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The Voice of Goa Since 1900
PTI
BANGALORE, JAN 8
Opener Gautam Gambhir todaybecame the costliest cricketerin the
IPL by fetching a whop-ping USD 2.4 million (approx Rs11.04 crore)
on the first day ofthe auctions where Indian play-ers proved to be
the biggestdraw with three others goingfor more than USD two
million.
In a high-profile auction,where Bollywood stars and cor-porate
bigwigs were locked ina bidding war, Kolkata KnightRiders bought
Gambhir for themind-boggling sum, beating theprevious high set by
the Englishduo of Kevin Pietersen and An-drew Flintoff (USD 1.55
million)last season.
Shah Rukh Khan was not pres-ent in person but proved to bethe
big spender of the day byalso buying hard-hitting all-roundersY u s
u fP a t h a n(Rs 9.66crore) andJacquesKallis( R s
5.06 crore) for the fourth editionof event to be held from April
8to May 20.
Gambhir, who was captain ofthe Delhi Daredevils last season,
saw his price skyrocket 12times from his base price ofUSD
200,000 (Rs 92 lakh)while three other Indian
players Yusuf (USD 2.1million), Rohit Sharma(USD 2 million) and
Robin
Uthappa (2.1 million) crossedthe two million mark.
Yusuf s younger brother Irfan,who has not played any cricketthis
season, was taken by DelhiDaredevils for a surprisingly highamount
of USD 1.9 (Rs 8.74crore) million.
But there were some surprisenames in the unsold list withformer
India and KKR captainSourav Ganguly, West Indies bat-
ting star Chris Gayle and thelegendary Brian Lara failing tofind
a buyer.
There is still a slim chance ofthese players finding a teamafter
their names come up againin the second round of bidding.
The bidding trend at the auc-tion at times appeared to defylogic
but what was certain wasthat the franchises were willingto spend
big money on the In-dian players. Mahela Jayawar-dene was the most
expensiveforeign player going to Kochi atUSD 1.5 million (Rs 6.90
crore).
Cricket aside, Bollywood starsPreity Zinta and Shilpa
Shettyprovided the glamour quotientwhile liquor baron Vijay
Mallya,his son Siddharth, Nita Ambaniand Nusli Wadia added the
cor-porate aura at the auction.
Cricketing brains such as AnilKumble, Stephen Fleming,
GeoffLawson and Darren Lehmann,who have been roped in eitheras
coaches or mentors by thefranchises, helped them workout the
bidding strategies.
As expected, big money wasspent but the way it was spent
IPL-IV AUCTION: HITs & mIssEs
GAUTAm Rs 11.04 cr
yUsUfRs 9.66 cr
ROBIN Rs 9.2 cr
ROHITRs 8.74 cr
Yet tO finD a buYerGANGULy, LARA,
BOUCHER & GAyLE
HERALD REPORTER
PANJIM, JAN 8
The person behind the stingwherein police sub-inspectorSunil
Gudlar was seen negoti-ating with two foreigner girlsover the sale
of drugs, has fi-nally come out in open. AyalaDriham, the sister of
jaileddrug lord David Driham aliasDudu has alleged that
IndianPolice Service officer VeenuBansa l demanded br ibethrough
Gudlar.
In her statement to CrimeBranch, Ayala who shot Gudlaron spy-cam
in a hotel roomsaid Gudlar had approachedher at the behest of
Bansal.
A senior officer which Gud-lar is seen mentioning in thetapes is
Superintendent of Po-lice Veenu Bansal, reads thestatement to the
Crime Branchon Saturday.
Ayala told the investigatingteam that she had to conductthe
sting as the former ANCmen including former ANC PSI
Gudlar falsely framed herbrother in the drugs case.
The probe in the drugnexus is underway. We are alsocarrying on
the inquiry intoGudlar matter, said a CrimeBranch official.
Gudlar was caught on tapeselling drugs to two foreignergirls and
during a conversa-tion, was also seen demandingbribes revealing
that even hisseniors were involved with him.
Gudlar had told me thatmoney is the only option tobail out Dudu.
Also, Dudu waskept in a room next to Bansalscabin in the ANC
office. If hewas arrested, why was he notin the police lock-up, she
stated.
She claims to have neces-sary evidence to prove her al-legations
against both ANCofficers. She has also handedover the entire sting
footageto the Crime Branch.
A series of three tapes ex-posing fresh police-drug nexuswas
revealed through a localnews channel. Even last year,seven
policemen including apolice inspector were sus-pended and arrested
for cor-ruption after their links withDudu and another Israeli
drugbaron Yaniv Benaim alias Atalawas exposed.
Atalas jilted girlfriend haduploaded Atalas confessionon social
websites wherein hebragged of links with Goa po-lice. This resulted
in their ar-rest in March 2010 while Duduwas earlier arrested in
Febru-ary 2010 with several kilo-grams of narcotics. Atala
hasjumped bail and reached Israelwith Goa police still searchingfor
him.
PTI
NEW DELHI, JAN 8
Lending a helping hand to theIndian diaspora, Prime
MinisterManmohan Singh today an-nounced a special facility to
en-able them life-long visa-freeentry into the country and
par-ticipation in business and otheractivities here.
Singh said the governmenthad decided to merge the Over-seas
Citizen of India (OCI) andthe Persons of Indian Origin(PIO) cards
into a single facility.
Addressing a gathering of In-dian diaspora here, he pointedout
that the Government hadintroduced the OCI and PIOcards to
facilitate visa-free travelof NRIs and Indian Origin peopleto India
as well as to providethem rights of residency andparticipation in
business andeducational activities.
We have reviewed the func-tioning of these schemes, andhave
decided to merge the OCIand PIO cards into a single fa-cility. We
hope to iron out someof the problems that have arisen
in the implementation of theseschemes, he said.
Later, Overseas Indian AffairsMinister Vayalar Ravi said
Gov-ernment will only issue OverseasCitizen of India card which
willbe a kind of life-long visa.
We have to finalise the nitty-gritty. But it has been
decidedthat it will be OCI card and
holder of the card will have life-long visa free entry into
thecountry, he said.
PIO cards are given to Indianswho have migrated permanentlyto
other countries in a bid toencourage them to visit and in-vest in
the country of origin.
A PIO card holder does notrequire a visa to visit India andthe
card is valid for 15 years. APIO card holder enjoys severaleconomic
and educational benefits.
On the other hand, the OCIcard is a kind of life-long visaand
any India origin person canapply for it if his host countryallows
dual citizenship.
Talking about the Indians whoemigrate for work, Singh saidtheir
welfare is a matter of spe-cial concern for us.
To improve the conditions formigration, India has signed So-cial
Security Agreements with12 countries and finalizedLabour Mobility
Partnershipswith two others, he said, addinga generic arrangement
is alsobeing negotiated with the Eu-ropean Union also.
Sports: Well give our best in T20 Dhoni Pg 16
Goas Heartbeat: Work some fat off, Kareenas way Pg 4
World: Al-Qaeda plotting Mumbai-style attack in UK Pg 12
(Continued on page 10)
(Continued on page 10)
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postal Reg. no. Goa 101 pRiCE Rs. 3.00 (air surcharge Rs 2.00)
pages 16 + 4
Mystical Rose Building, Near Sai Baba Temple,
Toleband, Aquem, Madgaon, Goa.Ph: 6483111 / 9552002871
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Gambhir @ Rs 11 crore MBBSstudentcaughtcopying
HERALD REPORTER
PANJIM, JAN 8
As if the medical paper leakagewas not enough, Goa
MedicalCollege (GMC) on Saturday facedyet another embarassmentwhen
a final year MBBS studentwas caught copying.
The identity of the studentwas, however, not disclosed
butsources say that the student wasasked to discontinue
answeringexams pending inquiry.
The paper chit has beenseized by the examiner. The stu-dent was
asked to stop writinghis paper (Surgery I paper) andthat he will be
barred from an-swering other papers as welluntil the inquiry report
is sub-mitted, said the source.
If found guilty, the studentwill be suspended from the GMCfor
one-year, the source added.
Incidentally, two question pa-pers of the final year MBBS
wereleaked a week ago, which came
HERALD REPORTER
PANJIM, JAN 8
Tourism Departments ambitiousInternational Beach Cricket
Tour-nament scheduled later thismonth at Miramar is facing
hur-dles.
The Government is now find-ing it difficult to get sponsorsin
view of the forthcomingCricket World Cup and thefourth ed i t ion o
f the IPLTwenty20.
With an eye on tourism, theDepartment had scheduled the
International beach cricket doubtful?
International beach cricket tour-nament from January 27-29.
TheWorld Cup is scheduled betweenFebruar y and ear ly Apr i l
,whereas IPL-IV will begin imme-diately after the World Cup.
With the given situation, theDepartment may now be com-pelled to
defer its schedule if itis unable to find sponsors in time.
Confirming this, Director ofTourism, Swapnil Naik said theywere
indeed finding it difficultto get sponsors due to theWorld Cup and
the IPL and as aresult had not started advertis-ing the event.
Expecting to attract a largenumber of tourists, the Depart-ment
had engaged an advertis-i ng agency wh i ch wasnegotiating with
companies forsponsorship.
The budget for the event isaround Rs 3 crore whereas
theGovernment investment will belimited to Rs 20-25 lakh.
India, Sri Lanka and NewZealand will participate in the
HERALD REPORTER
PANJIM, JAN 8
The Transport Department staffwill now have to be wary of athird
eye that will keep a con-stant watch on their behaviourand
activities during office hours.
Transport Director Arun Desaisaid that all the RTO offices
willnow have Close Circuit Televi-
sion (CCTV) cameras installedwhich will grab frame by
frameaccount of the staff and the peo-ple coming to the
offices.
He said that these cameraswould be in place within a fort-night
which will help to keep avisual record of things happen-ing in the
RTO offices.
The watch will be on both,
employees as well as public,he said.
The Department will alsoconnect all its border checkposts to the
main office in Pan-jim via Goa Broadband, an am-bitious project
launched in2008 by Prime minister DrManmohan Singh.
CCTVs to watch rTo staff
PTI
MUMBAI, JAN 8
Former Bombay High CourtJudge J A Patil will head the
Com-mission to probe alleged irreg-ularities in Adarsh
HousingSociety scam that has seen theresignation of Ashok Chavan
asChief Minister.
The Commission will submitits report in three months,
ChiefMinister Prithviraj Chavan toldreporters here.
Former Maharashtra ChiefSecretary P Subramanian will bethe other
member of the Com-mission. The decision to set upby the two-member
judicialcommission was announced bythe Government during
wintersession of legislature last month.
