Bob Dylan’s song “Blowing in the wind” inspired me to write about Digambar Kamat and mining.
The Answer Is Frightening Indeed
How many times will Kamat turn his head,
pretend that he just doesn’t see ?
For how many more years will our rivers be silted,
before they overflow their banks?
How many more floods do we need to see,
Before Kamat realizes his folly ?
The answer my friend is frightening indeed,
the answer is frightening indeed.
How many more explosives do need to explode,
before our forests are destroyed ?
How many more years can our mountains sustain,
before they are reduced to mere rubble?
How many years will they continue their assault,
before whole of Goa is devoured ?
The answer my friend is frightening indeed,
the answer is frightening indeed.
How many more wells and springs should go dry,
Before we all die of thirst ?
How much more land should be made infertile,
Before hunger kills us all ?
And how many more deaths and disasters will it take,
to realise that it’s not just worth it ?
The answer my friend is frightening indeed,
the answer is frightening indeed.
For how much longer will Kamat play dumb,
and say that illegal mining doesn't exist?
How many more years will Kamat’s eyes be closed,
before he sees and accepts the truth ?
And how many more ears should Kamat have,
before he can hear our people cry ?
The answer my friend is frightening indeed,
the answer is frightening indeed.
The answer my friend is certainly blowing in the wind,
the answer is blowing in the wind.
Freddy Agnelo Fernandes.
October 12, 2011
October 11, 2011
WITH POLITICAL BLESSINGS TWO GOVT. OFFICERS REFUSE PROMOTION.
WITH POLITICAL BLESSINGS TWO GOVT OFFICERS REFUSE PROMOTION.
While most government officers actively lobby for promotion, in afirst of its kind two Goa government officers have refused to accept the promotion accorded to them. The two officers have managed to get their promotions cancelled for now. This has been revealed in information obtained by Adv Aires Rodrigues under the Right toInformation Act.
By an order dated 8th August 2011 the Goa Government had promoted Margao Civil Registrar Mr. Chandrakant Pissurlekar as Deputy District Registrar. Mr. Pissurlekar who hails from Speaker Pratapsingh Rane’s Poriem constituency has managed through political patronage to scuttle his promotion and continue as Margao Civil Registrar. Mr. Pissurlekar was promoted as Deputy District Registrar and not District Registrar as he does not have a degree in law which is mandatory for the post ofDistrict Registrar according to the recruitment rules.
By an another order also issued on 8th August 2011 Ponda Civil Registrar Mr. Ramdas Pednekar was promoted as District Registrar. It has been alleged that he too has canceled his promotion and continues as Ponda Civil Registrar with the blessings of his political godfathers.
Interestingly Mr. Ramdas Pednekar while declining to accept his promotion, cited health reasons stating that he was suffering from back problems. Ironically Mr. Pednekar who lives at Mapusa and is currently posted as Civil Registrar Ponda would have been posted at Panaji and would infact have had to travel 30 kms less every morning to reach his workplace had he accepted the promotion.
Both the officers who are currently Class B officers had been promotedas Class A gazetted officers and their monthly pay emoluments wouldhave been enhanced by around Rs 15,000/-. The question worth askingis why have the officers refused the promotions.
Adv. Aires Rodrigues has today stated that the case in point reflectsthe total collapse in the administration with officers now refusing apromotion to remain at their current lucrative postings.
Adv. Rodrigues has alleged that the two officers prefer to remain asCivil registrars at the taluka level so that they can gain more illegal pecuniary benefits by fleecing the public as Civil Registrars.
Adv. Rodrigues has stated that these two officers have refused thepromotion because their posting at the head office on promotion wouldhave effectively terminated their corrupt practices.
Stating that the motives of these two officers are very clear, Adv.Rodrigues has stated that so many complaints of corrupt practices were pending against them with the Goa Government.
Adv. Rodrigues has demanded that Chief Minister Digambar Kamat andChief Secretary Sanjay Srivastava should crack the whip on these two erring officers who have declined their promotion for ulterior motives.
While most government officers actively lobby for promotion, in afirst of its kind two Goa government officers have refused to accept the promotion accorded to them. The two officers have managed to get their promotions cancelled for now. This has been revealed in information obtained by Adv Aires Rodrigues under the Right toInformation Act.
