17-12-2013 … The Mayem Bhoovimochan Nagrik Kruti Samiti has vowed to further strengthen their chain hunger strike from 19^th December if the state bjp led government did not resolved the issue of the custodian of evacuee property at Mayem.

 The chain hunger strike by the Mayem residents protesting against the government’s failure to keep the assurance given by the government entered the fifth day opposite captain of ports office in Panaji.

 The villagers have been fighting to get ownership of the land where they are currently listed as tenants for the last 53 years.

In fact, the BJP in its election promise for the last assembly polls, had promised to resolve the evacuee property issue by December 2012 but not being able to slove the issue the samiti have criticized the chief minister for trying to delay the issue till date.

Addressing media persons in Panjim Samiti president Kashinath Mayekar said that he hoped that the state chief minister Manohar Parrikar would come out with a solution over the mayem issue by 19^th of December

 Veteran freedom fighter naguesh karmali said the issue could have been resolved long back but there had been no will from the earstwhile as well as present state government to solve it till date

16-12-2013 … With no proper job opportunities available in the state, Goa is virtually standing on the brink of its ethnic dilution as unrestricted migration from other states is threatening to reduce the native population by 2021, according to an assessment made by census of india a representative body of the nation.

India’s total population stand at 1.21 billion, which is 17.7 per cent more than the last decade, and population growth of females was higher than that of males.

As far as the state of goa is concerned the primary census abstract -2011 data shows that there are 343611 census houses in which 1458545 persons do live from which 739140 are males while 719405 are females

Goa had a total of 144611 in the age group of 0-6 years from which 74460 are males while 70151 are females

The schedule caste population of the state has 25449 persons from which 12627 are males and 12822 are females

In schedule tribes the state has a total of 149275 population of persons in which 72948 are males while 76327 are females

While in literates the state of goa has more than 1165487 persons from which 615823 are males while 549664 are females

Speaking to media reporter’s on the sidelines of census of directorate of census operations goa data dissemination workshop which was held on Tuesday in Panjim joint director of government of india and directorate of census operation goa mallikarjuna said the census survey had covered each and every child in the country which is used for various government policies

Mr mallikarjuna said since there was a lot of scarcity of skilled workers in goa it had lead to a lot if migrants coming in the state

15-12-2013 … Chairman of all goa congress committee minority department saifullah khan has  warned the state government of going on a hunger strike if a minority commission was not formed with the next three months …

It may be noted that Khan recently had given an ultimatum to the BJP-led government in the state to set up minority commission and had also demanded 10 per cent reservation for minority community in jobs in different government departments, and in education sector.

Saifullah said instead of helping in the growth of the minority commission there was no reason for sheikh jina to criticize the congress minority commission department which had done wonders for the people from the minority area

14-12-2013 …  With no proper infrastructure such as major widening of roads in place till date Former sarpanch and panch member of calangute village panchayat joseph sequiera on Saturday feared of a major destruction which could take place in calangute constituency during the organization of events like supersonic and sunburn in the calangute constituency

It may be noted that the state government has already accepted the recommendations of the State Level Events Permission Committee to grant permission to all the three contenders to hold their respective electronic dance music (EDM) festivals between December 25 to December 30 but with minor modifications such as Viacom 18 to hold its event named Supersonic at Candolim, Percept management was been given consent to hold its event Sunburn at a new site at Vagator while the goa mix grind to be organised by Nuvem legislator Francisco Xavier Pacheco had opted out of the show for certain reasons.

But the Christmas festival round the corner and after the state government had given permission to hold electronic dance music festivals like sunburn and supersonic in calangute constituency, this famous coastal belt in north goa is sure to be packed with lakhs of tourism which includes foreign as well as domestic in the last week of December which has also raised questions on government idea as weather  proper arrangement of traffic, security as well as safety measures are taken in to consideration during the electronic dance music festival

Speaking to goanrepoter former calangute sarpanch and present panch member joseph sequira said that even though the events would be held in candolim the same would create heavy pressure on in calangute village due to the infrastructure that would be used by tourist as well as locals for participating in the electronic dance music festival

The state Tourism department had also asked both the event organisers of sunburn and supersonic to pay a fee of Rs 1 crore before being granted permission besides a deposit of Rs 1 crore as security deposit along with payment of various fees for licences and taxes to be extra.

