28 May 2023  |   05:54am IST

State of Goa @36: Have leaders of Goa been able to fulfill its people’s aspirations?

On May 30, 1987, under the Sixth Amendment of the Indian Constitution, Goa became India's 25th State and Daman and Diu were made a separate union territory. Since then, this date is celebrated as the Statehood Day of Goa. It was a momentous occasion for the people of Goa. It was preceded by a major agitation primarily to preserve Goa’s unique culture and identity. After Statehood happened, Goa’s assimilation into the Union of India was complete and also could chart its own course and make it the beautiful pearl in the ocean, as it is always called. It’s been 36 years since Goa attained Statehood status. In the weekly Herald TV debate Point-Counter Point, SUJAY GUPTA analyses the 36 years of Goa’s Statehood status and evaluates its achievements and shortcomings in this journey of over three decades
State of Goa @36: Have leaders of Goa been able  to fulfill its people’s aspirations?

oa was liberated from the colonial rule in December 1961. After Liberation’s a major controversy arose as to whether it should remain a separate territory or should merge into a neighbouring State, Maharashtra or Mysore.

 In 1967, an Opinion Poll was held, the only such referendum in independent India. It decided that Goa, Daman and Diu should remain a separate entity with the status of Union Territory. Thereafter all the three major political parties, the United Goans, the Congress, and the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party sought Statehood for Goa. 

Later on May 30, 1987, Goa was given full Statehood and thus the tiny State became India’s 25th State, after separating Daman and Diu, which was made a Union Territory (UT). The Statehood gave people of Goa an identity unshackled from colonial domination and opened an era of quick development spreading overall prosperity.

Some of the immediate benefits that accrued to the State were that power was devolved to the people who became masters of their fate and our tryst with destiny was complete.  The Statehood empowered the elected Government to take faster decisions which facilitated speedier implementation of socio-economic programmes and welfare projects.

State Government was empowered to demand, as a right, financial grants from Planning Commission for implementation of socio economic projects. The verdict of Opinion Poll in 1967 and passing of Official Language Act 1987 paved the way for conferring Statehood on Goa in 1987. The recognition by the Sahitya Academi and Konkani’s inclusion in the Eight Schedule was prelude to impetus given for promotion of Goan literature.

Two revenue districts South Goa and North Goa were created. Financial allocations were enhanced which helped enormously to undertake welfare oriented projects in the State. Public Private Partnership (PPP) were undertaken to create infrastructure and other basic amenities.

Cultural resurgence took root as Kala Academy has become a virtual cultural hub promoting folk and contemporary music, dance, drama, painting and other art forms and with the establishment of the Department of Art and Culture as nucleus for all art and cultural activities.

The state has witnessed improving health care with shifting from curable delivery of Health to Public Health and from urban centric to total integration for both rural and urban areas. Goa has potential to become the No 1 destination for filmmakers.  The successful organisation of International Film Festival has added to its credibility.

While these have been the achievements of Goa since attaining Statehood 36 years ago, we are still standing at the crossroads. It is time to look back in time to assess Goa’s progress over these years and find out which direction are we heading. 

The first question that we need to ask is have we become politically matured? Have we done politics of governance and ethics? More importantly, have we preserved and protected Konkani language, on the basis of which the Statehood was conceived? Thirdly, have we been able to preserve our natural heritage and our natural resources, of which Goa should have been so proud of? And last but not the least, the broader question of identity – have we been able to establish it?

Prajal Sakhardande, activist and historian, said that on May 30 this year, Goa will complete 36 years of its Statehood. 

“If you go to the history of Goa’s Statehood, we can see that it was a culmination of efforts from various sections of the society to thwart the threats that were faced after liberation from Portuguese rule. First and foremost challenge attempts to merge Goa with Maharashtra. It was such a draconian thought that prevailed in the minds of ruling establishment at that time. We were saved by the Opinion Poll. This culminated into our aspirations to have a linguistic identity, which is Konkani,” Sakhardande said.

