------------------------------------------------------- CONVENTION OF THE GOAN DIASPORA FROM GOA INTO THE WORLD Lisbon, Portugal June 15-17, 2007 Details at: http://www.goacom.org/casa-de-goa/noticias.html -------------------------------------------------------
On 31/05/07, Bosco D'Mello <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > RESPONSE: Sachin, I agree with you that Aires Rodrigues' outburst supporting > Manohar Parrikar has been in very bad taste. Especially when Aires Rodrigues > evaluated Manohar Parrikar in a column he wrote for the Herald, Panaji, Goa > on October 31, 2003. > > > http://lists.goanet.org/pipermail/goanet-goanet.org/2003-October/006741.html RESPONSE: There are many from the Middle East who cannot access 'Browsing' - they can only receive and send emails. So for the benefit of these souls, here is the article in full - you may advise your folks back in Goa accordingly, who needs enemies when you have friends like Aires ? :- Evaluating a Chief Minister... Herald, Oct 31, 2003 http://www.oherald.com ---------------------------------------------- By Aires Rodrigues Goa's Chief Minister, Manohar Parrikar, has just completed three years in office. To have been able to hold on to the reins of office for thirty six months is no mean achievement taking into consideration the number of Chief Ministers we have had ever since the PDF government was formed after the ouster of than Chief Minister Pratapsingh Rane. The Chief Minister has had his failures but must be commended for his achievements. THE TEN FAILURES 1. Goa has been known for its secular identity which today stands at the crossroads. Goans have been patient and surprisingly have stood by meekly whilst Parrikar has systematically saffronised every department of Goa's administration. However, Goa will definitely pay a very heavy price for this complacency. It may be too late when we wake up to the ground reality. Had Mr. Parrikar made public how many people from the minority community have been recruited in Government service during his tenure, the cat would be out of the bag. 2. The Chief Minister displays a tendency for backing extravagant schemes without tackling the urgent need to improve the basic infrastructure. He has supported the plan for a new airport at Mopa instead of exerting pressure of the Navy to relinquish Dabolim and then spending a modest amount to improve the facility there. The International Film Festival is going to drain Goa's resources with the provision of luxurious facilities that will not be used for fifty weeks of the year. The Skybus project is doomed to disaster as the volume of traffic is not adequate to sustain it. It would be cheaper and more effective to widen the existing roads and have more buses plying the routes. The Cyberage scheme is aimed at providing every household in Goa with a PC within five years. Free or subsidised cybercafes cum libraries in every village would be more effective in reaching out to the masses. 3. The Chief Minister will have to take responsibility for having hurriedly dissolved the Assembly last year thus putting an unnecessary financial burden on the State exchequer by calling for another election only to have a fragmented mandate. A strong, vocal and constructive opposition is the key to the success of any democracy. Unfortunately in Goa most voices of opposition have been stifled and silenced thanks to the cunning and tactical maneuvering by our IIT genius, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar who spends a lot of his time monitoring the Opposition. 4. It is common knowledge that Mr. Parrikar has done everything possible to manipulate and muzzle the Goa Press. One could safely but sorrowfully conclude that freedom of press does not prevail in Goa. Mr. Parrikar lavishly dishes out Government advertisements to papers that toe his line. 5. While in opposition the Chief Minister screamed against jumbo cabinets. Today he himself heads one. Freedom does not exist even within Parrikar's Cabinet. In Goa, Chief Minister Parrikar runs and controls every Ministry. The Ministers do not have to perform and can take no independent decisions as Mr. Parrikar's word always prevails. However he has allowed the Ministers a free hand to engage in corruption and illegal activities of their choice as long as they do not conspire to de-throne him. With the Chief Minister professing to know everything about anything, running the whole show and having concentrated all power in his hands, some of the Ministers are hardly known and are merely puppets on paper. 6. While in Opposition Mr. Parrikar was against the formation of Corporations but Chief Minister now has himself set up a record number of Corporations to accommodate his party chums. On being elected the Chief Minister, Manohar Parrikar promised to do everything possible to trim the bureaucracy. Not only has he reneged on this undertaking but he has gone to the other extreme of setting up even more corporations. Corporations duplicate the activities of the State. They are a cruel drain on our cash-strapped exchequer and are merely an opportunity to present a show by a politically appointed Chairman. 7. While in Opposition Parrikar had vehemently opposed foreign jaunts by Government ministers and officials and on assuming office he had assured us that he would not allow any of this. But Parrikar has realised that the stability of his chair depends on the contentment of his Ministers and MLAs. Given Goa's history of political instability, Parrikar's has realised that it is safer to keep sending the Ministers and MLAs overseas so that they could keep themselves satisfied and aloof from the political games at home. 8. How long will Goans have to wait to be able to walk and drive down the streets without any hindrance from the mosquitoes, stray cattle and rabid dogs? The Government has not been able to live up to its promise to solve the stray cattle problem. Contrary to Government's claim, malaria is on the rise and the stray dogs continue to terrorise the old and the children in particular. 