[Goanet] Lost posts on Goanet?
I know I am not posting that many post I used to be (Facebook to blame I suppose). But whatever I manage to post to Goanet, almost half of it lost in the Goanet system. Nor I remember any of my posts been rejected during last 4-5 years. thank you
[Goanet] Ponda lad’s app belts free Konkani music (Newton Sequeira, TNN)
Ponda lad’s app belts free Konkani musicNewton Sequeira,TNN | Jul 4, 2015, 04.36 AM IST PANAJI: When Danny Braganza, a Goan who frequently travels abroad, feels nostalgic about Goa, he turns to his smart phone not to call somebody in Goa but to turn on Goa Live Konkani Radio, an app designed by Ponda resident Rohir Rohidas Naik. The app streams Konkani music 24x7, especially golden classics to android and iOS devices, providing listeners with a connection to their roots in Goa. In recognition Naik's contribution, the department of information and technology shortlisted Goa Live Konkani Radio for a competition during Digital Week. Launched in October 2014, the app has been downloaded by over 4,500 Konkani music lovers across the world. "I never wanted to get into this and believe it or not, I wanted a government job and was appearing for lower division clerk and upper division clerk interviews," the 24-year-old says. Despite graduating with a bachelors degree in computer application and completing a postgraduate diploma in computer application, Naik's foray into app development came as a result of an interview for a government job. Urged by an official to give app and web development a try, there has been no looking back for Naik. With a little investment from a friend, Naik purchased a radio server from ShoutCa.st for $19 per month. "Once I started there were many people who emailed me saying they want Konkani jokes so now I add a few jokes in between," Naik says. He has received calls from the US in the middle of the night with requests for songs. "I broadcast old songs and a few Bollywood numbers too," Naik says, adding that local and upcoming artists hesitate to let him broadcast their songs on his app. The app is free and Naik is satisfied with meeting operational costs.
[Goanet] FRIDAY BALCAO to focus on Breastfeeding and Work: Making it work in the offices & factories in Goa
--- Welcome to the FRIDAY BALCAO the fortnightly discussion event since 1999 --- Dear Cybergaonkars on Goanet, We continue with FRIDAY BALCAO on 10th July from 4pm to 6pm at Goa Desc Resource Centre No.11, Liberty Apartments, Feira Alta, Mapusa. TOPIC: Breastfeeding and Work:Making it work in the offices & factories in Goa SPEAKER: Open Discussion We invite you to express your viewpoint by attending the FRIDAY BALCAO. If you cannot attend, then please send your views and action plan suggestions by email to goad...@gmail.com best wishes, Roland Martins --- Don't miss out on the discussion. Information is power, Share it equitably. Lets make things happen in Goa !! --- GOA DESC RESOURCE CENTRE 11 Liberty Apts., Feira Alta, Mapusa, Goa 403 507 mail to: goad...@gmail.com
[Goanet] Happy Fourth of July!
To Goanet - A tribute to "The Greatest Nation" - http://pindelski.org/Photography/2015/07/04/the-greatest-nation/ Regards, r
Re: [Goanet] From Greece to Goa: The Anatomy of Debt Traps
To Goanet - Just checked Goanet after a long time. VM's article does not scratch even the surface of the issue. There are deepercomparisons to be drawn from the Greece debacle and the situation in Goa than treated by VM. This excellent article by Michael Lewis from 2010 provides a window. In several places you can replace Greek/Greece with Goan/Goa.Greece wasn't a "developed" country as VM claims, not in the sensecommonly understood anyway. http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2010/10/greeks-bearing-bonds-201010 Mervyn - Greece is a rounding off error as far as the American economy is concerned. Regards, r
[Goanet] Portuguese Singing for English Speakers - by Cecil Pinto
Watch this video and you will be able to sing a few Portuguese songs confidently, even if you don't know Portuguese! https://youtu.be/pOOl-UQ6fNk
Re: [Goanet] From Greece to Goa: The Anatomy of Debt Traps
V M wrote: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/From-Greece-to-Goa-The-anatomy-of-debt-traps/articleshow/47931800.cms Despite large hikes in Goa's share of cash from the Central fund (this year up a whopping 10%), Goa's public debt is heading upward of 10,000 crore and the state is reduced to the fatal strategy of borrowing at market rates to service interest payments. No less than Greece, this is the definition of unsustainable economic policy. -snip- That highly reasonable analysis by (Laxmikant) Parsekar has been turned on its head by his own BJP government's outsized spending spree of a scale never seen before in Goa. A third Mandovi bridge for more than 600 crore, the controversial bridge to Tiracol (home to exactly 300 Goans) for more than 80 crore, extraordinarily dubious road-building and road-widening exercises for additional hundreds of millions