Why blame the politician?
Goa lacks an independent think-tank, which can work out the real priorities and concerns of this small state, says FREDERICK NORONHA
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In today’s Goa, it’s a fashion to blame the politician for all our ills. If it rains too much in any year, then our political class is at fault. Remo Fernandes has a song about blaming politicians (or, one particular politician, in those times) for all our woes.
We do have a rather hard-working, rapacious figure called the politician, who knows gold when he strikes it, and is willing to go to any extent, to get it. But, I find it hard to believe that this animal is so intelligent, that his work can bring to nought the combined results of everyone else!
To me, politicians are a reflection of the society we have: greedy, uncaring, not bothered about tomorrow, selfish, and obsessed with self pleasure.
Have they changed drastically over the years? I’m not very sure that the politician today is significantly more despicable than the one from the times of the Parrikar era, the dissident-prone 1990s, the Rane regime, or the Tai or Bandodkar family-run businesses. Maybe the stakes have got higher, far higher. But the media has also become more competitive, more active, more aggressive and shrill. So the political class is getting exposed like never before. The Opposition also knows how to fuel public ire, in the hope of coming into power and getting a chance to play the very same games being played by the ruling guys (many of them, their old comrades).
For now, politicians are blamed for everything. They are behind our land rackets, corruption, communalism and have been building antagonisms between different sections. There are responsible for spread of drugs on the coast. There are also societal inefficiencies. The fact is that Goa is simply losing out in the competitive race.
To some extent, the politician does deserve the blame. But, by finding a convenient scapegoat, are we not trying to absolve ourselves of our responsibilities? Land-rackets feature in our newspapers, on a daily basis. We have seen land acquisition laws, that are used to threaten landowners who are unwilling to sell their land. There is also the pressure from people wanting fashionable second-homes in Goa, as prominent urban planner Charles Correia has noted. At another level, people owning fast money in the big cities —it’s almost as if they have access to printing presses that churn out hard cash — are able to buy land and property at a phenomenal rate.
The solution, we are told, is some vaguely-defined “special status”. I guess this would work as well as the “reservations for Goans” promised a decade ago, by politicians like Luizinho Faleiro. These “solutions” create a false sense of security, while continuing business as usual.
Politicians only sniff the suspicions, that sections of society have for each other, and use communalism as a means of garnering votes. This is when it suits them. Aren’t they a reflection of, say, the communalism that goes unchecked in part of our media? Okay, our politicians fail in their duties. What about us? Are our so-called intellectuals, our bureaucracy, our industry, “civil society”, and the other supposed pillars of society, doing their job? What about educationists and the religious? Even the media needs to be faulted, for going after the occasional sensational story, but has been putting in very little of consistent work to correct the long-term, systemic problems. For long, Goa has felt the lack of an independent think-tank, which can work out the real priorities and concerns of this small state. The alternative to this is allowing our agendas set by lobbies and vested interests. Or waiting for a long while, till it is apparent that something is going really wrong, and then blaming Mr Politician for it all.
We, as a society, are no less culpable. If you look at all the issues concerning us today, there are systemic societal failures at its very root. Okay, let’s accept that the system is made for corruption. Some of our laws are such, that there is a huge gap between the returns for staying within the almost-impossible limits of honesty and the returns on breaking the law. So how do we manage to change the situation? Are we going to wait for our enlightened to wake up to the situation, and debate it in the assembly (which meets for only a very few days each year, regardless of who is in power)?
The other day, the legal advice given in a real-estate magazine surprised me. All plots are termed as agriculture property in Goa. Foreigners cannot purchase a plot, and any such purchase would be illegal. What does this mean for a society which has such a large section of its population out of the State, and may technically be foreign nationals? Is it that we just disinherit them?
The laws on “renovation” of existing houses can be twisted in an equally bizarre manner. Groups like the GBA – whatever its limitations -have been discussing issues about planning and real estate. But, when this happens, the intense politicking among different groups and king-sized egos ensure that their efforts are dragged to the ground.
Viewed in another angle, corruption is the fallout of the deliberate lack of transparency, the artificial bottlenecks deliberately created, and the great hurry we have to “get the job done”. But while we blame the DNA of the political class, few have used the Right to Information Act, for instance.
If police recruitments are done based on dubious criteria, can we expect efficient policing? If the grassroots (panchayats and district administrations) are allowed to run in questionable ways, with only the facade of democracy and transparency in place, can we expect anything better?
Sometimes, I even feel sorry for the politician. He is treated like a condom, to be used and discarded. Politicians do the dirty work of the lobbies that run our society. The lobbies get away unnoticed, except in the rare Radia case. Politicians take the blame, get disgraced sometimes, and fade away into obscurity or occasional notoriety.
