log on to thegoan.net @thegoaneveryday FRIDAY AUGUST 5, 2022 GOA 14 pages PRICE ` 8 Taxi issue: Solution in 3 mths, says CM PANAJI: Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has said the government will come up with a solution to the taxi imbroglio within 3 months even as he said Goa has to go for aggregator and app based taxis. 2 facade lights on Atal Setu stolen PANAJI: Two facade lights used for lighting the Atal Setubridge costing around Rs 6.25 lakh were reportedly stolen by some unknown persons. A complaint was lodged by a GSIDC official. Covid claims 1 more, 138 test positive PANAJI: One more person died of Covid in Goa even as 138 more people tested positive for the virus in the last 24 hours. The positivity rate at present stands at 9.38 % and with 115 recoveries the active caseload is 830. SC asks EC not to act on Shinde camp plea NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court asked the Election Commission not to take any precipitate action for now on the EknathShinde faction’s plea that it be considered the real Shiv Sena and granted the party’’s poll symbol. The Goan (Playstore) PANAJI MARGAO GOA VOLUME VIII, NO. 49 Instagram.com/thegoaneveryday RNI: GOAENG/2015/65729 3 2 10 CM slams teachers for below Nat average academic results Track doubling: Chandor locals plan to knock SC door challenging HC order IN SHORT >> Facebook.com/thegoaneveryday GOA ‘Swayampurna Chovot Bazaar’ to be held in all talukas, says Sawant INFO Pamper your skin a little more with a pomegranate toner HINTS AT INTRODUCING ‘ACCOUNTABILITY’ IN THE FUTURE THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI The blame for poor performance of Goa’s school students in comparison to the national average was on Thursday summarily placed on the shoulders of teachers as Chief Minister Pramod Sawant hinted at introducing ‘accountability’. Sawant was addressing heads of schools from across the State at the State-level conference on the National Education Policy (NEP) for heads of schools. “Why are students scoring below the national average? Who is to be blamed? People are blaming the government,” Sawant, who holds the education portfolio asked  the  educationists. He said, henceforth teach- SAWANT’S TOUGH TALK „„Why are students scoring below the national average? „„Who is to be blamed… People are blaming the government „„Performance is poor despite government providing all necessary infrastructure and facilities to schools, teachers „„Institutions focussing only on achieving 100% results „„Many institutions forcing students to take a drop in class IX to ensure 100% results in class X  „„Who will worry about dropouts… Who will prepare that human resource? ers will be held accountable for the poor performance of students whose average score is far below the national average,  especially in Mathematics and Science subjects. The recently  released National Achievement Survey (NAS) report for the year 2021 has reported Goa’s average score significantly lower than the national average for classes III, V, VIII and X in mathematics. Goan students scored 299/500 in mathematics,  where the national average is 306. In class V it was 274 as against the national score of 284. Sawant lamented that the performance is poor despite the government providing all the necessary infrastructure  and facilities to schools and teachers. The chief minister also found fault with institutions for “focussing only on achieving 100 per cent results. “Schools should adopt a cooperative rather than a competitive approach. No student should feel neglected,” Sawant said, adding that  education must be skill-based to ensure students are human resource ready. The chief minister said, he had been closely monitoring the functioning of the Education department ever since he became Chief Minister and kept the education portfolio with him. In many institutions, students he said are being made to take a drop in class IX to en- MUMBAI: The Enforcement Directorate summons Sanjay Raut’s wife VarshaRaut in the Patra Chawl land case money laundering case. The summonswere issued after transactions done in VarshaRaut’s account came to light, the ED said. Max: 30 C Min: 24 C Humidity: 92% TIDES Low: High: 09:07 22:19 03:56 15:15 Seven Anganwadi workers reinstated, govt issues order THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI The seven Anganwadis workers, who had been agitating over the termination of their services, have been reinstated by the government. Women And Child Director Deepali Naik has issued the reinstatement orders on August 3 and the Anganwadi workers have been reinstated with effect from July 12. Seven Anganwadi workers were on strike in June to protest against the termination of their services by the Department of Women and Child Development (DWCD). “The terminated Anganwadi Workers who had gone on a 47-day strike and continued with hunger strike have been issued an order of reinstatement by the Director of Women and Child,” said Advocate Hrudaynath Shirodkar, union leader of the