The very fact that Goa has one government employee for every 22 persons as against Gujarat’s 249 persons clearly shows that Goa’s administration is far from being effective, where, either the government employees are shirking or the popular governments have loaded government departments with their preferred kith and kin. It is no wonder that people have come to realize that a handshake with a carefully folded currency note does wonders for the lethargic administrative machinery chug along.
Being a marine superintendent by profession on long leave, I have the first-hand information as to how the administrative ‘donkey’ refuses to move, with my past affiliations with the Goa Electricity Department as Engineer before I ventured out to the high seas. And I had given up hopes that Goa’s administrative set-up would ever be reformed until I heard about the phenomenon called Arvind Kejriwal in Delhi. Was I overjoyed when Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP showed interest in getting into the fray in Goa’s elections? ‘My search for Goa’s administrative reformation was over’, I had thought, ‘and I made it a point to be in touch with AAP Goa at the highest level’. But since I am a person who is ‘once bitten, twice shy’, I treaded carefully within the executive of Goa’s AAP. And I found my answers when preparations for AAP’s mega rally was taking shape in Goa. The involvement of large number of outsiders for campaign and in the mega rally filled my feet with lead so that my onward movement in AAP got grounded to a full stop. The question that came up was “Where are the Goans?”
I had always appreciated the work done by Goa Su-Raj Party, especially its no-nonsense constitution in general, and its most elaborately presented ‘Road Map for Goa’ in particular. But I too had fallen for the general philosophical understanding that lofty ideals fetch no results on the ground and they tend to remain on paper that these are written on. But your above ‘editorial’ hit me like a ton of bricks to make me realize that, in deed, without lofty ideals and an element of self-sacrifice, the administrative ‘donkey’ in Goa shall remain the ‘donkey’ which refuses to budge without being pushed, with no hope of it being traded for a forward moving administrative ‘horse’
The often uttered boast of Goa Su-Raj Party’s executive members that their 16 year old founding constitutional resolves of not having a cabinet of more than 5 when 12 are allowed for a small state like Goa, and no Chairmenships and Directorships of government corporations and institutions shall be allocated to MLAs, was considered as a pipe dream, a superlative way of not trying to fool the people of Goa but themselves. Could something like this ever come to happen in Goa’s politics where the rush is for Mackenna’s Gold? But coming back to your esteemed editorial, this looks like the only recipe of ideology mixed with action that can give Goa the administrative reforms that will cut off the excess flab.
Any serious intentions by the governments to not only streamline the administrative process but also to have something left-over to repay the massive public debts which today stand at Rs. 70,000 crores plus and is galloping towards the one Lakh Crore mark, must see governments making sacrifices and not lead profligate life-styles at the cost of tax-payers. I am beginning to reach out to my hat to take it off and salute the founders of Goa Su-Raj Party for committedly sitting down to deliberate on the future of Goa, many years ago and to come up with an ideological Ace, and, what is more important, maintaining that nigh impossible high moral stand without flinching, not to be over zealous for the political race to the lucrative Goa Legislative Assembly.
And to think that I was one of those Goans who was trying to find a needle in the haystack, tantamount to quote the old Goan adage : ‘Andir assa Chedo – sodunk bounvta soglo vaddo” roughly meaning that what one is looking for everywhere is right at one’s own feet.
We have recently seen the shocking results in the U.S. Elections where Donald Trump, a person who has been an outsider to American politics and who was slated for a crippling defeat, won the race to the White House, defeating the much preferred Hillary Clinton who has served all her lifetime in important positions in American governments. And, American elections cannot be compared to elections in India, or elections in Goa where the votes will go to the person who is perceived to win in the winnability contest but never on the issues. But apart from popular, sentimental votes going to Hillary Clinton, the electoral college votes, importantly, went Donald Trump’s way. Why? Because Donald Trump, had, from the start of his campaign, stressed on bringing back JOBS for the Americans to make America great once again. We have heard political pundits talking about this one issue that changed the electoral history of America in the 2017 elections.
With the ideological mix and the unflinching determination to delivery what has been promised, Goa Su-Raj Party, I am sure, will deliver what Goans are dreaming about. The most important aspect of the Party’s resolve that I have always appreciated is that it stresses on the maintenance of the secular balance of the state vis a vis religion. In India, and equally in Goa, religion plays the major role in deciding elections which must stop with burning issues taking the centre stage. Hopefully, Goa will have to go under many monsoons for this to happen and for Goans to give a mandate to GSRP to rule Goa.
(The author is a sailing merchant marine engineer connected with a foreign shipping company now officiating as a consultant in Goa)
