SEMINAR ON TOURISM IN GOA

Rosary College of Commerce and Arts, Navelim, will comanise a two days Multifaculty Seminar on the theme Tourism in Goa: A balance Sheet in the first week of April 2000.

The role of tourism in Goa is under close scrutiny. Every year Goa has been offering hospitality to a number of guests equalling and even exceeding the number of its own inhabitants and consequently it becomes imperative to study the balance sheet of such an interaction.

All the topics will be related to the situation in Goa. Some of the areas to be covered could include Advertising and promotion of Tourism, Marketing of Tourism, Infrastructure & Tourism, Local participation in Tourism decisions, Tourism & Jobs, Tourism and foreign Exchange, who profits from Tourism & who loses because of Tourism, The Host and the Guest, Destination Management, Tourism Policy, Evolution of Tourism in Goa, Economics of Tourism. In addition to these areas, the following topics could be studied : Cultural Tourism, Heritage Tourism, Ecotourism, Sustainable Tourism, Beach Tourism, Village Tourism, Sports & Adventure Tourism, Mass Tourism, Wildlife Tourism, Project Tourism, Tourism and land use, The Church & Tourism, The Government & Tourism, Pastoral care of Tourists, Health care of tourists, Luxury Hotels, Charter flights, Multinational interests, Release of solid waste and Tourism, Commodification & museumisation of cultural heritage.

Some other topics that could be included are Sex Tourism, Drugs & Tourism, AIDS & Tourism, How Goa can kill Tourism, Tourism & values, Unsustainable consumptive & luxurious lifestyle & Tourism, The unequal distribution of economic benefits, Golf & Tourism, NGO’s & Tourism, Responses of the people to the impact of Tourism, Crime & Tourism, Courts & Tourism, Police & Tourism, Domestic tourists, Foreign Tourists, Visitor Management, Tourism induced acculturation, Rave/Acid parties, Tourism & Colonialism, Alternatives to the existing Tourism, etc.

PATRON FOR GOA AND DAMAN: Blessed Joseph Vaz, a 17th century Goan priest who shone as a Catholic missionary in India and Sri Lanka, was formally proclaimed as the patron saint of the archdiocese of Goa and Daman at a religious function at Se Cathedral in Old Goa on January 16. Several church dignitaries and more than 10,000 devotees, including some from Sri Lanka, filled the biggest church of Goa beyond capacity.

IT'S CARNAVAL TIME AGAIN: Tourism Minister Victoria Fernandes discussed the various aspects of holding the Carnaval celebrations on March 4 in Panjim, March 5 in Margao, March 6 in Vasco and March 7 in Mapusa. She impressed upon the various representatives present that the Carnaval should be more attractive than ever before in the millennium year.

PHILOMENA FORTUNATE FINALLY: Philomena Almeida, who had retired after 29 years of service as a daily wage sweeper, scavenger, peon and incharge of tea canteen at the Salcete Mamlatdar's office, could get her services regularised only after she filed a writ petition in the Bombay High Court at Goa in 1997, challenging the non-regularisation of her services since 1976. The High Court has directed that her service be regularised, all her arrears be paid within eight weeks, besides Rs.25,000 towards costs.

GOANS WORLDWIDE: Goans Worldwide, a federation of Goan associations, has been formed to establish contact with Goans all over the Globe, to protect and promote cultural identity, according to the convenor Aires Rodrigues. BEST GIFT: Dr Sharad Vaidya, chairman of the National comanisation for Tobacco Eradication, lamented the government's failure to implement the Goa Prohibition of Smoking and Spitting Act from January 1. Dr Vaidya said that the anti-smoking act would have been the government's millennium gift for the health and welfare of Goans.

SENIOR CITIZENS FETED: The Vasco Millennium Committee concluded its Utsav 2000 with the felicitation of eminent senior citizens of port-town Vasco da Gama. YD Chowgule, Layra Dias, Vasant Joshi, Urminda Lima Leitao, Froilano C Da Rocha Machado, VS Manerkar, Vasantram Mehta, Aureo Quadros, Dr U Salelkar, Nagindas Thakker and Sunderlal Thakker were amongst hose felicitated.

VISALESS VISITORS: Of the 11,000 Pakistani nationals staying illegally in various parts of the country, 3 are staying in Goa with expired visas. The remaining 45 Pak nationals in Goa--38 Catholics, 3 Hindus and 4 Muslims-- are on long term visas. It's only after the hijacking of the IA aircraft to Afghanistan that the government has woken up to the situation of the Pakistani visitors without visa. The State government could also check if there are nationals of other countries living without visas here.

