Cover Story
- Match-fixing Unlimited
IT CAN happen only in Goa. Where match-fixing has become a way of life, at least at election time. The Bharatiya Janata Party, led by Manohar Parrikar, offered the personal assistant to Chief Minister Digamber Kamat, Prakash Velip, a ticket to contest from the Quepem assembly constituency, ignoring its own senior leader and winnable candidate who is coincidentally also named Prakash Velip. In exchange, the BJP-led Manohar Parrikar is fielding a week losable candidate Rupesh Mahatme in Margao against Digamber Kamat.
Digamber Kamat reciprocated the gesture of Manohar Parrikar of fielding a weak losable candidate against him by recommending Somnath Zuwarkar, a spent force, as the Congress candidate for the Panaji constituency. When the Congress High Command did not agree, Digamber Kamat endorsed the candidature of a matka king, Yatin Parekh, knowing that Babush Monserrate will not extend any support to Yatin Parekh in Panaji. It is not just a two-way match-fixing. It is a three-way match fixing between Digamber Kamat, Manohar Parrikar and Babush Monserrate. Digamber Kamat, to oblige Manohar Parrikar, supported Babush Monserrate for the Congress ticket for the St Cruz constituency at the expense of the only female MLA in the current Legislative Assembly, Victoria Fernandes. Manohar Parrikar, in turn, obliged Babush Monserrate by not giving a ticket to Anil Hoble, the very winnable BJP candidate ,who was runner’s up in the last general elections in St Cruz.
Stray Thoughts
- Match-fixing in transfer of cops?
AND A few stray thoughts and a few stray observations for yet another Sunday. For a Sunday following the week when politicians contesting the elections were either getting friendly cops posted in their constituencies or unfriendly cops transferred out. For a Sunday following the week when the flying squads did not seem to be having any impact on the misuse of money and muscle power in the elections. For a Sunday following the week when the assets declared by candidates turned out to be a big joke. For a Sunday following the week when it was clear that in the selection of candidates to contest the elections, the Congress High Command had favoured the Rane family. For a Sunday following the week when only three independents seemed to be worthy of support in the forthcoming elections.
Short Story
- Death of an Indian
By Kishori Charan Das
Mr Rangarao had died. How did the Indian community in Washington DC react?
THE weatherman had announced that we were likely to have snowfall towards evening. It was the midday news; one John Douglas had conveyed the news to us along with a recipe for New Frontier nail-polish. It was his usual […]
Life and Living
- And now Saturday high tea at the Grand Hyatt Goa…
- Medha Patkar… a “politician” to emulate!
DON’T ASK me how I found myself tucking into a scone (redolent of baking soda) dipped in light lashings of mascarpone cheese spiked with orange juice maybe, egg and cress sandwiches, itsy bitsy tea time cakes…homemade bottles of orange, strawberry and fig jams lined up…
SOMETIMES, my dears, I think the best thing to have happened in Digamber Kamat’s Goa in recent times is the D D Kosambi Festival of Ideas. The Directorate of Art & Culture has been doing a superb job selecting personalities who have it in them to ignite the minds of Goans - the Dinanath […]
Tech Talk
- What is new & hot
Nokia Asha 201 (Coming soon)
The Nokia Asha 201 is a QWERTY phone that is built to suit your professional and personal needs efficiently. It runs on a Series 40 operating system and gives you smooth functions while using the phone.
A 2MP camera with a 4x zoom is loaded on this mobile. You can also record […]
Vox Populi
- Time to indulge or count calories?
So how does one control one’s diet and avoid putting on extra kilos this Christmas? GARY AZAVEDO finds out.
Opinion Poll
- The Anatomy of Victory
Contrary to expectations, Marathi school teachers imported into Goa in large numbers voted against merger because Union Territory salaries are higher than the scales in the states and Christian Gaudis and Kunbis voted for merger due to the land reforms promised by the first chief minister of Goa, Dayanand Bandodkar. The fact that a significant proportion of not only Hindu Brahmins but even members of the Bahujan Samaj voted against merger, is dramatised by the fact that the anti-mergerists won by a margin of over 30,000 votes. Considering that the Catholic population in 1967, the year of the Opinion Poll, comprised only 36% of the population; even if the entire minority community had voted against merger, the anti-merger forces could not have won without support from the majority community.
youth connect
- V-Day, not just for lovers
Gen-Next told Nida Sayed what they thought of Valentine’s Day and how they spent it.
Guns & Carnations
- When the Portuguese revolted against dictatorship…
GO Correspondent
The liberation of Goa, by the Indian Army, on December 19,1961, was primarily because of pressure from the Afro-Asian anti-colonial movement. The liberation of Goa led to disenchantment not only among the citizens of Portugal, but even in the Portuguese Armed Forces, against the dictatorship. Culminating in the Carnation revolution, when ordinary Portuguese citizens, holding Carnations joined the Army in the revolt against the dictatorship on April 25, 1974.
Uncensored
- Exit gracefully
POLITICS has turned into a business wherein the investment grows manifold and which can sustain for generations. The greed is not diminishing. On the contrary, it increases with lust for power and money in the name of serving the public. So sons, daughters, wife, brothers are brought in to get additional hold and make it proprietary in nature.







