Jesuin George FernandesF
It’s that time of the calendar in Goa when water taps run dry and dudu, chicken biryani and soro starts flowing generously. Yes, its election time all over again in our little island in the sun!
Village level elections are more interesting because of the wide range of all too familiar characters in the fray. Everyone (from seasoned Iron ladies & sugar daddies to emerging young Turks, ‘social workers’ & friendly neighbourhood goons) is vying for your attention and support. In many ways a Panchayat election is also a great social leveller: ‘Bhatkarns’ like Maria Barros de Pereira are pitted against former ‘mundkarns’ like Filsu and so- called blue blooded niz Goykars like Antonio Francisco Alfred Lourenco Alberto Pereira de Andrade against new Goans like Pinky Kantamani.
Traditionally the term Panch-ayat means the assembly of five wise and respected village elders as an organ of local self-government to discuss and settle village issues. Our modern day elected Panchas are no doubt wise in many ways but respect is something they seldom earn. A hotel or a mega housing project is a jackpot for most panchas and if there is an element of truth in rumours, dinners at five-star hotels in the village are always on the house.
Goa has a chequered history of institutions of local self-government dating back to the ancient times. Descendants of ancient settlers in the villages organised themselves into Gaunkaries . This Gaunkaries, which later came to be known as Comunidades, functioned as autonomous units of village administration. There was also a ‘regidor’, a Government appointed official for each village, who was entrusted with many tasks now exercised by the village bodies.
Old timers say that the village officials/authorities during Portuguese rule were not all that saintly but pretty much susceptible to gifts, known as “Savgad” in those days. As an old story goes, a dispute between two neighbours reached the village ‘regidor’ for redressal. The first neighbour, in order to get the official on his side, sent him a whole big bunch of home grown bananas. Getting wind of the sinister happenings, the second neighbour wasted no time in getting hold of the best ‘mestin’ (chef) in town to send a roasted pigling ( Assado de Leitoa) to the regidor. On the judgment day, the first neighbour was shell- shocked to hear the judgment going against him. Gathering up courage he confronted the Regidor who calmly told him that his bananas were all eaten up by his opponent`s pigling!
Over the years the village Panchayats have become hotbeds of corruption & extortions with Gram Sabha meetings turning “gorom” (hotter) by the day. Goa has seen Panchas and Sarpanchas who left to themselves would not hesitate to sell off their village at the first opportunity and run away to Europe! But it may perhaps be a good idea to lend more teeth to the Village Gram Sabhas.
Panchayat elections provide us a chance to cleanse the system at the grass root level by choosing judiciously between faces that we interact with almost on a day to day basis. Let’s forget personal equations and vote for capable people of good character & integrity.
