Category: Popular Essays

Popular Essays

COVID 19 Statistics – Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics!

By ALBERTINA ALMEIDA

There is the oft repeated saying popularized by Mark Twain, that there are three types of lies:  lies, damned lies and statistics. And that is what comes to  mind as one tries to grapple with the basis on which the COVID 19 statistics, that are released each day to the press, are computed. Reliance is said to be placed by the Government on tests conducted. Fair enough, there had to be an yardstick by which an designation of someone being COVID 19 positive qualified to be entered as a statistic. So one would assume that it is after testing positive that a number would be entered in the statistical records. (more…)

Popular Essays

Misuse of History: The Inquisition

By DALE LUIS MENEZES

If there is one thing that unites all in Goa, it is misinformation about the Inquisition. The extent of this misinformation was recently demonstrated on the Goanet listserv by the author, Alan Machado when he pointed out the falsehood, or “fiction,” that is passed off as historical facts. Catholics are misinformed because any attempt to confront this most shameful chapter of history is met with right-wing abuse and the ire of secular liberal ideologues. Hindus are also misinformed because this right-wing propaganda is the main vehicle through which they receive information about the Inquisition. The result is suspicion and animosity amongst the two communities—the end goal of right-wing politics. Such a politicization of this history eerily reminds us of the communalization of the ‘Muslim invasions.’ (more…)

Popular Essays

Our ‘Varan-Bhaat’ Lockdown Culture

‘But this is varan-bhaat, a traditional and healthy food’, was a response to the criticism on social media of a meal served at one of Goa’s shelters for stranded workers – the pictures showed paper plates containing just rice and dal. The reaction, though, was not completely wrong. Varan-bhaat is indeed traditional among some savanas, and may even be healthy if you do little work and have access to other nutrition – as again is the case with savarnas. But does it work for all? Or does this not matter? (more…)

Popular Essays

COVID-19 cannot be a pretext to trample democracy

The pandemic or, it seems to me, the actions taken in the garb of measures to address the pandemic, has resulted in many people being rendered jobless and incomeless. I don’t know whether to call what is happening a health crisis or a crisis caused by manipulated or negligent or incompetent political decision-making. But the outcome of it all is a humanitarian disaster. People have suffered innumerable indignities in India, and closer home in Goa. (more…)

Popular Essays

Narendra Modi and António Costa: A Dangerous Tango in the Times of COVID19

By JASON KEITH FERNANDES

It was somewhat surreal reading one of the Twitter posts of António Costa, Prime Minister of Portugal, on March 5. In his tweet Costa indicated that he had “had an excellent conversation today with Narendra Modi” and whom he “congratulated on the good results achieved in containing the pandemic in a country as large and populous as India.” (more…)

Popular Essays

Invisibilised Bhaile and exposed Bhitorle

By AMITA KANEKAR

Bhaile, that oft-used and pejorative Konkani word, literally means outsiders, but has been usually used in Goa to mean nonGoans. This is however changing, with the wealthy nonGoans with second or tenth homes in Goa rarely called Bhaile. These are the sorts who managed to escape from the supposedly sealed ‘red zones’ during the nationwide lockdown, to drive in their personal cars to the ‘green zone’ of Goa, where they got star treatment, including free Covid19 tests (reserved, according to the Supreme Court, for the poor), before retiring to their luxury retreats. These Delhi-ites and Bombay-ites are obviously not Bhaile at all but very much Bhitorle (insiders), in fact more Bhitorle than most Goans, so much so that one phone call from some of them can nowadays help a Goan get her or his work done in Goa. (more…)

Popular Essays

Better Laws and Governments in times of Crises

By DALE LUIS MENEZES

Good laws are necessary in times of crisis, or even otherwise. The poor management by state and central authorities of the COVID-19 pandemic lays bare the legal and infrastructural unpreparedness in India. As if the threat of the disease was not enough, the country-wide lockdown created more problems regarding the welfare of the countless million laborers in the casual and informal sectors. There exist no laws, and no new ones were made that protect such laborers in times of crises. Consequently, the government’s policies in tackling COVID-19 essentially lacks a strong legal basis. (more…)

Popular Essays

“Don’t do politics”. But why not?

By ALBERTINA ALMEIDA

‘Physical distancing’ is one thing, and ‘social distancing’ plus ‘not crossing the Lakshman Rekha’ quite another. In all publicity or educational material around COVID 19, the word social distancing is used, and in Goa, the Chief Minister of Goa has repeatedly told us that ‘the Laxman Rekha should not be crossed’. (more…)

Popular Essays

Is One Pandemic not Enough?

By AMITA KANEKAR

What can you expect from a government that responds to a disaster by creating new disasters? Hard on the heels of the news that Covid19 had reached India, came the announcement of an unplanned but instant national lockdown, sending the well-to-do into a panic grabbing of all available provisions, and pushing millions of daily wage earners into horrific misery and desperation which the government, almost unbelievably, has done little to ameliorate even three weeks later. And then – to distract from its own mammoth failing – came the demonisation of the Tablighi programme, resulting in violent harassment, social boycotts and more deaths, this time targetting poor Muslims, on top of the general turmoil. (more…)