Saints For All Seasons?

Pg8

HERALD

OPINION

www.oheraldo.in

Saints for all Seasons?

o= HERALD o= Vol No CIX No: 59 Goa, Saturday 28 February, 2009

Dealers in death

The weird case of an epidemic of Hepatitis B in Modasa, near Ahmedabad, has led to the horrifying discovery of a major medical waste recycling racket near the Gujarat capital city. So far, 49 people have died of the disease, and total of 154 patients have been diagnosed with the mutated virus strain. A case of culpable homicide has been registered against medical practitioners Dr Govind Patel and his son Dr Chintan Patel. The duo is accused of being largely responsible for triggering the outbreak from their clinic, as they used recycled needles and syringes. But the duo is absconding. A staggering 50 tonnes of biological waste (1 tonne is 1,000 kg), including syringes, needles, intravenous (IV) drip sets and injection vials has been unearthed in a series of raids. This was found in five godowns in Ahmedabad’s suburbs. In one scrap trader’s godown, five truckloads of medical waste was found, all neatly segregated in sacks and ready for illegal recycling. Officials believe these units have been working for quite some time, and suspect that the used syringes were being recycled mainly in slum areas. The Gujarat government, however, refutes this. State health minister Jay Narayan Vyas says that this massive stock could be sent outside Gujarat, because “repackaging on a massive scale cannot be done in Gujarat as it requires forging of a brand”. What exactly that means we do not know, but the minister did admit that ‘someone’ selling loose waste to doctors working in smaller centres could not be ruled out. The mutated Hepatitis B Virus outbreak in Modasa must have a direct connection to the use of infected syringes or needles because, as in the case of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) that causes AIDS, it is transmitted only through blood. This means that is spread mainly though the use of infected syringes and needles, or through sexual contact. The horrifying Hepatitis B outbreak in Ahmedabad has grim lessons for the rest of the country too. The amount of medical waste discovered makes it very likely that this racket of recycling ‘disposable’ syringes extends beyond Gujarat too. Therefore, it has implications for us all. Obviously, the rules governing disposal of biomedical wastes are being openly flouted by hospitals, nursing homes and private doctors, some of whom may well be selling this waste to scrap dealers. If this can occur in Gujarat, it could be happening in other parts of the country as well. By law, medical wastes must be disposed off in a high-temperature incinerator, but this seems to be a rule that exists only on paper. The onus is on the government, which should set an example as the country’s biggest healthcare provider. Unless the bio-medical wastes of government hospitals are disposed off lawfully, how can anyone expect other establishments to follow suit? As a first step let us all insist, if we have to take an injection at all, that we follow the suggestion made by Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss, and buy (or insist on) auto-disposable (AD) syringes, which can be used only once. The Centre has already requested that auto-disposable syringes be used in all state-run hospitals and medical facilities from 1 April. But even before that, it might be best that you spend a little extra than risk these lethal infections.

Demolition derby

Are 500 jobs more important than thousands of houses? Tourism Minister Mickky Pacheco has rightly asked Chief Minister Digambar Kamat what he proposes to do to protect the thousands of structures along the coastline – mostly belonging to traditional fishermen – that face the threat of imminent demolition under Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) norms. The Chief Minister had promised on the floor of the Legislative Assembly during the recent winter session that he would ‘intervene’ in the matter. The High Court is determined that all structures built after 1991 in the CRZ area be demolished, and has served notice on a number of elected panchayat and municipal officials as well as officers to appear before it for not having obeyed its orders. House owners, however, feel it is a travesty of justice that hotels can build in the CRZ area, but not citizens. A government that claims to be for the aam admi should get its priorities right.

Learning from seniors Anthony J Simoes, Dona Paula In ‘Youngsters’ response’ (Herald, 26 Feb), Chris Fernandes has hit the nail on the head with his words: “Even to the most optimistic and dedicated of us, seeing Goa going anywhere except to hell is hard to envision and we blame you, the past generations, for it.” Most of our activist groups and NGOs are made up of rogues and freebooters who have turned ‘activism’ into a means of livelihood. These ‘professionals’ have misused the notion of public interest. Information/intelligence gathered is often used to leverage all kinds of concessions and considerations from the perpetrators of the crimes. Renegade architects and other professionals have set up NGOs for fighting environmental issues in public interest. These same architects, in the forefront of people’s agitaions, design and

100 Years Ago

PRIMEIRO

DIARIO

N AS

C O L O N I AS

P O RT U G E Z AS

28 February 1909 One dies of plague

An individual working as a pruner at the Municipal Council expired yesterday morning at the Quarantine of Reis Magos. The deceased was taken from one of the infected wards of the city.

