Goa ForGiving celebrated the Golden Jubilee year of the Opinion Poll at International Center Goa, Dona Paula on January 16, 2016 with an interactive symposium titled ‘The Future of Goa – The Final Opinion’. The full day seminar saw concerned Goans, professionals, activists and thinkers deliberating on the most pressing issues surrounding the state’s future. The best minds in the land came together to throw more light on what has virtually brought Goa to her knees. The topics discussed werer Girls – Family and Societal Pressures, Tourism, Migration and Portuguese Passport, Environment, The Bismarque Effect, Sussegado, The Boomerang Effect, Appropriate & Sustainable Development for Goa, Sexual Harassment and Youth Power.
Panelists included Armando Gonsalves – Chairman, Goa ForGiving Trust, Suvartha Hiremath – Faculty at IHM, Goa, Svedlanska Pires – Singer and MC, Aisha de Sequeira – MD Morgan Stanley, Ameya Abhyankar – CEO, ESG, Lourdes Bravo da Costa – Librarian/ Writer, Advocate Cleofato Almeida Coutinho, Reginaldo Laurenco – MLA, Curtorim, Vishnu Wagh – MLA, St. Andre, Savio Fernandes – Chef at Kudos, Colva, Rohan Govenkar – Novelist/Writer, Dr Oscar Rebello, Prajal Sakardande – Heritage Activist, Sudeep Dalvi – Social Activist, Meenacshi Martins – Psychiatrist/ Actor, Aneesh Gera – Music Producer/ International DJ and other noted Goans.
Apart from the various panelists that participated in the discussions in Goa, there were three who joined in via Skype. Vinayak Bharne, author and urbanist based in Los Angeles participated in the lively Environment session, Dr Cyrus Todiwala, celebrity television chef and restaurateur, discussed the Migration and the Portuguese Passport topic from London and young Phd and visiting Lecturer at IUBH University of Applied Sciences, Austria, Mihir Ignatius Nayak, joined in the Tourism topic from n Salzburg, Austria.
The discussion didn’t just include professionals but the common man too. Vasanthi Mardolkar, a housewife from Dongri, joined in to discuss the question of government doles and how young women and housewives should reject doles dished out by the government and take on challenging jobs and businesses in their own villages.