9. The Government had promised to bring Matka, the illegal gambling, to a grinding halt. It has been done in our big neighboring states but it is proliferating in our tiny Goa with the blessings of Chief Minister Parrikar for the simple reason that at least two of his cabinet ministers have high stakes in this illegal trade. 10 When he took over, Parrikar had promised a war against corruption. He made an initial start but his drive was dampened when, for political compulsions, he had to re-instate a senior civil officer he had suspended. Today corruption is rampant and if Parrikar wants to rejuvenate his drive against corruption he could for starters have a look at the Department of Craftsmen Training where rampant corruption is public knowledge. He has only targeted his political opponents but allowed his party members to have a jolly good time. North Zilla Parishad is just an example. Parrikar has been haunting the opposition MLAs with cases of disproportionate assets. What about his own colleagues and other office bearers of his party? He should not pick and choose and try to project his Government as a clean one when we all know how corrupt and despicable his Government's functioning is. In the other regimes corruption was apparent but under this Chief Minister the corruption is very prevalent, behind the scenes and sophisticated. TEN ACHIEVEMENTS 1.Credit goes to the Chief Minister for having been able to ensure some political stability to this otherwise defection-ridden state of ours. The style and manner that has been used to keep the flock together is a different question. 2. It also goes to Mr. Parrikar's credit that he has been able to keep the opposition, including its leader, content and in good spirits. He knows exactly who needs what and which carrot has to be dangled to which Opposition MLA. If the carrot does not suffice then Mr. Parrikar pulls out the stick and has been able to place many opposition MLAs on a sticky wicket. 3.It is no mean achievement for a politician to apologise. Credit must be given to the Chief Minister for having the rare courage to tender an apology to the Panaji Bench of the Bombay high Court for having passed some remarks against the Judiciary. That the Chief Minister did not show the same statesmanship in withdrawing the notice against the Press is a different issue. 4. During the Congress regimes the politicians got rich by making their personal coffers bulge. But Chief Minister Parrikar has made sure the Party's finances have also improved. Within a short time the BJP has been able to set up a posh office at Panaji. The Congress after decades in office are still hanging on to its shanty dingy office which the party men frequent only at election time. 5. Chief Minister has the distinguished achievement of bending and breaking any rule to find a way to accommodate his idea. In the past, Chief Ministers used to tell you that things did not fit within the rules. This is something you never have to hear from Mr. Parrikar. Once he makes up his mind the rulebook is history. 6. It is to the Chief Minister's credit the way he handles himself in the Legislative Assembly. Goa's Opposition lacks an investigative and research mechanism. They are unable to counteract the imaginative claims and off the cuff figures Mr. Parrikar fires out. The opposition has enough MLAs to have a shadow cabinet to effectively expose the misdeeds of the Government but unfortunately some of the Opposition voices are safely sealed in Parrikar's coffers. 7. The robing of the UGDP and MGP MLAs in saffron robes proves Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar's political skills to consolidate his position and crush any opposition within and outside his party. He deserves credit for ensuring that even the firebrand leader of many agitations, Mathany Saldanha continues to be fascinated by Mr. Parrikar. Even the veteran Dr Wilfred De Souza, the only NCP MLA, is pleased to have an official car courtesy of Mr. Parrikar who laid the Doctor to rest by appointing him Deputy Chairman of the Planning Board. It is a post without any powers but only perks and Mr. Parrikar knows well what satisfies whom. 8. Parrikar's Government has been on a spending spree. There is no dearth of money. How the Chief Minister arranges the funds one wonders. With a top Goa Moneylender as one of his cabinet minister it may be all the more reassuring. 9. Although most of his colleagues move around in posh cars Chief Minister Parrikar continues to zigzag around the State in his modest Maruti Esteem. He also continues to dress as modestly as he did while in the Opposition. Regardless of the occasion Parrikar maintains his modest dress code. 10. Mr. Parrikar deserves the credit for having been able to keep Panjimites content by tarring a few roads and refurbishing a few gardens with colourful benches while he continues to keep the public in the dark about his secret agenda. CONCLUSION: This is my personal analysis and observations on Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar's three year rule. The people of Goa would be the better and right judges. And it may take some time for Goa to see the full effects and impact of Mr. Parrikar's rule. -- DEV BOREM KORUM. Gabe Menezes. 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