ENVIRONMENT: 

• India's Goa hit by illegal mining claims - For Full Details, Click on this Link:

• Goa needs to protect its beaches - Times of India mes of IndiaDONA PAULA: Despite being a small state dependent on beaches for tourism activities, it is surprising that Goa has neither beach profiles, sand texture nor mapped data, said environmental expert Surendra Thakurdesai. For Full Detail, Click on this link

• MORE DESTRUCTION OF GOA: GOVT TO PROCESS 401 NEW MINING LEASES -  The Goa government is set to process applications from 401 mining lease holders seeking to start fresh mining activity in the state. This became evident after the government constituted a coordination committee on Saturday to take up the applications, including 90 from operational mines, for renewal of mining leases. For Full Details, Click on this link

• Goa may be worse than Bellary Illegal Minin ... With sanction to extract 180 Million tonnes of earth a year, Goa will cease to exist.  The mining hurricane that emerged with the Chinese Olympics boom around 2005 and which has by now destroyed huge tracts of Bellary and its forests in Karnataka, has also laid large tracts of beutiful Goa.  For Full Details, Click on this link:

September 2011

URGENT: UNESCO PETITION FOR GOA

Please go to Goan Voice UK website and sign the petition . Also please start directing people (family and friends etc) to sign the petition The link below can be used and will be most grateful for much publicity as possible. Goa's deadline to submit to Unesco is January - meanwhile Goa govt. needs to prepare the dossier to submit. So lets try and get 2000 signatures by beginning of November.

http://www.goanvoice.org.uk

http://goanvoice.org.uk/petition/petition.php

Initiative to enable Pakistani-Goans to return to India

Long-term Indian visas for Pakistanis

Panaji, Aug 31, DHNS:

Christians of Indian origin who live in Pakistan will now be entitled to long term visas to India, Goa’s Commissioner for NRI Affairs Eduardo Faleiro said.

The Union Home Ministry recently added Christians and Buddhists to the list of Indian-origin minorities in Pakistan that would be allowed long-term visas (LTVs). Only Hindus and Sikhs were earlier entitled to this privilege.

In a letter addressed to Faleiro recently, the Joint Secretary (Foreigners) G V V Sharma said that after examining the request from the Goa NRI Commission, the government had decided to also include Buddhists and Christians from Pakistan in the category eligible for LTVs. The decision was being conveyed to all state governments, he said.

This significant decision will greatly facilitate the process for a large number of Pakistani Goans who want to return to Goa to acquire Indian nationality, Faleiro said. The former minister who was instrumental in convincing Home Minister P Chidambaram to extend the LTV entitlement for Pakistani Goans said Christians constitute a significant minority community in Pakistan. A large number of Goan Christians had settled in Karachi in pursuit of jobs long before the Partition. Many of them now want to return to Goa. Many have already migrated out of Pakistan. A number of Pakistani Goans who have been living in Goa before December 31, 2009 would now qualify for Indian nationality, Faleiro said.

In his websiteGOANSOFPAKISTAN.ORG businessman Menin Rodrigues writes from Karachi:

“The early Goans came here brimming with hope, conquered the very fabric of the society by their sheer hardwork and resolve to succeed, and wielding great influence on the local community.”

When Pakistan was carved out in 1947, the prominence of Goans, he says,

 

“was evident from the fact that one of Karachi’s first elected Mayors was Manuel Misquita; it was a time when the city’s judiciary, the armed forces, police,  hospitals, educational institutions, railways and the world of music and sports were ruled by this law-abiding community.”

Some 10,000 odd Goans still live in Karachi, but they are today “living in obscurity and marginalized due to the influx of cultures and communities who have no knowledge of the city’s glorious past,”  regrets the Pak-based businessman.

India moves to give long term visas to Goans settled abroad

PTI Jul 24, 2011, 01.36am IST

Written by Valerie Vaz, UK

LONDON: Union Home Ministry has advised Indian missions abroad to extend long-term visas to Goans settled abroad, NRI Commissioner Eduardo Faleiro has said.

Inaugurating a two-day global Goans Convention at the Indian Gymkhana near Osterley here, Faleiro said he had taken up the issue with the Union home minister after receiving "several complaints from Goans holding foreign passports that some of our Embassies and High Commissions abroad issue them tourist visas, lasting three to six months."