When asked whether we could reap the fruits of people’s aspirations, former minister Nirmala Sawant, Former Minister said, “We had a lot of aspirations and managed to achieve many of them.  But many more could have been fulfilled had our political leadership been wise.  If you look at the political landscape of today, the politicians don’t focus on issues that are good for the society. They politicians are interested only in using various means to get votes.”

Citing an example, she said that water air and land has to be preserved. But that is not being looked at by the politicians the politicians. They only think of what they can manage to do in five year-term “For example, different acts have been passed by which we are going to lose our land, which is meant for cultivation. See what has happened to the comunidade land, what has happened to those salt pans and all these natural resources that we are going to lose forever,” Sawant said. 

“Now, we will get everything as far as Goa is concerned. There is lot of money people. People are rich.  In my childhood 24 paise was a big thing. But now my granddaughter says 10 rupees means nothing. People don't mind spending money, but they are going to lose our heritage. We are losing our environment, our natural resources like land and water,” she said.

“Mhadei is the best example where we can see that our politicians are not concerned about these issues. They are concerned only about their short-term gains. They are not thinking of tomorrow. They are not thinking of the next generation,” she said. 

Citing a newspaper article published recently, she said that the article warned about the disaster waiting to happen in the Himalayas and its possible impact on 17 Asian countries, including India and Nepal. 

“No amount of money would be able to save us from the crisis waiting to happen. During the Great Depression, people used to take bag full of money and in exchange, they could get only a handful of food grains. Same thing is going to happen in the future. Therefore, we have to preserve water, air and land. The amount of air pollution that is seen today is horrible. It is causing serious ailments.  These problems are going to become worse with time,” she said.

Former MLA, Tomazinho Cardozo said that after getting Statehood, Goans technically fulfilled their aspirations.

“But if one sees what has happened after getting Statehood, I sometimes feel that it would have been better such Statehood was not given to us. The reason is, our politics prior to the Statehood status, were much better compared to what has happened after the Statehood was achieved. If you see the illegalities throughout Goa, it has increased tenfold during this time,” Cardozo said.

“Post Statehood, the education sphere has no doubt education has reached to the doorsteps of every house in the State. But where are the IAS officers? Are we producing enough IAS officers? The answer is no. Then what is the standard of our learning process?” the former MLA said.

“Regarding Konkani, yes, lot of progress has been made. It was the basic idea to secure the basic idea of Goa and secure the identity of Goa, which led to Statehood. Now, if you see, during the language agitation, nobody distinguished. Everybody came together with one objective that we must get Konkani as the official language of Goa,” he said. 

“It is only on the day when the Act was passed, that time confusion was created. Without the knowledge of the Romi script loving people, government introduced Devanagri script for Konkani. Due to this, a major section of the Konkani lovers were sidelined. It had a negative impact on them, whereas Devanagri lobby was happy,” he said. 

“But, are we doing justice to even Devanagri Konkani today? Where is Konkani in the administration? Nowhere! So until and unless we put our things in order, I don't 

think our aspirations will be fulfilled,” 

Cardozo added.

Prof (Dr) Manoj Kamat, an academician, political and economic analyst, said that he was very happy with the overall scenario in Goa post-Statehood.

“If you see in quantitative terms, we have done well in all the aspects of the economy. If you look at what is Goa today in terms of its development indicators, we are comparable only to the best of the developing nations, forget about the other States of our country. Our economy in terms of our per capita income, happiness level, development index, nutrition index, health and wellness index has certainly done better. 

I think that all Goans should be proud 

of these developmental indicators,” 

Prof Kamat said.

 He said that one important thing what Goa’s Statehood has given the people is, it has mainstreamed the people and the process of decolonisation has been completed after getting liberated.