of rupees. -snip- Just as the hated 'troika' of lenders and finance ministers imposed on Greece, Goa's political elites are now also talking of selective "austerity" which does not allow increased spending on the inadequate healthcare system, or on the state's woefully mediocre education infrastructure. Pay close attention to Greece by all means, because much the same is happening in Goa too. -- Well written, VM. I only learned about the debt accumulated by the Goa Govt a week ago. The figures mentioned were higher than yours. The problem of course is, who is going to pay for these loans? Just like Greece, the day will come when the Goa Govt will not be able to service its loans and pay its bills. The first Govt service cut usually effects education, the next is health care and then it is the services provided to everyone else. There is an easy way to resolve this problem of overspending. All you need is a law that says any representative who votes to spend more than 106% of income received, will not be eligible for re-election to that position again. This is the only way elected representatives will come to their senses. They will either increase income collection (taxes) or decrease spending. Grexit is going to adversely effect more than Greece. You will soon hear of British banks who lent money to the German banks, who in turn lent money to Greek commercial banks. A week after the Greek businesses stop paying their invoices, US financial institutions will admit to have lent money to British banks that ultimately reached the Greece er, financial system. We are in for some interesting times (if one is not a Greece resident.) Mervyn PS. I wonder if it is too late to get some short positions? :-)
[Goanet] The Fundacao Stories by Sheela Jaywant
The Fundacao StoriesA Contest Showcases The Literary Talent Of Goa When I participated in the Fundaçao Oriente Short Story Competition in 2011, I shared the third prize with Konkani writer Ramnath Gawde. An email informed me that I had won a prize and I was thrilled to bits. Some months later the story was published in the anthology, Shell Windows, along with 24 other stories from the competition. The interesting aspect of this competition was that it was held in multiple languages for the same set of prizes. Which meant writing in the vernacular was no longer a disadvantage as some writers believed. I read the story that shared the place with mine in the original and found that its translation worked as well. Good translators, like good editors, are rare. Two years later, as a Marathi-English translator and a lover of Konkani, I got a multi-lingual treat when I was a member of the Jury for the same competition. My fellow evaluators were Maria Ceu de Barreto, Gajanan Jog and Narayan Dhargalkar. Besides discussing the stories (plot, idea, concept, ending), we often went off-track and debated about an odd word, our own experiences with local literature, contemporary descriptions, humour, pathos and whatnot. We spent many hours in choosing the 25 stories for the second anthology, Coconut Fronds. As much time or more went into editing, proof-reading and layout. Hours of re-reading, adjusting sentences, moving paragraphs and making changes meant I had to improve my concentration and typing skills. Dealing with the authors was another matter. Some were convinced their story was to be kept as it was. One author withdrew her entry as soon as the results were out. Another did the same citing dissatisfaction with the editorial process. But mostly, the writers were open to minor changes and didn’t mind ‘adjusting’, to polish up and fine tune their creations. I asked Augusto Pinto, the Chairperson of the Jury for this year’s competition, what he thought of the contest, which attracted over 90 entries in 2013. He said: “I’ve read both Shell Windows and Coconut Fronds and I think they helped bring to the fore new talent like Cordelia Francis, Sharon Soares, Fatima M Noronha who at the time were not so well known. Their stories got juxtaposed with well-known names like Manohar Shetty, Ahmed Bunglowallah, Prashanti Talpankar, Alexandre Moniz Barboza and so on, which must have been a big encouragement.” He believed “it also allowed established writers in Marathi and Konkani who were not known or at least read outside their own circles like Nayana Adarkar, Ramnath Gawde, and Necio D’Souza to get highlighted through the translations.” Although the ages of the writers were not indicated, he got the impression that many young people participated. He opined that people would write mainly in the language they are already comfortable in writing. That, perhaps, was why the stories written in Portuguese fell flat. The number of those who speak good Portuguese and read its literature has significantly dropped today. [image: coconut fronds book-min] This biannual contest was the brainchild of Eduardo Kol de Carvalho, the erstwhile delegate of Fundaçao Oriente. The contest owes much to writer Maria Aurora Couto who sponsors the first prize