Robbery in govt dept

A broken safe has been as found nailed to one of the columns of the River Navigation Department. The entire amount therein had been stolen but for some copper coins equivalent to 9 Rupees and 10 Annas in the possession of the Agent of the Department.

Smallpox in Maina-Curtorim

The health conditions in Maina-Curtorim are serious, with smallpox cases being rampant.

Fratricide at Aldona

The individuals who were trying to practice fratricide at Quitla in Aldona are already facing the royal irons.

T

TEOTONIO R DE SOUZA explains how Fr Joseph Vaz is the appropriate patron for the Archdiocese of Goa

here is a political tendency nowadays to associ ate devotion and cults with religious fundamen talism. The votaries (not to call them devotees) of liberal thought classify themselves as secularists, but without realising that they manifest to all, except to themselves, their fundamentalist, stubborn and fanatical attachment to their pet ideas. Fortunately, humankind has the ‘nobler’ models of varying fundamentalist tendencies and behaviour designated as ‘saints’. Humankind has at all times created its saints to suit the prevailing tendencies and the counter-cultures. These saints have the power to perform the miracles that permit the hoi polloi to survive against the secular-fundamentalist onslaught. Historical explorations can enable us to identify and contextualise some such cases to illustrate this social process at work. It is not very different from the ‘secular’ political process of granting the Nobel Prize to candidates that EuropeanWestern interests judge worthy of promoting as models to enhance their cultural-political values. This calls for yet another preliminary reflection in continuation of our conviction just expressed: the Hindus as well as the Muslims, particularly in their popular bhakti and sufi versions respectively, tend generally to look at a ‘sainted’ personality, a sant or pir, as valid for all social groups, independently of their religious affiliation. As an example of this, we can find in Goa several Hindus who frequent the Christian village festivities. Obviously there are some who appear with the interest of selling laddu and kaddio-boddio during and after the feast Mass. Contrarily, Christianity hardly cares for the saints of other religious groups. This is in line with the Pauline belief and preaching (Eph 4:4) “…One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all.” Here is some scriptural basis for exclusivism and intolerance that Western colonialism has globalised over the past five centuries since “Discoveries”, and particularly since the overwhelming power of dominance it acquired since the Industrial Revolution. While Western philosophy takes for granted as the base of its epistemology the logic of non-contradiction and of excluded middle, a rural Chinese would hardly care to find the reason for human mortality in the major scholastic premise that “all men are mortal,” but in the fact that Mao also died! Besides, yin and yang are complementary, not opposite and contradictory. For one grown in Indian philosophical culture there is a strong support for the madhyamika school, popularised by Nagarjuna and Buddhist expansion throughout Asia. It is a strong critic of the pramana method for conducting rational inquiry, and defends the view that the only way to reason is by exposing

HISTORICAL EXPLORATIONS incoherences within the fabric of one’s conceptions. This is viewed as dangerous relativism by the Western, and particularly by ecclesiastical, thinking that makes the Vatican theologians led by ex-Ratzinger watch carefully the inculturation experiments in Asia, including the Indian Church trying to cease to be a Church “in India”. This was true since the times of Ricci and De Nobili in China and in south India respectively since the early 17th century. It continues to be more so in the post-colonial context of loose political controls. It works all the same, and more effectively perhaps through NGO and mission funding.  For any understanding of the process historically, it is essential to keep in mind the functioning of the Portuguese Padroado or Crown Patronage, a political accord between the Portuguese State and the Papacy since the 15th century. It was a mutually beneficial accord: while Portugal gained a moral and commercial monopoly in the eastern half of the globe it set out to discover, the Church that was threatened by the Protestant Reformation hoped to gain more subjects (and

Baby’s Day In

Tongue in Cheek

A

fter marriage, life takes a complete ‘U’ turn. You no longer live just for yourself but two lives become one. Everything a married man does is for the good of himself and his spouse. Immediately after marriage, life is like heaven on earth. The newly wedded couple spends all their time together. It is like there are just the two of them, alone in the whole wide world. Love is in the air and everything seems rosy and fine. Then come the little one in the family. You are no longer two but three. Life now takes another ‘U’ turn. The little bundle of joy can make the world topsy-turvy. Now the husband and wife could be spending precious little time in each other’s company. It is said that two is company and three is a crowd. This adage does not seem to apply to the institution of a family. The family is incomplete without the little bundle of joy. In fact it is on arrival of the first child that family life really begins. But it is also true that with the arrival of the first child the responsibilities of the married couple increase manifold. “To marry is to halve your rights and double your duties,” wrote George Santayana. The little baby now decides how the parents should live their lives. It is probably in this context that it is said that the child is father of man. The infant decides when the parents should sleep. If the baby decides to get

