Over 1,500 personnel, including 1,200 uniformed men from the State police force is what the State government is sparing for three days, just so that the famous or infamous electronic dance music (EDM) festival at Vagator -- Sunburn -- progresses smoothly.
Tall claims are being made of the use of sniffer dogs, forensic experts and other scientific equipment to say that vigilance over drug use and trade will be maintained with a fine tooth comb. It's quite another matter that past experience shows that the men-in-uniform hardly wield the power of their 'vardi' and instead play second fiddle to the personnel of the organisers at the venue.
The point, however, is not what the over 1500 personnel, drawn from the police, fire and emergency services and the emergency medical apparatus who will be stomping around the Vagator-Anjuna area over the next three days, achieve at the venue. It is not even how they manage to ensure the law is complied with or crime is kept at bay and the event passes off without any mishaps or tragedies.
What's buzzing in the minds of many in Goa is why should the administration not deploy this 1500-plus strong force, day in and day out, to sort wrongs across the State.
In Panaji for instance, where the 'Smart City Mission' has thrown the lives of residents and commuters into a chaotic mess, there is not a single official on site, either from the police department or from any other government undertaking to manage the chaos and alleviate the city's problems. Clearly, Sunburn and its patrons matter more to the administration than ordinary Goans.
MPhil degree invalid?
Hundreds of students across Goa and thousands if not lakhs across the country could soon be in for a rude shock if this latest fiat from the University Grants Commission goes through.
The UGC, which is a statutory body of the Central government tasked with the responsibility of regulating as well as funding universities across the country, has now warned that the Master of Philosophy (MPhil) degree is not recognised. Yes, you heard it right: "Not Recognised."
The UGC has now even issued a notification which warns Universities which offer courses awarding an 'MPhil' against the practice.
No less an official as the UGC's Secretary has issued this latest notification which quotes a section of a new regulation introduced by the body in 2022 which prohibits institutions of Higher Education from offering MPhil programmes.
The Secretary's notification also cautions students not to take admission in such programmes.
UGC cautions students against admission in MPhil programmes offered by the universities even as it advises the varisities to take "immediate steps" to stop admissions to MPhil programmes for 2023-24.
Quaint as it may seem, the UGC gives no explanation or logic for the move to discontinue recognition of the MPhil degree and prohibit varisities from offering the programmes. But then, India's educational policy makers hardly bother to come forth on such issues as in the case of the National Council for Education, Research and Training (NCERT) which earlier this year ruled to eliminate the quintessential periodic table from school curriculum.
Tourist excesses going
to the 'extreme' in State
Tourists overdoing stuff and making a spectacle of themselves is not unusual in Goa but this one particular case takes the cake and the scandalous video has gone viral across social media platforms: Two kids sleeping atop the roof of a Mahindra XUV700, apparently driven by their dad, along the coconut palms lined road at Parra where the panchayat at some point in the past charged users a fee:
The video, according to the voice over, is shot by a local in which the kids sleeping facing skywards are clearly caught. On being confronted, the car driver does not speak but only gesticulates before changing direction and driving away with the two kids still lying on the XUV's roof-top.
Danger, it seems, hardly worries these tourists in their quest to satiate their thirst for executing a stunt in Goa and possibly upload the videos on social media.