of Rs 20,000 instituted in the memory of the late Alban Couto, not just for the money but for her gentle stewardship. Semana de Cultura Portuguesa and Fundaçao Oriente pitch in with the second and third prizes. Augusto adds: “This year’s competition cycle has just started, but the jury has made a point of ensuring that the competition is made more attractive and have dug into their own pockets to do so. Anita Pinto of Goa Writers has sponsored a prize of Rs 10,000 in memory of her mother Nur Coelho who was herself a writer; Meena Kakodkar of Konkani Bhasha Mandal has sponsored a prize of Rs 5000/ in honour of her mother, late Hirabai Durga Gaitonde and so that Marathi didn’t get left out I sponsored a consolation prize of Rs 5000/ although I don’t really read Marathi much. There is also a prize for Portuguese prizes given by the Goa Portuguese Teachers Association. So this year the prize fund is the richest so far– Rs 70,000.” A bonus to the contest is the pre-competition writing workshop which teaches aspirants to connect mind with pen. This year, theatre person Isabel Santa Rita Vas conducted it, in June. The idea of publishing an anthology of the best stories came from Jose Lourenco, one of the jury members of the first edition of the contest in 2011. “How did you get into this Fundaçao event?” I asked him. “I represented Goa Writers group, who were associated with the Contest.” “What were your impressions of the work sent in?” “Many of them were very good, 25 of which we eventually published as the Shell Windows. The stories reflected the diverse emotional, intellectual and cultural landscape of Goa. My fellow jury-members in 2011, Damodar Mauzo, Isabel Santa Rita Vas and Vishram G
[Goanet] From Greece to Goa: The Anatomy of Debt Traps
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/From-Greece-to-Goa-The-anatomy-of-debt-traps/articleshow/47931800.cms The entire world is watching Greece with bated breath this week, as its new socialist government attempts to navigate through a thorny economic crisis that poses unprecedented threats to the nascent Euro-zone, the imprimatur of the international banking system led by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Central Bank, as well as the fragile recovery that has followed the global financial crisis of 2007-08. But Greece is not alone in drowning in huge public debt—many other countries are nearly as badly situated, and several states in India—including Goa—now carry similarly worrying burdens. How did Greece—a developed country integrated into the very wealthy European Union—manage to slide into such a grave predicament? The short answer is simple enough: The country kept spending more than it collected in tax revenues, mainly to keep investing in grandiose and unnecessary infrastructure (such as the lavish stadia for the 2004 Olympic Games), and to distribute as sops to government cronies. Greek political and economic elites were addicted to cheap borrowing from (mainly German and French) banks, taking out ever-increasing loans to settle ever-increasing interest payments. That party ended in 2009 when the possibility of default became clear. Since that point, Greece has struggled to borrow money to service existing debt, and has been forced to pay market-level interest rates that dug its economic hole so deep that IMF now says there is no possibility of repayment for at least 20 years. While there are many similarities between the position Greece finds itself and the predicament of other countries and states—including Goa—the inadequate political integration of Europe over the past 15 years is a complicating factor. It was Greek membership in the European Union that gave the country the credibility to borrow vast sums of money from EU institutions, but when the crisis exploded, the decision-makers in Brussels, Paris and Berlin chose to rescue their own banks and taxpayers with "bailout" packages, while imposing severe austerity measures on the Greeks. The result has been comprehensive economic collapse, 25% reduction in national GDP, and crippling unemployment rising above 50% for young people. Tiny Goa is cushioned by the vast Indian Union, a much more effective support system than the Europeans have managed to create. Budget shortfalls engineered in Porvorim are highly unlikely to set off the kind of chain reaction feared if Greece is forced to leave the EU, 'Grexit', and returns to the drachma as its currency standard. But the same economic principles playing out in Europe apply to India's smallest state's burgeoning debt trap, which features identically irresponsible borrowing, spending on scam infrastructure, and sops to government cronies. Despite large hikes in Goa's share of cash from the Central fund (this year up a whopping 10%), Goa's public debt is heading upward of 10,000 crore and the state is reduced to the fatal strategy of borrowing at market rates to service interest payments. No less than Greece, this is the definition of unsustainable economic policy. Ironically, it