OPINION Pg8

HERALD
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o= HERALD o=
Vol No CIX No: 59
Saints for all Seasons?
Goa, Saturday 28 February, 2009 TEOTONIO R DE SOUZA explains how Fr Joseph Vaz is the appropriate patron for the Archdiocese of Goa

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.
T
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 fa-
natical attachment to their pet ideas. Fortunately, hu-
mankind has the ‘nobler’ models of varying fundamen-
talist 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 secu-
lar-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 European-
Western interests judge worthy of promoting as mod-
els to enhance their cultural-political values.
This calls for yet another preliminary reflection in
continuation of our conviction just expressed: the Hin-
dus 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 fes-
tivities. Obviously there are some who appear with
the interest of selling laddu and kaddio-boddio dur-
ing 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 colonial-
ism has globalised over the past five centuries since
“Discoveries”, and particularly since the overwhelm-
ing power of dominance it acquired since the Indus-
trial Revolution.
While Western philosophy takes for granted as the
base of its epistemology the logic of non-contradic-
tion 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 mor-
tal,” but in the fact that Mao also died! Besides, yin and
yang are complementary, not opposite and contradic-
tory. 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
Tongue in Cheek
HISTORICAL EXPLORATIONS
incoherences within the fabric of one’s conceptions. Peter pence) in Asia to compensate for the loss of faith-
This is viewed as dangerous relativism by the Western, ful clients in northern and central Europe. This system
and particularly by ecclesiastical, thinking that makes worked well till the English and the Dutch protestants
the Vatican theologians led by ex-Ratzinger watch care- refused to honour the Papal dispensation in favour of
fully the inculturation experiments in Asia, including its Iberian Catholic subject-nations, and arrived in the
the Indian Church trying to cease to be a Church “in Indian Ocean to seek their fortunes.
India”. This was true since the times of Ricci and De Different were the motivations in different histori-
Nobili in China and in south India respectively since the cal contexts to present candidates for sainthood. The
early 17th century. It continues to be more so in the Jesuit Order that had so effectively turned into a mili-
post-colonial context of loose political controls. It tant arm of the Church, in fulfillment of the Constitu-
works all the same, and more effectively perhaps tion that set it up in 1540, was very appropriately enti-
through NGO and mission funding.  tled Regimini Militantis Ecclesiae by Pope Paul III. The
For any understanding of the process historically, it militancy of the Jesuits was manifest in the “martyr-
is essential to keep in mind the functioning of the dom” of half a dozen Jesuits in Cuncolim in 1583. They
Portuguese Padroado or Crown Patronage, a political were beatified by the Church, but we can partly under-
accord between the Portuguese State and the Papacy stand why the process did not proceed beyond that
since the 15th century. It was a mutually beneficial phase if we take into account the comments of Mons
accord: while Portugal gained a moral and commercial Zaleski, who was deputed by Papacy to create the in-
monopoly in the eastern half of the globe it set out to dependent hierarchy of the Church in India in 1886. He
discover, the Church that was threatened by the Prot- called for better models for Indian saints, recalling the
estant Reformation hoped to gain more subjects (and Goan native boys accompanying the Jesuits who were
Baby’s Day In
killed. They too died but were forgotten in the process
of beatification. More on his comments and a socio-
economic analysis of the event can be found in “Why
Cuncolim Martyrs: An historical re-assessment” in Jes-
uits 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, to-
gether 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 polit-
ical 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 com-
pensate for the decline of the Padroado in British In-
dia, in the face of the confrontation of the vicars apos-
tolic 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 ac-
quired a new meaning. (Read more at http://
www.scribd.com/doc/9503789/Padroado-portugues-
no-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 liturgi-
cal calendar. In Goa they dedicated the See Cathedral to
St Catherine of Alexandria, as the patroness of the Arch-
diocese 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 al-
ways integrated in the wider concerns for human broth-
erhood as represented by Fr Joseph Vaz in Sri
Lanka, without any backing of a colonial power or a
multinational organisation.
By Adelmo Fernandes

A
fter marriage, life takes a complete ‘U’ turn. You no longer live just up in the dead of the night, so be it. The parents have to follow suit. At 2 go for the movies and if the baby is in no mood and wants to sleep,

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.
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 with-
out 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
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 through-
out 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
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 immediate-
ly 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 complain-
ing.

