Panaji:  May 17, 2016 …. Dy. Chief Minister, Shri Francis D’Souza has announced that Government will soon launch Dayanand Universal Health Insurance Scheme to cater to the health care needs of people wherein health cards will be provided to every family residing in Goa for more than five years.

Government, Shri D’souza said, has also decided to lay foundation stone for 500 bedded Super Specialty Hospital at the hands of Hon’ble  Prime Minister of India.

Shri D’Souza was speaking at a function organised to observe International Nursing’s Day by Trained Nurses Association of India, Goa State Branch in Collaboration with Institute of Nursing Education at Bambolim, recently.

Speaking further Dy. Chief Minister said this Health Insurance Scheme envisages to will cover more than 447 intervening ailments to human beings including Diabetes. Government, private Hospitals and some reputed hospital from outside Goa will be empanelled for meeting the medical needs under this scheme. A United India Insurance Co. Ltd have been selected for this task for which Government will have to pay Rs 120 crore, he added.  

Shri D’Souza said Goa holds the distinction of being the number one State in health care sector among the Union of states in India. Goa has a shortage of nurses, he said and appealed to the nurses to perform their duty dedicatedly and maintained good rapport so as to bring smile on the faces of patient.  The role of nurses is very important in the health care. They are backbone of health care system, he pointed out.

Smt Avita Fernandes, Clinical Instructor and guest Speaker maintained that the services of nurses are for 24X7 days. There will be short fall of 10.1 million skilled health professional nurses by 2030. Nurses have to be always ready to face various challenges arising out of any situation considering as noble profession.

Various retired nurses, student who excelled in academic years of Nursing education were felicitated at the hands of Dy Chief Minister on the occasion.

 Smt Rubina Fernandes read out the academy report of the institution.

 Smt Carol Noronha, Principal Nursing Institution was also present on the occasion.

 Smt Nilima Rane, President of the nursing association welcomed the guests.  

Panaji:  May 16, 2016 … The South Goa District Level Coordination Committee for Tobacco Control under the Chairman of the District magistrate and Collector of South District Shri (Dr.) Sachin Shinde, IAS in collaboration with Tourism Department, South District will organise sand sculpture competition at Colva beach on May 29.

The Competition will commence at 9.00 am at Colva beach on the specific theme “Tobacco and its ill effects”.

The participants are divided in two categories for either an individual or a pair of maximum two members.

The winners will be awarded 13 prizes in cash to the participant competing at the sand sculpture competition at Colva. 1^st prize Rs 15,000/-, 2^nd  prize Rs 10,000/- and 3^rd prize Rs 5,000/-.While 10 consolation prizes of Rs 2,000/- each will be awarded to the  10 best sculpture for 1^st category. 1^st prize Rs 5,000/-, 2^nd prize Rs 3,000/- and the 3^rd prize Rs 2,000/-, while 10 consolation prizes of Rs 1.000/- each to the best sculpture for 2^nd category.

 The mandatory age limit for availing the entry form for the professional/Artist is 21 years and above, whereas for students it is 15 to 21 years.

 The participant interested in this sand sculpture competition may collect the entry forms from the South Zone tourism office, New Collectorate Building, Ground floor, Margao, Goa and submit it to the office or Email the same complete in all respect to deptgoatourismsouthzone@gmail.com.

 The forms has to be duly filled by the participant to reach the Tourism Department, South, Margao by 5.00 pm on May 26, 2016.

 The spot entry would be accepted subject to availability of entry form.

 Panaji, May 15, 2016 … Chief Minister, Shri Laxmikant Parsekar has said that the Technology Startup competition will culminate into new innovations to start new IT Ventures in the State. The Government he said is aiming to boost IT industry in the State and has been creating necessary infrastructure.

   Shri Parsekar was speaking as a Chief Guest at the prize distribution function organized by EDC in the city recently.

The EDC Ltd had organized “Technology Startup” competition wherein 35 firms participated from which eight were shortlisted as finalists.

    Shri Parsekar further speaking lauded the work done by EDC in the promotion of self employment through its CMRY scheme. The educated youth who intend to start business ventures have secured loans at lowest rates, become entrepreneurs and living a respected life. Around 6000 thousand beneficiaries have availed the benefit in which EDC have played important role, he remarked.  

 MLA and Chairman of EDC, Shri Siddharth Kuncalienkar in his address said that the Government through EDC has encouraged Goan youth start their own business by giving loans under CMRY scheme.  

