Parashuram and Portugal are reliable distractions in India’s smallest state, where governance has effectively collapsed, and the economy is unable to provide decent jobs. Unemployment crested to nearly 17% in January, and it still remains double the rate of the rest of the country. Rule of law is conspicuously absent in the crucial aspects of any functioning society.
There’s an extreme cynicism to the recent unveilings in the capital, where an entire mountainside of rocks has been dumped to overwhelm the riverside ecology, and hundreds of trees were bulldozed to lay down an elevated concrete promenade. There was no public consultation, no approval process, no environmental assessment, and no response to agitated appeals from concerned citizens. On the contrary, there have been only insults to public intelligence, like naming the grossly illegal bridge across the St Inez creek as “Yog Setu”. As the Roman historian Tacitus wrote about the worst plunderers over 2000 years ago: “they make a desolation, and they call it peace.”
It is the job numbers that truly indicate the depth of Goa’s crisis. On the one hand, higher than average literacy and education levels prevail when compared to the rest of the country. Yet, when it comes to learning outcomes, all the surrounding states are far better: Maharashtra, Karnataka, and especially Kerala. That is one clear indication of mismanagement, which shows up even more starkly when it comes to jobs. There is no other explanation other than comprehensive failure of governance for why Goa’s unemployment remains three times higher that every one of its neighbours, year after year without end.
To learn more about this predicament, I reached out to Dr Nilesh Borde, the professor of finance and strategy and Vice Dean (Academic) of Goa Business School at Goa University, who told me that “unemployment data is a good indicator of what the economic situation in Goa is, but the methodology has to be sound. The ways these surveys are conducted are questionable, with skewed or problematic samples. Having said this, there surely also exists disguised employment, such as engineers working as data operators, and an alarming quantum jump in forced entrepreneurs.”
All this is crucial evidence that Goa is failing to nurture an economic model where its own citizens benefit, and instead trapping most young people into underemployment, which Wikipedia describes as “the underuse of a worker because a job does not use the worker’s skills, is part-time, or leaves the worker idle.” Borde says “in my opinion this happens when decisions taken are haphazard, and there is lack of vision or strategic intent in policy makers.”
Borde explained further: “the construction industry needs unskilled and uneducated labour, and obviously an educated and socially conscious Goan will not work there. When it comes to casinos, an educated Goan will not work there either, but there is a gradual change, as 12th standard or recently graduated kids are seen joining this because of the money. But it thwarts the intellectual growth of Goa as a state. So, what is needed is strategic vision to help Goa plan out the type of industries that it needs, and focus on what’s needed to develop them. All policies and planning should revolve around that. Or else we will come to a state like today, where we wish to make Goa a tourist capital but the construction industry is destroying the hills which is actually detrimental for the growth of tourism.”
I am connected on Facebook to Borde, and have noted palpable anguish in his recent posts about the Mandovi riverfront. Earlier this week, he posted pictures of the whole scale destruction heading across the dunes towards Caranzalem, and asked, “What will happen to Goa? Is anyone really bothered? This is Miramar getting butchered and abused under the name of development and beautification. Sad, very sad.”
Via email, he elaborated “as a Ponjekaar, I am really upset at concretisation of Goa, whether it is the widened roads without planting enough good quality trees, or excess construction at the cost of butchering hills, the so-called “beautification” of naturally beautiful beaches, or building of the walkway on the river. It is not good for Goa. We are killing the natural biodiversity and dangerously playing with nature.”
Another huge problem in the grotesque concretization is the abandonment of half-finished “infrastructure” to the utter lawlessness that now characterizes Goa. Borde posted about an illustrative incident recently, when a number of people parked their bikes right in front of a board prohibiting parking. He wrote: “From where do they gain so much power to completely disregard law? What gives them this sense of entitlement? What makes them believe they can do what they wish? Did I tell them? Yes I did? Did I call Police? Yes I did, but to no effect. There is a pink police vehicle there, and they too don’t show interest. I asked one fellow and he said “te aamche kaam nhu. Traffic polishek saang”. Apart from the fact that law is not getting enforced, as a teacher I feel sorry in terms of what citizens are we churning out?”
Borde told me his rueful conclusion that “as for Goans, I think we are a confrontation fearing society. And thus, we seem to ignore all the wrong things happening around us, while becoming increasingly selfish. We say “this is not bad for me, it doesn’t concern me, I don’t want to shift my focus, I am busy with my work, etc etc” so we are least bothered about what is good for the state. The silence of the citizens is considered as an approval by policy makers, and that explains the policies being implemented.”
(Vivek Menezes is a writer and co-founder of the Goa Arts and Literature Festival)
