SUNDAY NEWSPAPER FOR GOA
There is a sort of minor swell in the local media. Goa will soon have a new Sunday newspaper, to be brought out by Rajan Narayan, who is due to leave the popular English daily "O Heraldo" shortly, after having served it for quite a long period. The proposed weekly will be in a broadsheet format, and will be titled "The Independent Goan Observer"."Every 16-page issue will have a four-page section in colour which will provide continually updated information for the benefit of tourists on where to eat, what to see, what facilities exist , what hazards they may face, events including ethnic an cultural events that might interest them – indeed, a complete regularly updated and comprehensive guide for domestic and foreign tourist.” Details of the news publication are at http://www.rajannarayan.com/ The circumstances leading to Rajan Narayan’s resignation are outlined at http://www.rajannarayan.com/straythoughts.htm

PRIZE FOR JOURNALIST JOAQUIM FERNANDES
In the highest national award ever received by a Goan journalist, Joaquim Fernandes, a staff reporter for The Navhind Times, has won the 2003 Sarojini Naidu Prize for best reporting on women in panchayati raj. The prize consists of Rs.2 lakh cash and a citation. The prize would be awarded to him at a special function on October 2 in New Delhi. The Hunger Project, which gives the award, said the cash prize of Rs.2 lakh is given to the journalist to “enable him to continue work on this issue”.

QUALITY PRIMARY EDUCATION ON THE CARDS
The government will shortly bring about qualitative changes in imparting primary education to students in the state, said Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar. Addressing teachers on the occasion of Teacher’s Day yesterday, Parrikar urged them to teach students to respect the dignity of labour. As if in a repartee, comes the report that there are serious discrepancies in the Science Laboratory Manual for STD VIII and IX prepared by the Goa Board. Page 67 of the manual, circulated four months behind schedule is handwritten, with diagrams barely visible on account of poor printing. There is miss-match of diagrams in the very first experiment enlisted in the manual.

GOANS IN JAZZ
	“Everything is changing in the world, and we have to go according to the times. We, Indians, are people with a very sharp ear for music. And we will prove to the world that we hail from that part of India, called Goa, and that we have a rich talent and are sufficiently updated on Jazz,” says the celebrated reedman Joe Pereira, popularly known as Jazzy Joe. Along with other accomplished jazz practitioners—US-based drummer Adrian D’Souza, veteran pianist and popular jingle-voice Bonny Remedios and Collin D’Cruz—Jazzy Joe will record a series of jazz albums for Goa’s premier recording company, Angel AV. The album will be a heady mix of live and studio recordings, of smooth and melodious numbers. The recording company has organised four promotional shows in Goa, namely at the Goa Marriott Resort, Raddison White Sands Resort, Martin’s Corner and the newly opened Midas Touch in Calangute.
The all-Goa jazz group promises a turning point for jazz in India through four classic albums, comprising inimitable intros and solos with multi-instrument Jazzy Joe, who has enthralled the very heart of jazz—New Orleans—besides other jazz haunts of the world. Bewitched audiences…Bill Clinton included…have wondered what exquisite brand of jazz Joe played when he piped haunting Goan mando melodies with a new beat and rhythm.