It is also a majority that allows the government to take some tough decisions that may have been avoided in previous terms. So will the government take the tough decisions that are required?
A new dispensation always brings hope that there will be change, that the issues that remained pending will come to a conclusion. That hope still remains, for though the chief minister and the party leading the coalition remain unchanged, the new council of ministers along with the chief minister will turn around the fortunes of the State, delivering the good governance that has for long eluded the State. The hope is that the cabinet is re-energised to work with new goals to achieve and the will to achieve those aims. With long experience it can be justifiably stated that political compulsions will decide who gets a cabinet berth and is allotted which portfolio, but there is also the hope that there will be a new line of thinking.
The government should aim for a Goa that is future ready, projecting future requirements and rigorously working at attaining them. In the past, no political party that has formed a government has come anywhere near to delivering on this. While that vision of the future has been sorely missing, there are also political compulsions that do not permit certain decisions to be taken or force other decisions that may not be in the best interests of the State. At other times, when the vision does exist, it turns into a mere mirage that disappears as one comes closer to it. To actually make it happen, the State needs a government that has the will and the desire to ensure that the path of growth and development being taken does not overlook the other important aspects that are dear to Goa and Goans – the land, the identity, the culture, the environment. All these matter and can’t be ignored.
If all that can’t happen politically, can it be brought about through other means, where civil society works alongside the government, in a partnership that has nothing other than the welfare of Goa as its aim?
Herald has said this before, but it perhaps needs to be repeated. Goa has intellectual capital that is far stronger and brighter than what is seen in public life. For politicians, positions in cabinet and when those are filled and not available, in the many other government bodies, is what matters. That fleeting stab at power that politicians yearn for is not what will take Goa to higher levels. It is pertinent here to go back and dig into the Goa Golden Jubilee Development Council report that had said, “To achieve good governance, it is important to achieve the civic engagement, which has three distinct dimensions, namely that of political knowledge, political trust and political participation. Political knowledge involves what people learn about public affairs, political trust involves the public’s orientation of support for the political system and political participation involves the conventional activities designed to influence government and decision-making process.”
This here is exactly what the new dispensation should aim for – an open government where civil society is involved in decision taking so that it reduces the conflicts that arise between government and people. The past years have seen an increased number of people’s protests and it can be reduced with a slight course correction which includes dialogue with the stakeholders – essentially the people.
With a new government taking charge Goa is poised to start afresh. It has the opportunity to amend what it has been doing and step out on a new path that will bring that change. It will require a strong will, that until today few in the political establishment may have displayed. It will require vision that again few have revealed to possess. But it needs to be done for a Goa that future generations can be proud of. It can have a beginning today.
