Evescape

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...

Media Insititutions Should Be  Gender Sensitive The widely publicised photograph of the newly elected committee of the Goa Union of Journalists (GUJ), after elections to the body held last week -- sparked a debate; rather outrage, at least in one group comprising of influential women in Goa. There was not a single woman in the frame; therefore the outrage. To my mind the picture was appalling, and criminal as well -- the union, as projected in the photograph resembled a Boy's Club. GUJ acclaims itself to be the only voice for journalists and journalism in Goa. That it represents a broad range of media professionals, including women. In the spirit of a union, it also claims to serve as a platform to encourage its working women and freelance journalist members to speak up against injustice and call for action on gender equality and equity in media.  Even a rank outsider would consider the union, as a media institution, to actively campaign for changes, especially...

"A Science teacher needs to work hard" - Rajashree B Karapurkar So how can you take the stress you thought was killing you and make it constructive? Ask Rajashree Bandodkar Karapurkar -- recipient of the Bal Sahitya Puraskar 2019, constituted by Sahitya Akademi , India's national academy of letters. "In the year 2012, my book Taaryachya Vanat Swapnanchi Sahal  was released. Post this, I underwent a lot of stress at my workplace. To keep away from stressful thoughts, I got back to my writing and this book was born," she recalls.  "The book was published in the year 2015 after a gap of three years," she recalls while explaining the journey of the award winning Konkani book, Chitkulya Chinkichye Vishaal Vishwa -- a colourful illustrative book written for children.  Rajashree narrates the contents of her book -- "Little Chinki , a baby ant is curious about the secrets of the environment. During her journey of life, her prote...

Leading the Swedish way I met Annika Skogar, a young political science student from Lund, Sweden in the January of 2013. Lund, she informed me, is situated in the south of  Sweden, some 40 minutes away from Copenhagen, the capital city of Denmark. She worked for the student's magazine at Lund University and was also involved in Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. She was in Goa on a scholarship from the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) and was researching on women issues, gender equality in politics and engaged in meeting politicians, activists, government officials and other stakeholders since the summer of 2012. This was when she came across Evescape (the women's magazine I had launched that year) and wanted to meet me. That was also the year when the BJP led Goa Government under chief minister Manohar Parrikar had launched the Laadli Laxmi scheme, as a response to the skewed male-female ratio. Evescape believed that a solution to the...

The power of our mother language Soumya, a student of class two of a government primary school at Borda, near Margao is carefully reading out a small note written in Marathi. The seven year old hails from Karnataka and lives in Gogol with her parents and siblings. Her father works as a daily wage painter. She says she can speak Kannada but can read Marathi. She is preparing to give a talk on the importance of mother language at an event conducted by an NGO in the school premises to observe International Mother Language Day. As I look on to the child with interest (I am invited by the organizers as a guest of honor), her teacher tells me -- Soumya is bright student! In another corner, a group of little children are preparing to enact a skit and sing a song in thethi, a dialect sounding like Bhojpuri. Their teacher tells me that this group of students belong to a district in Bihar. There are more students as well -- natives of Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, ...

A Political Rock Star On January 27, I was glued to the television set watching the live telecast of the inauguration of the third Mandovi Bridge named Atal Setu . Termed as an engineering marvel, this bridge is the third longest cable-stayed bridge in India with a total length of 5.1 kilometers. Apart from the razzle-dazzle of the event, I was paying keen attention to the demeanor of the ailing Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, popularly referred to as Bhayi (older brother). It was his first public appearance after several months and as the camera focused on him, it was obvious that the ailment has taken a toll on the leader. However, despite the physical weakness, a never say die spirit was writ large on his face and the sheer enthusiasm (which his critics termed as 'hunger for power') was inspiring to say the least. He appeared unperturbed by the trials (personal and political) while trying to inspire confidence in others. As he cheered the gathering asking, ...

                                         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 ...