With special status appearing more like a mirage in the hot coastal sandy state of Goa, it is becoming increasingly important for Goans to find ways to protect the local economy from going completely into the hands of outsiders, and maybe even attempt to reverse the take over trend which we have witnessed over several decades now. With the new four-lane concrete road starting in Maharashtra and ending in Goa, the economic take over of our state economy will soon be complete if we do nothing to stop it. The cake of the Goan economy will be nicely divided between Maharashtra and Karnataka.
Eat local, make local might be a good slogan to start with to protect the economy of Goa by Goans and for Goans. We need to become self-sufficient as soon as possible in the production of food and not outsource our food needs from Belgaum and outsiders!
The school mid-day lunch program is a good place to start as it is often embroiled in controversy. Items included for lunch are often not supposed to be there, such as, cockroaches, flies, and lizards, besides others? How can we make the mid-day lunch better for our children? Do we need children to fall ill, to be rushed to hospital every now and then before we have a system in place which puts full responsibility on the people who are in charge?
Local farmers must get involved in the school lunch programs, and communidade land can be used for this purpose, with the government subsidizing the farmers and the people who prepare the meals. It has to be a joint community project of schools, parents and farmers. As the majority of the children from the villages attend the local schools it is a win-win situation. Every parent would like their children to have the finest, healthiest, cleanest and most nutritious lunch.
