OHERALDOThe Voice of Goa Since 1900

PTI

TIRUCHIRAPPALLI (TN), MARCH 24

Taking the war of freebies to anew high, the AIADMK mani-festo for the April 13 Assemblypolls today promised 20 kg offree rice for ration-card holders,laptops for students from ClassXI, free fans, mixers and grindersto all and mineral water to BPLfamilies.

Seeking to match her beteno i r DMK P res iden t MKarunanidhi, AIADMK chief J Jay-alalithaa showered freebies inthe manifesto, which she re-leased here after filing her nom-ination from the temple townof Srirangam, moving away fromthe rural Andipatti constituency.

In a bid to woo women vot-ers, Jayalalithaa promised fourgms of gold for Thali (mangal-

sutra) free of cost to poor, be-sides cable TV connections atsubsidised rates.

The freebies promised byAIADMK marks a U-turn fromJayalalithaas opposition to suchpopulist schemes announced bythe DMK in 2006 elections,which was perceived to havetilted the balance in its favour.

Apparently targeting theMaran brothers who hold a near

monopoly over the cable TV dis-tribution across the state, shealso promised nationalisationof multi-system operators.

Sumangali Cable Vision,owned by the Sun Network ofmedia baron Kalanidhi Maranand his brother and Union Min-ister Dayananidhi Maran, grandnephews of Karunanidhi ,presently commands a virtualstranglehold over the cable TVbusiness.

AIADMK, if voted to power,would provide free bus passesto all citizens aged over 58, asugarcane procurement price ofRs 2,500 a tonne, a restructuredhealth insurance scheme for alland a special scheme for thewelfare of Sri Lankan Tamilrefugees, now lodged in campsacross the state, she said.

Visit us at:www.oheraldo.in panjim, friday, march 25, 2011 postal reg. no. Goa 101 pricE rs. 3.00 (air Surcharge rs 2.00) pages 16+4

Business: Food inflation returns

to double digits Pg 9Goas Heartbeat: Kate looking for

different kind of love Pg 4

H

High Tide: 0154; 1543

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T I D E S T O D A Y

Whatever is worthdoing at all is worth

doing well

Chesterfield

HERALD REPORTER

PANJIM, MARCH 24

Chief Minister Digambar Kamattoday revised the State Budget2011-12 by proposing subsidyfor milk producers, increasinglibrary cess on liquor and re-structuring the Luxury Tax im-posed on various hotels.

Kamat told the State Legisla-tive Assembly on Thursday thathe had been receiving severalmemorandums from a cross sec-tion of people after he pre-sented his Budget.

I received many representa-tions from milk farmers askingfor benefits including incentiveson support price for milk, thechief minister said.

Having considered the de-mands, and the need to encour-age milk production in the State,I wish to provide a subsidy ofRs 2.50 per litre of production,upto 100 litres of productionper day, he said.

Kamat further proposed a sys-tem where incentives would bedirectly given to farmers throughElectronic Clearing System wherethe amount would be directlycredited in their bank accounts.

With this incentive, I expectthe milk producers union to re-duce milk prices, he said.

Kamat also proposed a uni-form subsidy of 75 per cent tomilk farmers to purchase equip-ment. The subsidy is enhancedfrom 30 per cent to 50 per cent.

The chief minister in hisbudget had proposed rational-ization of luxury tax rates onhotel room rents and had in-creased the slabs based on room

rentals.However, with the Union

Budget imposing a levy of serv-ice tax on hotel rooms chargingRs 1000 for each room, per day,the hotel industry will be furtheraffected, he claimed.

Since Goa is an internationaltourism hub and in order to sup-port the local hotel industry, Iwould like to reconsider therates and slabs proposed in myBudget presentation, he said.

In the reviewed proposal,rooms not exceeding Rs 300 perday are exempted from luxurytax. Those between Rs 300 toRs 2,000 would have to pay 5per cent tax, between Rs 2,000to Rs 5,000, 8 per cent tax andfor room rent exceeding Rs5,000 per day and more, 10 pertax will be charged.

Kamat also enhanced the li-brary cess on liquor by 25 paise,that is, from existing 75 paiseto Re one per bulk litre.

The chief minister claimedthat the step was initiated tofurther strengthen the librarymovement in the State and toprovide finance for its enhancedinfrastructural development.

Kamat also announced a hikein nursing and washing allowancefor trained nurses. He proposedthe nursing allowance to behiked from existing Rs 1600 toRs 3200 per month and washingallowance from existing Rs 150to Rs 300 per month which willbe effective from April 1, 2011.

He said that nearly 1755 nurs-ing staff in Government hospi-tals and 43 nurses in ESThospitals would benefit.

CM unveils moresops in round 2

BUDGET REVISEDMILK: Subsidy of Rs 2.50 per litre of production, upto100 litres of production per day. 75 per cent subsidy topurchase equipment.

LUXURY TAX: Rooms not exceeding Rs 300 per day areexempted from luxury tax. Those between Rs 300 to Rs2,000 would have to pay 5 per cent tax, between Rs 2,000to Rs 5,000, 8 per cent tax and for room rent exceedingRs 5,000 per day and more, 10 per tax will be charged.

CESS ON LIQUOR: Library cess on liquor enhanced by25 paise, from existing 75 paise to Re one per bulklitre.

NURSING & WASHING ALLOWANCE: Nursing allowanceto be hiked from existing Rs 1600 to Rs 3200 per monthand washing allowance from existing Rs 150 to Rs 300per month.

HERALD REPORTER

PANJIM, MARCH 24

Bowing to intense pressure fromGreen activists, the Corporationof the City of Panaji (CCP) onThursday stopped cutting oftrees and the extension workof Kala Academy.

CCP Mayor Yatin Parekhplaced a temporary stop workorder after Campal residentsincluding few of the newlyelected Corporators and ac-tivists raised strong objectionover the Kala Academys expan-sion plan which would result incutting age-old trees.

The extension project under-

taken by the Goa State IndustrialDevelopmental Corporation(GSIDC) and Kala Academy, have

been issued notices to discon-tinue the work until further or-ders. The project proposes to

chop more than 30 trees withinthe KAs premise.

We will be holding a councilmeeting shortly wherein we willdebate Kala Academys expan-sion project and issues relatedto it. Until then, we have issuedinstructions to GSIDC and KalaAcademy to stop the work,Parekh told Herald.

However, four to five treeswithin the premise have beenfelled before the order could beissued. Earlier, Patricia Pinto, aco-opted councillor to handlethe waste management of thecapital city, local councilor Kabir

KAs extension project stopped

Yuvraj Sngh and teammate Suresh Raina celebrate after beating Australia during the quarter-final matchof the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011. India face Pakistan in the semi-finals on March 30 at Mohali.

A bulldozer at work at the Kala Academy. Photo By Rozario Estibeiro

HERALD REPORTER

PANJIM, MARCH 24

The registration of mining truckswith the Mines and Geology De-partment would be made com-pulsory as per the central Minesand Minerals Development andRegulation (MMDR) Act, ChiefMinister Digambar Kamat toldthe State Assembly on Thurs-day.Kamat pointed out that the Cen-tral Government has amendedthe MMDR Act, which givespowers to the Indian Bureau ofMines and also the Mines andGeology Department to regulatethe truck traffic.Under this Act, people usingtrucks to carry minerals will haveto register them with the MinesDepartment, Kamat said addingthat Goa will implement thisAct.The chief minister said that theState Government has alreadyissued an order in this regardwhich will regulate miningtrucks in the State.Kamat was replying to cut mo-tions on demands for grants onMines, Commercial Taxes, Artand Culture, Excise and Finance. The Opposition Benches, earlier,

had castigated the State Gov-ernment for failure to controlthe illegal mining activity andunregulated truck transport inthe State.Kamat said that the Departmentwill not register the trucks, ifthe road (on which they will ply)is not able to sustain the load. The thrust is to reduce the en-vironment damage in Goa, hesaid.He also announced that specialmeasures would be in place tocontrol the entry of miningtrucks from neighbouring States.Reiterating that there would beban on new mining leases till apolicy is framed, Kamat said thatthe Goa State Pollution ControlBoard has also been asked todeny consent to operate newmines in the State.The chief minister said that he

Mining trucks to be bound by MMDR Act

Under this Act, peopleusing trucks to carryminerals will have toregister them with theMines Department.

Digambar Kamat

PTI

NEW DELHI, MARCH 24

JPC today began looking intothe 2G scam with its ChairmanP C Chacko saying he would takeup with Lok Sabha SpeakerMeira Kumar the issue of possi-ble encroachment of its turf bythe Public Accounts Committeewhose chief Murli Manohar Joshiremained unfazed.

Chacko also indicated thatupto eight of the 30-member JPCcould be having conflict of inter-

est on account of having beenunion ministers between 1998and 2008, a period under scrutinyfor framing and implementationof the telecom policy.

The JPC, which held its firstmeeting today, discussed ques-tions like whether the PAC, aCommittee of Parliament, washolding a parallel inquiry and ifthere was any conflict of interestbecause of inclusion of somemembers besides the scheduleof meetings.

There is no clash of interest,but parliamentary propriety isthat the PAC should not (lookinto telecom policy issues), saidChacko, while noting that JPC hasbeen constituted to look into theissue of policy in telecom sectoras per the terms of reference.

Insisting that PAC should notbe concerned with questions ofpolicy but can only look intoextravagance in implementa-tion of the policy, he said JPCmembers, who are also part of

the PAC, shared similar views.I would meet the Speaker to

discuss the matter (of parallelprobes), the Congress leader said.

Asked whether he would alsomeet Joshi, he said he would re-quest the Speaker to call himto discuss the issue.

Members of the committeewere unanimous that parallelprobe by two committees of Par-liament inquiring into the sameissue was avoidable and not

JPC-PAC conflict of interest comes to fore

From laptops to mineral water, Jaya promises all

In a bid to woo womenvoters, Jayalalithaapromised four gms ofgold for Thali(mangalsutra) free ofcost to poor, besidescable TV connections atsubsidised rates.