The inquiry Commission toprobe irregularities in Adarshwould be
headed by formerBombay High Court Judge J APatil which will have
formerChief Secretary P Subramanianas its second member,
Chavansaid.
The Commission has been setup under the Inquiry Commis-
sion Act, 1952, he said.The Commission would look
into the matter of land owner-ship of Adarsh society, if theland
was reserved for Kargil warmartyrs, reservation of flats,
ex-pansion of (nearby) PrakashPethe Road, change in reserva-tion of
the BEST (civic) plot, vi-olation of Coastal RegulationZone norms
and role of bureau-crats, the Chief Minister said.
The Commission would alsomake recommendations toavoid any such
cases in future,he said.
Adarsh: inquiry panel named
Life-long visa-free entry for overseas Indians soon
OCI, PIO cards to bemerged into singlefacility.
Social SecurityAgreements with 12countries.
Labour MobilityPartnerships with twoothers.
Generic arrangementwith EU soon.
Indian CommunityWelfare Fund at allIndian Missions.
REACHING OUT
Gudlar asked bribe forBansal: Dudus sister
A senior officer whichGudlar is seen men-tioning in the tapes
isSuperintendent of Po-lice Veenu Bansal. Ayalas statement to
Crime Branch
(Continued on page 10) (Continued on page 10)
SO
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OHERALDOS U N D A Y
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GOAOHERALD
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Pg2GOA, SUNDAY, 9 JANUARY, 2011
HERALD REPORTER
MARGAO, JAN 8
Chief Minister Digambar Kamaton Saturday assured all out
gov-ernment support and assistanceto NGOs working for the
pro-tection and welfare of streetchildren in the state.
He was addressing a functionorganized by NGO El Shaddaistreet
child rescue after launch-ing a school bus donated byMoulana
Ibrahim of QualityFood and Quality Exports at theRavindra bhavan,
Margao.
Saying that the children arethe future pillars of the
country,the Chief Minster underlinedthe need to groom the
childrenin a conducive environment toensure they dont go astray.
Thecountry is progressing at a fastpace, but it is sad that the
gapbetween the rich and the poor
is also growing, he said, whilecomplimenting NGOs workingwith
street children and specialchildren in the state.
In his address, MoulanaIbrahim of Quality Foods sug-gested to
the Chief Minister togrant 100 percent income taxexemption to
businessmen do-nating for charities. The gov-ernment should explore
thepossibility of exempting the en-tire donations from Income
Tax,he said.
Saying that El Shaddai Char-itable Trust is doing noble jobfor
providing shelter for thehomeless, health facilities andeducation
for orphans, streetchildren and children comingfrom underprivileged
sections,Ibrahim appealed to the gath-ering to donate generously
tothe noble cause of El Shaddai
Charitable Trust and help themexpand its wings to the nookand
corner of the state andcountry.
It is said that poverty is theparent of revolution and
terror-ism. If orphans and street chil-dren are left alone on the
streetswithout care and love today,they would get into
antisocialactivities and become antisocialelements of tomorrow,
Ibrahimsaid.
Incidentally, Ibrahim had do-nated a van to El Shaddai
char-itable trust last year and hasdonated a Tata Winger to beused
by the NGO as a schoolbus for the street children.
Margao Municipal Chairper-son Sushila Naik also spoke,while
co-founder of El ShaddaiCharitable Trust Mathew Kurianalso
addressed the gathering.
CM assures to help NGOs working for street children
Chief Minister Digambar Kamat and Moulana Ibrahim of Quality
Foods with street children at the Ravin-dra Bhavan, Margao. Photo
by Santosh Mirajkar
2 held for Nepali
labourers murderHERALD REPORTER
PANJIM, JAN 8
A breakthrough has beenachieved in the murder case ofa Nepali
labourer as the Panjimpolice have arrested two personswho have
confessed to the crime.
The accused have been iden-tified as Rajendra Bhandari (52)of
Central Nepal and MaktumBharoti alias Babu (42) of Dhar-wad,
Karnataka.
According to the police, theaccused rag-pickers have con-fessed
of killing Ramesh Lal Ba-hadur Dangui (31) with a stoneon a
footpath, early on Fridaymorning.
Both accused have confessedto have committed the crime,which was
a result of a physicalfight between them under theinfluence of
alcohol. They arehabitual drunkards and theywould often fight with
eachother over petty issues like grab-bing food, Inspector
SandeshChodankar said.
Body of the 31-year-old dailywage labourer was found withhis
head smashed near the foot-bath, which is hardly metersaway from
the Panjim policeheadquarters. The victims headwas smashed with a
stone,which is used for a pillow.
The cause of death has con-firmed death due to head injury.The
trio would spend theirnights on the footpaths and wan-der about
places during the day.
The investigating team isrecording statements of wit-nesses in
the case even as 10suspects were rounded up forinterrogation, late
on Fridaynight. The accused have been re-manded to 10-day police
custody.
HERALD REPORTER
MARGAO, JAN 8
PWD Minister, Churchill Ale-mao on Saturday inspectedwork on the
Telaulim-Varcabridge under constructionover River Sal and set
January31 as the deadline for thecontractor to complete theongoing
works.
He later told newsmen thatthe PWD would go aheadwith the
construction of theSinquetim-Benaulim oncepermission is received
fromthe Union Ministry of Envi-ronment and Forests.
After inspecting the bridge
along with Principal Chief En-gineer, J Rego and other sen-ior
officials, Alemao told thecontractor that he would nottolerate any
further delay inthe completion of the worksand want all work to be
com-pleted in all respect by Janu-ary 31.
The PWD Minister furthertold the contractor to makeprovision for
a pathway forthe benefit of pedestrians.
When newsmen askedhim on the fate of the con-troversial
Sinquetim-Be-naulim bridge, Alemao saidthat work on the bridge
would commence once thePWD receives the necessarypermission from
the UnionMinistry of Environment andForests.
Let me make it categori-cally clear that work on
theSinquetim-Benaulim wouldcommence no sooner thegreen signal comes
from theUnion Ministry of Environ-ment and Forests. I am con-f i d
e n t t h e n e c e s s a r ypermission from the UnionMinistr y
would come nosooner the PWD submits allthe relevant details
concern-ing the project, he added.
Churchill sets Jan 31 deadline for Telaulim-Varca bridge
completion
PWD Minister Churchill Alemao inspecting work on the
Telaulim-Varca bridge over River Sal. Photo by Santosh Mirajkar
SVM hopes AG appearsat Rahejas SLP case
HERALD REPORTER
MARGAO, JAN 8
Even as the Special Leave Petition(SLP) filed by Raheja
Corporationwill come up for hearing in theSupreme Court on Monday,
theSEZ Virodhi Manch has said itexpects the Advocate General ofthe
government of Goa to bepresent for the hearing in theApex court on
January 10.
The absence of the AdvocateGeneral of the Goa Governmentfor the
hearing will only exposethe government of Goa of itsconnivance with
the SEZ pro-moters, asserted SVM Con-venor Charles Fernandes.
Raheja has filed the SpecialLeave Petition in the SupremeCourt
seeking interim relief fromthe high court Judgment datedNovember
26, 2010.
Members of the SEZ VirodhiManch (SVM), which spear-headed a
successful agitationagainst Special Economic Zoneprojects in Goa,
had expressedsatisfaction and rejoiced overthe verdict of the High
Court ofBombay at Goa on November26, 2010 in the SEZ land case.
The court in its judgmentquashed the allotments of landto the
promoters of SEZ projects Meditab Specialities at Kerim,Peninsula
Pharma at Sancoale,and Raheja Corporation, Para-digm Logistics,
Inox Mercantile,Planetview Mercantile and Max-growe Finlease at
Verna.
Fernandes said the courtpassed strictures against theGoa
Industrial DevelopmentCorporation (GIDC) Board forallotting
approximately 39 lakhsq m of land illegally and inundue haste.
HERALD REPORTER
VASCO, JAN 8
The eleventh edition of the bi-lateral Indo-French naval
exer-cise Varuna would help combatglobal anti-piracy effectively
andstrengthen ties between bothcountries, claimed the com-manding
officers of the Indo-French exercise.
Rear Admiral R K Patnaik,flag officer commanding Indiaswestern
fleet and Rear AdmiralJean Louis Kerignard, com-mander of the
French MaritimeForce stated that Varun wouldstrength the ties of
both coun-tries, creating a platform forofficers and sailors of
bothnavies to understand the op-erational capabilities of
eachother.
Addressing a joint press con-ference on board Indias
onlyaircraft carrier INS Viraat onSaturday, Rear Adm. Patnaik
saidover 300 officers and 1500sailors are engaged in the
exer-cise.
For India, the Viraat, frigates
Godavari and Ganga and a sub-marine Shalki are participat-ing,
said Patnaik.
The Indian and the FrenchNavy have been conducting suchbilateral
exercises since May
1993. Such exercises are in thelong-term interest of both
na-tions, he added.
The MG-29K will not be partof the exercise, but the British-made
Sea Harrier fighter, fixedand rotary wing aircraft also
par-ticipate in exercise.
Rear Adm. Kerignard told re-porters that the exercises in-clude
the entire gamut ofmaritime operations, rangingfrom aircraft
carrier operations,anti-submarine warfare exercisesand maritime
interdiction op-erations exercises.
Such exercises help duringjoint anti-piracy operations
orhumanitarian missions, headded.
The naval exercises, whichcommenced from January 7 tillJanuary
14, are being conductedoff Goas coast.
The French navys aircraft car-rier Charles de Gaulle is
alsoparticipating in the exercise,along with the
newly-inducteddestroyer FNS Forbin.
This is FNS Forbins first de-ployment. It has just been
in-ducted into service, Rear AdmKerignard said.
Indo-French naval exercise to help combat piracy
Rear Admiral R K Patnaik, flag officer commanding Indias western
fleet and Rear Admiral Jean LouisKerignard, commander of French
Maritime Force at a joint press meet onboard INS Viraat.
Photo by M Prabhav
HERALD REPORTER
PANJIM, JAN 8
Medical Education Cell (MEC) ofthe Goa Medical College (GMC)is
slated to hold series of eventsat the medical institute
premise.
The newly constituted MEChas planned out extensive aca-demic
activity for 2011 and 2012in form of workshops and train-ing by
renowned visiting faculty.
The visiting faculty will befrom all over the country andwill
consist of stalwarts whohave done pioneering work inrespective
specialty, ContinuingMedical Education (CME) coor-d inator and Head
of (Or -thopaedics) Department Dr S MBandekar told media persons
at
a press conference late on Fridaynight.
