Save the Frogs Campaign- Goa

Frogs in Goa: Frequently Asked Questions

Are frog populations in Goa really on the decline?
Yes they are. Bio-indicators as well as studies conducted by herpetologists and amphibian specialists in Goa confirm that frog populations are falling, just as it is in the rest of the world. Globally, frogs are disappearing at an increasingly rapid rate than creatures have ever done in the past 65 million years.

While studies in 1999 and 2002 were conducted by amphibian specialists in coordination with International agencies like the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), basic surveys and compiling of checklists have also been done by researchers at the Goa University’s Department of Zoology, the Goa Forest Department and others.
There is however, a need for long term monitoring of Goan frog populations as frogs found in Goa.

What are the reasons for this decline?
A number of threats to frogs exist, however, in Goa the chief threats are:
1. Catching, killing and consumption of frogs at the onset of the monsoons. Frogs end their aestivation after the first rains and come out to breed. This is when they are at their most vocal, and hence easy to track down and catch. And as most of the frog-hunting is done before the frog can breed, this has a drastic effect on the future populations of frogs.
2. The widespread use of fertilizers and pesticides in agriculture. Flooded paddy fields are a hotspot for frogs, and since frogs absorb water through their skin, they are particularly vulnerable to the toxic effects of residual chemicals in our fields.
3. Habitat destruction – filling of fields, clearing of forest cover are a few of the main reasons. Encroachment of forests by human activities such as mining, construction, etc have caused entire resident populations to disappear within a short period.
4. A significant global trend that is threatening frog populations as a whole worldwide include climate change, global warming, introduction of invasive species and spread of disease from farmed to wild frog populations.

Are some species more vulnerable than others?
Yes. In Goa, the Indian Bullfrog (Hoplobatrachus Tigerinus) & the Jerdon?s Bullfrog (Hoplobatrachus Crassus) are the ones most prized for their meat due to their large size. The Indian Pond Frog and Grass Frog are also occasionally hunted.

Burgeoning demand at restaurants illegally serving frog dishes have ensured that a pair of frog legs can fetch as much as Rs. 65-70 for the poacher.

Due to their falling populations, the Indian Bullfrog and the Jerdon?s Bullfrog are now on the Government of India?s Schedule-I list of threatened species as well the international IUCN Red List of animals that are facing a high risk of global extinction.

Ok, but why do I have to stop eating frog? What?s in it for me?
A lot more than you think?
Eating frog meat is very dangerous to human health. Due to the massive toxic pesticide residues that accumulate in the fat deposits of frog meat, consumption of frogs can trigger paralytic strokes, cancer, kidney failures and other deformities. Besides frog meat being contraband, frogs are usually killed in unsanitary conditions.
Frogs are like the pulse rate or the blood pressure of the Goan environment. Frogs are a crucial part of the ecosystem and a vital link as predator and prey in the food chain. If frogs go extinct, the ripple effect on the ecosystem will be felt by us all.
Frogs and tadpoles are voracious eaters, and consume millions of mosquitoes and mosquito larvae every year. One of the suspected reasons for the increase in cases of malaria and other vector borne diseases in Goa is the decline in the number of frogs.
The increasing incidents of snakes being found in urban & semi-urban areas is also being linked to the decline of frogs, their natural prey, and their subsequent shifting to alternate prey like rats that are more readily found in populated areas.
In Goan mythology frogs are believed to bring prosperity and good rainfall.

Are frogs protected by law?
Yes. The Government of India in 1985 declared a ban on catching and killing of wild frogs under the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972. This means that any person or restaurant found catching, killing, selling, serving or eating frog meat violates the provisions of the act. This would attract stringent punishment with a fine of Rs 25,000 and/or imprisonment upto 3 years. In 2008, 10 persons were detained and fined under this act.

So what can I do to help save the frog?
Firstly, stop eating frogs yourself and discourage others from doing so. If there is no demand for frog legs, frog-catchers simply won?t catch them. Secondly, if you come across people hunting frogs or restaurants serving frog meat, report it to the police (100/108) or any of these Forest Department officials, preferably the one closest to where you are ?