Terror threatto WC venue foiled, 1 held

PTI

ISLAMABAD, MARCH 24

A suspected terrorist whoplanned to target a cricketWorld Cup venue in Sri Lankahas been arrested on the basisof information provided by Pak-istan to Interpol, officials saidtoday.

There was a serious attemptof an act of terrorism duringthis (World Cup), Pakistans In-terior Minister Rehman Maliksaid at a joint news conferencewith Interpol Secretary GeneralRonald Noble.

Malik said Noble supervisedthe action that led to the arrest.

Sports: Draw inspiration from

Pak game Vettori Pg 15

HERALD REPORTER

PANJIM, MARCH 24

In a shocking submission, ChiefMinister Digambar Kamat todayadmitted there were irregulari-ties in almost all the distilleriesin the State but said there wasvery little the Government coulddo about it.

Kamat conceded on the floorof the House that all distilleriesin the State will have to be shutdown, if the Government strictlychecks whether they abide byall the laws.

If distilleries have to followall the laws, then we will haveto shut down all the distilleriesin the State, Kamat said re-

sponding to a volley of sugges-tions and allegations levelled byOpposition benches.

The chief minister said thatevery person who operated adistillery was involved in somekind of irregularity.

Kamat said that after the in-quiry report (by then financesecretary Rajiv Yaduvanshi), sev-eral measures had been put inplace.

After the report, several sug-gestions came in includingmulti-colour permits, he saidadding that even multi-colourholograms were introduced toprevent duplication of the liquor.

Intervening at this point,

Leader of Opposition ManoharParrikar said multi-colour holo-grams could not prevent dupli-cation in the long term.

Permits should be with pre-printed numbers and with goodquality paper, he suggested.

Kamat assured the Assemblythat in future, permissions forlate night liquor outlets in res-idential areas would not begranted.

Except in tourism areas, latenight bars in other areas willnot be allowed to operate, hesaid.

The chief minister said thatspecial squads have been

Most distilleries

flout rules: Kamat

(Continued on page 8)

(Continued on page 8)

(Continued on page 8)

(Continued on page 8)

HERALD REPORTER

PANJIM, MARCH 24

Congress legislator DayanandNarvekar has demanded thatGoa should stop hosting Inter-national Film Festival of India(IFFI) and instead reroute themoney to promote regionalmovies.

Speaking on the congratula-tory motion moved by Chan-drakant Kavlekar, on ThursdayNarvekar said that Governmentshould stop pumping Rs 9.5crores for the film festivals andinstead render support to localfilm industry.

The congratulatory motionwas passed in admiration ofwork by Dr Pramod Salgaonkarand Jyoti Concolienkar, for pro-ducing Marathi movie MareParyant Phashi.

Goa has tremendous poten-tial for films and film celebrities.Goa born Omi Vaidhyas actingin 3 Idiots was much appreciatedand so also N Chandra andSudesh Bhonsle trace their rootsto Goa. They have brought fameto Goa. We need to invite themand produce good movies,Narvekar, the former financeminister said.

He set example of film festi-vals organized in Delhi andKolkatta which are not sup-ported by the government.

We can work on the samelines and support local artisans,drama, movies and tiatr. Thiswill boost local actors, headded.

Chief Minister DigambarKamat desisted from reactingon the statement by his ownparty colleague but stated that

State governments film financescheme was receiving good re-sponse from the regional filmmakers.

State government will con-tinue supporting this schemewhich helps the upcomingyoung artists and produce morefilms. There is demand to in-crease budgetary provision forthis scheme, he said.

Other elected representativesalso congratulated Mare ParyantPhashis team for their excellentcontribution towards highlight-ing a sensitive issue.

HERALD REPORTER

PANJIM, MARCH 24

Social Welfare Minister SudinDhavalikar today faced attackfrom unexpected quarters overpitiable performance of OBC/SCCorporation.

Aldona legislator DayanandNarvekar came down heavily onthe social welfare minister andaccused him of working againstthe interest of Bahujan samaj.

"You have done nothing butgiven lip-service," chargedNarvekar while pointing out indetail that OBC/ST Corporationhas done absolutely nothing forwelfare of OBC.

The corporation is financedby Central Government and theState government gives Rs 25lakhs as grant for payment ofsalaries.

Narvekar said the State gov-ernment's contribution has beennil indicating that its contribu-tion towards welfare of OBC isalso nil.

Aldona MLA said just a hand-ful of people were give loanunder the scheme and this is in-justice to OBCs in Goa.

Participating in the discus-s ion , Oppos i t ion LeaderManohar Parrikar, said the costof operation of the Corporationis Rs 25 lakh while just thirty-

six applications were sanc-tioned.

Under educational scheme ofthe Corporation just two appli-cations were sanctioned in2009-10 and just two disabledpersons were given benefitunder its scheme for physicallydisabled person, Narvekarpointed out.

He further said loan compo-nent given under the scheme"Samrudhi Yojna" is meagre ac-cusing the minister of discrim-inating against Bahujan Samaj.

The social welfare ministeradmitted that the Corporationwas not functioning the way itshould function and his at-tempts to put the Corporationinto order have not succeeded.

Two times I called for a meet-ing with Corporation chairmanbut on both times, he declinedsaying it was not possible forhim to attend meeting, saidDhavlikar

The Corporation is headed byVishnu Surya Wagh and theBoard is appointed by chief min-ister.

At which point, Oppositionleader suggested that the gov-ernment should sack the chair-man and non-performing board.

At which point Speaker Prat-apsing Rane suggested the gov-e rnment to appo in t anadministrator if the Board is notfunctioning.

The Board was appointed in2006 and since then its termhas been extended twice.

Mandrem MLA LaxmikantParsekar while speaking on thisissue said the corporations havebeen turned into money makingrackets for some.

Aldona MLA who kept criti-

cizing Dhavalikar, further saidthere is no subsidy on loan givenunder scheme of the Corpora-tion even as loans given to busi-nesses ' by the industr iesdepartment avail of 25 per centsubsidy.

There is one set of rules forrich and another for poor,charged Narvekar.

Parrikar suggested that ChiefMinister's Rojgar Yojna shouldbe extended to Social Welfaredepartment.

Opposition MLAs, Damu Naik,Laxmikant Parsekar, MahadevNaik joined the debate and de-manded to know why unani-mous resolution taken in 2008,to give 27 per cent reservationto OBC has not been imple-mented till day.

While Naik persisted with hisquestion shouting at the top ofhis voice, Speaker ruled that hewill not allow the question be-cause it is not related to thequestion called for discussion.

Dhavalikar also stated thequestion raised by Fatorda MLAwas different.

The Speaker called next ques-tion after issuing stern warningto Opposition MLAs who wereharping on reservation point.

GOAOHERALDO

Pg 2GOA, FRIDAY, 25 MARCH, 2011

opinionated

Konkani should be the primary school medium

BY FR MOUSINHO DE ATAIDE

Primary education ought to be in the mother tongue. Thisis a proven principle of pedagogical science; about it thereis no dispute. Konkani is the mother tongue of Goa. This

is also admitted by all. It is based on this that Konkani was madethe official language of Goa and included in the 8th Schedule ofthe Constitution, and Goa was raised to the level of a state.

Therefore, primary education in Goa has to be in Konkani. Itis as simple as 1 + 1 = 2.

However, ignorance, prejudices and other extraneous factorshave clouded the judgement of many Goans who, while admittingthe validity of the above two premises, deny the resulting con-clusion. This is seen in the mushrooming private English primaryschools, their growing numbers of students, and the depletingnumber for Konkani.

The attitude of the government does not help either. If Konkaniis the official language, then the administration has to be inKonkani. But our governments have been largely indifferent. Ifthe administration is to be conducted in Konkani, there shouldbe personnel conversant with the language, spoken and written.This means those in service must be trained, and those to comein future should be equipped with the knowledge of Konkaniacquired as a medium of instruction, at least at the primarylevel. The government should go all out to have primary schoolsonly in Konkani, and promote Konkani in private primary schools.

But if one goes by the statistics for 2007-08, against 893 gov-ernment Marathi medium primary schools with 32,939 students,there were only 68 government Konkani medium primary schoolswith 1,960 students!

Among private primary schools, Konkani as a medium of in-struction fares better than Marathi and even English. While thereare 54 schools in Marathi (with 7,534 students) and 119 inEnglish (with 20,888 students), there are 137 in Konkani (with27,750 students). But this is not a matter of rejoicing. The trendin terms of students is in favour of English, and against bothKonkani and Marathi.

Of the Konkani medium primary schools, 126 are of the Arch-diocesan Board of Education. This is due to the wise and bolddecision taken by then Archbishop Raul Gonsalves in 1990 afterwide consultation, open debates and deep studies by expertswho took all issues, including practical ones, into consideration.He stood by this decision with rock-like determination despiteprotests and attempts to sabotage it even from within.

It is true that the then Archbishops decision was occasionedby the policy framed by the then government to give grants toprimary schools in regional language medium. This came afterthe High Court ordered that private primary teachers should bepaid on par with teachers in government primary schools. ButArchbishop Raul said that his decision would stand, even if thegovernment at any time chose to extend grants to private primaryschools in English. I salute him for this.

Unfortunately, there does not seem to be that much commit-ment now. If the Archdiocesan Board of Education opens Englishsections in its primary schools and/or the government givesgrants to private English primary schools, it will sound a deathknell for Konkani as a medium of primary education. May Godavert it!

The Konkani Bhasha Mandal (KBM) runs a Konkani pre-primaryand primary school in Margao since 1979. It is an excellentschool. Its statistics, however, are falling. From 157 students in2005-06, 141 (06-07), 131 (07-08), 110 (08-09), the number in2009-10 has dipped to 85, of whom 62 are ethnic Goans and 23non-Goans; 62 are Hindus, 14 Catholics and 9 Muslims. Theneed of the hour is to arrest this downhill graph. The KBMshigh-profile programmes have no meaning if it cannot keep aliveits one primary school.

