this state.

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Goa I Sunday 6,March 2011

We would try to eliminate red-tapism, corruption and bureaucratic hassles through transparent and innovative solution. around Rs 3 crore direct scam has been noticed by us in last five years.

-- Manohar Parrikar

Fingerprint shutdown-1

Govt doesn’t lift a finger to get ‘facts’ right The Goa government repeatedly stretches the imagination of its worst cynics when it comes to inefficiency. The Fingerprint Analysis and Criminal Tracing system (FACTS), a software that stores and matches finger prints of criminals at the touch of a button, has crashed for five years.

Vibha Verma points a finger at the health of Goa’s fingerprint bureau in a 2 part series Panjim: Over 30,000 fingerprints, mostly belonging

to the history sheeters, are locked in State police’s computers at fingerprint bureau, as the system has crashed almost five years ago.

The Goa government has claimed that they have no finances to spare to fix the problem forcing the officers to match the fingerprints manually.

The software, Fingerprint Analysis and Criminal Tracing System (FACTS), malfunctioned in 2006 and has remained in this state since then.

Officials claim that in absence of the software,

FINGER FACTS nFingerprints of 30,000 history - sheeters in the crashed software nMatching done manually for five years delaying investigations nNo software to retrieve data from the existing data base nFingerprints Bureau has proposed a New Automated Fingerprints Identification System on 2009. The government hasn’t responded claiming lack of funds the required data cannot be retrieved from the existing fingerprint database. The Bureau has sent several reminders to repair and upgrade the software, but the proposals too are gathering dust FACTS stores fingerprint records picked up from the scene of crime, which can be matched at a click of a button.

But with the system failing, the entire work is done manually, which is labourious.

“We cannot provide chance prints. Investigations are affected because the database cannot be retrieved for comparison of fingerprints,” said a senior police officer on condition of anonymity.

Although the entire backlog is stored in a hardcopy, the matching takes time, which has also resulted in several suspected criminals getting away because fingerprints couldn’t be matched.

The system was procured

by CMC Ltd at Hyderabad in 2002 but after the contract expired, the company allegedly quoted “extremely high amount” to execute the Annual Maintenance Contract.

The proposal was rejected even as the system still remains out of order. Dogged with the problems, in one of the note sheets placed before the superiors on January

8, 2009, the fingerprints bureau suggested procuring of New Automated Fingerprints Identification System, but this proposal too was not taken into account.

“In the meantime, futile efforts were made to repair the system continued. The department was not going ahead with several proposals because it lacked funds,” said the officer.

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At present, the GHB is facing a financial crunch. Besides, the GHB owes a loan of Rs 34 lakh to the Life Insurance Company and hence, it is unable to construct a new market in the area Nilkant Halarnkar

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Goa I Sunday 6, March 2011

Everyone seems interested in making a fast buck and no one is interested in the rules and regulations. Others are illegally involved in the activities Water sports operator Francis Cardozo

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment and to just and favourable conditions of work. Problems, however, arise when conditions are not always favourable to pursue employment. Herald’s team of correspondents have focussed on three such conditions that have hindered employment in the State -- a traditional livelihood that is on the verge of extinction, deplorable infrastructure that has threatened livelihood and rivals competing for the same livelihood.

Thriving not too long ago, toddy-tapping has few takers

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t was once a major livelihood for residents of Canacona taluka for generations, but the toddytapping profession is now on the verge of extinction.

Lured by the high-earning jobs in the Gulf and other countries, besides tourism activities and whitecoloured jobs in the State, the youth have been deserting this traditional activity in recent times.

According to the few families still practicing the profession, there was a time when around 2,000 families used to earn their livelihood solely on toddy-tapping in Canacona alone. The figure has now dwindled alarmingly to less than 25 families, still braving to distil the brew, the Feni (toddy).

Apart from farming, toddy-tapping was at one time one of the most popular professions in Canacona taluka. Such was the popularity of the profession at one time that it was beneficial not only to the toddy-tappers, but even the landlords who owned coconut groves, as they used to earn substantially by renting out coconut trees to professional toddytappers.

There used to be several instances where landlords

Kathy Pereira

themselves would run toddy distilleries by hiring toddytappers on a monthly basis.

According to the excise department, there are approximately 41 licenses renewed for local distilleries.

However, sources claimed that there are not more than 25 such licensed holders in operation. Some traditional toddy-tappers are known to merely renewing their licenses.

Palolem and Agonda are the two villages predomi-

kathy pereira

canacona nantly involved in toddytapping over the years.

Khola, Poinguinim and Loliem were not really lagging behind, as these localities too had several professionals thriving on the occupation.

In Agonda there are only four toddy-tappers left and each one is known for their dedication to their work.

Their dedication is such that these toddy-tappers turn up thrice a day on their respective palm trees to get enough output and distil feni without any adulteration.

A toddy tapper (Render) at work in Agonda-Canacona.

The situation is similar in Palolem, Khola, LoliemPolem and Poinguinim, where only a handful of toddy-tappers are left to continue the profession.

Incidentally, the traditional toddy-tappers would celebrate an annual thanksgiving mass every year at old Goa in honour of St Francis Xavier on February 27.

Earlier, a minimum of three buses used to ply from each of the villages to attend the annual thanksgiving mass at Old Goa. At present,

only one minibus, comprising a few practicing toddytappers and their well-wishers, are left to maintain this traditional religious ceremony.

When toddy-tapping was once a thriving profession, an association had been formed to cater to the welfare of its practitioners and their families.

This association, which used to be a force to reckon with in Canacona taluka, is virtually a non-entity now, with little or no role to play

in the social and political activity of the taluka.

In a bid to revive the profession, the All Goa Toddy Tappers Association had even put forth a list of demands before the government.

When the government extended some benefits to the association members, the membership list rose a bit, as a few families tried to either enter the profession or revive the tradition.

The decline of the profession has also led to the re-

Rapidly developing Porvorim lacks basic amenities Anil Shankhwalker

tions in and around the market are such that customers have stopped visiting the market and many shop owners have closed down their shops.

The market has now become a place of shelter for beggars, animals and Matka bookies. In fact, several tables are laid along the corrianil shankhwalker

bardez

The dilapidated market at Porvorim.

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t has developed at a rapid pace and has even acquired the status of a constituency, but Porvorim still lacks basic facilities like a decent market complex.

Porvorim boasts of the prestigious Legislative Assembly complex, a number of government offices, several hospitals, banks and educational institutions.

However, a decent market complex is yet to take shape in the fastest growing township in the State.

Porvorim lacks a good market complex where all types of goods are available under one roof. At present, residents of Porvorim are forced to travel to either Panjim or Mapusa to buy essential items like food items, clothing, utensils, shoes, readymade garments, electronic items, etc.

No finance, no market: Minister Minister for Housing Board Nilkant Halarnkar has said the Goa Housing Board (GHB) is very eager to construct a new market for residents of Porvorim.

“However at present, the GHB is facing a financial crunch. Besides, the GHB owes a loan of Rs 34 lakh to the Life Insurance Company and hence, it is unable to construct a new market in the area,” admitted The existing market complex in the Housing Board at Alto-Betim is in a pathetic condition. Plaster of the roof and walls of this market have peeled off at many places and during monsoon, the water seeps through the roof of the shops.

Halarnkar, while speaking to Herald. “There was also a suggestion that the construction work of the market be handed over to the Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation.

However, the corporation has been demanding the transfer of land in its name and also funds for the construction of the market.

This is not possible,” Halarnkar added.

Besides, the electricity wires are seen dangling dangerously and pose a serious threat to the lives of the people. Some time ago, a short circuit had led to a fire in some shops of the old market complex.

The unhygienic condi-

dors of the market, where ‘Matka’ bookies are doing brisk business, with authorities remaining mute spectators to the illegal trade.

In the absence of any maintenance, the market is on the verge of the collapse.

“The condition of the market is getting worse day by day, as there is no maintenance of the building,” said Mr Mahambre, a shopkeeper in the market area.

“During the monsoons, it becomes impossible to do business here as rainwater seeps into the shops through broken roof tiles. Since customers have stopped visiting the market most shopkeepers have closed down their shops. It is high time that the Goa Housing Board demolishes this market and constructs a new one,” Mahambre added.

According to officials of the Goa Housing Board (GHB) at Porvorim, the market in the Housing Board

Colony was built almost 36 years ago.

“The Town and Country Planning Department had assigned construction work of the 42-shop market complex, to the GHB, while the maintenance was entrusted to the PWD. The market was later handed over to the GHB in 2004,” said an official.

“During the last 36 years, the shops have changed many hands and at present, only a few shop owners pay rent to the GHB. There has been no increase in the rent of the shops,” added the officials.

“The rent of the shops still ranges from Rs 130 to Rs 230, due to which the GHB is reluctant to undertake maintenance of the shops,” said the officials.

According to Shekhar Vaigankar of Porvorim, the entire Porvorim plateau developed at a rapid pace during the last 15 years, especially after the construction of the new Mandovi Bridge.

“Construction activities are in full swing at present and there has been substantial rise in the population too.

Hence, a good market is the need of the hour for the residents of Porvorim,” said Vaigankar.

“It is high time that the village panchayats located at Porvorim as well as the Aldona MLA look into this matter seriously to fulfil the long-pending demand of residents in Porvorim,” said the resident.

placement of traditional implements used in the profession.

Except for the ‘Kathi’ (a sharp tool used by tappers to regularly cut the toddy bud), all other equipment have undergone a major change. The traditional mud utensils to collect and store toddy have been replaced by plastics. Even the distillery earlier fitted with a potter-made ‘baan’ (large size mud utensil) has now been replaced by a cooper utensil.

Coconut Feni adulteration takes toll on toddy-tappers While the demand for coconut Feni remained high with every passing year, the producers however have declined to a great extent, leading to large-scale adulteration of the brew once known for its chaste taste.

As widely believed, one of the prime reasons why genuine toddy-tappers had dwindled to a large extent is because of heavy practices of distilling Feni out with toddy mixed with sugar and jaggery.

“The Feni that we distill is very pure and safe and our customers are mostly either seamen or Gulf returnees,” explains Joazinh Fernandes, a local toddytapper from Agonda and the only youngster left in the trade besides the other three seasoned professionals.

“Many people order months in advance. Our limited drawn Feni is very high in demand locally. Even people from as far as Panjim and Mapusa approach us for supply of feni,” said Fernandes.

According to Fernandes, one ‘Kolso’ (about 18 bottles of 750 ml) costs Rs 1,200. However, some local consumable outlets are known to buy a ‘Kolso’ for even Rs 800. “But those cannot be genuine Feni,” remarked Fernandes.

The exceptional success of a few toddy-tappers in the past had also depended on their capacity to strike the right chord with some sea-traders who would transport huge stocks of spirit to distant lands, thereby earning hefty returns.

But now, this trade has been regulated by lawful enforcement agencies. Besides, it is believed that other types of spirits are preferred in the trade.

Competition hots up for water sports activity along Calangute coast Unlicenced operators throw caution to the winds Thomas Fernandes

Water sports activity in coastal Calangute.

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irds of the similar feather need not always flock together, especially when they are competing for the same business along the Calangute coast.

The legal water sports operators along the Calangute coast have cried foul due to the presence of unauthorised water sports operators, claiming that the unlicenced operators have eaten into their share of the business.

At present, there are about 40 operators along the Calangute-Baga belt, all vying for the same pie.

The legal water sports operators claim that they have repeated complained to various operators, but all their complaints have fallen on deaf ears.

“Authorities are well aware of the illegal water sports activities in the area,

thomas fernandes

bardez but are not willing or interested in taking any legal action against them. We pay huge government fees, but the illegal water sports operators do not pay a single paisa and reap huge benefits,” complained Francis Cardozo, a water sports operator from Calangute.

According to the water sports operator, an association to fight against any injustice to them was formed some five years ago.

“Unfortunately, everyone seems interested in making a fast buck and no one is interested in the rules and regulations. Others are illegally involved in the activities,” Cardozo said.

“We have also briefed various authorities, but nothing

is happening and we are suffering due to the illegal operators, who have been dominating the sports activities for quite a long time in the coastal belt of Calangute-Baga,” claimed Cardozo.

“At times, there have been mishaps due to the carelessness of the operators, most of who are illegally operating, but the blame falls on the entire water sports operators,” he added.

When contacted, an official of the tourism department admitted that they are unable to take strict action against the illegal water sports operators all over the State's coastline.

“Many of these illegal water sports operators have close contacts with influential people and as a result, no action is taken to curb the unlicenced activity,” the official said.

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goa

Staining the beautiful and pristine image of Goa is a sin that the Congress has been perpetually committing – Gopinath Munde

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SNAPSHOT

Cong responsible for Goa’s tainted image: BJP

PANJIM: Dr Anjali Shackleton will organise a meditation on twin hearts at Club Gaspar Dias, Miramar, on March 6 at 5.30 pm.“Meditation on twin hearts is a technique aimed at achieving cosmic consciousness and illumination. It is also a form of world service because the world is harmonized to a certain degree through this meditation,” said Dr Shackleton. For details, contact Dr Shackleton on 9987062209 or 2451080.

HERALD REPORTER

Meditation on twin hearts

Rythmic breathing classes PANJIM: The Rhythmic Breathing Club, Goa will impart free training in simple yet extremely and immediately effective priceless exercises, on March 6 at 2nd floor, Rotary Community Centre, Tilak Maidan complex, Vasco, between 11 am to 1 pm.

Also on March 6, classes will be held at room no 2, 1st floor, Vidyadhiraj Hall (opp Hanuman Temple), Mahalakshmi temple complex, Panjim, from 6 pm to 8 pm. On March 11, classes will be held at Basement, Radhakrishna temple, near Mahalakshmi Temple, Panjim, from 6 pm to 6.45 pm. Contact Venkatesh Betigiri, on 9422443421 for further details.

Corner stone laying BICHOLIM: The foundation stone laying function of ‘Utsav Mandap’ of Shri Mahamaya Temple, Mayem will be organised on March 6 at 10 am.

Chowgule Mining Company Managing Director B S Kantak, Senior Manager Ramchandra Prabhu Alvekar, Chief Engineer Prashant Kutare, Manager Shirgao Mines Ramesh Chodankar, company officers Shankar Shet and Abhijeet Sadhle will be present.

Carnival at Cansaulim PANJIM: The CAC Club in association with the Directorate of Art and Culture and Youth of Cansaulim will organise a 3-day carnival event from March 6 to 8.

On March 6, there will be float parade from Cansaulim church to T B Cunha Sports Complex. Various programmes like dance performance by Extreme, band performance by Glen and his troupe, one-act plays, musical show by Reagan and Marcelino de Betim and his troupe, African acrobatic

by Spring Bok, Magic show by Reggie, mimicry by Shaikh Amir, performance by Ferns trio, etc have been lined up for the 3-day event. On March 8, Sonia Sirsat and her band will be the star attraction.

Women’s Day CALANGUTE: The Calangute Junior Chamber International will organize various competitions at Candolim to mark the Women’s Day on March 6.

The competitions include Salad Decoration competition, Making Food (without gas), Hair Style competition, Best Saree competition, etc.

All competitions will be conducted at Shantadurga Temple, Candolim from 3 pm onwards.

PANJIM, MARCH 5 : “Staining the beautiful and pristine image of Goa is a sin that the Congress has been perpetually committing” stated Gopinath Munde, senior BJP leader.

Munde was addressing the gathering at Gomantak Maratha Samaj, during a book release function of the party.

The topic for the BJP meeting was ‘exposure of corruption in the state and country at large by the Congress led government.

Stating that Goa has been engulfed by various mafias be it mining, drugs, forests, etc, Munde promised the hall full of supporters that the BJP will free Goa from all these offences.