was the current chief minister of Goa who most aptly summarized the impending crisis when he was in opposition in 2010. He said then—"reckless expenditure by the government has led to liabilities exceeding 7,000 crore, an increase of 100% in the last five years... (it is) reckless expenditure on the creation of redundant assets, most of which are of a non-welfare nature and turn out to be liabilities which incur high capital costs and recurring maintenance and operational costs". That highly reasonable analysis by (Laxmikant) Parsekar has been turned on its head by his own BJP government's outsized spending spree of a scale never seen before in Goa. A third Mandovi bridge for more than 600 crore, the controversial bridge to Tiracol (home to exactly 300 Goans) for more than 80 crore, extraordinarily dubious road-building and road-widening exercises for additional hundreds of millions of rupees. While the outrageously expensive Lusofonia Games stadia lie empty and increasingly derelict, another series of giant white elephants are in the planning stages and being tendered. The spectre of Mopa airport comes ever closer, another unwanted money pit of thousands of crores. Just as the hated 'troika' of lenders and finance ministers imposed on Greece, Goa's political elites are now also talking of selective "austerity" which does not allow increased spending on the inadequate healthcare system, or on the state's woefully mediocre education infrastructure. Pay close attention to Greece by all means, because much the same is happening in Goa too. __._,_.___ Posted by: V M | Reply via web post | • | Reply to sender | • | Reply to group | • | Start a New Topic | • | M
[Goanet] Kashmir, first stolen by Durand
Then came Elmhurst, Bucher and Mountbatten ! Sam Manekshaw, the first field marshal in the Indian army, was at the ringside of events when Independent India was being formed. Then a colonel, he was chosen to accompany V P Menon on his historic mission to Kashmir. This is his version of that journey and its aftermath, as recorded in an interview with Prem Shankar Jha. At about 2.30 in the afternoon, General Sir Roy Bucher walked into my room and said, ';Eh, you, go and pick up your toothbrush. You are going to Srinagar with V P Menon. The flight will take off at about 4 o';clock';. I said, ';why me, sir?'; ';Because we are worried about the military situation. V P Menon is going there to get the accession from the Maharaja Fortunately for us, and for Kashmir, they were busy raiding, raping all along. In Baramulla they killed Colonel D O T Dykes. Dykes and I were of the same seniority. We did our first year';s attachment with the Royal Scots The Maharaja';s forces were 50 per cent Muslim and 50 per cent Dogra. The army knew that if we had to send soldiers, we would have to fly them in. Therefore, a few days before, we had made arrangements for aircraft and for soldiers to be ready. But we couldn';t fly them in until the state of Kashmir had acceded to India. . The troops were already at the airport, ready to be flown in. Air Chief Marshall Elmhurst was the air chief and he had made arrangements for the aircraft from civil and military sources. . Eventually, I also got the military situation from everybody around us, asking what the hell was happening, and discovered that the tribesmen were about seven or nine kilometres from what was then that horrible little airfield. (On arriving at Delhi) the first thing I did was to go and report to Sir Roy Bucher. He said, ';Eh, you, go and shave and clean up. There is a cabinet meeting at 9 o';clock. I will pick you up and take you there.'; So I went home, shaved, dressed, etc. and Roy Bucher picked me up, and we went to the cabinet meeting. The cabinet meeting was presided by Mountbatten. There was Jawaharlal Nehru, there was Sardar Patel, there was Sardar Baldev Singh. There were other ministers whom I did not know and did not want to know, because I had nothing to do with them. At the morning meeting he handed over the (Accession) thing. Mountbatten turned around and said, '; come on Manekji (He called me Manekji instead of Manekshaw), what is the military situation?'; I gave him the military situation, and told him that unless we flew in troops immediately, we would have lost Srinagar, because going by road would take days, and once the tribesmen got to the airport and Srinagar, we couldn';t fly troops in. Everything was ready at the airport. we started flying in troops at about 11 o';clock or 12 o';clock. I think it was the Sikh regiment under Ranjit Rai that was the first lot to be flown in. And then we continued flying troops in. That is all I know about what happened. Then all the fighting took place. I became a brigadier, and became director of military operations and also if you will see the first signal to be signed ordering the cease-fire on 1 January (1949) had been signed by Colonel Manekshaw on behalf of C-in-C India, General Sir Roy Bucher. That must be lying in the Military Operations Directorate. Excerpted from Kashmir 1947, Rival Versions of History, by Prem Shankar Jha, Oxford University | FREE mobile app with Company email. | Know More > |