One excuse for parents not to send their children to Konkaniprimary schools, where education is free and lots of facilitiesare offered, and instead send them to English primary schoolswhere they have to pay heavily, is the alleged difficulty to switchover to English at the secondary level. This is only an excuse.Goa has had a long history of switchovers.

During the Portuguese era, Christians did primary educationin Portuguese and switched over to English in Std V. Hindus didprimary studies in Marathi, switched over to Portuguese andthen to English. Neither Christians nor Hindus suffered in theswitch-over: both acquired proficiency in English after the switch-over.

Parents apprehensions in this regard are without any basis.Rather, they seem hangovers from colonial times when Christiansconsidered Konkani as a language of servants, and Hindusdeemed it a dialect of Marathi so for both it was not fit to bea medium of education.

But from Liberation till today, Konkanis fortunes have changedfor the better. Now, no one in his senses calls it a dialect ofMarathi. In the Church, Konkani is the language of services,and is bound to stay. It has entered talukas that were earlierconsidered citadels of Marathi. Literature of high value inKonkani, meriting translation into foreign languages, and toolsof study like text books, grammars, dictionaries, vocabularies,have been brought out. Konkani as an optional third languagein high schools and higher secondaries surpasses all other lan-guages. The same case is at graduate and post-graduate levels.We have PhDs in Konkani.

So I find no reason why Konkani cannot be an efficient mediumof primary education and why parents, if they have a spark oflove for Indian culture, for the Konkani language, for Goasidentity, and for the welfare of their own children, should notsend their wards to Konkani primary schools. I would invite par-ents to reflect for a moment and search for any real harm thatcould be caused to their children if they send them to Konkaniprimary schools.

On the contrary, if they are sincere, they will realise the ir-reparable harm they are causing to Goa, to Konkani and totheir own children by educating them at the primary level inEnglish. Instead, they should educate them in Konkani. But forthis to happen, the example should come from the elites inboth communities, who should make a conscious effort to con-verse in Konkani and to educate their wards in Konkani primaryschools.

As a tailpiece, I would like to refer to the results of Goanstudents in the National Talent Search 2009 conducted bythe National Council of Educational Research and Training(NCERT). These exams aim to spot and nurture (through schol-arships up to the PhD level) the best talent. The exams are forStd VIII students and the syllabus is the same as for the class.The test, however, is not mainly of memory but of thinkingpower, performing ability and grasping capacity. The examsare in English.

The statistics are revealing. Among the 25 students successfulat the state level (Goas quota is 25 students) only two spokeEnglish at home, 22 spoke Konkani and one was ethnically anon-Goan. The next step is the written exam at the nationallevel. Only seven passed this exam. Of these seven, not evenone spoke English at home; six were Goans and spoke Konkaniat home and one was non-Goan. The final step is the nationaloral exam: five Goans and one non-Goan made it through. Noneof them were English-speaking. Of the five Goans, two haddone primary school in Konkani, two in Marathi and two inEnglish!

The statistics bust the myth that for academic excellence,speaking English at home and doing primary school in Englishare required. The community which makes it a point to speakEnglish at home and insists on sending its children to Englishprimary schools was nowhere in sight in these exams, wherethe actual intellectual prowess of students is tested.

MEDIUM OF INSTRUCTION - II

Dhavalikar attacked for poor performance of OBC Corp

HERALD REPORTER

PANJIM, MARCH 24

The Kadamba Transport Corpo-ration Ltd (KTCL) monthly ex-penditure is almost double ofits income, which has pulled thisCorporation into heavy losses.

As per the reply tabled by thetransport Minister RamkrishnaDhavalikar on the floor of theHouse, the monthly gap of ex-penditure is more than its in-come by Rs 2.60 crores.

The statistics reveals that thecorporation spends Rs 7.41crore per month as against theincome, which is at Rs 4.81crores.

The major income heads forthe corporation includes oper-ational earnings (Rs 4.50 crore),shop rent receipts (Rs 15 lakhs)and stand fees, parking fees, ad-vertisement and hoarding rent(Rs 15 lakhs).

Similarly, the salaries of itsemployees have been a majorexpenditure head of the corpo-ration, which amounts to Rs3.70 crore per month.

The huge salary expenditurecan be attributed to the imple-

mentation of Sixth Pay commis-sion.

Apart from this, the Corpo-ration has been spendingaround Rs 65 lakh as operationalexpenses in form of diesel,tyres, spare parts etc and as in-terest.

The statistics also pointed outthat the financial liability of theCorporation has also gone upto Rs 114 crore.

The data reveals that loansworth Rs 12.63 crore are pend-ing with Goa State InfrastructureDevelopment Corporationthrough Syndicate Bank (GSIDC)and Rs 40 crore with Goa StateCo-Operative Bank.

The failure to pay arrears ofVI Pay Commission amountingto Rs 26.29 crore along withgratuity payments (Rs 19.32crore) and accrued leave pay-ment (Rs 11.47 crore) has furtherincreased its liability.

Dhavalikar has assured StateLegislative Assembly to clear offpending loans on immediatelywhile 35 percent arrears of tothe employees would be distrib-uted during next year and bal-

HERALD REPORTER

PANJIM, MARCH 24

Chief Minister Digambar Kamat on Thursdayassured the House that agitating KTC badlidrivers engaged by Kadamba Transport Cor-portion (KTC) will be regularised.

They would be given relaxation in age whileregularising them into service, Kamat assuredwhen the issue about KTC drivers on hungerstrike was raised in the House during ZeroHour.

The issue was raised by Pernem MLADayanand Sopte along with Mandrem MLALaxmikant Parsekar and Aldona MLA DayanandNarvekar. They highlighted the injustice doneto KTC drivers awaiting regularisation in serv-ice.

Sopte said, KTC has been recruiting LDCsand other clerical staff when actually it doesnot need any more such staff.

But it is not willing to regularize drivers

working for KTC for eight to ten years.The Transport Minister Sudin Dhavalikar

however told the House that the governmenthad turned down its proposal to regularisethem into service. The government is majorstake holder in KTC.

Aldona MLA pointed out an agreement be-tween KTC and the government executed beforeLabour department agreeing to take into servicecontract drivers who have completed five yearsin service.

The Opposition shouted slogans denouncingthe government for not doing justice to agi-tating drivers even as Chief Minister assuredto take contract drivers into regular service.

The Opposition members continued to dis-rupt the proceeding of the House not satisfiedwith the Chief Minister's reply.

Speaker Pratapsing Rane adjourned seatingof the House till 2.30 pm when OppositionMLA refused to give in.

KTC spends double its monthly incomeCM: Will regularise temporary drivers

ance in five years.The KTCL is also planning to

adopt several measures to bringthe Corporation to healthy fi-nancial position.

The Corporation aims tobring in more routes under KTCL

to improve its profitability byIncreasing the Corporation fleetand share of operation withinthe State of Goa up to 25 percent by purchasing new busesand introducing more potentialroutes, the reply reads.

It is also planning to keepcontrol on functioning of theCorporation in terms of im-provement of revenue, dieselconservation, optimum utiliza-tion of man power, timely main-tenance and upkeep of buses.

State-of-the-art bus stand on

cards for MargaoHERALD REPORTER

PANJIM, MARCH 24

The commercial capital Margaois set to have state-of-the-artbus terminus.

Chief Minister DigambarKamat on Thursday told Goa As-sembly that the bus terminusplanned for Margao is a uniqueproject which will supportKadamba Transport Corporation.

The chief minister disclosedthis during "Question Hour"while replying to a questiontabled by Fatorda MLA DamuNaik about the status of con-struction of new bus stand whichwas declared some years ago.

The chief minister also clari-fied that it would not be a PublicPrivate Partnership (PPP) project.

"We have no intension to giveit under PPP as the land ear-marked for bus terminus is aprime property in the city, hesaid. The government has short-listed five bidders for planningof the bus stand.

Transport Minister SudinDhavlikar stated on the floor ofthe House that the governmenthas no intention to execute theproject under PPP.

The government has madebudgetary provision of Rs 15crore for construction of the busterminus, he added.

Goa State Infrastructure De-velopment Corporation (GSIDC)will construct the bus stand andit has called for architecturalcompetition of design.

The government had acquiredan area admeasuring 70182 sqmts and proposal for an addi-tional area 6376 sq mts has beenforwarded to the Collector ofSouth District for acquisitionand section 4 of the notificationwas issued on August 31, 2010.

Reroute IFFI fundsto promote regionalmovies: Narvekar

Goa hastremendouspotential for filmsand film celebrities.Goa born OmiVaidhyas acting in 3Idiots was muchappreciated and soalso N Chandra andSudesh Bhonsletrace their roots toGoa. They havebrought fame toGoa. We need toinvite them andproduce goodmovies.

-- Narvekar

161 foreigners died in Goa since 2008

HERALD REPORTER

PANJIM, MARCH 24

About 161 foreigners have diedin Goa during last three years.

In 2008, 43 deaths of foreign-ers were reported, 65 cases werereported in 2009 and 54 casesin 2010.

The information was dis-closed in the House on Thursdayduring "Question Hour" to aquestion tabled by OppositionLeader Manohar Parrikar.

Opposition leader urged theHome Minister Ravi Naik to con-duct investigation saying in mostcases concerning deaths of for-eigners reported in Goa are drugrelated deaths.

"They are dying either due todrug overdose or complicationsdue to intake of drugs, saidParrikar.

However, home minister saidonly in one case it was provedthat death was linked to drugs.

The Opposition leader how-ever pointed out that policehave sent viscera for chemicalanalysis in many cases that itselfindicate that police have reasonto believe otherwise.

Of the total cases of deathsof foreigners in Goa, maximumwere reported from Calangutewith 24 in 2009 and 15 in 2010.

HERALD REPORTER

PANJIM, MARCH 24

The Opposition Benches todayslammed the government forfailing to keep up the promiseof creating 12,000 jobs throughthe Rajiv Gandhi IT Habitatproject at Dona Paula.

Speaking during the CutMotion on the demands forgrants, Mapusa MLA Francis

DSouza said that thousandsof engineering students passout from Goa colleges, annu-ally with no scope for suitableIT jobs in the State.

