By Rajan Narayan

AND a few stray thoughts for yet another Saturday. For a Saturday following the week when the chief justice of the Supreme Court made it clear that secularism was an integral part of the Constitution. For a Saturday following the week when the expert panel laid by the chairman Vijai Kenkre confirmed that the quality of the Kala Academy renovation work was very poor. For a Saturday following the week when the Goa bench of the Bombay High Court asked the government how illegal structures are able to get water and power connections. For a Saturday following the week with the disclosure that Maharashtra and West Bengal are the major sources for supply of sex workers to Goa. For a Saturday following the week when the Indian Institute of Technology continues to search for a prominent home.
AND a few stray thoughts on the chief justice of the Supreme Court making it clear that secularism was an integral part of the Constitution. Chief Justice Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud made it clear that the provision related to secularism could not be altered or changed. The chief justice was reacting to the private petition demanding the omission of the world secular and socialists from the Constitution.
The chief justice insisted that India could not be a Hindu nation and that all communities were equal in the eyes of the law. The chief justice also declined to substitute the word constitution by Hindutva. Under Chief Justice DY Chandrachud the Supreme Court has always upheld minority rights. The SC has taken very severe notice of the attack on minority communities for alleged storage and consumption of beef. The chief justice and the SC have refused to accept claims of love jihad. The legacy of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud who will be retiring soon is his strong resistance to attempts at converting India into a saffron state. At the same time, the chief justice has not denied his Hindu roots and has openly acknowledged that he prayed to god to guide him for the landmark judgment of the Ramjanbhoomi temple and the Babri masjid demolition case. The message is that there is no contradiction in being Hindu and also upholding the constitutional right of secularism.

KALA ACADEMY SHAME
AND a few stray thoughts on the expert panel led by chairperson Vijai Kenkre who confirms that the quality of the Kala Academy renovation work has been very poor. Vijay Kenkre, who is part of the family of the first director of the Kala Academy, Damu Kenkre, comments, “The renovated works are not even of passing standard.” Specifically, he drew attention to the poor AC system and the leakage caused by the unsatisfactory sound and acoustics put in. The chairperson of the task force has suggested that experts should be engaged to complete the remaining work.
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant’s government has set up the task force after persistent complaints over the shoddy renovation. The roof of the indoor auditorium of the Kala Academy started leaking soon after it reopened. Water seeped from the floor of the indoor auditorium. A social media post of a snake crawling on the carpet also caught a lot of attention. The wall of the outdoor auditorium collapsed during the heavy rains of last year.
The Kala Academy which was designed by master architect Charles Correa was considered one of the finest centers for art and culture in the country. The renovation was undertaken at a cost of almost Rs50 crore. The Kala Academy has been renovated several times including on the eve of the first IFFI. It is not known whether the Kala Academy will be available as a venue with this year’s IFFI starting on November 20, 2024.

CUT WATER & POWER
AND a few stray thoughts on the Goa bench of the Bombay high court asking the government how illegal structures were able to get water and power connections. Advocate General Devidas Pangal admitted that the Health Act was the root caused of the proliferation of illegal structures. Under the Health Act completion certificate could not be issued to buildings which have not made adequate provisions for the clearance of sewage. It has been stipulated that multi-storage buildings must set up a sewage treatment plant. There have been many complaints of huge multi-storied buildings releasing their sewage water on the roads.
A complaint was recently filed by Dona Paula resident James Nunes over sewage water entering his house because of the new high-rise buildings adjacent to his older house behind the Dona Paula police outpost. It has also been found that the majority of the illegal structures seem to have no problem getting power connections. Theft of power is widespread.
The advocate general claimed that most illegal structures come up during the weekends. This is only true of slums and there are huge building complexes with extended illegal power connections. Many of them also have the benefit of public water supply. It is obvious that the illegal structure have the patronage of politicians at all levels from the sarpanch to councilor to minister.

SEX WORKERS IN GOA
AND a few stray thoughts on the disclosure that Maharashtra and West Bengal are the major states supplying sex workers in Goa. Like every tourist destination Goa has seen a huge increase in sex trafficking. Shockingly, the survey by the NGO ARZ, has also revealed that a large number of foreign nationals from Kenya have been trafficked to Goa for participation in the sex trade. Unlike in the past when red light districts were confined to Baina, every lodge and every small hotel has become a centre for prostitution.
It is the smart mobile phone which is most widely used by pimps to market their services. This makes it difficult for the police to catch the big fish engaged in sex trafficking. Not surprisingly the police are able to detect only a hundred cases a year. The tragedy is that most of the sex workers rescued are minors. A new trend is the sex trade being used to blackmail tourists. The police have reported a case in Porvorim where sex workers blackmailed clients and extorted money on the threat of implicating them on rape charges.

HOTELS AND RESTAURANTS
AND a few stray thoughts on the Pollution Control Board issuing notices to over a hundred Panaji hotels and restaurants. The board discovered that hotels and restaurants are carrying out business without the consent of the Goa State Pollution Board. They are violating both the water and air pollution acts. The board has discovered that the hotels do not a valid consent license. Those who had been granted permission are not renewing the permission every five years as required.
So now restaurants and hotels are being asked to produce all their documents such as trade license, ownership license of premises and some more. All will also have to establish that they have waste management facilities. The wet waste from hotels is a major source of pollution. The failure to control the quality of water could lead to an outbreak of cholera as it happened at the Cutbona jetty.

IIT FOR A HOME IN GOA
AND a few stray thoughts on the Indian Institute of Technology continuing to search for a prominent home in Goa. The government recently announced that there were problems with the land allotted to the IIT Goa in Sanguem. Apparently, the property papers were not in order. So much so that the IIT has to find a new location. The Central government has specified that a new IIT campus must be allotted 12 acres.
The late Manohar Parrikar had suggested that in view of the scarcity of land in Goa, the IIT should accept six acres. Originally, the IIT was to come up in the Canacona taluka. There was stiff opposition from the locals. Half-a-dozen other locations were also rejected. The IIT has been operating from temporary premises at the Goa Engineering College in Farmagudi.

PEACE UNIVERSITY
AND a few stray thoughts on the mounting opposition to the called peace private university for which comunidade land has been allotted in Thivim. It is not clear what courses the Peace University offers. Considering that Goa already has a large number of education institutions it does not require a new university. The existing Goa University faces a severe shortage of staff. Goa has a number of engineering colleges including the BITs Pilani Goa unit and the NIIT. Besides there are three private colleges in addition to the government engineering colleges. Over 50% of the seats in private engineering colleges have no takers. The ground reality is that there are no jobs for qualified and skilled Goan youth. There is no case for setting up a new university in Goa.