We should export water to Gulf in exchange for fuel: Goa agri minister

 If Arabs can charge us for petrol extracted from under the earth, let us do the same with water which we can source by blocking rainwater: Goa’s Agriculture Minister Ravi Naik

Water should be privatised and excess rain water should be blocked by building a network of dams in the state and exported to Gulf countries in exchange for fuel, Goa’s Agriculture Minister Ravi Naik has said. Speaking at a government function on Wednesday, Naik also said that the harvested water could also be sent to drought-prone regions in Maharashtra. “We import petrol from foreign countries. We can export them water and import petrol. Goa witnesses around 126 inches of rain. If we block this water by building dams across Goa (it can be done),” Naik said.

“The work should be given to a private company and there should be a dam in every taluka. We can send the water to Arab countries or even to Maharashtra where there is shortage. “If Arabs can charge us for petrol extracted from under the earth, let us do the same with water which we can source by blocking rainwater,” Naik said, adding that private entities should be tasked with harvesting all the rainwater and keeping some aside for use in the state…Read More

Goa elections: Cong leading in 15 seats, BJP in 13, MGP ahead in 6

 The Congress was leading in 15 Assembly seats of Goa, while the BJP was ahead in 13, as per the latest trends available of 38 out of the 40 seats in the state.

The Congress was leading in 15 Assembly seats of Goa, while the BJP was ahead in 13, as per the latest trends available of 38 out of the 40 seats in the state.

The counting of votes is underway for the Assembly elections 2022 held in the state’s 40 seats on February 14. The ruling BJP is seeking a third straight term in power in the coastal state, while the opposition Congress is hoping for a clear mandate to avoid the fiasco of 2017.

Besides, the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) was leading in six seats and independents were ahead in two seats. The Goa Forward Party and the Aam Aadmi Party were leading in one seat each, as per the Election Commission of India’s website….

No dip in Goa's air traffic despite Russia-Ukraine war: Airport official

 There has been no dip in air-traffic at Goa’s Dabolim International Airport in wake of the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, airport director Gagan Malik said

There has been no dip in air-traffic at Goa’s Dabolim International Airport in wake of the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, airport director Gagan Malik said. Malik told reporters late Thursday night that Air India had sought one more additional slot for a London-Goa flight.

“Rossiya is operating on approved slots. Today (Thursday) there was a charter from Russia in which more than 506 passengers had arrived and 489 passengers had departed. No slot has been cancelled by Rossiya. Domestic flights have peaked very well and it shows that we are heading for normalcy. “Air India’s frequency of its London flight is twice a week. They have requested an increaseAofAanother flight (slot) in one week. There will be three flights a week from Goa,” Malik added. Goa is one of the more popular inbound tourism destinations for Europe. Russians top the number of foreign tourists contingents to the coastal state….Read More

It’s game over for the Gandhis but Congress has a chance to begin anew

 The prime minister, a former tea seller from Gujarat, makes a far more credible champion of the poor than a globe-trotting champagne socialist from Delhi with a famous last name

Can India’s Congress Party get by without the Nehru-Gandhi tradition with which it has turned out to be synonymous? For line supporters, habituated to regarding India’s most seasoned ideological group as a family fiefdom, the idea is blasphemous. Be that as it may, they have to recognize a cruel truth: 49-year-old Rahul Gandhi hosts become a risk for the get-together his family has helmed for a significant part of the previous 70 years.

Restored banter about the Congress Party’s future pursues a second back to back drubbing by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu patriot Bharatiya Janata Party in the national races in May. Congress won just 52 of 543 seats in the legitimately chosen lower place of Parliament, around one-6th the same number of as the BJP. In 14 of 30 states, Congress couldn’t catch a solitary seat.

A week ago Mr. Gandhi surrendered as the gathering’s leader. In a letter, he acknowledged duty regarding the national annihilation while likewise blaming the BJP for conveying “the whole hardware of the Indian state” against Congress.

In a propelled vote based system, the possibility of a gathering head venturing down after a constituent shellacking would scarcely raise an eyebrow. In the Congress Party, it’s sufficient to trigger a quake. Standard way of thinking in Congress holds that solitary an individual from the family can order the stature to join quarreling party chieftains and inspire laborers. Without a Nehru-Gandhi in control, the contention goes, Congress will rapidly turn into a rudderless chaos…

HIV test compulsory before marriage? Goa is considering, says health min

Health Minister Vishwajit Rane added that the proposal to make HIV testing compulsory before marriage was being vetted by the Law Department

Goa Health Minister Vishwajit Rane on Tuesday said that the seaside state’s legislature was pondering making HIV tests compulsory before the enrollment of relational unions. “We are thinking about making a HIV test obligatory for the imminent couples before enrollment of marriage in Goa. It isn’t obligatory at the present time,” Rane told IANS.