ALL GOA
9423 889 890 (DCF Panjim Devendra Dalai)
9422 437 333 (CCF Richard D’Souza)
9422 388 188 (ACF Dr. Francis Coelho)
9422 437 237 (CF Yogesh)
NORTH GOA
9422 437 137 (DCF North Goa Shambhu)
2374 406       (FTS Valpoi)
9423 316 280, 2228772, 2220736 (RFO Campal Amar Heblekar)
EAST GOA
9423 314 824, 2935800 (RFO Bondla Deepak B)
9423 055 919, 2612211 (RFO Mollem S. Gawas)
9422 059 237 (RFO Bhironda Prakash Salelkar)
SOUTH GOA
9822 587 607 (ACF South Goa Anil Shetgaokar)
2750 246       (RFO Margao)
9822 157 139, 2965601 (RFO Cotigao Paresh P)

After reporting to the authorities, contact WildGoa volunteers at 9823-171-312 or 9890-936-828 (South Goa) and 9922-642-059 or 9822-522-119 (North Goa) who will record and follow up your complaint with the forest officials.

Who is Involved with the campaign
Save the Frog Campaign is coordinated by WildGoa, a Goa related network of Wildlife enthusiasts and NGOs. This awareness and enforcement campaign has  been on for the last 4 consecutive years and is supported by the Goa Forest Department a number of local as well as International organizations including Amphibian Ark, Save The Frogs International, Botanical Society of Goa, Organic Farming Association of India, GOACAN, Earthworm, Green Essentials, WWF-Goa, Nisarga Nature Club, Vivekananda Environmental Awareness Brigade, & Mitra. For more information do visit www.savegoafrogs.org or email info@safegoafrogs.org To contact us, you may call us at the WildGoa volunteer phone numbers mentioned above.

Chikungunya the ignored pandemic in Bangalore

While the rest of the world is focused on Swine flu and India is just recording the first of its confirmed cases, places like Bangalore have another virus that is doing the rounds. Like in pervious years this virus too has the potential to reach pandemic proportions and yet, few, least of all the government are talking about it. Chikungunya is spread through mosquitoes, results in high fever and severe joint pain.

While I hear of more and more cases occurring in my neighborhood, the word is out that the entire locality, which comprises of about 10,000 people, is affected. Yet, I see no spraying, no awareness leaflets, no awareness campaign in the newspapers and the monsoon season in Bangalore has only just begun. Some articles in the media report some 4000 cases but that would be a gross underestimation and statistics of those who report to the local health centre only. But loads of people I know don’t even go to the health centre, many of them take Ayurvedic medicine that can be self prescribed and so an allopathic doctor would not even know of these cases.

Sad scenario I should say. Bangalore keeps getting projected as the IT capital of the country, home to all the major IT MNCs in the country and yet the facilities and services are archaic. If the Government cannot guarantee a descent standard of living in its capital city how does it hope to do so for the rest of the State?

Chikungunya is not new, each monsoon season there is an outbreak, should the Government then not have had a well oiled protocol in place, and yet there is no sign of it.

Gold: The Story of a Goan Murderer

It’s the fag end of summer in Goa. The beads of sweat roll down the back and sting the eyes, most people can be found spending their spare moments in their veranda, waiting for the tiny whiffs of breeze that may or may not come by. Most school children are savoring their last few days of holidays. Collecting mangoes from the neighbours yard, helping their parents clean up the garden, stack in the firewood and heading to the village spring for a therapeutic bath.

Most homes are entertaining guests, relatives who have come back to relaxed Goa, for a few days off the treadmill in the city. But this year, the gossip has not been just about the grand old aunties at church, the weddings attended on the weekend or the price of mangoes and salt fish. It is also about a serial killer who over a 15 odd years has confessed to killing 15 women!

The modus operandi. A supposedly unassuming Mahandand Naik from Shiroda befriended women in their 20s and 30s, pretended he was in love with them, after a while suggested he would introduce them to his parents, and on the appointed day asked them to come finely dressed, then waylaid them, strangulated them, often with their own dupatta, robbed them of their jewellery and then dumped their bodied.

