31/07/2014 …. Goa Tourism Development Corporation felicitated the participants of Goa’s first Chota Celebrity Chef Contest held on July 29th at Miramar Residency, Miramar Goa. The month-long event which began in May was organized by BizConsul Pvt. Ltd. Guests present for the function were Chef Raman, Sanjay V. P. Chodnekar – General Manager-Marketing GTDC, Gavin Dias, Dy. General Manager-Marketing and Deepak Narvekar, Public Relations Officer GTDC.

Mr. Sanjay Chonekar, GM GTDC, said, “We are delighted to support this initiative which promotes cuisine and Helps to inculcate our culture amongst youngsters.”
Chota Celebrity Chef in Goa is a first of its kind contest and has attracted a lot of young talent across Goa. Contestants were tested for their culinary skills. They comprised of children between the ages of 6-16 years. The contest was held in two groups – 6 to 10 years and 11 to 16 years. Each child had the opportunity to present their own recipes to the panel of judges.

There were three elimination rounds. The first was the fast food round which required the participants to make a quick snack that is both delicious and healthy. The second was the dessert round which required participants to prepare a dessert and plate it attractively. The meal round required the semi finalists to prepare a wholesome meal. The points were given on the basis of number of components/dishes, the apt combination and the presentation.

The Finale was exciting and challenging. All the finalists were given the same recipe with detailed instructions. The finalists got to pick the ingredients and cook the dish as per the instructions. The finalist who stirred up the best dish was adjudged the Chota Celebrity Chef winner.

The finals were held at Caculo mall on June 1, 2014. The participants were asked to prepare a pizza dressing with a host of ingredients given to them. Points were given for presentation and wastage was also considered. The winners of the contest were Siddal Leitao in the junior category and Ms. Raemaraan Shaikh in the senior category.
Apart from competition, all the participants got to attend a series of Celebrity Chef classes which gave them a learning experience from the Nutritive and Medicinal properties of everyday food and ingredients, how to buy fresh/ripe ingredients, the various uses of a single ingredient, usage of modern appliances in residential kitchens, experience of 5Star hotel cooking, etc. This made this contest a fun and unique learning experience for the participants and their parents.

29/07/2014 … The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), apex body of the trading community of the Country in a representation submitted to Union Health Minister Dr. Harshvardhan has called for an extension of last date of obtaining registration under Food Safety & Standards Act which is expiring on 4th August, 2014 and has also demanded formation of a High level Joint Committee comprising of Senior Officials, Traders representatives and Food Experts. The said Act was enforced by the previous Government without consulting the stakeholders.

It is remembered that present Foreign Minister Smt. Sushma Swaraj and Senior BJP Leader Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi strongly pitched for amendments in the Act and took the matter at the level of the then Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and Health Minister Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad who extended the last date from 4th Feburary, 2014 to 4th August, 2014 and also assured a CAIT delegation to constitue a Joint Committee.Even the then Union Minister Shri Kapil Sibal also supported the demand of traders. Several State Governments have also expressed their reservations on implementation of the Act in their respective States. As per provisions of the Act every person dealing in food or allied business is required to obtain registration for conducting business activities failure of which shall attract severe penalties.  The said Act was passed by Parliament in 2006 and the Rules and Regulations were enforced on 5th August, 2011.

CAIT National President Shri B. C. Bhartia and Secretary General Shri Praveen Khandelwal said that the Act and its Rules have grossly flouted the principle of natural justice and ignoring ground realities of Indian food business system. It is an attempt to handover Indian food market to Multinational Companies and will encourage packed food business in India. The Act provides mandatory keeping of a technician by every food business operator as also most updated laboratory which is impossible to comply with.

While opposing the Act and Rules and Regulations both Mr. Bhartia and Mr. Khandelwal said that Act is majorly a thrust of foreign laws and rules, which does not take in to consideration, our social, educational, financial, developmental and Agricultural and environmental constraints, living standards and habits and ground realities of the Country.The present Act, gives unprecedented, unfettered and arbitrary powers to the Authorities which stands against principle of natural justice.