The faculty members will alsoconduct difficult surgeries andfor
this, the Cell is contemplat-ing approaching the Indian Med-ical
Association for eminentspeakers.
The series of events will up-date the knowledge of
othersincluding medical practitioners,he said adding that they
havealready conducted a CME oncritical care, recently.
The Cel l has invited DrSunaina, attached to a renownedhospital
in US to conduct aworkshop on how to detectdeafness in early
childhood, onJanuary 13.
This will be followed by an-other workshop on liver trans-plant
by Dr Rahul Kakodkar,attached to Jupiter Hospital inMumbai. Dr
Rahul handled thesensational Nadia Torradocase, last year when she
wasshif ted to Mumbai beforebeing transported to Chennaihospital
where she died fromcomplications after consumingratol.
GMC meanwhile, will be cel-ebrating its golden jubilee yearon
March 12, 2012. GMC DeanDr V N Jindal said that both theseyears
will also be full of pro-grams for the general public anddoctors on
various health re-lated issues.
GMC to host series of events to update medical knowledge
HERALD CORRESPONDENT
BELGAUM, JAN 8
While colorful kites adorn theBelgaum skies, a new chapterin the
history of the relationshipbetween Belgaum and Goawould be scripted
during thefirst Belgaum International KiteFestival, which is being
held hereon January 16 and 17.
Adept arrangements aremade on war footing to hostthe festival,
while Belgaum(South) MLA Abhay Patil whohas organized this festival
alongwith kite expert K V Rao, is leav-ing no stone unturned for
thesuccess of this festival.
A large numbers of foreigntourists from Goa have con-firmed
their visit to the festival.
Many kite enthusiasts fromGoa and other parts of India
areexpected to take part in this fes-tival which could be termed
asthe first venture of its kind of-ficially connecting Belgaum
andGoa.
Speaking to reporters afterlaunching the official websiteof the
festival www.belgaumkite-fest.com on Friday, MLA AbhayPatil said
the festival is aimedat promoting the relationshipbetween Belgaum
and Goa.
This festival is aimed at pro-moting and strengthening
theage-old bilateral relationship be-tween Belgaum and Goa,
Patilsaid adding that Goa TourismDevelopment Corporation(GTDC) has
extended full co-op-eration in the venture.
All the free arrangements, in-cluding five Volvo buses, havebeen
made for the foreigntourists. We have also made freetransport
arrangements forGoans, who would like to witnessthe two-day
extravaganza whichis poised to strengthen the rela-tionship between
Belgaum andGoa, MLA Patil ascertained.
About 30 international kite-flying experts have confirmedtheir
participation. Some kite
flyers from France and UK shalldisplay their dexterity by
flyinga number of kites simultane-ously with both the hands,
saidPatil adding that about one lakhpeople from Belgaum, Goa
andnorth Karnataka and other partsof India are expected to
witnessthe festival.
Already, various teams acrossthe country as also those of
for-eigners will be participating inthe two-day festival.
Interestingly, flyers will fly thekites at night as well near
KoteKere (Fort Lake) at Belgaum Fort,which is a first of its kind
ex-periment in the entire country.Flying kites attached
withlamps/lights during the night onJanuary 16 will be the star
at-traction of the unique festival.
A number of stalls displayingthe local products such as
hand-loom sarees, sweets, food-stuffs,processed food products
differ-ent types of kites including de-signer kites will be
openedaround the venue.
We propose to take the vis-iting foreign tourists and
digni-taries to the nearby tourismspots so that this shall
automat-ically culminate in a regular an-nual feature of Belgaum
city inthe years to follow, stated Patilurging people of Goa to
takepart in the festival in big num-bers.
Belgaum kite festival to boost ties with Goa
n This festival is aimedat promoting andstrengthening theage-old
bilateralrelationship betweenBelgaum and Goa.Goa
TourismDevelopmentCorporation hasextended full co-operation in
theventure.
--- MLA Abhay Patil
Cong playing politics on
temple issue, says BJP
HERALD REPORTER
MARGAO, JAN 8
The Navelim BJP Mandal haslashed out at the Congress fortrying
to make politics out ofthe Shri Swami Samarth Templeissue in the
Rumdamol HousingBoard.
In a press note issued on Sat-urday, the Mandal said that
theCongress tried to make inroadsin the BJP dominated Panchayatbody
by pressurizing govern-ment officials to direct the Pan-chayat body
to issue demolitionnotice to the temple manage-ment.
The Mandal said that it isclearly evident that the
Congressgovernment tried to capitalizeon the situation by again
direct-ing the Deputy Director of Pan-chayats to keep the matter
inabeyance.
Asking the Congress partyand the leaders not to make apolitical
capital out of the reli-gious issue, the BJP said thatthe party
would regularize thetemple once its governmentcomes back to power
in thestate.
2 held for causing noise
pollutionHERALD CORRESPONDENT
CALANGUTE, JAN 8
Two persons were arrested oncharges of causing noise pollu-tion
on Friday.
An juna Po l i ce a r res tedPrasad Sandip Chimulkar ofMazi l
Vaddo, Anjuna andPradeep Colvalkar of HudoVaddo, Anjuna, and
confiscatedthe musical instruments fromtheir commercial premises
onFriday. Both were later releasedon bail.
HERALD CORRESPONDENT
CANACONA, JAN 8
About 50 people who had booked a plot in theproposed Shristhal
Housing Board at Mokhardin 1989 are in for a rude shock.
According to sources, they have received aletter dated December
20, 2010, from Goa Hous-ing Board (GHB), asking them to pay a
demanddraft for Rs 5,000 drawn in favour of Goa HousingBoard Margao
within 25 days or else, they wouldforfeit their right to the
plot.
Many residents in the taluka had deposited Rs1,500 in 1989 as
booking amount of a housingplot in the proposed Shristhal Housing
Board.
Interestingly, the rates quoted by GHB for theplots are cited at
Rs 1,700 per sq mtr and thesize of plots ranges between 211 sq mtrs
and369 sq mtrs.
The letter further warns that non-payment ofa DD for Rs 5,000
within the stipulated time willforfeit the right to own the housing
plot.
The letter signed by GHB Managing DirectorMelvyn Vaz states that
the balance cost amount
of the plots will be recovered after due deductionof the
deposits of Rs 1,500 (applicant had madewhile booking the plots in
1989) and accrued in-terest of this deposit.
The area of the housing plot ranges between211 sq mtrs and 369
sq mtrs.
Sources told Herald that other conditions havealso been imposed
by the GBA. Those with a max-imum monthly income of Rs 12,600 and
annualincome of Rs 2 lakh are only eligible for the plots.
Sources further informed that the exorbitantrates and other
restrictions have left several ap-plicants in the lurch.
Said an applicant, who want to remain anony-mous: There were no
conditions other thanbeing a resident and the rates that were
deemedreasonable in 1989 were never above the two-figure mark.
Even private plots in the area were recentlysold at Rs 500 per
sq mtr a year ago. A housingplot which is being sold for Rs 1,700
per sq mtris beyond our imagination, observed anotherapplicant.
Pay up 5K or forfeit plots, GHB tells allottees
HERALD CORRESPONDENT
CANACONA, JAN 8
Hitting out at the police forcefor stooping to such low levelsin
the police-drug peddlernexus, Opposition LeaderManohar Parrikar has
said someof them were even capable ofselling off their parents to
earnmoney.
Addressing a massive rallyduring the concluding two-dayIX
Lokostav-2011 at Amone-Canacona, Parrikar also took adig at some
politicians involvedin mining activities.
Parrikar was originally to pre-side over the concluding
func-tion, but ended up being thechief guest as Jarkhand
ChiefMinister Arjun Munda was re-portedly preoccupied at theBJPs
national Guwahati conven-tion and did not turn up.
In his inimitable style, Parrikarraked up the police-drug
ped-dler nexus and miners-politi-cians nexus.
Before reaching here, I at-tended a meeting of the
PublicAccounts Committee (PAC),where the main issue was thatof
mining. I was devastated tosee some of the then greenmountains in
Sanguem talukanow turned to red-hordes ofmud, said Parrikar.
You Canconkars are lucky.There are nine mining leases
inCanacona, but there isnt a singleone operative in this part of
thestate. In North, even a Police in-spector is engaged in
operatingtrucks for mining activities, headded.
Sanguem, which was once
Goa states bowl-of-water is nowturned into a mining reject
yard.Greed has made politicians moreinclined to mining than
minersthemselves, remarked the op-position leader.
Commenting on the policeforce, Parrikar said: I feelashamed to
talk about the policenow, as lately someone caughta PSI on camera
selling drugs. Idont know what they will donext. Some must have
alreadysold even their parents to earnmoney.
Now, someone has come for-ward with a claim that Goa hasgold
reserves. I am told that ameeting was immediatelychaired in the
State, and at least5-6 ministers/politicians are ina hurry to buy
land. They areinquiring into the gold reservesin the State, so that
they canbuy the land, stated Parrikar.
Earlier, Dr Uday Gaonkar, en-vironmentalist Rajendra
Kerkar,local singer Sulaksha Velip andCMC Chairperson RatnakarDhuri
were felicitated by Par-rikar.
In his speech, PoinguinimMLA Ramesh Tawadkar claimedthat
Canacona could not longerbe considered a backward areaanymore.
It is blessed with unmatchedrichness along its coast, hillsand
rivers. We are even moreblessed because we have nomines in
Canacona, he said.
Sanguem MLA Vasudev MengGaonkar, Shiroda MLA MadhavNaik, ZP
(Khola) Krishna Velipand Subhash Velingkar were alsopresent as
special invitees.
Parrikar hits out atpolice for shameful
role in drug peddling
Srinagar native held for drugs
possessionHERALD CORRESPONDENT
CALANGUTE, JAN 8
Anjuna Police arrested a native of Srinagarbut residing at
Calangute on charges of pos-sessing drugs worth Rs 80,000 at Anjuna
onSaturday.
Acting on a tip off, Anjuna Police arrestedMohammadar Ghulam
Rasood (29) at Bagawhile he was waiting for prospective cus-tomers.
The raid was carried out by AnjunaPolice Inspector Manjunath Dessai
and histeam late Friday night.
After rounding up Rasood, Anjuna Policeseized from him 802
grammes of Charas val-ued at Rs 80,000. Anjuna Police is
investi-gating the case.