[Goanet] From Greece to Goa: The Anatomy of Debt Traps
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/From-Greece-to-Goa-The-anatomy-of-debt-traps/articleshow/47931800.cms The entire world is watching Greece with bated breath this week, as its new socialist government attempts to navigate through a thorny economic crisis that poses unprecedented threats to the nascent Euro-zone, the imprimatur of the international banking system led by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Central Bank, as well as the fragile recovery that has followed the global financial crisis of 2007-08. But Greece is not alone in drowning in huge public debt—many other countries are nearly as badly situated, and several states in India—including Goa—now carry similarly worrying burdens. How did Greece—a developed country integrated into the very wealthy European Union—manage to slide into such a grave predicament? The short answer is simple enough: The country kept spending more than it collected in tax revenues, mainly to keep investing in grandiose and unnecessary infrastructure (such as the lavish stadia for the 2004 Olympic Games), and to distribute as sops to government cronies. Greek political and economic elites were addicted to cheap borrowing from (mainly German and French) banks, taking out ever-increasing loans to settle ever-increasing interest payments. That party ended in 2009 when the possibility of default became clear. Since that point, Greece has struggled to borrow money to service existing debt, and has been forced to pay market-level interest rates that dug its economic hole so deep that IMF now says there is no possibility of repayment for at least 20 years. While there are many similarities between the position Greece finds itself and the predicament of other countries and states—including Goa—the inadequate political integration of Europe over the past 15 years is a complicating factor. It was Greek membership in the European Union that gave the country the credibility to borrow vast sums of money from EU institutions, but when the crisis exploded, the decision-makers in Brussels, Paris and Berlin chose to rescue their own banks and taxpayers with "bailout" packages, while imposing severe austerity measures on the Greeks. The result has been comprehensive economic collapse, 25% reduction in national GDP, and crippling unemployment rising above 50% for young people. Tiny Goa is cushioned by the vast Indian Union, a much more effective support system than the Europeans have managed to create. Budget shortfalls engineered in Porvorim are highly unlikely to set off the kind of chain reaction feared if Greece is forced to leave the EU, 'Grexit', and returns to the drachma as its currency standard. But the same economic principles playing out in Europe apply to India's smallest state's burgeoning debt trap, which features identically irresponsible borrowing, spending on scam infrastructure, and sops to government cronies. Despite large hikes in Goa's share of cash from the Central fund (this year up a whopping 10%), Goa's public debt is heading upward of 10,000 crore and the state is reduced to the fatal strategy of borrowing at market rates to service interest payments. No less than Greece, this is the definition of unsustainable economic policy. Ironically, it was the current chief minister of Goa who most aptly summarized the impending crisis when he was in opposition in 2010. He said then—"reckless expenditure by the government has led to liabilities exceeding 7,000 crore, an increase of 100% in the last five years... (it is) reckless expenditure on the creation of redundant assets, most of which are of a non-welfare nature and turn out to be liabilities which incur high capital costs and recurring maintenance and operational costs". That highly reasonable analysis by (Laxmikant) Parsekar has been turned on its head by his own BJP government's outsized spending spree of a scale never seen before in Goa. A third Mandovi bridge for more than 600 crore, the controversial bridge to Tiracol (home to exactly 300 Goans) for more than 80 crore, extraordinarily dubious road-building and road-widening exercises for additional hundreds of millions of rupees. While the outrageously expensive Lusofonia Games stadia lie empty and increasingly derelict, another series of giant white elephants are in the planning stages and being tendered. The spectre of Mopa airport comes ever closer, another unwanted money pit of thousands of crores. Just as the hated 'troika' of lenders and finance ministers imposed on Greece, Goa's political elites are now also talking of selective "austerity" which does not allow increased spending on the inadequate healthcare system, or on the state's woefully mediocre education infrastructure. Pay close attention to Greece by all means, because much the same is happening in Goa too.
