Our true icons are small traders, restaurateurs; they need our tears, not ‘iconic’ clubs

Many tears have been shed at the supposed sale of an iconic nightclub. The digital and mainstream media reacted as if it’s the biggest thing that happened to Goa since the pandemic. And the narrative that a big piece of Goa’s history, tradition and brand value had to be sold because the business was reeling under official harassment, was sold through the ever-willing social and digital media.

We ask and wonder how many tears have been shed for those common Goan traders, small businessmen, shop-owners, small restaurants, who are not ‘brands’ but have given Goa pride, dignity and self-respect?

They are, in Herald’s view the real ‘iconic’ sons and daughters of Goa because they have proudly kept Goa’s economy running, given jobs and running a smooth goods and services industry. And yes, they are not selling, nor complaining of harassment. They are bravely struggling, paying their licence fees, their excise dues, their electricity and garbage fees even though their shops and restaurants are shut. 

If one recalls recently, a businessman in Coimbatore in a meeting with Rahul Gandhi had said, “We pay taxes, we have built India but we are crushed. And we cannot even cry because we cannot be seen to be weak. We look unto you to lead us.”

THE SAME QUESTION GOES OUT TO CM SAWANT. SMALL TRADERS DEPEND ON YOU. ARE YOU WILLING TO GIVE THEM HONEST HOPE? AND IF SO, PLEASE TELL US HOW?

Many of them are paying their workers so that they do not go back. And these small-time restaurant owners and shopkeepers cannot cry in public lest they are seen to be weak, lest their staff lose confidence. They are meeting the pandemic bravely. The least they need is a helping hand, if not tears.

ICONIC BRAND COMPLAINS OF HARASSMENT. BUT DO YOU KNOW WHY THE POLICE AND OFFICIALS DO NOT HASSLE SMALL BUSINESSMEN….

Because they do no wrong. Even if they are under a lot of stress, they pay all their dues, even if they are unfair. Their restaurants are shut and they pay Excise, they don’t generate garbage but pay the garbage fee, their trade is stopped but they pay their trade licence. They do not live in glass houses and thus, they can afford to throw stones at the system, and yet they do not.

BUT THOSE WHO LIVE IN GLASS HOUSES SHOULD NOT THROW STONES

Those who complain of “harassment” have a right to do it in a democracy. But if they have glasshouses, they should introspect and ask have they been ‘legal’, have ever violated any laws, have paid all their dues and taxes, have violated COVID protocols. The honest answers to these questions will give a clearer picture of these ‘iconic’ realities.

And it is here we need to ask a bigger question. Why did the entire State or country, its political, business and social class choose to react only when a multi-hundred crore brand is supposedly sold (with no revelation of who the buyer is or any minute detail of the claimed sale). A ‘sale’ hyped up with discussions on prime-time media. It was the same when a five-star hotel belonging to an American chain shut down in Mumbai leading to hours of prime time consumed on how this would impact the economy.

ECONOMY IS IMPACTED WHEN THE COMMON SMALL-TIME BUSINESSMAN DOES NOT HAVE MONEY IN HIS POCKET, NOT WHEN BIG CHAINS OR BRANDS DECIDE TO SHUT

Goan ministers and even officers, with all due respect may not have read about the depression in Germany or the Great Depression in the USA. Germany reeled when the Great Depression happened in the US. Germany went through artificial prosperity due to American loans which were all withdrawn during the depression which led to severe unemployment, poverty and the total collapse of industry.

THE GREAT DEPRESSIONS: CAUSE & EFFECT & LESSONS TO BE LEARNT

The immediate cause of the Great Depression in the US was the collapse of private investment. And it came out of the depression when the demand for goods and services went up leading to investments in manufacturing, ironically during the advent of the Second World War.

The German Depression actually saw the rise of Hitler. He put Germans back to work. Not by giving them government jobs but by putting money in their pockets by giving them opportunities to create wealth. A stable economic system was created. There was a ban on taking money out of Germany. There were strict limits on imports to keep the wealth within the country. Private industry was compelled to reinvest their profits into manufacturing industries approved by the state, and most importantly, government spending was increased on public works, especially on the new highway system – the autobahn.

And who benefited. Not one big fish contractor. The earning was distributed across the country with people locally given jobs and opportunities to earn.

WHEN EARNING INCREASES, SPENDING INCREASES AND MORE PEOPLE EARN. IT’S A PROFITABLE CHAIN

Goa is doing exactly the opposite. Money is concentrated in the hands of a few. There is no investment in manufacturing. Private enterprise is not encouraged to invest as the ease of doing business has turned into extreme unease of doing business.

SMALL SHOPS ARE CLOSED, BIG CHAINS LIKE AMAZON AND FLIPKART ARE DOING ROARING BUSINESS

This has led to the collapse of small traders and businessmen. When the mom and pop stores, the small shops are shut, then the small tempo driver and owners who bring wholesale goods don’t have money, the shopkeepers’ staff boys do not have money, the shopkeeper himself spends less, and when there are no small-time trade and manufacturing businesses, the locals don’t have money to shop. It’s a chain of depression.

At the same time, since shops are closed, those who can afford it are buying online from Amazon, Flipkart and all major online brands and stores directly. No one grudges their profits, but see what it does to the local economy. Online totally kills small- businesses, service providers, vendors like fish, fruit and vegetable sellers.

In Goa, the revival can happen when money is put into the pockets of people by reviving investment and industry and the three key words rule – manufacturing, manufacturing and manufacturing. And agriculture, agriculture and agriculture. Put people back on the farms, help them grow, give them good fertilizers and seeds and again provide great technology and modern machines.

With more money in the system, small business will revive, small restaurants will reopen and village and town shops will be full of goods which will be sold.

This is the direction in which we should be thinking. And if an iconic club or restaurant makes a multimillion-dollar sale and the owner invests his money for his next five generations, there is nothing heroic or iconic about it. Those who hold on and wait for, and help Goa to revive are our true icons. Our real sons and daughters of the soil.