TN native killed inDabolim mishap
HERALD REPORTER
VASCO, JAN 8
A 55-year-old native from Tamil Nadu but residing
atGalinth-Bogmalo was killed on Saturday afternoonwhen a speeding
car rammed his parked scooter alongthe Bogmalo road at
Alto-Dabolim.
According to Vasco police, George Mayday hadparked his scooter
(GA-02-L-5348) along the Bogmaloroad and was waiting for his child
to receive him afterschool.
A speeding car Maruti Ritz (GA-06-D-2680), drivenby Rohit
Prakash Pandey (18), rammed into the scooterfrom the rear and
Mayday was killed on the spot.
An eye-witness to the incident said the car was ata high speed,
when it rammed into the scooter.
The man was flung to a distance of nearly 10metres and banged
his head on a stone. The car laterwent off the road, said
Dharamveer.
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GOAOHERALD
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GOA, SUNDAY, 9 JANUARY, 2011
Chowgule Education SocietysSt. Josephs Institute
Primary Section Vasco-da-Gama, Baina Goa
ONLINE ADMISSIONS FOR CLASS I of 2011 - 2012
To make the admission process as transparent, hassle free and
easy, we have introduced on-line admission for
Class I at St. Josephs Institute Primary Section.
KINDLY NOTE:These admissions are for children who are
born on or before 30-11-2005
On-line admission procedures will be open till 14th January
2011.
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-
GOA, SUNDAY, 9 JANUARY, 2011
GOAOHERALD
OPg 4short takes upcoming events
GPCC President Subhash Shirodkar welcomes Uttar PradeshCongress
Committee President Dr Rita Bahuguna Joshi toCongress House,
Panjim. Also present are Gen SecretariesArtur Sequeira and Nitish
Kavlekar and Mahila Congress Presi-dent Monica Dias.
Just Girls excel at Vem Cantar
PANJIM(HND): Just Girls of Our Lady of Rosary High School,Dona
Paula recently secured the second place in Vem Cantar-the
Portuguese singing competition organised by RosaryCollege of
Commerce and Arts, Navelim together with FundacaoOriente.
Ana Karina Diniz, Whitney Godinho, Darlene Fernandes andShaina
Rodrigues accompanied by Phil Marie Dos Santos on thekeyboard and
Nigel Dos Santos on the guitar, expanded theirgroup to include
Eamonne Dias, Jodanne Pereira, Sheena Britto,Sasha Rodrigues,
Kimberly Gomes, Twyla Ferrao and ShannonDSouza and enrolled for the
three carol singing competitionsorganized by Goa 365, YMCA and
Mapusa Merchants Association,they managed to secure second position
in all three.
Just Girls and Nigel spread the Christmas cheer for the oldwhen
they visited Mae de Deus, an old age home for womenand Christ Raj
Bhavan, for men, both in Saligao and sang carolsfor them.
They also performed at the Clube Nacional Childrens Christ-mas
party and had the little kids dancing and singing alongwith them.
For Just Girls, it wasnt the winning that was im-portant, but just
knowing that they had reached out and madethis Christmas a
memorable one for a lot of people, says apress release.
Blood donation camp heldVALPOI(HC): Phoenix Socio-Cultural
Association (PSCA),
Valpoi, in collaboration with Dr Ashok Amshekar recently
or-ganised 28th annual blood donation camp at Dr AmshekarHospital,
Valpoi.
Besides association members, prominent people from
Valpoiincluding VMC Vice Chairperson Fehmida Khan and
CouncillorDarmendra Salonke voluntarily donated blood.
About 50 units of blood were donated. The camp wassuccessfully
conducted under the supervision of Dr ClareDMello and other staff
of GMC Blood Bank, which includedShashikant Bhosle, Daya Naik,
Dhanashree Shirodker andSunil Gaonker.
Kraftwork Nite at St CruzPANJIM (HND): Kraftwork Nite a
traditional musical beat
show will be held on January 26 from 7 pm onwards at StAgustinho
Grounds, St Cruz. This show is being organised forthe 22nd
consecutive year by Jose Fernandes in memory ofhis late brother
Anton Joao Fernandes.
Live music will be provided by Goa's leading bands - Status4,
Brothers-In-Arms, India, Open Highway, William
Rodrigues(one-man-band). The show will be compered by Cedric and
DJKelly Cruz will also rock the show.
This year the show is sponsored by Alor Grande, Candolimand
Furtado's, Panjim. There will be lots of prizes and gifthampers
from Alor Grande, Candolim.
Adequate security and parking will be arranged by the
or-ganisers for smooth running of the show. The sound and
lightswill be provided by Cas-ant Power. Information and
detailswill also be released through advertisements in all the
localdailies of Goa.
VHP meet at FarmagudiPANJIM (HND): Vishwa Hindu Parishad
Gomantak will organise
a public meeting on January 9 at 4.30 pm at EngineeringCollege
Ground Farmagudi, Ponda. International President ofVHP Ashok
Singhal, International General Secretary Dr Prav-inbhai Togadia,
and other Leaders of VHP will address theMeeting.
Konkani Musical ShowPANJIM (HND): Goykaranchi Konkani Bhas
Songit, Kala ani
Sonskrutai Kendr, Merxe Goy, will organise a free Konkani
Mu-sical Show with Goa's top most Konkani singers of the stageand a
comedy skit by Aniceto Lourenco and his Troupe on Jan-uary 16 at
6.30 pm near Merces Church, on the occasion ofOpinion Poll Day
(Goychi Osmitai Dis) in memory of Father ofthe Opinion Poll, Dr
Jack de Sequeira. The programme is sup-ported by Tiatr Academy of
Goa.
Miraculous Cross feast at AnjunaPANJIM (HND): The feast of
Miraculous Cross at Anjuna Hill
will be celebrated on January 10 at 4.30 pm with the
Eucharisticcelebration. This year, the feast will be celebrated by
PlacidoCarvalho, Agnes Carvalho and Pearl Carvalho.
PANJIM (HND): The ChristmasFestivities were concluded withParish
get-together at St Eliza-beth s Church, Ucassaim.Crispino Marcello
was the chiefguest and Benny Baretto, theguest of honour.
The highlight of the pro-gramme was the Bible Quiz com-petition,
Kaun Banega PovitrPustokacho Premi which was wonby Agatha Vaz and
Manuel Leitao.
Crispino Marcello lauded theefforts of the parishioners and
encouraged them to participatefully in such parish
activities.The Parish Priest Fr Ave MariaAfonso himself acted in a
hu-morous play which was well re-ceived by the audience. Afterthe
cultural programme tradi-tional rice, sambarachi koddi,melgor and
vonn (sweet dish)were served to about 400parishioners. Prizes were
givento the winners of the variouscompetitions held during theweek
long Christmas season.
Get-together held at Ucassaim parish
Parish Priest Fr Ave Maria Afonso along with the chief
guestCrispino Marcello, Benny Baretto and others.
HERALD NEWS BUREAU
PANJIM, JAN 8
Director of Health Services DrRajnanda Desai has stated
thatfaulty eating habits is a majorcause of poor health
amongadolescents.
Dr Desai was addressing agathering at the concludingfunction of
the Nutrition Aware-ness Program (NAP) of NestleIndia Limited
organized at theGoa College of Home Science.
The NAP in Goa was jointlyorganized by Nestle India Lim-ited in
collaboration with GoaCollege of Home Science.
"Creating awareness aboutfood habits and a healthylifestyle is
the need of the hourand such awareness programswill go a long way
in combatingthe malnutrition scenario," saidDr Desai.
"Many adolescents have im-paired nutritional status due tofaulty
food habits and anemiais widely prevalent among ado-lescent girls,"
she added.
Dr Desai said that making
good and in fo rmed foodchoices is vital for improvingthe
nutritive value of the dietand nutritional status of
thecommunity.
She later distributed prizesto the winners of various
com-petitions held during the NAP.
Earlier, Rajal K Shinkre, prin-cipal of Goa College of
HomeScience introduced presented abrief report of the NAP in
theState.
The NAP under the aegis ofthe Global Healthy Kids Programwas
launched by Nestle IndiaLimited to create awareness ofgood
nutritional practices,healthy lifestyle and greaterphysical
activity amongst ado-lescent school girls in rural andsemi-urban
areas.
The NAP which consisted of6 modules spread over 6 ses-sions each
of 2 hours durationonce a week, covered 1,020 stu-dents, from eight
schools in Bi-cholim and Ponda.
In the beginning of the firstsession, folders (including
pro-
gram content) along with gen-eral guidelines were distributedto
each participant. Pre-andpost-programme evaluation wascarried out
with a pre-struc-tured test to evaluate theknowledge increment of
theparticipants.
During the programme, anumber of competitions wereorganized for
the participants.
Officials from Nestle IndiaLimited who participated in
theprogramme included FactoryManager (Ponda) Arun
Pan-theeradi,Factory Manager (Bi-cholim) Nirmala Shahapurkarand
Corporate Affairs ManagerSanjay Bhandari.
Others present included GauriMishal, Zimaida D'Costa andVandana
Kakodkar, school rep-resentatives, participants of NAPand students
and staff of GoaCollege of Home Science.
On the occasion, students ofTYBSc Home Science (Food, Nu-trition
and Dietetics) performeda skit on Balanced Diet andHealthy
Lifestyle.
Faulty eating habits cause of ill health among youth
HERALD CORRESPONDENT
PORVORIM, JAN 8
Justice Nelson A Britto retiredon Saturday after serving
fornearly seven years as judge ofthe Bombay High Court.
A resident of Porvorim, JusticeBritto (62) passed BA
(Economicsand Political Science) fromChowgule College, Margao,
in1969. He stood first in Consti-tutional Law in the first Year
LLBfrom Poona University in 1970and bagged the Dr
AbhyankarConstitutional Law Prize.
In the third year LLB, he stoodfirst in criminology in
BombayUniversity in 1972. He joinedthe Bar on July 14, 1972.
Hestood first in the written andoral examinations held by
Gov-ernment for the post of AssistantPublic Prosecutor (APP).
He joined as APP from August3, 1973 and since then, he hasworked
as APP, Public Prosecutorand Government Pleader till join-ing
judicial service in the State.
He began his judicial careeras civil judge, (Junior Division)on
January 7, 1982 and was pro-moted as C.J.S.D in August 1986.
He stood first in oral inter-views for the post of
AdditionalDistrict Judge in December 1993and was appointed as
AdditionalDistrict and Assistant SessionsJudge on March 3,
1994.
He was appointed as Presi-dent of Administrative Tribunalfrom
June 5, 1995 to August 30,1997 and was appointed as Dis-
Justice Britto retires
trict and Sessions Judge on Sep-tember 1, 1997.
