FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY An ISO 9001:2008 Certified Organisation Volume IV, Issue III Newsletter July - September, 2013 The rain - soaked ramp to the Library DIRECTOR ’S MESSAGE Dear Friends, Greetings! As I am writing this, the rains seem to have bid us good bye finally! July this year, was by far the wettest month, not a single day went by when there was no rain. Yet we continued relentlessly with our work and programmes all through the monsoons. As you will see in the Newsletter, we have given you again a complete range from seminars to workshops, to book readings, lectures and quizzes. An evening tea with some members resulted in a coffee demonstration session, which was very well attended. Apart from seminars and debates, it seems, we have a large audience for interesting programmes like these too. In July, we had elections for a new President of the Centre. The members of the Board elect the President, from amongst the life trustees for a term of five years. Mr. Yatin Kakodkar was unanimously elected as President and Mr. Dattaraj Salgaocar as Vice President. We bid a sad farewell to Mr. Pratap Singh Rane who was President for two consecutive terms. Mr. Kakodkar and Mr. Salgaocar, are both actively involved in the running of the Centre and like to keep abreast of all activities which are happening here. We welcome them and wish them both a happy and successful tenure. As the months go by, we are getting closer to our grand annual event-the Goa Arts and Literary Festival. Try not to miss it because we have a super line up of writers, poets, artists and performances for you. Keep a tab by visiting its dedicated website (www.goaartlitfest.com) and block your dates in December, the 5th to the 8th. This time our major attraction will be Assam - we will be showcasing their literature, art and music - so be sure to be here to catch all the excitement! Sharing a light moment with Lord Meghnad Desai and The Honourable Governor, Shri Bharat Vir Wanchoo... After the super successful first Members Night, we are planning another one in December - will get back to all members with possible dates - but you can also give your suggestions - any date between 10th to 20th should suit most, I think. Look forward to seeing you all here in large numbers. Wishing you all health and happiness as always. Nandini Sahai. Goa Dialogues 2 The International Centre Goa Goa Dialogues 3 The International Centre Goa SE M INARS Flag Hoisting and Garbage Collection Role of Youth in Political Decision Making Independence Day was celebrated on 15th August at the Centre. Thereafter a garbage cleaning drive was undertaken in association with Taleigao Village Panchayat along the road starting from the Centre to the Dona Paula Jetty, with MLA, Mrs. Jennifer Monseratte, the villagers of Taleigao and staff of ICG. Top: Inauguration of the Seminar Below: Students participating in the seminar The International Centre Goa (ICG) in association with FES- India & MICCI organized a one-day seminar on Role of Youth in Enhancing Participatory Democracy on 23rd September. The seminar was attended by over 100 students from different colleges of Goa. The most interesting aspect of this seminar was that all speakers as well as moderators / chair-persons were the students themselves. An eminent person was nominated as an observer for each session who made his / her comments at the end of each session. The students made presentations on the following different sessions of the seminar: • Engaging Youth in Political Process: Do Political Parties Exploit Youth for their own Interests? • What Ails our Democracy? Youth Perception and Presumption • Youth Converting Electoral Democracy into Participatory Democracy through RTI - The most Potent Weapon • Portrayal of Youth in Media: How Real? How Distorted? The colleges that participated in the seminar were: • Govt. College of Art & Commerce, Virnoda - Pernem: 20 students • Govt. College of Arts, Science & Commerce, Quepem: 9 students • Govt. College of Arts, Science & Commerce, Sanquelim: 6 students • Don Bosco College, Panaji: 21 students • Fr. Agnel College of Arts & Commerce, Pilar: 14 students • GVM’s College of Education, Ponda: 16 students • St. Xaviers College, Mapusa: 16 students To watch the full Seminar, visit Youtube. - http://www.youtube.com/user/icggoa?feature=watch Goa Dialogues 3 The International Centre Goa ICG LECTURE SERIES ON GOO D GOVERNANCE Lecture on “Good Governance: a Key to Economic Success” by Lord Meghnad Desai Left: Lord Meghnad Desai delivering the lecture Top: A participant asking questions Below: Participants at the lecture To watch the full lecture, visit Youtube. - http://www.youtube.com/user/ Lord Meghnad Desai delivered the XIIth Lecture cum Interactive icggoa?feature=watch Session in the ICG Lecture Series on Good Governance titled “Good Governance: a Key to Economic Success” on 17th September. He stressed the need for reforms in electoral financing, by making it more transparent. He