Panaji : July 8, 2017 …. Forest plays vital role in human life. Human comforts cannot be possible without forest. Hence it is very much important to grow and nurture forest for better future of mankind, stated Principal Secretary for Forest Shri. Ranbir Singh (IAS). He was speaking at a function organised to celebrate 68^thVanmahostava by Department of Forest in collaboration with Goa College of Home Science held in a campus of Goa College of Home Science in Campal, Panjim today.

Shri. Singh further stressed on need to conserve and maintain tree cover in Goa, as it contribute largely to enhance the landscape of  this state which attributes to Goa as the best tourist destination.

Mayor, Corporation of  City of Panjim Shri. Surendra Furtado in his address said that care and maintenance is required to grow the saplings into tree. Many a times on the pretext of  celebrating Vanamahostava people plant saplings in large number but do not bother to take care of those saplings, as a result the saplings never turn into  well grown trees. If we really want green cover around our vicinity than trees need to be maintained and grown with proper care, he added.

The formal function of  Vanmahostav was marked with plantation of saplings in the campus of Goa College of Home Science by the dignitaries present on the occasion. This exercise involved the students of the Goa College of Home science and Dr. T.B. Cunha Higher Secondary School.

Besides this Mobile Van carrying Medicinal plants for public distribution in each taluka, was launched by the State Medicinal Plants Board. The Van was flagged off by Dr. Ranbir Singh in the presence of other dignitaries.

The State Medicinal plants Board will be distributing medicinal plants at a subsidised rates in every taluka. The seedling sale shall be from 10 am to 6 pm.

Goa Forest department will be carrying out tree plantation and awareness activities throughout the state during month of July in association  with  Civil society, NGOs, Corporate bodies and Educational institutes.

Incharge Principal Chief Conservator of Forest Shri. M.K.Shambu IFS and Principal of Goa College of Home Science Dr. Mahesh Pai spoke on the occasion. Principal of Dr. T.B. Cunha Higher Secondary Smt. Rashmi Bandodkar was present for the function. Asst. Professor of Goa College of Home Science Smt. Varsha Naik compared the programme. Conservator of forest Dr. Anil kumar IFS proposed vote of thank.

Panaji: July 7,  2017 …The Directorate of Art & Culture will honour 12 eminent personalities in the field of Art & Culture by conferring the prestigious ‘Goa State Cultural Award’ for their contribution & achievements in their respective fields like Music, Drama/Tiatr, Folk Art, Bhajan, Kirtan, Craft, Literature, Painting etc. The awards are for the year 2016-17.

These awardees have set an example to the youth of Goa and are encouraging them by dedicating their life for promotion and preservation of Art & Culture of the state.

The recipients of awards for the year 2016-17 are Shri.PramodPriolkar, Priol-Ponda, Music(Indian), Shri.F.G.Alvaro de A. Pereira, Utorda-Salcete, Music(Western), Shri. Dasu Shirodkar, Tarvalem Ponda, Literature, Shri. Gajanan Jog, Caranzalem-Tiswadi, Literature, Shri. Avecleto Afonso, Panaji-Tiswadi, Literature, Shri. Ganesh Marathe,  Corlim-Tiswadi, Theatre(Drama), Smt. Maria Fernandes, Sangolda –Bardez, Theatre (Tiatr), Shri. RomaldoD’souza, Chinchinnim Salcete, Theatre (Tiatr), Shri. Udaybua Phadke, Mulgao-Bicholim, Kirtan, Shri. UmeshTari, Old-goa-Tiswadi, Bhajan, Shri. Ram Mauskar,Nagargaon-Sattari, Folk Art and Shri. SadashivParab,Moira-Bardez, Fine Art.

The Awards comprises of a cash purse of Rs.1,00,000/- each, a certificate, shrifal,  Nataraj Replica and  shawl. 

Government also honors one Best Cultural Institution, working in the field of Art & Culture every year for the year 2016-17. The Best Cultural Institution award will be conferred on Antruz Lalitak, Bandora Ponda.The award consists of a Memento and Cash purse of Rs.3.00 Lakh.

Similarly six youth personalities have been selected for the ‘Yuva Srujan Puraskar’ (Navasarjan –Chetna Puraskar) award.  Shri Mayuresh D.Vast,Curchorem, Quepem, Music, Shri Dayaram B.Padloskar,Dhargal, Pernem, Literature, Miss Jessica J.Gomes,Colva Salcete, Tiatr, Miss Sucheta Narvekar,Gaunem Ponda,  Drama, Shri SachinNaikBandora Ponda, Fine Art and Shri Chetan V. Khedekar, Priol Ponda, Folk –Art.