The modus operandi seemed to be the same every time, the bodies dumped in rivers, or hung, often the victim was stripped. The police identified some bodies, were unable to unidentify others, and didn’t even manage to find other bodies, as they lay buried in secluded places.

Fifteen women and the number may grow as more confessions tumble out. More and more families that have had their daughters and sisters missing are coming forth to revive old complaints. Some families hoped against hope that their daughter had eloped with her boyfriend and living happily, have now been proved wrong.

The police had closed numerous cases of these women as cases of unnatural death are now reopening them. And while this drama unfolds, not unlike the movie “Perfume: the story of a murder” most people in Goa, who live a relatively sheltered life are obviously shocked and stunned.

Following this case from 500 kilometers, so many questions and issues come to my mind.

Women in Goa even though relatively well educated compared to their counterparts in the rest of the country are still naïve to their safety and can fall prey to murders like Mahandand Naik.

These women were emotionally vulnerable, unmarried, with a desire to love and be loved, and a wicked mind like that of this serial killer was able to identify and take advantage of their vulnerability.

The killer although displaying an unassuming simplicity about him was cold and calculating. Remorseless in implementing a well practiced plan, which refined itself further with each murder.

Could a man have perfected his art so well that he could go undetected for a decade and a half, or did his family fail to ask him and themselves some crucial questions? To what extent did they collude with the serial killer who lived among them?

The families of these women victims did not pursue the search for their daughters and sisters to the legal end. Perhaps the victims came from poor families and the family could not afford the time or monetary resources to pursue the cases.

The police, with all the public resources at their disposal kept doing a shoddy job of investigation. Probably ignoring evidence in their desire to close the case. Perhaps unqualified and so unable to recognize evidence. Perhaps lazy and unmotivated to pursue cases. In their incompetence, the Goa Police have become inadvertent colluders with the serial killer

Do the gruesome murders of fifteen women tell us something about the ‘value of life’ in Goa, does it tell us something about the ‘value of life of women in Goa’.

Do these murders tell us something about the ‘collective conscience’ of a society, that failed to raise an eyebrow about the murders (just like they fail to raise their eyebrows for so many other things) in the state, relegating these victims the place of a number in the statistics for the year.

Or am I reading too much into this whole incident.

Would it be better for all of us to dismiss it as a one off, so we can all go back to our lives and bring closure to the incidents? Or should we as a society spend a few minutes, maybe a few hours grieving the loss of fifteen women and an eroded social conscience.

I am still trying to come up with a response, as my intellect and my emotions tussle to explain the murder of fifteen women, full of potential.

People with Disabilities and the Recession

With the recession, tough economic times are upon most of us. Companies continue to maintain their freeze on recruitment, salary cuts are common, and layoffs informed to employees an hour before the end of the week. Non written communication to work longer hours is common place. Most people are glad they can retain their job, but the axe is not, say most companies, a matter of choice, some people must go so that the majority can stay, and during this time of deep economic uncertainty one wonders about  the situation of People with disabilities (PwDs).

India has nearly 70 million PwDs in the country. Those lucky to be employed predominantly find themselves in IT companies, telemarketing and BPOs.  A survey of the top 100 corporate houses in India, in 1999, show a mere 0.4% of their workforce was PwDs. Nothing has dramatically changed in the last ten years, PwDs continue to struggle to get employment in the best of times and with the current freeze on recruitment, their chances are as good as zero. Additionally is the bias that PwDs are ‘incapable’, most companies also unwilling or unable to make their premises ‘accessible’, which also acts as a hurdle, and so one can conclude with worrying certainty that PwDs are twice as badly hit by the recession as non disabled people.

If disability groups were demanding tax rebates as incentives for companies hiring PwDs before, now the situation is far more urgent. More so as most PwDs require to earn approximately twice as much as their non disabled counterparts to enjoy the same standard of living.

Few know with any certainty when the recession is going to end or how long it will take the economy to recover, would the Government then undertake a study to find out the effects of the recession on PwDs, would it then take measures to change the situation. Most disability groups believe, that with more pressing needs, they have little chance of getting Government attention. They have fewer expectations as none of the political parties even made a mention of these 70 million PwDs in their election manifesto. All PwDs can expect are a few more social welfare schemes, but with a limited budget and a large number of PwDs clamoring for them, chances are slim that there will be a diametric change.

