What is the correlation between excellent road conditions in Goa and the Laadli Laxmi Scheme, or for that matter the connection between 24 hours uninterrupted power supply and the Dayanand Social Security scheme. All four accounting heads are some of the expenses undertaken by the Government of Goa, and because social security schemes are allotted to just about anybody, it will not be wrong to say, that they might be slowly eating up our resources, which could be put to good use for services the government is expected to provide, this includes good roads and uninterrupted power supply. No denying, but a messed up allocation in these expenses due to improper priorities, has had a direct impact on the quality of life of the average Goan. Here’s how.
For a moment let’s assume corruption does not exist in Goa, but the government inorder to mask their below par performance bribes its voters and allocates money towards undeserving individuals in one of their Social Security Schemes. An allocation of this kind is bound to have an impact on the finances of the government. It means money allocated wrongly in giveaway schemes is sure to compromise on the procurement of electrical equipment by the government, hence a 24-hour uninterrupted power supply would remain just a dream for the average Goan, because someone has decided to wrongly prioritize and ignore society needs over personal ones. One might be tempted to argue that money allocated towards individual schemes is just too little to make an impact, but it does increase exponentially when you add up all the beneficiaries of the scheme multiplied by the amount of schemes.
Many are also under the impression that the money comes from Big Daddy in New Delhi and we should just blow it up and live happily ever after. Actually it comes from our own pockets, it might look as if it is coming from Delhi, thanks to our complicated tax system, but it is our own tax money that was collected in bits and pieces, then added up to make it a big figure and make the small tax payer believe that such a big amount cannot include his small proportion of tax. Rerouting tax money either from Delhi or within the state also helps politicians to manipulate perception, as if they are doing a big favor to the public. It also becomes easy to sell their schemes to their voters, even if it means overlooking wrong affidavits filed by individuals in their enthusiasm to qualify for the scheme. No wonder most politicians have created their own vote banks by coaxing voters to file wrong information so that this information can be used as blackmail later to ensure voter slavery. Does not mean a politician knocks at your door and forces you to avail the scheme, but cunningly employs village individuals with some standing to do the convincing, so that gullible and ignorant voter avails the scheme. Goans that seek the morally correct path and resist this temptation are not only swimming against the tide in shark infested waters, but run the risk of being an object of ridicule.
Nobody is suggesting social schemes should be taboo, but they could be justified if the state of Goa had complete control over its minerals instead of giving away the rights to some private individuals. Since that has not happened, the government is always going to struggle to balance its budget and will have to resort to taking loans from financial institutions to service these schemes. In simple language it means the government’s expenditure is more than its income. Once in a while we might use some influence in Delhi and get the loans waived off, and earn some applause at home. But applause alone will never give Goa special status that it is seeking, for that to happen we need to prove to the center that we don’t need financial handholding anymore and is capable of managing ourselves.
Problem is political corruption has occupied so much of our time and space, that we have let politicians off the hook for ignoring the basic principle of budgeting, which is not to spend money you don’t have. So even if we bring corruption to zero, Goan quality of life may not change significantly because of our over commitment on social schemes, which Goans have got used to by now. A thorough review and cancellation of these schemes is the only way to avoid a financial disaster forward, even if it means voter backlash.
Meantime there is a need for Goans also do some soul searching, best way would be to find out in which side we stand, the income or the expenditure side. Goans on the income side can be considered as adding value to Goa, but those on the expenditure side and especially those that avail schemes fraudulently and undeservingly, ought to realize that their actions are not only neutralizing the effort of Goans that add value to Goa but also robs Goa of its real progress.
So the next time you see a pothole on the road or the electrical power fails because of some substandard tripped fuse, please feel free to call the Public Works or the Electricity department or even the respective department ministers and demand accountability, as to why your tax money is not put to good use, but also spare a thought to some of the people you may know that avail schemes or grants even though they do not deserve.
(Plastino D’Costa is a business consultant)