He stated that the state has been witnessing open corruption wherein televisions and refrigerators were openly donated to people to win their votes.

“And if the Goan government is severely corrupted, the centre is hundred times more corrupted. With an incompetent PM as its head, public money has been flaunted by the Congress” asserted Munde.

“The fight against corruption is not only in our hands but also in the hands of the

public”, affirmed Munde who assured that the BJP will fight against this tainted image of Goa and restore its pure and chaste identity of its yesteryears.

The podium was shared by the cream of the state BJP leaders; opposition leader Manohar Parikar, BJP candidate, North Goa MP Sripad Naik, President of BJP unit Goa, Laxminath Parsekar, BJP MLA Damu Naik, Francis D’Souza.

“Congress has been doing nothing for minorities and it calls itself secular. It is secular only in the sphere of prostitution, drugs and other anti-social activities” alleged D’Souza.

Parrikar started his speech by stating “if a failure of Std

VIII is the education minister, then think what the situation of that government is. Government is so corrupt that for every issue people have to resort to the streets.”

He alleged that Home Minister Ravi Naik is not only in-

Goa I Sunday 6, March 2011

Congress has been doing nothing for minorities and it calls itself secular. It is secular only in the sphere of prostitution, drugs and other anti-social activities – MLA Francis D’Souza

volved in the drug issue but also in mining.

He claimed that an 8 crore worth rupees anaerobic digestor had been bought by CCP to deal with garbage problems but was broken down on the eighth day.

Intruz festival at Quepem QUEPEM: Villagers of Copelabhat-Ambaulim in Quepem will celebrate their traditional Intruz Festival on March 6.

Intruz is a major festival celebrated by the menfolk of the Village.

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WEEKENDEDIT

The carnival was in the hearts and homes of people. It was about the door to door hopping around. It was about the piano being dusted and played — Edit

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Vol. No CXI No. 64 I Goa I Sunday 6, March 2011

While there may be good reason to name the city for its safe harbour, it seems a travesty that Lisbon is not in fact called Luz Boa – Jason Keith Fernandes

FLY ON THE WALL

PEOPLE’SEDIT

It’s a ‘brand’ new carnival

Dealers are the new ‘Congress’ leaders in Goa

Redefining Social Activism

The party survives at the mercy of village leaders

Dr Hubert Gomes

irca 1962. Carnival Day: Its ‘war’ on the narrow by lanes of Goa. Missiles of oranges and lemons are being hurled rapid pace. You duck and run but some till hit you. Boys tease girls, girls tease boys, everyon’s dressed up in some costume of the other.

It’s like a fancy dress competition, but without any prizes. No one cares. It’s all part of the plot.

Smelly, bruised and with your ego battered, you hit back with your ammunition – sand filled gloves, wooden spoons, brooms – and the battle rages on till the sun sets or until they’ve had their fill of food cooked in festival spirit. The tired warriors then get ready for feasting and merrymaking, ordained by the King of Chaos – King Momo.

Circa 2011. Carnival Day It’s a brand war on the narrow bylanes of Goa. Tuborg tries to outgulp Kingfisher, Airtel jostles with Vodafone to rule the airwaves. Their hoardings and banners were not just on the floats. They were THE floats. We have a King Momo.

But the carnival of old is no more.

Like all institutions of old, the simplicity of the carnival has gone.

The carnival was in the hearts and homes of people. It was about the door to door hopping around. It was about the piano being dusted and played. It was about costumes made and worn.

We have this consistent knack of letting memories and institutions fade. Don’t we understand the romance of those sepia or black and white photos? Don’t we understand that charm ensures only when it is preserved? Don’t we understand that the carnival is not about spending money or making it? The biggest mockery is that politicians are sponsoring floats, khell tiatrs, and other plays in their constituencies. From Churchill and his daughter Valanka to Mickky Pacheco to Vijay Sardesai to Filipe Neri, all have pumped in money for carnival celebrations.

Since when did the carnival become a vote catching mechanism?

Wasn’t this all about agenda-less festivity and togetherness? Wasn’t this about brotherhood and friendship? People who cling to these simple beliefs – like Zito Pinto or the good old Gabru stayed away from this year’s carnival parade in Panjim on Saturday.

These are sad times. These are times when revelry has a price and a purpose. These are times when images such as this don’t come by anymore – A couple clinging to the top of a pole on a float wearing floppy hats and silly grins, a knot of friends dancing with each other, oblivious to the crowds around them; a steel calypso band pumping out lyrics; a bloke with a hungry look in his eyes trying to negotiate his way through the yappity-yap to find some pretty lass to chat up. All in good spirit. All in good cheer.

The routines will still be followed. The carnival will move on and parades will be held in the major towns. But it’s not the same. It will never be the same. Maybe the villages are still holding out against the onslaught of brands, perhaps we will look to Loutolim and Raia or Parra and Moira to retrieve the good old times.

Maybe, just maybe, there is still hope. Well, if all else fails turn to the next mobile brand which will be ‘happy to help.’ What an idea sirji!

C

ulers and leaders are not necessarily two parts of the same species. In recent times they have been antithetical. We are in a season where rulers have been booted out by real leaders – the people of Egypt and hopefully the people of Libya.

Goa has no such luck. And that’s not because there is no leadership among people. It’s because there are is no one ruler to boot out but a series of fiefs in their own backyards which in real terms are a conglomeration of villages.

The reason why Goa does not see the complete cleansing of its polity is because the people who make up this polity are satisfied with their world in their constituencies and villages. Goa can be cleaned only if Margao and Panjim meet, Varca shakes hands with Velsao and Sanguem and Sangolda meet on a common platform.

Digambar Kamat and his merry men survive because of a twist in the tale of democracy where every minister is the Chief Minister of his backyard. Let us not make the mistake of calling Digambar Kamat’s government a Congress government.

It is a government of self-seeking individuals who have given permission to the Congress to call them Congressmen.

Quite unlike the rest of the country , where Congress MLA’s build their brand on the basis of their association with the Congress, in Goa, the Congress builds its brand by sticking close to its powerful village chiefs like Churchill Alemao, Joacquim Alemao, Vishwajeet Rane, Ravi Naik, Babush Monseratte and the list goes on.

I’ve said this earlier and need to reiterate this. The Congress in Goa is lives in the perennial fear that some of its ministers who go in and out of its party at will, will ultimately move on and form groups or join other parties.

It lives in this fear because it never felt the need to build the party from below. It always took the easy way out by plucking the fruits from the oldest and the biggest tree. It grabbed what

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he follower count is rising. People are commenting. The tide is slowly turning. What is needs now, is more participation.

The facebook page stands open, for the people of Goa to have a say – free and unencumbered. It’d your space to say what you want, when you want, how you want...

Join up now. Find us on facebook. Be the change you want to see…

Vivek Ferrao That was a seriously awesome front page story (CCP). Good job.

Keep up the good work guys.

Sean Faia ý It’s Christmas before CCP Polls - Great front page story. Love the work you guys are putting in. Panjim needs a change. And the people need to stand up and make a difference.

Gustavo Stephen Godinho I miss those days when all friends use to come together, go around the village wearing masks n other fancy items, singing n dancing, splashing water and colour. Those were the days. Today the carnival is too noisy n vulgar.

Lourenco Fernandes In 80 the carnival was all fun where young kids would wear masks and roam around the village. Now people only look forward to the carnival parades in the major towns.

R

suJay Gupta was available. It did not cultivate. That is why it does not have strong challengers to Churchill or Ravi Naik or Vishwajeet or Babush, should they leave the party.

The Congress in Goa is lives in the perennial fear that some of its ministers who go in and out of its party at will, will ultimately move on and form groups or join other parties. It lives in this fear because it never felt the need to build the party from below.

It always took the easy way out by plucking the fruits from the oldest and the biggest tree. It grabbed what was available. It did not cultivate..

There is another irony. The rare breed of loyal or relatively loyal Congressmen have all lost to party switchers or newcomers. Agreed that some of these losses were due to their own inef-

L

ike so many children in India I grew up in Goa in the shadow of the former British Empire. As a result London was a fabled city, the former centre of a truly global empire, and imagined to be filled with architectural marvels that should rightly grace an imperial centre.

Visiting London for the first time was a truly depressing let down however.

There was practically nothing that was on a truly monumental, imperial scale.

The experience on travelling to Lisbon on the other hand was an entirely different matter.

Here indeed was a city that knew how to present itself as an imperial centre. Huge squares framed by monumental buildings. Façades of churches that, to borrow a phrase from James Fergusson, seemed to have been conceived by giants and finished by jewellers.

And to top it all, as if to stick a tongue in the England’s gloomy direction, was the light. Lisbon’s name is said to be derived from the ancient name for the settlement Olissipo. This name in turn was associated with the mythical founding of the city by Ulysses, the Greek adventurer of the epics. The more boringly pedantic, will tell us that the name derives not from the Greek adventurer, but from the words that meant ‘safe

Jason KeitH FernanDes harbour’. In time, Olissipo was transformed to its Arabic version Al-Isbuna, until when after the crusader conquest it came to be called Lisboa.

While there may be good reason to name the city for its safe harbour, it seems a travesty that Lisbon is not in fact called Luz Boa, and named for its good(Boa) light (luz).

This city has the most amazing light!

It is a light that is sharp and sparkly and does the most amazing things to the city. The contribution of this light first dawned on me when traversing the city one morning early in my stay of the city.

Moving from the cold shadows of the Rua do Loreto into the light in the Praça de Camões, one realised how privileged one was to live in this incredibly beautiful city of light.

Whether it is out in the squares, or on jacaranda shaded avenues, the light that this city receives converts the golden yellow, salmon pink and powder blue façades of its buildings into so many Fabergé eggs. Polished by the scores of feet that daily caress the lime-

ficiencies but let this also be said that the Congress has also worked to defeat some of its loyalists. Luizinho Faleiro‘s loyalty is impeccable. His loyalty to the Congress is greater than the sum total of all other loyalties of Congressmen in Goa. Yet he lost to Churchill Alemao in Navelim.

Francisco Sardinha has played footsie with the Congress, but in relative terms he is more of a Congressman than Vishwajeet Rane is. Sardinha too lost from Curtorim and his conqueror Alexio Reginald Lourenco first did business with Churchill and then the Congress.

Jitendra Deshprabhu of Pernem was not a veteran MLA but he held some beliefs of the Congress of old close to his heart till the party sidelined him and then created a situation which forced him to join the NCP. And then he lost!

The irony takes another cruel twist.

Luizinho has the utmost respect among the AICC and is now a general secretary of the party.

While in his home state the party president Subhash Shirodkar rushes to plead with Churchill not to get angry at the party, when the Varca boss thunders that he would contest from Navelim with or without the Congress ticket. This is not hypocrisy. This is weakness.

When a party loses foot soldiers, it has no feet to stand on. That is why the Congress now stands on the mercy of the local chiefs who allow the party to lend their name and symbol to them.

The government does not function.

Individual leaders spend time doing deals. The leaders who allow themselves the Congress tag set out to do lip service to the poor in daytime and then party with deal makers at night hoping its sunlight politics will fetch votes and its twilight policies will enable them to prosper.

The new AICC representative in charge of Goa will not understand all this. That’s because he is a real Congressman. Nor will the AICC understand Goa. But does it matter?

stone cobbled streets of the city, in this light these sidewalks shine like so many silken ribbons nestling these exquisite precious eggs.

And this light induces ecstasy. Standing on the edge of the Praça de Camões is the neo-classical façade of the church of the Incarnation (Igreja da Encarnação). Surmounting this façade are a series of dramatic ornamental urns sculpted to appear as if with flames at their mouths.

Come sunshine and these urns catch the rays of the sun to incarnate variously as the burning bush of Sinai, or the icon for the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

If light ever contributed to the drama of architecture this is a perfect example.

The profound changes that this sight works on one’s sentiments can only be experienced every attempt at description falling short.

It does drive home the point however to the perfection of Lisbon as a stage for this light. And it is thus that my heart confesses, ‘Lisboa, lux tua vita mihi’ (your light is my life)!

Jason Keith Fernandes is currently engaged in doctoral research at ICSTE’s Dept of Anthropology in Lisbon. When not agonising over the state of his dissertation, Jason offers unsolicited opinons on law, culture and identity politics. He also desperately misses Goa.

S

ocial activism has come a long way in Goa. And thank God it has. If it was not for our activists, we would have had an increased number of mega projects, hill cuttings, CRZ violations, illegal mining, land fillings, drugs and human right violations. It was their ‘show of unity and strength’ under the banner of GBA that stopped the old demonic Regional Plan from destroying Goa. There may be a few black sheep amongst them; but by and large, social activists are doing a great job for Goa. Instead of being armchair and internet critics, they are there where the action is – sacrificing their time and money and at times facing government brutality. If our old freedom fighters can claim the credit for getting us freedom from the Portuguese, our social activists should be acknowledged for fighting the illegalities and atrocities of modern day Salazars.

Over the years, the number of social activists has grown; and is not just an increase in the quantity; the quality of social activism has also improved greatly. Most of our activists are young, well read, sincere and passionate about their cause.

Thanks to the RTI Act and better information and communication facilities, social activism has percolated to the grass root levels.

Perhaps Margaret Mead was right when she wrote, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” Our activists have certainly succeeded in keeping a check on the pace of development in Goa and brought about the necessary corrections in the system as and when it was required.

Although I am a great disciple of social activism, I am also a hardcore supporter of sustainable development. As nobody wants to reverse the clock and go back to the Stone Age, every human being craves to have a better lifestyle. Therefore development is unstoppable. Besides creating job opportunities, it is necessary to improve our existing infrastructure, healthcare needs, education system and housing facilities.

In my opinion, social activism and politics are two different names for the same thing. They are both supposed to work towards the same goal – to create a better world for everybody. Unfortunately, the word development is interpreted differently by our politicians and social activists; and as a result, almost every developmental project that is proposed by the government, is opposed by our activists in Goa. In order to compete with the rest of the world, we cannot allow this phase of no development to go on forever.

Just as we cannot allow indiscriminate development to take place in Goa, we should not allow frequent social agitations to come in the way of development in Goa. To achieve this objective, the bridge of trust between the local politicians and the social activists has to be restored urgently. We need politicians who are sensitive the opinions of the people; and we need social activists who are pro-sustainable development in Goa. I sincerely hope and pray that there is a change in perception; and that our politicians and social activists will begin to see each other as trustworthy partners, to bring about a new kind of development in Goa – sustainable development that is truly need-based and not greedbased.

Fo r l ette rs to t he e di to r c o nt act us at e d itor wee ke n d@ h e rald -go a.c o m Printed and published by Vinayak Pai Bir for and on behalf of Herald Publications Pvt Ltd. Printed at Herald Publications Pvt Ltd, Plot No: L-135, Phase II, Verna Industrial Estate, Verna, Salcete, Goa. Published at PO Box 160, Rua Sao Tome, Panjim, Goa - 403001.

Editor-in-chief: Mr R F Fernandes. Editor: Sujay Gupta (Responsible under PRB Act). Regd Office: St Tome Road, Panjim, Goa. Tel: 2224202, 2228083, Fax: 6658510 (all Editorial); 2230535, Fax: 2225622 (Advertising); Margao: 2737689. Mumbai Office: 16-A, Bell Building, 2nd Floor, 19 Sir PM Road, Fort, Mumbai - 400001 (Tel: 22840702/22844908). RNI No: 43667/83.

HOW TO CONTACT US: mail@herald-goa.com — For press notes, general queries. reporters@herald-goa.com — For Reporters. business@herald-goa.com — For Business news. editorweekend@herald-goa.com — For Letters to the Editor. sports@herald-goa.com — For Sports news. advt@herald-goa.com — For Advertisements.

Disclaimer: Except for the editorial above, articles and letters in Herald represent the views of the concerned authors, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Herald editor, publisher, and/or owners.

