Edited by Eddie Fernandes editor@goanvoice.org.uk

Restaurant Review: Lloyd's Goan and BBQ Restaurant of Calangute
10 Jul: The Hindu. During his recent visit to Goa, Rahul Verma discovers Lloyd's Goan and BBQ Restaurant, and comes back raving ... young Lloyd Braganza (09823032273), runs the restaurant with his very charming wife…The décor is minimalistic (or even basic), but the food is awesome. It's closed for lunch, but open till late at night … 617 words.  click here

An enfield for a room
10 Jul: Indian Express. Barter is back. Urban Indians are rewriting commercial transactions … When Adrian Pinto, owner of The Only Olive, a holiday home in Aldona, Goa, wanted an Enfield, he simply offered a few nights’ stay in exchange. A post on the Facebook page of Barter Road, a group founded by Mumbai hairstylist Sapna Bhavnani in 2009, fetched a couple of offers…  click here

Booming army of Britons invest internationally
10 Jul: The Mail on Sunday (UK). Spending three months each year in India for the past decade has given Mary and Brian Edwards a clear view of the way the world is changing … they use an apartment in Goa to explore the rest of the country, they have travelled to China, Brazil and North Africa… Their international assets have grown from a timeshare in Goa to global funds …Text + photo.  click here

Cyprian Fernandes' Sunday Masala: Does anyone care?
Goa's patch of Mother Earth is being assaulted on all sides by people who should know better. More than 20,000 people turned up support a campaign for children to be taught in English as the medium of instruction yet few or any have raised a voice in protest against the environmental abuses that happen in Goa every day.

Consider this: Carmen Miranda a lone voice spoke in London recently of the rape by mining and environmental damage and destruction everywhere by 110 miners. Open cut mining is carving out the heart of the country. Tailings (mining waste) is rising by hill and burying houses in its wake. Heavy metals which are dangerous to humans and animals alike have contaminated drinking water, rivers and the eco-systems, including fish stocks, are being polluted and silted up; natural forests and animal habitats are being laid waste and paddy fields have silted up and lying idle. The sad thing about it is that the Government of Goa is fully aware of this rape by licenced and by illegal mining operations. And nobody it seems gives a toss. At Carmen Miranda's presentation in London, the video showed a smallish crowd in attendance. Doesn't anyone care anymore? I don't want to appear sanctimonious because she would get a similar reception in my patch, Australia.

In this day and age it is unbelievable to see pollution being treated with such nonchalance. Currently the coastal seas are unfit for human bathing. High levels of coliform bacteria have been found in the seas with raw sewage being discharged into the main rivers. Sewage is collected in septic tanks and dumper trucks are supposed to move it treatment plants.

As I write the Goa Sewerage Corporation is battling to patch some sewer lines that are emptying into a field in Fatorda. Naturally the stink is mighty in more ways than one. There is another mining causing yet another stink in Goa: sand mining which is illegal but most individuals and companies go about their business without a care in the world. Goa's Environment Minister Alexeio Sequeira wants to legalise sand mining. He is caught between the dunes and the deep blue sea on this issue. Goa used to import its sand supplies from Karnataka but that state halted sand exports more than a year ago. So Mr Sequeira's problem is: Where does Goa get its sand needed so vital for the building boom? No one but a TV station is attempting to raise the passions of people to try and stop the illegal mining.

The current free-for-all poses severe issues of beach erosion which has already occurred in several places. The world has not learned from past catastrophes where whole eco-systems on sea-beds and river-beds have been destroyed forever by sand mining. Taking sand from the dunes has made minor cracks in the beaches, some are rather ugly, none are as dramatic as those created by open-cut mining but it won't be long before Goa's biggest tourist dollar earner, the beaches are destroyed forever. These are not new problems. For decades Goa's pig-toilets have been repelling young Goan children from overseas because they were too scared and disgusted. There are still a few pig-toilets around. Then of course there are the mounds of garbage everywhere.

The world is moving on to seriously tackle the challenges posed by Global Climate Change. Some countries are convinced that one way to do this is to introduce a carbon tax. Naturally, this is a controversial tax based on scientific theory. Slow to act, the world does care, but will it care in time and before the earth is seriously damaged?

