HOME DELIMITATION CONSPIRACY ? -------------------------------------------------- |
IN DEPTH |
STRAY THOUGHTS By Rajan Narayan RSS MAIN SUSPECTS IN SANGUEM DESECRATIONS? -------------------------------------------------- |
IN FOCUS WOMEN AND CHILDREN UNDER SIEGE By A Jonquil Sudhir -------------------------------------------------- |
FIRST PERSON NOSTALGIA |
TONGUE-IN-CHEEK By Aravind Bhatikar DEFEATING EASY DHOR... -------------------------------------------------- |
EATING IS FUN A variety food column By Tara Narayan ONE MORE FOR SOYBEANS HOME & HEARTH SHOPPING SEASON GETS GOING By A Shopaholic -------------------------------------------------- |
CAREERS AVENUES IN ADVERTISING By A Special Correspondent -------------------------------------------------- |
AD VALUE LITTLE SCREEN, BIG HEROES By Ramesh Narayan -------------------------------------------------- |
FESTIVALS IN PRAISE OF GANAPATI LAVISH DECOS MARK GANESH MANDAPS |
GLOBAL GOAN IMAGINATION OR REALITY? By Constantino Hermanns Xavier -------------------------------------------------- |
TIATR ‘ALMANCHEA DISA’ IN KUWAIT By Daniel F de Souza -------------------------------------------------- |
SPORTSTRACK By Irineu Gonsalves MISPLACED PRIORITIES RUINING SPORTS -------------------------------------------------- |
GOENKARANCHO AVAZ |
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ONCE EVERY decade a delimitation exercise is carried out. The objective of the exercise is to ensure that voters in the country and in a particular state are evenly distributed among the population. The delimitation exercise is dictated by the fact that over a decade due to urbanisation and other factors there may be shifts in the population pattern. We are all familiar with the fact that an increasing number of Goans have tended to move from the villages to urban centres to be closer to their place of work. Changes in the pattern of the population also takes place due to emigration or immigration. The Delimitation exercise is necessary and a legitimate democratic method of ensuring that voters are uniformly distributed across the constituencies in the state. The Delimitation exercise is however subject to manipulation. It is normally the government of the day that puts out the proposal for realignment of the constituencies to the Delimitation Commission. This is because only the government of the day has the machinery and the expertise to do so. It is inevitable that the government of the day will try to influence the realignment of the constituencies to its advantage. The Congress did it when the delimitation exercise was undertaken on Goa achieving Statehood when the number of Assembly seats went up from 30 to 40. It is therefore not surprising that the BJP controlled government in the state should seek to manipulate the realignment of constituencies to its advantage. In such situations it is for the opposition to be vigilant and ensure that the delimitation exercise is fair. The BJP in the country and in the state is aware that the minorities are antagonistic towards it. The Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar did attempt to woo the minorities and has been reasonably successful in the past as dramatised by the fact that several minority community MLAs have been extending support to the BJP. Some of them like Babush Monserrate and Francis D’Souza have even formally joined the BJP. But post Gujarat there has been a dramatic change in the situation. Gujarat was a major factor in the defeat of the BJP in the parliamentary elections in the country and in South Goa. Our main objection to the draft Delimitation proposals is that it seeks to polarise Goans along communal lines. We are not experts. But a close examination of the manner in which the delimitation draft proposals have been drawn up would seem to indicate that there is an underlying conspiracy to marginalise the minority community. It cannot be a coincidence that three constituencies represented by minority community MLAs have been eliminated. The composition of the several constituencies have also been changed to give a distinct advantage to the BJP. We are alarmed over the communal undertones in the draft delimitation proposals. We have little faith that a self centered Congress party will fight for equity and justice. This is because Congressmen in Goa are preoccupied with advancing their own personal interest rather than the interests of the party. In the current issue we have published details of the realignment of the constituencies proposed by the state government for consideration by the Delimitation Commission. We have done so even though these documents are supposed to be confidential. We have done so in the public interest and because we see no logic behind the secrecy attached to these documents. Surely every voter which means every adult citizen in Goa has a right if not an obligation to ensure that any delimitation exercise is fair to all citizens of Goa. We invite our readers to participate in the debate on whether the draft delimitation proposals have been manipulated by the saffron brigade for its own unholy purpose. MOG ASSUM RAJAN NARAYAN
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