Is IIT in Goa’s best interest?

The gates of hell are often opened wide with the best of intentions,” and we Goans seem never to realize that if we do not learn from history, the history would repeat itself. We have been steadily losing our biologically rich plateaus, luxuriant in water holding capacities for the development of Commerce and Industry. However, we have never analyzed the finer aspects of;  for whom is this development and at “whose costs”! Today the Dabolim plateau is a cess pool of slums. The Betul plateau and  Mormugao are usurped by the Oil Corporation and M.P.T respectively. The ill- effects on the MOPA, and Saligao plateaus due to the construction of the green field airport and an white elephant, in the form of a capital intensive garbage treatment plant would be felt in the next ten years. Today, thanks to the debate carried out in the print media, with special reference to Herald, the establishment of an I.I.T at Loliem; a top the Bhagwati plateau is nagging.

“All that glitters is not gold”. If you haven’t seen or experienced it, one must make sure that we are aiming for the precious indigenous value addition that would improve Goa’s human resources and add productivity to the life and of the livelihood of the indigenous people of Canacona.

We have yet not seen the Environment Impact Assessment report of the proposed project. “Like headless jumping chicken,” we are condemning the indigenous natives of Loliem and ridiculing them for opposing the “assumed prestigious project”

As of today, Goa with little over 15 lakhs of people would require at the most two institutions of specialized learning in the field of technology and engineering. The two institutes would not only serve the locals desiring to take up engineering and technology but 20% seats could serve the needs of the rest of India, desirous of studying in Goa.

Let us dispassionately analyse. We have the Goa Engineering College at Farmagudi, the Padre Concessao College at Verna, the BITS- Pilani Institute at Dabolim, Rayeshwar Technical Institute at Shiroda, professional courses run by shipyards and the navy, the national NIIT which is to come up at Cuncolim, the Don Bosco Engineering College at Fatorda and the Salesian Society is aiming for high level institutions be it in agriculture or technology.

Goa today is facing the crisis of diminishing returns. We eat and hope to swallow more than what we can chew. Have we taken any feedback from GEC, PCC, BITS, NIIT, and the scores of other institutions big and small about their carrying capacity and their basic requirements to generate excellence in technological education? I.I.T campuses today are the power houses to empower the rich and suppress and suffocate the poor. 

Unscientific tourism at Calangute and Candolim has transformed the ground waters in these regions as a polluted “sewage bomb”. Similarly we considered mining as our backbone of economy of Goa and thus sacrificed our precious ground water to extract iron ore and rendered the mining belt water deficient and dependent on “out resourced” tankers to meet the requirements of water to the water-starved and parched villages. We forget that these villages of Pissurlem, Codli, etc were water saturated and perennially rich in water supply from time immemorial but mining has destroyed the water table.

Today, we have taken upon a new mantra in the name of creativity and knowledge economy; we have developed a monolith thinking: saturate Goa with engineering and technology graduates, without aspiring for sustainability. 

Goa seems to be today embarking on a project producing engineers and technocrats far beyond our needs?. Or is it that we are bent on scuttling Goan diversity, biodiversity, its gene pool, the water harvesting resources and transforming our landscape into a “concrete jungle” in the garb of development.

It is not that 1000 + students and 200+ faculty, which would make the difference to the ecosystem environment and the socio political balance around Canacona, but the ancillary development around the “core campus fraternity” that could spell the danger a head in the long run. When there is a prestigious campus” as claimed there ought to be a post office, the banking services, the support staff, clerical, technical skilled and unskilled work force. Then we would need family quarters, where wives, children, fathers, mothers and possibly other kith and kin of staff and faculty would follow. Goa is beautiful and very many would like to be here. Goa University “campus study” would give some indication to this effect. It does not end here but it would accelerate growth faster than visualized. We would then require schools, hospitals, entertainment facilities, security staff, police station to oversee law and order. I need not emphasize further as Goa is gaining to be the crime capital of India, rich in drugs, drinks and dance. We would further require house maids, barbers, tailors, dhobis, garbage scavengers masons, plumbers, etc to look into the day to day needs of the residents, who essentially would be very rich professors or the rich students affording this facility. In migration at Loliem would be obvious.

It would be clear, that just as a situation of a high density “storm core” causes the cyclone leading to the devastation of the low pressure surrounding areas consisting of quiet villages around the core, similarly the highly dense I.I.T at Loliem atop the Bhagwati plateau, could completely put out of gear the low profiled villages and the villagers of the nearby region, who would relent under the high pressures of this so called development of the haves and thus result in the  flushing out of the poor,  who sustainably are surviving on nature’s resources as of now. For a modest estimate, I.I.T Loliem would attract over 20,000 + support staff, if it has to remain as a “Centre of Higher Learning”. Even at the desirable Goa University, our laboratories; when students desire are kept open 24x7, but being close to Panjim, G.U has its advantages, but Loliem, more than 60 kms away from Margao is an “academic handicap”. The inward migration of labour would drive out the indigenous locals and the sustainable ecosystem around Loliem.

Can we seek and find diverse and better alternatives, which would meet the aspirations of the villagers dependent on the primary resources for the past several generations. We must add value to the Bhagwati plateau but we must evaluate and identify if I.I.T is the best option. We must not embark on a project which will give peanut to Goans at heavy costs to the indigenous population.

(The author is a retired Professor of Goa University).