Being green is detrimental, rues CM (Herald)

Being green is detrimental, rues CM July 22, 2013 TEAM HERALD PANJIM: Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar today claimed that being green is working detrimental for Goa’s progress as the higher judiciary and environment ministry are always strict with the greener states. “Goa has 60 percent green cover, 30 percent forests out of which 62 percent are protected areas but what we realized is that Centre is stringent on such states,” Parrikar said while addressing IIT Bombay Alumni convention during a discussion on ‘Future of learning in India to produce both skills and education’ at Dona Paula Sunday. He suggested a positive thinking mindset needs to be created. The chief minister also took on the judiciary over some of its observations advising ‘not to burn the house because there are rats living in it’. The comment also comes in the wake of Supreme Court imposing shutting mining operations based on a PIL which relied on Justice Shah Commission report that pointed out illegalities to the tune of more than Rs 35,000 crore. “Goa exported iron ore worth Rs six billion dollars and Karnataka about nine billion dollars. But the ban resulted in the trade off set of 15 billion dollar and today, India is known as importer of iron ore,” he said. He quickly added that judiciary should indeed take action against t he wrong doers but not in a manner which affects the genuine lot. He said if illegality is detected, the illegality should be banned. “I am not saying what happened in the coal scam….those who are involved in corruption should not be spared but don’t throw out baby with the bath water,” he commented. “There is a rat in the house so burn it is the attitude of higher judiciary these days. Don’t burn your house because rats live in it,” he added. He also attributed the fall in value of the rupee to the blanket ban on ore exports by courts resulting in loss of forex. He stated referring to the illegal mining scam in Goa and several others nationally, that in most cases individuals involved in the scam don’t get punished because the matter is pending in the Supreme Court. In his further address to around 100 IIT alumnus present there, Parrikar advised that business should be coupled with ‘integrity’. He cited instances of a few schemes he launched for the welfare of the people despite the State facing financial crisis. “In 2001, during my past regime, the State’s economy was in bad shape. There was no money to even pay salaries but giving IT-like education to students was equally important... I introduced cyber age scheme…The desktop then cost Rs 35,000 and Rs 10,000 extra for installing Microsoft software. We could have distributed without the software but I did not want the children to start the innovative scheme with theft… We decided to negotiate and not copy pirated version,” he recounted. “We finally settled the deal to Rs 3,500 (for each computer) with the Microsoft.” The chief minister also boasted of interest free education loan scheme which has been financed to around 4,000 students for foreign studies and the recovery is a whopping 97 percent. “I told the students that my expectations are to expect them pay back the money when they can…refund to enable the government to run…The refund rate has been 97 percent,” he said as the attendees clapped in appreciation. Similarly, the recovery rate for CM’s Rojgar Yojna has been 87 percent. It is a voluntary recovery, Parrikar added. Commenting about his pet project, Ladli Laxmi which drew criticisms from certain quarters for various reasons, Parrikar claimed 95 percent of ‘rich class’ do not claim the benefit. “The scheme cuts across all the social boundaries and financial position of a family in the State. Many people were not in favour of disbursing it among the rich class…95 percent of this section of the society has told me they don’t want to go it,” he said. In his concluding statement, he asked the alumnus “to stick to the basic concept of ‘honesty is the best principal’, not policy because it can be changed.” The convention was held to create special interest groups on key issues of national importance and engage business heads, academic leaders, researchers, innovators, policy makers and other leaders of society in a common platform through an annual event to shape national, regional and industry agendas. http://www.heraldgoa.in/News/Local%20News/Being-green-is-detrimental-rues-CM/77216.html State's greenery a problem, Parrikar says on mining ban Gomantak Times, 22/07/2013