By an order dated 8th August 2011 the Goa Government had promoted Margao Civil Registrar Mr. Chandrakant Pissurlekar as Deputy District Registrar. Mr. Pissurlekar who hails from Speaker Pratapsingh Rane’s Poriem constituency has managed through political patronage to scuttle his promotion and continue as Margao Civil Registrar. Mr. Pissurlekar was promoted as Deputy District Registrar and not District Registrar as he does not have a degree in law which is mandatory for the post ofDistrict Registrar according to the recruitment rules.
By an another order also issued on 8th August 2011 Ponda Civil Registrar Mr. Ramdas Pednekar was promoted as District Registrar. It has been alleged that he too has canceled his promotion and continues as Ponda Civil Registrar with the blessings of his political godfathers.
Interestingly Mr. Ramdas Pednekar while declining to accept his promotion, cited health reasons stating that he was suffering from back problems. Ironically Mr. Pednekar who lives at Mapusa and is currently posted as Civil Registrar Ponda would have been posted at Panaji and would infact have had to travel 30 kms less every morning to reach his workplace had he accepted the promotion.
Both the officers who are currently Class B officers had been promotedas Class A gazetted officers and their monthly pay emoluments wouldhave been enhanced by around Rs 15,000/-. The question worth askingis why have the officers refused the promotions.
Adv. Aires Rodrigues has today stated that the case in point reflectsthe total collapse in the administration with officers now refusing apromotion to remain at their current lucrative postings.
Adv. Rodrigues has alleged that the two officers prefer to remain asCivil registrars at the taluka level so that they can gain more illegal pecuniary benefits by fleecing the public as Civil Registrars.
Adv. Rodrigues has stated that these two officers have refused thepromotion because their posting at the head office on promotion wouldhave effectively terminated their corrupt practices.
Stating that the motives of these two officers are very clear, Adv.Rodrigues has stated that so many complaints of corrupt practices were pending against them with the Goa Government.
Adv. Rodrigues has demanded that Chief Minister Digambar Kamat andChief Secretary Sanjay Srivastava should crack the whip on these two erring officers who have declined their promotion for ulterior motives.
October 10, 2011
THE GOAN MEDIA.
The Goan Media
There is absolutely no doubt that, today media sells on tragedies and scams, be it the idiot box or be it the print media, the escalation of prime time coverage on TV is always directly proportional to the intensity and the enormity of the tragedy or scam and the same applies to the explosive headlines on the front pages of print media, so while the media thrives and resonates on scams and tragedies and we are fed with an overdose of overt action and synthetic empathy, the media houses laugh their way to the banks. Scams and tragedies do indeed provide a revenue torrent to media biz.
We witnessed the 26/11 tragedy as it unfolded, live and on print, which went on well beyond and after the embers had died down in the chill of the Indian winter. Of late media biz has been overwhelmed and overworked, feasting over scams that have been erupting like poppers at a parties and the Congress has been the most generous contributor to the overdose and to the coffers of the media houses. The BJP too has not lagged behind in their generosity, with the carnival in the Karnataka legislative assembly and the crowning “gory” of the Reddy brothers in acquiring their colossal wealth and ofcourse how can we forget the Ramlila and Anna’s fasting jaunts along with the ostensible change in “Moditva” ideologies.
On one side the media houses are happy with the overstretched limits of coverage and on the other side, the people who are just waiting to read about and watch, the next disaster or scam unfold and explode, get their daily dose of fix. Except, who is complaining, even as the next scam erupts or the next tragedy occurs on the tail of the previous, both, the people and the media tend to forget the harsh realities of the past incidents and begin feasting on the new. We all do tend to have very short memories, even though we ominously display even short fuses at anything and everything. This embedded culture compels deep introspection about the activities, responsibilities and the responses of both the media as well as the people.
Media can be informative as well as educative, media can change situations, emotions and opinions in a its wake, media can make or break movements and persons, media can also expose treachery and hypocrisy and so basically media is an essential tool of our daily lives and it certainly has greater responsibilities towards the masses on what and how, they present the issues and facts with malice or bias towards none and should not resort to irresponsible and morbid presentations. Our media should be worthy of the principles of democracy that we all seek.