“This also means that we are now a part of collective federalism and I believe that we have reaped enough fruits and the benefits of collective federalism. In terms of getting more power, in terms of getting more financial and political autonomy or autonomy in terms of decision making, whether we have used it to the best way or not maybe debatable, but it is certain that we have got a lot of power,” he said.

“I agree with my seniors here who said that probably our politicians have misused power and this particular autonomy. But I believe that collectively if you look at qualitative and quantitative indicators, Statehood has done us much good. When I am saying this, I am also cautioning all of us it is not that everything you would gain by getting your Statehood. You need to manage your affairs very well,” he said. 

Prof Kamat said that the small size of the State is an advantage and disadvantage. So, if development has to happen, maybe somewhere we need to take a toll and then of course your natural heritage also does take a toll and it has happened in Goa to a little greater extent and one must admit that we are unable to retain the beauty of our natural resources. 

“But to a greater extent, in terms of our development indicators, we have got more political and financial autonomy. Probably, we have not been able to use it well because the politicians have failed us. But Statehood overall has made us good,” Principal of S S Dempo, College of Commerce and 

Economics, said.

An important aspect of the overall discussion on Statehood is the word development itself. The issue here is development cannot be an open-ended term because what happens is development has many nuances and facets. 

One basic charge against not only the present dispensation, but many dispensations that have come is that, the word development has actually become a pseudonym for rampant construction and destruction of land. 

The point here is that if we look at the major agitations of the people, if we look at the regional plan agitation of 2011, we will find that all the agitations that are happening, like the agitation by intellectuals and Green activists on the “draconian” amendment of the Goa Land and Building Rules, where you can actually say that a particular zone was enormously carved and constructed in the middle of a field. 

The hills and hillocks across different parts of Goa have been literally cut, forests are being completely denuded. In the name of development, environment is getting destroyed. Every politician defects in the name of development. So, what does development actually mean?

According to Prof Kamat, development has received a bad name in Goa because of the politicians.

“In the name of development, we have seen rampant corruption and mass defections. But this is not an outcome of Statehood. Defections and corruption were there when we were not a complete State were only a liberated Union territory. What Statehood does is, it gives you more power and if there was no Statehood and even if we had been a Union Territory, defections would have still taken place, because it is the Centre which calls the shots,” he said. 

 He added that it is the Centre which hits the master stroke most of the times and even corruption would have happened. 

“We have seen how the Centre misuses powers in case of some Union Territories. We have recently seen that the Centre can even go to the extent of overturning the verdict of the Supreme Court (in case of Delhi administration). So it is not that Statehood has led to this kind of situation. This would have been there anyway, whether we were a full-fledged state or a Union Territory,” Prof Kamat said.

Arguably, Goa used to manage itself beautifully with four ministers. The Statehood has given additional powers, which has led to more ministers. When you have more ministers and more power, the greed element also goes up. 

“The power has gone up to the extent that from 30 legislators we have we have now 40. With 40 legislators for the same piece of land which would mean that all constituencies have become manageable. It is likely to go up to 60. So it would be a further joke played on the people,” the senior academician said.

 “When constituencies become manageable, then all these decisive factors like caste, creed, religion comes into the fore. Therefore, what I'm trying to say is, if Statehood has done something wrong, it is increasing the number of legislators in the Assembly,” he said.

Giving his views on meaning of development, ex-MLA Cardozo said, “Development today means destruction of environment. It is happening not only in the big places but also the smaller ones. This development is taking place is in front of the MLAs and ministers. Yet, nobody does anything.”

“I'll give you an example. Next to my house, a kilometre away, there was a lush green hill in Candolim. There was a big compound there. I was the sarpanch of that village from 1977 till 1995 and Speaker of the Goa Assembly from 1995 to 2000. All this time, many people had come to do something on that hill. Nobody was giving any permission and that idea was not there in the minds of anybody. That compound wall made of stones was protecting the hill,” he said.

