The Niti Aayog, in its report, has revealed that around 1.10 lakh are unemployed in the State, however, the Chief Minister disputed the figures and has claimed that only 20,000 are actually unemployed.
Goa’s unemployment in September this year according to data released by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, stood at 10.9% , almost 70% higher than the national average.
Seemingly, the Chief Minister is constantly in a denial mode, more so ever since securing a comfortable majority during the February 2022 Assembly elections and now with defection of 8 Congress MLAs to the BJP.
In the recent past, the CM was in denial mode about the sorry state of education, especially the performance of the students in mathematics and science at school level. He had then blamed the teacher and claimed that some of them were engaged in secondary income sources neglecting their teaching duties.
However, the Niti Aayog has now pointed out that the student-teacher ratio across all the levels of school education in Goa has remained much below the national average. The teacher-pupil ratio for mathematics is 1:58, while for science is 1:42 and for social sciences it is 1:91.
In one of the most salient elements that will strike at the root of the livelihood of lakhs, the government is in denial mode over the impact the new Mopa airport will have on the people of South Goa. Even if the Dabolim Airport continues for domestic air traffic, the economics of the district will face a huge impact unless government draws a roadmap for economic activities by taking the locals into confidence.
On the law and order scenario in the State, the Chief Minister has time and again shrugged his shoulders by accusing the migrants as the cause of rising crime rate. But the H- NEW (Hyderabad Narcotics Enforcement Wing) and the Osmania University Police exposed Goa’s lack of will to act against drug peddlers.
PWD has been facing an acute shortage of engineers and the minister confessed that the department is (mal)functioning with less than 50 per cent of the actual sanctioned staff strength.
Both, the police department as well as the PWD, point out that the government has failed to carryout recruitments. But the government is in denial and periodically announces recruitment processes which come to a halt due to the scams in the process.
The list is long, however, the latest one is a threat to the democratic institutions and the freedom of thought in the society. The Department of Art and Culture called off the annual DD Kosambi Festival of Ideas, allegedly succumbing to pressure from the right-wing organisation. The government again on the backfoot denied any pressure and presented a lame excuse of poor response from Class X and XII students due to exams.
There is no doubt that denialism is dangerous. Denialism can also create an environment of hate and suspicion.
South Africa suffered and an estimated 3,30,000 people lost their lives because President Thabo Mbeki, in office between 1999 and 2008, denied the link between HIV and AIDS and the effectiveness of anti-retroviral drugs.
Ten years down the lane, denial of climate change today will be considered insane. But on November 6, 2012 Donald Trump tweeted, “The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make US manufacturing non-competitive.”
It is time for respecting statistics and figures, especially when they are released by your own central government and trusted global organisations.
By not acknowledging the denial syndrome, the government will only prolong Goa’s long haul struggle to emerge as an exemplary developed and welfare state.
