by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
Panaji : Caravan park-like facilities will be created in the coastal tourism-friendly pockets in Goa, where low budget tourists travelling by buses and large vans can camp, cook and access toilet facilities for a small fee, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar said on Thursday.
He was responding to a zero hour mention, during the assembly’s ongoing monsoon session, raised by Leader of Opposition Chandrakant Kavlekar, who demanded strict action against outstation tourists who travel to Goa on a shoe-string budgets in buses or large vans, cook on pavements or beaches and end up littering.
“We are identifying places where people, who want to cook, can go and camp there. There will be toilet facilities. There will be an arrangement to clean up the area. They will have to pay a small fee,” Parrikar said.
The Chief Minister also said, that the state government was in the process of setting up special enforcement squads which penalise those who found dumping garbage in public.
With tourism in Goa increasing nearly triple-fold in the last decade or so, the state has been unable to handle the approximately 400 metric tons of garbage tons of garbage, which the tourist footfalls generate as it has only one garbage management plant.
It is not unusual to find piles of garbage strewn along the roads as well as near urban hubs in this beach tourism destination, visited by more than six million tourists annually.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News
Panaji, (IANS) Malnutrition and pollution of water resources are a problem which the state government needs to address at the earliest, Goa Governor Mridula Sinha said in her address to the state ahead of Statehood Day.
Sinha, appointed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as an ambassador for the Swachh Bharat Mission, also said systematic disposal of garbage was an issue which the state government needed to look into.
“If we have to ensure health of the people, we have to first ensure that our people are able to get quality food. Malnutrition is still a major problem, which affects the health and progress of our people.
“It is also important that the environment in which they live is clean and healthy. We must devote more time and attention to achieve these ends,” she said, adding that health and education needs to be tackled on a priority basis.
Sinha also called for rapid efforts to protect the state’s water resources.
“We often come across news about our water bodies being polluted. This should be avoided at all costs. There should be an all-out and continuous effort for conservation of the natural resources, without which life cannot sustain,” she said.
Sinha also said that the state needs to find a way to resolve its garbage disposal mechanism, hinting that the issue was mounting and not in sync with the Swachh Bharat Mission.
“Also we must have, as early as possible, sufficient technological set-up to scientifically treat the increasing amount of garbage. It has been brought to my notice that one of the major problems faced in the garbage management is that people do not segregate it systematically at source,” she said.
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
New Delhi : (IANS) The eighth BRICS Summit will be held in Goa on October 15-16 this year, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj announced on Tuesday, adding that India would take a five-pronged approach during its chairmanship of the grouping.
Sushma Swaraj made the announcement here while unveiling BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) summit logo and launching the BRICS website for the duration of India’s chairmanship.
India assumed the chairmanship of BRICS on February 15 this year from Russia. India’s tenure will last till December 31 this year.
“During our BRICS chairmanship, well over 50 sectoral meetings will be organised at the ministerial, official, technical, and track II levels,” Sushma Swaraj said.
She said India’s core-theme for the BRICS chairmanship would be “Building Responsive, Inclusive and Collective Solutions (BRICS)”.
“We will adopt a five-pronged approach during our chairmanship. It will comprise institution building, implementation, integration, innovation, and continuity with consolidation (IIIIC or I4C).”
The minister said India’s emphasis would be on institution building, implementation of previous commitments flowing from the past summits, and exploring synergies among the existing mechanisms.
Enhancing greater people-to-people participation in BRICS events would also be another priority, she said.
As a part of this, a series of events are being organised, including the BRICS Under-17 Football Tournament, BRICS Film Festival, BRICS Wellness Forum, BRICS Youth Forum, Young Diplomats’ Forum, BRICS Trade Fair, BRICS Friendship Cities Conclave besides think-tank and academic forums.
Sushma Swaraj said that these events would be held across the country in different States.
“This will give people a greater opportunity to enrich the BRICS process. It would also be an occasion for our BRICS partners to visit different cities and states of India,” she said.
This will be the second time that India will host the BRICS summit. It last hosted the fourth BRICS Summit in New Delhi in 2012.
This year’s logo has been designed by Sudeep Gandhi, who won Rs.50,000 in a contest held in this connection.
“Painted in BRICS countries’ colours and symbolising India’s national flower, this BRICS lotus, designed by Sudeep Gandhi, encompasses the BRICS spirit and will grace all our events through the year,” Sushma Awaraj said while presenting the award to Gandhi.
Amar Sinha, secretary (economic relations) in the ministry of external affairs, will be India’s sherpa for BRICS during its chairmanship.
A grouping of five emerging national economies, BRICS was originally known as BRIC before the inclusion of South Africa in 2011.
The first BRICS Summit was held at Yekaterinburg in Russia in 2009. Russia also hosted the seventh BRICS Summit in Ufa in July last year.
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate Buzz
Panaji:(IANS) Israel’s ambassador to India Daniel Carmon has rejected allegations that many young Israeli tourists holidaying in Goa have been creating hostile enclaves and dealing in drugs.
“I do not believe that there is a drug problem in the Goa. Israeli tourists have been told in no uncertain terms that they as tourists and even diplomats are guests in India and should respect the laws of the land,” Carmon told reporters on Wednesday upon being asked about the allegations that have been frequently made.
“The theory about Israelis living in enclaves is not credible as nearly 40,000 Israeli tourist visit India annually and a majority of them pass through Goa, yet there are only four Israelis in Goan prisons,” he said.
Since the mid-1980s, beaches in north Goa like Anjuna, Ozrant, Vagator, Chapora, Arambol have been the well known haunts of young Israelis holidaying in India after completing their compulsory stint in their country’s armed forces.
Carmon, whose visit to the state included an interaction with the state’s environment and forests minister Rajendra Arlekar, also called for collaboration between Israel and Goa in areas of eco-tourism, dairy and farm sector.
“In Israel, we have the expertise of marrying the concepts of environment and development and eco-tourism is related to it. We are prepared to extend this expertise to Goa,” Carmon said.
He said Israel had already been working with the central government in developing centres of excellence in agriculture, having finalised 26 such centres in 10 Indian states and made operational 14 of them.
“For now Goa is not in the list of 26, but we are in talks to create a centre of excellence in Goa too. We are awaiting the Goa government for a final decision on this,” Carmon said.
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Economy, News
Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar. (Photo Credit PTI)
Panaji:(IANS) The Goa government is in the process of starting a Global School of Tourism and School of Strategic and Security Studies in association with the Goa University, chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar told the state assembly on Monday.
Parsekar said starting both the schools would cost Rs.32.42 crore, which will offer post graduate courses and academic research in areas related to tourism, strategic and security studies.
“The Goa University was requested to submit a detailed proposal. The university sought time for the same and has now submitted the proposals,” Parsekar said.
Goa is one of the top beach tourism destinations in the country and attracts nearly three million tourists annually.
Parsekar said instituting the two schools would incur a one-time expenditure of Rs.18.80 crore for the buildings and 13.62 crore in five years for salaries of teaching and administration staff.