Mr sequiera said that as calangute village panchayat also comes under calangute constituency from where in the road was leading towards the electronic dance music festival spot the state government had to take in to confidence the village panchayats too while giving such permissions though his panchayat would never support such events

Mr sequiera also stated that he was worried about the pressure that would be put on local infrastructure due to the heavy load of Christmas weekend along with the electronic dance music festival event

13-12-2013 … In a way to sensitize councilors of municipalities as well as panchayat members of the state in collecting dry waste in their respective areas chief secretary I b vijayan on Friday held a meeting with the members of the tiswaddi village panchayat asking for corporation in collecting dry waste from panchayats respective areas ..

The meeting was attended by director of science and technology levision martins, director of panchayat narayan sawant and others along with various tiswaddi village panchayats such as, old goa, corlim, carambolim, merces, curca-bambolim, agassaim, diwar and surrounding areas …

The meeting specially discussed issues such as the government official chief secretary asking the concerned village panchayat members for their support in collecting dry plastic waste from their respective village in a covered truck and then later to be taken for bailing at the government identified garbage treatment plant area ..

The state government would soon come out with tenders for the collection of dry waste plastic from the panchayat and municipalities from the state on per kilometer basis and the same could start from 1^st of February 2014 said chief secretary I b vijayan

Concerned panchayat members who were present at the meet informed the government officials that though the panchayat had the will power to make their panchayats free from garbage menace due to lack availability of funds they were not able to carry the garbage cleaning drive in their areas and asked for helps of funds from the state government

12-12-2013 … Director of goa state aids control society dr vandana has said that the decision of supreme court which had upheld the constitutional validity of the penal provision making gay sex an offence punishable with upto life imprisonment would now force people from certain section of the society to avoid coming openly in front of ngo’s and expressing their feelings which would in turn could give a rise to diseases such as aids

It may be noted that in a blow to gay rights activists, the Supreme Court on Wednesday had upheld the constitutional validity of the penal provision making gay sex an offence punishable with upto life imprisonment.

A bench of justices G S Singhvi and S J Mukhopadhaya set aside the Delhi High Court’s verdict which had in 2009 decriminalised gay sex among consenting adults in private.

The bench allowed the appeals filed by various social and religious organisations challenging the high court verdict on the ground that gay sex is against the cultural and religious values of the country

While hearing the appeal, the apex court had pulled up the Centre for its “casual” approach on the issue of decriminalisation of homosexuality and also expressed concern over Parliament not discussing such important matters and blaming judiciary instead for its “over-reach”.

The Centre had earlier informed the apex court that there are an estimated 25 lakh gay people and about seven per cent (1.75 lakh) of them are HIV-infected.

In its affidavit, the Union Health Ministry had said it was planning to bring four lakh high-risk ‘men who have sex with men (MSM)’ under its AIDS control programme and it has already covered around two lakh of them.

According to the information available with the office of goa state aids control society

The state has three ngo who through its latest survey has identified the population of men having sex with men such as

Rishta an NGO–which is situated at naikavaddo in calangute north goa has identified a total of around 600 population (MSM) in areas of betim, verem, nerul, mapusa, pernem bicholim and sattari in the current year of 2012-2013 …

Humsafar trust an ngo which is situated at vasco d agama in south goa has identified a total of around 1100 (MSM) population in areas of vasco, cortalim, zuarinagar, margao, quepem, sarvormdem, sada, mangoor hill in the current year of 2012-2013 …

While the third ngo by name zindagi (darpan) goa which is situated at agaccaim in north goa has identified a total of around 600 (MSM) population in areas of tiswaddi and ponda talukas in the current year of 2012-2013 …

According to the report from the officials of the goa state aids control society the ratio of number of men having sex with men who are contacted with aids virus are 5 out of 100 from its last survey which was done way back in the year 2010 …

11-12-2013 … Jojo the Rooster the official mascot for Lusofonia Games 2014 was launched at a glittering ceremony held at the campal grounds on Tuesday evening.

Present to witness the spectacle were the Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, Deputy Chief Minister Francis D’Souza, Sports Minister Ramesh Tawadkar, Chef-de-Missions of the participating countries, ACOLOP members, state officials, sportspersons and other dignitaries.