Needless to say, the political “masks” are rewarded for the services rendered, while ruling the roost. But to hold them accountable for all the ills in our society is grossly missing the point.
I came across voices from the industry expressing dismay about the manner in which Goa is now being projected by a section of the national media (which was earlier rewarding it ‘best State’ prizes). But while industry is upset with the “image”, is anyone willing to cut down on greed, reduce profits, build social capital and invest in the future generation, in a way, that makes a difference? We don’t see business leaders of the calibre of an Azim Premji yet in Goa.
It is lobbies, and the intense rivalries within Goa, that blocks the possibility of a national university coming up here. Ditto is the case for all the political toppling which we saw in the 1990s (has anyone spared a thought of where these have vanished too, after 1999?) Our politicians are merely aligning their selfish interests with the protective cover that a Congress, or a BJP being in power in New Delhi, can offer them. And, making the most while the sun shines. To notice their doings, but ignore wider social fissures and failings, is self-delusionary. Take this description of Goa: “Of this land I can tell you that it is the mother of despicable villains, and stepmother of honest men. Because those who are here to get rich, always float on water…”
This is Luis de Camoens, the national poet of Portugal, speaking of Goa in the sixteenth century! He spent years here, and should know. Even if our politicians had to completely vanish tomorrow, there would still be issues to deal with. Many!
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Of politicians and mafias
By Raju Vernekar
Save me, save me,” Ram woke up shouting from his sleep.“What’s the matter Ram, why are you so frightened?” Shyam asked him. “In my dream I saw someone dousing me with kerosene, he wanted to burn me,” Ram replied.
“You are an ordinary mortal, I don’t think that anyone will have animosity against you so that he would go to the extent of killing you like the way Additional Collector Yeshwant Sonawane of Nashik was killed by oil mafias since he objected to pilferage of kerosene,” Shyam advised him.
“No, but a few days back I had a quarrel with a ration shop owner when he denied me my monthly quota of kerosene. He had threatened me with dire consequences. These traders, black marketers all fall in the same boat,” Ram replied in a worrying tone. “Don’t worry so much, the guilty will be punished,” Shyam tried to console him.
“Yes, rules exist but due to connivance of politicians with black marketers, honest government officers and activists fall prey to the sinister designs of the mafias. For your information, in Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar, there have been five dastardly attacks on tehsildars by oil and sand mafias in the recent past in which 4 were grievously injured and a tehsildar of Nevasa was eventually killed. In fact, he was gunned down right in his office. In one case, the attack was organised by a son of the former NCP M P Tukaram Gadakh, since the adulteration activities on his petrol pump were unearthed by the said tehsildar”, Ram explained.
“Very tragic” Shyam nodded. “You may probably remember that a 27 year old activist, Manjunath, was killed in a similar manner, by a petrol pump owner in Lakhimpur Jheri in Uttar Pradesh, on November 2005. The pump owner Pawan Mittal was awarded the death penalty by the court. However, since his appeal is pending, he is yet to be hanged,” Ram said.
“It’s true that in our liberal democratic country, the offenders find it very easy to escape the noose,” Shyam admitted, but asked how the oil rackets flourish?
“Look, international fuel prices are going up and the number of vehicles are ever increasing. The Central government supplies 95 lakh ton kerosene to states and also gives a subsidy of Rs19 per litre, so that the kerosene reaches the households of the poor. But instead, the kerosene falls in the hands of oil mafias. On an average, 38 per cent kerosene is used for either adulterating petrol or diesel, or for resale. The pilferage takes place once the tankers are out of the oil companies,” Ram continued.“But are the laws not strong enough to deal with the offenders?” Shyam asked,
“Instead of giving more teeth to the law, the attempts are made by the government to give more concession to the trading community. For example, as per Marketing Discipline Guidelines 1998, a fine of Rs1 lakh was imposed on a dealer involved in adulteration. Besides, his license for sale and supply of fuel was suspended for 45 days. However, in 2001, the penalty was reduced to Rs30,000 and duration of suspending the license was brought down to 30 days,” Ram explained. “Besides I don’t think that there is any quality control over the petrol,” Shyam said.
“The Central Government had begun using a chemical marker in kerosene, to check its diversion for adulteration in 2007. But that system was stopped in 2009 due to some unexplainable reasons,” Ram replied.
“By the way, what is the progress made by the Maharashtra government in nabbing the culprits responsible for the death of Addl Collector, Yeshwant Sonawane? Shyam asked. “The main accused Popat Shinde is dead. By now, over 200 raids on oil mafias have been carried out,” Ram said.
“That means cops arrive after the goons get away, a string of measures are announced after duty abiding officers lose their lives. When this will end? Shyam wondered aloud.
“In our liberal democracy, it is hard to expect a quick solution but if there is a will to end corruption, there will always be a way,” Ram assured him confidently.
