AND a few stray thoughts for yet another Saturday. For a Saturday following the week when Kota is still achieving the best results in the entrance exam for the Indian Institute of Technology. For a Saturday following the week when Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said he is hoping to achieve elimination of TB from Goa. For a Saturday following the week when the war that seems to have broken out between BJP ministers over forcing taxis in the state to install apps like those which enable international chains like Uber and Ola to enter the Goan market and steal business from Goan cabbies. For a week when the Goa Medical College & Hospital claimed that it was planning to introduce liver, heart and lung transplants. For a week when almost every 3-, 4- and 5-star hotel in Panaji is at the mercy of the offshore casinos for 100% occupancy.
AND a few stray thoughts on Kota is still producing the best results in the entrance exam for the Indian Institute of Technology. One of the products of the Kota coaching factory, Rajit Gupta, stood first in the joint engineering exam for admission to the IITs. In the IIT main exam, Rajit Gupta, who is originally from Kolkata, reportedly scored 332 out of 380. The coaching factory of Kota accounted for 43 of the hundred top ranks in the entrance exam. As many as 1.8 lakh candidates appeared for the preliminary and the final entrance exam.
Over 50,000 qualified for admission, out of which 10,000 were women. But the IITs seem to be boycotted by the brightest students. This is dramatized by the fact that the cut-off percentage has been sharply reduced. The minimum qualifying marks for the general category have fallen sharply to 74 from last year’s 109. OBC and economically weaker section candidates needed only 66% to qualify for admission.
EVERY year, after the results of the IIT entrance test the coaching classes take huge front-page advertisements in all the national newspapers. Tuesday, June 3, edition of the Times of India in fact carried two full-page ads of the Sri Chaitanya Techno School based in Maharashtra, which claims to have four students in the top 11 of the JEE advanced 2025.
Apparently, Chaitanya trains candidates for the top engineering colleges, including the IITs, right from the nursery. The Chaitanya Techno School has announced admissions for its nursery schools spread across Maharashtra. Relatively Goa seems to lack far behind. There are only two training institutions, namely the Mustifund and the Dempo-Pace integrated higher secondary program, which offers expert coaching for admission to both the IITs and the medical entrance exam.
Of the two special higher secondary courses Mustifund has done better than Dempo-Pace but maintains a low profile. For the first time, the Dempo-Pace Academy has advertised in the Times of India, claiming that twenty -three of its students have qualified for admission. But their ranks are between 1,343 and 5,520.
There is increasing evidence of the shift away from the IITs. Other engineering institutions like BITs Pilani and NIIT seem to be doing better when it comes to placements.
The problem is not the lack of bright students in Goa but the lack of employment opportunities in the state. The majority of the toppers in all the engineering colleges in the state have to move out of Goa for jobs. Pune and Bengaluru are the favourite job markets. Unfortunately, the American dream of students has crashed with Donald Trump banning American universities from admitting international students.

STATUS OF TB IN GOA
AND a few stray thoughts on Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant claiming that Goa is targeting the elimination of TB from the state. The CM made the statement on May 30, 2025 during Goa Statehood Day function. I can personally testify to the fact that Goa does not have an infrastructure to deal with TB patients and their cases, particularly non-pulmonary TB cases. There are no foolproof facilities for testing non-pulmonary TB cases. Even in the case of pulmonary TB, treatment is started on the basis of the presumption that a patient has TB. Once a patient is presumed clinically to have TB, he/she is bombarded with anti-TB medicines, which are a form of chemotherapy.
Under the Central government Department of TB Program, a combined drug formulae is given free to all TB patients. To encourage TB patients to continue treatment they are now also given what is called a “protein allowance” of Rs1,000 per month. This is totally inadequate as given the steep inflation, the protein allowance will not even cover the cost of eggs, which are the most economical source of protein.
When I was being treated for TB of the spine by Dr Edwin Gomes in the GMC’s Geriatrics department, I was repeatedly told that there is no protein in my frugal vegetarian diet. Dr Edwin kept insisting that I should start eating more eggs and also chicken and fish. I was even pumped with huge quantities of protein intravenously. None of it has added even one square millimeter of muscle or fat on my body although now that I’m cured some body weight has come back although I still am not able to walk with confidence.
Part of the problem is that there are no specialists in treating non-pulmonary TB. Doctors in the Medicine department have no expertise in treating TB. In fact, I was told by Dr Edwin Gomes that I was cured of TB after treatment for four months, but I discovered that I was far from cured after I did an MRI. Another doctor enlightened me that the TB bacteria is still lurking and feasting on my bones in the nooks and crannies of my spine already so damaged and I must continue my TB medicine for at least two years and then do another MRI (like MRIs are cheap to do).
After my GMC discharge Dr Edwin Gomes absolved himself of any responsibility for my treatment and referred me to the GMC’S Head of Neurology Prof Dr Teresa Pereira. The fact remains that almost two years down the line, I’m not convinced that I’m in remission for spinal TB which is a more rare form than the usual pulmonary TB of the lungs. And this too after have spent Rs 20 lakh in the last two years on MRIs, supplementary medicine costs and other things which partially handicapped patients require to counter the side effects of the medicines and cost of caretakers and home-based physiotherapy.
Though the Directorate of Health Services has a TB officer, he is only concerned with administration and has no expertise in the treatment of TB patients. It is a myth that only migrants and poor working class are victims of TB in Goa. Facilities in the TB hospital at St Inez have to be expanded to care for non-pulmonary TB cases. The only full proof test of a patient recovered from spinal TB is MRI, which is very expensive in the private sector and this takes weeks to get an appointment at the GMC where there is a daily queue, seniors citizens wait it out in queue.
The truth is nobody can afford the cost of TB treatment unless they are fortunate enough to be iconic filmstar Amitabh Bachchan. It is perhaps little know that the actor too suffered from spinal TB and in fact he has become the brand ambassador for TB in the country. In Goa the TB ambassador is vivacious actress Urmila Matondkar, she has been appointed recently to help eliminate TB in Goa.

