Hi Miguel, I am sorry you got carried away emotionally to the point where you claimed I was knowledgeable and you were not. I neither made nor implied any such claim. Living abroad, I have never presumed to tell Goans in Goa how to do things. However, that does not prevent me from making an argument and stating my views on a subject that is introduced on Goanet.
I am glad that Floriano has immediately started a Citizen's Initiative to discuss the matter. That is the right move. Before one starts agitating, one must know both sides of the argument of why and what one is agitating for. While issues like land grabbing, bribery and corruption and despoiling of the environment are obvious issues that need to be vigorously tackled, the matter of converting Goa University to a Central one, has implications that need to be set out and argued. Here could be a great opportunity for Goa. Like Karat of the Communist party did on the issue of the US pact on the nuclear deal for India, one cannot just throw it away. One important question arises before discussion of the subject becomes meaningful. Why is the Centre considering conversion of GU? Has it been approached to do so because of the GU's chronic lack of funds or for any other such reason? There are 2 subsets of the issue of conversion of the University. The first is whether conversion would be good for Goa. The other is how it would be best done - i.e. full-fledged takeover of the current premises, facilities, faculty and staff, or doing all this while establishing a separate campus for specializing in local requirement and issues like you have suggested. I strongly favor the conversion to a Central University. In addition to the reasons I have mentioned in my previous post, here is one that I think is very important: Goa due to it's size, is ignored at the national level. Nay, it is even exploited as there is no-one to protest it. The Goa Govt should have been doing this, but they themselves are a bunch of spineless, incompetents who run to Delhi ever so often, to get their political "blessings". Having a Central University will slowly put Goa on the national map. Students passing out from the new Goa University (or whatever it may be called, like Lal Bahadur Shastri University) will have ready access to Central Cadre services, a presence it now sorely lacks. With a sizable body of Goa Cadre top administrative officers, top cops and top diplomats, Goa will get the respect it deserves. And as you so well know Goans flourish academically. They have always done so, given the right environment. Unfortunately, that environment has always been out of Goa. No protest will ever be worth foregoing this window of opportunity. Regards and mog assundi, Roland. On Sat, Jul 19, 2008 at 5:01 AM, Miguel Braganza <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Dears, > > Roland Francis can sit abroad and tell us plausible stories of what > happens at Goa University at Taleigao Plateau [in village Panchayats > of Taleigao, Santa Cruz and Bambolim] or any other University in Goa. > He is knowledgeable. I make no such claim for myself.
