The News

Petrol shortages:

I was shocked the first time we hired a scooter, and found that 2 litres of fuel was almost as much as the hire of the machine for the day.  We were told by the scooter lender that for one litre it would 80 rupees, just over a pound.  Thinking we would be naïve and foolish to pay such ridiculous prices I told the vendor that the price was crazy and that he shouldn’t try and take advantage of us, he insisted he wasn’t.  It turns out he wasn’t.   There is a real fuel crisis in Goa at the moment.  People are queuing for hours on end to fill up, and many of the petrol stations are empty.  Over the past couple of days there has been panic buying and it is being sold by unscrupulous traders for 150 rupees a litre at the moment, that is £2 per litre, £2!!!  I honestly don’t know how people afford to run their vehicles here. 

Above average temperatures for November.  No sign of any winter chill, says the paper, these are summer temperatures.

Illegal Mining:

This seems to be a really big problem in Goa.  There is estimated to be around 40 illegal mines operating in Goa at the moment.  They are mining for iron ore.  And there is big money to be made out of mining, it is thought that 25 000 crore has been made over the past couple of years (a crore is 10 million rupees), and the government seem to being having a problem on stopping illegally operating mines.  I am not sure why this is as they must be pretty obvious, I would imagine that corruption makes a fair contribution.  The illegal mining leads to the dumping of a lot of toxic waste products that pollute land and cost much to clear up and these mines are destroying vast swathes of protected forests.  Even the legal mines are big problems for local farmers, taking fresh water away from the land and land as well.

Not enough coconut climbers to harvest coconuts in Kerala.

Water Shortages:

There is already a problem with water conservation.  With the ever developing tourism, and influx of rich Indians who have made their money abroad are building massive properties in the Indian paradise, it is thought that there will be severe water shortages for the state in the next 10-20 years.

Two men stabbed in Mumbai for defending a female friend who was being harassed in a paan shop.

Radiography Conference:

Organised to teach radiographers in the dangers of radiation would you believe.  Apparently there are no education criteria to be met to be a radiographer in Goa.

The beheaded bodies of children found in Lucknow believed to be human sacrifices.

China:

Concerns about Chinas supply of nuclear warhead, 4 of which are apparently aimed at India.  A challenge of an Indian warship in the South China Sea by the Chinese.  And a map released by a private Chinese company that shows part of India to actually belong to China.

Inequalities between the burgeoning middle classes and the poor, still in many states, damned by the supposedly outlawed caste system.

Criminal Politians:

The government is proposing new reforms concerning who should be allowed run as candidates in elections.  As it stands at the moment, only people convicted in a trial court and sentenced for more than 2 years in prison are not allowed to run for government.  So a person on trial for multiple murder charges is able to contest elections.  And if a current MP is convicted of an offense and sentenced to more than 2 years in prison, they can still continue to represent the people.

The continuing efforts of ‘Team Anna’ to expose and eradicate corruption within the upper echelons of government.

Security to prevent terrorism:

The amount of paper work that is required by hoteliers/guest house owners and internet cafes to track travellers is extreme.  The Indian government seems particularly paranoid, and every time we move to a new play to stay, there are 3 forms that need filling in detailing all our passport and visa details, where we’ve come from, where we plan to go, when we arrived and our address and contact numbers in the UK.  The guest house owners then have to take this information along with 5 photocopies of out passports to the police station within 24 hours of our arrival.  Then there are the internet cafes that are required by law to take down our names, addresses in India and England and occasionally our passport details; however no one has demanded that yet.  They also have to keep all their internet browsing history and log books for 6 months.

And finally, Katie Price, aka Jordan, likes being single.  Yes, that really has been reported in the Times of India.