“They” are those who are taking away Goa, piece by piece, river by river, forest by forest. “They” are those who are helping them do this. “They” are those who bend and change rules and laws to allow this to happen, “they” are those who betray the people’s mandate and join those forces for “Development” when only those who are part of certain lobbies are getting “developed. And “they” are those who feel that our forests and our tigers do not need the basic minimum protection because “economic activity”: will get impacted.
Do “they” want to sustain Goa or make this land a web of concrete with our rivers diverted, and mine of all sand for so-called economic activity whose economics works only for the betterment of the balance sheet of outside forces at the costs of Goans?
All of this can be corrected easily. By simply following a Goa first and Goan first approach in all aspects of decision-making with clear a principle- the protection of land, identity, heritage and ecology is non-negotiable. Then the protection of traditional occupations and the opportunities to upskill to take advantage of new forms of employment in manufacturing and other areas is a must.
The first step is to change the growing perceptions that ordinary Goans are not the priority
Whether it is the decision to convert large tracks of land, hitherto not marked as settlement, call them mistakes and then convert 1.86 lakh square metres of orchard land, natural cover and paddy fields to using the IPB as the single window clearance body, mainly or even only for real estate and hotels, the perception is Goa is being developed by construction.
This perception could have been changed or corrected in one shot if the government had readily welcomed the High Court judgment directing it to declare Mhadei as a Tiger Reserve and thereby use that as a strong case in the court to prevent the diversion of the Mhadei waters to Karnataka under the Wild Life Protection Act. If not for the tigers, this could have been done for Goans, who will benefit immensely if the Mhadei waters aren’t diverted. Goa’s marine life and ecology will be protected for the benefit of Goans. But obviously, there are bigger ‘developmental and economic’ concerns that are coming in the way of the most natural and easy decision any government can make for Goans.
Thousands of Goans are facing crop losses. A Goa-centric regime would have felt this pain
Crop damage in Goa is spreading like a pandemic. O Heraldo has reported how “Haphazard construction of the National Highway 66 and the blocking and narrowing of the natural waterways has damaged Goa’s green cover and one such classic example is fields located at Guirim and Sangolda”. Then, the destruction of bunds, sluice gates and khazan lands have all had had a multiplier effect is destroying our rural economy.
So many decisions are taken to help powerful business interests and not Goan interests
We had reported how the High Court of Bombay at Goa had directed that all the illegalities in Comunidade fields be demolished and the land be restored to its original status and shape. The Deputy Collector was also asked for a compliance report. Despite the directives issued to authorities, people here continue to brazenly construct on fields. Moreover, the Electricity Department issues NOCs for power connections to the violators to conduct business on fields. Very soon farmlands will be handed over to business interests who will vow to build farmhouses and then use that entry to consolidate businesses on that land. All this is happening before our very eyes, by the very system that the people of Goa have enabled to come to power.
Less and fewer people are on Goa’s farms or taking their boats to fish. Indian Council of Agricultural Research-Central Coastal Agricultural Research Institute (ICAR-CCARI), Goa show losses in cashew, mango and coconut cropping systems, estimated to be 24, 12.6 and 10.5 tonnes per hectare per year, respectively without any conservation practices.
While crop losses have not been compensated in many cases, subsidies to farmers to augment their farming processes have not been paid for over a year in many cases. The priorities are too clear.
Our land, our forests and our rivers have to be protected
Goa cannot be a land where shoot-outs are happening between sand mining gangs, lands of Goans are being grabbed by fellow Goans through forgeries and the demographics of our villages are changing. From grocery stores to bread making and distribution, to fishing and farming, each of these traditional occupations, are run by those from outside the State. And yes, the counter-narrative will be that Goans no longer do these jobs and have moved abroad using Portuguese passports. You don’t need to survey to understand that they aren’t going for the lure of a foreign land but for economic opportunities of leading a decent life, which isn’t quite possible in the land of their ancestors.
When sons of the soil have to leave to get better opportunities and sons of other soils come to make money by destroying our land, there’s something seriously rotten in the state of Goa
Anyone has the right to work and set up a home anywhere in India but never at the cost of depleting the land and its resources and changing the very identity and intrinsic richness of a very unique and precious land truly blessed with the benevolence of nature. And the elected forces who are facilitating this, as betrayers, can never be true Goans.
