Council and corporation politics
Council and corporation politics it would seem never cease in Goa. Wednesday saw a political uproar in the capital city over the last minute postponement of the mayor’s election to the Corporation of the City of Panaji. That uproar reverberated in the House. Accusations are flying thick and fast, with the opposition and the group readying to ascend to power in the corporation crying foul over the election’s postponement. The government for its part defended its action, citing the City of Panaji Corporation Act, 2002 and a rule that mandates the mayor’s election to be held in the first meeting of the corporators for the year. The government also claimed that amendments to put in reservations for certain categories were required and as these were raised by somebody, the government had to act.
The group that had this time round managed the numbers and readying to ride to power in the CCP, is of course not buying this, taking its complaint to the Governor and accusing the government of murdering democracy.
Citizens of the State are unfortunately all too familiar with the much deployed stratagem of buying time when those in power sense they could lose it ~ followed by horse-trading to garner suitable numbers and then reverse an electoral verdict, or get one in one’s favour. What should worry the government is that prominent citizens have voiced serious reservations about the manner in which the elections in the CCP were first announced and then cancelled on the very morning of the election, by circulation of a note by a peon. No officials were present at the CCP when all this transpired, as reported by this newspaper. The government’s defense of its actions defy belief when elections to the CCP were held in March and the former mayor that was backed by the ruling party in power in Goa, assumed office not quite following the letter of the sections that are now being held aloft to justify the indefinite postponement of the mayor’s election. There are too many questions in the instant case and too many inconsistencies in the government’s arguments. For one, should not reservations of seats for SC/STs in the mayor and deputy mayoral election, be preceded by similar reservations for corporators? The corporators who now feel they have been unjustly thwarted in the mayor’s election process have moved the courts, alleging illegalities and malafides in the government’s action. Since the mayor’s one-year term had ended, even her current status is not clear. The offended corporators say the elaborate unfair postponement was a sleight of hand to ensure the ruling panel holds onto the reins of power in the capital’s civic corporation, by fair means or foul, once it sensed the body was going out of its hands.
Goa sadly seems to be honing its repertoire of dirty political tricks in the power game, and it is even more unfortunate that the bureaucracy is being sucked into the vortex, willy-nilly. It would behoove an administration working to legitimately uphold the provisions of the CCP Act and the spirit of fair play in any electoral process, to at least ensure that polls when cancelled are done so in a fair manner that objections if raised are done so openly and with due process. Political parties will spar and attempt to wrest control of civic bodies and institutions, but in doing so must ensure that the fairness of electoral processes and systems set up as a part of the systems of governance are not thrown to the winds. To do otherwise, directly or indirectly, is to undermine the system at its core and worse still, the faith of people in the democratic process. Any election, to any institution, will have winners and losers. If rigging and undermining the system at higher levels of the electoral process is objectionable, is it not the same with lesser bodies at the village and/or municipal levels?
Horse-trading and switching sides has sadly got entrenched into the democratic systems ~ at all levels ~ and no party or individuals, even those protesting in this case, have stayed away from the malaise. The aspirant for the mayor’s post in Panjim has written to the Governor conveying his fears that attempts would be made to get crossovers, and therefore the election’s postponement on March 20 was effected on specious grounds.
In the Margao Municipal Council another power play in currently underway. In all this, the public are left watching from the sidelines, while real civic issues that require urgent attention are ignored.
In the councils, intricate power sharing formulae and “time shares” have come to be worked out to deal with the ambitions of counsellors for a shot at power. Where citizens would like to see better solutions and systems and living conditions put in place ~ they have instead to watch helplessly and wonder if they are not being shortchanged in all this.
people’s edit
BJP governance in Goa
J M de Almeida
The Goa government headed by Manohar Parrikar has successfully completed a year in office, after inheriting a corrupt and incompetent Congress government, indicted in the Shah Commission report for illegal mining in Goa with an estimated loot of the State’s revenues of around Rs 35000 cr. This ultimately led the Supreme Court of India to order the closure of all mining activity in Goa, resulting in hardships to the mining dependant people, and a blow to the revenues of the State exchequer. While action has been initiated by the Parrikar government against the erring officials, the Congress politicians involved in the mining and export of ore, are in the process of being prosecuted for their involvement in the loot of the state’s wealth. Meanwhile, Parrikar has formulated a scheme to help those affected by illegal mining in Goa.
The noteworthy achievements of the past one year, is the introduction of beneficial schemes like the Laadli Laxmi and Griha Adhaar which aims to help the less priviledged members of our society. That apart, prices of petrol have been brought down and a number of developmental works like widening of roads, bridges etc have been initiated. Needless to say that within a year no one can expect magical changes by resorting to ‘ abra ka dabra ‘ of the magicians. The fact remains that the administration has been geared up to serve the people better.
It is pertinent to point out that during the first short stint of Parrikar governance in 2002, unique schemes like the interest free loans to students were introduced to help those aspiring to pursue higher education, while the students of higher secondary schools were provided computers to help them gain better knowledge. No such schemes were available anywhere else in the country, which has helped a number of Goans.
The defeated Congress government had miserably failed in all spheres, and the government of Digambar Kamat discriminated against the minority communities in providing government jobs. It was the then dashing leader of the opposition in the Goa Assembly Manohar Parrikar who pointed out with facts and figures collected from official records, that as on March 31, 2009, during the three year Congress rule, 11,000 government jobs were filled in, and only 813 jobs have gone to the minorities which is a negligible percentage considering the fact that almost 40 % of Goa’s population consists of minority communities Catholics and Muslims. The Congress MLAs of the minority community did little or nothing to point out this gross injustice to the minority communities by the Kamat government. Due to these acts of omission and commission, the electorate rejected the Congress in the last elections and voted the BJP to power to usher in an era of good governance to accelerate the development of Goa, provide jobs without discrimination, improvement of law and order, safety of women, et al.
