THIRD WAVE: With the lifting of the curfew and full opening up of tourism-related activities in Goa, covid-19 pandemic cases and mortality figures are on the rise again.

BY RAJAN NARAYAN

AND a few stray thoughts for yet another Saturday. For a Saturday following the week when Luizinho Faleiro finally joined the Trinamol Congress at a grand ceremonial function in Kolkata, West Bengal. For a Saturday following the week when the Congress began fighting back against the Trinamol Congress. For a Saturday following the week when the Goa Chamber of Commerce & Industry warned against haste in re-opening tourism in the state. For a Saturday following the week when Goa which has a reputation for attracting drinking tourists should set up alcohol museum. For a Saturday following the week when it has been revealed that the North-East tops the country in the number of women in managerial posts.

LUIZINHO, SHIVDAS JOIN TMC

AND a few stray thoughts on Luizinho Faleiro joining the Trinamol Congress grand function in the presence of Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata. Among those who joined the TMC along with Luizinho Faleiro were Lavu Mamladar, former Deputy Superintendent of Police and MGP MLA, Vijay Pai, Yatish Naik and Mario Pinto who were members of the Goa Pradesh Congress Committee, Rajendra Kakodkar a former employee of Fomento, Advocate Antonio Clovis D’Costa, President of the South Goa Advocate Association and the Konkani writer and activists N Shivdas.
Earlier the defectors brigade were welcomed by West Bengal Minister Sujit Bose and other MLAs at the Kolkata airport on Tuesday, September 28. Significantly, the entry of Luizinho Faleiro and his close associates into the All India Trinamol Congress comes just a day before the by-elections for Bhabanipur.
Ironically, Mamata Banerjee who had led TMC in trashing the BJP in West Bengal herself, lost her election from the Nandigram constituency. Nandigram is the constituency which is a landmark in the political history of Mamata Banerjee. It was her agitation against the Nano car project, being set up by the Tatas in Nandigram, which enabled Mamata Banerjee to defeat the CPM which had been ruling West Bengal for 34 years.
Mamata Banerjee is expected to win the by-election scheduled for Thursday, September 30 very easily, as it is considered a safe seat. Goa is the first target of Mamata-didi in her determination to convert the Trinamol Congress into a national party, namely the All India Trinamol Congress (AITMC). The TMC will have to get 6% of the votes polled in four states to be able to put up candidates across the country as a national party on the TMC symbol.
The primary agenda of the Prashant Kishor-led I-PAC is, in the meanwhile, to displace BJP from the states currently being ruled by I, such as Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. The first challenge of Luizinho Faleiro in terms of winning back the North-East for Mamata would be the elections to be held in March 2022, a month after the Goa elections.
Luizinho Faleiro also met Abhishek Banerjee, the nephew of Mamata Banerjee, who is in charge of the Goa elections. On the day of joining the Trinamol Congress, Luizinho Faleiro distributed a leaflet along with all the daily newspaper promising a “New Dawn for Goa.” In his leaflet on the day of his joining the TMC, Luizinho Faleiro stated “In the best interest of my Goa I have tendered my resignation as MLA of Navelim and member of the Congress party in order to fight the divisive forces that are threatening to tear apart my state and the nation.”
This comes from a senior MLA of the Congress and a former chief minister who has deserted the Congress on the eve of another crucial elections.

CONGRESS FIGHT BACK

AND a few stray thought on the Congress fighting back in the wake of the defection of Luizinho Faleiro to the TMC. The former Calangute MLA, Agnelo Fernandes, who was on the stage when Luizinho Faleiro announced his resignation from the Congress, seems to have changed his mind about joining the TMC. Instead of flying to Kolkata with Luizinho Faleiro, the former Calangute MLA and minister instead flew to Delhi to meet Rahul Gandhi and PC Chidambaram who is the principle Congress observer for the upcoming Goa elections.
In Delhi Agnelo Fernandes is reported to have told media that Rahul Gandhi had assured him that loyalty and sincerity would be rewarded while allotting party tickets to candidates for the Assembly election. Obviously, Agnelo will get the ticket to contest against Michael Lobo in the Calangute constituency. Agnelo Fernandes also revealed that just before his resignation, Luizinho Faleiro had been offered the presidentship of the Goa Pradesh Congress Committee but had declined it claiming health reasons.
Surendra Furtado, who has been very critical of the GPCC president Girish Chodankar, also seems to have changed his mind. Furtado has accused Girish of side-lining senior Congress leaders like him. Obviously, he must have got the assurance that he would be given a Congress ticket to fight Babush Monserrate from the Panaji constituency. But the biggest coup of the Congress is being able to persuade Avertano Furtado, who was nominated by the late Manohar Parrikar to contest the Navelim election, to return to the Congress family. Avertano on BJP ticket had defeated Churchill Alemao in 2012 elections. However, he lost to Luizinho Faleiro in 2017 election.

