Goa witnessed yet another election recently which was amusingly termed as some magic potion to strengthen grassroots democracy. Those who managed to get elected should not be offended with the above title, because the entire political setup is embroiled with corruption, therefore the onus falls on the elected members of the village panchayat to prove they have got themselves elected for the right reasons. Till then every Goan will assume the elected to be guilty of corruption unless proven otherwise.
During the election campaign most candidates have tried to project themselves to be in the race to do social service. While they managed to pull a fast one on the gullible villagers, by the time the villagers figure out their crooked intentions, they might have already crammed their own pockets and of their masters. Goans must understand that there are many astonishing, humble and ethical ways to do social service and politics is definitely not at the forefront. Let’s face it, when you enter politics, in Goa especially, it means you want access to the finances the citizen shells out in the name of taxes, hoping to siphon some of it, while pretend to do some basic village work claiming that it is social work that they are in for. There could be exceptions but that hardly matters, if you belong to the gang of thieves. Either you are with them or against them; you cannot be part of the scamming unit and claim you are unaware of all the wrong doings.
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While most panchayat members are satisfied with the crumbs, the major chunk mostly goes to their higher ups. Let’s not be under the false pretext that these panch members are here for the welfare of the village, while they will do some cosmetic work for the village, so that the villagers are kept in good humour, but their eye is always going to be on prospective real estate projects or development projects which allow them to squeeze the developer or the contractor respectively.
Let any contractor or real estate developer come out and say on record that they did not have to line the pockets of the panchayat members or their higher ups or government servants and that their project went through like a breeze. Of course the customer always bears the cost escalation because the real estate developer simply bribes and adds it to the cost of the project. Nobody is going to sacrifice their margins and pay bribes from their own pockets. While we Goans close our eyes thinking the customer is always from North India, so why care, but sometimes it is the villagers who pick real estate when their families expand or go nuclear. That explains why real estate prices in Goa are exorbitantly high compared to most parts of the country. Bring down grassroots and A-list corruption and it bound to have the desired impact on the prices of real estate. Of course price rigging among the limited real estate lobby of Goa cannot be ruled out but that’s another subject.
Corruption in panchayats is not restricted to only the bribes they mostly extort from businesses, but also the work they delay or avoid doing. Timely garbage pickup, drain cleaning, ensuring 24 hour electricity and water should be the core responsibility of the elected member. There cannot be half measures, it is possible sometimes finances are not provided or bottlenecks created to get at a section of the population in the village or a sincere panch, the remedy is to call a press conference, expose the culprits and then resign. Having good intentions are just not good enough because work has to be completed without any excuses.
For the above to happen the villagers will also have to shed their lethargy and become more proactive. The problem with Goans is that they feel their responsibility ends with selection. Imagine you select a cook and do not manage his responsibilities, a time will come the cook will not only control the menu but might also start feeding you his preferences. The only difference between the cook and the panch member is that the cook is your personal employee while the panch member is the employee of the village. You cannot be satisfied with his performance just because he did your personal work. Best way to judge a panch member’s performance is to see if he gives priority to the village affairs or citizen’s personal affairs.
Unfortunately ignorance, complicated government forms, keeping the politician in the loop by asking for his approval has made sure the panch member and the politician are seen to be important people and that they only can clear your personal work, little knowing the loop can be completed without anybody’s intervention if we become a little tech savvy and spend a little time to understand the system. While doing administrative work, panchayats must also make sure they work towards the vision of the village which most panchayats have not even bothered to work on.
There are some youngsters that have got elected in these elections, chances are they are innocent but will slowly be groomed to become corrupt. It is going to be a serious challenge for these youngsters to make sure no corrupt practices take place under their watch, for that to happen, they might have to work extra and not be some passive useless panch member. Keeping extra watch on your team is an added responsibility you need to focus; after all you have decided to join a team with corruption as their main legacy. If nothing works out then expose and resign. If you are honest but works for a corrupt setup, difficult for Goa to believe you are not corrupt. Time has come to grab the bull by the horns.
(The author is a business consultant)
