Goanet meets in Goa: December 27, 12 noon and January 7, 4 pm (meeting point: Kala Academy canteen). See you there! ------------------------------
As an NRI who has come to Goa from the USA to retire, I appreciated Aires's candid description of the situation in Goa. While I do not agree with everything Aires has written, most of what he has said is true. Experience is a great educator. Despite its faults I still love Goa, and I am glad I chose to retire in Goa. The NRI Facilitation Center is top-heavy with bureaucrats, without a single NRI representative that I know of, who could provide an NRI-perspective in its deliberations and planning. What is the role of the NRI Facilitation Center other than to facilitate an annual convention of NRIs with fancy brochures and flowery speeches ? In typical bureaucratic fashion, it takes a number of meetings, with committees and sub-committees and foreign jaunts, to plan what in the past was very successfully organized without governmental expenditure by a handful of volunteers. To make the transition easier for NRIs who choose to come to Goa to settle in retirement or otherwise, I strongly suggest that we form an association of NRIs who have already settled in Goa. This would be a voluntary self-help group, to assist each other in tackling day to day issues in dealing with the bureaucracy, in resolving property matters, dealing with Indian custom service, discussing Tax issues, and assisting each other with mundane tasks such as getting a local driving license, or purchasing a motor vehicle. This group would not be in competition with the official NRI Facilitation center, but rather, will inter-act with the center to seek resolution of our concerns. As a group we would have more clout than a lone voice. Any takers ? V.A. D'Souza ########################################################################## # Send submissions for Goanet to [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # PLEASE remember to stay on-topic (related to Goa), and avoid top-posts # # More details on Goanet at http://joingoanet.shorturl.com/ # # Please keep your discussion/tone polite, to reflect respect to others # ##########################################################################
