[Goanet] FOR THE BJP ABUSE OF POWER KNOWS NO BOUNDS
The BJP government has been known for its gross abuse of Power. In the history of Goa, while as a Union Territory and later as a State, now for the first time ever the Speaker of the Goa Legislative Assembly Ramesh Tawadkar has been given two police escort vehicles to accompany him, a perk and privilege he is not entitled to. As to how the Goa Police has consented to this illegal act is something they would have to answer and more importantly the Chief Secretary who Pramod Sawant has reduced to a lame duck. Now in yet another very outrageous and high-handed move, the Pramod Sawant Government has issued a hurried ordinance to ensure that the election of the Chairperson of the Margao Municipal Council is manipulated by conducting it through show of hands instead of secret ballot. And as expected Governor Pillai swiftly signed at the dotted line without even examining the contents of that proposed ordinance. A rubber stamp Governor indeed. In any election where there is a contest, it is imperative that in true democratic spirit it is conducted by secret ballot so that the inner will of those electing is exercised in true spirit without fear or favour. It is so very outrageous that the BJP dared to herd those very Councilors to a South Goa Temple to make them take an oath on a Coconut that they would vote for that particular BJP candidate. A very sad state of affairs with the BJP having lost all sanity. The overall manner in which the BJP has been brandishing its Power comes as no surprise. If those eight MLAs chose to join the BJP when lured by the greed of Power and Money to deviate from what they had solemnly pledged before the Gods of various faiths and even to their sworn affidavits shows how low, they dare to stoop. May they realize that God is watching and will crack the whip with impunity. The electorate that they repeatedly and arrogantly choose to make a mockery of will not forgive them either. In our politically democratic state it is very disturbing that the rule of law is being blatantly abused by the BJP while desperately trying to subvert democracy. Adv. Aires Rodrigues C/G-2, Shopping Complex Ribandar Retreat Ribandar – Goa – 403006 Mobile No: 9822684372 Office Tel No: (0832) 2444012 Email: airesrodrigu...@gmail.com You can also reach me on Facebook.com/ AiresRodrigues Twitter@rodrigues_aires www.airesrodrigues.in
Re: [Goanet] The Rise (and Fall?) of Goa's Book Ecosystem (O Heraldo, 8/10/2022)
One of the hallmarks of the writings of Leftwingers, Progressives, ‘Liberals’ - whatever label they may identify with - is purveyance of selective memory and facts. They are experts at - and have a long legacy of - redacting history even while simultaneously accusing nationalist Indian Hindus of rewriting it. And so it is that we see in Vivek-bab’s latest column a resurrection of Frederick Noronha as the noble, pioneering and crusading publisher. Now, I believe in redemption. Human beings change, sometimes for the better, and the capacity to reinvent oneself in an Act 2 is something to be celebrated. But in the Leftwing universe, the unsavory past is never accounted for. It is artfully excised from the historical spacetime continuum. Leftists never believe in atonement or even the barest acknowledgement of their ugly past, something they routinely demand from the rest of us especially if you are Hindu, 10 times more if you are Hindu & bamon (poor Timappa). Before this second coming, Frederick was the Smearer-in-Chief here on Goanet. I remember the days when he saw RSS lurking under every table and a Hindutvavadi under every rock in Goa. To belong to either of those camps was deemed here to be worse than the Islamic terrorists of 9/11. He called himself a “journalist” when what he practiced was the most scurrilous form of slander and gossip. I should know, as I was often a recipient of his benedictions. To his misfortune and misjudgment, I turned out to be un-cancellable. To Frederick’s credit - and in this he was a welcome departure from the Progressive swamp - he never sought to ban me from Goanet when he had (and presumably still has) the power to do so. I appreciate this positive instinct of Frederick. Let me make clear that I do not despise Frederick. Whenever we run into one another in Panjim, we are cordial and end up making pleasant conversation. I wish him the very best in his current enterprise. In fact, I have purchased several publications from his outfit. Likewise, Vivek-bab and I share an abiding love of Goa and the Arts, and I happen to think of him as a man of deep culture, fundamental differences in our political outlook and Weltanschauung notwithstanding. Best, r - Goan nationalist, Hindu, bamon, pro-patriarchy, right-wing fundamentalist
[Goanet] Father, Forgive Me ….
