India’s first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru had once said ‘Ajeeb Hai Goa ke lok’ which is perhaps true in their behaviour and susegad (satisfied) attitude of Goans. But sadly this nature is slowly turning against them as migrants are one step ahead as far as hard work and taking up any trade is concerned, is the opinion of few Goan businessmen.
In Goa there is no shortage of jobs or self employment but due to shyness or inferiority complex, Goans feel those jobs are of low status, says sources. However, few of those Goans say the market is become a haven for migrants. According to a councillor Goans are “after government jobs or blue collar jobs.” Except government jobs which are few and reportedly require bribes, jobs in factories are hardly paying minimum Rs 8000 to Rs 10,000 per month. On the other hand a migrant selling chicken ras omelette or mirchi vada pao in the evening, earns more than Rs 30,000 to Rs 50,000 per month.
“On one hand we can observe almost thousands of Goan youths standing in long queues for interviews for government jobs while on the other they feel selling fruits or vegetables is not their cup of tea,” said a source.
A Goan vendor feels their wards should take up education and go for a blue collar job instead of following him/her in the profession.
“Few decades back a Goan having four or six children used to engage one of his wards to engage in the family trade while the rest were forced to get educated and follow a different profession,” said Ganesh Naik from Ponda.
“But now when a Goan family is reduced to two children, they are forced to go in for higher education leaving his/her family to hire outsiders for the family business,” Ganesh added.
According to Councillor Venktesh Naik, Government should focus on this problem and study why Goans fall behind and why migrants are ahead in business.
According Manoj Naik, “Government or the politicians are allegedly involved in carrying out dirty politics in this tiny State, leaving problems like unemployment on the sidelines.”