Faleiro, a former Union Minister of State for External Affairs, said that the Union Home Minister agreed that the procedure being followed is not correct and that Goans settled abroad must be given long-terms visas or X (extendable) visas.

"The minister informed me that his Ministry is advising the Missions concerned as well as the Foreigners Regional Registration Office, Goa to ensure that long term visas are issued to them and these visas are extended from time to time," Faleiro.

He advised all Non-Resident Goans holding foreign passports to apply at the earliest for a PIO (Person of Indian Origin) or OCI (Overseas Citizen of India) card.

"This will entitle them to stay in India for 15 years or 30 years respectively without any need for a visa. The PIO and OCI cards are renewable." "In order to redeem the grievances of non-resident Goans, we have decided that every Goan Organization abroad should nominate one representative based in Goa of each country with substantial Goan population and this representative should submit the grievances of Goan expatriates to our office.  Our Office will then forward these complaints to the concerned department and we expect reprisal within a month. When this is not possible, status reports will be issued to the concerned individual every month indicating the progress in the settlement of his grievances until the matter is finally settled."

He said Youth of Goan origin who are not Indian nationals should have an opportunity to discover Goa in particular and India in general so that they may contribute to and promote understanding, goodwill, and cooperation between their country of adoption and the country of origin which is India.

For this purpose, "Know Goa Programme" has been formulated. He said under the Programme, 10 youths from Goan diaspora, professionals and students in the age group of 18 to 26 years, will be selected every year to participate in the Programme.

May 2011

The 2011 Know Goa Programme is being held once again, from November 28th to December 12th.This is the 4th straight  the Government of Goa, Department of NRI Affairs has sponsored this Programme.

For More informatio& to Obtain an Application Form, Click here to Download:

Let's show the world how many of us Canadian youths are more than qualified to go!

IGO Communications 

April 2011

Did you know? The Portuguese Nationality Law also grants citizenship to descendants of Portuguese citizens. Therefore, a person  born only yesterday but who had a grandfather born in Portuguese India before 1961, can apply for Portuguese nationality.

Supporting documents include birth and marriage certificates (if applicable), legal identification documents and certificate of residency during the period 1970 - 1980.  All documents issued in Goa are required to be certified by a Public Notary, the Collector and Under Secretary (Home).  Consult your nearest Portuguese Consulate for details.

NOW AVAILABLE:  1st Copy of the eBOLETIM

Click to Download the  April 2011 Edition

March 11, 2011 

Eduardo Faleiro, Goa's Commissioner for Non Resident Indians (NRI) Affairs announced that visas for Indians, particularly Goans, settled in Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, China, Nigeria and Somalia has become easier with the union home ministry streamlining visa clearances

Click Here to Read Further:

The IGO(O) will post details upon availability.

March 7, 2011

The Office of the Commissioner for NRI Affairs in Bulletin No. COMM/NRI/169/2010-11 states:

To obtain a copy of the OCI Curcular 2011, Click here to Download

February 2, 2011 

The Office of the Commissioner for NRI Affairs in Bulletin No. COMM/NRI/248/10-11/159 states:

The Government of Goa has created a Non Resident Goans Emergency Repatriation Fund (NRGERF) for the benefit of Non Resident Goans (NRGS) in times of distress.

Financial Assistance will be extended for

1. transportation of mortal remains of deceased NRGs to Goa in extremely deserving cases where the next of kin is unable to bear the cost of transportation, to a maximum of Rs. 5.00 lakhs;
2. repatriation of those NRGs who are faced with extremely serious medical conditions, including due to accidents, where the next of kin is unable to meet the cost, subject to a maximum of Rs. 5.00 lakhs; and
3. repatriation of NRGs in distress due to loss of jobs, et., by bearing the cost of airfare to Goa, to a maximum of Rs. 1.00 lakh

Did you know?

The March 28, 1962 the Goa, Daman and Diu (citizenship) Order 1962 states:

"Every person who or either of whose parents or any of whose grand-parents was born before 20/12/1961 in the territories now comprised in the Union territory of Goa, Daman and Diu shall be deemed to have become a citizen of India on that day unless they conveyed their wish to retain their citizenship or nationality held prior to 20/12/1961