Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Courtesy -Goa News Desk
Matnahy was a path breaker, says CM
GOANEWS DESK, PANAJI | 21 March 2012 11:27 IST
Matanhy at a public meet (Photo Courtesy: Rajan Parrikar)
Tourism minister Saldhana died of a massive heart attack today early morning. He was sworn in as his cabinet colleague on 9 March.
In his condolence message, Parrikar said: Saldhana was a leader of the masses in true sense of the term. He rose in Goan social field as a champion of Ramponkar and throughout his life worked for their upliftment. He was the beacon of weaker section of the society, who looked upon him as a saviour to mitigate their sufferings.
The chief minister further said in the death of Saldhana, Goa has lost a great leader who had big concern for the welfare of the people.
His death has caused irreparable loss for the future of Goa and it is difficult to fill the void created by his death, he added.
Monday, March 19, 2012
"The Battle for Panjim -Begins!!!"
The countdown for Panjim begins
courtesy TARGET NEWS
2011-03-01
[ Bevinda Collaco ] The picture is clear now. There are two main groups vying for control of Panjim the capital of the state. The Monserrate Camp is fielding a candidate in every one of the 30 wards of Panjim. The BJP is fielding candidates in 29 wards and will be supporting Oscar da Cunha in the thirtieth, which is Ward 26. My ward. And playing spoilsport is the Nationalist Congress Party or Mickky’s Camp which will split the votes. Residents of Panjim will go to the polls to cast their votes on March 13.
As the countdown begins to determining the fate of the fair city of Panjim, activists, heritage activists and residents with no agenda except a deep love and appreciation for their city are a worried lot. HERITAGE IS PANJIM'S USP but this may go if Monserrate gets control of CCP again As cities go, Panjim hardly qualifies as a city. It is a picturesque town. Blessed with water on all sides and joined to the mainland by modern and old bridges and a 400-year-old causeway the town rises gently from the river banks, the beaches and the salt flats to the hillock of Altinho. This was a planned city built when the overcrowded, ill planned Old Goa fell to the plague and the Portuguese colonial rulers decided to build their new plague free capital at Panjim the land that never floods. Today the ills that plague the city are legendary. Illegal constructions on steep slopes have caused havoc with landslides all around. The illegal constructions have over the years been encouraged by local councilors trying to woo their supporters. In Mala area for instance, residents swear by Rudresh Chodankar, since he always “helped” them out to get the necessary permits etc from the CCP for any “additions” they needed. The additions were often entire new annexes to their original houses or another floor. POPULAR NO MATTER WHAT or who Rudresh Chodankar joins Rudresh himself has pulled down his ground floor cottage in the hallowed heritage precinct of Fontainhas-Mala and has built a two-storeyed monster structure in its place. Illegal? Nah, it must be completely legal, with all required permits and licences of the CCP in place. Last year Rudresh was in the Opposition. Today he has joined the Monserrate Camp, the very same policies of which he condemned loudly and continuously at every meeting of the CCP. MASTERLY INACTIVITY Avinash Bhonsle Avinash Bhonsle who is generating the maximum noise in these elections will go down in history as the most useless councilor to ever darken the doors of Ward 26. He made an appearance in the ward on one day and one day only, the day he came around asking for votes. After he was elected, Bhonsle was never to be seen again in the ward. The weeds grew thick, the stepped street was breaking in parts, people were falling in the darkness and injuring themselves. Finally, the locals, including this writer, got the work done by the simple expedient of calling the Comissioner, the Mayor and the engineer allotted to the area. Ward 26 used to be one of the best looking wards in the city. Now it’s a sorry mess. The worry is not who will sweep our streets and collect our carefully segregated waste. The worry is that if the Monserrate Camp is given one more stab at running the CCP, the city of Panjim is doomed. Beautiful old structures will be pulled down to make way for broad roads, for multi-storeyed parking, for new buildings, all good in their own way some would say, but in the process changing not just the face of the city, but also changing a way of life that was the envy of all. HIS WISH IS EVERYONE'S COMMAND Babush Monserrate wants Panaji While the Monserrate Camp may have some fine upright individuals standing in several wards, it will still be Babush Monserrate who will make the major decisions. After the last elections he summoned all his winning candidates to his house in Taleigao and summoned the Commissioner too. He gave them a stern lecture where he laid down the bottom line. The CCP was his and it would be run according to his rules. And that is the way the CCP worked with the few members of the Opposition screaming themselves hoarse at every meeting. The one hope is Ashok Naik who has come back to contest even though he says he is keeping poor health. Ashok Naik was Chairperson and then Mayor before and during the cusp period when Panjim Municipal Corporation turned into the City of the Corporation of Panaji. That was Manohar Parrikar’s brainwave that backfired on the city in a really terrible way. From 12 wards, the city was divided into 30 wards was supposed to extend to Porvorim, Ribandar, Santa Cruz and Taleigao. Taleigao, Porvorim and SantaCruz refused the dubious honour but the 30 wards stayed and 30 completely unnecessary individuals ignored Panjim city and concentrated on “developing” Caranzalem and Taleigao where Monserrate had building interests. We have huge building complexes in this developed area, but no sewerage system. ABLE MAYOR, appreciated by opposition councillors too Ashok Naik was arguably the best Mayor the city has seen. Panjim looked her best during his tenure. His success lay in his ability to hand out funds for development without partiality. Unlike the present dispensation where the Monserrate panel made certain funds were utilized in their wards alone. The city has suffered and only the looming elections and maybe a sense of deep shame got the Panjim city garden completed. Stories of gifts being distributed have already started making the rounds. There is one set of comments on Facebook about a journalist who has received remuneration in six figures to present the candidates of one group in a good light. There are moves to expose him, so the days to come should be interesting with all this drama on the sidelines. |
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Great Reading Material By Dr.Oscar Rebello
ALZANTLYAN
The BJP –MGP alliance, natural beneficiaries of this Hiroshima like nuclear bomb on the Cong–NCP must however remember that this decisive mandate for change can never be read as a mandate for the poisonous ideology of “Hindutwa”. That should not just be on the back burner. It should be burnt to ashes preferably as soon as possible.
