The report on mining in Goa by the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER 2010b) was criticised by Pranab Mukhopadhyay and Gopal K Kadekodi (hereafter MG) in EPW (12 November 2011). This author also commented on the conclusions of the report and raised several ethical issues (EPW, 21 January 2012) (hereafter Basu). R Venkatesan, the lead author of NCAER (2010b), responded to the criticism (EPW, 27 March 2012).