Anganwadi workers. Earlier, in the termination CAN 25 SCHOOLS ADOPT 83 ANGANWADIS IN CANACONA? >> See pg 3 notice issued to the seven anganwadi workers, the Directorate of Women and Child Development had specifically mentioned that the anganwadi union had politicised their strike with the help of advocate Hrudaynath, who is attached to the Congress. It may be recalled that Chief Minister Pramod Sawant had asked for an undertaking from the striking workers that they will not resort to strikes and agitations henceforth. The workers, however, refused to give any such undertaking saying it is their right as citizens to protest whenever injustice is meted out to them. Later after intervention and requests from Opposition leaders, Sawant had agreed to reinstate the workers. THE GOAN I NETWORK Sanjay Raut’s wife gets ED summons WEATHER >> 14 Union minister says its 10.5% compared to the national average of 4.2% NEW DELHI: Parliament passed a bill granting statutory cover to family courts set up in Himachal Pradesh and Nagaland and retrospectively validating all actions taken by them. The bill was passed by a voice vote amid sloganeering by the Opposition. NEW DELHI: Chief Justice of India N V Ramana on Thursday set in motion the process of appointment of his successor by recommending the name of Justice UdayUmeshLalit, the most senior judge, to the Centre. >Continued on P6 Commonwealth Games: Boxers assure India of three more medals Goa’s unemployment rate is double of Nat average NET WORTH! RS passes bill on Family Courts Justice Lalit likely to succeed CJI Ramana sure 100 % results in class X.  “Who will worry about the dropouts? Who will prepare that human resource?,” Sawant asked, expressing concern over the State’s dropout problem. Meanwhile, Sawant said, the new National Education Policy (NEP) will be implemented in institutions of higher education, including professional colleges from next year, he said, adding that it will ensure ‘quality’ education. Dwelling on the recent controversy of closure of schools, Sawant said the State government does not intend to close schools to benefit other schools. “We want to address concerns of students with fewer SPORTS Fishermen and locals struggle to pull the net with a bumper catch of fish at Caranzalem on Thursday. Of late fishermen have reaped bumper catch of fish at several beaches across the State.  Narayan Pissurlenkar China holds drill, fires missiles near Taiwan PTI BEIJING The Chinese military on Thursday said it has conducted precision strikes over the Taiwan Strait and ‘expected results’ were achieved, in apparent retaliation to the United States House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei disregarding Beijing’s vocifer- ous warnings. China views Taiwan as part of its territory, despite having never controlled it and has long vowed to reunify the island with the Chinese mainland, by force if necessary. Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan, the first by a sitting US Speaker in 25 years, has angered China. As the 82-year-old top Democrat left Taiwan on Wednes- day, there were already signs of the strains her visit to Taipei had placed on Washington’s testy relationship with Beijing -- which warned the Biden administration that her trip would have a ‘severe impact on the political foundation of China-US relations’. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducted a long-range strike exercise on Thursday afternoon that bombarded a designated area in eastern parts of the Taiwan Straits, official media in Beijing reported. The live-fire exercise took place at around 1300 hours local time and was carried out by the ground force of the PLA Eastern Theatre Command, which oversees Taiwan and related areas. PANAJI Goa may be faring better than the national average on a number of indicators, but has fared poorly when it comes to unemployment figures. This has been revealed when Union Labour and Employment Minister Rameshwar Teli in a written reply on August 4 to a question from MP Luizinho Faleiro in the Rajya Sabha stated that the unemployment rate across all age groups in Goa is double to the national average. The unemployment rate of Goa is 10.5 while the national rate is 4.2 per cent. Teli shared data on employment and unemployment collected through the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) conducted in 2020-21 by National Statistical Office (NSO), Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation (MOSPU). Goa’s unemployment rate across age-specific groups was 15-29 years (25.8), 15-59 years (11.1) and 15 years and above (10.5), while the national rate was 15-29 years (12.9), 15-59 years (4.6) and 15 years and above (4.2). State on the job to resolve issue: Minister PANAJI: The Union Labour and Employment Minister Rameshwar Teli stated that the State government has initiated various moves to resolve the unemployment problem in the State. The Model Career Centre (MCC) under Regional Employment Exchange Panaji has been conducting various outreach