 Shri Santosh Kenkre, Vice-Chairman EDC while briefing about the Technology Startup competition conducted by EDC said that the motive of the competition was to encourage the youth who have secured IT education. He said this competition has provided platform to IT educated from the State to showcase their talent.  He expressed satisfaction over overwhelming response shown by the participants.

 The ‘Technology Startup’ competition got huge response with participation of 35 participants. Among them 8 groups were shortlisted and the three finalists who were selected are Inventrom, who bagged the Chief Ministers Award; Kellows Engineering  Pvt. Ltd. and Browtape  Technology Ltd took the second and third honors respectively. The judges of the competition were honoured at the hands of Chief Minister Shri Parsekar

 Shri Arvind Ghatkar, Managing Director EDC, welcomed the gathering.

 Shri Carlos D’Sa, General Manager EDC compered the function and also proposed the vote of thanks.

Dr. Gomes, Shri Sandip Bhandari Members of the Board of Directors of EDC,  staff and officials of EDC  and others attended the function

Earlier, Chief Minister Shri Parsekar inaugurated the newly renovated first floor of EDC in the presence of MLA and Chairman of EDC Shri Siddharth Kuncalienkar and others. 

Panaji, May 13, 2016 …. Chief Secretary, Shri R.K. Srivastava has said that the state of Goa has achieved almost  100% coverage under UIDAI in the age group of 18 years and above.  The target, now, is to cover the age group of 0 to 5 years to achieve cent percent coverage and provide Aadhar Card in a stipulated period.

The Government has decided to set up permanent enrollment centres and press into service Mobile units to enable residents enrolls under Aadhar. These Mobile Units will cover each and every taluka and villages he added.

Chief Secretary was speaking after inaugurating the workshop on Sensitization of Aadhar Eco System/ Platform for Secretaries, Additional Secretaries, Jt. Secretaries, Under Secretaries,  Heads of Department and Senior Officers organized by Directorate of Planning Statistics and Evaluation, Government of Goa in collaboration with Unique Identification Authority of India ( UIDAI), Regional Office, Mumbai at Secretariat, Porvorim today.

Speaking further Shri Srivastava said that enrollment of Aadhar for every citizen of Goa is necessary so as to avail the benefits of various schemes, subsidies, financial assistance and services of the Government. Government has decided to link various schemes with  Aadhar number to avoid duplication.  This will ensure that the deserving people get the benefits of the schemes, he added.

The Chief Secretary emphasized the need to create awareness among the people to get enrolled under Aadhar. He said to have 100 % enrolment for Aadhar Card PHC centers, GMC, will be utilized to get one enrolled with Aadhar Card.   Village Panchayat, Anganwadi Centres, Schools will also be utilized for Mobile unit on specific dates to cover entire population under Aadhar card in a time bound manner, he remarked.

Shri Sumnesh Joshi, Asst Director General, Unique Identification Authority of India, Regional Office, Mumbai said that Parliament has already passed the Aadhar Act which envisages providing good governance efficient and transparent delivery of services includes subsidy to beneficiaries. Aadhar card will be linked with mobile number and used for banking purpose, he pointed.

Shri Daulat Hawaldar, Secretary Finance/ Planning, Statastics and Evaluation was also present on the occasion.

Shri S. Shanbhogue, Director, DPSE welcomed the guests.

Panaji:  May 12, 2016 … The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, Bangalore, conducted the Telecom Consumer Outreach Programme to create awareness among consumers about their rights and privileges at Margao, recently.

The objective of the programme was to educate consumers and take feedback apart from creating awareness among telecom and broadcasting consumers and stakeholders about TRAI initiatives in recent times to protect the interest of telecom consumers. The programme provides the platform for an interactive interface between Telecom Service Providers, Consumer Advocacy Groups and telecom consumers.

A large number of telecom consumers, representatives of Telecom Service Providers, representatives from consumer forums and officials /officers of government organizations participated in the programme.

Smt. Latha H.C and Shri P.S.R. Murthy, both Senior Research Officer, Regional Office, TRAI, Bangalore explained the role and functions of Regional Office, and the initiatives taken for telecom consumer protection.  TRAI regulations like enrolment as a consumer, Quality of Service, Telecommunication tariffs, Mobile Number Portability (MNP), Unsolicited Commercial Communications (UCC), and Complaint Redressal Mechanism, Value Added Services, Digital Addressable Cable TV System(DAS) etc. were highlighted.

The participants raised some issues relating to the service provided by different telecom service providers and gave suggestions also during the interaction session. The TRAI officials instructed the respective service providers to note the issues and resolve them at the earliest.  Questions regarding digitisation, compatibility of set-top boxes etc by cable operators were also raised.

