Our grand old organisation of the Comunidades which was set up centuries ago and in any case much before Vasco da Gama anchored in Goan waters and the Portuguese set foot on Goan soil. Comunidades have functioned well in Goa. Thanks to our worthy ancestors, they did well to meet the requirements of the then existing communities who lived in peace and calm, with honour assured to all. They carried on without any Govt. assistance. The crooks were punished and those who did well and worked honestly and hard were rewarded. Life was regulated by a system of punishments and rewards. Today cows, goats, camels, buffaloes, dogs, cats and rats are all thrown into the same cage and are in one category.
Today life is uncertain and the crooks far outnumber the good, honest and patriotic citizens. We are all Indians and Goans, but who works for India or Goa except for a handful of people. ‘Each one for himself’, seems to be the accepted dictum. These hardworking, honest few are considered fools by most of the rest of the crooked folks. Since Liberation most things have deteriorated badly. Honesty and patriotism have all but vanished and the high and mighty rule by the dictum of ‘might is right’. Most politicians are regarded with suspicion and use muscle power and money to get the mare to move as per their wishes. Goondas and goons now rule the roost.
We must admit that the police force has also been corrupted and by and large, no longer serve the purpose they were originally intended for! Even recruitment to this force is a murky business in which large sums of money changes hands. I was trying to get one poor good Hindu OBC boy from Pernem a Govt.job I failed miserably. I had seen him working well and honestly for more than five years, at the (ECHS) Ex-Servicemens Cooperative Health Service clinic, a Government job. I came across a nexus between the politicians and the technocrats who conduct the exams for selection or rather rejection of the candidates who have applied. I am wiser now and have given up. Unless your pockets jingle or you are prepared to borrow large sums of money to satisfy the greed of the so called selectors, you can not succeed in your efforts. That is how corruption is born and prospers. These people have to solicit bribes in order to pay back the people who initially lent them the money to get the job. Do not our Government Departments need the best manpower available to serve the people?
Now I hear through the newspaper reports that our former CM Manohar Parrikar has mooted the Idea, that Goa can get Special Status because of the Comunidades! The same Comunidades which have been constantly hammered into submission. The same organisation which has been shorn of all their powers. Who have been divested of all their lands, by giving a silver paper wrapped gift to tenants who were supposed to till these fields and orchards. Most of their sons do not prefer to pursue agriculture as a career and want white collar jobs in an office even when not adequately educated. Thus the fields lie fallow and our production of grains has gone dismally low, forcing the Govt. and traders to import these from the neighbouring states of Karnataka or Maharashtra.
I have been President of Saligao Comunidade before also and I have hardly received any support from the Administrator who is supposed to help us solve our problems. With the result that everybody tries to ride rough shod over us. Being a proud Army Officer who has served 37 years in uniform, I am not accustomed to beg for what is the due of my Comunidade. Recently we agreed in principle to give land for the widening of the main road junction in the village, called ‘Aula’. The work is in progress for the last over a month, but as yet we have not received a written request of how many square meters of land is to be acquired for this project and the rate that will be paid per square meter. I have been running around from pillar to post to solve this problem but all in vain. After all this we now want to rely on these very Comunidades to get special status.
When a Commission for Comunidades had to be appointed by the Govenment, we were not even consulted. This resulted in some dubious characters getting appointed. When a delegation was sent to Europe to verify garbage treatment plants, again we were not consulted to detail a rep. May be our choice could have been the same, but the procedure of the State Govt. appointing the rep was certainly wrong.
Now we suddenly find that we can get Special Status because of the Comunidades and so we have been remembered. None of the Gaunkars appreciate our organization being used like a door mat after being trampled on for years. There have been a few scams in some Communidade which are under investigation we agree. But have there been no scams in Govt. Departments? Mining is the biggest scam running into thousands of crores of rupees. Yet we are trying to restart and revive these mines for the sake of those who were dependent on this activity. What about reviving the Comunidades? Some high and mighty people are being investigated for grabbing Comunidade land. This fact is known to all. It is high time we treat all our organisations on the same footing and especially help the Comunidades as they have been neglected for far too long.
Goa can progress at a fast rate only if we behave as mature citizens and walk hand in hand. Where there is a will , there is surely a way! We shall surely find it. Let our leaders in power show the way and we will follow. The country will clap hands and admire our guts and sagacity. Viva Goa! Jai Hind!
(Brig. Ian da Costa is an ex-army official)