MINISTERIAL WARS
AND a few stray thoughts on the war that seems to be broken out between ministers of the BJP government over forcing taxis in the states to install apps, like the apps which enable international taxi chains like Uber and Ola to ply their taxis in Goa.
In a weeklong receiving of long-standing complaints against the Goan taxi mafia, Transport Minister Mauvin Godinho has come up with guidelines for app-based taxi services. Unlike the Goan tourist taxis, which charge any rates they want and loot the passengers, there is a fixed tariff for app-based services. Fare, moreover, varies depending on the time of day. With app-based services, you may call for a taxi and even an auto-rickshaw or a motorcycle pilot on your smartphone.
In almost every city in the country, including Mumbai and Bengaluru, you can get an app-based vehicle through Ola, Uber and Rapido within 10 to 15 minutes. There is no question of return fare or waiting charges because it is a point-to-point service. Moreover, there is total security as you know the name of the driver and the number of the vehicle in advance. You can forward the details to a friend or relative so that action can be taken if anything goes wrong.
The argument of the taxi mafia in Goa is that if hotels and restaurants can increase their tariffs during the peak season, taxi drivers to be allowed to do so. But the taxi mafia does not even permit locals to drop or pick up their guests from especially the five-star hotels. There is also a lot of rivalry between the rent-a-car operators and the tourist taxis. The taxi mafia has the support of the Calangute MLA Michael Lobo and former Benaulim MLA Churchill Alemao in South Goa.
In Panjim or Panaji Babush Monseratte has added to the confusion by insisting that rental bikes and cars are killing the taxi business and should be scrapped. Babush is targeting Transport Minister Mauvin Godinho of course.
Babush also claims that the introduction of app-based taxis will reduce the income of tourist taxis. I understand that on average, tourist taxi owners make between Rs15 lakh to Rs25 lakh per year net of all expenses. As in the case of the fishing industry and even beach shacks, while the owners of the vehicles are Goan patrao, the drivers are usually migrant paid an average of Rs10,000 to Rs15,000 as salary to ply the vehicles.
It is a fact that local transport is the most expensive element in the expenditure tourists coming to Goa for holidays. Tourists will switch to other destinations if all sections of the tourism industry, including airlines, hotels and taxis keep hiking their rates arbitrarily and without any scruples.
AND a few last stray thoughts on the GMC claiming that it is planning to introduce liver, heart and lung transplants. As of now, the State Organ Transplant Organization (SOTO) only does facilitates kidney transplants. The other parts of the body harvested when a patient in declared brain dead are sent to other hospitals in the country which have the necessary expertise and facilities for transplant of liver, heart, lung, etc.
We presume that the interest which is Health Minister Vishwajit Rane is taking in starting liver and lung transplants, is because this gives the opportunity to order expensive equipment costing many crore rupees. The greater the expenditure on equipment, the better it is for the health minister. But the problem is not just equipment. Transplants of liver and lung requires a very high level of medical experience and expertise. Most of the specialists in the area of liver, heart and lung transplants will not relocate to Goa because Goa is a very small market for such transplants.
Needless to say kidney transplants have been possible in Goa thanks to Dr N Tiwari, recruited to the Nephrology department more than two decades ago. Besides the GMC, Healthway Hospital also has a superspeciality for facilitating kidney transplants, courtesy senior urologist Dr Madhumohan R Prabhudesai.
But it is been pointed out that the State Organ Transplant Organization in the GMC have not been able to create the facilities for corneal transplants which can restore the eyesight of the blind. Goa has not set up a basic facility like an eye bank to receive eye donations to facilitate the transplanting of cornea. There are many Goans willing to donate their eyes of their loved ones after they’re gone.
Goan NRIs have been promoting the donation of eye corneas. Goa has already bought equipment for this and several senior doctors and the Department of Ophthalmology, can start these transplants. However, the eye bank has been delayed for over 10 years due to the delay in the recruitment of technicians to operate the machines. Some councilors persuade relatives to donate the cornea of their loved ones but it is fine to have their head in the clouds, and Health Minister Vishwajit Rane must get his priorities right.

PANAJI RESIDENCY FOR DELTIN
AND a last stray thought on almost every 3-, -4 and -5-star hotel in Panaji being at the mercy of the offshore casinos for 100% occupancy. This is because the casinos offer free accommodation to gamblers willing to deposit Rs1 lakh with the casino. Those who are willing to spend a minimum of Rs1 lakh get free accommodation in a hotel and, of course, to and from transportation to the casinos. Their breakfast, lunch and dinner are taken care of by the casinos which function on a 24-hour basis.
But it is shocking to learn that even government tourist facilities like the Miramar Residency and the Panaji Residency have been handed over to the Deltin casino group. All 50 rooms in the Panaji Residency have been leased out to Deltin against a rent of Rs3 crore per year. On the demand of Deltin Casinos, the Panaji Residency reportedly even bought new curtains worth Rs40 lakh for the benefit of gambling guests.