Well! Well! Well! Elections 2012 are dusted and over. The dynasties have been comprehensively defanged. People’s power “silently” overthrew a dastardly corrupt regime. Democracy blushed with pride and may be, just may be, we can see the sunlight peeping out from the dark clouds that hovered above us.
Will and importantly can Goa still be saved?
I don’t know, but the first firm step has decisively been taken by the Goan electorate. The road gets far more treacherous and slippery now on, but walk on it, together we must.
For starters let’s analyse how the Congress-NCP cookie crumbled. Under its own weight!
Forget about individual, bullying satraps; pillaging dynasties and the razzle dazzle of filthy lucre (admittedly all alliances in the fray are guilty of this misdemeanor).
The Congress leaders will assemble together for their “chintan baithak” (When did the Congress in Goa do a genuine “ think “ fest over the last 30 years?). They will probably deflect the blame for their ignominious debacle on padres, people and the press. And chances are that they will never read the gigantic writing on the wall. The obvious reason why they ended up in the dog house.
And there’s one and only one reason why the “secular” Congress was upstaged by the “ communal” BJP and others in the pack.
And the reason is this: The Cong–NCP sought to brazenly insult the dignity and the intelligence of the Goan voter. Viciously maliciously and Relentlessly !
They had reached the forgone conclusion that every Goan voter was up for sale and they did their deals, as if our land was one giant ugly bazaar.
Everyone I meet today tells me the same story; that they may have partaken of the Congress banquet laid out over the last campaigning month (which was in any case at tax payer’s cost) but they entered the polling booth with only one thought in their mind, which was to teach the Cong-NCP alliance an unforgettable and unforgiving lesson.
How a battered wife smiles through the sexual assault but one day picks up the sledge hammer, and smashes her husband’s head to drive the point home!
True a lot of decent, upright Goans continue to vote Congress but purely because they treasure the wonderful ideology that the Congress party otherwise espouses.
The BJP –MGP alliance, natural beneficiaries of this Hiroshima like nuclear bomb on the Cong–NCP must however remember that this decisive mandate for change can never be read as a mandate for the poisonous ideology of “Hindutwa”. That should not just be on the back burner. It should be burnt to ashes preferably as soon as possible.
The people of Goa were convinced that anyone else but the Congress–NCP could help them turn the corner on the downhill Road to Hell that we were all descending on. Hence the mandate.
Unsolicited as it will be, I offer my two penny’s worth of advice to the now governing alliance of the BJP-MGP. My “saat shapottam”
(1) After the initial euphoria, fireworks and open air swearing-ins, Maintain silence and get on with the job. Let your actions speak louder than your words.
(2) Get everyone – everyone - to follow the Law!! Don’t get into hot pursuit of the small fry. Go after the big sharks through a comprehensive system of justice and accountability like the Lokayukta (tough since many of the big sharks have also financed the BJP-MGP). Also the Law must apply to “Hindutwa” hotheads as firmly as for anyone else if they decide to go on one of their jolly rampages.
(3) Never allow private profit to overrule the greater public good, however powerful the private profit racketeer may seem
(4) Make environment protection, a non-negotiable instrument of governance but make people comprehend that economic growth is not possible if every second coconut tree is to be saved.
(5)Do not unnecessarily antagonize the media. Listen and listen very hard to all well-meaning critics and ignore, completely ignore, the abusive ones.
(6) Do not make individual, arbitrary decisions. Take collective ones. You may have to share the credits but you also get to share the blame.
(7) Good governance is always about systems, systems and systems. Democracy is always about justice, justice and justice.