The four-year-old IT habitathad promised employment po-tential of 12,000 people by2008. The foundation stonewas laid and the work had alsobegun but where is it heading?

We are producing engineersannually IT graduates arepassing out in huge numbersbut there is no job for them inGoa, he lamented.

He said that students passingout from IT professional insti-tutes are forced to move outof Goa in search of jobs. TheBJP legislator said that govern-ment should generate employ-

ment and reduce unemploy-ment in Goa.

Admitting that creating nu-merous government jobs isquite a diff icult task, hestressed the need to promoteindustries the best sectorto general jobs for Goanyouths.

Since the Goan youth havean advantage of good English

speaking skills which makesthem eligible for ITES/BPO com-panies, Goa government hadidentified three locations fordevelopment as IT Parks to at-tract ITES/BPO companies tostart their business in Goa, oneof which included Rajiv GandhiIT Habitat, an integrated proj-ect developed in an area ofaround 95 acres.

Govt slammed for failing to create IT 12,000 jobs

HERALD REPORTER

PANJIM, MARCH 24

The ruling and opposition benches today at-tacked the government on illegal mines in Goawith Congress legislator Dayanand Narvekardemanding action against Sesa Industries Ltdfor flouting rules.

Supporting the cut motion on demands forgrants in the on-going State legislative assembly,Narvekar questioned on how the Governmentcould give its land to a private firm.

He recalled that Sesa Industries Ltd in 1996-97 had applied to the government for 60-lakhsq mtrs of land in Amona village to set up pigiron plant there, which was granted.

The Goa Industrial Development Corporation(GIDC) plot granted to the company was unusedand it was eventually returned to the govern-ment.

Subsequently, another subsidiary of SesaGoa applied for the same land and it wasgranted. This is a gross violation of the GIDCrules. I need an answer from the chief ministeras to what action has he taken against the com-pany, he said. He further asked as to how redindustries can be turned into green industries.

Questioning the credibility of the govern-ment, the former law minister alleged that gov-ernment is involved in corruption.

There is conspiracy and corruption at thegovernment level and this needs to be probed,he demanded. Narvekar also expressed re-sentment over plans to expand the units locatedat Amona and Navelim villages of Bicholim.

He further expressed grave concern over airpollution and destruction of natural habitat al-legedly caused by the pig iron plant locatedacross the Mandovi River in Amona.

Govt cornered over illegal mining

HERALD REPORTER

PANJIM, MARCH 24

BJP legislator Laxmikant Parsekartook the government head-onover the phenomenal increase inmining trucks, saying naturalhabitats are being destroyed.

Nagged by governments insen-sitivity towards the issue, Parsekardemanded that governmentshould reject applications for newmining leases and not renew theexisting ones.

Mining trucks have increasedon village roads over the last 10years. With the increasing miningactivity, the trucks are also increas-

ing. There is an urgent need fortougher regulation, but nothingis being done, Parsekar saidspeaking on the Cut Motion ondemand for grants, on Thursday.

Aldona MLA Dayanand Narvekarsaid that incessant mining activityhas grossly disturbed the eco sys-tem and daily lives of several thou-sand Goans. He pointed out that19 operational mining leases inSelaulim alone have vastly de-stroyed the catchment area.

Despite the very fact that thereis annual flood in Bicholim, gov-ernment has been granting miningleases in the taluka, he rued.

Parsekar bats for natural habitats

PWD contract labourers will

get PF benefits,says Churchill

HERALD REPORTER

PANJIM, MARCH 24

The PWD Minister ChurchillAlemao has said that facilitiessuch as Provident Fund and ESIwill be made applicable to con-tract labourers engaged byPWD at its various units.

The PWD Minister gave theassurance after OppositionLeader Manohar Parrikarbrought it to his notice thatit is illegal not to extend PFand ESI benefit to contractlabourers who have beenworking for PWD for years to-gether.

Alemao told the House thatthey are studying the matter.

It is their right, said Op-position Leader when PWDMinister showed reluctance totake immediate steps while re-plying to a question tabled bySanguem ML A , VasudevGaonkar.

The workers engaged by acontractor Shambhaji Rane atPadoshe water treatment hadgone on strike between Feb-ruary 12 and March 1 demand-ing that PF and ESI facility bemade applicable to them.

Parrikar told the PWD Min-ister that 995 workers areworking for PWD on contractbasis.

The contractors havechanged over the years but notthe workers, he said while de-manding that the facilitiesshould be extended to contractworkers too.

HERALD REPORTER

PANJIM, MARCH 24

D D Kosambi Festival of Ideas, the stategovernment sponsored lectures series,will now move out from Panjim.

Chief Minister Digambar Kamat toldthe state legislative assembly that thefestival will be taken to various villages.

The Art and Culture departmentorganizes this festival, with seriesof lectures being held at Kala Acad-emy.

Only the elite class should not getthe chance to attend these lectures.The lecture series will be rotated,Kamat said adding that even rural peo-

ple will get a chance to hear the ex-perts.

The chief minister said that the lec-ture series are unique in itself andnowhere in the country; no governmenthas been able to bring such experts onone platform in a series.

Its very difficult to get them. But

we have managed to have such a uniquelecture series, Kamat said.

Earlier, Aldona ML A DayanandNarvekar, speaking on the demands forgrants, had said that although Kosambimemorial lecture series was famous, itwas restricted only to the people fromthe capital city.

D D Kosambi Festival of Ideas to go rural

GOAOHERALDO

Pg3GOA, FRIDAY, 25 MARCH, 2011

HERALD REPORTER

PANJIM, MARCH 24

Taking the State governmenthead-on on illegal mining issue,Leader of Opposition ManoharParrikar on Thursday demandedthat there should be ceiling onthe quantity of ore extracted inthe state.

There should be capacitycapping on extraction of oreconsidering the potential of thearea, Parrikar said speaking onthe Cut motions on the floor of

the House.He said that state should

come out with the policy de-claring the maximum quantumof ore that could be transported.The policy can be reviewed aftermining corridors are ready, Par-rikar said.

The BJP leader said that he isready to forget politics to settleissue of mining.

This is one issue where I willnot do politics.

Lets stop the rape of Goa.

Lets work out a joint actionplan, he said.

Parrikar said that the miningtrucks needs to be regulated asthey have maximum number ofdrivers from the states like Jhark-hand.

The BJP leader said that thereare 11 mines operational inSanguem and more 68 minesare in pipeline.

Similarly, there are 11 minesin Quepem and more 25 minesare being cleared.

You cannot replace naturewith money, he said addingthat he completely disagreeswith the concept of gettingmore money through mining.

Parrikar also said that the in-dustries are suffering in last fiveyears in absence of a state policy.

IDC has not adopted any pol-icy for allotment of plots, hesaid adding that IDC shouldmake a policy reserving 80 to90 per cent of the plots for lo-cals.

He also criticized that al-though Information Technologypolicy was declared in 2005, nota single scheme has been noti-fied till date.

Parrikar said that Goa StateInfrastructure Development Cor-poration (GSIDC) was formedwith the aim to execute theworks expeditiously.

But considering the backlogof the work, the GSIDC has beenreduced to next PWD, he al-leged.

Parrikar demands ceiling on ore extraction

HERALD REPORTER

PANJIM, MARCH 24

Leader of Opposition ManoharParrikar today pointed out se-vere loopholes in the report onalleged excise scam submittedby then Finance Secretary RajivYaduvanshi.

Parrikar said that there areanomalies in the data providedin the report and replies fur-nished on the floor of the House.

Citing an instance, Parrikarsaid that the Commissioner ofExcise has told Yaduvanshi thatthere were no complaints aboutduplicate passes.

But the reply tabled by HomeMinister Ravi Naik states thatExcise department has regis-tered case with the police ex-pressing apprehensions thatthere are fake passes, he said.

The BJP leader also pointed

out anomalies in the informationprovided by Yaduvanshi reportand the replies in the assemblyas far as import and export ofliquor by few distilleries.

The Commissioner of Excisewas lying to then finance secre-tary, he alleged.

The Leader of Opposition ex-pressed satisfaction that the re-port at least admits that therewere procedural lapses commit-

ted by the excise department.The report also admits that

there is manipulation in the im-port and export of alcohol, hesaid. Parrikar said that his at-tempt to expose Excise scamhas started yielding results onthe ground. There are at leastnine distilleries from whom theexcise revenue has gone up sud-denly, the leader of oppositionsaid.

...Picks holes in excise scam report

HERALD CORRESPONDENT

PORVORIM, MARCH 24

Mapusa Municipal Council (MMC) has ap-proved the annual budget of the civic bodyfor 2011-12.

The receipts have been projected as Rs17.94 crore, while the expenditure hasbeen shown as Rs 17.50 crore. The openingbalance of MMC is Rs 6.74 crore.

Briefing press persons at Mapusa onThursday, MMC Chairperson Sudhir Kan-dolkar said there has been rise in budgetestimates for 2011-12 as compared tolast financial year, mainly due to the pro-vision of Rs 9.12 crore towards the con-struction of a new fish market (Rs 7.72crore).

Construction of shed of vegetable mar-ket (Rs 1.40 crore) has also been made in

the budget estimates.Kandolkar said MMC has decided to de-

mand development grant of Rs 75 lakhfor 15 wards every year from the govern-ment and MLA is expected to give Rs 25lakh.

He said MMC has received a proposalfrom Sulab International for the construc-tion of 12 Sulab toilets, of which threetoilets will be air-conditioned in prime lo-cations.

PWD has done hot mixing of internalroads in the municipal market spendingRs 2.40 crore. Mapusa MLA Francis DSouzahas assisted MMC in getting major devel-opment work done at Mapusa.

MMC has decided to pay compensationof Rs 10,000 each to the shop ownerswhose shops were gutted in the recent

fire and Rs 5,000 to the fruit vendors,said Kandolkar.

Kandolkar further said MMC plans toentrust the work of de-silting of majornullahs at Mapusa to Water Resource De-partment.