Rane, who is additionally a Minister for Law, added that the proposition to make HIV testing mandatory before marriage was being checked by the Law Department. “On the off chance that it is cleared by the Department soon, at that point we will table the law in the rainstorm session of the state Legislative Assembly,” Rane said.

The rainstorm session will start on July 15. In 2006, a comparative proposition was mooted by then Health Minister Dayanand Narvekar, with the Goa bureau supporting the enactment making HIV testing obligatory before marriage. Yet, the activity did not achieve fulfillment.

Why we shouldn’t be blaming the Indian tourist alone for Goa’s troubles

By playing the victim card, Goans abdicate their responsibility for the self-created mess that they find themselves mired in

Tourism in Goa has been in the news recently. A piece in a weekly conveyed Goans’ sense of outraged desperation at the behaviour of Indian tourists visiting Goa. Vijai Sardesai, the minister for town and country planning, was quoted calling a section of tourists’ ‘scum of the earth’.

The annual number of tourists visiting Goa is more than five times its 14.5 lakh population. Reports like the one in Open indicate that Goa is finding it difficult to keep its head above the surge. At the same time, a local newspaper has suggested that 35% of the population in Goa now consists of migrants. Are these the fount of Goa’s problems?

Goa is like a veritable pie that everyone wants a piece of. Drawn by its beauty and, the much spoken of laid-back lifestyle, there is a steady influx of people making the state their home. These features attract tourists too. Others come in search of employment. It comes as no surprise, then, that property is a gold mine and land is coveted. Not only are Goans selling, converting or renting their old houses, but land too is being converted for commercial and residential purposes.

With Goans migrating and families becoming smaller and residing in different parts of the world, maintaining properties is no longer easy. Selling it, therefore, becomes the best way to cash in and divvy-up the proceeds before the land is usurped while renting properties becomes a source of income and also ensures that they are maintained.

News Source : BS

Assembly Polls 2017: Exit polls suggest Modi-led BJP clearly ahead in UP

BJP may retain power in Goa, wrest power in U'khand; consolation prize for Cong in Punjab

 

If the predictions of several of the exit polls, made public on Thursday, for the five states that had Assembly elections in February-March turn out to be true, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to emerge as the most influential leader of India since Indira Gandhi, who had held sway over the country’s political landscape 40 years back.

Findings of at least four exit polls suggested that Modi’s blitzkrieg of public rallies in Uttar Pradesh Polls could help the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) either comfortably cross the majority mark of 202 in the 403-seat UP

The BJP, along with ally Apna Dal, had bagged 73 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in UP in 2014, winning a staggering 337 of the 403 Assembly segments. At least two exit polls — India Today-Axis and Today’s Chanakya — could come close to that tally by winning up to 285 seats. However, two other exit polls predicted a hung Assembly with the BJP as the single-largest party but the Samajwadi Party (SP)-Congress alliance not far behind and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in third place. As for other states, most exit polls said the BJP was likely to retain power in Goa and wrest power from the Congress in Uttarakhand. 

One exit poll, however, predicted a dead heat between the BJP and Congress in Uttarakhand, predicting that both were likely to win 35-seats each in the 70-member Assembly. 

In Manipur, one exit poll predicted that the BJP would emerge the single-largest party, while another said the incumbent Congress was most likely to return to power. 

The BJP’s only setback is likely to be Punjab, where exit polls predicted a consolation prize for the Congress, with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) likely to emerge as the principal Opposition party. But two exit polls predicted a hung Assembly, with both the AAP and Congress winning nearly the same number of seats and falling short of the majority mark of 59 seats. Four of the five exit polls said that the Shiromani Akali Dal–BJP alliance will struggle to touch double digits in the 117-member Assembly.

If the counting of votes, scheduled for Saturday, vindicates the findings of the exit polls that are predicting a near majority for the BJP in the UP Assembly, it will have ramifications on the Rajya Sabha numbers in 2018 and also on the presidential elections in July. It would also shrink the space for the Opposition, and to some extent achieve BJP chief Amit Shah’s ambition of a ‘Congress-mukt’ India. If the BJP triumphs in UP, the PM can justifiably claim it to be a referendum in favour of his November 8 demonetisation decision. A favourable electoral verdict, say sources, will embolden his government to go after tax evaders and complete the unfinished agenda of demonetisation.

The numbers in UP Assembly are likely to help BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) get its choice of presidential nominee elected to be the next President of India. Currently, the NDA is approximately 66,000 short of the majority mark in the presidential electoral college. On Thursday, the Election Commission said it has initiated the process for the holding of the presidential elections. It announced the filling of two vacancies in the Lok Sabha and of 12 legislative Assembly seats across 10 states. The polling for these bypolls will take place on April 9. The electoral victories would also help the BJP emerge the largest party in the Rajya Sabha in 2018, and reach closer to the majority mark. The lack of numbers in the Rajya Sabha has hobbled the Modi government in its efforts to push through some of its legislative agenda.| read full article