Demand for recognition of Goan degrees in Gulf being studied NT Staff Reporter / www.navhindtimes.com Panaji March 4: In a follow-up to the recent Worldwide Convention of NRI Goans at Panaji, some of the demands of the NRI Goans, are being seriously pursued by the NRI Facilitation Centre, Panaji. In this regard, the government will tomorrow appoint a monitoring committee to look into the implementation of recommendations made by the centre.
In a possible resolution of the long-held demand of Gulf Goans to increase the direct flights on the Kuwait-Goa sector, a 10-member delegation of travel agents from Kuwait, led by the manager of Air India in charge of Kuwait and Cyprus, will visit Goa from March 12 to 17 to explore the possibility of increasing the number of direct flights and also of bringing in tourists from Kuwait to Goa. Another NRI demand was to look into the problem of degrees of Goan colleges like the Government Engineering College, not being recognised in some Gulf countries, especially Kuwait. While degrees of Bombay University and Manipal University are recognised, the degrees of Goa University are not, thereby victimising many Goan engineers who go to Kuwait for employment. Talking to The Navhind Times, the convenor of the NRI Facilitation Centre, Mr Chandrakant Keni expressed hope that this 6-day visit by the Kuwaiti delegation will result in the fulfillment of that demand. Kuwait Travel and Tourism, Musaad Al Saleh Travels and Al Rasheed International Travels are some of the Kuwaiti travel agencies that will come to Goa. �It seems this is only a technical problem. A formal application needs to be made to the Kuwait government through the Indian Embassy seeking recognition for Goa University,� Mr Keni said, adding that the NRI Facilitation Centre has written to both, Goa University and the Indian Embassy in Kuwait. He said the centre will pursue the matter further. The Goan NRIs had also raised the problem of difficulty in getting admissions for their children in professional colleges here as they also needed the 15-year domicile certificate like Goan students. Mr Keni said this problem has been referred to the government and he expects a favourable response. There are other demands. The NRI Goans in Portugal, with nothing here except sentimental attachment want consideration in terms of package tours and accommodation facilities when they visit Goa. The NRI Goans in the USA want CDs, video cassettes and books on different aspects of Goan culture for their children. And the Goa-Kuwait Welfare Association has just sent in a request for land to build an NRI township. Their proposal requests 2,42,500 square metre land to be developed into 300 plots where roads, nursery school, medical centre, supermarket, park and playground will be built at their own cost. This is at a very preliminary stage, Mr Keni said. Besides these requests, the monitoring committee to be appointed tomorrow will also consider request for a newsletter to be published by the NRI Facilitation Centre as a means to keep the NRI network connected through Goa. Mr Keni was confident that with the monitoring committee working as a complementary agency, the 2-year young NRI Facilitation Centre, which is basically �recommendatory not implementory�, will contribute much to the welfare of NRI Goans. � - Forwarded by Gaspar Almeida, General Secretary, Goan Welfare Society-Kuwait � __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Search - Find what you�re looking for faster http://search.yahoo.com ########################################################################## # 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 # ##########################################################################