KONKANIS EXCEL: Data issued by the Education Testing Service, Princeton, New Jersey, in relation to Test of English as a Foreign Language, shows that Konkani-speaking Goans have been beating the Dutch, Maltese and others to second place during the last five years. Dr Dennis Kurzon, who teaches English at Israel's Haifa University, was in Goa recently to find out the reason why Goans fare so well consistently. KONKANI'S WATCH: Welcoming the gathering at the Goa Yuva Mahotsav in Margao, KBM president Raju Nayak lamented that some forces were trying to split the Konkani movement which is in the creative stage.

INAUGURATION INDEED: Aleixo Sequeira, minister for Industries, will inaugurate the Sulabh Shouchalaya Complex at the Verna Industrial Estate, on January 6 in the "distinguished presence of" Prabhakar Gaonkar, chairman, Goa Industrial Development Corporation, according to ad in local newspapers.

PUNISHING POLLUTION: Failure to install and operate pollution control equipment by major industries, will invite punitive action after surprise checks from both the Goa Pollution Control Board and the Central Pollution Control Board.

TATKAL PASSPORT TOO: With effect from 1 January 2000, the ministry of External Affairs has introduced a Tatkal passport, which will be issued within a week for an extra fee of Rs.1500. If you need a passport after three weeks, the extra fee will be only Rs.1000. Cost of a duplicate passport will be Rs.2500 and Rs.1500 will be charged for re-issue after the expiry of the passport, besides the normal fees. During 1999, the Panjim passport office had issued nearly 19,200 passports. (GT) FENI RETURNS: The excise department earned Rs.6.13 lakh revenue by way of distillery auction last year for distilling cashew feni. This year, the figure is expected to touch Rs.2 lakh.

GOA COWBOYS: Caitan Fernandes, Bosteao Fernandes, Francis Fernandes, Crezao Fernandes and Johnny Camilo of Goa Velha where at the Sancoale plateau on the night of January 4, with nets and ropes to roundup stray cattle. Unfortunately, for them, the five were spotted by a farmer who informed the owners of the cattle and cowboys ended up paying a fine of Rs.2000 each.

OPINION: Having entered the new millennium, the sons and daughters of this red soil look forward to the forty MLAs to put an end to marriages of convenience, to form an alternative government. It is a shame that the chief minister's chair is reduced to the level of 'musical chair' as political party leaders have an eye to occupy the seat even for a few days in office…(Melson F M Louis, Velim.

SMOKING, SPITTING in public is still possible because the notification of the Goa Prohibition of Smoking and Spitting Act has been postponed by CM Francisco Sardinha, who would prefer to refer it to the Legislative Assembly, for amendments after discussion by his ministerial colleagues.

EX-ARMY CHIEF'S SON, Mac Sunith Rodrigues from Porvorim, was assaulted while he was proceeding towards Miramar in his Tata Sumo. Sanil Bharati has been arrested in the connection and the police are on the lookout for Joeboy Fernandes.

PUBLISHERS NOTE: Two copies of each publication by writers, publishers and printers of books in the state of Goa, are required to be sent to the Central Library in Panjim, under the Press and Registration of Books Act. If the publishers, writers and printers send in the books by January 31, they will be listed in the Government Gazette.

PARISHAD POLLS: In the first ever polls for the Zilla Parishad, 9,17,224 voters will exercise their franchise in Goa, which has 4,17,947 voters in 30 the North Goa constituencies and in the South there are 4,99,277 voters for 20 constituencies.

ANOTHER TURTLE BEACH: The 1.5- km Galgibaga has become the latest nesting haven for turtles, following the Morjim beach in North Goa. Within five days, nearly 200 baby turtles were hatched and found their way back into the sea from two nests. Fr Mariano Goes-Proenca, the Galjibaga parish priest and protector of turtles was told buy a villager, "We had eaten the eggs but never seen this in our life time," watching the spectacle of baby turtles returning to the sea at the Galjibaga beach at 8.30 am.

SINDKAR COMMISSION SCRAPPED: The Sindkar Commission, which had been appointed by the Congress government to probe the setting up of the Meta Strips Plant, has been scrapped by an order of the Sardinha-led coalition government on January 10.

GOAN EXPATRIATE CELEBRATIONS: Goan expatriate communities across the UK have been holding celebrations, religious events and meetings to mark the festival and holiday season both in the land they are staying in as well as the homeland.

