Carnival
	The Carnival used to be three-day affair once upon a time and it used to be such a lively time for one and all. Today it last for four days and the type of excitement it generates is great due to the publicity blitz resorted to by the organizers, but the actual parade on show has hardly improved over the years.
As everyone has been saying, the float parade of King Momo in Panjim didn’t come up to the mark.There was a bit more colour and cohesion in Margao, Vasco and Mapusa, but the delay for the floats to start was quite annoying. Of course, there were several other celebrations in the main cities throughout the four days. Moreover, the Carnival seems to be drawing a consistently larger crowds of upcountry tourists every passing year.
GOACOM VIDEO: Check at www.goacom.com Audio-Video News for A VIDEO CLIP of the Panjim Carnival Float Parade.

Russians prefer Goa
Goa no longer remains an unknown territory for the Russians because it has already risen from number 20 in the list of their favoured destinations a few years later, to the number two status this year. Goa enjoys a good reputation in the travel market in Russia, and according to Valentin Ganin, General Director of Transhow, Goa is now second only to Egypt.

Thirsty days are here again
Feel good or not, the summer is approaching fast and with will come the shortages of water, power, etc. Though the government has been assuring that Tiswadi will not suffer for the want of water this year, residents of Panjim already seem to be feeling the effects of the coming draught. The taps are running dry faster than earlier.

Indian software should go ‘Desi’
Former vice chairman of Tata Consultancy Services, Dr FC Kohli, said that in order to become a name in information technology, India has not only to improve its hardware industry, but has also to increase the level of computerization in the country with software applications in the Indian languages. He was addressing the inaugural session of the two-day workshop on “The Goa Agenda—Emerging markets in IT”, organised by the Goa Chamber of Commerce and industry and the Goa government, Department of Information technology…India has done something in software, it has a $15.5 billion output. However, most of it is exported and what remains in the country is only $3 billion which is very low for a country of this size. “We are basically an export-oriented software industry,” he said.

Goa links rivers
Goa takes the credit of being the first State to implement the linking of rivers project, with the inauguration of ‘open’ type of bhandara across Chapora river in Sal, Bicholim, on February 23. The project will now link Chapora river to Assonora river by a pipeline. The project, which has cost the government Rs.2.40 crore has facilitated the interlinking of Chapora river to Assonora river in the Mhadei basin. The interlinking of Salauli river to Khandepar river has already been completed…Earlier the chief minister inaugurated the “Goa Flora”, a floriculture nursery started by Vivek Naik at Sal village.

Goa goes to polls on 26 April
Goa will go for polls in the second phase of parliamentary elections scheduled on 26 April 2004, while results will be declared on 13 May. The last date for filing nominations in Goa is 7 April, while scrutiny of application will be done on 8 April 2004. The last date for withdrawal is 10 April. Sanjeet Rodrigues is the Officer on Special Duty during the parliamentary poll process to be held in Goa. When contacted on 29 February, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar said his government and party were fully prepared to face the polls, and that the propaganda had already begun at an informal level.
In all total of 9,32,439 electorate will exercise their franchise for the Lok Sabha polls. There are 4,21,978 voters in 19 assembly segments of North Goa Parliamentary constituency, of which 2,12,240 were men and 2,09,599 were women voters. The highest 29,463 voters are in Aldona while the lowest 15,809 voters in Dhargalim. There were 5,10,461 (2,58,341 men and 2,51,610 women) voters in the 21 Assembly segments of the South Goa constituency. Ponda has the highest 31,572 voters while Poinguinim has the lowest 15,809 voters. There are 555 polling stations in South Goa and 448 in North Goa.

Airport expansion
A positive signal seems to be emerging with the setting up of the inter-ministerial committee of the Ministry of Civil Aviation and the Ministry of Defence functionaries, with regard to the acquisition of additional land for the proposed expansion of the Dabolim International Airport.
In an effort to balance an increase in air traffic and limited time made available to civilian flights, the Airport Authority of India has suggested that day time rest5riction should be lifted in order to avoid noon time congestion. At present, airlines arrive and depart either from 6 am to 8.30 am and from 1 pm to 6 pm.

Goa’s minimum temperature on rise
Goa has experienced a rise in its minimum temperature between 1995 and today, which meteorologists attribute to the ‘global warming’ phenomenon. The Met office recorded 16 degrees Celsius as the lowest temperature in 1995. It was 17.9 degrees Celsius in 2003, nearly two degrees higher. “The main reason is the global warming and ozone depletion, but increasing pollution also plays a role. In the last ten years pollution has increased tremendously,” says a meteorologist.