Whether we like it or not, the 70 million PwDs are too big a population to ignore and brush aside, whether the new Government at the centre likes it or not, it will have to do something that will improve the economic lives of PwDs and pull them back from the ‘vulnerable’ list.

As I look around, I see the recession has turned into a god sent opportunity for young enterprising Indians. I am seeing more people in their 30s set up businesses of their own than ever before and perhaps PwDs need to be heading in the same direction.

With a little bit financial assistance from the Government and some training on business they are just as capable of success as any other businessman and we hope that’s what they will get by way of Government assistance.

Snake Rescue Volunteers & Snakebite Treatment In Goa

Do not panic if you see a snake! As you know now, not all of them are venomous.  If you cannot identify it, do not kill it. Instead, call one of the volunteers listed below. There are over 20 volunteers  in Saligao and Bardez who will come immediately, catch the snake and release it back into the wild. Some of these volunteers will request for a small fee to cover fuel expenses.

Snake Rescue Volunteers

Name – Residence – Area of operation – NGO – Contact numbers (some may have changed)

Saligao:

Griselda Nobay, Donvaddo – GCR – 9823802842 / 2278567

Tarika & Suhail, Donvaddo – GCR – 2409999 / 2278276

Bardez:

Suneel Korajjkar, Mapusa, Bardez – GCR – 9822123042/ 2253715

Alfred D’Mello, Nagoa, Bardez – GCR – 9823053474 / 2278903

Sagar Kambli, Mapusa, Bardez – GCR – 9823937930

Sahil Warang, Camurlim, Bardez – GCR – 9823508765

Prasad Shirodkar, Mapusa – GCR – 9765451302

Aaron Fernandes, Mapusa, Bardez – GCR – 9850560560

Mario Fernandes, Calangute – Bardez/Tiswadi – GCR – 9923667665

Rahul Alvares, Parra, Bardez – (Creepy Times) – 2278740 / 6510871 / 9881961071

Nitin Sawant, Porvorim, Bardez – WWF – 9822483535 / 9823915208 /2414278

Oldrin Pereira, Aldona – Bardez – NNC – 9850450120

Arnold Noronha, Bardez – VEAB – 9420685641

Ramesh Zamekar, Bardez – VEAB – 9923306455

Sharad Chari, Aldona – Bardez -  NNC – 2293193

Mario Cavallari, Bardez – ARS – 9822166175

Aaron Lobo, Porvorim – 2412265 / 9822135019

Neil Alvares, Nerul – 2402957 / 3116183 / 9822158688

Sainath Shirodkar, Mapusa – Bardez/Tiswadi – GFD – 9422062880 / 2265772

Forest Dept, Campal, Panjim – North Goa – GFD – 2228772 / 2229701

All Goa:

