Tourists spoil Goan culture, says state tourism minister

Days after the revenue minister of the state Vinod Palienkar made a controversial statement on late night parties and rave parties in Goa, tourism minister of the state Manohar Ajgaonkar has now jumped on the bandwagon.

The minister who was speaking at a public event in Panaji on Friday said tourists are destroying the Goan culture. In a state that earns a huge part of its revenue through tourism and receives approximately four billion tourists every year, the statement is bound to disappoint many. “The outsiders create chaos after they drink. They ruin our culture. This should be controlled,” said Ajgaonkar.

“When Goans drink, they do not lose control. Even if a Goan drinks alcohol, the next person will not know he has consumed liquor. He will not show it,” he said.

Mahabir Singh Phogat, a real life hero and father of wrestler Geeta Phoghat, along with Apollo Hospital founder Prathap C Reddy, bagged Ficci’s gender parity award for their contribution in harnessing the talents of their daughters.

Phogat was accompanied by his Commonwealth Games gold medal winner daughter Geeta at the event that marked the launch of the country’s first gender parity index by Ficci’s Ladies Organisation (FLO), which will gauge how women fare in a male dominated corporate sector of India. Industry captains lauded Phogat for empowering his daughters, which was replicated in Bollywood’s block-buster film Dangal, starring Aamir Khan.

Leading film director Farha Khan, fashion designer Anita Dongre, HDFC managing director Renu Sud Karnad and Hindustan Times group chairperson Shobhana Bhartia also got the Ficci Ladies Organisation ICON awards.

Giving away the awards finance minister Arun Jaitley said India must move towards greater gender parity.

Amid a challenging globa economic scenario, Jaitley said India is the only country which is willing to reform.

Vinita Bimbhet, president of FLO, said, “Gender equality is intrinsically linked to sustaina ble development. The overal objective of gender equality is a society in which women and men enjoy the same opportunities rights and obligations in al spheres of life.”

While the Constitution grants all citizens equality of status and opportunity, she said “social and economic development indica tors show that we are far from attaining gender parity”.

World Bank data show female labour force participation rates have fallen over the past three decades from 35% in 1990 to 27% in 2014. To achieve gender parity men and women must have access to the same resources and the same opportunities.