The awardees will be honored with a memento, certificate of appreciation and a financial purse to the extent of Rs. 25,000/- per awardee.

The Goa State Cultural Awards for Individuals, Best Cultural Institution and yuva srujan puraskar will be presented to the awardees at a special function to be organized by the department

Panaji: July 3,  2017::  Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (Divyangjan) Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment Government of India is implementing six scholarship schemes for students with disabilities.

Pre-matric scholarships for Class IX and X, Post-matric scholarships for Class XI to Post-graduation, Scholarship for Top Class Education for Post-Graduate Degree of Diploma in 240 notified institutions on National Scholarship Portal, National Fellowship for Persons with Disabilities for M.Phil/Ph.D, Free Coaching for students with Disabilities (Launched from April 1, 2017) and National Overseas Scholarships for Post graduation and Ph.D in Universities/Institutes abroad.

The registration of students  on the NSP has already been started from June 1, 2017. The details of these schemes are available on the website. (www.disabilityaffairs.gov.in)

 The last date of applying on-line on the portal for Pre-matric is September 30, 2017 and Post-matric  and Top Class Education Scholarship Scheme is October 31, 2017. The last date for applications for renewal candidates is July 31, 2017.

For more details interested can contact the Directorate of Social Welfare, 18^th June Road, Panaji. Phone No:0832-2232257. Email ****************@********il.com” target=”_blank” rel=”nofollow noopener”>id:so**************@********il.com

Panaji, July 2, 2017 … Union Minister of State for AYUSH (IC) Shri Shripad Naik today said apart from streamlining the tax regime in the country, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) will benefit common man at large.

Inaugurating Vartalaap, Media Outreach Programme organized by Press Information Bureau under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting at Panaji in Goa today. Mr Naik said, the consensus given by all political parties for unified tax regime is an indication of a matured democracy. The Union Minister said tax regime is the backbone of country’s economy; hence it needs to be more simpler and streamlined. As such its implementation will be easier.

Delivering his keynote address GST Commissioner, K Anpazhakan, said, With the launch of GST the much awaited indirect tax system has been evolved in the country. He said GST rests on the idea of One Nation One Tax. This he said will lead to economic ease besides country’s growth rate will increase by one to two percent.

The Vartalaap Progrmamme organized by PIB, evoked a good response with participation over  35 journalists. Assistant Commissioner of Central Excise and Customs Mr Gaurav Jain and Himani Dhamija guided the deliberations at the programme.

Earlier Deputy Director PIB, Panaji Mr D V Vinodkumar welcomed. Assistant Director Shri Balaji Prabhugaonker proposed a vote of thanks.

Goa, June 30, 2017: In continuation of Google India’s commitment to digitally empower India’s small and medium business community, the company showcased a range of programs and products that will enable SMBs in Goa leverage the power of internet and technology to become successful.

At an event held in the city today, Google announced the Central region winners of SMB Heroes 2017, a nationwide program to showcase and celebrate small and medium businesses that have embraced the internet to power their growth. The SMB Heroes Awards received an overwhelming response with entries from over 142 cities including cities like Hoshiarpur, Rajkot, Rajamundhry, Jamshedpur, Coimbatore, Hisar, Bhimavaram and many more.

The three businesses that emerged as central region winners under each of the categories are: Shrikant Parulekar’s Astra Concrete for Business Impact through Digital, Elsa Marie DSilva’s Safecity for Impacting Change through Digital and Shuchi Pandya’s Pipa Bella for Woman Business Leader. The winners were felicitated by Mr. Yogesh Andlay, Co-Chair of FICCI Startup Committee and Founder Director, Nucleus Software and Manguirish Pai Raiker Chairman and Managing Director of Brown Packaging Systems Pvt. Ltd and Chairman, RCPR School of Agriculture at Savoi Verem in Goa India along with Shalini Girish, Director – Google Marketing Solutions. These winners are now in the running for the national finals that will be held in Delhi later this year.

Addressing an audience of local SMBs and highlighting the importance of digital, Shalini Girish, Director – Marketing Solutions, Google said, “India now has 400 million internet users, and this has had a transformational impact on how people consume information, connect with one another and find businesses. We see the internet as a great democratizing force that breaks down barriers of language and location. The business journeys of the SMB Heroes winners are a great testament to this, as each of them has leveraged technology to address challenges and grow their businesses.”