activities such as programme on career guidance, seminars on soft skill training, sessions on Civil Service Competitive Exams (UPSC and GPSC), job fairs & placement drives. Besides, the Directorate of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship is in partnership with different associations for entrepreneurship development of trainees. The union minister also informed that Goa has signed MoUs with 47 industry partners to set up a Skill Development Centre for Internship, apprenticeship of trainees and placement support from industry. CENTRAL INITIATIVES Responding to a query on steps taken by Centre/State Governments to tackle the problem of unemployment in Goa, the union minister said under the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY), collateral free loans upto Rs 10 lakh, are extended to micro/ small business enterprises and to individuals to enable them to setup or expand their business activities. A total of 2,79,275 loans were sanctioned under the scheme in Goa up to July 1. He informed that the Prime Minister Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi Scheme) facilitates >Continued on P6 Maimolem Lake to get new lease RACE TO REPLACE BORIS JOHNSON Sunak slips in new survey, Truss firmly ahead of life under ‘Amrut Sarovar’ THE GOAN I NETWORK VASCO WRD Minister Subhash Shirodkar on Thursday said the Maimolem Lake would be beautified and developed under the ‘Amrut Sarovar’ initiative launched by the Centre. He was speaking to reporters after inspecting the lake in the presence of Vasco MLA Krishna Salkar, MMC Chairperson Leo Rodrigues and other staff of the WRD department. “The ‘Amrut Sarovar’ scheme has been launched and it includes 150 water bodies, 75 each in North and South Goa. Maimolem Lake is one such water body identified in this scheme and all these water bodies will be beautified and developed under this initiative. This will be done within the next year or two,” said Shirodkar. “We will start with de-weeding in the next 15 days which will be followed by de-silting and finally, launch other amenities for the lake,” said Shirodkar. Shirodkar said the file for the Beautification project of Maimolem Lake was already prepared by the department and that works would begin soon. “We have instructed the engineer to draw a detailed map of this lake to identify the area which brings in dirty water and also to identify the outward flow channel. We will have another meeting with Vasco MLA Krishna Salkar to discuss how we can prevent the flow of sewage water and also if required, initiate stringent action on people responsible for discharge of sewage in water bodies, which is a criminal offence” said Shirodkar. Vasco MLA Krishna Salkar said he had requested Shirodkar to take up some development of the Maimolem Lake >Continued on P6 PTI LONDON new survey of members of the governing Conservative Party shows Foreign Secretary Liz Truss is firmly ahead of rival Rishi Sunak in the race to replace Boris Johnson as the British Prime Minister. The survey of Tory members who will be electing a new leader to take charge at 10 Downing Street from September 5 released by the ConservativeHome website found that 58 per cent of those polled back Truss. Former Chancellor Sunak was found to have the support of 26 per cent, while 12 per cent were undecided. It is the second poll showing the Cabinet minister widening her lead A WAKE UP CALL FOR RISHI „„The new survey of Tory members found that 58% of those polled back Truss „„Sunak was found to have the support of 26%, while 12% were undecided „„Sunak needs a massive game-changer to turn this contest round if new findings are right „„The latest findings come as Sunak faced a fresh blow with another former candidate and senior Tory, Sajid Javid, endorsing Truss PROCESS STARTS „„An estimated 180,000 party members started receiving their ballot papers „„They have the option of a postal or online ballot, which must be regisover the British Indian ex-minister, with an earlier YouGov poll showing Truss was ahead among all age groups, across tered by the evening of September 2 „„The votes will then be counted by the Conservative Campaign Headquarters and results declared different parts of the country and among men and women. “YouGov gives her a 34 point lead which extends, on a forced choice, to a 38 point lead (69 per cent to 31 per cent). Divide our 16 points of don’’t knows and others evenly between the candidates Truss has a 32 point lead (66 per cent to 34 per cent), the ConservativeHome survey claims. All in all, Sunak needs a massive game-changer to turn this contest round if our new findings and YouGov’’s are right. And it’s very difficult to see where that could come from, it notes. The latest findings come as Sunak faced a fresh blow with another former candidate and senior Tory, Sajid Javid, endorsing Truss in the race for her bold agenda. The Pakistani-origin former Health Secretary, and also Sunak’s former boss in the UK Treasury when he was the Chancellor, writes in The >Continued on P6