DEDICATE YOUR LIFE TO A CAUSE!
GOVERNOR PILLAI SPEAKS: Goa Governor Sreedharan Pillai’s message is going out loud and clear. He urged people’s representatives to serve the people with dedication and affection while speaking at an interaction program with newly elected panchayat members of Sancoale, Cortalim, Cavelossim, Velsao-Pale and Cansaulim at the Kala Bhavan, Sancoale and members of chicalim village panchayat and Chikolna Bogmalo panchayat at Chicalim village panchnayat hall on August 25, 2022. Governor Pillai highlighted the importance of speaking in the mother tongue. Konkani is the mother tongue of a sizeable number of people in Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Goa, he said, and being the Chancellor of Goa University, he has given directions to the Goa University to start Konkani education centres in the four states. These centres will start soon in Cochin and Mangalore. Finally, he said, we should increase the Happiness Index in Goa for Goa is the richest state of the country and social workers, elected representatives must fulfil the promises made to the people. Amongst other things he added that welfare means at least minimum things to all. Gramswarajya means freedom to the villages and village people are the backbone of the country. Present were Transport Minister Mauvin Godinho, MLA Antonio Vas and other dignitaries.
HURTING SENTIMENTS
OVERHEARD in a bus. First youngster, “Newspapers should stop publishing page three where photos of famous people, personalities and parties are printed. I seriously plan to file a public interest litigation.”
Second youngster, “Why?”
First guy, “Some of their photos and postures are hurting my sentiments!”
Second guy, “You cannot deprive others of their fun and leisure reading just because you are hurt. Either you stop looking at that page or don’t buy newspapers.”
First guy, “I cannot do that.”
The quick riposte from the second guy, “Then you better become less sensitive else the sentimental attitude would make you a mental case! Good luck.”
–Sridhar Iyer, Caranzalem
KABRASTAN ROW
THE KABRASTAN row is still going on. It is very strange. The MMC is charged with providing land to the Muslim community for the kabrastan. The Muslim community has grown in leaps through migration into Goa.The MMC has no land of its own. All are aware of this. The MMC must now acquire this land from others.
However, the MMC is targeting only the local Goan and Communidade lands. Why is it sacrosanct that only land belonging to Goans must be acquired? Why not from the new landowners — politicians, real estates, Muslims who have so many illegal scrap yards monopolised by them — illegal and legal. These scrapyards create many problems for locals, sickness and disease, besides being eyesores. But they continue to proliferate. Why?
For a social cause land must be equally contributed for public use. All involved come together and identify plots from their community first: after all the MMC will compensate for the same. Politicians must not shy from offering their land as well. Land which has at any time been used for illegal activities or which is creating nuisance to the general public must top the list.
–R Fernandes, Margao
QUALITY EDUCATION/HEALTHCARE
THE crores spent on orchestrated NPAs should instead be invested directly for quality education and quality healthcare! This will give people intellectual, physical and moral courage to respect each other’s human rights, talents, failings and intelligence to live together peacefully and build mutually beneficial prosperity on a habitable planet.
Over 50% of the state/national budget should be dedicated to easily available quality education and healthcare in order to build a sophisticated society. This can be achieved by informed voters and constitutional governance!
–Mallan Kurien, Goa
OFFER SADHGURU MANDOVI WATER!
CHIEF MINISTER Pramod Sawant is as usual lost and confused, he needs to grow up. His latest toy is soil conservation. He and Sadhguru need to look at the glass of water they drink at meetings. It is not soil he needs to worry about first but water.
One may live without soil through high-tech modern farming. But nothing can survive without water. Soil needs water to bind, hold nutrients and encourage the growth of plants, trees and flowers – that is the bedrock to sustain the environment and ecology. Water consumed by humans must be pure and unpolluted.
Please tell me what efforts are being taken to ensure that Goa’s rivers, lakes, ponds, springs and wells are maintained in their natural condition? Zero! This government needs to get its act together to tackle water conservation by cleaning and restoring water bodies on a water footing. Stop wasting time on meetings and tall talk.
Offer Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev a glass of water straight from the Mandovi and the MLAs may join him in a toast by the riverside the next time he is here in Goa! Our politicians and their friends drink Perrier from glass bottles while the people of Goa die eating shenananeo collected from sewage polluted rivers of Goa.
–Socedado E, Goa
SADHGURU’S CALL!
DID Goa, India’s most literate state, need Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev of Isha Foundation to remind us of the dire need to save our soil? Given the current grim state of basic infrastructure, it would be prudent for the government to stop all new construction of residential complexes. Lack of proper planning is resulting in the mushrooming of environmentally incompatible new constructions all over without the basic infrastructure in place and Goa is a state in chaos.
With political blessings the real estate mafia has swiftly enriched itself multi-fold, leaving Goans to face the brunt of their misdeeds. The state is unable to provide adequate water and power supply. There is no proper sewerage system in place, garbage management has reached crisis point.
Goa has been witnessing colossal environmental degradation over the years through rampant destruction of hills, fragmentation of pristine green landscape and ruthless clearance of trees — even low lying fields are not spared and finally we are seeing the impact of criminal interference in Goa’s age old natural ecosystems.
If those in power do not take urgent, corrective, well planned and sustainable measures to save Goa’s natural ecosystems our gifted landscapes, eco-sensitive beaches, dunes, khazan lands, wetlands, water bodies of rivers, lakes, springs…will be catastrophic disasters. Goa has a beautiful incident of history endowed with abundant resources. Rampant greed is leading the state into a grave environment crisis now and a line must be drawn to determine where it all stops.
–Aires Rodrigues, Ribandar, Goa