CONTRARY to any claims made by Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, who is also the Minister for Town & Country Planning, the Regional Plan 2021 which was first notified on November 24, 2011 is still in force in the State of Goa. The Governor of Goa, in his address during the first session of the Legislative Assembly after the formation of the new government, did make a mention of the intention of the government to scrap the RP2021. However, the intention of the government, as articulated by the Governor in his address to the Legislative Assembly, has no legal sanction. So, Manohar Parrikar’s insistence that the RP2021 stands scrapped since the day the Governor, on behalf of the Government, announced that RP 2021 would be scrapped is not legally binding on either the Department of Town and Country Planning or the builders or anyone for that matter. There has been no gazette notification de-notifying RP 2021.

Edgar Ribeiro, a key member of the Task Force that was set up to formulate the plan, admitted that the final Regional Plan 2021 was flawed and “illegal”, but says the anomalies should be rectified.

I AM writing with regard to the BJP’s statement that “Diocesan Society should resolve MOI issue”. It appears as if Dr Wilfred Mesquita is making a move to prompt the Diocesan Society to back off on their insistence on providing education in the English medium at the primary level. I would like to bring to his kind notice that Konkani was not even a compulsory subject when I passed my SSC in 1989.

By Nida Sayed
A baby is waiting to be born to keep her "Maa" warm…
HOW DO you want your eggs?" asks Asha, "fried or scrambled?"
"Scrambled I guess." says Maa, "But avoid the yolk, I feel like puking."
I had been hearing these voices for a few weeks. Though my ears hadn’t developed then, I could figure […]

TEACHING and learning art can be an arduous task for someone who is concerned about the complexities and intricacies involved in the process, mainly due to the ambiguity surrounding the definition of art itself. Vasudev Shetye and Praveen Naik held a duo show of their paintings titled ‘Unbearable lightness of being’ at Kala Academy’s Art Gallery from May 7-11.

LOOKS LIKE the khaas aadmi of Goa has run away from Goa’s sweltering summer heat …gone to Thailand, gone to Vietnam, gone to Malaysia and Singapore, or may be Switzerland, Austria, New York, London, where they’re probably feasting on choice mangoes imported from India! Like we’re eating apples from New Zealand, Chile, South Africa, Washington and China, here in summer time in India when we should be eating our very own national fruit - the mango! Mangoes from Goa are more expensive than apples from New Zealand!

I COULDN’T believe my eyes. A rudraksha tree in Goa? A tree most precious to mahadeo, Lord Shiva, the seeds of which are popularly revered as the ‘tears’ the good lord shed over something or another! Hindu mythological lore, generally speaking, has it that Lord Shiva is as emotional and sentimental a god, as tempestuous when he angry … but this is about this most beautiful lush green rudraksha tree growing in the landscaped gardens adjoining the Selaulim Dam in Sanguem taluka.

It is by now a standard procedure in the state for both the ruling and the opposition alike to strive equally hard to make its presence felt in the local bodies.

Is the 108 ambulance service necessary? Is the new Health Minister Laxmikant Parsekar’s statement that he could discontinue the EMRI 108 ambulance services in the state a move of political vendetta against former health minister Vishwajit Rane?

Seeing a young person smoking is a common sight today. NIDA SAYED asked Goan youth what they felt about tobacco-chewing and smoking habits.