Also present were the Indian sporting champions of the past and the present Padmashree Milkha Singh and ace tennis star Sania Mirza.

Padmashree Milka Singh unveiled the official torch of the Games.

The dynamic Jojo represents everything essentially Goan, essentially a positive attitude, panache and awareness of a global citizen, a fierce competitor with a true spirit of sportsmanship.

The Rooster, as a physical representation is very popular in Goa; mostly found in moulded clay form as water storage vessels, majestic statuettes on rooftops and on gateposts and its colourful cutouts are often paraded at carnivals, festivals, etc. Roosters even find a mention in popular Goan folk songs.

Talking about the mega sporting event Manohar Parrikar, Chief Minister and Chairman of Lusofonia Games said that the state was looking forward to the Lusofonia Games

Sports Minister Ramesh Tawadkar added that the Games were about passion and competitive spirit.

Games CEO Keshav Chandra said that the spectacular launch is a fitting precursor to the international sporting event. Goa is gearing up to host athletes from the participating countries and we look forward to hosting this exciting event.”

Also for the first time in their respective illustrious careers, Goa’s best known female music artists, Sonia Shirsat and Lorna, came together on stage to perform the official multilingual Games song, composed by Goan musician Mukesh Ghatwal.

10-12-2013 … The state nationalist congress party has blamed the locals leaders of the congress party after the party received a humiliating defeat in to the recent held state assembly elections of Madhya Pradesh, rajasthan, chattisgargh and delhi

Addressing media person senior vice president of the national congress party jose Philip dsouza said it was due to the local congress leaders of which the congress party had lost in such a big way in the four state of the country ….

referring to the last assembly election held in the state of goa mr dsouza said there were still some local congress leaders who had supported bjp candidates due to which even congress had lost in a big way in the state assembly elections

Meanwhile ncp spokesperson trojano dmello demanded that the state chief minister Manohar Parrikar should immediately sack sports minister ramesh tawadkar after the session court had framed criminal charges against tawadkar in the may 25, 2011 balli riots case

09-12-2013 .. Stating that the e-auctioning of iron ore was just a move to used for delaying the state of legal mining activities in goa president of the bharatiya mazdoor sangh Putu Gaonkar said that e-auctioning system would not be welcomed by any mine owner in the state of goa as every mine owner had their right to sell their ore in which every they wanted to sell it

It may be noted that a Supreme Court appointed committee under Indian Forest Service officer U V Singh on Sunday had inspected the 10 million plus tonne of extracted ore iron ore Mormugao Port Trust which would be later slotted for e auction.

After banning all iron ore mining and export activity for more than a year, the Supreme Court last month had allowed e auctioning of nearly 11 million tonne of iron ore already extracted and stacked at the port.

Sources said that the revenues earned from the sale however would not be handed over to the mining companies, which extracted it, but would be held in escrow, until the origin and legality of the ore is established.

The state government will however be allowed to pocket the tax and royalty revenue earned from the e-auction.

Speaking to goanreporter president of the Goa Karmachari Mahasangh Putu Gaonkar goan mines were traditional mines and mine owners had the right to sell it in whichever way the mine owner wanted and therefore e-auctioning was not a feasible way of the state government

 Gaonkar said till now no one was aware of what rates would be fixed for e-auctioning and the ore at goa was only the export ore which is no way would be helpful through e-auctioning

Gaonkar also stated that instead of e-auctioning there could be legal cap on iron ore and mine owner should be allowed to sell their ore the way they wanted

08-12-2013 … Member of goans for dabolim only on Saturday warned to take forward their agitation of asking for only dabolim airport in goa by asking the goan voters not to vote for those candidates in the upcoming lok Sabha elections who had not supported the forum in retaining the dabolim airport as the only civilian airport in goa ….

Addressing media person convener of goans for dabolim only fr eremite rebello said that with the inauguration of the new terminal at the dabolim airport the state economy would go forward and criticized the state government for not taking any steps to take over additional land for the navy for the extension of the dabolim airport ….

Fr eremito said that there was no need for another airport at mopa and therefore the land had to returned back to the farmers

Member of the forum rajendra kakodkar said that there was no need for mopa airport in goa when the central aviation minister had already promised of having a parallel taxi way at the airport while some politicians and government minister had been making false statements over the extension of dabolim airport