Roman Catholic tradition changes slowly and is different from Protestantism. While Roman Catholics ask God to forgive them the Protestants say this: we do our part, and God will do His! God unfortunately is a male in Christianity, no chance for a woman God. The Jews, and what followed, were patriarchal societies so what’s new? Women even today have got the right to vote but are struggling hard to get equal rights in the Roman Catholic Church. Slow progress for a long history of 2200 years. Most women don’t like ribs, and men should know why! In an interesting movie I heard a character say: the Devil made me do it. We need to take responsibility for our wrong actions, and not make the Devil responsible for all our wrongdoing. Otherwise belief in God or not we will continue as a psychological wreck. Not God or asking for forgiveness will liberate us from our psychological hell on earth, only a feeling of deep remorse. The Protestant religion shows us a more mature psychology as they do not run away from individual responsibility. We need to ask the people we harm for forgiveness, and not only God which is easy. Otherwise we might sing: the Devil made me do it!
[Goanet] Xinpyêntlim Môtyam
Xinpyêntlim Môtyam “Xinpyêntlim Môtyam” (literally it means pearls from the shells) “Food for thought” Konknni programme’s the first episode was recorded and telecast by CCRTV in the month of October 2017. When I had suggested this programme to CCRTV, I had planned for maximum 30 episodes. But it gradually grew to 100, 150, 200, 250, and now on the 7th of October 2022 on the Feast of Our Lady of Rosary, we have recorded 299, 300, 301, 302, 303, and 304 episodes! All praise and glory to God who did this miracle through us the team of CCRTV. Though I plan each episode, its story or anecdote and present it directly without the written text, the success and credit goes to the entire team of CCRTV. Mr. Dada Shirodkar usually does the recording and takes care of technical aspects. The other team members look after light, sound, camera adjustment, arrangements, and editing works. Through this popular programme, we promote positive universal value system, standard spoken Konknni, and cultivate the habit of self reflection. In the beginning CCRTV was telecasting two new episodes of Xinpyêntlim Môtyam per week. Now at my request only one new episode will be telecast on Wednesday and on the same day it will be uploaded on the YouTube. At present the episode 214 is uploaded on the YouTube. If all the factors are favourable and conducive I intend to present 500 episodes of Xinpyêntlim Môtyam. Besides Xinpyêntlim Môtyam, CCRTV regularly telecasts my other Konknni programmes like “Bhøkti Lharam (26 videos of non-denominational hymns)”; “Bhurgyanlem Angønn (16 videos of Children’s songs and many more are in the process of editing)”; “Konknni Bhas (13 videos of teaching of the Konknni vocabulary to adults)”; and “Learning Konknni (21 videos of teaching Konknni to school children)”. Since CCRTV is a non-profit making venture, I have rendered totally free service to its mission. CCRTV has become a boon for me to promote Konknni irrespective of its multiple scripts among Konknnis (Konknni speakers) and Konknni lovers all over the world. The greatest advantage is all the above mentioned videos and the other videos of the CCRTV are available on the YouTube and could be viewed anywhere and at any time. Though day by day those who read Konknni are reducing, but due to the CCRTV, the number of those who listen and view Konknni programmes is increasing!!! A good news indeed. Pratap Naik, SJ 07th October 2022
[Goanet] The Rise (and Fall?) of Goa's Book Ecosystem (O Heraldo, 8/10/2022)
