Author: Amita Kanekar

The slogan Bomkarank zai bypass can be seen as soon as you enter this village on the Panjim-Ponda highway. The people here are up in arms against the widening of the highway, as planned by the government, from two lanes to four; and demand a bypass instead. Widening will mean the destruction of many houses, they say, besides dividing the village even more than today, and affecting the village temples, situated right next to the existing highway. They ask how come this government which keeps talking about ancient temples supposedly destroyed by the Portuguese, and has even set aside crores for rebuilding those non-existent temples, has no concern for the temples of today. (more…)

An employee of Goa’s electricity department, Krishna Pawar, variously described as an ‘assistant linesman’ or a ‘lines helper’, was killed in the last week of November, electrocuted while climbing down an electricity pole in Siolim after doing some repairs. ‘Action’ was immediately announced by the government. As announced by Sudin Dhavalikar, Power Minister, this ‘action’ included a suspension of the linesman who was Pawar’s superior, placing a junior engineer in the same office under scrutiny, and setting up an enquiry by a ‘high-powered committee’. Dhavalikar further added that the dead man’s family would receive compensation ‘according to the norms’ in two months, along with a job for the widow which he said he personally guaranteed. (more…)

Goa should become the maritime hub of the country, feels Chief Minister Pramod Sawant. What exactly does that mean? At first hearing, it sounds like a lot of hot air. Speaking at the Global Maritime Summit 2023, the Chief Minister claimed that Goa’s maritime sector is no less than a “multi-faceted powerhouse” driving economic growth, innovation, and connectivity, “from ship-building and repair, to cruise tourism, from maritime education to port-led industrialisation…”. He further urged the Union Government to develop Goa’s coastline as a “major multi-modal maritime logistics hub”. (more…)

India is a democracy. This is supposed to mean rule by the people, or their representatives. But if you check out with voters – at least in Goa – you will find that most do not like many of the decisions of the government; that some voters might be even furious about the actions of the government; and that almost everybody feels helpless. For example, when the members of the Goa government recently awarded themselves a hike in pay – how many of the voters of Goa agreed with this decision? How many voters in Pernem support the recent zoning changes proposed by the government, converting huge swathes of non-settlement zone land into settlement, that too when Pernem is already facing a crippling shortage of drinking water? How many voters in Panjim like the incessant building projects and roadworks, and exorbitant projects of what can only be called uglification of the city? How many voters across Goa like the great seemingly-unstoppable land-grab, which directly imperils the environment as well as the lives of all vulnerable peoples, even as there remains – according to official sources – a backlog of 16,000 hectares of destroyed Goan forest waiting for afforestation? (more…)

By AMITA KANEKAR

The horrific crash by an over-speeding Mercedes-Benz SUV at Banastarim last month, which killed three people and left others seriously injured, is already fading from our memory. And why wouldn’t it, given that crashes causing multiple deaths are now almost routine on Goan roads? The news, visuals, and tragic personal aftermaths occupy the media for a few days before being replaced by the next horror. Less horrible crashes, causing non-fatal injuries or even single deaths, have meanwhile become so frequent and normalized that they hardly get any coverage. On the day of the Banastarim disaster itself, another drunk driver ploughed into a shed in Siolim, injuring two labourers sleeping inside. Not worth reporting for most media outlets – that is what we’ve come to. (more…)

By AMITA KANEKAR

Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, in a recent public event, handed over letters offering government jobs to 42 ‘children of freedom fighters’, and announced that a further 90 more will be handed over by December 19, making a total of 132 of such job-offers in just these few months. These offers are the result of the reservation in government jobs for this group of people, part of the official policy of reservations for various sections of society. Within a few hours, however, at least one recipient announced his refusal of the offer, saying that he is comfortably off and does not need a government job. His statement was celebrated by a section of social media, implying that other beneficiaries of reservations (especially, one is sure, caste-based reservations) should learn from him. (more…)

By AMITA KANEKAR

In Goa, the answer to the question would be: to facilitate the building-construction industry any which way possible, including allowing building on agricultural lands and coasts, killing every river for dredging sand, and planning to rebuild supposedly-destroyed temples of which it has no proof. Is there anything else? (more…)

By AMITA KANEKAR

Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has been the butt of much derision after his statement that he wants to wipe out all signs of Portuguese rule in Goa. People have been asking just how he planned to wipe out everything from the staple diet of not just Goans but all Indians (consisting as it does of vegetables, condiments, and fruit introduced then), to his own wardrobe and a million other things, including, not least, Catholicism and Catholics as well. (more…)

By AMITA KANEKAR

The newspapers recently reported the case of a lady in Vasco who was attacked by street dogs while walking to her home; she suffered multiple bites and had to be hospitalized for a night. The news was shocking and also depressing, given that it was not the first such incident in Goa in recent years. Also because the fallout was already known: angry, ugly and irrational demands, in the media and social media, for an immediate end to the ‘stray menace’. The usual articles showed up – of the rising number of dog attacks (which revealed that serious attacks are actually very few, that rabies has been controlled in Goa, and that most dog-bites in general are by pet dogs to their own owners), and also of the increasing population of dogs on the streets. Here the tone varied from dismay and horror, both absolutely understandable, to – more often – fury and demands for a Final Solution, so to speak. (more…)

By AMITA KANEKAR

My advancing age hit me hard this weekend, when after buying provisions at Panjim market, I reached the bus-stop in time for the last bus, but there was no sign of it, only the massive traffic jam that has become the norm in this Smartening City. I turned, planning to park myself and my bags on a bench, and found, instead, a pipe. Three of them, actually. Three pipes, sleek and shining, each rising from the ground, running horizontally for a few feet, and returning into the ground; separated from each other by a couple of feet. The old benches had disappeared. (more…)