The Goan society has been extremely casual and lackadaisical in its approach towards healthy and sustainable development. Steadily since the Liberation of Goa from the colonial Portuguese rule, the Goans have forgotten their traditional way of living. The traditional livelihoods in farming, fishing, pottery, tapping for coconuts, fruits, flower and vegetable cultivations, skill development in music, drama, dances around harvests are only re-enacted and reflected around carnival or cultural shows. The traditional life is absent today.
In the fifties, Goans believed in the saying “with the sweat of the brow thou shall earn their bread”. Needless to say that our work of art and culture and even artistic furnitures are exhibited in the top museums in Europe. We respected the sun and the seas and used water luxuriantly, as a clean and clear solvent for salubrious living. All bio-degradable waste were re-cycled as agricultural composts and sea shells were used as a lime paint for white washing of walls as well as cow dung for floorings and as fuel to light fire.
Over the last sixties years, Goa has seen the growing of comfort and development centered around easing of the ways of life but in the process, we have added new dimensions of exploitation, corruption, garnished with scams, illegalities, cheating, drug peddling, gambling and tourism related trades becoming unscientific and unfriendly for the environment.
As a result today we have forgotten our traditional ways of life and livelihoods. Today we see a new breed of dependents; “we have the mining dependants, adding to those involved in casino dependencies”. There are parasites involved in the transport sector over charging and fleeing the tourists and locals alike. The barge and truck owners made hay while sunshine was shining on in the illegal mining activities.
Trucks, taxis, barges, mining machineries, booming in the real estate trade with hotels structures greying up Goa has became the order of the day. Today parasitic trades posing as the tertiary sector of the Goan economy have completely dominated the Goan way of life. Driven by the impulse of making quick money at the cost of the teeming millions of quiet Goans, our environment has taken a beating. Acute pollution has aggravated concerns, skin and respiratory infections.
The political class across party lines is totally with these parasitic and exploitative work force which is driving Goa towards environmental degradation and the degeneration of the moral fabric of our society. Our lakes are dried up, our agriculture is gasping for survival, our rivers are rich in sewage and our fields are flooded with mining rejects and garbage from the unhealthy growth of tourism. Sadly today we receive water only once a week in many places in Goa. Our environment is totally stressed and morbid.
Throughout Goa we are resorting to hill cutting, least realising that they are reservoirs of water. As a result, during monsoons, we witness landslides all over.
The mining belt is parched as aquifers are dried to make way for ore extraction and the tourism conducted haphazardly has polluted our surface and ground water with raw and untreated sewage. Our political class is happy as they are active and willful partners in the loot and plunder business of our resources and the dubious real estate scams and the illegal mining loot and forest plunder.
Monsoon has exposed our unpreparedness. Flooding is causing harm and damage. The same vast water that nature has bestowed on us could have been systematically harvested and used throughout the year and soften the discomfort of our society, especially in water-parched locations.
What is disturbing for the average Goan and the humble tax payers is that the State treasury and our savings in the banks are given out as doles or written off as non-performing assets to keep the looters and cheaters happy at all times in the garb of “Dependents” since we give them subsidies, loans and incentives from the public savings and taxes. The public does not force or even entice these parasites to buy trucks, barges, and involve themselves in the real estate, hotel or taxi trade. How long will the common man of Goa endure? It was their greed and business of decision for which tax payers are made to pay. In business, shareholders suffer. Why different in Goa? We continue to suffer from the tantrums thrown by the so called “Dependent” of gambling, mining, taxi or drug or even any other parasitic trades. The actual affected persons due to mining are the Goan farmers and we the common man of this territory who are cheated by politicians and the governments of the day.
The organised religious institutions are not proactive. A priest or two like Fr Eremito Rebello and others need to be acknowledge. Our callous and casual behavior and attitude to the mining and tourism loot or by plunder and our disregard to the destruction of our salubrious ecosystem of Goa we have brought upon ourselves disease and pestilence to grow up in Goa.
Our DNA is a humble template which routinely produces proteins and other growth hormones it codifies as the building up of our body. But without detailing out the essence of transcription, translation etc. involved in molecular biology, I would stress upon the common man to understand that growth of cancers is essentially due to pollutants which cause serious and severe misreading done to the DNA code as a result wrong signals produced due to pollutants which are growing alarmingly in Goa.
This monsoon the mining rejects discards left by the mining activities will haunt and affect Goa by silting, flooding, increase in respiratory ailments. Who will be held responsible? We should blame ourselves; accept punishment of nature for our neglect and foolishness, failure to protect nature. It is time for us to protect our environment as it is on earth alone we should be able to survive on this Universe.
