Opposition to SH-8 by Chandor-Cavorim Gram Sabha in Goa

In the villages of Chandor and Guirdolim, villagers are coming together to prevent the construction of a proposed state highway (SH-8), which they are claiming is being forced in without consultation.

Their contention is that "the road from Rawanfond to Paroda has been broadened and many parts of the houses were even demolished to broaden it as it was a state highway no. 8; and therefore the 'village road' passing through Chandor cannot be notified as SH-8". The villagers further said that they collected the maps of RP 2001 and 2011 of the villages right from Aquem Baixo to Paroda and Sao Jose de Areal, which show the state highway 8 passing from Aquem Baixo via Sao Jose de Areal, and Paroda but in the draft RP 2021 the state highway 8 is shown as passing through Chandor.

This issue has seemingly been complicated by the letter from the Chief Town Planner to the PWD Executive Engineer where it was claimed that the highway was notified in the official gazette on February 17, and the same has been shown in the RP 2021 based on the RP 2001.

A meeting called for in Chandor on Oct 22nd was widely attended by the villagers raising their objections to the proposed SH-8 and laying out their future course of action.

A busy weekend coming up in Trivandrum

So after a pretty interesting Stories Worth Sharing Trivandrum 1.0 in September, we now have Stories Worth Sharing Trivandrum 2.0 happening this Saturday on 21st Oct. at the Alliance Francaise de Trivandrum.

Also taking taking place simultaneously at the Alliance Francaise de Trivandrum from the 20th of Oct to the 01st of Nov is the Technicolour Muse which is a solo art exhibition presented by Latha Kurien Rajeev.

Scoot on to the next day, Sunday 22nd Oct at Infosys campus, we have TEDx Thiruvananthapuram taking place.

For a place that many years ago I considered dry for not having activities or things to do, it sure has come a long way. 

More checking in China and seafarers scanned too

Back in early July 2017, Chinese police in Xinjiang started stopping chinese citzens and checking if they had installed a government mandated spyware 'Jingwang' on their phones. On 10th July, mobile phone users in the region had received a message stating they had 10 days to install the app and failure to do so would lead to a 10-day prison sentence.

According to the government, the app has benign functions. The main function is to block pornographic websites, online scams, trojan horses, and phishing sites; to alert users of how much time they spend online; and to enable remote control of one’s home network. The tool is intended to help kids develop a healthy lifestyle by building a safe web filter for the minors.

Though, users have noticed that the spyware also searches through your phone’s storage and checks the hashes of media files to make sure that you aren’t holding any illegal images.

Today, the Hong Kong Shipowners Association (HKSOA) released a notice regarding a situation wherein Immigration authorities boarded a ship in Ningbo and downloaded content from the mobile phones of the seafarers onboard.

Are the two related? The ship has being told that this is part of a nationwide anti-terrorist campaign. But the loss of privacy and whether personal data remained secure remained unanswered. 

Ziro -

The Ziro music festival took place from 28th Sept to 01st Oct this year. And usual I didn't make it. This is something I've been wanting to do for a while and something or the other keeps coming up. Next time may be.

But the option to book your own camping spot with various camping packages seems to make this different from the other music festivals around. Of course their lineup also keeps people looking forward to more every year given that they keep looking around in India for new music options.
For an idea on the kind of rates for the tickets which include camping site rates (you have to BYOT or Bring Your Own Tent) this would provide a good idea.

Also, Indian citizens need to apply for an Inner Line Permit (ILP) can be easily booked online. Foreigners need to book for a Protected Area Permit (PAP).

Aah well, 2018...