What ails Goa?
There is little unanimity about the source of Goa’s woes, says FREDERICK NORONHA
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A spectre of pessimism is overtaking Goa these days. Actually, it has been hovering around for long, but is now reaching wider numbers and finding more takers more easily.
Every second expat, who comes down, quickly shifts to lamenting about the state of affairs in our State these days. They see dirt and garbage, they see corruption, and they see a loss of the old world charm that Goa supposedly once exuded.
Locals are buying into this perspective too. Those who protested in the past were told that they were wrong. That the issues they raised didn’t matter. Or, in some cases, that they were even termed anti-national. Today, their concerns do draw more ready support (it helps, of course, if electoral advantage could be squeezed out of this).
That we have our share of problems, there is no denial. But what exactly is going wrong, and in what measure? There is little unanimity about the source of Goa’s woes. On the one hand, we all get flattered when a magazine, say the India Today, votes Goa as one of the best states of India. Or rates it as one of the best places in India, to live in, a state with good health, investment and macro economy indices. Some while later, when the same magazine identifies ours as the cocaine coast of India, we all go into a chest-beating regret. Today, there are very differing perspectives on what is going wrong in Goa. But, like the set of Gauls in Asterix comics, we have become a people who believe that the skies are about to fall on our heads. We can see almost nothing positive in our lives, even though as a society, we probably have many a reason to be optimistic. We resemble a set of people who are doing innovative work, despite the system being quite unhelpful.
To complicate matters, we don’t have a critical element inbuilt in our system. Given long years of dictatorship and censorship in the 20th century, it is very easy to manipulate public opinion here and lead it towards any convenient direction.
Of course, our politicians too are part of the problem — but they are not the only ones responsible. They have gone ahead in doing very much what they want, without taking legitimate concerns into account. Beyond them are the interests they serve, and the permanent government they pander to.
For the lure of money or kickbacks, they can become the first politicians in India to license gambling and casinos, to approve controversial projects, to convert green villages into dusty industrial zones and unsustainable concrete jungles, to pretend that mining which is devastating Goa, is no problem whatsoever. Or, to deny people living here, the infrastructure they need to travel, to study, for recreation, for sustainable livelihoods and more. Yet, one cannot help seeing the confusion in terms of understanding what is wrong with Goa, as such.
Looking at post-1961 Goa alone, the sixties were tumultuous times, spent in sorting out our own contradictions, the jostling for power and land, and attempts to find our own renegotiated place, in a post-colonial society. In the 1970s and 1980s, a discourse was slowly being built around the loss of the pristine Goa environment, a debate which would later be used for political purposes, to cash in on such feelings and sway support away, from or to particular parties.
The early 1980s also saw the rise of anti-migrant sentiment that erupted into riots in Vasco around 1982-83. The 1990s saw a new twist to local politics. Of late too, we are seeing campaigning playing a role closer to party politics — issues are sometimes manipulated or highlighted to give an advantage to one party, or a panel fighting some regional election.
So while some blame the ‘outsider’ for all of Goa’s woes, others give a community-based twist, and blame people of another religion or caste grouping.
Land alienation, and the speculation in this scarce commodity in Goa, is emerging as an issue more recently, as figures and names surface in assembly questions and the media. Our political and administrative class’ ability to take controversial decisions with total unconcern about long-term interests — nearly a dozen-and-half SEZs, and what not — also contributes to the confusion. Smaller campaign groups have raised issues that matter to large sections. These may not be wrapped in the fear and panic that can be used to sensationally package other issues. But they are important, nonetheless. Women’s concerns, equitable access to land, social justice or caste concerns have to be dealt with. (Whether temple entry, or inequality, within Catholicism). There are also trade union concerns, and the challenges of earning a fair salary or wage, in Goa itself. One resurgent theme in Goa, is an attempt to criticise the present by suggesting that the past was ideal.
At a recent meeting, Desmond DeSouza, a redemptorist priest, cut through this “the past was better” logic that one often hears about Goa now. Their family lived in Bombay and “we used to hate to come to Goa”, he pointed out. “There were two customs posts to cross, at Castle Rock and Collem. The old carreira took one from Collem right home. Saligao (their village) of course, had no electricity.” He said a rupee coin pressed into the palm of the customs cleared everything, something he noticed even in his childhood days.