He was later elevated as judgeof the high court on March
15,2004.
Speaking to Herald, PorvorimResidents Welfare Association
Sec-retary Juino De Souza said: "JusticeBritto had no airs, but
only graces.He is simple, unassuming and hisvaluable service to the
Stateshould continue."
HERALD CORRESPONDENT
OLD GOA, JAN 8
Residents of Corlim and sur-rounding areas have been out-raged
over the absence of adoctor at the Primary HealthCentre (PHC) in
Corlim.
Since the past three days,there has been no doctor at theCorlim
PHC and patients visitingthe hospital have had to returnhome
without availing of anytreatment.
"I had gone to check my dia-betes at the Corlim PHC onThursday
and I was surprisedto know that there was not asingle doctor in the
hospital.When I checked up with thestaff, I was told that the
doctorhad gone out," complained Pan-durang Parvatkar.
"I don't know what the healthminister or the health depart-ment
are doing in the matter.Poor people like us are the worstaffected,"
he added.
When contacted, Director ofHealth Services Dr RajnandaDessai
informed that Dr KedarRaikar has been given the dutyat the Corlim
PHC.
"He should be taking chargeany time now, but I can't com-ment on
why there was not asingle doctor on Wednesdayor Thursday and I will
lookinto the matter," said Dr Des-sai.
Dr Dessai also stated that theHealth Department is in theprocess
of recruiting 15 newmedical officers in different cen-tres in the
State.
Absence of doctor at Corlim PHC angers locals
Awareness on kidney
diseases held at Canancona
HERALD CORRESPONDENT
CANACONA, JAN 8
CHC Canacona recently conductedInformation and
Communication(IEC) programme at Amone-Poinguinim to create
awarenessamong the residents on upcomingsurvey by medical teams for
EarlyDetection and Management ofChronic Kidney Diseases
project.
The kidney ailments detectionproject is being vigorously
under-taken in the taluka by health au-thorities, as widespread
chronickidney ailments allegedly affectingtaluka residents continue
to takeprominence in the State.
The health team consisting ofMedical Officer Dr Vandana
Dessaiand health educator spoke to thepeople on kidney diseases and
re-lated problems and requested peo-ple to whole-heartedly
cooperateby giving correct answers to thequeries posed by visiting
surveyorsat their residences and localities.
Poinguinim Sarpanch Te-jaswini Deikar requested thepeople to
take benefits and sub-ject themselves to the surveyteams for their
own health sake.
HERALD CORRESPONDENT
COLLEM, JAN 8
Mollem School Complex re-cently organized its annual BalAnand
Melava at Satpal-Mollem.
Primary schools students fromMollem, Zambaulim, Dhat-San-god,
Suctol im, Palaskata-Kasaval im, Bondumal andstudents of Std 5 of
Abhinav VidyaMandir High School Mollem par-ticipated in the
melava.
Mollem Sarpanch GovindGaonkar, who was the chief
guest, garlanded the portrait ofPt Jawaharlal Nehru in the
pres-ence of Headmaster of AbhinavVidya Mandir
SharadchandraKhandepar and others.
Speaking on the occasion,chief guest Gaonkar appealedthe
students to participate invarious programmes and com-petitions for
their all-round de-velopment. He also stressed onthe importance of
teachers rolein the moulding the students.
About 200 students and 15
teachers participated in themelava. Forester Lambor ex-plained
the importance medicalplants in the present age. He alsoshowed some
plants which areuseful for various diseases likeHIV/AIDS, Blood
Pressure, etc.
During the melava, various com-petitions, entertainment gamesand
programmes were organized.Teachers Kiran, Sanam Gaonkarand Ranjita
Maselkar taught thestudents dances songs and someentertainment
games.
Bal Anand Melava held at Mollem
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GOAGOA, SUNDAY, 9 JANUARY, 2011
Pg5OHERALD
O
15x3
HERALD CORRESPONDENT
MAYEM, JAN 8
Bicholim MLA Rajesh Patnekarhas called upon the people andpanch
members to coordinatewith the government officialsto get knowledge
of differentgovernment schemes.
He was addressing the gath-
ering during cheque distributionprogramme conducted by Socialand
Welfare Department underRajiv Awas Yojna for the bene-ficiaries
from Mayem, Bicholimand Pale at BMC Hall, Bicholim.
Mayem MLA Anant Shet, PaleMLA Pratap gawas, BMC Chair-person
Anisha Vernekar, Deputy
Cha i rpe r son Shash ikan tHalarnkar and Vivek Naik werepresent
on the occasion.
About 220 beneficiaries fromall the three constituencies
weregiven the cheques.
Mahadev Tirodkar comperedthe function and also proposedthe vote
of thanks.
People urged to interact with officials on govt schemes
Bicholim MLA Rajesh Patnekar distributes cheques to the
beneficiaries under Rajiv Aavas scheme atBicholim. Photo by Vishant
Vaze
HERALD CORRESPONDENT
MAYEM, JAN 8
Mayem MLA Anant Shet recentlyinaugurated the hot-mixing of6-km
stretch of road from Dhat-wada to Kudchirem Temple andPoriem
junction to Maulingemin Mayem constituency.
The road will be hot mixedat a cost of about Rs 1.47 croreand it
will be completed soon,informed MLA Shet.
He further said that other sur-
rounding roads will also be hotmixed before the monsoon.
Other infrastructure likepower, water, etc, will be alsomade
available to the people asearly as possible, said Shet.
PWD (roads) engineer Vel-l auddin , jun ior eng ineerParyekar,
Daji Warak, RajanUsapkar, Shankar Chodankar,Gurudas Kerikar and
RajanRane were present on the oc-casion.
HERALD NEWS DESK
PANJIM, JAN 8
Home Minister Ravi Naik hassaid that a world without com-puters
cannot be imagined.Computer he said has becomevery important
nowadays be-cause it is accurate, fast andcan accomplish many tasks
eas-ily. Otherwise to completethose tasks manually muchmore time is
required. More-over it can store huge amount
of data in it. Home Minister Ravi Naik was
speaking after inaugurating atwo-day computer awarenessworkshop
organized by PESCollege of Education at Far-maguddi on Friday as
part ofSilver Jubilee of Ponda EducationSociety.
Speaking further, Naik saidwe also get information on dif-ferent
aspects using internet onour computer. Today he said,
Computers a necessity today: Naikthe computers are used inbanks,
communications, busi-ness, medical science, educa-tion, media,
travel and ticketing,weather predictions, sports,music and others.
He compli-mented the College for organ-izing this workshop for
thebenefit of the teachers and
urged the teachers to impartknowledge they acquire withthe
students.
Earlier, Principal of PES Col-lege of Education Geeta
Iyerwelcomed the gathering whileLecturer Udesh proposed a voteof
thanks. Kumari Vidhya Shik-erkar compered the function.
Home Minister Ravi Naik inaugurated a two-day computer
aware-ness workshop on Friday organized by PES College of Education
atFarmaguddi as part of the Silver Jubilee celebration.
Hot-mixing work onMayem roads begin
Mayem MLA Anant Shet inaugurates the hot mixing work at
Kud-chirem-Bicholim. Photo by Vishant Vaze
HERALD CORRESPONDENT
CANACONA, JAN 8
Saniya Fernandes was crownedLions Queen at the CanaconaLions XI
traditional New YearsDance at Molyma Resorts openhall.
Saniya emerged winner fromamong several other girls whoattended
the New Years dance
Saniya crowned Lions Queen
party and participated in theLions Queen contest.
Shamanta Larina Gracias wasthe runner-up, while Saniya (16)was
crowned by Canacona Lionsfirst lady Fransquinha Fernandesin the
presence of PresidentMotesino Fernandes, TreasurerLawrence Barretto
and othersenior lion members.
HERALD CORRESPONDENT
PORVORIM, JAN 8
The Penha da Franca panchayatrecently conducted a six-daymedical
camp on ayurveda,naturopathy, accupressure andmagneto the rapy a t
theDhadeshwar Community hall atBritona.
Over 100 people attended themedical camp and magneticequipment
were given to thepatients at concessional rates.
Dr Vinay Borkar examined thepatients, while Pooja Naik as-sisted
the doctor.
"Most patients who attendedthe camp were found sufferingfrom
diabetes, arthritis and acid-ity. They are suffering from
thesediseases because of the modernlife style they have adopted.
If
they consume nutritious foodand exercise regularly, most ofthe
diseases can be prevented,"Dr Borkar told Herald.
"More people are slowly turn-ing towards Magneto-therapy,which
is based on nature's Law.The human body is made up ofcells and
tissues. Cells are mag-netic units and high magneticfluctuations
take place in thehuman body and they stimulatethe cells. Hence, a
number ofdiseases can be treated with dif-ferent magnetic
equipment,"said Dr Borkar.
Penha da Franca EknathBorkar said the panchayat haddecided to
organise the campfor the benefit of a large num-ber o f poor peop
le f romBritona.
Penha da Franca pyat organises health camp
Dr Vinay Borkar examines a patient at a medical camp. Photo by
Anil Shankhwalkar
Curchoremschool
principal fetedHERALD CORRESPONDENT
CURCHOREM, JAN 8
Guardian Angel Higher Second-ary School Curchorem PrincipalFr
Frank Mendes was recentlyfelicitated at Kupamoddi Hod-dar,
Curchorem.
Social worker Nilesh Cabralfelicitated Fr Mendes during aspecial
function, which was apart of the three-day New Yearcelebrations
organized by St Se-bastian Sports and Cultural Clubof
Cupamoddi.
Sanvordem Parish Priest FrJames Torres E Silva, Club Pres-ident
Cajetan Fernandes andothers were present on the oc-casion.
In his speech, Fernandes saidFr Mendes was felicitated
inrecognition of his 17 years ofselfless and dedicated servicesto
the villagers as priest of StSebastian Chapel, Hoddar.
Earlier, Cabral inauguratedthe three-day function in thepresence
of other dignitaries.Various competitions were or-ganized during
the three-dayprogramme.
Mathew DCosta, Babajin Fer-nandes, Dnyaneshwar Naik andDatta
Naik were the judges.
Computer literacy test HERALD NEWS DESK
PANJIM, JAN 8
The computer literacy test of the candidates who have applied
forthe posts of Data Entry Operator in North Goa Collectorate,
willbe held from January 10 to 14 at the Goa Education
DevelopmentCorporation, DIET hostel building, near Teacher Training
College,Porvorim, from 10 am onwards. Interviews of short-listed
candidateswill be conducted later, the schedule of which will be
informed bysending call letter and publication in newspaper. Those
who havenot received their call letter for computer literacy test
may collectthe duplicate copy from the Collectorate Office,
Panjim.
