A few of us came together the other day in the backdrop of the - TopicsExpress

A few of us came together the other day in the backdrop of the recent police complaint and the hullabaloo that followed due to a communal post on this forum. We discussed the following: 1. Many of those who post on Goan cyber forums do not realize that freedom of expression has limitations as far as the Indian constitution goes and one cannot create posts that offend or incite or defame, etc. And people do have a right to legally sue if this limitation is breached. 2.Mass exodus like that of the recent North-eastern folks can occur due to some fake rumors and exchanges on social media and any community in Goa can be so affected, unfortunately. Additionally, people are known to commit suicide when they cannot deal with what is being posted publicly about them and such cases have happened. 3.Goa is about communal harmony and it is not acceptable that anyone tries to change that. Additionally Goa is perceived by people outside of Goa as harmonious and this perception should not be allowed to change either. 4.When people defame, offend, incite or create communal strife there is presently nobody one can turn to other than probably the legal system. But the legal system is expensive and can be quite harsh. For example if the recent police complaint that I mentioned above is taken to its logical conclusion, the defendant can be jailed for three/four years. So we thought we need to have a press conference to ensure people know the above and learn to exercise their freedom of expression with responsibility. Even those living abroad, if they write irresponsibly and their workplace is informed about such writing they could lose their job or whatever. I mean even in Goa this could be the case and some of us know it has happened with a few. And we suggested an idea that people come forward and form a group. And when such irresponsible comments and activity takes place on Goan cyber forums, this group would be the first one that those affected by such irresponsible comments could turn to. The group would not be actually monitoring the social media or anything as it would never have the bandwidth to do so. Only if approached the group could take up particular cases and work with parties concerned to arrive at a solution. The idea would be to settle things amicably as far as possible thru discussions so that the legal route could only be taken as a last resort if nothing works. The group would have to consist of people like IT professionals, doctors, psychiatrists, psychologists, lawyers, social workers, admins of forums, reputed people from society, etc. It would be a loosely formed group that may or may not have a committee to head it. Basically every time there is an issue, around five to seven persons from this group could be deputed to resolve the issue amicably. Hence, the group membership would have to be much larger as people cannot be available all the time. There would be absolutely NO political connections or connections to the government at that time, as far as this group is concerned. It would only be a group of concerned people who debate on Goan online forums. I thank people for their enthusiasm and encouragement - and we have received such a warm response to the creation of such a group. And those of you who have not yet understood this idea and have been going berserk (which for most of those who went berserk is quite normal and frequent :)), feel free to ask your questions. Meenacshi Martins, Rohan Govenkar, Savio Rodrigues, and I would be happy to answer if we can. Vivek Mordekar, Abhijeet Arondekar can also provide their input as they also are very much in this. Vivek could not attend the PC because his son met with an accident the same day and Abhijeet was there and taking care of the slides that were being shown at the PC). Pls note the group is not formed yet. It is only an idea at the moment. The group needs to be formed and you are welcome to come forward and advise if you would like to be part of such a group. The first quality that would be needed, of course, for any person to be a member of such a group is loads of compassion. The other would be an even temperament. And the third would be no particular deliberate hatred or animosity for any community or person. The other qualities needed would be professional qualifications, of course and a will to make a positive change. Anou Raut Desai I realise you have shown immense love for me and given this issue a lot of attention and I pray that God blesses you in every good way possible. I request you to please not treat the above with your trademark jeeb kadoon taalyak layli behaviour and give it some thought in your pretty head. :) Looking forward to your positive input. For further info pls note Rohan Govenkar already made a post earlier regarding this and has blogged: nohatredingoa.blog/2014/05/30/social-media-not-a-forum-to-spread-hatred/