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On October 12, 2012, the Ministry of Home Affairs delegated powers to the Foreigners Regional Registration Office in Goa to accept and process Overseas Citizen of India card applications. A day later, in a follow-up letter, the same ministry qualified the delegation by noting that the Goa FRRO lacked adequate infrastructure and manpower, and that OCI applications would continue to be dealt with by FRRO Mumbai “till further orders.” That contradiction has defined the situation ever since. ...

This is a translation of an article “Passagem para a Índia” published in the magazine section of O Expresso on December 8, 2001. Translated by Gabriel Figueiredo, reproduced here with his permission. It tells the story of the 1961 Indian annexation of Goa from a Portuguese perspective, through the eyes of Carlos Azaredo. At 0:00 hours on December 18, 1961, the invasion of Goa, Damão and Diu began. It lasted 36 hours. The disproportion was obscene: Indian forces were 13 times larger than the Portuguese garrison. The “total sacrifice” Salazar demanded would have been a tragedy. General Vassalo e Silva, the last governor of 451 years of Portuguese India, understood this when he surrendered. ...