Furtadosplanning to
contest CCP pollsBY HERALD REPORTER
PANJIM, JAN 8
The Corporation of the City ofPanjim (CCP)corporator Suren-dra
Furtado who fiercely foughtagainst wrong doings of someof the
ruling corporators duringthis term, is now planning toget into the
corporation elec-tion scheduled in March withfull force.
His wife Ruth Furtado is al-ready a corporator representingward
10, his entrepreneur son,Vladimir Furtado is also set tocontest CCP
election. He willcontest from ward 11 thatmostly covers Panjim
marketarea.
When contacted SurendraFurtado said he has decided tofield his
son to have more handsto fight corruption in the CCPas he felt
helpless before brutemajority of the ruling panelwhich had on side
19 corpora-tors.
Denying the charge that hewants to have dynastic rule byhaving
wife and son in the cor-poration, he said, they want todo social
service as he and hiswife have done work in theirrespective wards
and peoplewill vouch for them.
Vladimir Furtado will be pit-ted against Kabir Pinto Makhijaof
Panjim City Corporation De-velopment Front(PCCDF)-- thepanel which
has been floatedby Taleigao MLA Babush Mon-serrate.
While Furtado will be con-testing for the fourth term andhis
wife, for the third term.
This corporation election thistime is likely to become morethan
challenging for all the con-testants involved due to changein power
equations.
Ex-Mayor Ashok Naik whohad wowed not to stand for cor-poration
election again haschange his stance. He is likelyto contest from
ward 14 againstdeputy mayor Yatin Parekh.
However, picture will be moreclear once BJP announces itspanel
which it is likely to doimmediately after reservationnotification
is released.
Taleigao MLA Babush Mon-serrate has already declared hispanel
and has also joined handswith St Cruz MLA, Victoria Fer-nandes.
The Lion Queens contest wasanchored by Tony Martins,
whileRichard was the mood-setter forthe annual lions New Year
danceas Music Waves and Sensationwere the two bands in
attendance.
According to Martins, the an-swer provided by Saniya in
ex-plaining the inner beauty of aperson did the trick for
nettingmaximum marks from the benchof three judges.
The Canacona Lions XI tradi-tional New Years dance is theonly
one a year fund-raising ac-tivity of the Lions Club of
Cana-cona.
Canacona Lions President Fer-nandes said: We do one fund-raising
activity annually, butconduct several people-orientedprogrammes
which includehealth camps and other activi-ties for the needy
strata of thesociety.
-
INDIAPg 6 OHERALD
O
GOA, SUNDAY 9 JANUARY, 2011
PTI
NEW DELHI, JAN 8
In an unprecedented develop-ment, chiefs of the army andthe Air
Force will appear beforeparliament's public accountscommittee (PAC)
on Wednesdayin connection with alleged ir-regularities in the
canteen storesdepartment (CSD) supplies.Naval chief Admiral
NirmalVerma, who has also been calledalong with his counterparts
ofthe army and the Air Force toappear before the PAC,
would,however, be representedby Vice Chief Vice Admiral D KDeewan
as he will be travelingto Indonesia on a pre-sched-uled four-day
visit beginningtomorrow, sources said today.The PAC had called the
chiefs
of the three defence servicesfor a hearing on January 12based on
a CAG report whichhas pointed out irregularities in
the supply chain managementof rations by CSD.The Defence
Ministry, which re-ceived the communication, ad-vised the service
chiefs toappear before the PAC appar-ently to underline the
commit-tee's immense significance at atime when the government
isseeking to project it as a bodyas important as the Joint
Parlia-mentary Committee in the 2Gspectrum issue, the sources
said.Accordingly, the PAC has beeninformed that army chief Gen-eral
V K Singh and Air Force chiefAir Chief Marshal P V Naik wouldbe
appearing before it, they said.This would be the first time
that the chiefs of armed forceswould appear before the PAC
asusually the defence secretaryattends such meetings of
theparliamentary committees alongwith vice chiefs of the
Services.However, soon after the Defence
Ministry received the PAC letter,army sources had said that
theservice chiefs were unlikely toappear before the committeeand
instead vice chiefs and quar-ter master general equivalentswould
represent their forces.The army chief had also won-dered if there
was any extrarequirement for the chiefs toappear before the
PAC.Highlighting the irregularities
in the CSD, the CAG had said,The existing procedure for
pro-visioning of dry rations failedto assess the requirement
real-istically. The failurewas mainly due to systemic de-ficiencies
due to which differentquantities were worked out atdifferent
echelons applying dif-ferent parameters...The report had said that
the riskof existence of cartels affectingthe quantity and quality
of ra-tions is too serious to be ig-
nored.The Ministry of Defence shouldset clear targets regarding
ex-pansion of vendor base andprogress should be closely mon-itored.
The list of vendorsshould be put on the websiteof the army service
corps, ithad said. General Singh said on Thursdaythat he had no
problem in ap-pearing before PAC if the min-istry wanted it even as
hewondered "if there is an extrarequirement" for the Chiefs togo
before the Committee.There are two-three issuesraised by the CAG on
which thePAC wants to ask or clarify var-ious points. It depends on
whatthe ministry wants from us. If itwants us to go andclarify, we
have got no problemin doing that, he said whenasked if he would
appear beforethe PAC.
Sikh devotee spits fire as he performs during a religious
procession taken out by community members ahead of the birth
anniversary of the tenth Guru of the Sikhs,Guru Gobind Singh, in
the northern Indian city of Jammu,on Saturday, Guru Gobind Singh Ji
was the last Sikh Guru who initiated the special order or sect of
the Sikhscalled the 'Khalsa Panth.'
Army, IAF chiefs to appear before PAC
PTI
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, JAN 8
Left parties in Kerala have re-sented the Supreme Court
orderupholding the state High Court''sban on organising
road-sidepublic meetings and rallies, ar-guing it would amount
infring-ing on Constitutional rights.
The court order amounted tobreach of democratic and
con-stitutional privileges like free-dom of expression, the
CPI-M,which heads the ruling LDF, said.
The party wanted the govern-ment to convene an all-partymeet to
consider legal options,including a legislation, to restorethe
rights.
The apex court on Thursdayupheld last year's High Courtorder
banning public meetingson road sides on a petition byan individual
who contendedthat road side meetings causedsevere inconvenience to
publicand constricted traffic.
A statement issued by CPI-MState Secretariat here yesterdaysaid
the Court order not onlyignored the specific features ofKerala but
also transgressed therights of the executive and leg-islature.
CPI State Secretary C K Chan-drappan said the order did notgo
well with the spirit of democ-racy and banning way-side pub-lic
meetings would amount toshackling the freedom of ex-pression.
Considering the geographicalpeculiarities of Kerala, it hadbeen
a long practice for all par-ties to organise public meetingson road
sides, he said.
If the court order was meantto curb difficulties posed by
suchmeetings to the public it wouldhave been taken as sensible.
Im-posing a blanket ban on all sortsof roadside meetings would
notbe practical in a State like Kerala,the CPI leader said
Left resent ban on roadside meetings PTI GUWAHATI, JAN 8
Dubbing the 2-G spectrum issueas the mother of all scams,
BJPPresident Nitin Gadkari todaywarned that the
government'sstubborn and confrontationistapproach to the legitimate
de-mand for a JPC probe will costit dearly.
If the prime Minister is sovery confident that he is notguilty,
why should he be so stub-born in opposing the legitimatedemand of
JPC? This stubborn-ness is reminiscent of
the pre-emergency days. BJPcondemns this approach, Gad-kari said
in his presidential ad-dress at the B JP nat iona lexecutive meet
here, the firstsince the 2-G scam surfaced.
Alleging that the huge lossto the exchequer due to thismother of
all scams is almostequal to the budget outlay ofsome states, he
warned the gov-ernment that such a stubbornand confrontationist
approachwill cost the UPA extremelydear.
It is the stubbornness that
Govts stubborn stance will cost it dearly: BJP
PTI
GUWAHATI, JAN 8
Senior BJP leader and PACChairman Murli Manohar Joshitoday
criticised Telecom Minis-ter Kapil Sibal for debunkingCAG estimates
of losses of Rs1.76 lakh crore on account of2G spectrum allocation,
sayingit was "improper" and demon-strated his "very casual"
ap-proach.
Joshi said Telecom SecretaryR Chandrashekhar had appearedbefore
the PAC but never ques-tioned the CAG''s projection ofpresumptive
losses.
"In my opinion, it is highlyimproper. The CAG has neversaid that
it is the exact amount.Mr Sibal should have read thereport
carefully," Joshi said herewhile reacting to the Telecom
Minister''s contention that thepresumptive losses projectedby
the CAG was "erroneous".
Joshi noted that the CAG hasalways maintained that the
lossfigures were presumptive andnever said the figure of Rs
1.76lakh crore was final.
The CAG had given three lim-its of the presumptive loss tothe
exchequer in its report andSibal''s attack on it showed that"he has
been very casual and illbeholds of the Minister to talkill of the
CAG, the PAC Chairmansaid.
Joshi, who is here to attendBJP''s National Executive
meet,pointed out that the TelecomSecretary "was examined by thePAC"
and "he never said that this(the loss figure) was erroneous."
He said it was not proper for
the Minister to say such thingswhen the PAC inquiry into
thereport is underway and "What-ever he wants to say, his
Secre-tary can come and say (beforePAC)."
Joshi said Sibal''s party, Con-gress, or its
representativescould have also come and pre-sented their views
before thePAC.
Sibal had yesterday rejectedCAG estimates of losses of Rs1.76
lakh crore on account ofallocation of 2G spectrum totelecom
operators saying it "hadno basis and was utterly erro-neous".
The CAG in its 77-page reportof CAG, tabled in Parliament
inNovember last year, had saidthat due diligence was not fol-lowed
and even the recommen-
dations of the telecom regulatorTRAI were "not followed
inspirit".
The report said the "presump-tive" loss caused to the excheq-uer
through spectrum allocationto 122 licensees and 35 dualtechnology
licences in 2007-08was Rs 1,76,645 crore. It arrivedat the figure
on the basis of 3Gauction held earlier this year inwhich the
government moppedup over Rs 67,000 crore.
The 2G scam has become amajor political issue with theopposition
demanding a jointparliament committee to probethe issue. The
demand, however,was rejected by the governmentleading to disruption
of almostthe entire winter session of par-liament.