We in Goa would do well to remember this;
Conventional wisdom tells us that there are three “M”s that win you an Election: Money power, Muscle power and Media power. Many who voted BJP-MGP this time round, voted perhaps with an eye also on the 4th “M” – Manohar (certainly not Azgaonkar ).
But I strongly believe that it was the fifth “M” that turned the tide and tilted the balance this Election 2012. To make that humungous difference.
The fifth “M” was this: THE MORAL POWER OF THE GOAN. Brilliant; Luminescent and Triumphant.
And it is this that must never, never be betrayed. Or there will be a price to pay, a very heavy one!
Take a bow Goa!! For now it seems we can breathe easy again. We’ll review the situation six months from now.
ALZANTLYAN
The 'M' factor
Well! Well! Well! Elections 2012 are dusted and over. The dynasties have been comprehensively defanged. People’s power “silently” overthrew a dastardly corrupt regime. Democracy blushed with pride and may be, just may be, we can see the sunlight peeping out from the dark clouds that hovered above us.
Will and importantly can Goa still be saved?
I don’t know, but the first firm step has decisively been taken by the Goan electorate. The road gets far more treacherous and slippery now on, but walk on it, together we must.
For starters let’s analyse how the Congress-NCP cookie crumbled. Under its own weight!
Forget about individual, bullying satraps; pillaging dynasties and the razzle dazzle of filthy lucre (admittedly all alliances in the fray are guilty of this misdemeanor).
The Congress leaders will assemble together for their “chintan baithak” (When did the Congress in Goa do a genuine “ think “ fest over the last 30 years?). They will probably deflect the blame for their ignominious debacle on padres, people and the press. And chances are that they will never read the gigantic writing on the wall. The obvious reason why they ended up in the dog house.
And there’s one and only one reason why the “secular” Congress was upstaged by the “ communal” BJP and others in the pack.
And the reason is this: The Cong–NCP sought to brazenly insult the dignity and the intelligence of the Goan voter. Viciously maliciously and Relentlessly !
They had reached the forgone conclusion that every Goan voter was up for sale and they did their deals, as if our land was one giant ugly bazaar.
Everyone I meet today tells me the same story; that they may have partaken of the Congress banquet laid out over the last campaigning month (which was in any case at tax payer’s cost) but they entered the polling booth with only one thought in their mind, which was to teach the Cong-NCP alliance an unforgettable and unforgiving lesson.
How a battered wife smiles through the sexual assault but one day picks up the sledge hammer, and smashes her husband’s head to drive the point home!
True a lot of decent, upright Goans continue to vote Congress but purely because they treasure the wonderful ideology that the Congress party otherwise espouses.
The BJP –MGP alliance, natural beneficiaries of this Hiroshima like nuclear bomb on the Cong–NCP must however remember that this decisive mandate for change can never be read as a mandate for the poisonous ideology of “Hindutwa”. That should not just be on the back burner. It should be burnt to ashes preferably as soon as possible.
The people of Goa were convinced that anyone else but the Congress–NCP could help them turn the corner on the downhill Road to Hell that we were all descending on. Hence the mandate.
Unsolicited as it will be, I offer my two penny’s worth of advice to the now governing alliance of the BJP-MGP. My “saat shapottam”
(1) After the initial euphoria, fireworks and open air swearing-ins, Maintain silence and get on with the job. Let your actions speak louder than your words.
(2) Get everyone – everyone - to follow the Law!! Don’t get into hot pursuit of the small fry. Go after the big sharks through a comprehensive system of justice and accountability like the Lokayukta (tough since many of the big sharks have also financed the BJP-MGP). Also the Law must apply to “Hindutwa” hotheads as firmly as for anyone else if they decide to go on one of their jolly rampages.
(3) Never allow private profit to overrule the greater public good, however powerful the private profit racketeer may seem
(4) Make environment protection, a non-negotiable instrument of governance but make people comprehend that economic growth is not possible if every second coconut tree is to be saved.
(5)Do not unnecessarily antagonize the media. Listen and listen very hard to all well-meaning critics and ignore, completely ignore, the abusive ones.
(6) Do not make individual, arbitrary decisions. Take collective ones. You may have to share the credits but you also get to share the blame.
(7) Good governance is always about systems, systems and systems. Democracy is always about justice, justice and justice.
We in Goa would do well to remember this;
Conventional wisdom tells us that there are three “M”s that win you an Election: Money power, Muscle power and Media power. Many who voted BJP-MGP this time round, voted perhaps with an eye also on the 4th “M” – Manohar (certainly not Azgaonkar ).
But I strongly believe that it was the fifth “M” that turned the tide and tilted the balance this Election 2012. To make that humungous difference.
The fifth “M” was this: THE MORAL POWER OF THE GOAN. Brilliant; Luminescent and Triumphant.
And it is this that must never, never be betrayed. Or there will be a price to pay, a very heavy one!
Take a bow Goa!! For now it seems we can breathe easy again. We’ll review the situation six months from now.
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