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goa

CRG to nail people who push children into begging HERALD REPORTER PANJIM, MARCH 5: Even as the ‘rescue child beggars’ mission is underway, NGO Children’s Rights in Goa (CRG) has insisted to nail those adults who reportedly push children into the begging business.

CRG’s Nishta Desai said, “Adults responsible for pushing children into begging have to be identified and should be severely dealt with. There needs to be surveillance. Police should investigate as to how children are coming and who are involved in the menace.”

Goa Police in assistance with NGO Stop Child Abuse Now (SCAN) are carrying out raid at tourist hub Calangute, Anjuna and capital city of Panjim.

Nearly 41 children have been rescued in a major crackdown on the misuse of children after Goa Commission for Protection of Child Rights (GCPCR) issued directions in January.

‘Dona Paula property scam bigger than Adarsh scam’

HERALD REPORTER

PANJIM, MARCH 5: A contesting candidate for the upcoming municipal election on Saturday clarified that he filed a complaint with different authorities regarding a property scam at Dona Paula.

The property bearing survey number 249/1-A belongs to the State and a complaint with regards to this has been filed at Panjim police station and North Goa Collectorate, Nelson Cabral said.

“I have lodged a complaint to the police because according to me the said property belongs to Army and the State of Goa…the Crime Branch has filed a closure report in District and Session Court in respect of my complaint against Joe Mathias stating that the case is neither true nor false,” he said.

Since another inquiry by the Collectorate is not being disclosed and adjournments sought, Cabral said that he will move High Court of Bombay at Goa to direct the authority to hear the matter on day to day basis.

Terming the matter worst than Adarsh Colony scam in Mumbai, he said that the land claimed by Joe is said to belong to the Government under various land acquisition proceedings, but files have gone missing. He claimed that while others were arrested with regards to missing file, Joe had obtained anticipatory bail order.

CRG to stage ‘Aami Fuluyam’ PANJIM: Children’s Rights in Goa (CRG) will stage a play titled ‘Aami Fuluyam’ on March 7 at Dinanath Mangeshakar Kala Mandir, Kala Academy, Panjim, at 5 pm. Aami Fuluyam’ is a Konkani adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Selfish Giant’.

Desai claimed that during the drive, few of the children were school going which was confirmed by their certificates.

There needs a rehabilitation home, she further said. All of the 41 rescued child beggars are non-Goans hailing from the states like Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

These children have been produced before the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) for ‘care and protection’ till the completion of enquiry after which they will be repatriated to respective States.

Citing a recent case, SCAN officials said that no child should be left unsupervised on the beach especially after a person during interrogation in UK confessed that he had sexually abused a child in Goa. “Rescuing these vulnerable children and rehabilitating them will empower them for the future. This would stop children from being preyed on by pedophiles who come here mainly for our innocent children,” SCAN coordinator Emidio Pinho said.

appointments

Adults responsible for pushing children into begging have to be identified and should be severely dealt with. There needs to be surveillance. Police should investigate who are involved in the menace.

-- Nishta Desai

MGP: Alliance after consulting workers HERALD REPORTER PANJIM, MARCH 5: Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) leaders on Friday said that the decision on aligning with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the coming assembly elections would be taken only after consulting their party cadres.

“We have not received any proposal from BJP for prepoll alliance. Any such proposal, if it comes, will be discussed with party’s central committee and cadres before taking a final call,” MGP’s General Secretary Lavu Mamlatdar told reporters.

Meanwhile, MGP claimed to have finalized candidates for

ten constituencies to contest forthcoming assembly polls.

Mamlatdar said that the party has already prepared to contest in 10 out of 40 constituencies on its own.

“Even the candidates are decided. There are some constituencies which are our bastion and we are growing our base there,” he said adding that more candidates would be finalized in next few days.

“Once the elections are declared, we would finalize on more constituencies. Enough time is left for us to think on,” he said.

The elections for 40-member Goa legislative assembly are due in the year 2012.

appointments

“

appointments

Goa I Sunday 6, March 2011

We have not received any proposal from BJP for pre-poll alliance. Any such proposal, if it comes, will be discussed with party’s central committee and cadres before taking a final call.

--- Lavu Mamlatdar

appointments

8

Goa I Sunday March 6, 2011

www.oheraldo.in

The carnival has now become this commercial Goa promotion. It’s cheapening the state. It used to be about making merry for three days before abstaining for Lent — Augusta Noronha

we

The reason that many an art is dying is because there isn’t a market or anyone to carry on the tradition. Or both! Why don’t we empower the artist by giving him or her a platform to earn more money? — Amitava Bhattacharya

VILLAGE REPORT VELSAO-PALE-ISSORCIM

Narrow roads for village folk, asphalt ones for the powerful

T

TRANQUILITY SHATTERED? : The calmer side of Velsao (below) TROUBLED GROUND: The site where the hotel will be built Some residents allege that only the rich and well connected have got the benefits of ‘development’. “The only road in recent times asphalted in December 2010 was built to accommodate a rich non-Goan who bought from a Goan landlord, and whose intent can only be to build something big, like a hotel, possibly.

From there, the road was taken to a dead end at the home of Aldrin Sequeira, whose sister is married to Godinho’s PA!” says Fatima Furtado Pereira of Primeiro Vaddo.

In fact, in a Right to Information reply to Pedro Sebastian Sequeira of Dando-Pale, the panchayat said it had not issued any work order to any contractor, but had only passed a resolution

on October 10, 2010 to asphalt the road. Fatima has been pleading for years, to build an approximate 500 metre extension. This extension

would help traffic that had to stop at a nearby manned railway gate, to move around and ease congestion. “Often goods trains stop for long peri-

ods. It gets worse then,” says Fatima. There is also the government village playground that could easily be accessed by people living on the far side.”

What goes for Velsao, goes for tiny IssorcaimHollant , ward seven, where villagers fear that the taking over of Grande Islands by the Indian Navy will hit its own small fishing community badly. Hollant is arguably one of Goa’s only beaches for Goan picnickers on Sundays.

Lawrence Rodrigues, panch member says, “Hollant desperately needs a public toilet and a sodium mast light. But, the government has said Hollant is not a tourist beach!” Hollant was also not included in the gov-

C

ulture and folk art is timeless. There is a certain essence to a state or a village that shouldn’t be left to rot.

And it’s this very premise that brings Amitava Bhattacharya to Goa. To help preserve Goa’s dying folk art and music.

But that’s not where this story begins.

At the turn of the century, Amitava Bhattacharya was a mining engineer, working in software. His inherent love for music and the arts kept him in touch with what he perceived to be dying traditions in Bengal. Using his business and engineering skills to formulate plans, Amitava came up with the idea of culture as development and began working with various state governments. That is how banglanatak.com was formed. This wasn’t a website but a group which began by spreading social messages through the me-

dium of theater and street plays. They even spent a year in Goa in 2005 working with different segments of Goan society It was because of Bangla Natak.com that the rate of immunization in Jharkhand rose from 7 per cent to 92 per cent in just three months.

The group based their initiative on the basic premise that it was all about learning how to communicate with different people from different strata of society.

From this idea, came one that cemented their future as the flag bearers of culture and folk art in India.

“Culture as livelihood!” states Amitava, now a fellow in applied economics with the London School of Economics after his work with local art. He elaborates, “dying folk music and art cannot be put into a museum to be preserved.

The reason that many an art is dying off is because

Manuel Rodrigues grew up in a family of toddy tapers in Velsao’s beach front and is proud of his heritage. But these days, he has another uphill climb ahead as a crusader against illegalities

ernment’s beach cleaning programme which included nearby Bogmolo beach. A cleaning team could have serviced both as only one village, Santrem, separates the two.

Hollant’s wish list also includes more bus trips.

According to Rodrigues there are just four bus arrivals from Vasco da Gama, which creates a transport problem. “We have been pleading for years for a 2.5 km road to be built connecting Hollant to Dando-Velsao.”

This would drastically reduce the 13 km long journey between Velsao and Hollant. It seems that the demand for roads in this littlevillages is something that needs attention along with the illegal construction on the coastline.

Herald: You have been in the eye of the storm in Velsao. Can you explain further?

Rodrigues: It began when I tried to stop a Mangalore-born NRI, Bendict Saldanha from building huge hotel well within Zone III – the no development zone. Now, the government’s machinery (through Saldhana) has suddenly begun to claim that my house rebuilt over the ancestral home of my grandfather falls within the 200m line. It is comical when you see on a new survey plan how they have redrew the line marking the start of Zone III which has been officially surveyed once earlier and marked for posterity, to include only my home in it.

In 2004 the Goa Coastal Zone Management (GCZM) issued Saldhana a show cause notice, asking him to explain his actions. Finally, , 2006 a team of NPS Varde, Member Secretary, CRZ Authority, the Deputy Collector and the Mamlatdar inspected the site. They said that the 200m line comes up to the road and hence (the) entire construction is falling under the no development zone of 200m.”

Please note also that my house which is farther than the road, now suddenly is on the wrong of the No Development Zone Herald-How did you carry on and what difficulties did you face?

Rodrigues: Mr Varde forwarded the case to the Ministry of Environment & Forests (MoEF) which sent a cyptic reply stating that it was of the opinion that the project was an ongoing one and the ministry’s earlier clearance would stand. Till this date I am mystified by the term ‘on-going’ and what it means in this context. In 2009 on the basis of a PIL that I filed with the Bombay High Court I succeeded in getting a clear-cut interim order staying the construction.

Herald-Have you faced any threats for taking on this builder/ hotelier?

Rodrigues: They have now filed a suit against me claiming that my house is within the HTL and somehow the Directorate of Settlement and Land Records changed the HTL in September 2006 to include my house which is actually approx 280m away. The outline of the NDZ demarcation was mysteriously changed only to harass me. The suit continues till today in the Bombay High Court. Before that I had got the demarcation made by the GCZMA earlier in 2006 and they gave me the green signal to rebuild my ancestral home. I have also been threatened by the contractor and also the agents of Saldhana and filed a police complaint.

Herald-Are there more threats to the beach?

Rodrigues: All properties north of the Cansaulim-Velsao beach border have been bought by non-Goans. What do you expect these rich new owners to build there, huts? I had earlier prevented another construction coming on the beach itself. A little further, MRF Ltd is building guest homes by violating every book in the rule. Its sheer size and proximity to the beach makes that so obvious . We are working on that right this moment but we need help

A carnival eulogy

Goan folk to tune into Raag Bangla

In a few months, an organisation devoted to restoring and empowering local arts and artists will be in Goa to start a project that will enable Goan folk artists to have a better livelihood. Team Herald gets the Banglanatak.com experience

Threatened and harassed for taking on NRI hotelier

Sachin Ambadoskar

Avoiding being run over by a never ending rush of posh taxis heading for Dabolim airport on virtually its only thoroughfare, Lionel Messias went around this ancient panchayat to discover its kismet and what hangs in the balance

he serenity of Velsao can be misleading to an outsider.

The impression springs perhaps from the total lack of infrastructure development in the village that gives it that laidback look. The lack of internal roads is a major hindrance for both the people and the tiny panchayat whose, the majority at least, panchas are said to be remote controlled by the Dabolim MLA Mauvin Godinho The quietude is broken only by the business of illegal constructions taking shape in Velsao. Some villagers fear that this will take Velsao-Pale-Issorcim to a different level of illegal and pillaging constructions done by the rich and the mighty.

VILLAGE CRUSADER

The carnival isn’t what it used to be, according to denizens of Goa, ones who have seen the carnival through a few decades. Kurt Bento goes back in time to a different carnival, armed with a few cocotes

I ARTIST FRATERNITY: Sasthi Das Baul, Amitava, Golam Fakir, Akkas Fakir there isn’t a market or there isn’t anyone to carry on the tradition. Or both!

Why don’t we empower the artist by giving him or her a platform to earn more money. That way the tradition will be passed on.”

Ask Ghulam Fakir, one of the famous Baul singers, who no longer ferries corpses from the police station to the morgue for Rs 50. Instead, he earns an average of Rs 25,000 per month playing and singing. He has even performed in Goa. Pandurang Phaldessai of Kala Academy, speaks quite highly of the Bangla Natak team. “Due to their efforts, there has been better stimulus for art forms in Bengal. It’s a very unique thing and will set a good example to other organisations to follow similar models. “ Echoing his thoughts is Shridhar Kamat, Vice Chairman of Ravindra Bhavan, who has

been one of the driving forces behind the move to bring Bangla Natak to Goa to bring about a cultural revolution He says, “What appealed to me was the co-relation between culture and livelihood. There was a conscious attempt to give artists and artisans dignity and I hope that can be emulated in Goa.” The UNESCO recognised and funded organisation will be here soon, looking to work with locals and create a platform, going deep into the interiors to find out how to revive Goa’s dying art and traditions. And it has received support, recognition and admiration from one of Goa’s best known cultural icons, Remo Fernandes.

Remo in fact travelled to Kolkata last month for the Bangla Natak organised international sufi festival where he interacted with folk artists from Bengal and elsewhere and is

looking forward to working with Bangla Natak in Goa. Remo also regularly jams with Bengal folk artists who have made about three strips to Goa recently. He says, “Even though I’m very skeptical about anything involving the government, I must say Bangla Natak are doing a lot with Bangla folk and Sufi musicians and artisans. I wish each state had an organization like theirs to promote their own culture. But they do have a lot of experience by now, and I think they will do wonderfully with Goan musicians and artisans.

If this is handled well, our genuine traditional artists will make a great living from their dying art forms, instead of abandoning them for mainstream modern professions.”

Goa waits for Bangla Natak’s arrival, their second foray in the state and hopefully a permanent one.

t was a tale of three little factions in Panjim in the 50s and 60s.

The preparations began in advance, in earnest.

Every household would find soft clay-ish mud, wet it, and using paper, mould them into shells and sticks – cocotes.

Making them was the fun part and some households would start almost two months in advance, heading out to the fields to find soft mud, so as not to hurt anyone. There would be ‘battles’ between the three factions, Sao Tome, San Sebastian and Campal. And it carried on like this for years.

Down in Margao too, the residents of Abade Faria road and the surrounding areas would do the same thing. There would be water, indigo powder, cocotes and music.. This was tradition. This… was carnival!

“Everyone would dress up in creative regalia, We would all spend money and come up with something to wear. There was never anyone who just came as they were ,” says Zito Pinto. The procession would start, heading from house to house, drenching people as they went along. The procession would usually end at

Herald Pic

IN ANCIENT TIMES: A group of carnival revelers, outside Clube Nacional

one of the biggest houses in the neighbourhood, where everyone would sit down for a potluck meal before heading home for a siesta. In the evening, the festivities would start again at the dance on the street.

Today, it seems that the real essence of the carnival – the fun and frolic attitude – has long seeped back into the earth it came from. Gabriel D’sa, says emphatically, “The carnival? The carnival is dead. It was spontaneous and creative. But that’s long gone now.” And if you listen to the stories that some people will narrate, it really has.

There is no creativity.

This is not the carnival of the people, according to Rene Mendes, who says, “There is no involvement from the locals really. It has become so mechanical these days. Earlier it used

to be lively, colourful, and there was so much of local participation. People had active imaginations when it came to their costumes!”

It seems like, for those that saw and celebrated the carnival in its glory days, the fun aspect is long gone. “The carnival has now become this commercial Goa promotion. It’s cheapening the state.” says Augusta Noronha.. The carnival was always about fun. But it was also about communities. It was about letting go of everything else for three days. Soon the dogeared pictures you see on the page will be the only memories of the real essence of carnival. Soon, the memories too will fade into black and white, and all that will be left of it will be a stoic King Momo, perched atop an incandescent float.

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Goa I Sunday March 6, 2011

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goa

The three DPRs sent to the centre were faulty and did not conform to JNNURM norms. Obviously the centre rejected them.