Sanket Naik, Pernem – VEA – 9421239791

Prasad Kassikar, Bambolim -  GCR – 2459322

Amrut Singh, Bicholim – ARS – 9422062503 / 2363803

Anand Dalvi, Bicholim – ARS – 9923528080

Vivek Parodkar, Sattari, Bicholim – VEA – 9423600333 / 2369387

Deepak Gawas, Sattari, Bicholim – VEA – 9421248643

Kedar Kanekar, Satteri – Bicholim – ARS – 9324857453

Chandrakant Shinde – Sattari, Bicholim -VEA – 9420159497

Anand Melekar, Satteri – ARS – 9764681913

Rama Bagi, Valpoi – GCR – 2382163

Forest Dept., Margao – South Goa – GFD – 2750246

Venkatesh Sansgiri, Margao – 2550922 / 9822150355 – GCR

Julio Quadros – South Goa – 9822152010

Amol Naik – South Goa – GCR – 2605672 / 9822158715

Sudan Naik, Mormugao – Salcete – ARS – 9822387347/ 2550898

Pankaj Lad – Salcete -VEA – 9372109987/ 2751308

Neelam Khomarpant, Margao – Salcete – GCR – 9822123868/ 9822123042

Philip Fernandes – Margao, Salcete – 9822986505

Clinton Vaz, Salcete – WLG – 9890936828 / 2736828

Forest Dept., Mollem – Sanguem GFD – 2612211

Satish Poinguinkar, Canacona – ARS – 9421244555/ 9823134465 / 2641510

Paresh Porob, Canacona – GFD – 9822157139

Forest Dept., Bondla – Ponda – GFD – 2610022

Surel Tilve, Ponda – ARS – 9422058590 / 2335078

Dilip Naik, Ponda – 9823229378 / 2316492

Kamlakant Parab, Ponda – PFA – 9822130598/ 3207920

Dilesh Hazare, Ponda – ARS – 9422453437 / 2340609

Girish Kelakar, Ponda – 2343826 (res), 2314435(off)

GFD = Goa Forest Department; VEAB = Vivekananda Environmental Awareness Brigade; ARS = Animal Rescue Squad; GCR = Green Cross; PFA = People for Animals; WWF = World Wildlife Fund; NNC = Nisarga Nature Club: WLG = Wild Goa

Snakebite Treatment In Goa

SNAKEBITE? Follow this treatment plan:

a.  Reassure the patient.

b.  If the bite is on the hand or the arm, put the arm in a triangular sling and get hospital treatment urgently.

c.  If the bite is on the leg, put it in a splint to immobilise the bite.  Again, get hospital treatment urgently.

d.  The patient should be encouraged to keep still and move as little as possible.

e.  Treat a venomous snakebite with ASV or Anti-Snake Venom (also called antivenom or antivenin) at a doctor’s clinic or in hospital.  Care should be taken to ensure that the patient is not allergic to antivenom.  20% of all people who are given ASV treatment develop some kind of allergic reaction.

Do not:

a.. Wash the wound; the act of washing leads to moving the venom around the body.

b.. Cut or burn the wound.

c.  Attempt to suck the venom out of the wound.

d.. Apply a tourniquet or pressure bandage (the only time a pressure bandage should be considered is if the snake concerned is definitely, 100% a Krait and the journey to hospital is going to take several hours. If the journey is only going to take up to a couple of hours the same treatment should be given as that for any other venomous bite)

e.. Give anything by mouth except in the case of dehydration.

f.. Self-administer antivenom.  This is particularly dangerous without the ability to cope with any allergic reaction, which has the potential to kill far quicker than any snake bite.

The mere act of sticking a needle into your tissue can cause un-controlled bleeding and oedema (swelling). This is why Anti-Snake Venom should be administered by a doctor in hospital!

These hospitals and Primary Health Centres (PHCs) have ASV in case of a venomous snakebite:

Hospitals: Goa Medical College (GMC), Bambolim.  Hospicio, Margao.  Asilo, Mapusa.

(If  there is enough time, take the patient to GMC.)

PHCs with phone numbers (call to check if Anti-Snake Venom is in stock):

Valpoi – 2374260; Bicholim – 2362041; Sanquelim – 2364258; Pernem – 2291249

Siolim; Aldona – 2293251; Candolim – 2276035; Betki – 2287160; Ponda – 2312115; Sanguem – 2604235; Curchorem – 2650566; Bali – 2670216; Canacona – 2643339; Assolna.

Compiled by anOTHERskool, Saligao, for an awareness programme on identifying, handling and  rescuing snakes, at a children’s camp organised by the youth of Mae de Deus parish, Saligao, Goa.

Sources: Rahul Alvares (Creepy Times), Clinton Vaz (Wild Goa), Suneel Korajjkar (Green Cross). Many thanks to these path-breaking conservation teams for their committment to Goa’s wild life & environment. Want to save Goa, our environment and wildlife?…join one of these groups…NOW!

Saligao, 6 May 2009

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GOA WAS BETTER OFF IN THE HANDS OF THE PORTUGUESE…….

‘Goa was better off in the hands of the Portuguese’ I’ve heard this rhetoric before, as have many of you who hail from Goa. People say this more as a reaction to the frustration they feel about the current situation in the State, but imagine my surprise when I saw a group on Facebook that thought the same thing!

