Worsening Times

CHANGE gets in the way of every thing in the world nowadays. In tiny Goa, change is excessively dynamic and defies prediction. On June 6 the monsoons got active over Kerala and South Cannanore, and were predicted to do the same in Goa by June 9, by theGoa office of the Indian Meteorological Department. It poured relentlessly everywhere else in the country but did so just for a couple of days in Goa, which is as dry as August and paddy cultivation is delayed by almost a month.

The approaching monsoons enhanced the fears of the coastal people in Candolim. They feared that the "M.V. River Princess", which ran aground off the Sinquerim beach, might crack up at their doorstep. But the "Princess" successfully celebrated its Ran-Aground anniversary on June 6. It won't budge, do what the Goa government may. Whatever goes to court, generally gets stuck up there for an almost indefinite period, and the vessel's case also seems to go the traditional way.

Besides agriculture, the monsoons usher in a new academic year for education. Like every new tourist season, every academic year too throws up a new set of problems for students, teachers or institutions. People from Bicholim and Pernem have been protesting against the government's decision to privatise 53 government primary schools. Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar says that the primary schools, had only two or three students on their rolls. But today people have no time to indulge in protests with a serious cause to do so. They suspect BJP's motive of saffronising education at the primary level, by gifting away the schools to non-educational, BJP-based comanisations.

Benaulim too burst in the news recently with a near-communal commotion when the Chairman of the Benaulim Education Society, Fr Saturnino Antao, decided to sell the primary wing of a school, attached to the church, to a Christian sect called "Believers". The predominantly Catholic village went wild with rage, damaged the school property and had Fr Saturnino Antao sit in the church compound and insulted publicly. The matter seems to have cooled down now.

At the University level, the Parrikar government appointed Dr Modassir as an officer on special duty at the varsity. Dr Peter Ronald de Souza, the Head of the Department and Professor of Political Science of the Goa University, criticised the Chief Minister's action and called it an "infringement of the principle of intellectual autonomy and the hollow claim of administrative proficiency".

The alleged sex scandal at Miramar created waves last month. The Goa police recorded the statement of a 24-year-old girl from an elite residential area. They asked her about the involvement of persons linked to the politicians in the previous ministry. "Dongor pokrun undir kaddlo" (much ado about nothing), they say in Konkani.

The government proposes grand plans for the forthcoming coming tourist season. Break away from the beach scene and open fresh areas to the visitors, is the upbeat talk this year. The Curca spring, Cabo de Rama Fort, Old Goa churches, Sanguem's bubbling tank and the panoramic Chorlem Ghat await the tourists now, if the Goa Tourism Master Plan is any indication. The Master Plan projections that tourists coming to Goa will double by 2021, with over 27 lakh tourists are expected to visit Goa annually. The Union Ministry of Tourism prioritised projects worth Rs.2.85 crore during the current financial year for Goa. Two golf courses, seven resorts, four food parks, recreational and amusements parks and offshore casinos would be the scene proposed in the Master Plan.

What the "River Princess" did in North Goa, the "Sea Bird" did in the South. People were taken aback when a leading architect asserted that the "Sea Bird" naval project, under construction at Karwar, would be extended from Polem to Betul, sweeping across Canacona's entire coastal belt. The government prefers to keep mum. But an official of the Indian Navy denied that the "Seabird" will fly anywhere in Goa.