Hartman de Souza needs to be heard more widely in India. http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-miscellaneous/tp-others/mining-has-brought-suffering-to-goa-needs-to-be-stopped-author/article8730596.ece * Mining has brought suffering to Goa, needs to be stopped: author*
PRAKASH KAMAT <http://www.thehindu.com/profile/author/prakash-kamat/> Hartman de Souza, author of Eat Dust: Mining and Greed in Goa, with members of a theatre group at a Book Club in Panaji on Monday.— Photo: Frederick Noronha Speaking about the mining devastation in Goa over the years, Hartman de Souza, theatre-person and journalist, has said that mining needed to be stopped completely in Goa and there was no time left for half-measures. He did not agree with the view that things would be fine if locals earned their income from mining activities. This does not take into account the long-term environmental interests of both the State and the people, the 65-year-old author said. Mr. de Souza, author of *Eat Dust: Mining and Greed in Goa* , was speaking here on Monday at a talk organised by city-based Broadway Book Centre on *The Responsibility of the Writer* . He said that the younger generation in today’s India was searching for deeper values and did not have a cynical attitude. He believed that young people should take to the streets and agitate against the devastation of environment and ecology. His book is a ‘personal account’ of the sufferings of people in the mining areas of Goa. He said that his book was targeted at youth between 17 and 27 years as he had faith in the young generation to stand up for change. Mr. de Souza, whose book also has an account of how his sister and her family suffered because of illegal mining by a former Congress Minister in South Goa, lamented that the Goan society was conformist and people often sit on the fence. “It is time people give up this attitude of just saying this must happen or that must happen. They must show a sense of commitment to the cause,” said Mr. de Souza. In reply to a question about the Goa Foundation, Goa-based environmental NGO’s court battle against illegal mining in the State, he said he did not have much hope from courts, even from the higher courts. *Eat and Dust: Mining and Greed in Goa* , he said, was not a journalistic account of the devastation wrought by iron ore mining. “It is rather a lament of what Goa once was, and a personal anguish at the devastation of the once lush forests and springs of Goa.” It also speaks of the corruption of Goa’s cultural life and social fabric, and mindless greed of politicians and miners, said the author. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
