LEARN HISTORY OF GOA!

GOA@ 60- Educationist Datta B Naik, while delivering a lecture at the Goa Utsav (a public lecture series, organised by the Department of Information & Publicity as part of its Goa@60 celebrations) on December 17, 2021 urged students to learn and know the history of Goa. The Liberation of Goa from Portuguese rule, he added, opened up the gates for the all-round development of Goa regarding education, equality, liberty, pace of development as also freedom of expression. He recalled that freedom was not achieved easily on December 19, 1961 but it was thanks to the sacrifices made by freedom fighters and martyrs, many making the supreme sacrifice of losing their life. A documentary film titled “History of Goa Through the Ages” was screened on the occasion. Assistant Director of Sports & Youth Affairs Dr Vivek Pawarstant and Information Officer Prakash Naik were present for the function and the latter in his welcome address shared that similar Goa Utsav celebrations are being organised Ponda, Margao, Sanquelim and Mapusa.

WHAT THE STARS FORETELL FOR PANAJI

The election to Goa Assembly will be done by February 2022. There are various aspirants for the post of Panjim MLA in the various political parties of Goa.
Panjim being the capital city is important to all the political parties. Issues before Panjim are many; no proper garbage management plant, the sewage released from casinos is dumped in the Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) at Tonca despite exceeding its capacity resulting in pollution of the St Inez Creek and the river Mandovi, the garbage of Panjim is not scientifically treated and the garbage plant planned at Bainguinim is so far a non-starter.
Now, we have a long time patron in charge of Panjim vying for the Panjim seat on a BJP ticket but the court case of the stoning of the Panjim Police Station is like a sword over his head. The hard-core BJP party workers want Utpal Parrikar to be the Panjim candidate.
Interestingly, the Congress is fighting hard to win Panjim which they lost when Babush won on the Congress ticket and defected to BJP. At the moment, Congress have many aspirants for Panjim —Uday Madkaikar, Surendra Furtado,
Menino de Cruz among others.
Among the other parties, the Aam Aadmi Party has got the very well educated and clean politician Valmiki Naik. It is not known yet if the TMC and MGP union which is just formed is going to fill a common candidate for Panjim.
What is very important for the residents of Panjim to consider is who among these candidates will be best suited to meet the most critical challenges:
Will the casinos from River Mandovi be removed?
Will the candidate be able to give a garbage treatment plant for Panjim?
Whether the St Inez creek and Mandovi will be desilted and sewage pollution in the river would be stopped?
Whether the construction of the monstrous and environmentally dangerous terminal building on the jetty near the existing Captain of Ports will be stopped?
Will he or she address the parking woes of the city as casino vehicles, scooters, tourists, tempos, tankers, tour buses are choking all the arteries of Panjim streets and making loud noises not allowing the nearby residents to sleep and to move due to traffic congestion on pavements and roads? There is heavy dust pollution and buses moving without pollution certificates. Thus, they, too, emitting black smoke throughout their journey with impunity in front of traffic policemen who fail to issue challans.
All the above are causing respiratory ailments which can have far reaching consequences, especially with Covid infections starting to spike again, and must not be neglected by those seeking votes from Panjimites.
Miramar beach has turned into an eye sore where you can see number of illegal construction including a huge Samadi construction is in progress. To shut people’s mouth, a recreation facility and garden has been made. Those who frequent from Miramar to Dona Paula know the whole stretch of road is smelling of sewage and bad smell at certain pockets specially near the new Vivanta hotel and also near the Goa Science Centre area.
We have already seen the BJP has no interest in removing the casinos. In fact, since they have been in power for more than ten years we have to acknowledge they are incapable of doing any of the things on this list. All they can do is promise a Smart City. Notice I said ‘promise.’ That’s all our Goan politicians can typically do. Make promises they can’t deliver.
Only our government could have the nerve to talk about Panjim as a Smart City while you have multiple illegalities going on and even basics like the number of huge trees fallen down are unattended. Our roads are in a dilapidated condition with a number of pot holes all over Panjim. Even their pride and joy – the Atal Sethu – can’t be used half the time.
I Let’s wait and watch if any candidate will care enough to solve the structural issues that face Panjim instead of only putting on a show before the elections.
–Stephen Dias, Dona Paula

VERDICTS MORE ACCEPTABLE
CUTTING across party lines, the unanimity that the National Judicial Appointments Commission Bill be revived and implemented, should be hailed. Not because the pure legal collegium is to be replaced with an appointments commission consisting of Law Minister, Chief Justice of India, two Supreme Court judges as well as two eminent persons, but because with the diversity of the NJAC, verdicts of the Apex Court and High Courts should now find not only wider acceptability but almost near total acceptance by all as the NJAC is now a balanced appointments commission represented by eminent jurists, a politician, as well as eminent personalities. Thus, the selection process having wider representation, adjudication of all cases becomes more widely accepted.
The NJAC Bill could thus herald the era of supremacy of the legal system to everyone’s acceptance. The transparency and accountability would also become more broad-based. The incorporation of the law minister and the two eminent personalities could give the NJAC more equilibrium not amounting to sheer pure legal aspect, but involving the political and academic perspective. Greater diversity could have a moderating effect. It is not a compromise but broad based integration in the selection process
— Elvidio Miranda, Panaji

OXFAM INDIA
WHEN Oxfam India’s team reached Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district, we found that 24-year-old Jhumuri Behera was denied maternity care funds under the state government’s Mamata scheme. The problem was that her Aadhaar card carried her maiden’s name while the government maternity benefit scheme card carried her marital name. Such was the case with several other women and neither the Anganwadi workers nor the bank officials offered them any support.
A policy meant to provide healthcare to marginalized women failed because policy makers did not consider that women’s last name changes after marriage.
Oxfam India along with our partner organization formed women’s groups to monitor the implementation of government schemes and train women on their health rights. We trained the groups on legal steps to take up the issue with the Child Development Project Officer (CDPO) and the bank officials. Eventually, authorities took action and ensured that the bank opened women’s accounts irrespective of name change and transferred them their entitled funds.
We are working to make sure that government healthcare services reach everyone. To make this possible, our teams work closely with communities, local authorities, and Anganwadi workers. We aim to improve nutrition, maternity care, and immunization among communities.
–Chitra R, Bangaluru