The fiery foul-smelling extract of cashew and coconut with the label feni can't be replicated out of Goa, right? Wrong, says Dr Raghunath Mashelkar, director general, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. Speaking to a local newspaper on Patenting and Intellectual Property Rights, Mashelkar noted that any technologist can patent a variety of feni just like varieties of basmati rice were patented recently.

Of course, feni by itself, which has been brewed for generations, won't be allowed to be patented. Dr Mashelkar, a Goan himself, said in jest that someone could patent a variety of feni minus its foul-smelling odour!

Mumbai beckons Goa's dog-catchers

In Goa, local self-government bodies used to hire gunmen to shoot stray dogs till the courts intervened last year. Now with the canine population proliferating in Goa's towns, municipal officials are looking for ways and means to tackle the problem.

Last week, the Margao MunicipalCouncil deputed three employees to Mumbai to learn the tricks of dog-catching from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). The animal caught by the authorities would be sterilised and released back in its neighbourhood.

Kicking plastic

Retail establishments in Panaji are gradually being swayed by the green brigade to dump plastic bags. Thanks to a local volunteer organisation, shops in the town have turned into no plastic zones, though a customer could be given a plastic bag if he asks nicely. Now volunteers are putting up an exhibition in town where visitors will be educated about alternatives to plastic.

Organisations like Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity, where volunteers put together paper and jute bags, will be the stars of the show.

Tailpiece

The beer brewers are taking on the whisky makers in the State. According to data put out by a beer manufacturer, excise duty on beer in Goa is nearly 40 per cent while hard liquor is cheap, so while one shells out Rs 35 for abottle of beer, whisky is available for Rs 20 a quarter!

-- SHIV KUMAR