Sibal didnt read report properly, says Joshi
PTI
JHARGRAM (WB), JAN 8
Uneasy calm prevailed atNetai village in Lalgarh policestation
area of West Midnaporedistrict today where eight per-sons were
killed and 18 othersinjured in firing by suspectedCPI(M) armed
cadre.
The joint security forces wereon patrol in the village
yesterdaywhen CPI(M) armed cadre stay-ing at party leader Ranjit
Dan-dapat's house allegedly openedfire on villagers when they
re-fused to receive arms trainingand act as night guards.
Trinamool Congress chief Ma-mata Banerjee, who rushed
toMidnapore town yesterdayevening and visited the injured
in hospital, will take out a pro-cession with the bodies of
thosekilled in Lalgarh in the after-noon.
Condemning the killings, Gov-ernor M K Narayanan had lastnight
said that it was a day ofsorrow and shame for the State.
No democracy can allowsuch violence: no civilized soci-ety can
accept such mindlessdiscord ... a decisive stage hasbeen reached
for the govern-ment to act, before it becomes
a point of no return.Home Secretary Gyan Dutta
Goutama, however, had said thatthe killing was the result of
apolitical clash between the Tri-namool Congress and the CPI-M.
Home Min i s te r P Ch i -dambaram had yesterday writ-ten yet
another letter to ChiefMinister Buddhadeb Bhattachar-jee asking him
to rescheduleall appointments and visit Delhiimmediately.
Describing the violence in Lal-garh as a grave incident,
Chi-dambaram had said he hadreceived information that eightpeople
were killed in the firingand 18 others were injured.
I have written a letter to thechief minister and drawn his
at-tention to this grave incidentand requested him to
kindlyreschedule all (his) appoint-ments and visit Delhi
immedi-ately, he had told reporters inDelhi.
Uneasy calm in Netai after 8 killed
PTI
NAGPUR, JAN 8
A local singer Sunil Wagh-mare, who achieved a rare featby
singing for 93 hours and20 minutes, thereby creatinga new non-stop
singing record,was hospitalised here follow-ing exhaustion.
Waghmare had set a targetof 101 hours of continuoussinging but
was forced to stopafter doctors attending on himfound him unfit for
furthersinging yesterday, as his phys-ical condition
deteriorated.
He was immediately rushedin a waiting ambulance to aprivate
nursing home lastevening where he is recover-ing, the organisers
claimedhere.
During his four-day recital,Waghmare did not suffer fromany
ailment except that he wascompleted exhausted follow-ing his
singing was cut short
abruptly.Waghmare's singing event
was earlier inaugurated by for-mer MP Banwarilal Purohit
andsenior scribe Umesh Choubeon January 3.
He rendered all popularsongs of late legendary singerMohammad
Rafi. Now his featand video recordings will besent to Guinness Book
ofWorld Records for their ap-proval and entry into the
book,organisers added.
Youth sings for 93hours, hospitalised
PTI
PUNE, JAN 8
An official of the Central Excise
and Customs department was
arrested while taking a bribe of
Rs one crore from a businessman
here, a top CBI official said
today.
Acting on a tip-off, a trap
was laid and K B Mahadik, a su-
perintendent in the Central Ex-
cise and Customs department,
was caught while accepting the
bribe from the businessman yes-
terday," CBI Joint Director Rishi-
raj Singh said.
About Rs 6.8 lakh cash, United
States dollars 800, a revolver
and 80 files pertaining to Ma-
hadik's property deals were re-
covered during searches at his
residence, Singh said.
The businessman is associ-
ated with a steel rolling mill, he
said, adding the investigating
agency was working on the case
for the last two months.
Central Exciseofficial caughttaking bribe
PTI
NEW DELHI, JAN 8
Heavy fog across north Indiatoday threw train traffic out ofgear
with 100 trains runninglate and five of them beingrescheduled.
Northern Railway officials saidin view of the dense fog in
manyareas of Punjab, Haryana andUttar Pradesh, train traffic
hasbeen disrupted.
The Lucknow Shatabdi hasbeen cancelled from both sideswhile five
trains have beenrescheduled including the NorthEast Express and
Puri Express.
At least 100 trains are runninglate.
All trains are running at asnail's pace and a speed restric-tion
on running of trains hascome into force in some sectionsbetween
Delhi and Kanpur, theysaid.
100 trains runlate as fog hitstraffic services
A police personnel on duty at the Central Park at Cannaught
Place on a chilling foggy morning in New Delhi on Satur-day.
38 childrenrescued fromUP food joints
PTI
LUCKNOW, Jan 8
Thirty-eight child labourerswere rescued from various foodjoints
here during a drivelaunchedby the Labour Depart-ment and
Childline.
The department carried outa drive with an aim to rescuechildren
working as labourersin restaurants and food jointsin different
parts of the city, in-cluding Vikas Nagar, Aliganj andRajajipuram,
officials said.
The raids were carried out ina phased manner from Decem-ber 29,
they said, adding thatlegal notices have been issuedto the
restaurants and food jointowners from where these chil-dren were
rescued.
MUZAFFARNAGAR: A fasttrack court here has convictedeight persons
and sentencedthem to five years of imprison-ment for cow
slaughtering, po-lice said.
The Fast Track Court JudgeShukla also imposed a fine ofRs 5,000
on each of the accusedidentified as Hashim, Shahid,Meharban, Sajid
, Hanif, Mehdi,Israil and Hasan after holdingthem guilty yesterday,
they said.
Eight persons were arrestedwhen police recovered cowmeat and
skin from their pos-session at Khawajanpur villagein the district
on November 7,2004. (PTI)
Eight fined for
cow slaughter
PTI
LUCKNOW, JAN 8
Three persons were arrested forallegedly kidnapping a
13-year-old son of a city transporter,who was later rescued by
thepolice from Kakori area, officialssaid here.
Mohd Asif alias Talib, a classeighth student at Bright
CareerConvent School, went missingfrom New Haiderganj in
Thakur-ganj locality while he had gonefor some work on
Thursdayevening, they said.
Later his father Chand Babureceived a ransom call demand-ing
from an unidentified person,who demanded Rs 50 lakh forhis son's
safe release.
Police said that the kidnap-pers called the Chand Babu todeliver
the amount near BhuwarSuraj Kundan road in Kakori.
A police team followed ChandBabu and nabbed Jamal, whocame to
collect the ransommoney.
Three held for kidnapping boy
The dictionary definitionof the word surreal is hav-ing the
disorienting, hallu-cinatory quality of a dream;unreal; fantastic.
The artstyle, surrealism, followsthis definition fairly
closely.
Surrealism is a culturalmovement and artistic stylethat was
founded in 1924by Andr Breton. Surreal-ism style uses visual
im-agery from thesubconscious mind to cre-ate art without the
inten-tion of logicalcomprehensibility.
The movement wasbegun primarily in Eu-rope, centered in
Paris,and attracted many ofthe members of theDada community.
In-fluenced by the psy-choanalytical work ofFreud and Jung,
thereare similarities be-tween the Surrealist move-ment and the
Symbolistmovement of the late 19thcentury.
Some of the greatestartists of the 20th cen-tury became
involvedin the Surrealistmovement, and thegroup included Gior-gio
de Chirico, ManRay, Ren Magritte,and many others.
The Surrealist movementeventually spread acrossthe globe, and
has influ-enced artistic endeav-ors from painting andsculpture to
popmusic and film direct-ing.
The greatestknown Surrealistartist is the world fa-mous Salvador
Dali.
Born on May 11, 1904,Salvador Dali i Domenechwould become one of
theworlds most recognizedsurrealist artists. Raisedby his
lawyer/notary fa-ther and a mother who en-couraged her artistic
son,Dali grew up in Figueres,Catalonia, Spain, having
been told by his parents that hewas the reincarnation of
hisolder brother, Salvador, who died
just nine months beforeDalis birth.
In 1921, Dali moved tothe student residences atthe School of
Fine Arts inMadrid. He spent severalyears studying there andthen
shortly before hisgraduation, he was ex-pelled for declaring
that
no one on the faculty of theschool was competent enough
toexamine him.
By 1931, Dali had col-laborated on a shortfilm with surrealist
di-rector Luis Bunuel; il-lustrated a book calledThe Witches of
Liers,a poem written by hisfriend and classmateCarles Fages de
Climent;
met hismuse and fu-ture wifeGala; andpainted ar-guably hismost
famouswork ThePersistenceof Memory.
In 1940, Dali and Gala movedto the United States, and it
wasduring this time that Dali re-claimed his Catholic faith.
In the late 1940s, Dali andGala returned to Spain. Dali
con-tinued a prolific career in art,being one of the first artists
touse holography and taking greatinspiration from his Catholicfaith
and the events of the day.From this time period, two ofDalis most
famous works, Hal-lucinogenic Toreador and LaGare de Perpignan were
created.
King Juan Carlos of Spain be-stowed upon Dali the title Mar-quis
of Pubol in 1982. By thistime, Dali was seriously ill, andon
January 23, 1989, SalvadorDali died from heart failure. Heis buried
in a crypt at his TeatroMuseo de Figueres, just stepsfrom his
childhood home.
Comments or queries? Bouquets or brickbats? Talk to us!Email
Junior Herald at [email protected] or join our Facebook fan
page. Our readers are invited to rave, rant, chat
or even contribute. No message will go unanswered!
Contact Us:
Origins of Surrealism The Twisted Art of Salvador Dali
Art
Figure at the Window
The Persistence of Memory
Nature Morte Vivante
The Temptation of St. Anthony
-
INDIAOHE
RALD
OGOA, SUNDAY 9 JANUARY, 2011
APPOINTMENTS
APPOINTMENTS
opinionated
Kakule-Ads
Theannualstateofmind
Adv Cleofato Almeida Coutinho
Christmas is just over! The festival celebrated aroundthe globe,
though inherently a Christian festival forcenturies, over the
period from 25 to 31 December has
evolved into a season of festivities and has become a
traditionin itself. The manner in which people around the world
havebeen involved with the festivities of Christmas during the
lastweek of December leading to New Year, from generation to
gen-eration has made Christmas a social tradition.
The greeting Merry Christmas is exchanged among all com-munities
and the entire Christmas season is now an extendedfestival of
goodwill and greetings. Greeting Merry Christmasdoes not offend
non-Christians because, with the passage oftime this greeting has
got the approval of the society. There isno denying that the
Christian flavour and the tradition of cele-brating the birth of
Jesus Christ, is getting diluted due to com-mercialisation of the
festival. Christmas and New Year celebrationshave grown and the
season has seen a commercial boom evenin countries like India,
where the Christian population is in aminiscule minority. Japan,
with less than one per cent Christianpopulation, is full of
Christmas trees, Christmas buntings and il-luminations this season.