build illegal homes and hotels for the rich, powerful, bold and beautiful. These architects can guarantee their clients immunity from public interest litigation since they themselves are the self-appointed saviours of Goa’s environment through trusteeship of NGOs. In the face of this kind of deceit, duplicity and degraded value systems of an earlier generation, how can anyone berate the youth of today? Children learn from what they observe us doing, not from what we teach. Let us not insult their innate intelligence.

Pathetic youngsters Maria Luisa Frias, Porvorim I was saddened to read the letter by Chris Fernandes titled ‘Youngsters’ Response’ (Herald, 26 Feb). Have our youth today no idealism? Then woe is us. I have not met either Claude Alvares or Venita Coelho but have great respect for them and their ilk, who spend so much time and energy trying to make this state a better place for us to live in. Too busy “working very hard at college and at home preparing for the next day”? Come on, surely you’re joking? Those of us who care will always find the time to do the right thing. Pointing fingers will gain nothing. That is the defence of the weak.

Blinded by greed John Eric Gomes, Porvorim Taking advantage of the decision of the erstwhile Rane government, six casinos have been sanctioned and permitted to operate in the Mandovi river, bending the rules. Unable to see beyond their noses, with prevailing corruption and greed blinding our politicians, they are ignoring legitimate public opinion and bringing devastating consequences to Goa and its people. After retiring from the Indian Navy, I served in Goa Transhippers for ten years. None of the six casino vessels have stabilisers or are built to withstand the monsoons or heavy waves. The climate is changing and sudden storms/heavy winds crop up even during non-monsoon periods. They will have to take shelter in inland waters, and we may get some more River Princess sagas! Offshore was stated as 5 miles and now they are talking of one mile. From where did this idea

Peter pence) in Asia to compensate for the loss of faithful clients in northern and central Europe. This system worked well till the English and the Dutch protestants refused to honour the Papal dispensation in favour of its Iberian Catholic subject-nations, and arrived in the Indian Ocean to seek their fortunes. Different were the motivations in different historical contexts to present candidates for sainthood. The Jesuit Order that had so effectively turned into a militant arm of the Church, in fulfillment of the Constitution that set it up in 1540, was very appropriately entitled Regimini Militantis Ecclesiae by Pope Paul III. The militancy of the Jesuits was manifest in the “martyrdom” of half a dozen Jesuits in Cuncolim in 1583. They were beatified by the Church, but we can partly understand why the process did not proceed beyond that phase if we take into account the comments of Mons Zaleski, who was deputed by Papacy to create the independent hierarchy of the Church in India in 1886. He called for better models for Indian saints, recalling the Goan native boys accompanying the Jesuits who were

killed. They too died but were forgotten in the process of beatification. More on his comments and a socioeconomic analysis of the event can be found in “Why Cuncolim Martyrs: An historical re-assessment” in Jesuits in India: In historical perspective, ed Teotonio R de Souza and Charles J Borges, Macau, 1992, pp 37–47, cf (online at http://www.goacom.com/culture/history/ cuncolim.html).  The canonisation of St Francis Xavier in 1623, together with that of the founder of the Society of Jesus, St Ignatius of Loyola, was nothing surprising, given the immense power the Order had acquired and the political power of the Spanish rule at that time. Had Francis Xavier not been a Basque, one doubts if his missionary merits would have the same credits. It is interesting to note that Portugal regained its independence from Spanish rule in 1640, and St Francis Xavier remained in relative obscurity till the British control over the entire Indian subcontinent overshadowed the Portuguese presence in India. It was only from the beginning of the 19th century, and more specifically after the issue of the papal brief Multa praeclare in 1838 that the saint is used as a marketing tool and a political strategy to compensate for the decline of the Padroado in British India, in the face of the confrontation of the vicars apostolic of the Propaganda Fide. The promotion of the cult of the “incorrupt” relics of the saint through regular and solemn expositions permitted the Padroado to gain a fresh life by attracting thousands of pilgrims from all over India and elsewhere to Goa. “Major in Occasu”, engraved on one of the four medallions on the marble tomb of the saint who worked hard and died in laying the foundations of the Padroado in Asia had thus acquired a new meaning. (Read more at http:// www.pdfcoke.com/doc/9503789/Padroado-portuguesno-Oriente.)  It had been a Portuguese habit to name the ports and regions where they first landed in their voyages of discoveries after the corresponding saint in the liturgical calendar. In Goa they dedicated the See Cathedral to St Catherine of Alexandria, as the patroness of the Archdiocese of Goa, conquered by Afonso de Albuquerque for Portugal on 25th November 1510. On 16 January 2000 the Archdiocese of Goa opted for a new patron, namely, Fr Joseph Vaz, in a bold move to mark the new millennium. It may be seen as a move to decolonise the liturgical calendar in the wake of Goa’s Liberation. It was certainly a move that helped to make the “Church in Goa” more of a “Church of Goa and of Goans”, but always integrated in the wider concerns for human brotherhood as represented by Fr Joseph Vaz in Sri Lanka, without any backing of a colonial power or a multinational organisation.

