Goa: ‘Sadbhav Mahotsav’, a unique festival was organised by the Society of Pilar at the Pilar Pilgrim Centre, Pilar Goa on 1 October 2022.
Sadbhav Mahotsav is a community festival to appreciate the Sower, the Seed, the Soil and the Sustainer. It brought together over 200 people of different Faiths, especially the farmers and students living in the seven village panchayats of the San Andre constituency.
In the morning around 150 students from Nine High Schools [St. Lawrence High School, Agacaim, Immaculate Heart of Mary, high school, Goa Velha, Fairyland High School, Batim, Popular High School, Goa Velha, St. Andrew High school, Goa velha, Dayanand Arya High school, Neura, Azmane High school, Neura, Fr. Agnel High School, Pilar, Fr. Agnel Central School, Pilar], Fr. Agnel Higher Secondary and Fr. Agnel College, Pilar, all of them located in these villages participated in the various activities. The festival infused in the students the universal values of harmony, peace, brotherhood, especially the urgency of protecting and caring for mother earth.
In the morning, the high school students had a painting activity titled ‘Let’s paint the World’. Their paintings were based on the theme “celebrating the Sower, the Seed, the Soil, and the Sustainer.
An activity-based session on the theme ‘learning to live in harmony’ was facilitated by Elaine Coelho, Govida Phadte ani Meherunissa Shafi, B. Ed students, from Nirmala Institute of Education, Panjim. The students also had an experiential walk into the farm area and horticulture garden located on the Pilar Hillock. Fr. Mario Rebelo and Fr. Andrew Joseph led the students in this hands-on learning activity.
In the morning, some farmers and villagers came and cooked food for lunch which was relished by all those who participated in the festival. The vegetarian food was prepared with much enthusiasm and with a sense of togetherness. Fr. Lawrence Fernandes, the Director of the Pilar Pilgrim Centre, welcomed everyone and applauded their presence to celebrate our togetherness as one human family. Fr. Russel Fernandes led everyon
e to a prayer of thanksgiving and blessing before the lunch.
After the lunch, the participants had the opportunity to interact with the officials of the Directorate of Agriculture who had set up a booth to disseminate information on Agriculture and various agricultural schemes.
A short cultural programme was staged consisting of three folk dances performed by the students of Fr. Agnel Higher Secondary School, Pilar, trained by Ms Roshan Gaonkar; St. Aloysius High School Divar, trained by Ms Chaitali Naik; and Fr. Agnel College, Pilar. As part of the cultural programme, Mr. Madhav Bhide, spoke on the theme of valuing diversity and strengthening communal harmony in our society.
This was followed by a panel on the theme: Challenges and Prospects of preserving, promoting, and sustaining agriculture in Goa. It was ably moderated by Mr Miguel Braganza – Agriculturist and Horticulturist. Ms Elsa Fernandes, Environmental Architect, presented a scientific analysis on Climate change and its impact on agriculture. Professor Ramrao Wagh, of Goa University, spoke on Paddy cultivation in Khazan lands. Mr Kishore Bhave, Project Director, ATMA North Goa spoke on the Impact of new technology (crop seed and mechanisation) on revival of rice cultivation in Goa and Fr. Mario Rebello, Agriculturist, Member of the Society of Pilar spoke on Organic farming and its benefits.
The rich and thought provoking presentations by the panelists generated a lot of discussions among the participants who shared their experiences on various challenges that they face in their life as farmers. The cultural programme and the subsequent panel discussion was compered by Ms. Roshan Goankar and Ms Tallulah D’Silva, respectively.
The collaboration of the Sarpanch of the seven village panchayats and the administration of the schools/colleges added to the success of the programme. The festival was well planned and organised under the leadership of Fr. Elvis Fernandes, the convenor of Sadbhav – an endeavour of the Society of Pilar for fostering interfaith relations and communal harmony.