This group describes itself as a group “for all goans who believe that goa woud be better off with portugal,and this was the flag of goa when it was under the portugese.” (The spelling mistakes aren’t mine). It’s a small group and most of the members are young people.

“Honestly?,” I thought, was Goa really better off in the hands of the Portuguese. At 451 years, Goa has witnessed the longest colonial rule in the world. “Do you speak Portuguese” is a common question asked to me by my friends in Bangalore and I say “no, in fact very few people in Goa speak or know Portuguese”. When you think of it, its surprising that after being ruled for  451 years the language has virtually disappeared, a mere 46 years after the departure of the Portuguese. In fact Goa has so deeply and completely integrated itself into India that few are bemused by the transition.

But was “Goa better off under the Portuguese”, I honestly don’t know. From the little that I’ve read and studied, when the Portuguese left Goa, Goa was pre-industrial, and that’s why the high level of migration to other parts of the world and India in search of jobs. Goa didn’t even have adequate educational institutions and people had to go to Mumbai, Belgaum, Dharwad to study. The economy was largely agrarian and depended heavily on mining. The infrastructure was old. Very little was manufactured locally and Goa depended much on the imports of food commodities first from India and then after the economic blockade from Portugal. Politically, there was little freedom or equality of participation. So what was better about Goa when it was under the Portuguese?

Picking my brains, for sometime now, I think the answer lies elsewhere.

1. In the romantic versions we young people have constructed about the days of yore. Perhaps they are based on the stories told to us by our grandparents, or from the colourful tins our grandmothers retained of milk powders, biscuits and other commodities they bought.
2. Perhaps it stems from the desire of most Goans to migrate abroad in search of greener pastures.
3. Perhaps it stems from our ignorance of our recent past.
4. Or perhaps it emanates from our fear that we are loosing our identity too fast, to the multi-cultural potpourri called India

The answer could be one or some or all of these. It could be more reasons than my limited knowledge has allowed me to note.

But if there is a feeling that Goa would have been better off under the Portuguese it must be recognized and addressed. This is not to slot people into right and wrong but to note from where this feeling stems.

I personally feel very ignorant about my history. Today, we are fortunate to still have some freedom fighters alive, even though very advanced in age, but I had few opportunities to hear them share their experience. Given that Goa did not have a particularly violent freedom struggle, though it definitely was a protracted one, but where is the documentation. Where is it being shared with the younger generation? Where is the opportunity for us to take pride in it?

I was not taught Goan history in school. In fact, a quick quiz would reveal that Goan students know more about Egyptian, Greek, English, American and Russian history that about Goa. Years later the Education Department did make an attempt to correct the situation, but the slim book was an addition to the history book, an after thought and studied briefly. I honestly don’t know if any serious thought went into the reasons for introducing Goan history. I can only hope that today it is taught in more details and introduced early in a student’s academic life.

But for us, people in their 30s and above, we are definitely trying to make our Portuguese passports, hankering after the rosy past. The lack of knowledge of our history, our culture and heritage is reflected in the way we treat and neglect it, and that’s why heritage conservationists have a huge battle on their hands. I guess they can with time convince the Government and even the builders lobby, but how do they teach the people of Goa to love what is theirs and see value in it.

Voting in India must go Online

For all of March 09 the country has been gearing up for the General Election 2009 and the process will continue through April and into May. Held at a whooping 2 billion rupees it is a spectacle to behold from both an administrative and logistical point of view. And I sometimes wonder, if this country can hold such a mega event with such fairness, precision and coordination, what ails us when it comes to governance, the gross inefficiency is as much a sight to behold as the efficient elections, or should we hand over the running of this country to the election commission too?.

The enthusiasm for the elections continues to mount and we have just completed the third phase of elections, with two more to go. Listening to election analyst Mr Yogandra Yadav on CNN-IBN, he introspectively analyzed that the ‘vote is the weapon of the poor’, their one chance to go out and change things in their favor. And how right he is, back in the villages of India, hope of ‘change’ is what helps a voter decide whom to vote for. Some may like to believe that voters vote on party lines, but this is not a common phenomenon, more common is the ‘change’ factor. Can the guy I vote for bring ‘change’, improve our lives, lets give him a opportunity to prove himself, and so on.

