INDIAN DELEGATION TO G20YEA, HAMBURG, GERMANY

CII Yi Goa Chair Vaikunth Dempo joins Indian Delegation: The G20 Young Entrepreneurs’ Alliance (G20 YEA) is a global network of approximately 500,000 young entrepreneurs and the organizations that support them. This time the delegation of Young Indians included a Goan, Vaikunth Dempo (Chair CII – Yi Goa & Director, Dempo Marketing). Members of G20 are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union. Spain is also invited as a permanent guest. This year the G20 YEA Summit was hosted in Hamburg, Germany on October 27 & 28, 2022.

ILLEGAL ASSETS, CORRUPTION

WHAT is the job of CBI? Just waiting for people to complain so that enquiry may  start? They don’t have to do investigations on their own? Then we don’t need CBI to stay in their department. Earlier times I was sure the CBI’s role was to find out and investigate bribery, corruption, etc, in their own ways. This was carried out but not as per this report in a newspaper on the front page recently, with this gentleman saying no complaints of any central government employees having done any illegalities of any sort including corruption, have been made! 

Many times people do not like to make complaints as they fear being harassed and called many times for getting details of corruption, etc, so they try to avoid wasting their time and energy when something can go wrong. What is the reason for the CBI being there to perform its job? 

–Stephen Dias, Dona Paula

SHARING VIEWS EMPOWERS 

IN life we have mentors and detractors. Both play a role. But our critics are more valuable as they point out our follies and thus help us correct ourselves when we go wrong.

We are within our rights to have a particular view and opinion on any issue, but we must diligently respect that others can have a different or divergent outlook on the same issue. Agreeing to disagree must always be our thrust. One of the greatest gifts of a true democracy is the Freedom of Expression within the rule of law.

We must always endeavour to express our thoughts freely and fearlessly without malice. Each one of us by expressing our views through the print and social media can create social awareness on issues that matter. I have been painstakingly doing my bit even though it takes effort and as much as an hour every morning. But for me it’s my happy hour of the day, being able to share my thoughts and information, with a multitude of friends across the globe. There couldn’t be a better feeling.  

As Mahatma Gandhi reminded us,  “You never know where your actions will lead to. But if you don’t do anything they will lead you nowhere. All good thoughts and ideas mean nothing without action.”

–Aires Rodrigues, Ribandar

DABOLIM FUTURE?

PEOPLE from Mormugao taluka should start blaming their own past leaders from the erstwhile ruling Congress party over the issue of Dabolim airport’s future in Goa! Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation V K Singh (Retd) whilst speaking on the sidelines of an event at Panjim has now verbally assured the people of Mormugao taluka (obviously at the behest of CM Pramod Sawant and keeping an eye on the South Goa Lok Sabha seat) that both Dabolim and Mopa airports would continue to operate simultaneously, even after commissioning of the new Mopa airport at Pernem.

Personally I feel that Union Minister V K Singh is simply bluffing the people of Mormugao taluka/South Goa, by blindly saying that both airports will co-exist simultaneously even in the near future. Nothing of that sort has really been signed on the ground so far by the State and the Central governments over this very complex issue in Goa.  

Today, the whole of India knows that the concept of two airports has practically not worked in several Indian states and one of the two airports has always been made to shut down eventually due to low footfalls. Which means that the Dabolim Airport too will meet a similar fate and be forcibly made to slowly  shut down sooner or later after facing similar complications in Goa.

Why would any sane government allow two airports to co-exist simultaneously, unnecessarily, in a tiny state like Goa in the near future?  The people of Mormugao taluka instead of blaming the present BJP government should start blaming their former leaders (especially from Salcette and South Goa), from the erstwhile ruling Congress party for wholeheartedly supporting the Mopa Airport project right from day one (despite behaving like die-hard Dabolim airport supporters all along) and for finally arriving at the messy, complicated, unsure situation today of  Dabolim airport’s future in Goa.

–Jerry Fernandes, Saligao

FENTANYL KITS AT SUNBURN!

GOA will host Sunburn soon. Despite the fact that the now notorious festival’s current run-rate of one youth fatality on site per day – this was set the last time it was held. The local youth and EDM fan base will be treated to a horde of killer international acts, pun not intended. The organizers and their enablers will once again be tasked with keeping psychotropics and illegal drugs off the venue, but parents deserve more. 

News reports reveal an epidemic of fentanyl related overdoses and how a student-led NGO handed out free testing kits to prevent guaranteed death the first time and regular   drug users. Women should be wary of leaving drinks unattended, date-rape drugs like ketamine are odourless and tasteless, and can leave women sterile for life. 

Men should be just as careful; sadly, Goa’s coastal belts are infested with youth turned into sociopaths after years of hard drug abuse. There are stories of youth insidiously being sold powdered glass or heart medication in the guise of cocaine! Snorting  is a very painful death sentence with lungs imploding. 

Adding to the drug menace, there is also the increased risk of human trafficking and police lapses, this is elaborated in-depth in the article in goemkarponn.com.  The organizers or the Tourism department must foot the bill and provide fentanyl testing kits to all ticket holders at the Sunburn. The math shows that one ticket holder will have a toe-tag when Sunburn and its after-partying is done and dusted with.

–Chris Fernandes, Miramar