— Surendra Furtado

In a letter to the government CCP commissioner Elvis Gomes said taking any action against any illegal occupants was difficult because of a ‘lack of will’ on the part of the corporation.

mirror The filth lies beneath

Rosario Estebeiro

Panjim orphaned… …by its city fathers Panjim is home not only to people, but to memories. It’s beauty and timelessness is woven with the same tapestry as other towns whose quaintness and planning merge and endure generations. Our story is how this city has been plundered and looted, not by foreign invaders, but eaten from inside by a monster rat.

Sujay Gupta gives an instant snapshot on how deep this mess is on the eve of the elections to the Corporation of the City of Panjim

Time turns corruption into a milch cow. Corruption also needs subservient foot soldiers – namely officials and chief executives to do the masters bidding. The story of the outgoing CCP is of a ruling corporation which has milked the milch cow. But the problem with milch cows is the limit it has on the supply of milk. You cannot milk a city dry on one hand and do nothing to ensure that the coffers get replenished through revenue and projects. The bottom line, on the eve of the Panjim elections is that not that Panjim has been looted. But a conclusion, that there is very little to loot anymore.

The Corporation of the City of Panjim is a milch cow milked dry and sunk into a quagmire of inefficiency. Its report card is a sad reflection of not just its ruling panel but also an inefficient opposition.

The following is a series of short snap shots of the ruling body of Goa’s capital city: Story 1: THE CHIEF OFFICER IS IN…. NO WAIT HE IS OUT:

that shanty votes add to Monseratte’s kitty .

The city corporation has had eight Chief Executives in five years, some going because they refused to toe the line of the Babush Monserrate ruling team and other whom opted out because they couldn’t handle the political interference.

For instance Sanjiv Gadkar who was in office from November 2007 to May 2008, was shown the door because he dared to demolish some shanties in St Inez. It is no secret

The prime responsibility of collecting revenue has been done away with.

Kala Academy, Goa’s iconic cultural institution has not paid a single rupee of house tax since its inception and owes Rs 38 lakhs to the CCP. Other big time defaulters include Sanchayani House developers – Rs 21.51 lakhs pending and the Goa State Industrial Development Corporation – Rs 5.25 lakhs.

The corporation now

Story 2: ON THE HOUSE:

Willy Goes

has to recover a total of Rs 9 crores as arrears of house tax from all defaulters, money which could have been spent to meet any or more of the critical projects that face a fund crunch like cleaning the St Inez Nullah.

Story 3: TENANTS ARE LANDLORDS: Lease rents have not been renewed for years.

The CCP collects lease rent for its properties at just Rs 30 per square meter per month. But that is when it collects rent at all. It owns 46 shops in the corporation office and Sachin Ambadoskar

96 quarters which have been occupied for decades without agreements and without levying any rent. No rent has been received from the Panjim new market. The revenue loss – almost one crore.

Story 4: SCAM AND THE CITY: In the new market, shops were allotted illegally and some shops were occupied illegally (see accompanying story).

To top it all the wife of a corporator, Uday Madkaikar, sought the transfer of one shop in her name.

An FIR has been regis-

tered against Madkaikar for demanding kickbacks for the transfer of allotment of shops.

Meanwhile former Corporator Nagesh Karishetty has been accused of masterminding an operation which involved unauthorised people collecting parking fees which did not go into CCP’s coffers This is the filth of Panjim . But this alone is not the filth. It extends to every act of corruption, every compromise, every bend of the law by the so called City Fathers who were elected by the people of Panjim. It is they who have orphaned Panjim.

Ducking the issue He may be the go-toguy for many a CCP initiative but commissioner Elvis Gomes seems to be tightlipped about the goings-on of the corporation.

Team Herald attempts to get some answers

Why has nothing been done to unearth market scam and punish the culprits?

I have done what it takes.

The issue is now before the house committee. Let them look into it.

The CCP has got nothing under JNNURM. So what went wrong?

This is best answered by the Government.

Why has the CCP not been able to set up its own solid waste management plant despite having a site at Baiguinim?

We seemed to be so near yet far. There is no clarity on this.

Why couldn’t the CCP take up any major infrastrucure developments in the the last five years?

No comments. We are in election mode.

Why has CCP not been able to introduce any administrative reforms?

Administrative reforms are intricately linked to JNNURM.

63 lakhs to consultants, not a penny for Panjim

Rs 383 crore worth of projects to Panjim have been blocked because the CM led Steering Committee to clear projects to be funded by JNNURM has not met for over a year. Bindiya Chari and Shweta Kamat investigate

I

(left) A look at what the Panjim market used to be like and (right) the state of the market today

A city sold in the market

The new market in Panjim was set up to make the shopping experience more comfortable for both sellers and buyers. Shopkeepers needed good platforms to sell their ware or shops to stock their goods and sell them. But those in charge of ruling Panjim engaged in a different trade-of selling their conscience by letting people illegally occupy shops. Moreover corporators or their front men illegally sold shops which were not theirs at exorbitant prices Shweta Kamat describes the loot.

I

t’s an irony which has been buried under the shops that were illegally occupied or allotted in the Panjim market.

The CCP Commissioner Elvis Gomes had to write to the government asking it to show some will in taking action against illegal occupants of shops, so that the CCP could recover its dues.

This letter itself reflects how the corporation ruled by proxy by Babush Monseratte, had to be reminded by its own executive, that the financial bloodletting that was going on in the new market of Panjim has to be stopped. In Panjim’s folklore, this will always be remembered as the great market scam.

The scam was quite simple really People who were allotted shops did not ultimately get them.

Others occupied those shops illegally. Moreover rent was not recovered from those who occupied the shops or even if it was recovered, it did not find its way into the CCP’s coffers.

That wasn’t all. The CCP had to water charges and electricity charges which piled up to Rs 12.06 lakh and Rs 62 lakh respectively.

So why did this mess fester? This is best answered by the CCP Commissioner himself. In a letter to the government last year he said taking any action against any illegal occupants was dif-

ficult because of a ‘lack of will’ on the part of the corporation.

It is reliably that some members of the ruling panel were actively involved in furthering this scam – illegal occupations happened with their blessing. Some of them are also said to own shops in the new but in benami names.

The CCP Commissioner, said only one such case has come on record.

Leena Madkaikar, wife of outgoing corporator Udai Madkaikar has sought a transfer of a shop in her name.

The lease agreements of the corporation with tenants specifically prohibits sub lease. Moreover, leased premises

can be transferred only to the family members of lessees after the death of the lessee.

The government clearly showed no will to act.

There was no directive from it till January 2011 even though section 379 of the CCP Act empowers the government to supersede the CCP in case of incompetency or default in the performance of duties.

The Urban Development Minister Joaquim Alemao was compelled to appoint a House Committee last month when he was put on the mat by the Leader of the Opposition Manohar Parrikar.

But it’s still politics which is dictating the progress of this inquiry.

Last fortnight two police complaints have been filed against outgoing corporator Madkaikar after he fell out with Taleigao MLA Babush Monserrate, the de facto boss of the corporation.

So, how is the corporation acting against those who have looted it? Not by punishing the guilty but simply regularising the irregular. The market committee appointed under Mayor Carolina Po has resolved to regularise the occupation of vendors stating it was not practical to shift those occupants. In effect, market committee recommended for regularisation of intruders who occupied the CCPs property without any formal allotment.

f these six men among others, had met even once in over a year, Panjim could well have got Rs 383 crores worth of projects which could have solved the city’s waste management, water supply and sewerage problems. In addition, the St Inez Creek, Panjim eyesore could have been restored and developed.

A state level steering committee headed by the Chief Minister and consisting of the Urban Development Minister, The Chief Secretary, the Development Commissioner, the secretaries of PWD, Finance and Housing and three prominent citizens Nandkumar Kamat, Joe D‘Souza and Patricia Pinto was formed to discuss and sanction projects proposed by the CCP, to be funded by the JNNURM. Three project reportsUrban Renewal, Sector Heritage Conservation and e-governance have been sent to the centre but according to sources in the Union Urban Development ministry, the nodal agency for JNNURM, the DPR’s were not prepared according to guidelines and hence funds could not be sanctioned.

Reports of four other projects – solid waste management, water sup-

ply, sewerage, and the development of the St Inez Creek have not even been sent to the centre.

Asked why, Vice Chairman of the committee and Urban Development Minister told Herald, “The CCP has to pursue the matter.” A shocking reply considering that it is Alemao’s committee which has the mandate to

JNNURM projects was highlighted by opposition corporator Surendra Furtado. According to the CCP’s reply to the RTI queries, it has spent a total of 62.60 lakhs for the preparation of six Detailed Project Reports (DPRs).

Furtado told Herald, “The three DPRs sent to the centre were faulty and did not conform to JN-

WHAT PANJIM MISSED PROJECTS WORTH RS 383 CRORES NAMELY

Solid Waste Management......... Rs 33 crores Water Supply........................... Rs 174 crores Sewerage ................................ Rs 157 crores St Inez Creek.......................... Rs 18.7 crores push for these projects.

It is even more shocking when you learn that the CCP indeed has been pushing for the steering committee to meet and letters to this effect have been written by the CCP Commissioner to Joacquim Alemao’s department.

Meanwhile the following four consultants have been appointed and paid to formulate the Detailed Project reports.

Bangalore-based Groupe SCE India Pvt Ltd, Water and Power Consultancy Services, Upasani, Jain and Kshirsagar and G S Mathur and Co. The expenditure on appointing consultants for

NURM norms. Obviously the centre rejected them.”

Sources in CCP however, mentioned that these DPRs were revised and sent back to the mission director JNNURM but there has been no response.Official sources in the office of the Mission Director JNNURM, said that Panjim and Porbandar are the only two cities in the country which has not submitted projects under the scheme. The JNNURM cell even has provisions to send consultants to the respective cities to help them draft and formulate DPRs. Here too Panjim has been found wanting.

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Obituaries

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Goa, Sunday 6, March 2011

It is a tribute to both Egypt and Tunisia that notwithstanding their own transitions in each country, they have been able to effectively work with the global community and, broadly speaking, manage this tremendous influx out of Libya.

- Colonel Dave Lapan

More obits on pg 11

11 www.oheraldo.in

Obituaries

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Goa I Sunday 6, March 2011

IIFA has always moved into new markets, this year it has made foray into Canada and it is even more special because of the Raj Kapoor retrospective.

-- Karan Johar

More obits on pg 12

12

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World

“

The bottom line is that a sovereign State that is a member state of the United Nations has the right both to name and to revoke their Permanent Representative or Deputy Permanent Representative.

- UN spokesperson Martin Nesirky

“

Goa, Sunday 6, March 2011

We must make institutional changes to end the excessive concentration of power and lack of checks on power and resolutely prevent and punish corruption.

-- Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao

Singapore appoints Sikh as Army chief PTI SINGAPORE, MARCH 5: Singapore has appointed Brigadier General Ravinder Singh as its next army chief, the first Sikh in nearly 30 years to be given the force’s baton.

Singh, 41, takes over from Major-General Chan Chun Sing on March 25, Straits Times reported.

A Singaporean of Indian origin, Singh is currently Deputy Secretary (Technology) at the Defence Ministry.

He joined the Singapore

Armed Forces in December 1982.

Singh also served as assistant chief of General Staff (plans), head of Joint Communications and Information Systems Department and Chief of Staff – Joint Staff.

US concerned about Davis’ safety PTI WASHINGTON, MARCH 5: Voicing concern over the safety of its national Raymond Davis arrested in Lahore for double murder, the US has asked Pakistan to take appropriate security measures in the wake of multiple death threats received by him.

“We are quite aware that he had received multiple death threats. We are concerned about his security, as we would be for any government official or prominent individual subject to those death threats,” State Department spokesman P J Crowley said at his daily news conference here last evening.

Revellers of the Vai-Vai samba school dance atop a float during the opening night of parades at the Sambadrome, as part of carnival celebrations in Sao Paulo early on Saturday.

FROM PAGE 1

The ghosts ... being paid”.

Of the 352, the orders of 350 had expired, while the orders of 2 were about to expire very shortly. In addition to this lot, 23 more staff were working without any initial order since April 2009.

Added to all this was the issue of redeployment of staff.

Four employees, three drivers and one apondator were appointed as daily wage earners. Of the four, there were two who continued to be in service even after the period of their daily wage contract had expired.

The Commissioner’s note went on to add “Though the Corporation is required to render services to its citizens and carry out the obligatory functions… it has been seen that the Corporation in many cases has not followed the prescribed procedure for ap-

pointment of daily wage workers and no proper justification was made available to the audit in this regard”.

This document raises serious questions. There is an inquiry and status report which is in public domain. The CCP, though it did not need any such report to make it aware, now had a clear cut study at its disposal. Why didn’t it act?

Or at least act in the manner it was expected to?

It did “act” though. Barely 20-odd days after he submitted this report, under the express orders of the man who was running the Corporation by proxy, Sanjith Rodrigues was made to move out of the Corporation leaving the ghost workers or the recipients of the money given in the ghost workers name, intact. His tenure lasted from June 22 to August 19, 2009.

Till today, the concerns raised in that report have not been corrected. In short, all of us have been looted.

Libya asks UN to suspend sanctions PTI UNITED NATIONS, MARCH 5: Libya’s Gaddafi regime has asked the UNSC to suspend sanctions imposed on it over the brutal crackdown on anti-government protesters, as it sacked two of its diplomats at the world body who had renounced its leadership and appointed an exforeign minister as its new envoy here.

The Libyan government sent a letter to the United Nations, informing it that it had sacked its top two diplomats to the world body – Ambassador Mohamed Shalgham and Deputy Ambassador Ibrahim Dabbashi, who had publicly defected after people revolted against Muammar Gaddafi.

In another letter to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Gaddafi said that his regime wished to have veteran Libyan diplomat Ali Abdussalam Treki, a former foreign minister, as its new Permanent Representative to the UN, who is expected to present his credentials to the world body chief soon.

“When any country sends a letter naming the permanent representative, that person is the person who will be recognised,” UN spokesperson Martin Nesirky told journalists last evening.

School gets notice... fee of Rs 500 while non-participating students were charged Rs 100.

After objection from the parents, the school reimbursed the payment.

Shivdas alleged that since that day, his daughter is being harassed and mentally tortured for no reason.

“When the drawing and craft period was going on, teacher Marina wiped the fevicol gum from the table to the uniform of my daughter.

Another day, teacher Marina unnecessarily pulled the hair of my daughter and put remarks on the calendar, took her to the principal and removed her tied hair after which my daughter started crying in pain”, he said adding he had made futile complaints to higher authorities.

The parent outlined several other harassment charges meted out to his daughter, but said his complaints and pleas fell on deaf ears. Left with no option, the parent then wrote to the Education Department and Child Commission.

Commission’s Chairperson Sameera Kazi has confirmed that the school authorities including Principal Selina D’Souza and teachers Vancilla Lobo and Marina were summoned for explanation.

She, however, refused to divulge details of the case as the inquiry is still underway.

Several attempts to contact the school authorities failed as none responded to frequent phone calls by Herald.

All-male tour After Mayor Archana Dehankar and Deputy Mayor Shekhar Sawarbandhe’s tour to China and Australia, zone chairpersons Avinash Thakre, Sanjay Bonde, Vivek Tarase, Habibur-Rehman, Hitesh Joshi and Prakash Totwani (deputy leader of the BJP in NMC) went on a junket to Goa, ostensibly to attend a workshop meant for women. What is more, they neither informed nor invited the three women on the panel.

Matters came to a head after Shiv Sena woman corporator Jayashri Jambhule raised the issue and asked why she wasn’t invited and how only BJP zone chairpersons attended it. Another womancorporator,NeetaThakre, toodemanded action on the issue.