“When I lost the election, same night the wall was broken by politicians only and the road was made. Today there are about 800 houses on that hill and 1500 votes. There is no planning. If those people who have constructed the houses, were given the permission to construct only after getting the plan approved, then instead of 800, there would have been hardly 200 to 300 houses there today. But that is not happening,” he said. 

The former MLA said that every candidate forms a group of people to get votes from them in the future and accordingly all these illegalities are encouraged.

“This is happening after Statehood was granted to Goa and therefore our rulers definitely have lost the sight of development, lost the direction in which they have to take Goa in future and that is the reason why we are facing all these problems today,” the veteran politician said. 

Sharing her thoughts on development, Nirmala Sawant said that when we say development, it should not be measured on terms of increase in wealth. 

“There should be happiness index for measuring development. You should be happier than what you were before. Ultimately, we want to live happily. Even if you having lot of money, but you are not getting air to breathe, you are not getting proper roads then it's not development. Now, Goa is much higher in development index. But, what is the use of it when more than 40 percent of the people are living under the poverty line,” she said.

“After getting Statehood, we wanted all our people to have a better life than what they had previously. But it is not happening because the wealth is concentrated with a certain group of people, who are very close to the corridors of power – be it the Congress or BJP. They enjoy the fruits from whoever is in power,” 

she added.

 “We have to think of the happiness index. For happiness index, we have to think of the environment, be able to think of the food that we use today. The pesticides being used by the farmers is getting into our food and affecting the health,” she added.

Speaking on development from the lens of heritage conservation, Sakhardande said development is a much abused word. 

“Our concern is heritage – be it natural heritage, historical or cultural. Now when you look at the natural heritage, post Statehood, I feel that our identity and our aspirations for Goa being a State has been fulfilled politically or as a as an identity. But there has been rampant development. Hills have been bulldozed in the name of this development,” Sakhardande said. 

“Just to take example of the Reis Magos Hill, it was a beautiful lush green hill. Now a huge structure is coming up on the hill by axing the trees. The natural heritage is on the radar of insensitive development. So, our natural heritage has been destroyed. Now we are worried about our river being diverted, our springs, our lakes are getting destroyed. People throw garbage and there is rampant construction everywhere,” he lamented. 

 “Just if you take the case of Taliegaon, where I come from, you will find that instead of food crops, now buildings are cultivated. Everywhere buildings are mushrooming in the name of development.  Just to give you one example, we were trying to save the gunpowder factory in Ribandar. There were 11 millstones lying there and we tried to protect and preserve them. The builder said he will use it for landscaping,” he said.

The then Director of Archaeology went to the court and said that site does not belong to the department, only the wall belonged to them, which is on the road. 

“So we had to approach the Chief Secretary, the ASI and get those millstones moved and then they built buildings over there. Like that I can give you several examples where we have intervened and saved our historical heritage,” he said.

“Same is the case with natural heritage. Recently, Tamarind Tree was cut. Now the Tonka Pillar is lying in a precarious condition. It's going to fall anytime. So we have to continuously protest to protect our heritage. A huge bungalow has come up in the World Heritage site. So, it's a total abuse of the norms. TCP has granted permission 

and CRZ violations are taking place openly,” he alleged.

“So, politicians feel that their constituency is their private property 

On Mhadei people feel, if it is a battle between Goa and Karnataka and Goa is a State and the government should have been put all its might to take the fight for Mhadei to its logical conclusion and not get into a surrender type of situation, which people feel.

“This is because our Goa’s politically very negligible for the Centre. We are giving only two MPs and now those two MPs don't speak. So, for them it doesn't matter whether Goa gets Mhadei or not. So politically, Centre also is more leaned towards Karnataka, which gives 28 MPs,” Sakhardande said.

It is clear that despite getting Statehood, the condition of Goa is far from being ideal. A lot was expected, some goals have been achieved but the coastal State still has miles to go. A lot of damage has happened, which may not be reversible now. But a sincere attempt can always be made for controlling the damage by the politicians setting 

aside their personal greed and work for 

the people’s aspirations.


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