Evescape

COVID-19 impact social life & learning of CHILDREN By Percy Cardozo The COVID-19 outbreak was like a bolt out of the blue, stopping the world in its tracks. Cutting across all boundaries - natural or man-made, it has struck us silently at lightning speeds, causing unusual disruption to our daily routines. Never in recorded history has the world experienced such a catastrophe simultaneously affecting almost all regions of the world. The pandemic is primarily a health crisis but is it also having shattering consequences on every aspect of our living. The insidious virus has forced countries across the world to use lockdown as a preventive measure for the safety of its citizens.   Countries have rightly resorted to lock down as a preventive measure, nevertheless, suddenly it has thrown children's social life and learning out of gear. According to UNESCO, as of April 2020, 1.5 billion young people worldwide are out of school because of the pandemic. In India, almost 1.4 millio...

Wasted Efforts on Waste Management  Insufficient infrastructure, weak planning and information systems, and an altogether unorganized and flawed waste management system has become a burgeoning problem for the Margao Municipal Council (MMC) to ensure effective and sustainable management of waste, especially in the event of the tension prevailing at the Sonsoddo landfill. Pushed to the wall by Fomento Green -- the concessionaire of the solid waste management plant, the MMC has once again raised its pitch on segregation at source, putting the onus on the citizens, before making any changes at the institutional level, even as experts opine that segregation at source cannot be achieved without a working waste management policy in place, and unless authorities engage with citizens seeking community participation . Pressing the need for an organised campaign with the active involvement of ward councillors and civic body officials, Clinton Vaz , an expert in waste managemen...

                                         Gender  stereotypes  in the media  While working with the Goa edition of a national daily, I once had an heated argument with the resident editor for not including voices and opinions of women in news articles on current affairs. Though women's opinions were sought on gender issues, their voices did not matter in the fields of politics, development, finance or economy. Most views came from men thus projecting them as the only thought influences. The fact that there was under-representation of women in news as news-makers, sources of news, news analysts or as experts hugely dissapointed me. Since the media plays an important role in perpetuating or challenging cultural and societal norms, depiction of gender stereotypes in the media influences how society perceive women. As I sought redressal, I realised that the ...

A toilet story With Goa missing ODF deadline twice, it is a worrying situation that a lauded policy like the Swacch Bharat Mission almost never come to fruition on the ground, even in a village like Cola, specifically “adopted” by a parliamentarian.  Ghanne is a ward of the Cola village, in down south Quepem Taluka. The popular Adinath temple is located in this ward. Some 300 people live here. Saraswati Velip, 80 something is the face of the story of this ward. With not a single household toilet, the entire village defecates in the open. In the evening of her life, Saraswati's only wish is to see a toilet in her house. "Iam tired of walking long distance to relieve myself. In my young days, things were better and we never felt bad about defecating in the open. There was lot os vegetation and the population was less. Now things have changed. With education and awareness, there is lot of discomfort doing the routine. The younger women and girls are worst hit by the lack...

Looming water crises in the village of Cola (Khola), Goa   Sisters Mayawati and Chandravati Velip are residents of Matvem, one of the seven wards in the jurisdiction of the Cola panchayat. Both are members of a mahila mandal comprising of 23 members and run a humble eatery in the area. What irks them is the acute water crises faced by villagers. Leela Velip is another member of the Adinath mahila mandal, and a resident of Govonn which faces chronic water shortage. More wards, including Saleri,  Cajumoll, Kudai, Ambdem, Ghanne, Govol and Cabo De Rama too are affected by the dry spell. The most affected ward due to water shortage is Matvem which has a polulation of some 1200 people, the sisters informed. Paucity of water resources in several wards of Cola village has assumed chronic nature with residents flaying the authorities for failing to redress the problem. The village grapples with water paucity, throughout the year, but face acute crises in the months starting F...

Affirmative Action on Gender Equity  is the Most Urgent Task  Since the March of 2017, I have been deligently working on creating a document encapsulating all that I’ve learned while running campaigns to garner women support in politics. Among other things the document aims to chart practical measures to chip away at the barriers that keep women away. It underlines the need to promote parity in the party's internal structures, include equal representation at party events and conferences, appoint women and men equally to party decision-making positions, provide women members with a platform to voice their questions and place these issues onto the policy agenda at the highest levels of party leadership.  Additionally, this document which can serve as a manual, aims to build discussion platforms to allow women to create networks with other women leaders and their supporters. The challenge is two-fold: 1. sustain our own engagement with the political process on ba...