PANJIM: For three days, one grand ball room and other areas within a five-star beach resort in Goa will contain minds which have done the following: Brought an African dictator to his knees and won this year’s Nobel Peace prize, won a Pulitzer prize, invented a flying car, “killed” a planet, taken on the might of the Chinese regime and been a crusader in Afghanistan feared both by NATO and the Taliban. And that’s not even the complete list.
The sum and substance of these minds make the world a better, more equal, advanced and innovative place. Above all, these men and women are finest examples of the triumph of mankind in the cosmos of the universe.
And they will all be here in Goa from November 4 to 6. Sixty five of the world’s most celebrated economists, artists, politicians, writers, business leaders, entertainers, technologists, and activists will share, debate and present their most radical, diverse, cutting-edge ideas to each other and an audience across three days.
These are the top thinkers and innovators from across India, Pakistan, China, the Middle-East, the US and Europe and they’ll be in Goa as part a panel of speakers for Think, a three day conclave organised by newsmagazines Tehelka and Newsweek, at the Grand Hyatt in Bambolim.
The speakers ranging from Frank Gehry and Sir V S Naipaul to Pulitzer winners Thomas Friedman and Siddhartha Mukherjee, to cutting-edge innovators like Carl Dietrich (inventor of the flying car), who will give a lecture titled, ‘The flying car: How I invented the Batmobile, Justin Hall-Tipping (game-changer in nanotechnology and free energy), and Michael Brown (the astronomer famously known as the ‘Pluto killer’) – will be speaking across the three days at Think.
The lineup includes Leymah Gbowee, who single-handedly brought an African dictator to his knees and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2011, and will be sharing her perspective in a conversation with Tina Brown, editor in chief of Newsweek. Hu Shuli, China’s most rebellious journalist, along with Tina Brown, Tarun Tejpal of Tehelka and Barkha Dutt of NDTV will have a discussion about why people are angry with the media.
Afghanistan’s Shukriya Barakzai, the woman both NATO and the Taliban fear equally, will also add to the star cast.
Celebrated economists Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee, climate change and green activists Bjorn Lomborg and Pavan Sukhdev and development economist Tamara Abed and Stuart Hart, a pathbreaker in sustainable enterprise, will share ideas and their key experiences in these fields working across the world, besides presenting ideas on the advantages of a green economy.
Aamir Khan, will be looking at how films can matter and also make money while Abhay Deol and Dibankar Banerjee will discuss the movies that Bollywood is too scared to make. Imran Khan, Anurag Kashyap and Prasoon Joshi, among others, will talk on contemporary cinema, and eight of India’s best-known artists, including Manu Parekh, Yusuf Arakkal, Sanjay Bhattacharyya and Naina Kanodia will add their creative touch to the event by painting live at the artist’s corner.
Said Tarun Tejpal, chief of Tehelka “Covering politics, entertainment, economics, science, technology, medicine, pop-culture and art, and with evenings filled with rousing music, The Think fest is set to become the year’s most influential event”
Goa fears to lose its position as preferred holiday spot
The tourism industry here feels that Goa will lose its position as the most preferred holiday destination to competitors, if it does not market itself aggressively on a global level.
Manguirish Pai Raikar, chief of Goa chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) said the competition in the region is growing manifold.
“If Goa needs to be on the radar of foreign tourists, we need to create a space for them,” he said hinting at providing alternatives like hinterlands.
Goa has been receiving four lakh foreign tourists annually, of which 40 per cent are repeat clienteles, the industry players say.
With the traditional markets like the UK shrinking, the state is finding solace in the form of Russians, who crossed half a lakh mark during last tourist season.
Raikar said South Asian countries, which are competitive tourist destinations, are trying to woo visitors, who have been traditionally coming to Goa.
“We need to provide them a different profile so that they come here time and again,” he said.
The GCCI chief said that the Goa International Travel Mart (GITM), a three day event which starts tomorrow, is happening at a right time when industry needs to fortify its marketing strategies.
The state tourism industry has now decided to diversify from its conventional beach tourism, which has been nurtured around the 105-km long coastline, with two dozen famous beaches.
Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) Goa Chief Ralf D’Souza said the Goa tourism industry cannot be lethargic in its promotions.
“If we are lax then we are in for a big surprise and that will be a shock,” D’Souza, a hotel owner himself, said.
The state government representatives said attempts are being made to have a network of states on the western coast so that the joint promotional strategies can be worked out.
R K Verma, Principal Secretary (Tourism), Goa government, said the states on the western coast like Maharashtra, Gujarat, Goa, Kerala and Karnataka can join hands in selling their destinations for guests.
“We need to join hands in promoting holiday destinations,” Verma said.
Goa has been receiving 26 lakh tourists, of which four lakh are foreigners.
The industry is continuosly reeling under the fears of global economic crisis and other domestic issues like safety concerns for visitors.
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The NR EYE: Goa takes steps to serve its NRIs
Tuesday, 18 October 2011 06:15
by Moiz Mannan
Moving a step ahead of the central Ministry of Overseas Indians Affairs, the state government of the west coast state of Goa is developing its own mechanism for the protection and welfare of its diaspora abroad.