But in this post I’m not discussing why people vote, in fact I want to write about just the opposite. Why people don’t vote, and one of those people who didn’t vote was me. Not because I had any political statement to make but due to lack of choice!!.

I am a registered voter in my home state of Goa, If I need to register myself in Bangalore I need to prove that I am a resident here. But I live as a paying guest, I have no proof of residence, so registering myself in Bangalore is not an option. Importantly I’m not acquainted with the political scenario here and so even if I had an opportunity to vote I wouldn’t know whom to vote for, except make a choice along party lines, that too the national ones only, most of us people from outside the State hardly know the regional parties. So in effect I would be able to make the best choice if I were to vote in Goa.

Metropolitan cities consists of millions of people, from all parts of the country, a large majority of them are a floating population like me, working here but with no political identity, and I’m sure most of them are as disenfranchised as me.

Recently I learnt that even Indian students in the US can vote, though they have to go the Indian Embassy, but me, very much at home, cannot, simply because I am not in my State where I have the voters card.

Strange, isn’t it, that millions are disenfranchised for this simple reason.

Today, we book all kinds of tickets online, do bank transactions and share loads of confidential personal information on sites and all of them have found a way to keep this information protected and confidential, so why cant the Election Commission. Why can’t the database of all those registered voters be online, why can’t a software be introduced where I can quote my registration number, verify my name and other details and be allowed to vote?

India uses electronic voting machines, far safer and easier to use than the paper ballot, why then can’t we go online with the voting too. This way, people don’t even have to put their jobs and lives on hold while they stand in lines at polling booths, often risking their lives in violence prone areas. Nor will people have to travel hours, at their own expense to go home to the town they are registered at.

If you look at it closely, voting online could save millions of rupees of the government and for the economy. The voting rate will increase, especially among the educated Indians and the country will get a better government.

India is growing in leaps and bounds, breaking into new frontiers, Voting online will be one new invaluable one, I hope the Election Commission is thinking along these lines.

International Labour Day 2009, I see only hope

Today is May 1, 2009, International Labour Day and with the ongoing recession a deeply poignant one for all of us who labour. Today, business houses large and small, multi-national and national all around the world are in disarray, shutting down or struggling to survive. One vital component of production, labour has been a sad victim of this economic tsunami.

The situation is indeed grim, if not sorry and it’s only the capitalist who is making hay under the guise of recession.

My memory takes me back some years. To me sitting on a hard wooden bench with my elderly uncle. He was telling me how much his generation had fought for all these labour laws which we young people now take for granted, and he warned, that if we didn’t learn about our collective history and the need to protect our rights, it will be only a matter of time that they would all be taken away. And that day is finally upon us.

We as a lobby are crippled. We the ‘labour movement’ stand before the alter of the capitalist, head bowed, our hands and feet in shackles.

Most people say India is experiencing a boom time, it is riding high on the ‘outsourcing’ way, millions of offices are being closed in the US and Europe and their jobs outsourced to economically ‘cheaper’ destinations like India. India has a growing mass of young people entering the job market, with a minimal education of a graduation and no skills, they are being absorbed and the industry is hungry for more. Young people, fresh out of college, minimal skills and reasonably well paid, compared to the income of people a wee bit older. Loads of disposable income keeps these young people happy, shopping, partying, infatuated with the latest gizmos, but most importantly, stupid and ignorant of their role and position in the larger labour picture.

Today’s labour force is naive and unorganized, unschooled in its collective history and strength, unappreciative of its bargaining power. Everywhere you go you see huge corporate offices, glitzy and glassy, housing millions of workers, but these companies have no unions. Their labour less organized than the ‘unorganised sector’.

A perpetual optimist, I think this recession has brought numerous benefits. It has been a wake up call to millions of consumers in America and Europe, it has sounded the alarm bells and roused industries from their sleep. I think it has a wake up call for us too. Us the ‘Labour Force’.