opined among other things that the Governance was an institution within which executive actions can be carried out, but with limits posed by the legislature and a mere change in the government will not help alleviate the economic slowdown. He observed that the present decline was due to a crisis of governance and bad economics. Comparing the behaviour of elected representatives in India and UK, he said, in India there is little freedom for backbenchers to deviate from the command of the leaders, as compared to House of Commons in the UK where every individual has their own voice, irrespective of loyalties. Hindustani classical music singer Shubha Mudgal was a guest at He stressed that the ‘media revolution’had made it impossible to ICG. Seen here with the Reception and F& B Staff hide issues. He said the civil society will have to play a stronger role in taking the initiative to be more responsible for the nation’s growth and goad the political system to correct itself through a political-public-participation process for reforms to actually usher in. Congratulation to our In closing, he stressed that India needs a regular economic system GM, Mr. Khwaja Ayub which can encourage people to start businesses, take risks and Zickriya for winning the expect unhindered returns. Humorous Speech Contest Chaired by Mr. Yatin G Kakodkar, President - ICG, the lecture conducted by the ICG th was attended by a large number of ICG members, policemen, Toastmasters Club on 19 academicians, business men, politicians, media persons and September 2013 here at ICG. students of varied background. Goa Dialogues 4 The International Centre Goa Goa Dialogues 5 The International Centre Goa Lecture on “Adding content to cordiality – the ICG LECTURE SERIES BY EM INENT PERSONS transformation of India-Brazil relations in the last Lecture on “Security and Foreign Policy Challenges in a decade-Ambassador B S Prakash” Volatile Neighbourhood-Ambassador G Parthasarathy” Ambassador B S Prakash delivered a lecture on 31st August, where he focused on the transformation of the Indian-Brazilian relationship saying that we need to add content to the cordiality in our relationship. He said that Brazil is an interesting country with some different dimensions and shares 4Ds with India - democracy, diversity, disparities and development. He said, there are many opportunities for India and Brazil to develop in the areas of energy, mining, education among others. He appreciated that Goa has a Centre for Latin American Studies. The lecture was held in association with the Goa University. Chaired by Dr. Aparajita Gangopadhyay, Head – Centre for Latin American & International Studies, Goa University, the lecture Ambassador G Parthasarathy delivered a lecture on 3rd August, and was well attended by students, media persons, academicians where he spoke among other things on how the Indian government and members of the ICG. should relax its visa restrictions and reach out to students, journalists and social activists in Pakistan. He said, that they Left Top: Ambassador Parthasarthy delivering the lecture along with should be allowed to come and see how the people in India live Ms. Sahai and Dr. Rahul Tripathi and that we are not so different from them. He also said that the Left Middle: The Honourable Governor, Shri Bharat Vir Wanchoo students in India should take a deeper understanding and interest and other guests in internal relations and discuss such matters. Left Below: Participants at the lecture The lecture was held in association with the Goa University and Top: Ambassador Prakash alongwith Ms. Sahai, Dr. Aparajita chaired by Dr. Rahul Tripathi, Head – Dept. of Political Science, Gangopadhyay and Ms. Riva Ganguly Das Goa University. Several students of International Relations & Below: Students at the lecture Political Science from different colleges of Goa, media persons, To watch both the lectures, visit Youtube. - http://www.youtube.com/ academicians and members of the ICG attended the lecture. user/icggoa?feature=watch Goa Dialogues 5 The International Centre Goa TA L K CU M INTERACTIVE SESSIONS Interactive session on Pinocchio Effect Coffee and U Mr. Ubaldo D’Souza & Ms. Amrita Singh, life members of ICG conducted Demonstration cum Interactive Session on Coffee and U on 30th August. The session included demonstrations of how to select coffee, grind it at home and make it into a tasty cup of coffee. The session was attended by over 50 ICG members and An interactive session on Pinocchio Effect – Detect the Lie behind coffee connoisseurs. the line of Truth, was conducted by Aditya PS – Life Coach, on 20th September. The workshop was a sophisticated tool for better negotiating, selling, protecting, and interviewing. Looking forward It provided the audience with detailed scientific findings on which to seeing you all at the personality types lie, how deception is expressed in e-mail, on the phone, and in person, and how to detect deception through body Tea with Director language.