Goa Diary

The immediate provocation for Godinho8217;s attack: Anti-party activities by the existing GYPC body which almost got the two Congress candidates defeated in the last Lok Sabha elections. Barely had Vyas expressed confidencein Vijay Sardesai when he hit back by targeting Godinho8217;s Achilles Heel. He announced that the Youth Congress would begin an agitation against big consumers of electricity who have caused a power shortage in Goa. Even as Godinho blames the Central Government policy for the entry of power guzzling units, no prizes for guessing who Sardesai will blame for the power crisis.

Who is afraid of AIDS?

With common diseases like malaria and jaundice taxing the minds of Goa8217;s Health Department officials, AIDS appears to have taken a back seat. For a state which attracts more than a billion sun-worshippers 8212; chiefly from the West 8212; precious little is known about the disease and its prevalence. No figures are available about the number of AIDS victims. So far, the AIDS surveillance centre attached to Goa Medical College has detected 1,600 HIV positive persons out of the total 65,000 persons screened by it. And this from an exercise which chiefly covered the red light district of the state while ignoringvulnerable groups which come into frequent contact with Goa8217;s floating population. However, with pressure mounting from international organisations, the State has proposed a five-year plan beginning next year to tackle the killer disease. But the more ambitious schemes could generate new controversies. For instance, there is a proposal to bring foreign tourists under the AIDS surveillance mechanism, a measure which could run into stiff competition from the tourism lobby.