MMC has decided to acquire Commu-nidade land admeasuring 5,000 sq mtrsat Morod for parking area and the landacquisition process has already started,Kandolkar.

Kandolkar said MMC has also decidedto celebrate golden jubilee year this yearby organising various programmes. Inone of the programmes, freedom fightersfrom Mapusa will be felicitated for thesacrifices made by them. The dates of theprogrammes will be finalized soon, addedKandolkar.

Mapusa civic body approves budget

Green activist complains

against Chinchinim VP

HERALD REPORTER

PANJIM, MARCH 24

A green activist has complainedagainst Chinchinim Panchayatfor failing to act on an orderto initiate action against a localinvolved in illegal land conver-sion.

In October 2010, the Addi-tional Director of Panchayatshad directed the Chinchinimsarpanch to take action againstJose Lopes for illegal landfilland converting agricultural landinto a commercial dance floor.

The order was passed fol-lowing a complaint by GreenGoa Foundation Chairman Rai-son Almeida in 2009.

Earlier, the village Panchayatissued two subsequent noticesto Lopes, which were chal-lenged before the AdditionalDirector of Panchayats.

By order dated October 5,2010, the appeal was allowed,show cause notice was setaside and the ChinchinimSarpanch was directed to actas per the circular issued bythe Director of Panchayatsdated July 2000.

However, no action wastaken despite specific direc-tions by the Panchayat officer.

Almeida said that he wascompelled to file a complaintagainst the panchayat sarpanchand demanded his removalfrom the office for failing toperform his duties.

Tillari project affected farmers reject meagre compensationHERALD CORRESPONDENT

MAYEM, MARCH 24

Farmers in Ibrampur-Pernemhave refused to accept com-pensation by Goa Tillari De-velopment Corporation forlosses they suffered due towater seepage caused by themain canal of Tillari IrrigationProject for the last threeyears.

It may be recalled that farm-ers in Ibrampur and surround-ing areas are suffering lossesto their crops due to leakagein Tillari Irrigation Canal. Thefarmers were reaping crops likepaddy, chillies, vegetables andsugarcane.

But the leakage caused bythe canal was responsible fordestroying their crops, therebydecreasing the yield.

The farmers on April 5,2010, had submitted a memo-randum to the Assistant Engi-neer, Circle Office, Sub-DivisionII of Goa Tillari Irrigation De-velopment Corporation regard-ing the losses suffered bythem.

Accordingly, officials of ZonalAgriculture Office Pernem andPrakash Raut (Assistant Agri-cultural Officer) inspected thearea and forwarded the inspec-tion report to the office of theSuperintendent.

In his report, the GTIDC en-gineer stated that 18 farmerssuffered actual loss of Rs84,000, but GTIDC paid thema meagre compensation.

The government had sanc-tioned the amount of compen-sation, which the farmersrefused to accept.

The engineer has sent therevised proposal to the gov-ernment with actual loss in-curred by the farmers.

Farmers, while stating thatleakage to the main canal isdue to change in the proposed

canals direction, have re-quested to construct protec-tion walls from Benkat Darvhaland lay a new pipeline fromDeuldhat to Ibrampur HealthCentre to solve their problempermanently.

Meanwhile, the labourersof Sanjivani Sakhar Karkhana,Dharbandoda, are reluctantto continue with the work ofcutting sugarcanes, as thefields are full with the leakedwater.

MAYEM: Over 100 farmersf rom Nanora , Bha twad i ,Wadawal, Sal and surroundingareas in Bicholim taluka havesuffered heavy losses, as their

vegetables and chillies are badlyaffected by a unique pest.

Vegetables crops have starteddrying up from its root due tothe pest attack.

Fo l low ing comp la in t s ,Pradeep Malik and Bhave fromZonal Agricultural Office Bi-cholim visited the site and as-sured to provide instant relief.

Unique pest destroying crops in Bicholim farms

Pg4 GOAGOA, FRIDAY, 25 MARCH, 2011

OHE

RALD

O

UPCOMING EVENTS

Aldona CCF meetPANJIM (HND): The Aldona Civic and Consumer Forum will holdits monthly meeting on March 26 at the St Thomas Girls HighSchool at 4.30 pm. Among the regular civic amenities issues,World Health Day, and relative points of Health Act will also bediscussed.

Earth Hour at SaligaoPANJIM (HND): Celebrate Earth Hour 2011 by switching offlights at home and heading towards Saligao, Bardez, on March26 to Lourdes Convent open air courts, from 8.30 pm 9.30 pm.

Under a starry sky sing along with others songs that celebratenature, conservation, peace and hope for the planet. One canbring any non- electric, non battery powered musical instrumentto play solo or jam with others. Bring if you can song books,song sheets, or posters that reflect your love for Goa and theplanet. Dancing under the stars will be considered appropriate.Dont forget to turn off the lights at 8.30 pm.

Posology workshopPANJIM (HND): Holistic Healthcare Goa will organise a half dayworkshop on Posology & Case Analysis in Homoeopathy onMarch 27 at Hotel Woodlands, Margao from 9 am to 1 pm.Doctors and interns wishing to attend may call Dr DominicDias on 9822179980.

Osteoporosis camp PANJIM (HND): The Loyola Ex-Students Association (LESA), Mar-gao in association with Pharmed will organise the quarterlyosteoporosis detection and management camp at Loyola schoolpremises on March 27 from 9.30 am onwards. Registrationswill be done strictly between 9 am and 11 am only.

Tests will be performed free of cost. Those who have under-gone the tests earlier are requested to bring along their old re-ports. An orthopaedic surgeon will be available for consultations.

Way of the CrossPANJIM (HNB): The annual traditional Way of the Cross willtake place in Dramapur on Sunday evening.

According to sources, the procession will start from St JosephChurch, Dramapur, at 3 pm on way to the Holy Cross situatedon the village hillock. Fourteen stations will be observed andspecial prayers will be held at these locations while scaling theway to the 300 years old Holy Cross Shrine.

All the devotees including those belonging to other faith,who take part in the procession, will be led by village parishpriest Fr Jose Dias. A Mass will be held at the shrine of ancestralholy cross, informed sources.

Story by Heta PanditPANJIM (HND): To commemorate World Theatre Day, ABHIVYAK-TEE in collaboration with Sunaparanta (Goa Centre for theArts) will present a story by Heta Pandit entitled ...Son? inEnglish on March 27 at 7 pm in the courtyard of the arts centreat Altinho.

The presentation has been designed and directed by seniortheatre activist Vasant Josalkar and will be performed by AnaghaDeshpande. The solo enactment ...Son? is of 25 minutes du-ration and is open for all.

POWER SHUTDOWN

HERALD REPORTER

PANJIM, MARCH 24

The demand for English as medium of in-struction at primary level doesnt seem tohave support of all clergies.

In a letter to the archbishop of Goa twonoted priests Fr Jaime Couto and Fr Mousinhode Ataide have said that the demand for Eng-lish medium of instruction is creating rift be-tween the H indus and the Ca tho l i ccommunities.

Pointing to the huge rally at the AzadMaidan, the priests have said that that look-ing at the dais of the meeting as well asthe attendance it was clear from where thepeople came and to which religious com-munity they belonged.

The priests also pointed out that allthe MLAs and the ministers who werepresent fro the meeting belonged to thesame community. Indirectly taking a pot-shot at Tomazinho Cardozo, without nam-ing him, the priests said that the key noteaddress was delivered by the person, whosince long has been speaking in terms ofwe and they be it in his scripts, cul-tures etc.

The priests said that the demand has cre-ated an abyss of division between the twocommunities and hence not just the RSS

can be blamed for the division.The call cum rally, they said, is deepening

this divide. They stated that the concern also is

that by such actions, with the Blessingsof the Highest Ecclesiastical Authority ofthe land, a distinct and clear impressionis created that the Catholic communityis day by day being decultured and dena-tionalized, feeling itself out of place intheir own land and placing its future inthe West.

The depletion of our numbers, throughemigration, the acquisition of foreign citi-zenships and the consequent abandonmentof own nationality, in which even those who

retain it, have no pride, demonstrates thisimpression, they said adding the presentmovement by Catholics for English is aneloquent symptom of this malaise.

The above movement, the priests addedis masquerading as a democratic one, hasall the ingredients of a fascist movementtrying to impose the will of the minorityon the majority, through pressure tactics.

It cannot even presume to represent thetotality of the minority community, as itwishes to.

Besides, they said, the issue of mediumof instruction is too technical to be de-cided by show of hands of a mob, whohave been herded by transport freely pro-vided for something about which theyhave not been elucidated, especially re-garding its long term and all round effects.Appointment and deep study by an expertcommittee is the need of the hour, notrallies, emotional speeches, manipulationof opinion, the priests said adding dis-passionate and rational discussion is theneed of the hour.

The priests have urged the archbishopto restore peace and sanity to the environ-ment which has been disturbed, and avoidfalling prey to approving the resolutions ofABE, DSE, rallies and movements.

Medium of instruction demand creating communal divide

n In a letter to thearchbishop of Goa twonoted priests Fr JaimeCouto and Fr Mousinhode Ataide have said thatthe demand for Englishmedium of instruction iscreating rift between theHindus and the Catholiccommunities.

HERALD NEWS DESK

PANJIM, MARCH 24

Akhil Bhartiya Mahatma PhuleSamata Parishad will organise arally of people from Other Back-ward Classes (OBCs), ScheduledCastes (SCs) and ScheduledTribes (STs) communities onApril, 3 near Shree BodgeshwarTemple, Mapusa, at 4 pm.

The purpose of the rally is tobring these communities to-gether to address their variousissues and work for upliftmentof these communities.

The founder president andPWD Minister of Maharashtra,Chhagan Bhujbal will addressthe rally.

Goa State President of theParishad, Subhash Shirodkar,Home Minster Ravi Naik, Rev-

enue Minister Jose Philip D-Souza, Tourism Minister NilkantHalarnkar, Panchayat MinisterManohar Azgaonkar, AldonaMLA Dayanand Narvekar, formerminister Pandurang Madkaikarand North Goa Member of Par-liament Shripad Naik will par-ticipate.