Even if it is said that all religiousfestivities have now come to
have non religious traditions andthat anyone can adopt without
affecting the religious sentiment,Christmas and the season
connected with it, has travelled beyondthe normal expected change.
This is not to deny the religiousorigin the day that is
traditionally celebrated as the birthdayof Jesus Christ.
The entire second half of December is big business. The
com-mercialisation of Christmas began in the 20th century with
re-ligious traditions mingling with non religious ones. In the
US,the Thanks Giving day, (which otherwise serves as a preludeto
the greatest shopping weekend of the year) was moved in1939, by
President Roosevelt, the date of thanks giving back tothe third
Thursday of November to increase the Christmas shop-ping season as
different business houses depended on theChristmas economy. That
was bound to happen as the con-sumerist society was hungry for such
a direction. That commercialexploitation would happen is a
different matter all together.The season is now used as the pious
based, commercial expansion,with huge spending on Christmas and New
Year gifts, which byitself has become a secular/social tradition
that has attainedthe spirit of giving. The spirit of giving has
given a new di-mension to the Christmas season. Gifts to children,
gifts to theirteachers, gifts to postmen, gifts to the milk vendor,
gifts toneighbours has also contributed to this new tradition
whichhas evolved over the centuries.
This great tradition of giving gifts in keeping with the
spiritof giving, has contributed to business and commerce in a
bigway. With hundreds of millions (in whichever currency) spent
instores and malls, it is the new age Christmas of today. It may
besaid that it is no longer about Jesus anymore. It is more
aboutSanta. It is no longer being holy but about fun, not about
thechurch but about the mall.
Whichever way we look at it Christmas waves a magic wandover the
world and as Mary Ellen Chase said it, Christmas isnot a date; its
a state of mind. Christmas is a great mixture ofPragmatism and
being holy, the latter providing reason andmeaning and the former
providing the vibrancy to the reasonand meaning.
These traditions that have evolved over centuries would begood
in a number of ways. It boosts the economy both nationaland
international and commerce flourishes. A flourishing economywould
be good for development of countries and the people.The second half
of December gets filled with the spirit of Christ-mas and the
eagerness to step in the New Year. The sight ofcolourful Christmas
decorations adorning houses all over providesa feeling of festivity
and fun. Everybody waits for the year endholidays and those who
claim to be agnostics may prefer towish happy holidays but all
enjoy the year end. It is the timefor fun, joy and laughter.
From the beginning of December one cannot forget thatChristmas
is approaching and the year end, too, is nearing. Thestreets, the
shops, the houses are lit with colourful decorativelamps and Joy to
the World, Silent Night or Holy Night fillthe air heralding the
arrival of the spirit of Christmas. It offendsnobody. The warmth
and joy of Christmas and New Year bringsfriends and family
together. It is a time to connect with thosewho are near to our
heart and are yet far away.
Christmas and New Year cards (Christmas cards were manu-factured
in large numbers in the second half of the 19th centurywhen Britain
came out with the concept of unsealed envelopefor half price of
ordinary letter) kept friendships alive. Thesending of cards one
lists new friends and also writes to thosewhom one otherwise
misses.
The year end Christmas season also provides a family bondingtime
which could be a stress buster after the hard and tiringwork
throughout the year. For the children who have grown upwith Santa,
knowing all about them and that their good deedswould be rewarded
with good gifts provide incentive to domore good. There is a great
tradition of feasting with friendsand family. It is a time to
rejoice, enjoy and have fun. It couldbe argued that it is part of
the hospitality business but thereligious angle could be, Jesus
loved to share his meals withthose whom he loved. Therefore,
Christmas is all about givingand sharing.
Tradition may change from country to country and differ incustom
and societal standards. The evolution of Christmas as ayear end
festival is here to stay with no turning back. Christmasand New
Year celebrations can never stop now on (the attackon the festival
between 16th and 18th centuries has been over-come in a big way).
The state of mind that looks forward tocheer, happiness and
goodwill to all must flourish eternally. Thesecular credentials of
this festive season should be nourishedby one and all.
PTI
BANGALORE, JAN 8
In a major milestone, light com-bat aircraft Tejas is all set to
at-tain initial operational clearanceon January 10, taking its
laststep before induction into theAir Force.
This is the first time that anindigenously designed and
de-veloped military fighter aircraftwould be certified for Air
Forceoperations," a Defence ResearchDevelopment Organisation(DRDO)
release said here.
Defence Minister A K Antonywill hand over a formal Releaseto
Service Certificate of Tejasaircraft to the Chief of Air Staff,Air
Chief Marshal P V Naik at afunction here on
January 10.The occasion marks a very
important achievement in thedesign and development of Tejasin
particular and military avia-tion in the country on the wholeas
Tejas aircraft will be availablefor use by Air Force Pilots.
There is a likelihood of de-l iver ing a l together
sevensquadrons of Tejas aircraft tothe IAF, the release said.
Meanwhile in Pune, Air ChiefMarshal P V Naik said he wouldvisit
Bangalore tomorrow in con-nection with the initial
operativeclearance of the Light CombatAircraft (LCA).
By June, the first LCA will beavailable," he told a press
con-ference at the Air Force station.
To a question, Naik said Mig-21 fighter jets would be phasedout
by the next year and notedthat pilots graduating on Hawk,
an advanced aircraft, would bebetter prepared.
Naik said Pune Air Force sta-tion was an important IAF baseand
it would be upgraded interms of infrastructure andavionics.
To a query, he said Pune air-port, jointly used by the AirForce
and civil sector, neededan improved coordination andhe had conveyed
this to CivilAviation Minister Praful Patel.We are encouraging
creationof a separate civil airport atChakan near the city.
On a proposal sent to De-fence Ministry about flying bat-ting
legend Sachin Tendulkar -who is also brand ambassador
of the Air Force - in supersonicSukhoi aircraft, Naik said
Sachin at present is busyscoring centuries. We plan toput him in
a sortie after theWorld Cup when he would belittle relaxed.
Earlier, President PratibhaPatil witnessed a ceremonial pa-rade
at the Air Force station andalso an air show displaying for-mations
of Sukhoi 30 fighterjets.
She awarded the PresidentialStandard to 31 Squadron andColours
to 9 Base Repair Depot(BRD) and also released a postalstamp on the
recipients, in ac-knowledgement of their loyaltyand courage.
IAFtoinductTejasaircraftsoon
PTI
PATNA, JAN 8
Under attack from the opposi-tion for allegedly influencingthe
probe into the murder ofPurnia MLA Raj Kishore Keshri,Bihar Deputy
Chief MinisterSushil Kumar Modi today urgedChief Minister Nitish
Kumar toorder a CBI inquiry into the case.
Though the Bihar police iscompetent enough to carry for-ward the
investigation, it willbe better to hand it over to CBI,"Modi said
in a letter to Kumarbefore leaving for
Guwahati to attend the na-tional executive meeting of
theBJP.
Both Modi and the slain leg-islator Keshri belong to BJP,while
Kumar, who holds thehome department, is from JD(U)in the coalition
government.
It (CBI probe) is also the de-mand of BJP and the family
mem-bers of Keshri," he said.
I know it well that Bihar po-lice is more competent than theCBI
to probe the case, but since
OrderCBIprobeintoKesrimurder:Sushil
Keshri is from the ruling party,the opposition will continue
toraise fingers against the fair andindependent probe by Bihar
po-lice, Modi pointed out in hisletter.
Alleging that his political op-ponents were engaging in
hischaracter assassination, Modisaid "concocted allegations
arebeing levelled by them againstKeshri who is not alive to givea
befitting reply".
"The family members of theslain legislator now also feelthat the
case should be handedover to the CBI," he said.
Chief Opposition RJD-LJP, be-sides Congress and left partieshave
accused Modi of influenc-ing the course of the police
in-vestigation and called for a CBIprobe.
Modi's letter to the chief min-ister is being seen as an
attempt
Teacherheldforremovingstudentsveil
PTI
RANCHI, JAN 8
A college teacher was today ar-
rested for allegedly removing
the veil covering the face of a
girl student, sparking strong
protests here.
Trouble started when a local
newspaper published the pho-
tographs in sequence showing
how the teacher removed the
girl's veil to identify her during
a students' protest on Friday de-
manding that they be allowed
to fill up forms for intermediate
examinations.
The photos sparked off
protests on the arterial Main
Road here following which po-
lice forces were rushed to main-
tain law and order.
Senior Superintendent of Po-
lice Praveen Kumar Singh too
rushed to the spot to control
the situation. When contacted,
the college authorities refused
to make any comments but said
the media had played up the
matter.
APPOINTMENTS
APPOINTMENTS
PTI
SALEM, JAN 8
A sub-post master in the districthas been suspended after a
com-plaint that he had misappropri-ated Rs 26,000 from the
postalsavings account of a retiredteacher, officials said
today.
Senior Superintendent ofPot C Sundararajan said the re-tired
teacher had lodged a com-plaint stating that Rs 26,000 hadbeen
withdrawn from his sav-ings account without his knowl-edge.
After preliminary inquiry,Kalian (55), sub-postmaster ofSitheri
in Thalaivasal was sus-pended.
Postsofficial
suspended
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WORLDOHERALD
O
GOA, SUNDAY, 9 JANUARY, 2011
Pg10
PTI
WASHINGTON, JAN 8
The US will provide Pakistanwith more military, intelligenceand
economic aid; even thoughtop officials of the Obama ad-ministration
feel that the coun-try is not doing enough to crackdown on terror
havens in itstribal belt.
Vice-president Joseph Bidenwill deliver the message outliningthe
new aid package when hevisits Pakistan next week, TheWashington
Post reported today.
Bidens visit, the paper said,is considered significant
asWashington feels frustratedover delay by Pakistan army inmounting
operations in NorthWaziristan, the area whichAmerican security
agenciesfeel is hotbed of al-Qaeda, Tal-
iban, Haqqani network andother radical Islamic groupsconfronting
NATO forces inAfghanistan.
The vice-president, during hisvisit, is expected to meet
thepowerful Pakistan Army chiefGen Ashfaq Kayani and top
gov-ernment leaders.
Biden will challenge the Pak-istanis to articulate their
longterm strategy for the region andindicate exactly what
assistanceis needed for them to moveagainst Tali