Goa under President’s Rule
Goa was placed under President's rule late on March 4 and the Goa State Assembly kept under suspended animation, ending the month-long political crisis stirred by Governor SC Jamir's controversial dismissal of the Manohar Parrikar-led BJP government. President Kalam, on the recommendation of the Union Cabinet, approved the imposition of President's rule, after an emergency meeting of the Cabinet said that the Centre was not happy with what has happened in the Goa Assembly on Friday and has taken suo moto action without waiting for the Governor's report
The BJP and Congress were tied at 16 votes in the legislature. Rane's alliance clinched the contest after pro-tem speaker Fransisco Sardinha restrained a legislator of the regional United Goan's Democratic Party (UGDP), Mathany Saldanha, who was supporting the BJP, from voting.
The BJP, which has been waging a bitter struggle since the previous government headed by Manohar Parrikar was ousted Feb 2, protested loudly against Saldanaha's disqualification.
The two men who shifted the balance of power were Saldanha, the lone UGDP legislator who disobeyed a party fiat to initially vote in favour of the Congress-led alliance, and the Congress-backing Felipe Neri Rodrigues who had been disqualified. Rodrigues had Friday applied for his disqualification to be reviewed.
But the arguments were inconclusive, and no decision was taken. With Rodrigues and Saldanha out of the reckoning, the pro-tem speaker held all the cards with him.
The events of Friday mark a culmination of sorts for the vicious power struggle between the BJP and Congress, which after dominating politics for about two decades has been out in the cold for nearly five-and-a-half years.
The run up to the intense jockeying for power put the spotlight on this coastal state of 1.4 million people.
Parrikar was sacked after a controversial vote of confidence on Feb 2. On Feb 28, another attempt to test the floor strength was thwarted after the BJP's Vishwas Satarkar quit as speaker, as did his deputy, Narhari Haldankar.
The Congress then appointed Sardinha as the pro-term speaker.
The BJP's gambit was that this would free a crucial blocked vote - the speaker can vote only in case of a tie - and also delay the possibility of the Rane government winning the confidence vote.
Goa has a history of unstable politics, with a plethora of smaller parties often switching loyalties and governments surviving on wafer thin majorities.

Denationalisation Discussed
At the History Hour held at the Xavier Centre of Historical Research, on February 24 evening, Adv Jason Fernandes addressed the gathering on the idea of "denationalisation" based on his study of the idea which was propagated by the late TB Cunha. Fernandes said that a lot of "people today use the idea of de-nationalisation to criticise Goans, saying that they are hybrid persons and denationalised, which I think is totally wrong. Their views need to be challenged because those ideas don't hold good in critical arguments. We cannot use this idea today because Cunha used it for a particular, political purpose, as it is capable of generating great violence".

Demise of Konkani tiatr’s dashing hero
	Konkani tiatr has lost another strong pillar in the death of dashing, adorable, versatile singer and actor Bab Peter on February 19 in Bahrain. A large number of mourners bid a tearful adieu to the departed artiste, who mortal remains were laid to rest at the Victoria Church cemetery in Mahim on February 23 evening. Among the mourners were the bereaved family, wife Ophelia, daughter Babli, son-in-law Sameer, Ophelia's brother Tony Cabral and a galaxy of tiatrists from Mumbai and Goa.
Ophelia and Babli sang one of Bab Peter's favourite songs, along with the choir, while the band played one of the tunes of his old songs. Sameer, Puja and Fausto D'Costa paid glowing tributes to the departed soul. The news of tiatrist Bab Peter's untimely death has stunned Goa's tiatrist and tiatr lovers.

Prince Jacob's 'Padri' on celluloid
Matinee idol, playwright and direction of the Konkani stage Prince Jacob has eventually ventured in movie making, and the mahurat of his debut making production "Padri", was held on March 2 at Our Lady of Snows Church in Raia, Salcette. The handpicked star cast is from Goa, the surrounding Konkan areas and Mangalore. Lyrics have been written by celebrated Mangalore artiste Wilfy Remimbus and music by Pappan and Joswin. Given Prince Jacob's penchant for perfection, "Padri" will certainly take Goan film making to singular heights. Estimated to cost around Rs.45 lakh, the latest Konkani film will be shot in Goa, neighbouring Konkan, Mangalore and Bangalore, within a month. Directed by Rajesh Singh, the production has a mixed cast of Goan artistes and others, and the songs have been composed by Mangalorean maestro Wilfy Remimbus. After sounding the clapper Cabinet minister Luizinho Faleiro assured that his government will endeavour to help movie makers in the State.

Goan doc lectures in Colombo
Dr Shaila Shodhan Kamat, an anaesthesiologist, was recently invited to talk on 'Preoperative Problems in Anaesthesiology' at the 6th Congress of the South Asian Confederation of Anaesthesiologists, held at Colombo. Dr Shaila has delivered lectures in anaesthesia on various platforms in Goa, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Orissa, etc, at State, zonal and national conferences. She has developed a special technique for incubation and her favourite lecturers are on 'Stress Management' and 'Mechanical Ventilation'.