Dayanand Mandrekar, DilipParulekar, Dayanand Sopte,Shyam Satardekar, Milind Naik,Ramesh Tawadkar, VassudevGaonkar, Damodar Naik, Ma-hadev Naik, Anant Shet (allMLAs) and leaders of OBC, SC,and ST communities will alsoattend the rally.

The organisers have calledupon the people of 0BC, SC andST communities to attend therally.

HERALD REPORTER

MARGAO, MARCH 24

Strange it may seem, but true.The tourist village of Colva hasneither regular sarpanch nor act-ing sarpanch to attend to thevillagers.

Thats not all. Even the pan-chayat secretary is not availableto the villagers at all times sincehe is holding charge of two pan-chayat bodies.

Its nearly a week since Actingvillage sarpanch Anthony aliasMama Fernandes has been con-spicuous by his absence in thepanchayat body. The last timethe acting sarpanch made hispresence felt in the panchayatbody was on Friday. Since then,Anthony has not reported foroffice and is believed to havegone out of station.

Inquires have revealed thatthe acting sarpanch will returnback only on Friday and is ex-pected to assume office onMonday. He has been the act-ing sarpanch ever since thenSarpanch Angela Borges wasousted in a no trust motion.

But, what has come as big sur-prise is the fact that the Directorof Panchayats had been draggingits feet to hold elections to thevacant post of Sarpanch. It is notout of place to mention here thatthe panchayat director has filledthe vacant post of LoutolimSarpanch a week ago.

Whats further interesting tonote is that the panchayat di-rector has showed no urgencyin filling up the vacant post ofColva sarpanch despite the factthat the acting sarpanch has noright to vote in the panchayatbody. For nearly a year now, theacting sarpanch had been func-tioning sans the voting rightwhich has been suspended bythe High Court following a dis-qualification pending againsthim in the court filed by formerSarpanch Snowkon Gonsalves.

Incidentally, it is not knownwhy the panchayat authoritiesdid not move the concerned au-thorities for the appointmentof an administration in the ab-sence of the sarpanch anddeputy sarpanch.

Colva has no sarpanch!

HERALD NEWS DESK

PANJIM, MARCH 24

In view of Shigmotsav float pa-rade in Panjim on March 26, thefollowing traffic Diversion/Park-ing will be effected.

No vehicle will be allowed topark from 12 noon on the routeof floats along Kala AcademyCampal, Caculo Island, 18th JuneRoad, Cunha Reveira Road (Mu-nicipal Garden), MG Road andAzad Maidan.

Traffic entering into Panjimcity will follow the normal route.Traffic coming from behind OldSecretariat on reaching nearMatch Corner will not be al-lowed to proceed to MG Roadand will be diverted towardsAbade de Faria statue to proceedvia DBB Marg.

Traffic coming from Altinhoand desiring to proceed to KTC,Ponda or Margao, will be di-

verted via Corte -de-Oiteiro.Traffic from Taleigao, Fire

Services, desiring to proceed toPanjim Market/KTC Bus standwill be diverted at St Inez junc-tion via Kala Academy to pro-ceed through D B Marg.

No vehicle from Singbal BookHouse side will be allowed toproceed towards KundaikarNagar Building. These vehicleswill be diverted via A B Road toproceed to their respective des-tinations. All the by-lanes con-necting 18th June Road will beclosed.

Spectators will be allowedparking at Football Ground,Campal, and around MunicipalGarden, Panjim.

The motorists have beenasked not to park any vehicleson the float route from 12 noonand co-operate with Traffic Po-lice.

Traffic arrangements for Panjim Shigmo

Politicians urged to implement Feb 19, 1968 as cut-off date

HERALD REPORTER

MARGAO, MARCH 24

The Goa ST, SC & OBC Federation has urged Goas political lot, in-cluding the elected MLAs, MPs to implement the cut-off date ofFebruary 19, 1968 to protect Goas identity.

Federation President, Antonio D Gauncar requested the 40MLAs, the three MPs to come together and insist on the imple-mentation of the cut off date in the true sense and fight to getspecial status for the state and to protect Goas natural beauty,iron ores etc.

If the government really has love for Goa and the tribal people,then it should immediately start implementation of the cut-offdate and implement the reservation policy as per Article 332 ofthe Indian Constitution, Gauncar demanded.

Saying that the Schedueld Tribes had suffered for decades,Gauncar called upon the people of Goa to unite and fight to givejustice to the STs by implementing the charter of demands in allgovernment departments.

HERALD REPORTER

MARGAO, MARCH 24

As part of its social responsibil-ity, the Konkan Railway Corpo-r a t ion has l aunchedtelemedicine services for theuse of local populace at Gokarnarailway station.

The service was inauguratedat the hands of KRC, Director,Rajesh Tripathi in the presenceof RRM, Karwar D S Lingarajuand other officials and repre-sentatives of local Mandal Pan-chayat.

KRC Sr Public Relations Man-ager, Baban Ghatge said the KRChad the dream of providingtelemedicine at select railwaystations located at remote area.This dream has finally true withthe inauguration of the facilityat Gokarna Railway Station, headded.

Saying that Konkan Railway

Corporation Limited is the life-line of Konkan region in par-ticular and that of Nation atlarge, Ghatge said Our Mottois Sadar Seva, we render serv-ices to our customers with asmiling human face with un-tiring efforts for making KRCLa responsive and vibrant or-ganization for achievinggreater heights of success fora better tomorrow.

This is first in series oftelemedicine service extendedto the local public. People sittingat their home town can get spe-cialist advice from super spe-ciality hospitals situated at otherplaces and can get quality healthservices. We hope that the localpeople will come forward andavail this facility to find bettersolutions for their medical prob-lems and make this effort ofKRCL fruitful, he added.

KRC launches telemedicine services

SP says awaiting report into plaint

against constablesHERALD REPORTER

MARGAO, MARCH 24

Superintendent of Police, South Allan De Sa has said he is awaitingreport of the inquiry officer to initiate action, if any, in connectionwith the complaint lodged against Colva police for allegedly liftingcash by two policemen.

The SP said PI Tushar Vernekar of Colva police are conductinginvestigations into the episode, adding that he would act in thematter only after the report is forwarded to his office by DySPUmesh Gaonkar.

The victim Sean Demont accompanied by his lawyer, Adv BaironRodrigues called on both the SP, South and DySP Gaonkar demandingaction against the two police constables, who allegedly decampedwith the cash.

Adv Bairon told Herald that they proceeded to the Colva PoliceStation and identified the two policemen who were seen near thecar when Demont was being taken by the police for medical ex-amination.

Demanding justice for Demont, Adv Bairon said his client willbe force to take necessary legal measures to compel the policeconstable to return back the money.

I dont want to comment anything on the episode for the mo-ment since PI Vernekar is conducting an inquiry, SP De Sa said.

Rally of 0BCs, SCs, STs on April 3

BJP leaders welcomeanti-graft rally

HERALD REPORTER

MARGAO, MARCH 24

BJPs anti-corruption rally was welcomed by party leaders in theCommercial Capital on Thursday evening.

Before arriving in the city here this evening, the rally wend itsaway to Quepem and Fatorda and later headed to Navelim con-stituency to spread awareness amongst the people on the Congressmisdeeds at the centre and in Goa.

Party leaders Adv Narendra Sawaikar, BJP Yuva president PramodSawant, Siddesh Naik and Sharmad Raiturcar came down heavilyon the Congress government in the State for its various sins ofomission and commission.

Dinar Barros, Promoter of the Rain Water Harvesting Project receiving the Groundwater Augmentation Award (Bhoomijal SamvardhanPuraskar) from Salman Khurshid, Union Minister of Water Resources & Minority Affairs. Loyola High School, Margao is the first School inthe country to receive this award.

MARCH 25

PANJIM: From 9 am to 4 pm. Areas affected are Caf Real, NeurekarChambers, Goa Chamber of Commerce, Jose Falcon Road andnearby surrounding areas.PILERNE: From 9 am to 3 pm. Areas affected are Pilerne IndustrialEstate, Saipem, Maina, Pilerne, Volwado, Nerul, Betim, Verem,Naikawado and surrounding areas.PILAR: From 9 am to 4 pm. Areas affected are Caf Real, NeurekarChambers, Goa Chamber of Commerce, Consumer along JoseFalcon Road and nearby surrounding areas.

MARCH 26

PARODA: From 8 am to 2 pm. Areas affected are Gudi Paroda, DonKhuris, Padribhat and Nessai.PANJIM: From 9 am to 2 pm. Areas affected are Girija Heights,Keni Bungalow, Santosh Building, Karmali building, Nirmala Institute,Rosilda Apartments, Menezes building and surrounding areas ofAltinho.FARMAGUDI: From 9 am to 11 am. Areas affected are MilitaryCamp, Shapur, Ambegal, Patantalli GVM, PES, GEC, ITI, Cone.

HERALD REPORTER

MARGAO, MARCH 24

The traditional Sotreo (umbrella)festival was celebrated with tra-ditional pomp and religious fer-vour at Cuncolim on Thursday.

Thousands of people from allwalks of life, irrespective of casteand religion, participated in thecelebrations as the palanquincarrying the idol of Shree Shan-

tadurga Kunkalkarin came toCuncolim from Fatorpa in a hugeprocession amidst the beatingof drums and the colorful um-brellas.

The procession, which com-menced at the Shree Shan-tadurga Kunkallikarin Temple atFatorpa, around noon laterheaded to Cuncolim and wendits way to Buinsa, Tolleabhat be-

fore returning back to the tem-ple this evening.

Tolleabhat witnessed a sea ofhumanity as thousands of devo-tees poured in to pay seek bless-ings of the deity.

The police made elaboratesecurity arrangements at Fa-torpa and Cuncolim, all alongthe procession route as a matterof abundant caution.

