GOACOM DAILY NEWS CLIPPINGS 19 February 2004 INDIA OVERPOWER SINGAPORE: An ebullient India galvanized all its energy to score a scintillating and confidence instilling 1-0 victory over Singapore in the Group 3 Asian Zone Pre-World Cup qualifying round match at Nehru stadium, Fatorda-Margao, yesterday (19 Feb). The goal that stunned Singapore, a stronger opponent, and gave India an advantage in the opener itself was hammered by P Renedy Singh through a spotkick. A 25,000-strong crowd at the stadium awaited the unfolding drama with baited breath. As every move rolled on, the decibel levels of the beating drums increased, but most of the fireworks were on the terraces when India stepped up the accelerator. (GT)
HUMAN DEVELOPMENT IS CM'S CLAIM: Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar claimed his fourth successive budget for Goa gave pride of place to build the state's "human development", while presenting a budget that made a lot of promises, and sought to keep just about every quarter happy. But the CM's two-hour speech while seeking to charm everyone, left scope for concern about the state's burgeoning debt and the fact that Goa spends 54 paise of every rupee towards salaries, wages, pensions, debts and its establishment. (H) HEALTH INSURANCE FOR ALL: Coverage of the entire population of Goa in a comprehensive health scheme will replace the existing Medi-claim scheme. This far-reaching health care proposal and replacement of free medical services with insurance-linked medical facilities are part of the many proposals in the budget presented by Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar in the Goa Assembly yesterday. (GT) OUTLAY FOR BUDGET: CM Parrikar presented the annual budget with a total outlay of Rs.3,686 crore offering concessions to different sectors and series of schemes targeted at various segments of society. But the budget left an uncovered revenue deficit of Rs.795 crore and a fiscal deficit of Rs.506.13 crore. (GT) SOPS FOR ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY: The entertainment industry virtually took the cake with a few major sops, including reimbursement of entertainment collected by theatres as subsidy on 100 per cent basis for a period of five years. The tourism sector was also another beneficiary. (GT) POLL-ORIENTED, CHARGES CONG: The Opposition Congress Party has described the Goa budget as anti-poor and election-oriented. Mr Jitendra Deshprabhu told reporters that with eyes on the votes of the people for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, CM Parrikar's budget is a feeble attempt to appease all section of the society by making paltry and insignificant allocations to all the sectors. (H) INFRASTRUCTURE GETS HUGE BOOST: With a dramatic "People First" opening section, CM Parrikar has tried to give something to every section of the population in Goa, in every part of Goa.The budget has huge capital outlays on the transport sector: the budget estimates are Rs.68 crore for 2003-04 and nearly Rs.98 crore for 2004-05. If you add up the disbursement for "Roads and Bridges" on both capital and revenue accounts, the revised estimates for 2003-04 are a colossal Rs.116 crore, while the revised estimates for all Economic Services (including agriculture, rural development, irrigation, energy, etc) are Rs.862 crore. (Joseph M Pinto in GT) POLITICS OF BUDGETS: If Congress veteran, Harish Zantye, smiled through the two-hour long budget speech of Chief Minister, he had every reason to. For, Parrikar's proposals in the budget have transformed Goa's cashewnut king into its emperor of cinema ahead of the year-end scheduled International Film Festival of India. An interest-free Rs.3 crore loan per cinema hall of Panjim would entitle the Bicholim MLA to Rs.6 crore from the government for his two theatres in the Capital. In addition, Mr Zantye will also benefit from a similar scheme for theatres in other cities of the State. Interest-free loans for upgradation of physical infrastructure of upto Rs.1.5 crore will be available from the government for theatres in Mapusa, Margao, Ponda and Vasco. CM's ally, Mathany Saldanha, an acknowledged champion of the traditional fishing community-Ramponkars-had a broad smile on his face when the CM announced a plethora of schemes, which he said would benefit the traditional fishermen. (H) 91 SUICIDES IN FOUR MONTHS: Ninety-one suicidal death cases have been reported in the State over the past four months. While the reasons are unknown in 43 of the cases, the known reasons included mental sickness, which accounted for 20 cases, followed by unemployment at 8 cases and prolonged illness with 6 cases. The statistics were part of a written reply by CM Parrikar during the Assembly session. (GT) MUNICIPAL COUNCILS WOULD BE INTERCONNECTED: The Minister for Urban Development, Mr Digambar Kamat, announced that all the municipal councils in the State would be interconnected, within next 2 to 3 months, through the net by BSNL line circuits. (NT) CONFERENCE ON EMERGING MARKETS IN IT: The Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Panaji, in association with the Department of Information Technology will organise a two-day conference on the theme "The Goa Agenda-Emerging Markets in IT" at Cidade de Goa Resort, Dona Paula from 20 February. (GT) "EPOST" LAUNCHED: Vijay Bhushan, Secretary (Posts) recently launched the "epost" service nationwide in order 'to bridge the digital divide'. Epost permits printed or even handwritten messages in any language to be transmitted as email, to be printed at destination and delivered at postal address from post offices. About 650 epost centres have been set up with internet connection, computers, printers and other necessary equipment. The service was tested in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa and Kerala, before being launched nationwide. (GT) UGDP CHIEF QUITS: United Goans Democratic Party president Shrirang Narvekar yesterday (18 Feb) resigned as the president of the party. Narvekar has not cited any reason for resigning from the post. (GT) VALERIAN PINTO PASSES AWAY: Noted Konkani writer-director and actor Valerian Pinto, popularly known as Pintham Derebail on the Mangalorean stage, passed away on February 18, after a brief illness. (H) GOAN ENTERS US CUSTOMS: Edgar Furtado, a native of Panjim, was among the first US Customs and Border Protection Officers to successfully complete an integrated training module by US Customs and Border Protection Academy at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Centre in Glynco, Georgia. Forty-four students from across the United States, who began their training on October 29, 2003, successfully graduated and completed the course on January 30, 2004. (H) GOAN HEADS BAHRAIN MEET: The International Agencies Co Ltd, Bahrain, hosted a seminar on "Occupational Health-New Challenges" which was being conducted by Dr Vallabh B Dhaimodker, one of the leading occupational health consultants from Goa at the crown Plaza Hotel, Bahrain, recently. Dr Dhaimodker is an accomplished occupational health specialist and consultant for various industries, with over 15 years of experience. Dr Dhaimodker is also a certified expert, authorised by TUV Sudedeutschland, Germany. (H) D E A T H S 18 Feb: Loliem/Navelim (Ex-Dubai): CARIDADE (CARRY) FERNANDES: husband of Luiza, father of Cynthia, Sydney. 18 Feb: Arossim: LUCAS BARRETO: husband of Luiza, father of Yvette/Freddy. G O A W E A T H E R Temp: 23.6 degC (74.5 degF) at 8.00 am today in Assagao. Max Temp: 30.7 deg C; Min Temp: 19.8 deg C; Humidity: 74% (Official figures for yesterday) Weather: A bit of mist in the early part of the morning today in Goa. Courtesy: H=Herald; NT=The Navhind Times; GT=Gomantak Times JOEL D'SOUZA, Assagao-Goa-India. Website: www.goacom.com Goacom News Clippings at: http://www.goacom.com/news Webzine "GoaNOW": http://www.goacom.com/goanow ########################################################################## # 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 # ##########################################################################
