Europe is in a mess. The migrants who were allowed to enter the continent freely are now creating a ruckus and the situation is going from bad to worse for the Europeans. Germany, the country which started welcoming the migrants first and then persuaded other European nations to do the same, is now in the process of deporting those that are creating disturbance in their society. Apparently, Germany has a fast ageing population and they needed caretakers, so they allowed this illegal migration to continue.
What were the Germans thinking, the migrants will come to your country to follow your orders? They come with huge aspiration and a better life, also they come with their cultural/political baggage and their way of life. Disturbance was always expected. You cannot take it for granted that they will stay caretakers for life and that they are going to behave themselves. Migration is probably necessary for Europeans and to learn how it is done in a systematic manner they need to make a trip to the Middle East especially to the UAE, to find out how migration is allowed and at the same time the expats are kept in check.
By allowing illegal migration, Europe has made a mockery of all the legal migration that happens. What is the use of waiting in queues for entry visas, filling numerous forms and providing supporting documents, while others have to just pay the smugglers to smuggle you in. There should be some level playing field. Anyway better sense will eventually prevail, especially when Europe realizes that their way of life is threatened and about to be disrupted.
Closer to home, Himachal Pradesh took the tourism bait and welcomed tourists without regulation to come and invade their hills, so Indians just turned up in big numbers in their vehicles such that the place turned into a mess in no time. Surprisingly the Himachal Pradesh government took the most unexpected decision to stem the rot. They remedied the situation by charging Rs 3000 per vehicle per day for all outstation vehicles depending on the seating capacity of the car. That is huge, nobody technically stops you from coming, but the entry tax acts as a barrier to control the crowds.
Guess what, the cars stopped in no time and the locals got their hills back almost overnight. Now here is the difference between Himachal and Goa. Years back this writer through this same newspaper piece had advised the government to put an entry tax on cars from different states entering Goa, tax they did, but the amount was peanuts and a one-time entry fee. Goa government took pride that they had created another revenue stream of collecting these peanuts and the tax did not have its desired effect.
While Himachal taxed to control the crowd, Goa welcomed the crowds so that they can milk them. Both decisions were similar, but with different impact. This clearly shows that the government of Himachal has to still listen to the people of Himachal as they are still in control. Same can’t be said about Goa because the tourism industry has somehow managed to convince the government that their industry is the most important, locals and the environment they created or protected painstakingly over the years, be damned.
Europe and Himachal have one thing in common, they allowed people to come in without any regulation and when they realized the situation is going out of control, they took remedial action by either deporting them or taxing their vehicles to put an end to the menace. This proves one thing, be it Himachal, Europe, USA or Goa every land has only that many people it can accommodate at a given time. They cannot suddenly change the population dynamics and expect it will be a smooth ride. The ride is going to get rough for the locals and the newly arrived visitors. The situation gets worse when the visitors try to be arrogant in their dealings. Every government’s first priority therefore should be to protect their local people and their way of life, but Goa is somehow different. You might ask why. Well they first displace the locals of their business and their livelihood, to make space and then invite the replacement population.
Goa in this month itself has had two issues that prove the above point. The fisher folks have been displaced from their vantage position and made to sell from weird places so that Goans can slowly be deprived of fresh fish. Once you deprive the Goans from fresh fish, they can slowly push their refrigerated, out-of-the-state fish laced with chemicals, at a rigged price of their choosing. The local fishermen are a thorn in their flesh and need to be displaced because they have the potential to disrupt the high pricing model of the business. Goans are smart enough and mostly know the difference between fresh and refrigerated fish. The tourists are the sitting ducks here. There are hardly any fancy restaurants advertising ‘fresh fish of the day’ on their menu. The tourist better get your act together, for all you know you might be eating the fish from your own state, being masqueraded as fish from Goan waters.
Secondly, Goan Tiatrists in the name of renovation have been displaced from Ravindra Bhavan even if it is on a temporary basis. Once you make them perform only in village shows, they will find another excuse to stop them from coming into the cities and perform in air-conditioning environment. Now these Tiatrists will realize that sucking up to politicians is such a double edged sword, it can also harm their spine for good. You let politicians highjack your stage at the cost of your paying public, hoping you will never be displaced.
Europe and USA probably had some game plan in opening up their borders, but it has gone horribly wrong for them. They are democracies and the local population will force them to take action because they are still in charge of their votes. In Goa, most votes are sold and that too for a pittance, so naturally politicians are not obliged to work for the locals. If locals become too demanding then they have a plan to replace the entire population with a different set of people who will never demand accountability. It will not be done in an instant, but in a subtle manner hoping nobody notices. First displace, then replace.
(The author is a Business Consultant)