He returned to Goa as a young priest in 1969. “It was still very difficult, because things were very traditional, in society, and in the church. Everybody wanted to poke their nose and tell you how to run your life, in a certain way, because that was how it was done in the past.” But after his 1969-71 stint, he returned in 1975, only to see Goa with new eyes.” I saw it as a challenge then. There were youth movements taking place, and protests. We really began to hope that people’s power would change things in Goa,” he said. “I am still hopeful.”
He added: “The problem with people’s power is that it comes up only in fits and starts, when the people are fighting some issue, or have their backs to the wall.” DeSouza argued the challenges faced here is something many other countries had gone through “till a time comes when (it is no longer acceptable and) things start working out and change for the better takes place.”
John Brockman in his book ‘What Are You Optimistic About?’ points out that the nightly news and conventional wisdom tell us that “things are bad and getting worse.”
Yet, despite the dire predictions, Brockman asked 150 scientific thinkers for their opinions, and they came up with carefully considered optimistic visions of tomorrow.
It’s time we did the same exercise for Goa. Suddenly, in the New Year, there is a lot of speculation about the possibility of gold being buried underneath the soil in Goa. If you ask me, the real gold is the untapped potential of our people, waiting to be built, shaped and effectively utilised in a way that benefits society, as a whole.
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Shades of Transparency
By Anil Moyo
No sooner a new government is formed in our tiny state, its head always comes out with a statement, which by now people have already learnt by heart, that ‘the newly formed government will be highly transparent, nobody will be above law and the guilty will be punished severely, irrespective of status’.
Although people know for sure that there is going to be a great difference between promise and practice and the outcome will exactly be the reverse; most of the time they keep mum and prefer to play a passive role as silent spectators.
A little bit of transparency shown initially by the politicians to please the voters gradually transforms into translucency and, eventually, most matters are rendered completely opaque to the ‘aam admi’. This polluted political environment makes them prone to contract a virus, and they suffer from a common occupational disease called ‘Spendicitis’, where they try to behave as both ‘Conservative’ and ‘Liberal’ at the same time – ‘Conservative’ with their own money and ‘Liberal’ with ours.
Our great national heroes of yore like Sawarkar, Tilak and Gandhiji always remained transparent in their actions. This helped them to instil a sense of mutual trust and confidence among their fellowmen, which ultimately turned into a great driving force to fight against the mighty British empire.
On the other hand, dictators like Mussolini and Hitler never showed transparency. This made them disgruntled, resentful and arrogant. Their hearts were always filled with pride, jealousy and vanity, leading the latter to unlash inhuman cruelty on innocent Jews.
Though transparency is paramount in any government, one cannot expect diplomats to practice transparency; that would reveal the secrets of your nation to others. It is said that when two diplomats shake hands, one does not know whether it is to start a war or seal the peace.
Once in an attempt to remain transparent after having mishandled a costly dinner set, a young smart maid working with a diplomat declared to her mistress: “Ma’am, your 36-piece dinner set now has 40 pieces.”
In another incident in a factory, a machine had come to a grinding halt and a repairman was called in. After examining the machine, he tapped it with a hammer at one particular point and, to everybody’s great surprise, it stared working. When he submitted a bill of Rs500, the plant manager found it exorbitant. He asked him to be transparent by giving the bill item-wise. The repair man’s fresh bill read:
1. Tapping with hammer: Rs1
2. Knowing where to tap: Rs499
Our saints and scriptures have imbibed in our minds the importance of transparency in life. They say that nobility, selflessness and transparency in our actions open the door to divinity, by virtue of which we can come closer to God, more than anything else. But is it possible for us to remain transparent in the day-to-day chores of our life?
Whenever we are in a prayer house, who comes between us and God is a priest. In the court, between us and Judge comes a lawyer. And, during sickness, who comes between us and health is the doctor. This leaves no scope to be transparent.
There is one place, of course, where we can visualise transparency – the barber’s shop. Here one sees one’s own multiple images at different angles through mirrors. But mirrors too have their limitations. Convex and concave types of mirrors distort our images beyond recognition. It reminds me of a few lines from a verse. The poet says: “When I look into a mirror I see a fool, but I see a wise man when I look into a pool.”
So gentlemen, there is nothing that is completely transparent in life, except one. That is the wag of a dog’s tail. That is the reason, whenever I think more and more about our politicians, the more and more I start loving my pet dog ‘Bhoobo’. This is not simply because of his loyalty; ‘Bhoboo’ only wags his tail, and not his tongue.