Shri G. Murlidharan, Senior Research officer, TRAI, Bangalore also participated in the programme and guided the consumers on various issues.

Panaji : May 11, 2016 …. The seven days summer festival organizes by the Directorate of Art and Culture ended with the exhibition of various items prepared by the student such as Craft, Clay Modeling, Origami and Cooking etc.

          Shri Sanjeev Kadkade, Head of the Department, Institute of Hotel Management and Catering Technology, Porvorim was the Chief Guest. Shri Fernando Diniz, Branch Manager IFB Goa and Shri Ashok Parab, Dy. Director of Art and Culture, Directorate of Art and Culture were others present on the occasion.

          Shri Sanjeev Kadkade in his addressed stated that continues training makes the students perfect, he said children’s must try to showcase their talents through various programmes and for this there is a need of such activities. The Directorate has taken a good initiative by organizing this summer festival and should continue in future too, he added.

Shri Fernando Diniz, Branch Manager, IFB spoke on the occasion.

          Kum Shriya Naik, Kum Tanusha Paraz, Kum Chaitrali  Parab and Kum Shreya Prabhu expressed their views as participants.

Smt. Pranali Gaunekar Craft expert, Shri Bhisaji Gadekar Expert of Clay Modeling, Shri Shivram Anantnarayanan Origami Expert and Ms Abigail Nunes expert in Cooking spoke on the overall organization of the event and also guided the students.

          Certificates were distributed to the participants at the hands of Chief Guest.

Shri Ashok Parab, Dy. Director, Art and Culture, welcomed the guests , Shri Milind Mate, Assistant Cultural Officer proposed vote of thanks and Shri Pradeep Naik compared the function.

Panaji, May 10, 2016….. Chief Minister Shri Laxmikant Parsekar highlighting the importance of Agriculture said that involvement of educated youth in Agriculture sector with innovative ideas and modern techniques will boost the agriculture sector in the State. Agriculture will flourish as industry, if educated youth takes keen interest in this sector, he added.

Shri Parsekar was speaking after inaugurating community College of Ramanata Crisna Pai Raikar School of Agriculture in the city today.

Speaking further Shri Parsekar said that the thought of people of taking agriculture activities as secondary is now changing. People he said has to come forward with better vision and ideas towards agriculture.

Shri Parsekar complimented Ramnata Crisna Pai Raikar Education Society for taking the initiative of starting the community college, the first of its kind in agriculture in the state and hoped that the institution will provide the right impetus and direction to our youth.

Speaking on the occasion Panchayat Minister Shri Rajendra Arlekar said that awareness about farming activity is necessary for skill development which will in turn increase agriculture productivity and eventually the yield.

Dr. Satish Shetye, Vice Chancellor of Goa University, Shri Ulhas Pai Kakode, Director, Agriculture were present on the occasion.

Shri Manguirish Pai Raikar welcome the guests and Shri Vinay Kumar Raikar proposed vote of thanks.

Panaji : May 9, 2016 ….  The Government is organizing Special Aadhar Enrollment Drives for the children at Village Panchayat Rivona of Sanguem Taluka in the age-group of 0-18 years on May 13 and 14, 2016 between 10.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m.

All Educational Institutions and Child Development Programme Officers at the Block level in this taluka are requested to come forward and ensure that all the children not enrolled earlier for Aadhar get them enrolled during these drives.

Aadhar Enrollment will be done at above places free of cost.

Panaji : May 7, 2016 … The Electricity Department has arranged Power Shutdown on May 9, 2016 from 9.30 a.m. to 2.00 p.m. at Alfred Apartment transformer centre feeder. The areas affected are Alfred apartment, Altantis I and II, Olympia Appt. Syndicate bank surrounding and surrounding areas.

 Similarly, on May 10, 2016 from 9.30 a.m. to 2.00 p.m. at Samart T/C feeder. The areas affected are Samarth Apartment, Borichebhat, Old Post, Martin Enclave and surrounding areas.

  Also on May 11, 2016 from 9.30 a.m. to 2.00 p.m. at Petrol Pump T/C feeder. The areas affected are Petrol Pump, Hundai showroom, Dando, near Swim Sea Hotel and surrounding areas.

 On May 12, 2016 from 9.30 a.m. to 2.00 p.m. at Syndicate Bank T/C feeder. The areas affected are Syndicate Bank and surrounding, Naroo Complex Nairalem Morod and surrounding areas.

  And on May 13, 2016 from 9.30 a.m. to 2.00 p.m. at Kamat Megamart T/C feeder. The areas affected are Kanat Megamart, Models Martin Masion, Football Ground area and surrounding areas.