In free markets a price of a product is determined by the forces of demand and supply, but the operative word is ‘free’. Is India really operating in a free market environment, the government seems to be always on the lookout for Foreign Direct Investment but never fixes our complicated and unpredictable regulations that are driving businesses out of the country or are on the verge of closure if not already. Closing of any business puts pressure on the customer who eventually pays the price of having fewer players to choose from in the marketplace. Less competition also results into cartelisation and the customer always ends up paying a higher price, because the industry becomes susceptible to tampering of demand and supply, clandestinely done by manipulating supply.
Goans will understand this subject better if we take the example of how the Goan fishing industry operates. Before we discuss competition in the fishing industry, let’s ponder on the following fact. Fish is a natural resource available in the common waters of Goa, collectively owned by the people because the sea can never be a private property of a few people. If fish breeding is done by a private person in his own backyard or in leased private water bodies the owner has the choice to sell it to Goans or deprive them and sell it to someone even on planet Mars, no questions. Same goes to rice or cashew cultivators because their produce is grown in their own private or lease property and they are free to sell it to anyone that pays them the right amount. But that is not the case with fish caught at sea.
The Goan waters are the collective property of the people of Goa and Goans have the first right over the catch, over and above the fishermen that are engaged in catching the fish. Here is some fish for thought; how come the owner of the fishing boat gets the full right over the fish caught, should it not be the labourers that are involved in casting the net. Sound weird, but that is exactly the point, the owners of the resource in this case the Goan people have been conned and deprived from their own supply as the fish catchers are allowed to not only hoard but also export fish far and wide, thereby artificially tampering the supply of fish in the Goan marketplace. It is time ownership of fish is to be ascertained. An advice for AAP the political party, if interested in making inroads in Goa, they should systematically make this an issue and make sure Goans are not deprived from their most essential food. At least work on fish since the party has already diluted their core anti-corruption stand.
Let’s assume we address the above supply issues of fish, does not mean we ignore the demand side of this problem. Demand created by tourists seems genuine, that does not mean we deprive fish to Goan residents to feed the tourist. Many might argue that nobody is stopping Goans from going to the market, but it comes at an inflated price because of the tourist demand. Why should a Goan squeeze his pocket and pick the tab for a tourist that ends up eating his share of the pie. Remember the resource still belongs to the Goan people and the next in line could be the fish catchers, tourists that visit Goa and then if stock still exists can be used by the processing industry and even allowed to export. Just because nobody has applied their mind on this does not mean we allow everybody to catch fish at a pittance of a license fee. Free markets are the most effective way to arrive at a price mechanism but that is applicable when strict regulation does not allow artificial supply disruption and subsequent price manipulation.
Many governments have lost elections in India when price of onions have shot up 5x in a matter of months to coincide with elections. This is usually done by people controlling the trade by drying up the supply through hoarding. Because onion is an essential commodity in India most running governments bite the dust and lose badly only to find out the price falls as soon as elections are over. No such luck in Goa, the hoarders in the fish trade have mastered the art of manipulation by importing sometimes even poisoned fish from Andhra to meet the shortfall.
This brings us to the most important question, is the fish caught by Goan fishermen not enough to feed Goans. Why are details of fish catch or fish exported not available in real time for public scrutiny on government website? Just because the fisheries department is lax, does not mean we allow the stakeholders to bypass the local market and sell our quality Goan fish to starred hotels or export it out of the country and to rub salt in the wounds import substandard fish from other parts of India and sell it in the local market. We are just not learning what this pandemic is trying to tell us; ‘You cannot think global at the cost of local’.
It is time Goans force the government to invest more in the local ‘ramponkars’ who are capable enough to catch quality fish and distribute plentifully to Goans under the watchful eyes of the authorities. Unfortunately these local fishermen have their backs to their walls with the government not giving them priority in assigning them proper market infrastructure to sell their catch. Add to that in Benaulim beach, huge government infrastructure is being planned to be given away to private hands. The more fishing infrastructure goes into private hands the more we will see quality fish stocks vanishing from the local markets.
The Governor is projecting himself as someone who wants to keep an eye on the government performance, to prove his intentions the least he can do is to get himself briefed by the CMas to what is so fishy in the fish industry. That would be a something worthwhile than to pull up the Chief Minister just for the sake of cutting him to size and messing up his confidence level.
(The author is a business consultant)
