Goa is observing, and celebrating in some circles, the attainment of its 36th year of statehood. In the normal span of human evolution, 36 is the year of the giant leap. A state with no opposition can make the happiness of its people a priority and the cutting down on protests and litigations against governance with ease.
As the celebrations of statehood begin, this is the priority that will ensure continuity, After all, which government would want to make the day-to-day lives of people and those who love the state sadder and more difficult?
But…let us look at reality in the face
And the reality is that the happiness index in Goa is very high, but only for politicians in this ‘State’. And reasons are not hidden.
State of fear
When Goans who have left their homes and families and small children are worried if their homes and families are safe from attacks and robberies in Goa, don’t we realise how far we have declined from the times when doors were never closed in Goa, when people went to holidays without locking their homes, to a state of fear where elderly women relaxing on a bench in front of a chapel after lunch are attacked by brutal chain snatchers, when empty homes are burgled, where rapes and killings have progressed from being stories of shock to just mere statics?
State of joblessness
Goa has one of the highest ratios of joblessness to population. While there are opportunities elsewhere, many Goans are prepared to rough it out and do jobs abroad that would be considered menial at home.
They leave the country on Portuguese passports and while there is a section which has settled down and made good lives, the majority are those who leave family behind to survive on their earnings.
This exodus from Goa is out of compulsion. It’s the call of the stomach, it’s a call to put food on the table, and pay for health care and education of their children, where opportunities are shrinking in Goa.
Perhaps some time should be spent on the floor of the passport office, where the counter to surrender Indian passports is located. The voices of those Goans should be heard on this day.
State of land grab
Added to the fear of homes getting robbed, is the fear of their home and land ownership getting robbed. Goans are no longer sure who “owns” their properties, finding suddenly that new owner’s names are on their property documents and a web of forgeries with help from corrupt mamlatdars and registrars has led to the loot of their ancestral lands and identity.
State of ecological disaster
While Goans are choking, the capacity to handle coal in berths in the Mormugao Port Authority (which suffering Goans see more as an Authority than a Port) is increased, with coal dust adding to pollution and serious diseases, both potentially and currently.
All forms of land planning have been kept on the side and arbitrary decisions are being taken. In sheer desperation, tireless activists and common people are knocking on the doors of the court with the help of public-spirited and Goa-loving advocates.
We are in a state where an arbitrary decision to allow private parties to request a change of zone to settlement on the ground that the earlier zoning was erroneous, has shocked everyone due to its sheer brazenness.
Out forests have been burnt deliberately, but the men behind the man-made fires are never booked or arrested. Our animals and wildlife are in pain or dying with their habitats destroyed to make way for potential construction.
Our Mhadei waters have been surrendered, our farms are dwindling since construction and concrete have been made simple and easy and construction debris has filled our farmlands.
Most important age-old institutions that protected community land- our communities have been made irrelevant and politicised with power no longer in the hands of communities.
State of civic decay and breakdown of basic services
There is no ease. And there is no business. Crippling power cuts in the Verna Industrial estate have forced factories to spend lakhs and lakhs on gen sets and diesel. When there is power there is an inadequate load. Operations have slowed down, machines often run idle, but power bills do not. They have doubled and are surging with no relief.
There is not a drop of water, but water bills arrive with greater regularity than water tankers. Pipelines are old and broken water leaks at various points, while the tanker mafia rules the roost, as groundwater has given to a minimal with rampant construction drying up wells.
Goa’s capital and its pride are caving in. A Smart City bogey that has been sold has converted Panjim from a gorgeous tree-lined town to a sad and devastating parody of its former self. People and vehicles are falling into huge craters on the roads, and sewage flows in front of homes, hastily covered with slabs, as if out of sight will also be out of mind. But the stink never goes, of inefficiency and corruption.
Every institution of governance has become a seat and battleground of greed and politics, be it the panchayats, the municipalities and state-run corporations. Or else where would we have sent our KTC buses for political services in Karnataka and for outstation delegates but not have AC buses for common Goans who have paid for their monthly passes?
A government with a compete majority can however be in a State of Correction
Which ruling party or government does not want to correct this if they want to continue in power and to be of service? After all the tears of people cannot become votes. And a government is sure to wipe them Therefore a course correction is only possible. But the only way forward is if Goa is steered out of this mess and that will be the single biggest achievement of the government.
Finally, it all boils down to good human beings – both among those who vote and get voted. Once NDTV’s Founder Dr Prannoy Roy asked then President APJ Abdul Kalam, India’s most loved people’s President, “Should politicians become Presidents?” And President Kalam’s answer was, “Doctors, lawyers, scientists and politicians all bring their core competence when they become Presidents. But above all a President must be a good human being.”
This applies to each one who is in public life. On our Statehood Day let us remember our great former President and his words and pray for Goa to be in a State of humanity.