GO SLOW, WARNS GCCI

AND a few stray thoughts on the Goa Chamber of Commerce & Industry warning against haste in re-opening tourism in the State. The GCCI has cautioned the Travel & Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG) not to be in hurry to revive tourism. Ever since the casinos re-opened on Monday, September 27 there have been huge crowds at the booking office of the casinos. Big Daddy casino opened with convicted molester Gopal Kanda even holding a fashion show from 12pm to 3pm on September 28. The Calangute and Candolim beaches are seeing a rush of tourists. It’s the usual scene of tourists with beer bottles in hand and litter on the beaches scenario.
Indeed, Vijai Sardesai of Goa Forward has posted a picture of broken bottles on the beach on Facebook. He had demanded that the re-opening of tourism should be delayed. Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on the other hand is very keen on fully reviving tourism and has been requesting the Centre to permit charter tourism from Oct 1.
However, Pramod Sawant has in the same breath clarified that charters will be allowed only after 100% vaccination is achieved. Meanwhile there are the claims of the CM that Goa has achieved the target of more than 100% of the first dose has been ridiculed, as many are still queuing for the first dose. The CM’s claim that 40% of the population has received the second dose is also doubtful. Ever since the Ganesh festival the number of covid-19 cases have been rising again.

HIKE IN COVID-19 CASES

EVEN more alarmingly there have been more than ten deaths since last Sunday. The number of new covid-19 cases on Tuesday were up to 90. The number of new cases are going up in casino capital Panaji and the domestic tourist capital Candolim. Equally disturbing is the fact that back-to-back national and international conferences are being held in the newly opened Convention Centre hall of Fomento Resorts, now managed by the Taj Group. It may be recalled that under the earlier code of conduct halls and resorts were to be allowed to function only at 50% capacity.
A NEW controversy has risen about the photograph of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the Covid-19 vaccination certificates. It has been suggested by the governments of UK and US that it should carry the photograph of the person who has received both doses which should appear on the certificate. The CoWin App issues certificates of those who have taken the doses with a photo of Narendra Modi at the bottom.
Meanwhile the Supreme Court has made it clear that Modi’s image will not appear on any court documents. Despite the rising number of cases offline or physical classes of 9 to 12 standard schools are expected to open in October. The University has started the process of admission for 300 PhD seats. There is a fear that with reckless opening up of tourism the third wave might hit Goa.
Ironically, the Education department which has claimed that all schools staff have taken both doses of the vaccine, now told the Goa Bench of the Bombay High Court that it was not compulsory. The SC has already made it clear that vaccination for covid-19 was voluntary and nobody could be forced to take the vaccine or be discriminated against if they did not take the vaccine.

ALCOHOL MUSEUM

AND a few stray thoughts on the Goa which has a reputation for attracting drinking tourists setting up an Alcohol Museum. Historically, the main attraction for domestic tourists flooding Goa, is the fact that the cost of liquor is much lower in Goa than in any other state in the country. This is because the excise duty on liquor is much lower in Goa than in Karnataka and Maharashtra. Which is why people from Karnataka come to Loliem, the last village on the Goa side of the Karnataka border which has more than 50 bars. There have been frequent complaints of drunken domestic tourists leaving behind broken liquor bottles on the beaches. A large number of molestation cases of foreign charter tourists have been attributed to domestic tourists getting drunk and dis-orderly.
There have also been several cases of drowning due to drunken tourists going into the deep waters for a swim despite warnings from lifeguards. To worsen matters, many stared hotels offer unlimited daru as part of their three-day holiday package to attract people to Goa. Despite repeated demands there has been no ban on drinking on the beaches and the cancellation of licenses of liquor shops close to the beach.
It is even alleged that police from Maharashtra and Karnataka cross the border and stock up on daru to take back to their states. In theory you have to produce a permit issued by the Excise department which allows you to carry two bottles out of Goa. In practise, however, tourists take dozens of bottles when they are returning from their Goan holiday.
The museums in Goa including the state museum in Goa and the museum set up by Custom department in the old Portuguese time Customs House is in bad shape. Similarly, even the Adil Shah Palace which houses many of the treasures which were shifted is not properly maintained.
In the face of all this, the playboy owner of Love, Karma and Passion (LPK) nightclub in Nerul, Nandan Kurchodkar, has set up a bevda museum in Candolim. The museum naturally features a bar where you can drink drink yourself silly on a wide range of liquor. Many distilleries in Goa manufacture very cheap bottles of whiskey and brandy specially meant for tourists who can afford Rs50 per liquor bottle.
Meanwhile the government of Goa is going all out to promote Goa’s cashew and coconut liquor which has got an international geographical index. This means that no similar alcoholic product made anywhere in the world may be called feni. This is similar to genuine scotch being recognised as only if it is made in Scotland in the UK.

WOMEN TOP NORTH-EAST

AND a last stray thoughts on the disclosure that North-East tops the country in the number of women in managerial posts. Which is surprising considering that the North-East is predominantly populated by tribals who have a low level of literacy. However, there are states in the North-East like Meghalaya which have nationally reputed public schools.
I recall visiting one of the outstanding public schools in Meghalaya with architect Dean d’Cruz, whose father had been associated with the construction of the school. So not surprisingly the highest ratio of female managers is in Meghalaya, accounting for 34.1% of total number of managers in the state. Meghalaya is followed by Sikkim and Mizoram, according to an annual publication which carries a labour force survey.
This news comes as a surprise because it is not any of the major cities like Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata which have the highest number of women managers, but tiny tribal states in the North-East like Meghalaya and Mizoram. At 7% the state of Assam is at the bottom when it comes to women managers. We are also surprised that Goa does not rank anywhere in the list of states that are expressing pride in the number of their women managers.