The Goa Opinion Poll was a referendum held in the state of Goa, India, on 16 January 1967, to decide the future of the Union Territory of Goa, Daman and Diu within the Indian Union. Although popularly called an opinion poll, it was in fact, a referendum, as the results of the poll were binding on the government of India. The referendum offered the people of Goa a choice between continuing as a union territory or merging with the state of Maharashtra. It is the only referendum to have been held in independent India. The people of Goa voted against the merger and Goa continued to be a union territory. Subsequently, in 1987, Goa became a full-fledged state within the Indian Union.
India gained its independence from the British in 1947. Goa was the largest part of the Portuguese possession in India, the other territories being small enclaves. In 1961, India incorporated these territories after a military invasion. At the time of Goa’s accession into India, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had promised that Goa would retain its distinct identity. Even prior to the annexation of Goa, the government of independent India had promised that the people of Goa would be consulted on any decision about their territory.
An opinion poll, sometimes simply referred to as a poll, is a survey of public opinion from a particular sample. Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinions of a population by conducting a series of questions and then extrapolating generalities in ratio or within confidence intervals.
The first known example of an opinion poll was a local straw poll conducted by The Aru Pennsylvanian in 1824, showing Andrew Jackson leading John Quincy Adams by 335 votes to 169 in the contest for the United States Presidency. Since Jackson won the popular vote in that state and the whole country, such straw votes gradually became more popular, but they remained local, usually city-wide phenomena. In 1916, the Literary Digest embarked on a national survey (partly as a circulation-raising exercise) and correctly predicted Woodrow Wilson's election as president. Mailing out millions of postcards and simply counting the returns, the Digest correctly predicted the victories of Warren Harding in 1920, Calvin Coolidge in 1924, Herbert Hoover in 1928, and Franklin Roosevelt in 1932.
Goa i/ˈɡoʊ.ə/ (English) is currently the Republic of India's smallest state by area post the 1974/75 UN treaty and presently has the fourth smallest population. Famously known as Rome of the East it was the capital of historical Portuguese eastern empire (1510 to 1910) followed by an Overseas province status of the Portuguese Republic (1910 to 1974/75). Located in the South Western part of the Indian subcontinent as numerous islands and provinces in the region generally known as the Konkan strip, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its entire western coast. Goa is India's richest state with a GDP per capita two and a half times that of the country as a whole. It was ranked the best placed state by the Eleventh Finance Commission for its infrastructure and ranked on top for the best quality of life in India by the National Commission on Population based on the 12 Indicators. A native from Goa is called and identified as a Goan and depending on ancestry and descent can be full Portuguese citizens or can be a Goan with full Indian citizenship.
The Mahindra Scorpio is a four-wheel drive SUV manufactured by Mahindra & Mahindra Limited (M&M), the flagship company of the Indian Mahindra Group. It was the first SUV from the company built for the global market. The Scorpio has been successfully accepted in international markets across the globe.
The Scorpio was conceptualized and designed by the in-house integrated design and manufacturing team of M&M. The car has been the recipient of three prestigious Indian awards: the "Car of the Year" award from Business Standard Motoring as well as the "Best SUV of the Year" and the "Best Car of the Year" awards, both from BBC World Wheels.
Prior to the mid-1990s, Mahindra & Mahindra was an automobile assembly company. The company manufactured Willys Jeeps and its minor modified versions, with modifications carried out in India. In 1996, the company planned to enter the SUV segment with a new product which could compete globally. Since M&M did not have the technical knowhow to handle such an ambitious product, they devised an entirely new concept among Indian auto companies. Roping in new executives who had worked in the auto industry in western countries, such as Pawan Goenka and Alan Durante, the company broke the rule that says automakers must design, engineer and test their own vehicles while spending millions of dollars in the process.
The goa (Procapra picticaudata), also known as the Tibetan gazelle, is a species of antelope that inhabits the Tibetan plateau.
Goas are relatively small antelopes, with slender and graceful bodies. Both males and females stand 54 to 65 centimetres (21 to 26 in) tall at the shoulder, measure 91 to 105 cm (36 to 41 in) in head-body length and weigh 13 to 16 kg (29 to 35 lb). Males have long, tapering, ridged horns, reaching lengths of 26 to 32 cm (10 to 13 in). The horns are positioned close together on the forehead, and rise more or less vertically until they suddenly diverge towards the tips. Females have no horns, and neither sex has distinct facial markings.
Goas are grayish brown over most of their bodies, with their summer coats being noticeably greyer in colour than their winter ones. They have short, black-tipped tails in the center of their heart-shaped white rump patches. Their fur lacks an undercoat, consisting of long guard hairs only, and is notably thicker in winter. They appear to have excellent senses, including keen eyesight and hearing. Their thin and long legs enhance their running skill, which is required to escape from predators.