In Goa’s post liberation history too, media has always been a major player, be it the Opinion poll, Konkanni movement or the epileptic RP’s and SEZ issues, which it helped to gain momentum and turn them into human tsunamis, bringing our politicians to their knees. Peoples power to the fore thanks to the media.
Today as we contemplate on the issues plaguing our once beautiful serene land, a lot has been said and written about the mining scam in Goa, which has not just become a national issue but an international one and due credit must be given to the Goan, as well as the national media in helping to expose the conspiracy of illegal mining in Goa, hatched by our very own elected members, the very people who were given a mandate to work for the welfare of our land and our people but failed miserably in the wake of their own primitive and skewed agendas.
Even though the media has been overworking in exposing illegal mining in Goa in the past few weeks, I am still skeptical of the media and the part it has played so far, as some major media players in Goa are somehow connected to the mining industry, if not on their payrolls and it is this liaison that could be detrimental to our Goan psyche and our holistic efforts to curb, if not stop illegal mining and that makes me weary of the Goan media.
It is said that the elephant has two sets of teeth, one set is for display, while the other is for crunching, I wonder which are the teeth that our Goan media is now showing ?
Freddy Agnelo Fernandes.
There is absolutely no doubt that, today media sells on tragedies and scams, be it the idiot box or be it the print media, the escalation of prime time coverage on TV is always directly proportional to the intensity and the enormity of the tragedy or scam and the same applies to the explosive headlines on the front pages of print media, so while the media thrives and resonates on scams and tragedies and we are fed with an overdose of overt action and synthetic empathy, the media houses laugh their way to the banks. Scams and tragedies do indeed provide a revenue torrent to media biz.
We witnessed the 26/11 tragedy as it unfolded, live and on print, which went on well beyond and after the embers had died down in the chill of the Indian winter. Of late media biz has been overwhelmed and overworked, feasting over scams that have been erupting like poppers at a parties and the Congress has been the most generous contributor to the overdose and to the coffers of the media houses. The BJP too has not lagged behind in their generosity, with the carnival in the Karnataka legislative assembly and the crowning “gory” of the Reddy brothers in acquiring their colossal wealth and ofcourse how can we forget the Ramlila and Anna’s fasting jaunts along with the ostensible change in “Moditva” ideologies.
On one side the media houses are happy with the overstretched limits of coverage and on the other side, the people who are just waiting to read about and watch, the next disaster or scam unfold and explode, get their daily dose of fix. Except, who is complaining, even as the next scam erupts or the next tragedy occurs on the tail of the previous, both, the people and the media tend to forget the harsh realities of the past incidents and begin feasting on the new. We all do tend to have very short memories, even though we ominously display even short fuses at anything and everything. This embedded culture compels deep introspection about the activities, responsibilities and the responses of both the media as well as the people.
Media can be informative as well as educative, media can change situations, emotions and opinions in a its wake, media can make or break movements and persons, media can also expose treachery and hypocrisy and so basically media is an essential tool of our daily lives and it certainly has greater responsibilities towards the masses on what and how, they present the issues and facts with malice or bias towards none and should not resort to irresponsible and morbid presentations. Our media should be worthy of the principles of democracy that we all seek.
In Goa’s post liberation history too, media has always been a major player, be it the Opinion poll, Konkanni movement or the epileptic RP’s and SEZ issues, which it helped to gain momentum and turn them into human tsunamis, bringing our politicians to their knees. Peoples power to the fore thanks to the media.
Today as we contemplate on the issues plaguing our once beautiful serene land, a lot has been said and written about the mining scam in Goa, which has not just become a national issue but an international one and due credit must be given to the Goan, as well as the national media in helping to expose the conspiracy of illegal mining in Goa, hatched by our very own elected members, the very people who were given a mandate to work for the welfare of our land and our people but failed miserably in the wake of their own primitive and skewed agendas.
Even though the media has been overworking in exposing illegal mining in Goa in the past few weeks, I am still skeptical of the media and the part it has played so far, as some major media players in Goa are somehow connected to the mining industry, if not on their payrolls and it is this liaison that could be detrimental to our Goan psyche and our holistic efforts to curb, if not stop illegal mining and that makes me weary of the Goan media.
It is said that the elephant has two sets of teeth, one set is for display, while the other is for crunching, I wonder which are the teeth that our Goan media is now showing ?
Freddy Agnelo Fernandes.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)