Comments to skipfer@live.com.au Check out his website http://cyprianfernandes.blogspot.com

Restaurant Review: Lloyd's Goan and BBQ Restaurant of Calangute
10 Jul: The Hindu. During his recent visit to Goa, Rahul Verma discovers Lloyd's Goan and BBQ Restaurant, and comes back raving ... young Lloyd Braganza (09823032273), runs the restaurant with his very charming wife…The décor is minimalistic (or even basic), but the food is awesome. It's closed for lunch, but open till late at night … 617 words.  click here

An enfield for a room
10 Jul: Indian Express. Barter is back. Urban Indians are rewriting commercial transactions … When Adrian Pinto, owner of The Only Olive, a holiday home in Aldona, Goa, wanted an Enfield, he simply offered a few nights’ stay in exchange. A post on the Facebook page of Barter Road, a group founded by Mumbai hairstylist Sapna Bhavnani in 2009, fetched a couple of offers…  click here

Booming army of Britons invest internationally
10 Jul: The Mail on Sunday (UK). Spending three months each year in India for the past decade has given Mary and Brian Edwards a clear view of the way the world is changing … they use an apartment in Goa to explore the rest of the country, they have travelled to China, Brazil and North Africa… Their international assets have grown from a timeshare in Goa to global funds …Text + photo.  click here

Cyprian Fernandes' Sunday Masala: Does anyone care?
Goa's patch of Mother Earth is being assaulted on all sides by people who should know better. More than 20,000 people turned up support a campaign for children to be taught in English as the medium of instruction yet few or any have raised a voice in protest against the environmental abuses that happen in Goa every day.

Consider this: Carmen Miranda a lone voice spoke in London recently of the rape by mining and environmental damage and destruction everywhere by 110 miners. Open cut mining is carving out the heart of the country. Tailings (mining waste) is rising by hill and burying houses in its wake. Heavy metals which are dangerous to humans and animals alike have contaminated drinking water, rivers and the eco-systems, including fish stocks, are being polluted and silted up; natural forests and animal habitats are being laid waste and paddy fields have silted up and lying idle. The sad thing about it is that the Government of Goa is fully aware of this rape by licenced and by illegal mining operations. And nobody it seems gives a toss. At Carmen Miranda's presentation in London, the video showed a smallish crowd in attendance. Doesn't anyone care anymore? I don't want to appear sanctimonious because she would get a similar reception in my patch, Australia.

In this day and age it is unbelievable to see pollution being treated with such nonchalance. Currently the coastal seas are unfit for human bathing. High levels of coliform bacteria have been found in the seas with raw sewage being discharged into the main rivers. Sewage is collected in septic tanks and dumper trucks are supposed to move it treatment plants.

As I write the Goa Sewerage Corporation is battling to patch some sewer lines that are emptying into a field in Fatorda. Naturally the stink is mighty in more ways than one. There is another mining causing yet another stink in Goa: sand mining which is illegal but most individuals and companies go about their business without a care in the world. Goa's Environment Minister Alexeio Sequeira wants to legalise sand mining. He is caught between the dunes and the deep blue sea on this issue. Goa used to import its sand supplies from Karnataka but that state halted sand exports more than a year ago. So Mr Sequeira's problem is: Where does Goa get its sand needed so vital for the building boom? No one but a TV station is attempting to raise the passions of people to try and stop the illegal mining.

The current free-for-all poses severe issues of beach erosion which has already occurred in several places. The world has not learned from past catastrophes where whole eco-systems on sea-beds and river-beds have been destroyed forever by sand mining. Taking sand from the dunes has made minor cracks in the beaches, some are rather ugly, none are as dramatic as those created by open-cut mining but it won't be long before Goa's biggest tourist dollar earner, the beaches are destroyed forever. These are not new problems. For decades Goa's pig-toilets have been repelling young Goan children from overseas because they were too scared and disgusted. There are still a few pig-toilets around. Then of course there are the mounds of garbage everywhere.

The world is moving on to seriously tackle the challenges posed by Global Climate Change. Some countries are convinced that one way to do this is to introduce a carbon tax. Naturally, this is a controversial tax based on scientific theory. Slow to act, the world does care, but will it care in time and before the earth is seriously damaged?

Comments to skipfer@live.com.au Check out his website http://cyprianfernandes.blogspot.com