 Emphasizing the need to focus on building the technology capabilities of Indian SMBs, Google shared findings from a joint research study with KPMG titled “Impact of internet and digitization on SMBs in India”. The study reiterates that 68% of the 51m Indian SMBs are offline; and, digitally engaged SMBs grow twice as fast compared to offline SMBs. According to the report, digitally engaged businesses are able to grow their customer base significantly with 52% catering to customers beyond their home city versus only 29% offline SMBs.  Highlighting the macro-economic impact of the internet, the research found that rising penetration and greater uptake for digital by SMBs could help increase their contribution to India’s GDP by 10 percentage points, taking it up to 46-48% by 2020. The report cites the lack of understanding of the benefits of digital technologies and technical skills as the essential reasons for being offline.

 Digital Skills Training – web, mobile and in classrooms

Recognizing the need to address this gap, Google India commenced Digital Unlocked an online, offline and mobile training program to empower thousands of Indian SMBs with essential digital skills.

The Digital Unlocked program has been designed keeping the varied learning needs of the millions of businesses in India. The offline training is being conducted in partnership with FICCI and over the next three years, 5,000 workshops will be held across 40 Indian cities. The online training comprises a set of 90 self-paced video tutorials, curated specifically for India and is available free of charge at g.co/digitalunlocked. The tutorials cover a comprehensive set of topics ranging from building a web presence and driving online growth to reaching customers over mobile and video. The trainings are certified by Google, Indian School of Business and FICCI. Since its launch in January 2017, over 13,000 businesses are now certified.

Further, for India’s mobile-first audience, Google has recently launched Primer, a free mobile app designed to teach digital marketing skills in a quick, easy and interactive way. It is available for download through the Google Play and iOS app store. Primer also works offline and is available in English and Hindi with Tamil, Telugu and Marathi versions coming shortly. In the last few months, Primer has been downloaded over 1.5 million times.

Creating a business website in less than 10 minutes

Google recently launched ‘Websites with Google My Business’ which is aimed at equipping the vast majority of small businesses with a simple way to start their digital journey by creating a free, mobile optimised website – easily and instantly. Available for Google My Business users, this new feature provides simple, templated, editable websites for small businesses created from their information and photos already available on Google Search and Maps. ‘Websites with Google My Business’ is available in English, Hindi, Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Kannada, and Malayalam. Over 120,000 Indian businesses have been a part of the pilot roll out program.

Panaji, June 30, 2017 … Stating that the Government is making efforts to create infrastructure of international standards,Chief Minister Shri Manohar Parrikar has solicited cooperation of the people in the process of development and achieving the goal of strengthening necessary infrastructure, be it in the area of road, water supply and other areas of human endeavours.

Chief Minister was speaking after laying the foundation stone for the work of improvement of Old Goa-Karmali junction along Old Goa  bypass on National Highway NH4A by providing vehicular underpass and appurtenances at Old Goa in the distinguished presence of PWD Minister Shri Ramkrishana alias Sudin Dhavalikar, Minister for Power Shri Pandurang Madkaikar, MLA and Chairman of GSIDC Shri Deepak Pawaskar, Chairman of EDC Shri Siddarth Kuncolienkar, Shri Dharmendra Sharma (IAS) Chief Secretary at Old Goa today.

Chief Minister said that the Government is committed to provide better road connectivity in the entire state to regulate traffic. Sometimes when the work is in progress particularly in the area of infrastructure problems do arise and therefore people should follow proper traffic rules and discipline to avoid accidents. The number of vehicles registered in Goa is 8 to 10 times more compared to other states in the country he informed. He said the promises made are being honoured, and sought cooperation from the people of the state in its path towards progress.

The PWD Minister Shri Ramkrishna alias Sudin Dhavalikar said that for a developing state like Goa, roads and road transport play an important role in economic growth. The construction and improvement of roads brings a variety of benefits that are enjoyed practically by all the sections of the economy. He thanked the Union Minister for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Shri Nitin Gadkari and Chief Minister for providing financial assistance for the project.

Shri Dhavalikar emphasised the need of better infrastructure for discipline traffic and lesser congestions. He said within a year time the work on six lane new Banastarim Bridge will be taken up to facilitate smooth flow of traffic. The Minister said that the Flyover across Chimbel creek connecting Old Goa to Panaji along NH-4A will be completed by March 2018.

The proposed work of providing vehicular underpass and appurtenances at Old Goa varying height from 5.71 m to 6.67 m including six lane vehicular underpass with two span of 30 mts each is for a total length of 60 mts, construction of road of 11 mtre wide of 750 m length on both side and service roads/ramps 7.0 m wide, length 1420 m. The estimated  cost of project  is Rs. 40 crore.

Shri Pandurang Madkaikar also spoke on the occasion.

Shri Dinesh Tare welcomed the gathering and later proposed a vote of thanks. PWD Chief Engineer Shri P.C Gupta, ZP’s, Panchayat members and others attended the function.