Mayor Dehankar’s wishywashy ‘assurance’ that Jambhule and other women corporators could go “next time” to Goa cut no ice, and the Mayor chose to say no more on the issue.

Apparently, the workshop was a ‘specialised training programme’ on ‘capacity building’ for elected members of municipalities on February 23 and 24 at Panjim.

3148 TLPs of immigration formalities at Dabolim. When contacted, SP Immigration Tony Fernandes denied any wrong doing. The Immigration Department has got no complains till date and we will be handing over charge to Bureau of Immigration (Ministry of Home Affairs) as a part of their nationwide policy of taking over internationally connected airports”.

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Goa I Sunday 6, Marchy 2011

Very impressed with the first visit.

There is lot of work to be done as the events have to fulfill the criteria laid down by the world bodies.

-- Vong Iao Lek

ACOLOP chief impressed with visit Modifications in infrastructure, facilities suggested for Lusofonia Games in Goa

HERALD SPORTS REPORTER Panjim, March 5: Facilities will have to be raised to come up to the international levels for conducting events at senior level since Lusofonia Games are an IOC recognized event, was the overall outcome of the ACOLOP (Associacao dos Commites Olimpicos de Lingua Oficial Portuguesa) inspection team headed by its President, Vong Iao Lek of Macau in Goa in connection with the Lusofonia Games to be staged in October/November 2013.

The technical delegates opined that the facilities to be provided had to be finally approved by the international federations and that there was a certain, standard criteria to be followed, which is not difficult, they pointed out. “Goa can meet those standards,” remarked an ACOLOP delegate at the media interaction at Don Bosco’s.

The facilities at the Community Hall at Taleigao for table tennis and at the Don Bosco Indoor Stadium for taekwondo and judo have almost passed the test, of course, there being need for modifications. Except for the need for the wooden flooring at Don Bosco, the other facilities offered by the Salesians were found to be good.

“Very impressed with the first visit. There is lot of work to be done as the events have to fulfill the criteria laid down by the world bodies. This is our first visit and we hope that everything will be done as per the accepted norms and criteria,” remarked ACOLOP chief Vong.

The proposed venue for hosting volleyball tournament at the indoor stadium at Campal will have to undergo major modifications as it needs 12 metres height clearance and adequate lighting.

“The stadium will be rebuilt,” explained Mahesh Naik, assistant secretary, SAG. “There will be a syntethic track at Campal by 2012,” stated GOA president, Subash Shirodkar as the dele-

gates were shown the grass track near the swimming pool.

Subash, replying to a question, disclosed that the GOA was competent enough to host the Games in 2013 and that the infrastructure being raised for National Games will be utilised also for Lusofonia Games.

“Under the PPP model, Goa will have state-of-the art facilities and these will be put to use for the 2013 Games,” stressed Subash.

If at all Goa bid for Lusofonia Games in Lisbon in 2009, it was primarily Goa were getting ready for National Games, which will now be held in 2014. In any case, world-class infrastruc-

ture and facilities will come up and certainly these are expected to be used so as not to become a white elephant.

A top-class syntethic track is coming up at Peddem in Mapusa, costing over Rs 4.5 crore with appropriate facilities for athletes like changing rooms, doping, medical room with equipment, media enclave with tables, media working room with internet connection and conference rooms, toilets, cafeteria, which confirms to the international standards. That apart, a world class athletic stadium has been planned at Dhargal in Pernem.

Goa will also boast of a state-of-the art indoor stadium for volleyball and bas-

ketball at Shiroda, and once this is ready there will be no

room for deficiencies or shortcoming.

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Star England batsman Kevin Pietersen will undergo hernia surgery after the World Cup and will miss the money-spinning Indian Premier League. But an England team spokesman said he would continue to play in the World Cup. He was due to earn $650,000 playing for Deccan Chargers.

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Goa I Sunday 6, March 2011

We have got to focus on each game. We are focusing only on Ireland, not the quarter-finals -- West Indies Captain Darren Sammy

Dempo’s Ranti nets winner

AGENCIES

Kolhapur, March 5: An 84th minute strike by Ranti Martins saw defending champions, Dempo edging past ONGC by a solitary goal in a round XVII match at Sahu Maharaj Ground, Kolhapur on Saturday.

The win keeps the reigning champions still on 4th place. They now have 31 points from 16 matches, while the relegation threat is looming large over the oilmen as they find themselves at the bottom of the table with just 11 points from 17 matches.

After the barren first half, Ranti Martins emerged as hero for the Goan giants notching up the winner in the closing minutes.

From the start, ONGC adopted a defensive approach and the defense really played a crucial role and throughout the match they didn’t let Dempo to take command.

It was in the 84th minute that Ranti tapped the ball into the post for the matchwinner.

Dempo goalkeeper Subhasish Roychowdhury was adjudged man-of-the match.

The race for the coveted I-League championship is hotting up as three Goan outfits are battling for the same while Bengal’s hope is in the form of East Bengal.

Salgaocar lead the points table with 40 points and are seven points clear from the second placed, Churchill Brothers (33). East Bengal slipped to third spot with 32 points from 15 matches with Dempo (31) breaking into

Barreto, Murithala guide Bagan to victory PTI Kolkata, March 5: Mohun Bagan struck twice on either side of the break to register a 2-1 win over Viva Kerala in a 17th round encounter of the I-League at the Yuba Bharati Krirangan today.

The win came as a breath of fresh air after a string of draws.

Leading the charge of a depleted Mohun Bagan attack, Subair Murithala Ali provided the lead in the 37th minute, while Jose Ramirez Barreto coming in as a substitute rounded off the tally in the 86th minute.

C S Sabeeth, who was substituted for N P Pradeep, struck one in the second-half injury time to reduce the margin.

the thirties with the latest

win over ONGC.

15

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ICC chiefs insisted they had "full confidence" in their umpires after a former official reiterated his doubts about Muttiah Muralitharan's unorthodox bowling.

Former Australian Test umpire Darrell Hair called Muralitharan, the leading wicket-taker in Tests and one-day internationals, for throwing in 1995.

Arsenal title hopes hit by Sunderland draw REUTERS London, March 5: Arsenal handed the Premier League initiative back to leaders Manchester United on Saturday with a limp performance in a goalless home draw against a Sunderland side who had lost their previous four games.

After Manchester United were beaten by Chelsea in midweek, victory for Arsenal would have put their title destiny in their own hands but they mustered few clear chances despite dominating possession and had to share

the points with Sunderland for the second time this season.

With 10 games remaining Manchester United, who play Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday, lead the way with 60 points, three ahead of Arsenal, who they still have to play at the Emirates in May. Manchester City, who host Wigan Athletic later on Saturday, are third on 50, two clear of Chelsea, who visit Blackpool on Monday. Tottenham Hotspur are fifth on 47 ahead of their game at Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday.

Birmingham City, who upset Arsenal to win the League Cup at Wembley six days ago, came down to earth with a bump when they went down 3-1 at home to relegation rivals West Bromwich Albion and dropped into the bottom three.

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West Ham United edged out of the drop zone with a 30 home win over Stoke City.

Fulham beat Blackburn Rovers 3-2 thanks to a controversial late Bobby Zamora penalty and Ivan Klasnic also scored two minutes from time as Bolton Wanderers beat Aston Villa

SUPPORTED BY

Mapusa, March 5: Milagres Sports Club fought back to salvage a point as they drew 1-1 with 10-man Sesa Football Academy Juniors in GFA’s 2nd Division at Duler stadium on Saturday.

Sesa led 1-0 at the lemon break. Sesa were reduced to ten in the 71st minute when Caitano Viegas received a straight red card for elbowing his opponent. Reagan Pereira put Sesa in front with a ferocious free kick after just ten minutes, which the rival goalkeeper failed to hold on to. Just before the break, Ransel D’souza missed the chance to double the lead after shooting over for Sesa. Twenty minutes from the end, Milagres intercepted the ball on the left flank and it was played into Joalan Fernandes, who kept his composure to shoot low past the goalkeeper.

Sangolda in finals HERALD SPORTS REPORTER Mapusa, March 5: Sangolda Lightning booked their place in the final of Aldona Cup 2011 soccer defeating Nerul Sports Club 2-0 at Quitula ground on Saturday.

Christopher Miranda put Sangolda in front after 30 minutes after Andrew Quadros shot was saved by the Nerul goalkeeper.

Changing over, Sangolda continued to show their superiority and Govind Palyekar doubled the lead after slotting past the Nerul custodian.

GFA’s 2nd Division: Benny XI SC v. Saligao Sporting Club, Duler Stadium, Mapusa, 4 p.m.

Aldona Cup soccer semis: FC Siolim v. Goa Velha Sports Club, Quitula ground, 4 p.m.

Friends Group of Sancoale’s annual cricket, behind St. John of Cross Convent, Sancoale, 10 a.m.

State Senior Hockey quarter-final league: Panjimites v. Bastora Boys, 3 p.m.; Stars of Sattari v.

Quepem Crusaders, 4 p.m.

Don Bosco’s Oratory ground, Panjim.

2-a-side tie-breaker: organised by Livrament Boys of Benaulim, near Electricity Department, Benaulim, from, 9.30 a.m.

St Caetano soccer finals: Baba Marc v. Mix Friends, Merces, Alua ground, Merces, 5 p.m.

3-2 to move above Liverpool into sixth place.

Everton beat Newcastle United 2-1 for their first league win at St James’ Park in 11 years.

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Goa I Sunday 6, March 2011

International Cricket Council Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat said reduced World Cup could see new shocks.

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The Champions Trophy could be axed as part of a reorganisation of the global cricket calendar, ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat said. The one-day tournament, which has usually been held every two years since, may be squeezed out by the new Test world championship, set to be played in England in 2013.

India braced for O’Brien PTI

Bangalore, March 5: Bowling might have emerged as the weak link for India in the World Cup but skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni today said the team would still stick to seven batsmen and leave the fifth bowler's slot to parttimers in the match against Ireland here tomorrow.

"It's a tricky one. You should always back your strength. At times you find that there are not enough runs, maybe 30 runs short.

With Yusuf (Pathan) being part of the side, the fifth bowler's slot can be rotated between him and Yuvraj. We will be inclined to play with seven batsmen," he said.

Dhoni indicated that the team would prefer chasing instead of setting a target if it wins the toss in the muchanticipated World Cup encounter against the giant-killers who upstaged England in their previous match.

The track at the ChinTODAY’S MATCHES

South Africa v. England, 9.30 a.m.

India v. Ireland, 2.30 p.m.

Dhoni says will stick to seven batsmen

naswamy Stadium has turned out to be a graveyard for bowlers, producing totals in excess of 300 runs in the first two matches and Dhoni is not expecting the conditions to be any different tomorrow.

Going back to the wicket, he said, "If there is anything for the bowlers, could be slightly on the slower side, may be have a little more bounce. It is amazing how runs are being chased.”

"We don't want to play on a tailor-made wicket. Bangalore is known to produce runs and batsmen will have the upper hand."

Though the bowlers are yet to fire, the Indian batting has been in full flow in the tournament, and Dhoni is pleased with that.

Asked about the bowling combination for tomorrow's match, Dhoni said, "Spinners have variations or if fast

bowlers can do the job for you, we will sit and decide."

Does the presence of a few left-handers in Ireland squad strengthens Ravichandran Ashwin's case?

"If they have plenty of lefthanders, then we might be inclined to play one more off-spinner, Harbhajan and Yusuf both are off-spinners," he said.

Piyush Chawla's selection has raised a few eyebrows

after he went for plenty in the first two games, but Dhoni defended the bowler saying that his wrong-uns can be crucial.

"The opposition can't pick the wrong-uns, and Piyush has the wrong-uns. Ashwin has done extremely well for us, he has even bowled in the first 10 overs."

Dhoni said the team watched Kevin O'Brien's scintillating knock against England.

"That was an unbelievable innings, right from the very start. It was really impressive to see him change gears. As far as strategy is concerned, it depends on the match, will try to get him run out again.

We really enjoyed O'Brien's innings, it was not against us, enjoyed as a spectator."

Asked how seriously they are taking the Ireland match, Dhoni went back to the 2007 World Cup. "We never said any side is weak in the World Cup. Unless you have fond memories of Bangladesh, you will not make that mistake," he said sarcastically.

"One batsman can change the tempo with a strike rate of 150-200," he added.

England were shocked by minnows Ireland in their previous league outing while Smith and Co. are on a high following two comprehensive victories.

"England's performance has been really credible over a long period of time now.

You got to respect them. You

got to know that they have got the ability to play really well tomorrow. As a team we know that. So we have prepared for the best England team tomorrow. We expect them to bounce back," Smith said on the eve of the match.

"Obviously the Ireland win would have hurt them a lot.

But tomorrow will be a very very different game,” Smith said.

England, with a tie against India and win against the Netherlands, are in a must-win situation in tomorrow's clash.

"I think England-South Africa always really big games always been really

competitive. This game we look forward to. All our series and games have been exciting to watch. So I expect tomorrow will be no different we obviously expect England to perform really well. We are set up for a really exciting game," Smith said.

PiyuSh Chawla, Harbhajan Singh, Yusuf Pathan and Yuvraj Singh wait for their turn to bowl during a training session at M Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore on Saturday.

South Africa wary of England fightback PTI Chennai, March 5: Graeme Smith today said wounded England are expected to come hard in tomorrow's clash following their humiliating defeat against Ireland but South Africa are well prepared for the fight.

Fans go ga ga...

Somdev-Bopanna go down fighting Troicki while Bopanna will lock horns with Tipsarevic.

India last played in World Novi Sad (Serbia), March 5: India badly missed Leander Group quarter-finals in 1996 Paes and Mahesh Bhuapthi when they were drubbed 0as Rohan Bopanna and 5 by Sweden at home.

The Indian pair squanSomdev Devvarman lost the crucial doubles rubber to dered set points in both the hand a 2-1 lead to top seeds third and fourth set tieand defending champions breaker as Serbians relied Serbia in the Davis Cup on strong serve of Zimonjic World Group first round tie, and overall good game to down fighting rivals. here today.

Bopanna Somdevserved exBopanna tremely well combo lost throughout, 6-4 3-6 4-6 6not drop7 (10-12) to ping his Nenad Ziserve even monjic and once, but Ilija BozolSomdev jac in the struggled third rubber with his first which had a serve and pulsating that badly climax after d e n t e d three hours India's and 10 minchances. utes of enSomdev g r o s s i n g Somdev Devvarman reacts dropped his tennis at after winning against Janko serve five S p e n s Tipsarevic of Serbia. times and Sports Cencould manage to hold just tre.

Yesterday, Somdev had four times in the entire pulled off an upset win over match and the co-ordination world number 45 Janko Tip- required for the doubles sarevic 7-5 7-5 7-6(3) to bring matches was just not there.

It was understandable India back in the tie after Bopanna's 3-6 3-6 7-5 6-3 3-6 also as Somdev focuses on defeat against world number singles and Bopanna plays regularly with Pakistan's 18 Viktor Troicki.

Now India have an uphill Aisam-ul-haq Quershi on the task to win both the reverse ATP Tour.

The Indian duo improved singles tomorrow if they have to advance to the quar- gradually but in the end Serbians pocketed points when terfinals.

Somdev will take on it mattered most.

PTI

Sri Lankan fans with colourful attires cheer their team at R Premadasa stadium, on Saturday.

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Goa I Sunday 6, March 2011

Fans of cricket should be with you when you are not doing well. Those are the real fans.

-- Mahendra Singh Dhoni

Lanka-Aussies washed out AFP New Delhi, March 5: Torrential rain washed away defending champions Australia's World Cup clash with Sri Lanka on Saturday, just as the eagerly awaited encounter between the fierce rivals was coming to the boil.