up in the dead of the night, so be it. The parents have to follow suit. At 2 am it is probably baby’s feeding time. Babies actually do not have any set time to get their feed. Whenever they are hungry is feeding time. Parents (especially the mother) may have to spend a sleepless night if the infant has some kind of stomach pain. Many a time each parent takes turns to be by the side of their baby while the other tries to get some sleep. Just like babies do not have any set time for the feeds, they also do not have any set time as to when to go to sleep. Some babies sleep throughout the day and remain awake through the night. The mother (or father or both) has to remain awake all through the night. I have seen some of my colleagues, who have become fathers for the first time, coming to work with tired and weary eyes. Some even prefer to skip work the next day. The reason: their baby did not sleep the previous night. All hell breaks loose when the baby falls ill. It could be a simple case of constipation or a mild cold.  For the parents staying awake the entire night could be on the cards. But then the parents never complain. They do not have the heart to do so. After all they are there to care for the baby. The young parents now live everyday of their life for their infant. Their life is dictated by the little baby. If they want to

Mocking the judiciary

Col J P Singh, Calangute

The front-page headlines in Herald (26 Feb), titled “Govt turns saviour for Cidade” shocked me. What is wrong with our political bosses these days? Do we or do we not have any respect for our legal system and that too for the top legal institution of our country, the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India? Are such actions not an interference in the functioning of the judiciary as well as a cause of serious erosion in their legal authority? Is it not a joke that after almost 17 years of the legal battle waged by Goa Foundation in public interest and after the case/appeals having been duly dealt with and finally disposed of by the Apex Court, efforts are now being made to undo the illegality committed by Cidade in the guise of saving jobs of some 500 odd hotel employees in the wake of the Hon’ble Supreme Court’s order? This is an example of blatant disregard being shown by the respected political ‘bigwigs’ to the laws of the land, who are twisting and churning the laws for their petty benefits. Before doing so, have they given any thought to what deprivation the proposed Ordinance, if implemented, would cause to the thousands and thousands of local Goan population as well as to the tourist fraternity wanting to visit/enjoy the said sea-beach area. Since Cidade has violated the initial land agreement executed with the government and has constructed property illegally thereon, it is entirely responsible for the resultant job losses of its employees and therefore it must compensate them in this turmoil of its making. Is the said business house so rich and powerful that it is capable enough to counter the judicial process of the country through the backdoor? It is now left to the people of Goa to come out strongly against the proposed action that intends to let the culprit off the hook by the self-seeking political machinery. If the people do not act immediately and let go the opportunity to oppose it, a serious long-term damage would have been done for ever. It would be a shame if the legal position in the case is altered or nullified. In full consideration of public interest, I make a sincere appeal through your columns to the Hon’ble Governor of the State of Goa, Shri S S Sidhu, not to grant approval to the proposed Ordinance.

Promoting casinos Averthanus L D’Souza, Dona Paula The CM of Goa seems to be deliberately deceiving the people of Goa by publicly stating that the opposition of the citizens of Goa to the floating casinos is only to their being anchored in the Mandovi within the city limits of Panjim. The Cabinet has now decided that these casi-

go for the movies and if the baby is in no mood and wants to sleep, the movie plans stands cancelled. After the child celebrates his first birthday, from a baby he becomes a brat.  “Of all the animals, the boy is most unmanageable,” wrote Plato. How very true. Parents of any boy who is two years or older will realise for the first time how tough life can really be. The house is literally turned into a playfield. To say that the house is a mess could be an understatement. As a matter of fact, whenever you go to a stranger’s house you immediately realise there is a brat in the house by just taking a glimpse at the mess the house is in. But then children will be children. Childhood is the best time of one’s life. One reason could be because you can do all the wrong things and get away with it. There will always be someone around to pacify the child. But then, as someone rightly said, if you carry with you your childhood you will never grow old. Having watched all the trouble the baby gets into in the movie ‘Baby’s Day Out’, the day is not any different when the baby is in the house. With a baby around trouble if not far away. But then no one is complaining.

