Applauding an unusal Talathi
A majority of the public have experienced the fact that Government employees report late to work, but leave their place of work before the scheduled closing time. They are also inefficient in their work and uncivil to the public, telling them to ‘come tomorrow’, but their ‘tomorrow’ never comes. However, the Talathi presently working at the Village Panchayat of Cansaulim - Arossim -Cuelim is an exception to this view. He is prompt in helping the villagers to obtain the documents they require as soon as possible. More significantly, he also honours his commitments or assurances he gives to the villagers about the time required for their work or the documents required, for the prompt completion of their work, thus eliminating the numerous trips of the villagers for pursuing the matter. The Government should consider setting aside a quota in its Recruitment Rules to reward such employees on merit and thus give an incentive to other employees to such an example.
R. S. Fernandes, Arossim


Shocking report
The news report Parrikar stamps his authority to give mining lobby a break of Rs 1,500 crore (Herald, September 5 2012) is shocking. Does this not qualify for a scam, even if it has the stamp of the legislature? The political skills of the CM need to be appreciated.
Just six months ago, Goans were madly cheering the advent of ‘Parivartan’ and are now slapped with a ‘Parivar Turn’. Goa’s destruction has only been speeded up by two years while Goans continue to be entertained with “Parivar Tunes’.
Soter D’Souza, Socorro



Good schemes
The Parrikar led BJP government needs to be applauded for good governance. He has saved Goa by scrapping Regional Plan 2021. A member of SLC already exposed the vested interest and compulsions of former CM Digambar Kamat (Herald Review August 26, 2012). But corruption still persists in government offices – Does our CM have a solution to help the common man move their files in government offices smoothly? The BJP government has announced many good schemes - for students, housewives and senior citizens through the respective government departments, unlike the time when ‘goodies’ were distributed by corrupt politicians in their respective constituencies. The culture of doles or goodies existed in rich European countries. It has a disastrous effect today- such goodies makes people lazy . The younger generation does not like to work. The distribution of ‘goodies in Goa needs to be controlled to genuine cases only.
 Alexander James Moraes, Navelim




Professionalism required
It has been seen that in Bollywood movies and other English theatre presentations, the writer, director, producer, choreographer, music director are all different persons each specializing in his/her own field. This brings about professionalism in the movie or the theatre work. This is not the case of Konkani tiatrs. Here more often than not, the writer, director, producer, music director, and many a times even the lead actor is the same person. As a result of this, the innovation which would have otherwise come from different persons seems to be lacking. There needs to be different persons specializing in direction, script-writing, music direction, etc., to be involved in the production of a tiatr. Big business houses in Goa could produce the tiatr by sponsoring it. This will bring a lot of professionalism on the Konkani stage which will attract a larger audience for the tiatrs.
Konkani tiatrs need to move forward. And one way in which that could happen is getting more professional people involved in the industry.
Adelmo Fernandes, Vasco


Migrant influx
The Chief Minister’s recent statement on the need to curtail the influx of migrants to Goa is most welcome. It is an echo of the sentiments that Goans have been expressing for a long time. The statement has to be understood in the right perspective. Our small State cannot continue absorbing the avalanche of migrants which has reached one third of its population; construction and many other trades in Goa are carried out with the help of migrant labourers. Goa needs them as much as they need Goa. But we cannot ignore the demographic consequences and the problems they create for the local people. In rural areas, migrant labourers live on construction sites and in illegal hutments without toilets, creating sanitation and sewage problems.
 Many of them have dual ration cards and election cards and have even built illegal hutments on Comunidade lands with the help of our Panchayats. Goa desperately needs a migration policy that will arrest the tide of such migrants. The Government has the support of the people of Goa in this regard. However, it must make our Panchayats true partners in this big effort because the implementation of any policy involving rural Goa lies in their hands. If past records are any indication, many of these so-called local bodies are known to be more friendly to non-locals than local people.
Rodney de Souza, Assagao