Letters to the Editor

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 dedi-
cated 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 gath-
ered is often used to leverage all kinds of con-
cessions and considerations from the perpetra-
tors 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 Munic-
ipal 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 De-
partment. The entire amount therein had
been stolen but for some copper coins equiv-
alent to 9 Rupees and 10 Annas in the posses-
sion 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.
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build illegal homes and hotels for the rich, pow-
erful, 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? Chil-
dren learn from what they observe us doing, not
from what we teach. Let us not insult their in-
nate intelligence.
Pathetic youngsters
Maria Luisa Frias, Porvorim
I was saddened to read the letter by Chris Fern-
andes 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 sanc-
tioned 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 legit-
imate 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 peri-
ods. They will have to take shelter in inland wa-
ters, 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
This is abominable and entirely intolerable. The
Words of Wisdom
Letter of the Day Chief Minister’s argument that casinos will be
welcome because they provide an additional Rationalism
source of revenue is unenlightened and retro-
Mocking the judiciary
In its modern sense, rationalism is any view
gressive. If this argument is accepted then appealing to reason as a source of knowledge
Goa should decriminalise all the social evils or justification. Different degrees of empha-
Col J P Singh, Calangute such as drug trafficking, prostitution, paedo- sis on this method or theory lead to a range
philia and alcohol consumption and derive of rationalist standpoints, from the moder-
The front-page headlines in Herald (26 Feb), titled “Govt turns saviour for Cidade” shocked me. additional revenues by providing them with
What is wrong with our political bosses these days? Do we or do we not have any respect for our ate position that reason has precedence over
licences. other ways of acquiring knowledge to the
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 radical position that reason is the unique path
of serious erosion in their legal authority?
Shame of the South to knowledge.
John Lloyd Dias, Tivim Rationalism is often contrasted with em-
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 It was really shocking to read the story about piricism. Taken very broadly these views are
not mutually exclusive, since a philosopher
Court, efforts are now being made to undo the illegality committed by Cidade in the guise of the 20-year-old single mother, selling her infant
saving jobs of some 500 odd hotel employees in the wake of the Hon’ble Supreme Court’s order? to pay her hospital debts amounting to Rs 2000. can be both rationalist and empiricist. Taken
to extremes the empiricist view holds that all
This is an example of blatant disregard being shown by the respected political ‘bigwigs’ to the Andhra Pradesh boasts about its techno-
laws of the land, who are twisting and churning the laws for their petty benefits. Before doing so, logical advances, but this incident will surely ideas come to us through experience, either
through the five external senses or through
have they given any thought to what deprivation the proposed Ordinance, if implemented, would leave a scar on the state’s image. Why can’t
cause to the thousands and thousands of local Goan population as well as to the tourist fraternity provision be made in government hospitals such inner sensations as pain and pleasure,
and thus that knowledge is essentially based
wanting to visit/enjoy the said sea-beach area. in Andhra Pradesh to support poverty-strick-
Since Cidade has violated the initial land agreement executed with the government and has en people like these? on or derived from experience. At issue is the
constructed property illegally thereon, it is entirely responsible for the resultant job losses of its fundamental source of human knowledge,
employees and therefore it must compensate them in this turmoil of its making. Is the said Double standards and the proper techniques for verifying what
business house so rich and powerful that it is capable enough to counter the judicial process of we think we know.
Julius Carvalho, Dubai Proponents of some varieties of rational-
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 ma- The hasty move by the Goa Government to ism argue that, starting with foundational
chinery. If the people do not act immediately and let go the opportunity to oppose it, a serious amend the Goa Land Acquisition Act to save Ci- basic principles, like the axioms of geometry,
one could deductively derive the rest of all
long-term damage would have been done for ever. It would be a shame if the legal position in the dade de Goa shows how the Goa Government
uses double standards. possible knowledge. The philosophers who
case is altered or nullified.
In full consideration of public interest, I make a sincere appeal through your columns to the Very soon thousand of people are going to held this view most clearly were Baruch
Hon’ble Governor of the State of Goa, Shri S S Sidhu, not to grant approval to the proposed displace within CRZ areas due to the Bombay High Spinoza and Gottfried Leibniz, whose at-
Ordinance. Court order. Instead of legalizing the CRZ law for tempts to grapple with the epistemological
the benefit of all the people staying within these and metaphysical problems raised by Des-
come? And is it nautical or land mile? So many nos will be moored outside the city limits and be areas before 1991, the Kamat government is more cartes led to a development of the fundamen-
casinos operating one mile off our beaches will allowed to function beyond 1 to 1.5 km from interested to rehabilitate the migrant population tal approach of rationalism. Both Spinoza and
be worse, jeopardising all the beaches, with big the city. He is reported to have said that a few across Goa and to save the wealth of the Timblos. Leibniz asserted that, in principle, all knowl-
money and that sort of lifestyle. No one will be more floating casinos will be welcomed by the I request all the members of Goa legislative edge, including scientific knowledge, could
able to successfully implement the rules for people of Goa because they bring in much need- to save Goa and Goans before it is too late by be gained through the use of reason alone,
sanitary and garbage disposal for long, not to ed additional revenue to the State. amending CRZ law for the benefit of Goans stay- though they both observed that this was not
mention the security aspect, smuggling and Such distortion of facts is very unbecoming ing within those areas before 1991. possible in practice for human beings except
money laundering. of a Chief Minister, who knows very well that the in specific areas such as mathematics.
opposition of the citizens is to the operations of Subtly poisoned darts Rationalism taken to extremes has attract-
Promoting casinos the casinos per se, and not merely to their loca-
Joao Fonseca, Quepem ed critics. For example, Gandhi wrote: “Ra-
tion in the river. tionalists are admirable beings, but rational-
Averthanus L D’Souza, Dona Paula Gambling is forbidden by law in Goa. The ca- Herald appears to be publishing articles by Te- ism is a hideous monster when it claims for
The CM of Goa seems to be deliberately deceiv- sino operators, with the collusion of the Goa otonio de Souza. Through his articles, this man, itself omnipotence. Attribution of omnipo-
ing the people of Goa by publicly stating that the government, are exploiting the loophole in the who obtained all his higher education at the cost tence to reason is as bad a piece of idolatry as
opposition of the citizens of Goa to the floating law which does not define what “offshore” of the Church via the Jesuit community and now is worship of a stick and stone believing it to
casinos is only to their being anchored in the means. Instead of removing this lacuna in the lives happily in Portugal, is aiming subtly poi- be God.
Mandovi within the city limits of Panjim. law, the government is encouraging the gam- soned darts at the Catholic Church and the Cath- (Source: Wikipedia)
The Cabinet has now decided that these casi- blers to make Goa their permanent roosting site. olic community.