Last month, the Goa government constituted a high level committee to protect foreign-job aspirants from unscrupulous recruitment agents and job scouts. Earlier this year, the government had set up a special fund to provide immediate assistance to its overseas workers in emergency repatriations situation arising out of job loss, illness or death. It is also working on a contributory pension scheme for returnees.
Recently, Goa’s Commissioner for Non-Resident Indian (NRI) Affairs stunned news reporters by informing them that only five of the 30 Goan recruiting agents featuring on the official website of the ministry of overseas Indian affairs (MOIA) were validly registered.
These remarks came after the first meeting of the state’s high level committee to protect migrants. Among other things, the committee has been compiling data on the legitimacy and credibility of the recruiting agents working in the state.
The committee would further respond to complaints of duping by assisting those in distress on a case-to-case basis. The state authorities, along with the Union Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs and Indian missions abroad, would “jointly tackle this menace,” Faleiro, a former union minister of state for external affairs, was quoted as having said.
‘Assistance’ would include boarding and lodging for housemaids in distress and unskilled labourers; emergency medical care; air passage to stranded workers in need; initial legal assistance in deserving cases; expenditure on incidentals and for air-lifting the mortal remains to Goa of a deceased worker in case the sponsor is unable or unwilling to do so and the family is unable to meet
the costs. A study in 2009, one of the first of its kind, showed that in Goa nearly 12 percent of Goa’s population had members living and working abroad. Of this, nearly 60 percent were in the Gulf region. Nearly 20 percent of all migrants abroad were women. The state receives Rs8 to 10bn every year from more than 60,000 of its diaspora abroad.
In the year under study, the remittances were equivalent to 6.3 percent of the state’s domestic product or 33 percent of the revenue receipts. At least 82 percent of the households used the remittances for daily subsistence. Nearly a third of the households used it for educational purposes. More than a quarter of the households deposited it in banks. One-fifth of remittances were used for building houses and
purchasing land.
Following large scale job losses during the global crisis in 2009, the state initiated efforts to create a special corpus to help its returness. The state government has put in place a mechanism to create such a fund along with a pension scheme.
The welfare fund, to be based on the contributions made by NRGs, aims to provide financial relief to Goan expats in these times of financial turmoil. The level of relief to be given will depend on the expats’ contributions to the fund along with other criteria like experience, qualification and their levels of designation.
It was initiatlly proposed under the scheme that every Goan member abroad would contribute Rs300 per month and every such member returning from abroad and settling permanently in Goa would pay Rs100 per month to the fund as contribution. The government would contribute to the fund every year by way of grant amounting to two percent of the contribution to the fund.
The fund would be used for payment of pension to members who completed 60 years of age, and had contributed for not less than five years. The fund would also be used for payment of family pension on the death of a member who had contributed for not less than five years. Medical treatment, marriage, education, maternity benefits and home loans were also included in the scheme.
Earlier this year, the Goa government approved a scheme entitled “Non Resident Goans Emergency Repatriation Fund (NRGERF)” for the benefit of Goan diaspora in times of distress abroad.
Under the scheme, financial assistance will be extended for transportation of mortal remains of deceased NRGs to Goa in cases where the relatives are unable to bear the cost of transportation, up to Rs500,000; repatriation of those who are faced with extremely serious medical conditions, including due to accidents, where the relatives are unable to meet the cost, up to Rs500,000; and repatriation of those in distress due to loss of jobs, etc. by bearing the cost of airfare to Goa, up to Rs100,000.
On the fake agents’ front, the high level committee further plans to launch a campaign to sensitise the general public about the risk of irregular migration. The list of rogue blacklisted agents will be made available to the public so that they do not fall prey to such rackets.
The Peninsula
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AI flights to make overseas travel easier for Goans
The Air India decision to operate a new late night flight from October 29 and allow the completion of customs and immigration formalities at…
PANAJI: The Air India decision to operate a new late night flight from October 29 and allow the completion of customs and immigration formalities at the Dabolim airport would help the passengers flying out of the Dabolim airport to long distant international destinations to Europe, West Asia, Far East and America.
According to the information provided by the Air India officials, the passengers flying by the airlines from Dabolim could now complete the customs and immigration formalities at the Dabolim airport for their onward journeys to Bangkok, London, New York, Riyadh, Dubai etc with effect from October 29. The air passengers flying to various destinations from Goa can now make one-time checking for their onward journeys from Mumbai.
The officials further said that Air India has combined with other airlines also to provide the facilities to passengers flying to Mauritius, Colombo, Frankfurt, Los Angeles, Vienna and other destinations.
“The air passengers can now complete the immigration and customs formalities here in Goa and fly to their worldwide destination without having to rush to Mumbai airport and spend time there completing the formalities,” said an official adding that the new facility would help Goans to spend some more time with their near and dear ones.
The Air India flight would leave the Dabolim airport at 10.10 pm and arrive at the Mumbai airport at 11.10 pm helping a large number of passengers flying to various continents, said the airline officials adding that on the return journey the flight would leave at 5.20 am and reach Goa at 6.20 am.