16 Jan 2022  |   05:50am IST

On Opinion Poll Day, its identity that matters

Alexandre Moniz Barbosa

The victory for the proponents of retaining Goa as a Union Territory in the Opinion Poll guaranteed that Goa retained its identity. There would be no merger. That speculation was put to rest on January 16, 1967, never to be opened again. It is difficult for us today, with our own legislature, to envisage Goa as a district of another State. The result of the Opinion Poll went the way that a majority of Goans had desired. Did the decisions in the years after that go the way that was desired? 

Now, 55 years since that day, if the question of how much of that identity is still retained is posed to those who were in the movement, the responses would be varied. Fact is, that question has been asked numerous times and the answer is often accompanied by a nostalgic pain as reminiscences of a period that no longer exits are brought to mind and word pictures of that era are attempted to be painted. That Goa of green fields, quaint tiled houses, silvery sands, of meetings at the village tinto and a pace of life that matched the soft summer breezes that swayed the fruit-laden branches of the mango trees is almost a dream from which the land has been rudely awakened.

But there was no rude awakening for the changes were not sudden. They started at a slow pace, and when the rest of the country discovered that Goa was indeed a piece of paradise, they hastened to get a piece of it and rapidly Goa lost much of its charm, but still retained the ability to lure the temporary visitors who keep the hotel rooms full and also those of a permanent nature who have jacked up the prices of the real estate market and made buying a home almost out of the reach of the local Goan. What the latter essentially indicates is that while Goa has some high per capita economic indicators, the average salaried Goan is unable to purchase the home that an individual from another State can easily put a down payment on and make it a first or even a second home in Goa. That is something those who stood the ground for Union Territory status had never envisioned. It is too late to now change the course that Goa has taken, but never too late to stop it from altering further.

Now clinging on to an identity that has been severely eroded, Goa has to preserve what is left so that it does not further crumble. The biggest gain of the Opinion Poll was retaining the separate identity – of Goa as a Union Territory and later a State. That was achieved but later people failed to create the systems to prevent the changes from chipping away at the identity and the idea of Goa. As a result the threats keep coming, at times more forcefully than others, which is the only time when the people stand against it. Today, Goa awakens only when it learns that there is a danger to the identity coming from somewhere, someone or some form or the other. At all other times, it does not respond to what is happening. 

Take for instance in 2021 when the Bhumiputra Bill was passed by the Legislative Assembly the people opposed it because it threatened their land. In one stroke land owners would have been deprived of their land and those who had illegally occupied it would become owners. This was not acceptable, but at other times when such illegalities do occur, the response is tepid. Or another example is also name change phenomenon that is so very peculiar to Goa. It was only when the people realised that migrants after changing their surname to local ones and were then seeking benefits that they would otherwise not be entitled to there was some opposition to it. In all these years when this went on, nobody wondered why it was happening, though there is also the possibility that this can lead of falsifying land documents and some such cases have been unearthed. 

Migration is one of many reasons that has led to a dilution of Goan identity. In search of employment that the government here has been unable to provide, thousands have migrated to other countries, particularly the United Kingdom and Canada, besides taken up employment in the Arabian Gulf. The latter still return, while it is those who have moved to Europe and North America who have with time opted for the citizenship of their adopted country. Of course the Portuguese citizenship that Goans are eligible for has facilitated this to a large extent, and perhaps has even spurred the departure of many. So, would gainful employment keep Goans back in their State? The brain drain would certainly be considerably less, for Goa also does not have the best of higher education institutions and students are forced to enroll in colleges, institutions and universities in other States. Once armed with a degree, they find themselves qualifications. One solution to stem the brain drain would be to improve the higher education facilities in the State. Six decades after Liberation, there is just one State university, but that can change with the government having given its nod to four private universities to establish in the State. The focus here has to be on permitting courses that Goan students would be inclined to opt for and not permit the opening of institutions merely to have more of them. 

Five and a half decades after having voted to remain a Union Territory, Goa faces some new challenges in preserving its identity. We look at some of these in our Review section this Sunday. There are some that are legislative ones and others that are of an environmental nature. In both cases, the people have had to come forward before the government acts. How much longer will the people keep up the good fight is difficult to predict. The demographic changes that have not stopped, may in the years to come make it difficult for Goans to come together as a block to keep that identity flag flying. 


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