THE LUXURY SYMPOSIUM 2022 comes to Goa!

Look who is here! None other than pioneering fashion and couture icon Ritu Beri (founder of The Luxury League) who is all for promoting the luxury brands of India. In this respect she is being supported by the Ministry of Tourism of India, Ministry of Skill and Development under the 75 Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav campaign. Interacting with local media as also Prabha Chandran (of World Bank blogs and `Huffington Post’ fame) on March 24, 2022 Ritu Beri said India is bursting with luxury brands and these deserve to do better in global markets. All they need is push and promotion and now clearly they are being showcased in collaboration with The Luxury Symposium taking place at the Hilton Goa Resort on March 26 and 27, 2022. Goa’s who’s who will be there to participate in this most crème de la crème event defining luxury in the Indian context! Chief Guest will be Minister of Culture & External Affairs Meenakshi Lekhi and guest of honor Her Royal Highness Queen Diambi Kabatusuila of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Pic above sees glamorous Ritu Beri (right) answering some questions put to her by Prabha Chandran.

NO MORE PROMISES, PLEASE! 

THE singular “achievement” of successive BJP governments in Goa has been in perfecting the art of political conmanship – be it from standard U-turns to Pramod Sawant’s edition of bluffing. Goans have suffered far too long from government follies.

After all that we have witnessed over the last three years with him as CM, it is ludicrous that he returns anew with the audacity to assure us that his government will show zero tolerance for corruption. Perhaps he would like to tell us how he has acquired such huge properties and enormous wealth after venturing into politics?  

It looks more like a thief shouting “Thief” to  fool us into chasing shadows in the dark while he applauds himself as a saint. Possibly for the first time in the recent election the BJP has distributed abundant money to voters in every constituency across Goa. So their priority would now obviously be to swiftly recover it and this will happen through organized corruption.

As with those aspiring to be ministers with plum portfolios why do we presume the intention? Nothing more needs to be said about Pramod Sawant clinging to the very lucrative Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation as chairperson even after being the chief minister. A step towards combating corruption would be for the CM to make all transactions in casinos cashless, so that the flow of black money is aborted. But will he do it? 

He may also how bona fide he is by respecting the Supreme Court judgment that those facing criminal charges should not be inducted into the Cabinet; two MLAs aspiring to be ministers are currently facing trial for very serious criminal offences. I guess we shall soon know how serious Pramod Sawant is about starting his second innings with a clean slate.

— Aires Rodrigues, Ribandar

WATER, WATER

Making the invisible, visible

THE theme for World Water Day 2022 was “Making the invisible visible!” We all know about of surface water and how it gets contaminated, wasted, exploited by the industries. However, groundwater is invisible and hence out of sight.

In Cuncolim some unscrupulous businesses are actually discharging untreated wastewater into the groundwater table via the rain harvesting wells! What has the PWD/Factory Inspector and GSPCB done in this case? Their actions are invisible. It’s an attitude which must change.

Making ground water visible requires investigative reporting of a high order. Rain water harvesting measures allow untreated rain water flowing in any terrain — note Goa is not ODF — to directly enter bores sunk for this purpose. This is wrong.

We need to monitor these bores and the bore wells used mainly by industrial houses. Cess on such water is very low and must be increased. In fact, ground water must be used only for human consumption: many places in Goa are crying for water and we have industrialists taping away ground water and contaminating it.

Will the new names in the assembly speak up and prove they are not Trojans!

 –R Fernandes, Margao