Are Goans against development?
Opposing huge projects that siphon public money for private gain isn’t anti-development, says ARAVIND BHATIKAR
All ‘development’ must ultimately result in a better quality of life. The United Nations Human Development Report (HDR), brought out annually, compares countries on the basis of the Human Development Index. The Concept of Human Development is explained by United Nations thus:
“Human Development is a development paradigm that is about much more than the rise or fall of national incomes. It is about creating an environment in which people can develop their full potential and lead productive, creative lives in accord with their needs and interest. People are the real wealth of nations. Development is thus about expanding the choices people have to lead lives that they value… Fundamental to enlarging these choices is building human capabilities… The most basic capabilities for Human Development are to lead long and healthy lives, to be knowledgeable, to have access to the resources needed for a decent standard of living and to be able to participate in the lives of the community.”
The Concept of Human Development explained above includes provision of adequate educational and employment opportunities, sufficient facilities for protection and improvement of citizens’ health and the required physical infrastructure to facilitate and sustain continuous economic growth.
When the media discusses Development, it generally refers to physical infrastructure like electricity generation and distribution facilities, water treatment and sewerage plants, railways, roads, airports, government buildings, etc. The quantum, type and quality of education, health and social security are seldom discussed as part of development.
When Ministers and other politicians talk of development, they invariably refer to capital works of physical infrastructure requiring considerable government funding, which throw open welcome opportunities to siphon off public funds for private gain. It is this last variety of development that is increasingly being opposed, and rightly so, in the last few years by Goans.
Goa is by size the smallest state in the country. But its per capita income is higher and socio-economic indicators better than most states in India. Successive Chief Ministers of Goa have been flying to Delhi almost every year to receive the ‘Best State’ award, whatever it may mean.
The above achievements would not have been possible if Goans had objected to building of railway lines, roads, bridges, school and college buildings, hospitals, community halls, government offices, etc. Goans have never objected to any ‘development’ perceived to be environment-friendly and supportive of a better quality of life.
Unfortunately, the economic boom in the country, though a boon elsewhere, has proved to be a bane for those residing in the coastal talukas of Goa. The stampede of the rich, famous and ‘nouveau-riche’ from Delhi and Mumbai to acquire holiday homes in this land of sun, sand and surf, coupled with a new genre of fly-by-night and mercenary real estate operators in unholy alliance with greedy and unscrupulous politicians, has set off loud and clear alarm bells like never before.
Goa’s shoddily maintained and hopelessly managed infrastructure is but a part of the non-existent governance in the state. Elusive power supply (should we be happy that it is worse in some other states?), shortage of drinking water (Did you say Goa receives 110 inches of rainfall every year?), and the garbage woes of the smallest sized state in the country (How do they manage in Kolkata and Mumbai?) are not the only reasons why Goans are opposing unbridled and senseless expansion in private housing in coastal talukas.
More than 50 per cent of the flats in housing complexes and luxurious gated communities are believed to be unused for most part of the year, giving rise to a rudderless misallocation of scarce land resources. Are our self-serving politicians and servile town planners trying to solve the problem of houseless people by allowing the construction of people-less houses?
Goans are objecting to mega-housing projects, not only due to insufficient and badly managed infrastructure, but also to the resultant misallocation of our limited land resources. Unprecedented corruption and total non-governance is leading to environmental degradation like never before. Whether it is the boom in mining or the spurt in housing, it is the environment that suffers. It is this destruction of tomorrow that concerned Goans are agitating against.
Whenever vested interests are attacked, it is but natural for them to counter-attack. The agitation against mega-projects, large-scale industry which does not do any good to Goans, huge capital works whose utility to Goans can only be marginal, illegal hill cutting and land filling, illegal and reckless mining, are all dubbed by politicians, builders and other vested interests as manifestations of a negative and anti-development mentality. The opposition is not born out of unfounded phobias but is a result of the real life experiences of Goans.
The opposition to so-called ‘development’ seems to have started with the mega-auction of Goa, planned and initiated by the Town & Country Planning Department in 2006. We are talking here of the Regional Plan 2011. What politicians failed to achieve through RP-2011 is sought to be subtly, or not-so-subtly, achieved through individual acts of greed, illegality or legal chicanery.