Sri Lanka had made 1463, with skipper Kumar Sangakkara hitting an unbeaten 73, when Colombo's R. Premadasa stadium, packed with 35,000 fans, was

swamped by a downpour.

After a delay of two-and-ahalf hours, play was abandoned as a no result with both sides awarded a point apiece.

"It's a shame, it was shaping up to be a terrific game.

Sangakkara was controlling the match for them," said Australia skipper Ricky Ponting.

"It would have been a tough wicket to bat on second, it would have been a tough run chase."

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Over 50 p.c. of Indians in Libya pulled out, says govt PTI New DeLHI, MARCH 5

In stepped-up operations, more than 50 per cent out of 18,000 Indians would have been pulled out of strife-torn Libya since the evacuation process started 10 days ago, the Ministry of External Affairs said today.

“The pace of evacuation from Libya has been stepped up even further. Already over 9,200 of our nationals have left Libya on 24 special flights, ships, commercial carriers and by road, since the process began on 26 February,” it said in a release here.

In the past 24 hours, two AI special flights (from Tripoli), one from Sebha (Libya) and three from Djerba (Tunisia) have arrived in India.

In a welcome development, a 747 aircraft landed at Sebha yesterday and has brought home some 350 passengers to Mumbai and another sortie is being undertaken, it said.

In parallel, 220 Indians returned to Mumbai today from Tunisia (via Dubai) on an Emirates flight. Another chartered Egypt Air and Fly Dubai flights, brought 170 and 190 persons respectively to India from Djerba.

MV Scotia Prince has since sailed back for Benghazi from Alexandria, Egypt, to bring back the remaining passengers and is expected to reach Benghazi today, the ministry said. MV Red Star One is at Misurata (Libya) and would sail to Malta with some 400 passengers and arrangements are in place for flying them to India from Malta.

Verma flays appointment of Balakrishnan PTI New DeLHI, MARCH 5

Former Chief Justice of India J S Verma today questioned the continunance of K G Balakrishnan as NHRC Chairman when his predecessor was not not appointed to that post because he faced allegations of corruption.

“See the somersault. (Y.K.) Sabharwal was not considered fit for NHRC chairmanship. Now Balakrishnan is holding the post.

The nature of allegations against Sabharwal was much the same,” Justice Verma said at a seminar on Judicial Conduct and Accountability Bill.

He said both of them were facing identical allegations that their kith and kin made assets during their tenure as CJI and in such cases rule of law has the answer that “if the material on record are sufficient to give rise to suspicion why can an FIR not be filed against them”.

Justice Verma said the allegations of corruption against the former CJIs have brought the entire institution under suspicion.

“Unless the few persons, facing allegations, are cleared or are punished, if proved guilty, the entire community would be questioned,” he said.

MLA, others booked for manhandling PTI LAKHIMPUR, MARCH 5

An FIR has been lodged against a SP legislator some other persons for allegedly manhandling mediapersons during the coverage of an alleged eve-teasing case, police said here today.

A case has been lodged against Bala Prasad Awasthi, BSP MLA from Dhaurahara, his gunner, driver and some others for manhandling the mediapersons who had gone to Beltua village in connection with a case of eve-teasing with a Dalit woman, they said.

It is alleged that the mediapersons were held captive and assaulted by the villagers when they attempted to speak to the victim, the police said, adding that four persons were injured in the incident.

“Two mediapersons named Shahid and Ashok sustained serious injuries in the attack and were admitted in hospital,” a police spokesperson said.

The FIR was lodged against the MLA and others on Thursday night and four persons have been detained in this connection, he said.

Meanwhile, MLA Awasthi said that a false case had been lodged against him and he was not present in Beltua village when the incident occurred.

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Teens getting over Rs 12,000 a month in pocket money: Assocham PTI CHANDIGARH, MARCH 5

Rising living costs have led to school and college going teens in metropolitan cities

getting as much as Rs 3,600 to over Rs 12,000 a month in pocket money, says an Assocham survey.

“Teenagers who used to get

Rs 450-Rs 500 per month till 2005 are today getting minimum of Rs 3,600 per month to an astonishing Rs 12,000 and above across urban India,” said DS Rawat, National Secretary General, Assocham.

Industry body Assocham conducted a random survey on “Current pocket money trends in urban India” over 3,000 children in the 12-20

years age group in New Delhi,Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Chennai and Kolkata over last six years.

They interviewed 600 teens in each of the 5 metro cities.

The survey found that teenagers spent a major

chunk (35 per cent) of their monthly allowance on buying digi-cams, Ipods, game consoles, cell phones and other expensive miscellaneous electronic gadgets.

This was followed by expenditure on apparels and physi-

cal appearance (30 per cent) followed by visits to multiplexes and shopping malls (20 per cent).

Earlier, there used to be no concept of giving pocket money and kids used to look up to their parents for all their necessities. Moreover, those who got the pocket money would receive a meagre amount.

“But with rapidly changing lifestyle coupled with growing costs, we cannot expect teenagers to manage with figures of the old times,” Rawat said.

Lifestyle

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Sunday, 6 Mar 2011

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GOA’S HEARTBEAT

A Beautiful Mind What Women want…

Cheddo zalear bapaik adar, cheddum zalear ajeak adar -Anonymous

Tourism

Parenting

email us at: goasheartbeat@herald-goa.com

It is only rarely that one can see in a little boy the promise of a man, but one can almost always see in a little girl the threat of a woman - Alexandre Dumas

A lady is fascinated by an intelligent mind. Are you blokes, ready to take up the brain-teasing challenge, asks Herald BRAIN TEASERS:

L

A N S W E R S

A riddle.

My name is Silence I'm a Soul. Style of music: soul music Tomorrow Fake money Nothing.

The letter ‘E’ A blackboard or a chalkboard An umbrella A traffic queue, because if you're first, there is no queue left.

A balloon Your age

BY CHRISTINA VIEGAS HERALD FEATURES ife is beautiful and most of us travel this journey feeling we are immortal. But during the course of this journey, perhaps we experience more pain than pleasure and more tears than laughter especially for the female gender, be they humans, animals or birds. So, as we approach the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day (when the media will be bombarding one and all with stories of gloom and doom), a conversation with a handful of women got us feeling just the opposite - light-headed and wanting to have some fun where you just feel like dropping all your jobs at hand and singing, ‘I throw my hands up in the air sometimes, saying ayoh, gotta let go. I wanna celebrate and live my life saying ay-oh, baby let’s go!’

Invariably, we got pondering over my favourite subject, ‘matters of the heart’. Was there? Is there? Will there be? Anything more magnificent and incredible than loving and being loved? The most intense emotion that is so strong and so pure that through wax and wane, it outlives life’s brief years. Yet, most of the stories discussed were those of disillusionment and disappointment. So, we decided to take a humorous detour to

our soul stories and discussed the way to a man’s heart. Yes, it is said, ‘The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach’. But please! Isn’t that so boring and clichéd! That is definitely not the route to a man’s heart. At least, we felt that it was not.

But then on the flip side - Is that how easy it is to a man’s heart? Women are born creative and can churn out the most delectable dishes day in and day out, where we add oodles and oodles of love, care and attention. We do not need professional catering colleges to pick up the skill; we are born chefs. In that case, we would end up plummeting unwillingly into many hearts. So, the group of us screamed in a mock plea, “Please, give us something more challenging!”

Then, we dwelled on the question: what is the route to a woman’s heart? No! No! Now we are all getting environment-conscious, so no more flowers. We prefer seeing the pretty things bloom. Though there is that hidden wish for a long-stemmed single rose but only from that special someone. Awww! Sounds so romantic! But unfortunately, most women end up gathering flowers that could make a huge bouquet. Unfortunate because they often come from the kind we are not really interested in, you see.

Finally, we said let’s get serious. Speak to any woman with character, and pat comes the reply, “The way to my heart is through my brain.” Yes! What can be more stimulating to a lady than mental stimulation? The brain tops as the most powerful organ than any of those beautiful curves and limbs. Imagine even the most gorgeous looking guy with that awesome body with the firmest handshake. (Though a nice, loving bear hug makes us get all mushy). Yet, if he opens his mouth, and his stupidity just reeks through and through, you would want to vanish into thin air.

When you enjoy interacting with a man on an intellectual level, you invariably feel a powerful magnetism and you inexorably find him appealling in every other way. So, all you clever men out there, get ready to check your astuteness so that you are well armed with your kitty of intelligence before you go all out to gaze into your special one’s dreamy eyes and take her breath away, as you whisper sweet nothings.

•‘I am what I am, but if you know what I am, I am no longer what I am. Guess, what I am?’

•‘When you call my name, I will be gone. What is my name?’

•‘I cannot be felt, seen or touched; Yet I can be found in everybody; My existence is always in debate; Yet I have my own style of music.

What Am I?’ •‘I never was, am always to be, No one ever saw me, nor ever will And yet I am the confidence of all, To live and breathe on this terrestrial ball.

Who am I?’ •‘Who makes it, doesn't tell it. Who gets it, doesn't know it.

Who knows what it is, doesn't want it. What is it?’

•‘Poor people have it, rich people need it, and who does not eat it, dies.

What is it?’

•‘The beginning of eternity, The end of time and space The beginning of every end, And the end of every place.’

•‘What gets whiter the dirtier that it gets?’

•‘What goes up the chimney down, but can't go down the chimney up?’

•‘You can be the last joining person, but you will never be first. What is it?’

•‘I'm full of air but can't breathe. What am I?’ •‘What goes up….. but it doesn’t go down?

Hard-working Geeks turning India into a Super Power

B

BY PRATAP NAIK S J A prolific brass band from the state programme. r a s s b a n ds have TSKK in collaboration with often been described of Karnataka, Mother Teresa Brass Tiatr Academy (TAG), Dalas the cloth-cap of Band will perform in Quepem on gado Konknni Akademi and music, referring to March 8. While it is a fact that brass the Corporation of City of their strong links with the presents ‘Popular band players in the state are on the Panjim working man. Those of the Konknni Songs’ Programme educated classes have looked decline, it is refreshing to look by Mother Teresa Brass down on them as a lower forward to an event of this nature Band’. The band is from class hobby and most prolific Honavar, Karnataka and will composers within the classical field have ignored them in perform at the Garcia de Orta Garden near the Panjim their composition. However, their effect on the working Church on March 7 at 5.30pm. There is no entry fee. The class was enormous and brass bands were one of the first troupe will play Konknni film songs from the films ‘Amchem mediums which provided both musical and social opportu- Noxib’, ‘Nirmonn’ and ‘Padri’. Besides the traditional Konknni nities to the masses. songs they will play compositions of Chris Perry, Eric Perhaps it is for this reason that bands have developed Ozario, Hendry D’Souza and Henry T D’Souza. independently of other musical ensembles of the classical Mother Teresa Brass Band is one of the best brass bands genre. Their development has not been shaped so much of the Western coast of India. It was established in 1993. by musical developments but by specific people and events It has total of twenty-two players in two groups. They happening between the nineteenth and twentieth century. play trumpets, clarinet, base drum, tuba, side drums, cymAlthough the brass band is very much a twentieth century bals, morocco, alto horn, circle base euphonium, and tromconception, its roots can be found as early as the fourteenth bone. James Lopes is the leader of the troupe. The troupe century. has played at Bangalore, Mangalore, Belgaum, Bidar, ChiIn India, the brass band was introduced by the European tradurga, Mysore and practically in all the important cities colonisers such as the Portuguese, British, French and the and towns of Karnataka. They have been invited by the Dutch. Though the brass band is still very much alive in Karnataka Government to perform at the Karnataka State’s other states of India, it is unfortunately a dying art in Goa. formal functions five times. On December 9 last year when Once upon a time, no function of the Catholic community the President of India attended the First World Konknni in Goa was complete without the presence of brass band. Cultural Convention at Mangalore, this troupe presented They were called for weddings, church processions, ‘ladins’, their programme. The troupe has performed at Thomas ‘tiatrs’, funerals, novenas and feasts. Now, only a handful Stephens Konknni Kendr awards function on January 26 of youngsters are interested in learning the blowing in- this year and also at Margao and Navelim. struments and joining a brass band. Soon brass band in On March 8 this troupe will perform during the Carnival Goa will be an art of the past. In this context, the Thomas function at Quepem. The troupe was given an award by Stephens Konknni Kendr (TSKK) is organising a musical the Karwar Diocesan Development Council in 2009.

I

ndia has about as many illiterate adults as the entire population of the United States, but there is no doubt in anyone’s mind that it possesses the ingredients to become a science super power. A scientific revolution sweeping India will soon place it firmly within the major world economies. Recently, the southern Indian state of Kerala played host to the annual Indian Science Congress. The event was on a scale unimaginable anywhere else in the world. Thousands crowded into huge white tents to hear lectures by physicists and rocket scientists, while wide-eyed schoolchildren posed for photographs with Nobel prize winners. Enthusiasm was not even weakened by the midday heat, which caused some visitors to faint. Last year, the Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh made clear India’s big plan for its technological future He said then, “There’s no doubt about it, the country is furiously pursuing development through science and technology. The aim is to more than double investment in research and development, which could put it in the same league as Japan and the US.” According to The Guardian, the most industrialised countries spend around two per cent of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on research and development.

India, on the other hand, spends 0.8 per cent, but by next year, it hopes to ramp this up to 1.2 per cent, and in the longer term, is determined to reach two per cent – well ahead of China, on 1.5 per cent. The paper opines that India’s trajectory could eventually see it outpace Britain – once the world’s science pow-

erhouse. Currently as the world’s eleventh largest economy, with a GDP growth rate of around nine per cent, India hot on the heels of Russia and Canada, and is already wealthier than Australia and Spain. India’s scientific revolution has already begun. Among the 600,000 engineering graduates produced annually, is a growing cohort of innovative geeks.

Expertise in Western software is starting to transform into a culture of originality in India, and therefore, it will not come as surprise that by 2015, the country’s software industry will be worth 12 billion dollars.

Though most Indian laboratories struggle for high-quality equipment, hundreds of biomedical scientists are pooling research to develop what may be the first effective cure for tuberculosis. The Open Source Drug Discovery project, funded by the government on a fraction of what Big Pharma would require, is creating the world’s biggest online repository of information about the TB bacterium and how to combat it.

The engineering sector saw a growth in job creation of 63 per cent last year, according to India’s Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry. And in the coming year, India is expected to create between 10 and 15 million jobs, particularly in biotechnology and IT. Scientists are creatively overcoming shortfalls in resources to ensure quality of research; and engineers are inventing cheap technologies for the benefit of everyday people. India has become a nation of passionate, hard-working geeks. The West may think India is still in the gutter, but it is looking at the stars.

(Courtesy: ANI)

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Sunday, 6 Mar 2011

WHAT’S UP IN GOA??

‘Female Cancers’ will be the topic of the interactive session, organised by the Women’s Forum of the Goa YMCA to be held on March 8 at 5pm. Call 9822582022 or 2227112.

The 2nd Popular Tiatr Festival 2010 cum Competition, organised by Tiatr Academy of Goa will commence from March 10 at the Kala Academy, Panjim.

‘Right to Information’, will be the topic of the workshop organised by Benaulim Community Centre and Asha Family Responsibilities and Rights Association on March 13 from 4pm to 6pm at Benaulim Community Centre, Benaulim. Call 2256445, 9822166876 or 9822104033.

E-mail trustasha@yahoo.co.in.

Vendor Development Programme, conducted by MSME Development Institute under the Ministry of MSME, Government of India, in association with GCCI (Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry) will be held on March 9 at 10am at GCCI, Panjim. E-mail msmedigoa@gmail.com.

Call 23705093 or 2705094.

‘Chondrim Liplo Kupanim’ and ‘Devan Ghoddlem Munxean Moddlem’, khell tiatrs, organised by the Panaji Traditional Festivals Committee will be held on March 6 and 7, respectively at 6.30pm at the Kala Academy, Panjim.