Letters to the Editor

Letter of the Day

come? And is it nautical or land mile? So many casinos operating one mile off our beaches will be worse, jeopardising all the beaches, with big money and that sort of lifestyle. No one will be able to successfully implement the rules for sanitary and garbage disposal for long, not to mention the security aspect, smuggling and money laundering.

By Adelmo Fernandes

nos will be moored outside the city limits and be allowed to function beyond 1 to 1.5 km from the city. He is reported to have said that a few more floating casinos will be welcomed by the people of Goa because they bring in much needed additional revenue to the State. Such distortion of facts is very unbecoming of a Chief Minister, who knows very well that the opposition of the citizens is to the operations of the casinos per se, and not merely to their location in the river. Gambling is forbidden by law in Goa. The casino operators, with the collusion of the Goa government, are exploiting the loophole in the law which does not define what “offshore” means. Instead of removing this lacuna in the law, the government is encouraging the gamblers to make Goa their permanent roosting site.

This is abominable and entirely intolerable. The Chief Minister’s argument that casinos will be welcome because they provide an additional source of revenue is unenlightened and retrogressive. If this argument is accepted then Goa should decriminalise all the social evils such as drug trafficking, prostitution, paedophilia and alcohol consumption and derive additional revenues by providing them with licences.

Shame of the South John Lloyd Dias, Tivim It was really shocking to read the story about the 20-year-old single mother, selling her infant to pay her hospital debts amounting to Rs 2000. Andhra Pradesh boasts about its technological advances, but this incident will surely leave a scar on the state’s image. Why can’t provision be made in government hospitals in Andhra Pradesh to support poverty-stricken people like these?

Double standards Julius Carvalho, Dubai The hasty move by the Goa Government to amend the Goa Land Acquisition Act to save Cidade de Goa shows how the Goa Government uses double standards. Very soon thousand of people are going to displace within CRZ areas due to the Bombay High Court order. Instead of legalizing the CRZ law for the benefit of all the people staying within these areas before 1991, the Kamat government is more interested to rehabilitate the migrant population across Goa and to save the wealth of the Timblos. I request all the members of Goa legislative to save Goa and Goans before it is too late by amending CRZ law for the benefit of Goans staying within those areas before 1991.

Subtly poisoned darts Joao Fonseca, Quepem Herald appears to be publishing articles by Teotonio de Souza. Through his articles, this man, who obtained all his higher education at the cost of the Church via the Jesuit community and now lives happily in Portugal, is aiming subtly poisoned darts at the Catholic Church and the Catholic community.

Words of Wisdom Rationalism

In its modern sense, rationalism is any view appealing to reason as a source of knowledge or justification. Different degrees of emphasis on this method or theory lead to a range of rationalist standpoints, from the moderate position that reason has precedence over other ways of acquiring knowledge to the radical position that reason is the unique path to knowledge. Rationalism is often contrasted with empiricism. Taken very broadly these views are not mutually exclusive, since a philosopher can be both rationalist and empiricist. Taken to extremes the empiricist view holds that all ideas come to us through experience, either through the five external senses or through such inner sensations as pain and pleasure, and thus that knowledge is essentially based on or derived from experience. At issue is the fundamental source of human knowledge, and the proper techniques for verifying what we think we know. Proponents of some varieties of rationalism argue that, starting with foundational basic principles, like the axioms of geometry, one could deductively derive the rest of all possible knowledge. The philosophers who held this view most clearly were Baruch Spinoza and Gottfried Leibniz, whose attempts to grapple with the epistemological and metaphysical problems raised by Descartes led to a development of the fundamental approach of rationalism. Both Spinoza and Leibniz asserted that, in principle, all knowledge, including scientific knowledge, could be gained through the use of reason alone, though they both observed that this was not possible in practice for human beings except in specific areas such as mathematics. Rationalism taken to extremes has attracted critics. For example, Gandhi wrote: “Rationalists are admirable beings, but rationalism is a hideous monster when it claims for itself omnipotence. Attribution of omnipotence to reason is as bad a piece of idolatry as is worship of a stick and stone believing it to be God. (Source: Wikipedia)

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