We have the example of the Rs137-crore housing project of more than 500 flats connived at, on the hill slopes of Chichalim Panchayat, by the Mormugao PDA and the Town & Country Planning Department. The PDA as well as the TCP Department mysteriously failed to take any action within 90 days of the application from the builders, and the project was eventually permitted due to a ‘deeming provision’ in the Act. Can anyone cite any other instance in any part of the country, of a use of a deeming provision in law to allow a Rs137-crore project?
The Outline Development Plan (ODP) in Taleigao (the only village in Goa that has a separate ODP, for obvious reasons), the land-grabbing Sport City, the proposed 1300-flat private housing project on the Taleigao plateau on land that was earlier acquired by the government for police housing but later ‘returned’ to the land-owner, the proposed merciless killing of a forest at Tivim for a cricket stadium, and countless other examples all over Goa, point to anti-environment and hence anti-Goa machinations of vested interests.
Isn’t it high time we stopped dubbing Goans as negative? Isn’t it high time they are congratulated for supporting and enforcing the Human Development efforts of the United Nations?
(The writer is a former IAS officer, and former Chairman of the Mormugao Port Trust)
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The Institution of Marriage
By S. Kashyap
Traditionally, a woman takes her husband’s surname once she is married. This means that she now will completely bond and be a part of her husband’s family, learning and adhering to the customs, traditions, ethos and general way of life of her new family. But is THISalways so? As a member of this long suffering species called husbands, I humbly beg to differ on this count. Here’s why:
After marriage there is a gestation period , the honeymoon that last for about six months. This the time the new bride tries to learn everything about her husband’s family and then slowly implements the changes that she feels are right for her beloved husband.
The first casualty is the culinary habits. Having enjoyed the staple diet of fish curry rice from times immemorial, some vague nutritional excuse is given by the beloved wife, who makes a rather strong case about not having too much coconut on the palate everyday.
Thus our tryst with Dal and green vegetables(which according to her is good for health) begins with the wife contemptuously brushing aside our feeble protests over this grave injustice. The second most revered thing for a Goan after God; fried fish, becomes another major casualty too, the ostensible reason being high cholesterol in the frying oil. Well this just the beginning!
As a bachelor, Saturday night out with the friends is almost sacrosanct. After a hard week, it is time to catch up and unwind. The scenario changes post marriage; the husband is told that the wife’s second cousin’s third daughter’s fourth birthday party on a Saturday, somewhere in north Goa. Attending the event is of paramount importance to the dear wife.
Again, wiser sense and logic against going to the faraway place, is brushed aside. So there on that Saturday night the hapless husband is forced to drive for more than an hour to reach the destination and pretend to enjoy the party. The frequency of these parties especially on a Saturday somehow increases as months pass by. Is there anything more lamentable than this?
Just when the husband thinks that he has seen the worst of the lot, the wife gives birth to a small bundle of joy. Suddenly the husband’s number in the pecking order of wife’s attention goes down rather steeply.
Thus begins the Act Two of the saga. The child is looked after so reverentially, that most of the things that husband used to do as a child again become taboo. The simple joys of playing in the mud, climbing the trees, getting soaked in the rain are unheard of, for the growing child. And God help the husband if the child even catches something as mundane as a cold. This somehow happens again on a Saturday evening. Taking the child to the doctor becomes an emergency for the wife despite strong protests from the husband. Well, by now some of my co-suffering brethren, reading this article might have shed a tear or two.
However, just as the coin has two sides, so does the institution of marriage. As a bachelor, mundane things like finding a kerchief, a freshly pressed shirt or a pant becomes a big ordeal with the dear mother trying help out. But after marriage all these things become a part of fading memory. The husband is treated like royalty. Despite questionable gastronomic practices, the wife also compensates by making exotic dishes to savour the taste buds of her husband. The joy of watching one’s children grow cannot be expressed in words. Generally, life after marriage is content, peaceful and without much worries.
I have to say with great humility, that despite all the hiccups, the pros far outweigh the cons, and all the husbands of this world will vouch that marriage has brought positive transformation in their lives. “Aall is well”!
