GOA-US flight by Sept 2003: Direct flights to and from Goa to the Gulf countries, Europe and the United States of America will materialize by September 2003, with presently the charter flights being opened to all Non-Resident Indians.Tourism in the State will receive a short in the arm with the Union Minister for Civil Aviation Shahnawaz Hussain having given a not to the expansion of Dabolim airport at the cost of Rs.125 crore. Hussain also agreed to expedite the construction of Mopa International Airport. (GT)

Quiet holiday for PM: Truly keeping with his intention of spending a quiet holiday at Benaulim in Goa, PrimeMinister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and his entourage just did that during his stay at the majestic Taj Exotica. The prime minister,who is accompanied by his foster daughter, her husband, grand children and others from the Prime Minister's Office, will be on a holiday here in Goa till January 1, 2003. (H)

Goa to party on New Year despite threat
From: http://www.keralanext.com/news/index.asp?id=5248

An estimated 300,000 foreign tourists have arrived in Goa so far this year, compared to last year’s figure of 270,000, said N Suryanarayana, director of tourism. The tourism industry here is looking up despite the fears of terrorists attacks during Christmas and New Year.

Goa is a haven for tourists: Goa is firmly established as a safe and friendly tourist destination and is hardlyaffected by the occasional outburst of bad media publicity. However, it should rope in the west's eco-tourist while it stillcan, observed Sally Maher, who has completed a three-year-degree course BSc (Hons) on International Tourism Management from the Plymouth University. (Valentino Fernandes in GT)

Beach cleaning: The exercise of collecting plastic and other waste materials from the beaches has commenced muchto the relief of the tourists and shack owners. Once again the work of privatisation of beach cleaning along Goa's coastline has been awarded to different parties from 1 December on trial basis. (GT)

Sound and extortion: "The New Year and Christmas celebrations revolve around the dances that are organised both by the hotels and the scores of event managers…The festive season also becomes regrettably an occasion for extortion for the police. The billion dollar question of whether or when a dance or festivity will be stopped just when thetempo is picking up depends entirely on the personnel of the concerned police station being paid off." (Edit in Herald)

New Delhi seeks to draw participation of Goan NRIs: New Delhi is plans to host a meet of NRIs, from different parts of India from Jan 9 to 11. The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, the organisers, made an attempt to draw the participation of Goan expats. The meet aims to "understand the NRIs/PIO(persons of Indian origin) sentiments about India, create a policy framework for a sustained and productive interaction, andacquaint the Indian people with the achievements of the Indian diaspora and their expectations from India". It also aims tocreate a network of the Indian diaspora across 110 countries globally, and "recognise the contribution" made by expatstowards "improving India's relationship with the host countries". Ficci can be contacted for further details at wrc@ficci.com or ficciwrc@vsnl.net (Frederick Noronha fred@bytesforall.org on goanet)

Goa still groping to find out size and spread of its diaspora http://www.goacom.com/news/news2002/dec/msg00067.html
By Frederick Noronha

PANAJI (Goa), Dec 28 -- Goans have been migrating overseas for generations now, but India's smallest state still lacks statistics on how many people of Goan origin are scattered across the globe.

"We don't even know how many non-resident (Goan) accounts are existing in Goa. Yet in one branch at Palolem in Canacona (a remote south Goan beach-village in an area where migration has picked up in recent decades) there are as many as 4000 non-resident accounts," said NRI Goa Facilitation Centre chairman Chandrakant Keni.

Mid-day meal scheme: The Centrally sponsored mid-day meal scheme is all set to be launched in a phase mannerproposing to cover three talukas from January 27. It will, however, be restricted only to government primary schools, and initially cover Pernem, Bicholim and Sattari talukas.