Category: Popular Essays

These are times when land issues and concerns and rampant destruction of Goa have reached their nadir, land being beyond the reach of the average ordinary Goan. These are also times when divisive politics is at its peak. The latest being the effort to pit one minority against another. The Waqf Board controversy rages in the country, and efforts are being made by the powers that be to play further divisive politics in Goa by getting the Church on their side. (more…)

In the middle of surely one of the hottest March months in Goa’s living memory, we hear from the Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte, that Panjim is going to get – what? More shade? Drinking water fountains? Tree plantation? New gardens? Some control over activities like construction and road-digging which are adding to the heat? No. Panjim is going to get the construction of an ‘aarti ghat’ on the banks of the Mandovi. (more…)

Who needs a break from taxes in India? According to the Union Finance Minister, it is those Indians with annual incomes of many lakhs and or even crores. As per the new tax regime introduced in the recent budget, to be implemented for the fiscal year 2025-26, Indians earning salaries of up to 12.75 lakhs a year (almost doubled from Rs 7 lakh previously) no longer have to pay income tax on their income. And the highest tax slab is 30% for an income of over Rs 24 lakhs a year; it is 30% currently too, but on incomes above Rs 10 lakhs. It is noteworthy that, as a result of these proposals, the government will forego revenue of about Rs 1 trillion in direct taxes, and Rs 2600 crore in indirect taxes, according to the minister herself. (more…)

The land of ‘fun and frolic’, as Goa’s tourist advertisements used to portray it, appears to be bursting at the seams with newer and newer kinds of rot. Many might actually see today’s Goa as the land of lawlessness, given the unlimited land scams and now job scams; the number of top ‘public servants’ suspected of breaking the law, like the former Chief Secretary; and now the way police are actually assisting prisoners to break out of prison. But on the surface, and surely thanks to the powers-that-be, Goa is nowadays depicted as a land of festivals – almost continuously celebrating something or the other. There were always the old festivals, most of them religious, many centered around individual shrines across the region, like the fests, zatras, and urus; the Hindu temple celebrations, in particular, thanks to Hindutva in power, are expanding and being increasingly sold to Indian Hindu tourists as attractions to rival the churches of Old Goa. But these traditional sites and celebrations cannot compete with the host of new and ultra-new festivals like Serendipity, the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), the National Games, Lok Utsav, and the latest Proud Ponjekar (!!), besides food festivals, wine festivals, heritage festivals, music festivals, you name it… increasing every year, and almost totally focused on tourists. (more…)

I had commented on the poor state of primary education in Goa at the start of this academic year, following the statement by Education Minister (also Chief Minister) Pramod Sawant that the number of students in government schools was dropping. Sawant put the blame on parents, for shifting their children to private or aided schools. What he chose to ignore, however, was the reason for this: the poor quality of government schools, including dilapidated buildings, leaking roofs, lack of playgrounds, shortage of teachers, and lack of instruction in the language of the parents’ choice. (more…)

The Chief Minister of Goa is suddenly determined to provide affordable housing to Goans, and also, believe it or not, to protect Goan land. From whom, one is tempted to ask – himself? Yes, even as the entire state is being converted into the luxury holiday home of rich Indians under his supervision, CM Pramod Sawant would have us believe that his government is busy creating a scheme of low-cost housing in every taluka for Goans, with about 50-100 flats to be built and offered to native Goans at about 10-15 lakh rupees each. Soon after this announcement came another, that the CM planned to “protect” Goa’s land by approving a 130% hike in land prices in Pernem and Bardez, which, according to him, will ‘curb massive development’ in these areas. (more…)

For the English version see here.

कोंकणी मराठी वाद सालाबादप्रमाणे एक दोन वेळा तरी उफाळून येतोच. कोंकणीवाले मराठीचे गोव्यातले अस्तित्व एक तर मान्य करत नाहीत किंवा सरसकट मराठी गोव्यात कधीच अस्तित्वात नव्हती असले अनैतिहासिक विधान करून मोकळे होतात. ह्यावर प्रतिक्रिया म्हणून मराठीवाले फादर थॉमस स्टीफन्स ह्यांच्या ख्रिस्तपुराणाचे व फादर क्रुवांच्या पीटर पुराणाचे दाखले देतात. व्हॉलीबॉलसारखा असल्या ऐतिहासिक पुराव्यांचा चेंडू एका बाजूहून दुसऱ्या बाजूस परतवला जातो. ह्यावेळी निमित्त झाले आहे दामोदर उर्फ भाई मावजो ह्यांनी गोवा राजभाषा कायद्यात मराठीविषयी केलेल्या वक्तव्याचे. खरंतर असल्या चेंडू परतवण्याच्या सामन्यात भाग घेऊन काही हशील नाही पण इतिहास शास्त्राच्या निकषांवर ह्या वादात हमखास येणाऱ्या वक्तव्यांची चिकित्सा करणे गरजेचे वाटले म्हणून हा लेखनप्रपंच. (more…)

Last week Goa’s government approved a hike in the allowances and pension of the members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs), via a bill, the ‘Goa Salary, Allowances and Pension of Members of The Legislative Assembly Bill, 2023’, which was immediately passed by the Legislative Assembly despite Opposition protests. The government’s response to the protests was that the Opposition MLAs are free to not take the increased allowances and perks. Incidentally, it was the BJP’s Digambar Kamat who first demanded the hike during the general discussion on the State budget – it hardly took any time for a bill to be made on the issue and passed as well. (more…)

Some weeks ago, I had the misfortune of having to make a round trip by bus between Old Goa and Panjim. Oh horror!

Now, you must not understand my horror of this trip to mean a disregard for public transport. On the contrary, I have for the longest time been a proponent of public transport, for reasons that I will presently come to, both in Goa, in other parts of India that I have lived in, as well as in Portugal where I lived for a decade. My commitment to public transport has to do with a personal commitment to the democratic and republican ideal – offering all persons, whether rich or poor, the option of traveling in dignity and convenience from one place to the other. This is to say, there is no need for a poor household to spend on a private vehicle, when these resources can be better utilised on other needs – further education, for example. Having an efficient public transport system also means that there are fewer vehicles on the road, reducing the need to widen roads – to accommodate the growing number of private vehicles – as well as the unnecessary expenditure on the flyovers that we are increasingly seeing in Goa – not ot mention the criminal number of road deaths that Goa is currently witness to. (more…)