Pomp, fervour mark umbrella festival

The popular Sotreo (umbrella) festival procession coming out of the Shree Shantadurga KunkallikarnTemple at Fatorpa. Photo by Santosh Mirajkar

HERALD NEWS DESK

PANJIM, MARCH 24

Stating that tuberculosis is acurable disease if detected andtreated in time, Goa MedicalCollege Dean, Dr V N Jindalhas sought peoples coopera-tion in making the State TBfree.

He was speaking as the chiefguest at the World TB Day func-tion organised by the Direc-torate of Health Services inPanjim on Thursday.

The theme of the programmewas On The Move Against Tu-berculosis and with a slogantransforming the fight towardselimination.

Chief Medical Officer of GoaState TB Control Society, Dr Pra-tima Thali, presented the reportof the state-wide achievementsof Revised National TuberculosisControl Programme.

Directorate of Health Servicesconducted different activities atits various health centres in thestate.

Dr Jindal released the sou-venir titled On the Move AgainstTuberculosis.

He also felicitated Shanbag,a hotelier who acted as a DOTprovider, Dr Nagarsekar, for run-ning DOT centre and Dr Dhu-

lapkar for his contribution toTB control Programme. DHS or-ganised essay competition forthe staff of Community HealthCentres. Manali Chari, SumedhaDandekar, Pavitra Mhamal wereselected for their three best en-tries and were given the prizesby Head of the Department TBand Chest TB Hospital, Dr Mis-quita.

In essay competition organ-ised for Anganwadi workers,Suhasini Naik, Angelica Fernan-des, Carmelina Pereira won theprizes.

The first prize of Role Playcompetition was won by thestudents of ANMs (First Year)students of SY BSc Nursing andsecond was shared between 3rdand 4th year nursing students.

Winners of Poster DrawingCompetition are Denzyl Ro-drigues, Amey Naik, and MelverGodinho.

CHC Canacona from SouthGoa, and CHC Pernem fromNorth Goa were selected forbest PHC-IEC activities.

Director DHS, Dr RajnandaDessai welcomed the gathering,Health Officer Dr VandanaDhume compered the functionand Dr C G Borges proposed thevote of thanks.

Make Goa TB free, Jindal calls upon people

CCP asks BSTto withdraw

banners, flags HERALD REPORTER

PANJIM, MARCH 24

The arrival of Yogarishi SwamiRamdev to Goa has brought withit controversy for his trustee hasflouted the local law.

Corporation of the City ofPanjim (CCP) has asked theRamdev-backed trust BharatSwabhiman Trust (BST) thathuge banners and flags plantedalong the city be withdrawn forhaving violated the Preventionof Defacement of Property Act.

The banners and flags havebeen illegally fixed all along thecity and Campal where the rallyis scheduled to be held on Fri-day. We have therefore askedthe trustee to withdraw the pub-licity materials on priority, thenewly-elected CCP Mayor YatinParekh told Herald.

CCP Commissioner Elvis Gomeshas been given the charge to en-sure that the publicity materialsare withdrawn before SwamiRamdev addresses the publicmeeting here on Friday at 3pm.

As on Thursday late evening,the trustee failed to seek per-mission from the municipalityto fix these banner stands andflags.

BST has organised a hugepublic rally at Campal groundto take up the anti-mining cam-paign in Goa by bringing ac-tivists under one banner.

Pg 5GOa GOA, FRIDAY, 25 MARCH, 2011

OHE

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Applications as per prescribed format may be sent to :The Dy. Director General (I), Indian Council for Cultural Relations,Azad Bhavan, I.P. Estate, New Delhi-110002.

Application should reach ICCR latest by 28.04.2011.

HERALD CORRESPONDENT

VaLPOI, MarCH 24

Valpoi Municipal Council (VMC),which was planning to demolishthe old council market building

and construct a new marketcomplex, has got a green signalfrom the High Court on Thurs-day.

It may be recalled that VMC

had taken a decision to demolishthe old market building and con-struct a market complex theresome two years ago.

However, VMC could not ex-

HERALD CORRESPONDENT

CaNaCONa, MarCH 24

as part of Zatra celebration ofShri Mallikarjun Temple, themain temple of Canacona Hin-dus, the ritual of Shisha-ranniwas performed at Shristhal onThursday evening.

Believed in a high-esteemeddivine faith, rice is cooked bykeeping utensil over threehuman heads with fire under-neath and later thrown on thedevotees present in large num-bers to thwart away all ills onthe believers.

The unique tradition inviteshordes of devotees after everytwo years and this year over

8,000 people were present towitness the ceremony that tookplace in the raj angan of ShriMallikarjun Temple, Shristhal.

Devotees present in largenumbers makes it a point towatch the ritual with apt atten-tion, the unique of its kind.

Earlier, devotees in a divinereverence were treated to yetanother unmatched traditionalprac t i ce as a round e ightTarangs (earlier carried by thebakts) standing all by itselfwithout any support throughoutthe ritual.

In a hair-raising ritual of ShriMallikarjun Temple Zatra, threebakts from the as many ritual

HERALD REPORTER

PaNJIM, MarCH 24

Calangute MLa agnelo Fernan-des, who presided over the pro-ceedings of the House inabsence of Speaker Pratapsinghrane on the chair, tried to ex-punge the sentence of Leaderof Opposition Manohar Parrikaron Thursday.

The sentence uttered by Par-rikar if you cannot avoid enjoyit was sought to be expungedby Fernandes.

The Leader of Opposition, how-ever, raised point of order and

said that the sentenced cannotbe expunged because there wasnothing unparliamentary in it.

rane during the session hadpointed out that his statementon mining that `Goa is beingraped was wrongly translatedby Marathi media publishing`rape as ` balatkar. The speakerhad pointed out that the actualmeaning of rape in this contextas `violence on nature.

While the discussion wasgoing on Parrikar was quick toadd ` if you cannot avoid, enjoyit.

Valpoi to get new market complexEvacuate old building: HC to shopkeepers

India-Oz match shortens

House session HERALD REPORTER

PaNJIM, MarCH 24

The crucial World Cup Cricketquarter final match betweenIndia and australia shortenedthe duration of state legislativeassembly session on Thursday.

The ruling and oppositionbenches were unanimous to cur-tail the proceedings of the as-sembly owing to the match.

after little reluctance, SpeakerPratapsingh rane adjourned theassembly till Friday morningpostponing the half an hour dis-cussion on water tanks whichwas tabled by BJP legislatorDamodar Naik.

Deputy Speaker Mauvin God-inho requested that the sessionbe curtailed due to the impor-tant match. Godinhos requestwas supported by Leader of Op-position Manohar Parrikar.

a ldona ML a DayanandNarvekar, who is also GoaCricket association President,was quick enough to offer hissupport too.

Agnelo tries to expunge Parrikars remarkFernandes, who took over

the proceedings in the eveningsession, sought to expungethe sentence. But Parrikar put

his foot down and said thathe never uttered word rape inhis sentence, so it was not un-parliamentary.

The old market building of the Valpoi Municipal Council. Photo by Ashraf Khan

ecute its plan as the matter wasin the court, after one shop-keeper moved the court againstVMCs decision.

However, High Court onThursday passed an order stat-ing that shopkeepers occupyingthe old market building shouldevacuate the place by March 31.

When contacted, VMC Chair-person Umesh Gulelkar said thecourt has passed the order forevacuation of the old marketbuilding.

Court has ordered the shop-keepers to evacuate the buildingby March 31. The matter hasbeen settled in the court afterthe shopkeeper who filed thecase against VMC compro-mised, informed Gulelkar.

Gulelkar further said VMCwould soon fix the date to de-molish the building. The oldbuilding is in dilapidated con-dition and is unsafe for shop-keepers and public, he added.

The building will be demol-ished after taking a decision inthe council meeting and our fu-ture plan will be to construct aposh market complex here, saidGulelkar.

When asked about the reha-bilitation plan, the chairpersonsaid the matter will be discussedand finalized in the joint meet-ing with VMC and the shopkeep-ers.

Shisha-Ranni performed at Shristhal

The three Bakts lying at the Shisha-Ranni where fire is lit to boilrice in an unique tradition of Shri Mallikarjun Temple, Shristhal,Zatra. Photo by Kathy Pereira

performing Bakts lies downmaking a randan (Chul) withtheir heads covered by Pagdi(cloth covering the head).

a cooking utensil (filled withwater and earlier blessed butreportedly blood-stained rawrice) is then placed over theirheads and fire is lit underneathto get boiled rice.

Three other divine spirit ab-sorbed bakts shivering end-lessly in turn takes out longswords for a short while andmoves it around their body de-fensively and then in one gothrows the Shisha-ranni cooked rice aimlessly amid as-sembled devotees.

The devotees who wereclosely watching the entireproceedings from close rangeruns helter-skelter to avoidrice falling on them with thereported belief that it maybring some bad omen befallingon them if cooked blood-ricefalls on them.

Shri Mallikarjun DevasthanCommittee President Chan-dranath alias Shekar Dessai waspresent along with most of theother committee members.

Last time, this ritual was heldon March 17 two years ago andChief Minister Digambar Kamatand GPCC President SubhashShirodkar were present at therituals.

Later in the evening, thou-sands of people lined up in longqueues for Kaul and Prasad,which according to sources con-tinues even past midnight.

Roque, Bushan win Konkani duet contest

HERALD NEWS DESK

PaNJIM, MarCH 24

roque Dias and Bushan ro-drigues won the first place fortheir duet Mhozo guneanv zaloin a recent competition ofKonkani songs-Kantaram organ-ised by Tiatr academy of Goa(TaG).

among the duo singers, an-tonio Correia and agnelo Fer-nandes grabbed the first placefor the duo Kazar. The prizefor best trio was bagged by Mar-quis Pereira, Filomena afonsoand Steffi Pereira for their trioentitled Dotor, Nurse, Patient.

In the category of quartets,Marquis Pereira, Connie Pereira,Jack DSouza and anthony D-Souza lifted the first prize forthe quartet Dhirio while thefirst prize for Choral songsinging was won by NazarioPinto and Francisco Pinto fortheir song Bharat Mai.

about 55 singers participatedin the competition which in-cluded 8 duets, 5 duos, 3 trios,3 quartets and 5 choral songs.