https://www.heraldgoa.in/Cafe/The-Rise-and-Fall-of-Goa%E2%80%99s-Book-Ecosystem/194886 27 long years ago in 1995, along with many other curious people, I connected my telephone to my computer and dialled up to the Internet for the first time. This was on Netscape Navigator, and the best search engine was AltaVista. It was an almost unimaginable opening-up. For someone like me - born in 1968 - the idea that you could search the entire World Wide Web for anything and everything, with answers spit back in seconds, was beyond mind-boggling. So, what did I look for above and beyond all else, in my initial scans of the global imaginary? It was Goa, of course. I navigated the “information superhighway” directly into Goanet, and quickly encountered Frederick Noronha. There are some true facts that the Che Guevara of Goan Cyberspace objects to my sharing in this manner, so I will limit them to this paragraph. Several people participated in birthing, fostering and safeguarding the Internet’s possibilities in and for India’s smallest state, but he is indisputably first amongst those equals. The especially admirable aspect of his legacy has been its steadfast adherence to Copyleft and Open Source, and crowdsourced resources like Wikipedia, as the most appropriate solutions to our challenges. In this way, in my considered opinion, Noronha has been the crucial catalyst in how tiny Goa has always bravely punched way above its weight in the digital domain. Here, it’s fascinating to revisit the 2011 YouTube interview ( https://youtu.be/L02FNPUXfrI) that I conducted with my childhood friend (Noronha and I were im different schools, but exchanged books whilst growing up in 1970s Saligao) when the Indian Internet was beginning to be transformed by smartphones. He recalls that in 1995 – he was working at this newspaper – they got online by dialling Bombay after 10pm (when the rates were cheaper), and there were barely 100 of us on Herman Carneiro’s mailing list. At that time, Eddie Fernandes – another great pioneer of Goan cyberspace who created the excellent goanvoice.org,uk – visited O Heraldo to evangelize about the new medium: “they asked him, do you earn anything from it. He said no. Then they asked him, do you pay anything to write in it. He said no. So, they lost complete interest in it.” Not Noronha, who persevered highly consequentially. Although none of us realized what we were doing, Goa began to reflect some of the promise of the new medium. From London, Eddie Fernandes – an expert librarian by profession – kept scouring the web to share information about the diaspora. Lisbon-based historian Prof. Teotonio de Souza maintained the standard of scholarship scrupulously high. Almost all the regular contributors to that network were based in the west –understandable, because the infrastructure was more easily available – but there’s no doubt we were all hooked by the steady flow of real time news from Goa, and for many years that was the production of one man’s solitary late-night labours in Sonarbhat, Saligao. Watch the even more luxuriantly moustachioed Frederick Noronha in that YouTube interview, and he’s cautiously optimistic: “I don’t have a crystal ball to gaze into, but if everyone tries hard, and we don’t have too much infighting amongst ourselves, then the future is bright. For me the touchstone is [becoming] producers rather than consumers of knowledge.” This was the real point, and by now he had taken the further step of making it happen via the independent publishing house Goa 1556, which describes itself like so: “Launched on a rainy day (June 20, 2007), Goa, 1556 is a quest to do things differently, and with goals that are different. Our aim is to democratise the production of knowledge. In our own small, alternative way. And we strive for quality simply by laying down high standards, while actively pursuing the goal of creating space for ‘other voices’ to be heard.” In its run of the past 15 years, Noronha and team have produced some 150 books, in an extraordinary contribution to our collective culture: Jose Pereira’s masterpiece on Mando, Robert Newman’s superb essays, Paul Melo Castro’s marvellous translations, Fatima Silva Gracias’s classic on Goan food, the list is endless and ongoing. Just last week, we were delivered Nuno Lopes’s *Heritage of Defence: Goa 1510-1660*, which explains how the Estado da India’s complex security infrastructure stands apart – not just in the subcontinent – for its complexity and ambition, in yet another example of truly meaningful scholarship that few of us would encounter if not for Goa 1556. During the purposeful, productive launch of that latest book – it was at Instituto Camoes - Noronha spoke about the difficulties that have beset publishing in Goa. Via email, he later outlined how “we’re seeing a lot of platitudes and promises” regarding the promotion of book culture “but no action.” State libraries are “in a state of collapse” except for the showpieces in Pa