Only today I saw pictures of protesting labour breaking into buildings and smashing the furniture in corporate offices. I could see their pent up anger, frustration, even rage. Their desire to fight back, to be recognized and heard, for their interests to be protected, and while I am no active supporter of violence, in their action I see hope. I see the sleeping giant of the ‘Labour Force’ waking up.

I sincerely hope this fire spreads to India, this awareness, this experience of strength in collectivity.  We in India are a young force, a power house with tremendous strength; we are a crucial ‘centre’ for rapid economic development. We can become a crucial centre for labour consciousness.

If you are a worker, whether in India or abroad, don’t sit by and flip on from blog to blog.

• Start reading up about your rights and duties as a worker.
• Read up about what your country’s legislations do for you.
• Get to know about International Labour Laws.
• Get to know about what the labour sector goes through in other countries.
• Get involved in the Union at your company. Help set up one if there isn’t.

THINK. ANALYSE. CRITIQUE. QUESTION. UNITE.

“Workers of the world unite, you have nothing to loose but our chains”, incase you didn’t know it, that quote is not by me, but by a great man named Karl Marx, who foresaw our plight a hundred years earlier.

Goa’s heritage needs protection

The other day breezing through the online papers of Goa I came across this report where in a well known lecturer and writer of Goan History Mr Prajal Sakhardande, expressed his concern about the deteriorating condition of heritage structures in Goa.

Earlier this month I happened to be in Goa and was taking a friend around to some places, both well and little known, and I had this same feeling as we drove around. Most of the focus on protecting historical monuments is on Old Goa, and a few temples, but there are numerous small forts around, and smaller structures like crosses, temples, ruins of roads, ruins of tablets lying neglected in the forests of Goa, all of which need restoration and proper documentation, so that the people of Goa and abroad can appreciate them.

Thanks to the Portuguese, Goa is fortunate to have at least the last 400 years documented; there is tons of documentation that has tremendous scope for study, all lying neglected and forgotten, deteriorating beyond repair each day.

What makes me sad to the point of delusion, is that all this rich and varied heritage (and I use the word in the complete form) lies largely hidden, forgotten and neglected, and we, the younger generation are obvious to our rich culture.

I’m positive a quick quiz would reveal that the students of Goa know more of Greek, Roman, English and Egyptian history than about their own mother land, and when we are ignorant, we neglect, abuse and destroy.

Sometimes I feel the foreigners who buy houses in Goa are more appreciative of the heritage they buy and do more to restore old Goan houses to their former glory even while we go about pulling down are old houses, which in fact are tiny architectural beauties, and replace them with concrete structures that have an astonishingly short life due to the high salinity in Goa.

I think what we need in Goa is a legislation. Something that will prevent the tearing down of old structures and encourage their protection. When it comes to restoration Goans face a hard time accessing expertise, what we need is for polytechnic and the ITIs to offer courses on masonry and other aspects of restoration. A course for architects on Goan architecture. A course for school children, they must study Goan history for at least 3 years.

Goan heritage has been Goa’s Unique Selling Proposition for tourism. Protected, restored and promoted, Goa can offer a living example of an era to the hordes of Indian tourist who come to Goa.

There is much to be done to further protect places already protected. Just to take the example of the Old Goa churches, the structures are imposing and awe inspiring and that’s why they are a major tourist draw, but much can be done in terms of making their history known, there are few books available for sale at the place, why cant there be a large library where people can read or buy books about Goa and Old Goa there. The plaques need to be more frequent, so we give more information, perhaps the plaques could be in Hindi and English. Many of the places are disabled unfriendly; they need to be made accessible to the disabled and the elderly.

If you are Goan and reading this I’m sure you’ll agree and have a whole lot of suggestions of your own, but most important, we need to learn to love Goan heritage and culture, we need to spread this love to those who are ignorant of it. And the seeds for this love for Goa has to be sown in schools.

Power to the People!

From today and for the next 5 weeks the electorate of the worlds largest democracy will be casting their votes.

India has the privilege of holding the largest and fairest elections in the world. Something I’m really proud of J. So, all power to us, its people!!!!!

For those wanting to stay abreast of the 2009 General Elections in India, Vote Report India promises to be an interesting source of information.