Call 2420452.

‘Capture the Sights, Colors and Revelry of Carnival 2011 Photography Contest’, organised by Goan Shutterbugs is open for registration till March 31. Visit www.goanshutterbugs.com to download entry forms.

Call 9822151419.

‘Right to Information’ will be the theme of the upcoming workshop organised by Associacao Academica de Moira and Asha Family Responsibilities and Rights. It will take place in Konkani and English and will be held on March 6 from 5pm to 6.30pm at A A Moira Club Hall. E-mail trustasha@yahoo.co.in.

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email us at: goasheartbeat@herald-goa.com

HOROSCOPE Call 9822166876 and 9623454450.

‘Wake Up Call’, an art exhibition by Maendra Alvares is underway till March 9 at the Big Foot Art Gallery, Loutolim. Call 2777034 and 2777580.

A Basic Course in Integrated Clinical Hypnosis (Step 1 course in Integrated Clinical Hypnotherapy), facilitated by psychologist and integrated clinical hypnotherapist Leona Fernandes will be held from March 11 to 13 from 9am to 6pm at Margao. Call 9823812611, 9960431362 or 9960806655.

36th State Art Exhibition (Student Category), organised by the Kala Academy will be inaugurated on March 10 at 5.30pm at the Kala Academy Art Gallery, Kala Academy, Panjim. It will be open to public viewing from March 11 to 14 from 10am to 7pm. Call 2420452.

A Duets, Duos, Trios, Quartets, Quintets and Choral Songs Singing Competition, organised by Tiatr Academy of Goa will be held on March 23 from 3pm onwards at the Kala Academy, Panjim. Registration is open.

‘Four Women Artists and a Cartoonist’, an art exhibition, organised by Alexyz and Gallery Attic will be held from March 9 to 17 at Gallery Attic, Panjim. It is held to celebrate International Women’s Day and will feature four female artists along with Alexyz. Call 2257690 or 2420929.

A Musical Evening with Tal Kravitz and Lorraine Fiona Aloysius, organised by the Lorraine Music Academy, Embassy of Israel, Kala Academy and Goa Marriot Resort will be held on March 8 at 6.30pm at the Kala Academy, Panjim. Call 2420452.

The feast of St Sebastian will be held on March 6 at Aquem Alto, Margao.

The 13th Tradeitional Carnavalesco Nite, organised by the Youth and Friends Circle of Old Goa will be held from March 6 from 7pm onwards at Paldale Open Air Venure, Old Goa. Call 9822137740

It takes less energy to explore something new than you 21 Mar - 19 Apr might think, so go for it. You need to jump into life feet first today -- and your enthusiasm should be infectious! It's a great time for you to step up to the plate and knock one out of the park. Friends are totally supportive.

Taurus Be careful of comparing yourself with other people 20 Apr - 20 May today. It will only confuse you.

You may feel as if you're struggling uphill all day long -- but you need to keep at it!

Things are sure to get better in the very near future, but not if you just give up and let it all slide.

You are going to Gemini gain a lot of new acquaintances t o d a y. Wr i t e down the new 21 May - 20 Jun names. Don't let anything sit idly in your in box for very long -- you need to make sure that you're using your good energy to communicate to everyone important.

Push the envelope and ping a few people while you're at it.

Your excellent memory will save the day.

Why not think of ways to improve 22 Jun - 23 Jul it? Though you are in a hurry -- deadlines, maybe? -- you still need to take your time and get it all right.

Redoing work is the last thing you need to be doing, but you can ensure that the first draft looks great.

Seek out people whose beliefs are different from yours; you'll benefit greatly.

24 Jul - 23 Aug You should find that you're having fun today - no matter what you are doing. Taking out the trash, listening to that one older relative prattle on or even stuck in traffic, it's all good to you.

If there's a party coming up, be sure you're the first 23 Aug - 22 Sep to arrive. Feed your energy.

Work issues are aggravating beyond belief right now -- especially since you can't get your colleagues to see things your way. It may be a good time avoid work entirely and let things simmer.

Look objectively at someone you're in conflict with.

23 Sept - 22 Oct You'll see a potential friend. If you're feeling low -- and that does happen from time to time, of course -- you need to check your head. Sometimes it's external circumstances, but for now, it is undoubtedly related to attitude.

Scorpio Face a conflict.

It's time to put out the fire that has been 23 Oct - 22 Nov steadily building. Things could get really weird for you today -- especially if you give in to your hot-headed side and stir up conflict. You are sure to be outnumbered, and that's not a good position for you.

Sagittarius The influences

Capricorn If you step into the middle of a heated discussion today, 22 Dec - 20 Jan you might get burned. You need to indulge your deep desire for security of all kinds: emotional, financial and physical. That doesn't mean barricading yourself at home with your family and some gold coins, but you can work it out.

Aquarius Release yourself from selfi m p o s e d restrictions or 21 Jan - 19 Feb rules today. Do what feels right.

Your humanitarian instincts are out in full force today, so you may find yourself giving money to charity or someone on the street. Alternatively, you could decide to focus efforts on volunteering.

If your temper gets the best of you today, so be it. Let peo20 Feb - 20 Mar ple see the real you. Sometimes you get to choose how to see things -- is it a lie, or an entertaining fiction? You may be better off taking things a little less seriously today, but watch out in the near future.

Aries

Libra

in your life today are very masculine -- prepare for 23 Nov - 20 Dec a competition.

Your great energy should keep you smiling through much of the day, so see if you can get yourself through the drudgery and help your peers to keep their spirits up. Tonight is even better!

LAFFS

Cancer

Leo

Virgo

Pisces

DID YOU KNOW?

Funny Quote

“Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all

its pupils.”

–- Louis Hector Berlioz DAILY GROOK CUTE FRUIT

by Francis Rodrigues a sultana from Kuwait so attracted unawares, a raisin young sheikh from currant affairs!

WORD OF THE DAY

Kashmir is the World’s longest dispute!

The dispute between India and Pakistan regarding the territory of state of Jammu and Kashmir is the oldest and longest surviving dispute on earth. India claims that Kashmir is an integral part of India. Pakistan claims that people of Kashmir are the ones that should determine their own future. Both countries refuse that region should be independent.The dispute has consumed millions of lives on both sides apart from trillions of dollars since 1947.The Kashmir dispute is now registered in the Guinness Book of World Records of the ‘wars’ section as the largest militarized territorial dispute currently on the planet. It states : "According to the CIA fact book, the dispute between China, India and Pakistan for Kashmir region is the largest and most militarised dispute."

India and Pakistan have fought three wars over Kashmir: in 1947, 1965, and 1999.

WIZARD OF ID

werewolf Pronunciation WAIR-woolf Function noun Meaning 1: a person transformed into a wolf or capable of assuming a wolf's form Example Sentence Stacy is particularly interested in folklore about vampires and werewolves.

GARFIELD

MIND BENDERS

SUN MOON TIDES

Tongue Twister Sunday 32° C | 23° C Dawn 06:28

Partly Cloudy

Sunrise 06:50

Sunset Dark 18:44 19:05

Moon rise 07:23 High —

Low 05:47

TIDES High Low 11:52 17:49

Cool Runnings Hannah Montana Race to Witch Mountain Bad Boys II The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus 21:00 Spider-Man 3 23:45 Gridiron Gang

Future X-Cops Spartacus Beethoven Beethoven's 2nd Pride and Glory The Phantom Rumble in the Bronx

11:30 15:00 19:00 22:30

08:50 10:45 12:40 15:00

Last ‘Riddle Me This’ Answer: A Candle

17:00 18:50 21:00 23:05

Spin Secret Window The One Snake in the Eagle's Shadow

Aggar Indra: The Tiger Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam The Princess Diaries

Bailey's Billions Blood and Bone The Fan Juno

12:00 16:00 20:00 21:40

08:00 12:00 16:00 20:00

09:50 Dum Kaata 13:00 Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham...

Hum Mujhse Dosti Karoge Hisss King No. 1

Ram Teri Ganga Maili Big Brother Mohra Shahenshah

21:00 Let's Design 22:00 Club Mix

10:00 Holi Ke Rang Colors Ke Sang 12:00 Dabangg 14:00 Umang 16:30 Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya 19:30 The Global Indian Film & Television Honours 23:00 Wanted High Alert

10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00

Reaper Cyril: Simply Magic Got to Dance Criss Angel Mindfreak Criss Angel Mindfreak Masters of Illusion Got to Dance Criss Angel Mindfreak Criss Angel Mindfreak Top 20 Countdown Masters of Illusion Got to Dance Congo

IDIOT BOX 08:30 17th Annual Star Screen Awards 2011 12:00 Discover India with Anupam Kher 12:30 Superstar Buzz 13:00 Do Dooni Chaar 15:30 De Dana Dan 19:00 Love U Zindagi 20:00 Mann Kee Awaaz Pratigya 21:00 Wife Bina Life 22:00 Pyar Mein Twist 22:30 Kushti

09:00 10:30 11:30 15:00 18:30 19:30 20:30 21:30

Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa Bhoothnath Dil Bole Hadippa!

C.I.D C.I.D C.I.D Jubilee Comedy Circus

10:00 Mughal-E-Azam 10:30 Idea Jalsa: Music for Soul 11:00 Action Replayy Dhinchak Diwali 12:00 Dance India Dance Doules 19:00 All the Best: Fun Begins 22:00 Action Replayy Dhinchak Diwali 23:00 Pavitra Rishta

10:00 Taarak Mehta Ka Oolta Chashma 15:30 Ring Wrong Ring 16:00 Ring Wrong Ring 16:30 Gili Gili Gappa 18:00 Mrs. Tendulkar 19:30 Taarak Mehta Ka Oolta Chahma 20:00 Do Chor

SUDOKU 800

I was framed, yet I didn't commit a crime, and the person who framed me committed no crime. How is this possible?

High 23:56

18:20 Jaan 21:00 Baadshah 09:20 11:25 13:35 15:40 18:30

Riddle Me This

Moon set 19:55

D Tide timings are for Mormugao Harbour. For Panjim/Calangute add 20 mins. For Colva add 30 mins

11:15 13:30 14:30 16:15 18:15 21:00 23:15

A pleasant place to place a plaice is a place where a plaice is pleased to be placed.

22:30 Lapataganj 23:30 Lapataganj

10:00 12:00 13:00 17:00 0:00 23:00

Geet Geet Main Hoon Naa Pyaar Kii Ye Ek Kahaani Hero No. 1 Geet

10:00 10:21 11:00 11:30 12:00 13:00 14:45 15:00 19:00 19:30 20:00 20:30

Link'D Let'z Go! Zoom Box Let'z Go! Let's Design Garama Garam Guthy Renker Top 50 Planet Bollywood Business of Bollywood Ring a Star Gorbatschow Face off

10:00 12:00 13:00 13:30 14:00 14:30 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00

American Idol Two And A Half Men The Simpsons The Simpsons Friends Friends Whose Line Is It Anyway?

Masterchef US Masterchef US Walking Dead The Good Guys The Good Guys Koffee With Karan Detroit 187

10:00 10:30 11:00 12:00 14:15

Kumbh Karan MAD VIII Mr. Bean: The Animated Pawan Putra Hanuman Chhota Bheem Marathon

17:00 Mr. Bean The Animated Series Marathon 20:00 Barbie as the Island Princess 22:00 Takeshi's Castle 23:00 FAQ

10:00 ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 H/ls 22:15 ICC Cricket World Cup 2011

08:30 09:30 17:15 18:15 18:30 18:55 21:00 21:25 23:30

10:00 11:00 11:30 12:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 18:30 19:00 19:30 20:00 20:30 22:30

Cricket Extra - ICC Cwc ICC Cricket World Cup Cricket Extra Bloopers Super Sunday Barclays Premier League Super Sunday Barclays Premier League ICC Cricket World Cup

WWE: Superstars Winning Post Full Throttle NBA UEFA Europa League H/ls UEFA Champions League H/ls ATP World Tour WWE: NXT Real NBA Football League Show UEFA Champions League Magazine Show FIFA: Futbol Mundial ICC Cricket World NBA WWE: NXT

10:00 ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 H/ls 13:00 Cricket Extra - ICC Cwc 23:30 ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 Express H/ls

10:00 Space Special 11:00 Super Factories

12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 20:00 21:00 22:00

10:00 11:00 12:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00

World's Deadliest Animals Nat Geo Amazing!

Dangerous Encounters Hunter Hunted Huge Moves Nat Geo Wild Nat Geo Amazing!

Wild Detectives Mission Army The Decade

Ghost Stories Paul Merton in Europe Traveller Band Ghost Stories India Investigates It Happens only in India Greatest Sports Legends Deadliest Warrior It Happens only in India

06:00 Art of living 06:30 Argam Diumia 07:00 Catechist Prog at Merces 08:00 English News 09:00 Kids Club 09:30 Santa Cruz Mando 10:00 English News 11:00 Vision 2035 12:00 Flavors 12:30 Angos Musical Show 13:00 English News 14:00 Bike Ssscape 14:30 Konkani Kantaram 15:00 Catechist Prog at Merces 16:00 English News 17:00 Sunday Mass 18:00 English News 19:00 Health Watch 19:30 In search of feathered friends 20:00 English News 21:00 Catechist Prog at Merces 22:00 English News 23:00 Sunday Mass 00:00 Tattoo Programme 01:00 Vision 2035 01:30 Success Mantra 02:00 Art of Living 02:30 Health Watch 03:00 Argam Diumia 03:30 In search of feathered friends 04:30 Bike Ssscape 05:00 English News Note: Subject to change

Instructions for Sudoku 9 x 9 letter: To solve a Sudoku puzzle, every number from 1 to 9 must appear in each of the nine vertical columns, in each of the nine horizontal rows and in each of the nine boxes

SUDOKU SOL 799

HERALD CROSSWORD - 800 Across 1- Cloak; 5- Rhino relative; 10Dig like a pig; 14- Egg-shaped; 15- Coeur d'___; 16- Dope; 17Bright star; 18- Thorny flowers; 19- Resist openly; 20- Indefinite boundary; 23- Stutz contemporary; 24- Mariners can sail on seven of these; 25- Landlord; 29Deft; 31- "___ had it!"; 32- Cheer for Manolete; 33- Intolerable; 37Courts; 40- Meadow; 41- Author Dinesen; 42- Derived from experience; 47- Fido's appointment; 48- Hydrocarbon suffix; 49- Book of prayers; 53- Place in bondage; 55- Dirty Harry's org.; 57- Comedian Philips; 58Sweat; 61- Church recess; 64Home ______; Culkin movie; 65Memo heading; 66- Baptism, e.g.; 67- Heals; 68- Blue hue; 69- Ventilates; 70- Aquarium fish; 71- Air France destination; Down 1- Against; 2- Professed; 3- Paver; 4- Airline since 1948; 5- Goals; 6- Hawaiian greeting; 7Nuisances; 8- Don Juan's mother; 9- Determine; 10- Travels on; 11- Single unit; 12- Dark, as a light; 13- Plaything; 21- The doctor ___; 22- Not e'en once; 26- Weeps; 27- Earthen pot; 28- Smell; 30- Seine feeder; 31- ___ first you don't...; 34- Peter Fonda title role; 35- Marsh; 36- Has a bug; 37- ___ Only Just Begun; 38Farm team; 39- Chooses; 43- Describes a gently cooked steak; 44- Infringe; 45- Emblem; 46Verdi heroine; 50- Certain fisherman; 51- Ethically neutral; 52- Companionless; 54- Sporting blades; 55- Recreation; 56- More delicate; 59-

Swerve sharply; 60- Bandleader Puente; 61Pound sound; 62- Actress Zadora; 63- RR stop;

SOLUTION - 799

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Sunday, 6 Mar 2011

Parenting

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Four Women Artists and a Cartoonist

G

Herald Features allery Attic celebrates International Women’s Day by hosting a group show opening on March 9, 2011 to March 17, 2011. The exhibition is a brain child of cartoonist Alexyz who also participates in the show. The artists Arti Jatar, Shefali Shah and Sharda Iyer from Bombay are on an adventure in what they term ‘the exciting world of art’.

