The scholarship is in memory of his mother, Merlyn Verona Vaz, whose family hailed from Calangute and who expired in the United Kingdom in October 2003. Merlyn Vaz was also the first Goan to be elected councillor of Leicester.

Mr Vaz, now holidaying with his family at the Leela Palace in Cavellosim, told The Navhind Times, that the scholarship will be for a Goan primary teacher to teach in the UK for one year, all expenses paid. “They can teach in the UK, particularly in my constituency of Leicester where my mother was a councillor. If it works out, then we will extend it to other professions. One of the reasons I came here is to take advice from people on how best to deal with this,” Mr Vaz said.

He said a selection committee will be appointed locally here in Goa to which applications from the candidates may be sent. “We will get the rules and regulations in place and then invite applications from Goan teachers,” Mr Vaz said.

Hoping to boost the youth exchange between the UK and India, Mr Vaz regretted that the British government’s scheme called the Commonwealth Working Holiday Scheme and started since August 2003, for young people from the Commonwealth between the ages of 20 and 30 had attracted poor response from Indian youth. “Anyone in India between those ages can qualify. We received only 46 applications in Mumbai out of a country of 990 million people. So people don’t know about this scheme. It allows a young person to go to the UK for 2 years to get a job and finance himself. “That is tremendous exposure and would allow proper exchange between our two countries,” Mr Vaz said, adding that presently only Australians and New Zealanders were availing of the scheme.

One of the conditions is interested persons have to show they have income in India to support them. They also need to demonstrate they will come back after the 2 years is over. When asked how much money that meant, Mr Vaz said its a matter of judgement. “Clearly if you look out for a job in the UK, you will be able to finance yourself. This is one way where people from India can come and work in the UK for 2 years. But that period will give them enormous amounts of experience and exposure,” he said.

Mr Vaz also favoured a visa application centre in Goa for those wishing to travel to Britain. “During my 3 years as foreign office minister, we set up visa application centres for Britain at various places in India like Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Pune. They have been remarkably successful. I did not manage to get a centre opened in Goa though I wanted to. I think the British Consulate wanted to see more demand. Now a lot of Goan people have to go to Mumbai to make their applications or do it by post,” he said.

Stressing the need for Goa to have such a centre, he said there are still issues here of nationalities that are unresolved. “People claim European Union citizenship by descent, their Portuguese connection. These are complicated issues that need to be sorted out. The visa centre would provide a useful service, because it is self-financing. It would not cost the British government anything to put up,” he said.

He said Goa governments in the past had been receptive to the idea. “It’s a long campaign and I think it would be good having seen the success of these centres elsewhere. We want to see an exchange between England and India,” he said.

He also spoke of the need to boost tourism here by introducing more direct commercial flights from the UK to Goa. “I shall be pursuing Air India to introduce direct flights from London to Goa. Lots of people go through Mumbai and then come here. That is an extra day. Direct flights would also give a boost to the (Goan) economy,” he said.

Mr Vaz admired the “remarkable development in Goa” and said he loved to come here because “this is where our origins are”. His wife, Ms Maria, who has just been elected the President of the Law Society of London and his two children, Luke and Anjali, are with him. He is scheduled to leave for the UK on April 18.