They further said that the FSSAI provisions will cover Manufacturing / Processing including sorting, grading etc., Milk collection / chilling, slaughter House, Solvent extracting, Solvent extracting plant equipped with pre cleaning of oil seeds or pre expelling of oil, Solvent extracting and oil refining plant,  Packaging, relabeling (manufactured by third party under own packing and labeling). Import, Storage / Warehouse / Cold Storage, Retail Trade, Wholesale Trade, Distributor / Supplier, Transporter of food, Catering, Dhabha or any other food vending establishment, Club / Canteen, Hotel, Restaurant & even house hold dabbawalas.

The trade leaders expressed hope that Dr. Harshvardhan will certainly take immediate cognisance of the grave issue and will meet the demands of the traders.

July 27, 2014 … Rich tributes were paid to the memories of those martyred during the Kargil war 15 years ago at a solemn function organized by the State Ex-Cadets NCC Association-Goa (SENA) in association with the International Centre- Goa and Department of Sainik Welfare at the International Centre Goa on saturday.

Commander 2 Signals Training Centre Goa Brigadier Harvijay Singh presided over the function.

Speaking on the occasion Brig. Singh paid rich tributes to the martyrs and said that a war memorial  would be constructed at 3MTR Navelim in memory of Lance NK. Sahoo who was trained in Goa and was martyred at Kargil.

He said,  It has been 15 years since India won the historical 1999 Kargil War against Pakistan. Even after these 15 years, the countrymen still remember stories of the country’s Kargil heroes who played an important role in the iconic victory.

Secretary, DSW Maj. Venugopal Nair said that Kargil Vijay Diwas, named after the success of Operation Vijay. On this day, 26 July 1999, India successfully took command of the high outposts which had been lost to Pakistani intruders. The Kargil war was fought for more than 60 days, ended on 26 July. and resulted in the loss of life on both sides, India and Pakistan.

President of Ex-Cadets NCC Assocition Shri Manguerish Pai  Raikar said that it both a solemn function and a victory celebration. One is celebration of the victory of the Indian Armed forces and second is to pay our respects to the martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the country.

In her welcome address, Director International Centre Goa,  Dr. Nandani Sahai  said in all 527 soldiers from Indian Armed Forces sacrificed their lives during the Kargil war.

Two minutes silence was observed as mark of respect to the martyrs.

 Shri John Aguiar compared the function while Joint Secretary of SENA Kum. Sadika Buddashet proposed a vote of thanks.

Earlier the dignitaries and the officers of Indian Armed forces, Ex-Servicemen and Ex-NCC Cadets lighted candles a mark of respect.

The Army band was in attendance.

Panaji ; July 26, 2014 …In wholesale, the prices of sugar S- 30 decreased by Rs. 20/- to Rs. 60/- quintal, Tomatoes increased by Rs.2000/- per quintal.

The prices of other important essential commodities like parboiled rice outside, wheat khandva, wheat shivri, jowar shalu, turdal barshi, gramdal, moong, gram kabuli big, coconut oil, gur fine, veg. ghee, Ruchi, rawa, maida, green peas, potato, onion, eggs large and banana (Vassai) remained steady during the week.

In retail, the prices of tomatoes increased by Rs.20/- per kilo.

The prices of other important essential commodities like parboiled rice local, parboiled rice outside, raw rice common, wheat khandava, wheat shivri, jowar shalu, turdal barshi, moongdal, gramdal, moong, gram kabuli big, sugar S-30, gur fine, coconut oil, vanaspati Dalda 1 litre packet, rawa, maida, green peas, potato, onion, chillies green, eggs large and banana (Vassai) remained steady during the week.

The decreases and increases in wholesale prices and increases in retail prices were due to increase and decrease in wholesale prices in supplying markets.

The supply position of important essential commodities  were normal during the week, except that of parboiled rice local, raw rice common, groundnut oil ordinary and coconut oil the arrival of which was not noticed during the week.