VELUSKAR'S KONKNNI POEMS: "Tanarjyoti", an anthology of Konkani poems by popular Goan poet Ramesh Veluskar, was released by renowned Punjabi writer, Dr Kartarsingh Duggal, at the black box of the Kala Academy recently. Speaking about the anthology, Dr Duggal said that Veluskar has a rich vocabulary of words and has evolved new boundaries and new idioms for the Konkani language. The poetry of Veluskar is apocalyptic poetry, said Dr S S Kulkarni, retired educationist.

HOTELIERS AGAINST SHACKS: Representatives of the hotel industry have complained to the government that the shacks occupying the beaches violate all laws and norms and have demanded that such shacks be demolished immediately.

SATURDAY NIGHT MARKET: Calangute was popular for its Saturday market but that one was for daybreakers. Now Baga has a Saturday Night Market run by Ingo at Mackies by the Baga river. Selling and buying to the accompaniment of light music under UV lights is quite interesting since it draws hawkers from here, there and everywhere in the world.

CAUGHT IN CROSSIFRE: Goans, whose ancestors had settled in Karachi and other areas of Pakistan before the partition, are getting caught in the crossfire generated from the cold and not-so-cold war between New Delhi and Islamabad. Many of them have migrated to the UK, Australia and Canada. Those temporarily or permanently in Goa, find it difficult to cope with passport and other residential formalities.

ISLANDS IN TROUBLE: Goa's government is struggling to protect the five islands of Divar, Chorao, St Estevam, Cumbarjua and Capao (Vanxem), which are threatened by intensive damage to the bunds or the protective riverside embankments that guard the low-lying areas.

STUDENTS' DOMICILE: With the State government having relaxed the domicile requirement for admission to professional course in Goa on January 18, children of Goan origin parents will only require to pursue their XI and XII standards leading to the Higher Secondary School Certificate Examination in Goa, to qualify for admission to Goa's professional colleges. Students with Goan grand-parents will have to produce five-year residence in Goa for admission.

CONVERSION COSTLIER: Conversion of land for residential purpose will cost Rs.10 per square metre, for plots beyond 200 sq metres. For commercial C-I category, where the FAR is 200, the rate fixed is Rs.100 per sq metre and Rs.75 per sq mt for C-2 category with FAR at 150. For settlement S-I category it is Rs.50 per sq mt and Rs.25 per sq mt for S-2 category. For industrial purposes the new rate is Rs.20 per sq. mt. In coastal villages, conversion within 500 metres of the High Tide Line will be Rs.100 per sq mt.

FIRE ALERT: Goa's fire-fighting units fought at least five separate fire incidents--two in Margao and one each in Ponda, Curchorem, Panjim, Curtorim and Valpoi on January 18. A scrap yard went up in flames at Dhavali causing a loss of nearly Rs.3 lakh. Molasses from Sanjivani Sugar Factory at Dharabandora too caught fire. Dry grass in the fields of Mardol too brought in fire tenders as also happened in Curtorim, where dry grass near the residence of CM Sardinha caught fire. In Saleli (Valpoi), it was a sugar cane farm and a cashew orchard burning.

TONING DOWN NOISE: While admitting a Public Interest Litigation filed by the Goa Environment Federation, justices B N Srikrishna and R M S Khandeparkar of the Bombay High Court at Panjim, banned playing of amplified music between 10 pm and 7 am in open places in Goa, vide an interim order, until further notice. Advocate Ms Norma Alvares appeared for the petitioner.

WORLD-WIDE GOANS AT WORK: A delegation of Worldwide Goans, led by Aires Rodrigues, called on Governor Mohammed Fazal and discussed various aspects connected with overseas Goans. The governor assured his co-operation in implementing schemes which would benefit Goa and Goans. The delegation pleaded that the Goa government set up a department of NRI on the pattern of Gujarat, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh.

CHARISMATIC CONVENTION: Over 18,000 delegates from India and abroad attended the XIth National 'Great Jubilee' Convention of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, held at Navelim recently. The key speakers were Fr Art Cooney, ofm(cap), from the USA, Trevor Luis, Cyril John, Dr Renu Silvano and Fr Fio Mascarenhas.

DR WILLY RE-ELECTED, for the 19th time in succession, as the president of the Goa Bharat Scouts and Guides Association for the period 2000-2003.

TOURIST TAXI COUNTER: The Panjim Bench of the Bombay High Court has directed the Goa Government to open a counter at the Dabolim airport from which tourist taxis can operate at the arrival hall of the airport.

ARECIO D'SOUZA has been restrained from functioning as the chairman of the Goa State Pollution Control Board till January 31 by the Bombay High Court at Panjim, in the wake of a writ petition filed by the Goa Foundation challenging the capacity of D'Souza to hold the post.