Cash prizes and certificateswere distributed soon after thefunction by the President of GoaCultural Social Centre FranciscoNoronha, and by judges Socorrode Santa Cruz, anthony San andMukesh Ghatwal.

Medical camporganised

HERALD CORRESPONDENT

BICHOLIM, MarCH 24Saraswat Vidyalaya High School,Khorlim-Mapusa, recently con-ducted a seven-day medicalcamp for primary students.

about 615 students bene-fited. The general medicalcheck-up camp was organisedby Vrundavan Hospital in asso-ciation with rotary Club Ma-pusa. The camp was held in viewof the centenary year celebra-tion of the school.

No illegal miningC Parab, Manager for Dr Prafulla RHede, Mine Owner & Exporter

The report NCP leaders mine figures in il-legal list (Herald, 18 March) states that DrPrafulla R Hede is carrying on illegal mining.You must have picked up this in the answerto Starred Question 15A by VassudevGaonkar regarding cases booked by theForest Department from 2007 to 2010.

The actual offence is as per a noticedated 28 February 2010 about three Acaciatrees which were partly uprooted (not cut)in private land (not forest land) that belongsto Dr Hede. But Dr Hede has planted thou-

sands of Acacia trees. Of these, three treeswere uprooted in the monsoon and/or bymining equipment. This is not more thana minor traffic offence.

The tree cost around Rs1,000 each, andDr Hede paid Rs10,000 to compound theoffence. Why has the Forest Departmentnot compounded it for one year; becauseof the slow movement of files?

Trees are cut by the PWD without ForestDept sanction while building compoundwalls in the residences of the Chief Secre-tary and DGP. Why is such a minor violationmagnified as illegal mining?

M/s Hede want to clarify that they doonly legal mining, furnish monthly reportson extraction and sale of ore to state andcentral government agencies, pay royaltiesand all state and central taxes.

Keeper of the 4th EstateJames Fernandes, Goynche Niz Mogi

In Babushs project: To be a suitable boyfor Panjim (Herald, 20 March), Sujay Guptatakes a road that confuses readers aboutthe political scene in Goa. Electoral successcannot condone criminal acts.

Like Patricia Pinto, Sujay Gupta probablyhas a short memory. At the 2007 GBA rally,where Patricia was a senior leader, speakerafter speaker talked about eliminating the40 MLAs for daring to sell Goa by passingRP2011. But now Patricia Pinto has joinedthe very man her organisation wanted toeliminate. Similarly, instead of being theKeeper of the Fourth Estate, Sujay Guptawants to condone Babushs criminality andgive him an opportunity to be a suitableboy for Panjim.

KudosAdelmo Fernandes, Vasco

By coming out with a glossy front and backpage, Herald has added one more featherin its cap. It has made for more pleasantreading. It must be said that your newspa-per has of late come out with several in-novative steps to make it reader-friendly,without increasing the price. Keep it up.

BBSMs blah-blahKaren Fernandes, Verna

The report New outfit opposes English as

medium of instruction (Herald, 23 March)announced the formation of the BharatiyaBhasha Suraksha Manch opposing Englishas a medium of instruction. Most membersof this committee are outdated. Otherslack a vision of a better Goa.

Its common sense: How can these peo-ples opinions have any credibility whenthey are parents of grown-up adults? It isShashikala Kakodkar who is responsiblefor the mess we find ourselves in today.Instead of opting for a change, she is tryingto justify her decision.

It is we, parents of school-going children,who are affected and whose point of viewmatters, not some selfish, visionless, out-dated individuals who, for some reason,cannot bear to see fellow Goans climb theladder of success. If BBSM is so confidentof its opposition to our suggestion, whyare they holding a meeting in a hall; whynot Azad Maidan once again?

We are in no way trying to do away withour mother tongue. But we want our chil-dren to move up the ladder, while alsolearning Konkani as a compulsory subject.

Revise pensionsAnthony Fernandes, Mapusa

The government has increased the salariesof its present employees by 40 per cent,

but there is no simultaneous revision inpensions of retired employees. Prices offood, medicines and hospitalisation haveshot up. The government should revisepensions to mitigate the suffering of oldpensioners, who are finding it difficult toeven purchase costly medicines.

Fools paradiseL DCruz, by email

The time has come to sort out the injusticesin Goa. An ecological and social disaster istaking place. Mining is destroying our faunaand flora, polluting our water table anddestroying farmland. Who is going to payfor the regeneration of the moon-like min-ing craters that blight our land; the nextgeneration? Theres garbage in our towns,villages and beaches. The Indian propa-ganda machine is painting a fools paradiseof Goa.

Highway robberyD Justin, Panjim

This is my last request to Churchill Alemaoand the PWD to stop fooling Goans. A fewmonths back, he was boasting that he didthe bypass at Dandeavaddo in Chinchinimand saved houses. Now he says that theright of way will be restricted to 35 metresat Corlim and Porvorim, and the rest will

be 45 and 60 metres. Why? In the interest of Goa, Churchill should

keep the right of way to 35 metres through-out. Goa cannot lose precious land for sillyreasons.

Parents choiceMagret Fernandes, Calangute

I think Samir Kelekar (It has to be inKonkani, Herald, 22 March) is not awareof the importance of English in everybodyslife in todays fast moving world. Switchingmediums of instruction may not a problemfor very intelligent students, but one mustnot forget that there are children with dif-ferent levels of IQ.

Samir must have been a genius at school,or he is plainly insensitive towards children.Talking about jobs is the reality of life. Whyare we educating our kids if not for the future?

English is not a foreign language, but auniversal language. We all love our mothertongue. But there is a vast difference be-tween the mother tongue spoken at homeand the mother tongue written at school.

Let the parents have a choice. Samir isfree to educate his children in the languagehe feels is best for his child, but he shouldntimpose it on all children.

Politicians purpose?Cyril Dias, Taleigao

The rally for English as the medium of in-struction at Azad Maidan saw some of ourelected representatives seated prominentlyin the first row. By attending such meetings,they want to give the impression that theyare with the people, but there is a widemismatch between their words and deeds.

The public must remember that electionsare due shortly, so all politicians will takeevery opportunity to be seen taking up is-sues of the people, whether it is mining,mega projects or education. But once theyare elected they have their own agendasand the peoples interest is last thing ontheir mind.

If one investigates how many electedrepresentatives have sent their wards toKonkani medium primary schools, you willget the answer to whether the mothertongue should be the medium of instruc-tion.

Asenior official of a reputed Higher SecondarySchool in Panjim was vociferous in his con-demnation, that due to the lack of Marathi

institutions of learning, he was unable to takeup a career in Marathi teaching. This gentlemanfollowed it up by showering garbage on the Eng-lish language, and holding it accountable for pre-venting him from achieving his lifes objectives.This supposedly educated individual, whose ex-istence and that of his family depended on thesalary he received from the English-medium in-stitution he taught in, did not hesitate to heapthe most invidious condemnation on the verylanguage that was the source of his survival. A senior employee of a government hospital,who had a reputation for being a concerned anda supportive attendant to the innumerable poorand elderly patients, also involved herself inprayer meetings. One who would always beginher prayers with the heavenly words Mogall Jezuor Loving Jesus, however, she would not hesitateto praise and support a man of diabolical character,for accepting her demands. When a villager asked his neighbours children,who were aged six and eight years, whether theywould like to pluck Cazus (cashews), these chil-dren whose grandparents and father had notprogressed beyond Std I and Std VIII in schoolrespectively, and had come to their parents villagefrom Margao replied by asking, Uncle, what is Cazu? Several ladies, particularly from the Christiancommunity, entertain an illusion, a false belief,that speaking English gives them a stature, a po-sition, or a certain respectability in society. And,therefore, they speak English, or what they thinkis English, and they are of the opinion that theKonkani language is only for the servants anduntouchables. They are ashamed of their mothertongue The above narration makes me wonder whetherany of these individuals I have outlined had re-ceived a proper education. This in turn begs thefundamental question: what is this thing we callan education? Is it learning in Marathi, in Konkani,in English, or in any of the other official Indianlanguages? What can we consider as a base tojudge if an individual is educated? The answers are visible in the attitudes of the

grandparents and elders of our society. The virtuesthat gave them an air of learning include humility,honoring ones parents and elders, obedience,gratitude, kindness, sincerity, dignity of labour.These are the virtues that are the real hallmarksof education. They make education the Motherof Virtues. That is why a childs education shouldbegin by being taught the virtues these are thetrifles that make for perfection; the qualitiesthat complete the education of a person. The nationals who speak English because it istheir mother tongue reveal their identity, theirroots and place of origin. Likewise, people acrossthe world who speak in their mother tongues donot belittle or undermine themselves, but rather,stamp their undiluted love for their motherlandand mother tongue. Let us make no mistake. If learning English helpsone to open wide the window of opportunityacross a large section of the globe, speaking onesmother tongue provides one with roots, an iden-tity and credibility. Every economically healthy or successful person

educates their children in an English mediumschool. Therefore, discrimination among childrenbased on the financial strength of their parentsshould be eliminated. Every child whether ofrich or poor parents should be admitted to anEnglish medium school. These schools must bethe best schools, with the best environment, withhighly competent teachers, and must be aidedby the government. The headmaster or headmistress, assisted by twoparents from the Parent Teacher Association (PTA)and two senior teachers, should be authorisedto interview and appoint new teachers. Once thisis done, thereafter, the headmaster or head-mistress should be held accountable for the per-formance of the students in internal as well asexternal examinations, as well as for the envi-ronment of the school. However, while laying emphasis on the learningof English, care should be taken that the mothertongue Konkani is protected, fortified and insu-lated. Accordingly, with the objective of achievingthe dual goals of learning the language of the

world and keeping the mother tongue Konkanialive, vibrant and kicking, the educationist wouldbe required to adhere to a regime where a teacher,while teaching the English alphabets, informallyteaches the student the corresponding alphabetsin Konkani. Similarly, a teacher teaching a partic-ular less