Sharda Iyer a mother of twins brings out the mother in her artistic works. Arti and Shefali’s explosion of colours bring out the joy that is natural to them. Arti Jatar’s works are rare exhibits of paintings on glass. She will be having a

workshop on glass painting on March 12, 2011 at the Gallery itself.

Young Loretti Pinto is one of the few emerging painters on the Goan artscape. An artist –activist she highlights the erosion of Goa’s heritage. Cartoonist Alexyz showcases his works with a million strokes in pen and ink. He explores the aspirations of the Goan woman with his fondness for verse.

His love for music glows in his caricatures of the legendary Lorna, the new stars Sanya Cotta and Goa’s First Women Quartet C-TAG comprising of Celina Andrews, Teresa Figueiredo, Anita D’Souza and Gorette Pinheiro.

Loretti Pinto Sharda Iyer

Art Jatar Shefali Shah Alexyz

Hail the Nawab of Cuisines ‘A

Photos by Christina Viegas

BY CHRISTINA VIEGAS HERALD FEATURES ll hail the Nawab of Cuisines’ screams the catchline for the ‘Dastarkhwan-e-Awadh’ food festival that is currently on at the Goa Marriott Resort between March 4 to 13th.

Yes, who wouldn’t hail the Awadh cuisine from the ‘Dastar Khan’ in the royal palaces where numerous skilled cooks churned out the best of treats that satiated the hunger and thirst of the handsome nawabs of yore.

Chef Sushil from the resort is all excited as this year, his senior, Chef Zulficar, chef de cuisine (whom we consider the royal ‘Rajah’ or the royal ‘Sultan’ as he is a permanent fixture amidst all things good at the resort) has given him free reign to churn out the cuisine for the festival. He promises, “From ‘galouti kebab’ and ‘murgh masallam’ to the awe-inspiring ‘biryani’, every preparation you will experience on this buffet speaks volumes on good taste and lineage.”

So, we sit at the table to be served as royal guests. As most Goans are meat eaters, it seems natural to await generous servings of the succulent ‘galauti kebab’ (a kebab made with minced lamb, served on a mini ‘paratha’) and while the taste lives up to the expectations, what came as a surprise was the ‘dudhiya paneer’ which just melted on the tongues. All the ‘kebabs’ were simply juicy, mushy, squishy.

Soups comprised of ‘murgh badami shorba’ (a thick, rich, chicken stock) and ‘palak lasooni shorba’ (spinach and garlic soup) while main course got us feeling like true nawabs. The ‘nalli nehari’ was particularly delicious. This is one dish which deserves to announce its entry with royal fanfare; a regal dish truly meant for an emperor. This gossamer gravy has the right blend of that sweet, salt and spicy taste that will linger on long after your meal. There was ‘murgh mussalam’ paneer ‘pasanda’ and the most scrumptious ‘Lucknowi biryani’. Though, I personally preferred the ‘Peshawari biryani’ from a past festival, which was heaven.

The variety of desserts was rich, yet unavoidable. The crisp, hot ‘jalebi’ with the milky and cold ‘rabdi’ was the perfect harmony of crunch and cream and hot and cold. The one that the chef recommended as very nutritious was ‘khubhai ka meeta’ - dried apricots, cooked and blended into a ‘halwa-like’ consistency.

This spread fit for a king was truly regal and epic. We quickly worry Chef Sushil asking him if he has also organised horseriding after the meal. After all, the handsome ‘nawabs’ kept perfectly fit through their gallant galloping and other activities. And we surely needed to knock off the richly accumulated calories.

So, Goa you’re really in luck-now!

A warm welcome: Chef Sushil

Taleigao Tiatr Competition Results ANJALI FIGUEIREDO t. Michael Taleigao Socio-Cultural Association, 1st All Goa Invitational Tiatr Competition held in Taleigao from 25th February 2011 to 4th march 2011, The organizing committee felicitated the veteran Taleigao village tiatrists who brought name and fame for the village like Antonio Xavier, Camilo Xavier J. Manuel Dias, Luis Caetan Blasio Viegas, George Candido Abreu, Santan H Viegas, Camilo Robert Fernandes. Roseferns, Vice President of the Tiatr Academy of Goa said that Caetaninho is the root which has spread and that’s the reason for the upcoming tiartrists in taleigao. He said that many tiatrs should take place and in this same quantity and quality. He also said that competitions should be held because in a competition every artist tries to bring out his best. There are many troubles but there is a fruit in the end.

He also said that critic should be taken sportingly and this move forward without backing is our ‘Konkani Daiz’. Santan H Viegas , composer who wrote more than 1200 songs sung by Mil –Mel-Nel for the last 33 years and others who won prizes for the Kala Academy, Vandana Production tiatr Competition from 2006-2011 and still compose songs for professional tiatr said that if the association could afford then they should also felicitate other talented personalities from other fields also so that they may receive a boost to do better further.

Antonio Xavier he told the crowd how tiatrs used to take place in the past and how he along with his other friends dedicated in promoting the Konkani stage.

Camilo Robert Fernandes asked to bring up new comers and to help children bring out their inner talents. Carmin Paul praised Agnel Fernandes, Panch of Taleigao Village Panchyat for forming the committee to organize this function and putting a great effort to make this tiatr a great success.

MUSIC REVIEW

S

Sonia Fernandes

(l to r) Award winners Vikas Chopdekar, Avito Fernandes, Cameron Fernandes, Shenaya Pereira and Sucoor Fernandes

BY COLIN SAVIO COELHO colin.coelho@gmail.com

A Souvenir with a Difference E veryone looks for a souvenir to take back from this paradise. There are so many remembrances that one can have of Goa. But a souvenir of Goan music hits can be one that would be treasured for long.

Goa has built its image as a destination for peace and quiet. Goa, of recent times, has also come to be known as the place where music reins. Slowly this paradise is growing towards being India’s entertainment capital. So, Goa is now being looked upon as a favoured destination as well.

Going by the present state of affairs, everyone seems to be thinking: Destination Goa A Musical Souvenir. The album that has some of the popular Goan hits put together in one place also happens to have the same name. It has a collection of some of the most popular hits from Goa and all by Goan artistes.

Chris Perry gave to Goa melody that will always perpetuate the texture of Goan music. His creations Bebdo (Lorna), Maria (original vocals by Mohammad Rafi and Lorna) by Hriskikesh, Cu cu ru cu cu (original vocals by Tony Carr) by Pallavi; form a very important part of this album. Also included are a medley of the maestro’s songs put together by Rhythm-n-Blues, led

by Lulu and Filipe fortes, and sung by Lulu and the late James Rebelo.

Ashante, the song made popular by Goans who have lived their lives in Africa and the Portuguese song Cadizaza sung by Felix Flor, enlivens the soul of the global Goan. Dancing on the Moon is sung by the indomitable Seby. Seby takes wings as he dances his way to the moon, to his senhorita bonita.

Another interesting aspect of melody included in this souvenir is the Goan Acoustic Medley put together

by Trio Orlando, which provides a few precious moments of nostalgia with some traditional Goan dulpods.

There are also songs with themes of personal encounter. Elvis’s College Life and Acacio Sodcho Nam need a special mention.

Colva Yo by Ulhas Buyao, Marialinha by H Briton and Tandel re Tandela by Nephie Rod are some songs that keep the mood alive. The tune that identifies with Goa, Undhra Mhojea Mama surely must find a place, and rightfully does, in this souvenir from Goa. The grand finale is provided with a very modern touch given to the song Juliana, which is set to a heady mix by DJ Vernon.

Despite its traditional character, the album definitely has a modern touch added to it. This is surely one album that many would like to take back as it puts together the music from old and gives it a touch of the contemporary.

Photo by Sandhya Gadekar

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Sunday, 6 Mar 2011

Ranbir Kapoor receives Thanks for lighting up village in Bihar

Parenting

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Mickey Ronney complains to congress

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ctor Mickey Rooney told Congress on Wednesday that he was left powerless by a family member who took and misused his money.

“I felt trapped, scared, used and frustrated,” Rooney told a special Senate committee considering legislation to curb abuses of senior citizens.

“But above all, when a man feels helpless, it’s terrible.”

The 90-year-old film and television star told lawmakers that elder abuse comes in various forms, including physical and emotional. In his case, he described the abuse as financial. In his testimony, Rooney did not identify the family member he contends abused him. But he has obtained a restraining order from a judge in Los Angeles keeping his stepson, Chris Aber, away from him until an April 5 court hearing.

Rooney has accused Aber in court filings of withholding food and medicine and meddling in his personal finances. Sen. Herb Kohl, DWis., who chairs the Special Senate Committee on Aging, said the elderly are particularly vulnerable because they are ‘often fragile’ and their abusers usually stand little chance of getting caught.

Rooney began his film career in the 1920s and has appeared in scores of feature films and TV shows, including the musicals Babes in Arms (1939) and Strike Up the Band (1940) and the Andy Hardy film series. He was nominated for an Academy Award four times, including a supporting actor nomination for his role in The Black Stallion (1979). He received an honorary Oscar in 1982.

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he villagers in Lakhisarai, Bihar, have much to thank Ranbir Kapoor for – the Bollywood star sponsored solar lamps in the developing village during the Greenathon 2010, and today that’s proved beneficial.

Much more economical than kerosene lamps, solar lamps have helped students study, women work in the kitchens and small-scale workers earn more as they can work late hours. The area of Purani Bazar, especially, has benefited with Ranbir’s sponsorship.

“Purani Bazar in Lakhirsarai has a lot to thank Ranbir Kapoor for,” said a source. “The vegetable vendors here had to wrap up before sundown because there was no electricity. Some of them would do their business by the light of kerosene lamps. But it cut into their earnings.

Moreover, some days they couldn’t even light these as kerosene was not available easily. Now Ranbir Kapoor’s solar lamps have lit up their lives.”

Ranbir was part of the Greenathon 2010 that helped raise money to provide solar power to 160 villages across the nation.

I came back sad and deprived from Shirdi: Preity Zinta

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nlike her fellow actor Shilpa Shetty who was ‘at peace’ after her visit to Shirdi recently, Preity Zinta has returned with unpleasant memories of being pushed by the media in the pilgrim town.

‘Good morning! Went to Shirdi yesterday and came back with memories of media pushing me instead of the serene face & energy of Sai Baba.’ an irritated Preity posted on her Twitter page.

The 36-year-old actor is quite displeased with the mad rush for celebrities even at a place of pilgrimage and is upset that she couldn’t even pray properly.

‘I wonder why r temples have become so commercial? Why a temple trustee’s urge 2 b photographed with a celebrity is entertained by media? In front of god, we bare ourselves and look to purify our soul. Instead of feeling uplifted i came back feeling sad & deprived from Shirdi.’

‘In the rut to make anything news, have we forgotten to respect god and someone’s genuine devotion? I fold my hands to the media & request dem 2 respect us & respect GOD! Not every celebrity goes 2 a temple 4 Tamasha! Some genuinely go 2 pray & 2 disturb them then is BAD KARMA,’ she added.

Preity has been off the big screen for sometime now. Her last full-fledged role was in Heroes in 2008.

Arterton feels younger without make-up

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ritish actress Gemma Arterton says she doesn’t like to go overboard with cosmetics as she likes the natural look. “I remember going out and thinking, ‘I’m not wearing any mascara and I’m going to an event!’ But too much make-up makes me look old,” said the Prince of Persia star.

Arterton also revealed she gets ‘nervous’ while dressing for the red carpet.

“I can get a bit nervous about what people will say about my outfit when it’s a really big event, but under normal circumstances I don’t really care,” said the 24 year old.

“In my personal life I love experimenting with fashion, but I have luckily managed to separate my everyday life from my job, so I don’t get scrutinized about what I’m wearing on a daily basis,” she added.

Soon, Computers to understand how you feel!

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Binghamton University researcher wants computers to understand inputs from humans that go beyond the traditional keyboard and mouse. Lijun Yin and team have developed ways to provide information to the computer based on where a user is looking as well as through gestures or speech. Yin says the next step would be enabling the computer to recognise a user’s emotional state.

“Computers only understand zeroes and ones. Everything is about patterns. We want to find out how to recognise each emotion using only the most important features,” said Yin. Yin is also considering use of photographs, and even three-dimensional avatars that are able to display a range of emotions. “We want not only to create a virtual-person model we want to understand a real person’s emotions and feelings. We want the computer to be able to understand how you feel, too.

That’s hard, even harder than my other work,” said Yin. “This technology could help us to train the computer to do facial-recognition analysis in place of experts,” added Yin.

Body Weight influences Death Risk Among Asians

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eople of normal weight are far less likely to die from any cause compared to individuals who were overweight or obese, says a recent study on more than a million Asians. The research, conducted as part of the Asia Cohort Consortium, included health status and mortality information on more than 1.1 million individuals from east and south Asia.

In the cohorts (study groups) of East Asians, including Chinese, Japanese and Koreans, the lowest risk of death was seen among individuals with a Body Mass Index (BMI) in the range of 22.6 to 27.5, which is considered normal to slightly overweight.

One of the study groups from India, the Mumbai Cohort Study, was led by Prakash C Gupta, director of HealisSekhsaria Institute for Public Health.

“Despite the growing concerns regarding the gradual transition towards increasing rates of obesity, under nutrition remains a major health problem in India and being underweight is even more dangerous,” he said.

Gupta mentioned that among all of the Asian populations studied, the risk of death was increased by a factor of 2.8 among those who had a BMI of 15 or less.

“Based on the findings in this paper, in addition to a standard public health message of not being obese, we formulate the new key public health message for not being underweight either,” Gupta recommended. BMI (Body Mass Index) is defined as weight in kilogrammes divided by the square of height in metres.

East Asians with a raised BMI of 35.0 or higher had a 50 per cent higher risk of death. The same was not true for Indians and Bangladeshis, indicating that a high BMI did not affect all ethnic groups in a similar way.

The study was led by Wei Zheng, professor of cancer research at Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center, Tennessee; Paolo Boffetta, professor of Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York and John D Potter, senior adviser of public health sciences division at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.

The authors concluded that the study provides strong evidence

supporting the biologic plausibility that excess weight contributes to a higher risk of death which confirms that most people are at a higher risk for dying early if they are obese and is a clear message not to gain weight as we age. At the same time being underweight is also not desirable, they noted.

Courtesy Agencies

Quality of your Sleep tells how Happy you are at Work

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new study has found that job satisfaction affects the quality of your sleep, 33 per cent of the most dissatisfied employees report poor sleep quality compared to only 18 per cent of the most satisfied. The study also revealed that employed and self-employed enjoy much better sleep than those out of work. Those who are unemployed are over 40 per cent more likely to report difficulty staying asleep than those in employment.

Analysis of the early data from Understanding Society based on 14,000 UK households found that overall the best sleep was reported by people with higher levels of education and by married people.

The type of work a person does also impacts on sleep, with those in routine occupations reporting worse sleep than those in professional occupations.

Sara Arber at the University of Surrey who analysed the findings said, “Given the links between sleep, social and economic circumstances and poor health found in this and other surveys, health promotion campaigns should be open to the possibility that the increased incidence of sleep problems among the disadvantaged in society may be one factor leading to their poorer health.”

The findings have been published on the http://research.understandingsociety.org.uk/findings/early-findings.

Editor –in-chief: R F Fernandes. Editor: Ashwin Tombat. Chief Editor-Features: Christina Viegas.

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