GOANVOICE DAILY NEWSLETTER SUN 14 MARCH, 2010
| ANNOUNCEMENT | ||
| Restricted Service Ahead! | ||
From Eddie Fernandes: I will be in Goa ( Tel. 00 91 909 666 3431) 12 Mar to 2
Apr and will endeavour to provide a restricted service during this period. Send
messages to eddie.fernandes@gmail.com
as normal but if urgent action is required, please copy your message to carvalho_sel@yahoo.com Thank you. | ||
Photo Gallery | ||
| Football: Salgaocar Edge Dempo In Thrilling Goa Derby | ||
14 Mar: Goal.com . Salgaocar went past second-placed Dempo 3-2 at the Fatorda on Sunday, after going a goal down in the first half. | ||
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| Goa Casinos stall | ||
 14 Mar. Navhind Times. Goa.The high entry fee for casinos, fixed by the government of Goa, has slowed down casino customers to a trickle. Unbelievable but true, some casinos saw just two or three customers in the whole month of February. In comparison to 15 casinos in Las Vegas, Goa has 26 onshore and offshore casinos. | ||
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| 4 Lane Roads ahead | ||
 14 Mar. Herald. Goa. Even as residents of various villages are up in arms against the 4 laning of Goa, plans are afoot to go ahead with the project. Highly placed sources confirm that contractors have already been assigned to the project. Residents want the width of the roads to be reduced so as to save their houses. | ||
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| No fresh mining leases | ||
 14 Mar. Indian Express. With concerns mounting on the adverse impact of mining on the environment, the Goa government has decided not to grant any fresh mining leases in the near future. The move comes after environment and forests minister Jairam Ramesh endorsed the Digamber Kamat government’s proposal not to give environmental clearance to any new mine. | ||
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News Summary | ||
| The Mining Petitiion From Carmen Miranda: The response to sign this PETITION so far has been very disappointing! YET IT JUST TAKES A MINUTE OF YOUR TIME ! Please do sign this PETITION and help us arrest the total destruction of Goa! Just click on the link below. Full Text. more info... | ||
| Goan wildlife under threat 14 Mar. Digital Goa. With their habitats being destroyed by humans, wild animals are forced to enter human habitations leading to clashes between humans and wildlife. The incidents of last two days are a glaring example of this phenomenon in which two leopards were killed, while one person was seriously injured in an attack by a leopard. Full Text. | ||
| Russian boy rescused 14 Mar. Times of India. Goa. A six-year-old boy from Russia was saved by lifeguards at Majorda beach on Friday morning. The Russian boy, Stas Shepushtanow, was surfing on his body board at Majorda when a 'dumping wave' washed the board to the shore. As Shepushtanow found it difficult to swim, he panicked and shouted for help. Full Text. | ||
| Konkani has a glorious future 14 Mar. Times of India. Goa. Konkani has a glorious future, provided the Romi- ’nagri controversy is put to an end,” says Sahitya Akedemi award winner Jess Fernandes. He is the author of 26 novels, written in both languages. Full Text. | ||
| WHO THE BLEEP CARES. Weekly column by Selma Carvalho. 72. Who the Bleep cares about racism, shame, appeasement and religion? You never forget a racist incident. Not because you've been physically brutalized but because you've come face to face with the realization that another human being did you wrong. I had fully intended this week's column to be about a racist incident which occurred to me on the 222 bus. A burly Rhodesian man having formed a semi-arc around me on the overcrowded bus, launched into a full-fledged tirade against Indians. "A lot of people talking rubbish these days you know. They call us racist, India is the most racist country, you know" His rabid voice too close to my ears. "Yes, they have millions of people, living in abject poverty, in the slums. Millions of dalits and you can't touch them, you know. Because then you have to purify yourself. And they call us racist" Each word was stressed for emphasis. His voice droning on for a good 5 minutes. Just in case I missed the misery of my country. Just in case I wasn't aware of its abject poverty, dalits and pollution. Yes, I had fully intend to write about how wronged I was but before I could send off my column, my good friend, Sandeep Heble, sent me Salman Rushdie's speech on the growing intolerance in India, my country itself, created by factional groups. Sandeep prodded me twice to actually listen to it. Nothing I can write can top Rushdie's speech but listening to it, as a citizen of India, I felt small. I realized how immune our society has become; how incapable we have become of feeling collective shame for our thoughts and actions. How we've created a culture of appeasement. Not just the appeasement of politics; that perhaps is a lighter burden for us to bear. The machinations of political parties appeasing the thugs, the militants, the self-appointed custodians of religion and culture in return for vote-banks. But more damningly we've created a culture of appeasing our consciences. We don't want them to be stoked. We don't want disquiet of the mind. We don't want people who'll make us think, question, and advance the dialogue further. We want to become placid, stagnant and ultimately stultified. And we've done this by using three cards; ethnicity, religion and culture. We cannot understand that homogenized groups do not remain static, that their dimensions and demographics are ever changing; that defining ethnicity is a nebulous concept. The same can be said of religion. When did religion stop being a dynamic movement? When did it stop being a conversation with our peers or an internal dialogue with ourselves? A dialogue that advances the cause of humanity, not regresses it. The self-appointed custodians of religion in India will have us believe that these dialogues are to be suppressed, that stone carvings and canvas painting have come to epitomize the essence of religion and that defending them or burning them is the only way to show our sense of religiosity. And both of these issues encapsulate the larger issue of culture. Who defines culture? When did it become cast in stone? Surely culture is the one organic component of society that must be in constant evolution. Otherwise, we become cultural dinosaurs awaiting extinction. Evolution is a bitter process, it discards things that don't work, that aren't required but ultimately it fine-tunes functioning of every living organism. The process of discarding is a difficult one but without it, we cannot grow to our full potential as a society. The only thing that is worth preserving in society is our ability to introspect and feel shame. For full details of Salman Rushdie's speech, click here. Do leave your feedback at carvalho_sel@yahoo.com | ||