1 It is not only seen in the St Jacinto Island episode but all over Goa, where a relationship of trust and care that a MLA must establish with the people has gone since seats are won either due to fixing or catering to particular vote banks. It’s all about winning, not service
The villagers of St Jacinto Island showed immense maturity to prevent what could have been a serious situation if an FIR was lodged against some of them based on incorrect allegations that they were opposed to the hoisting of the National flag by the Navy. The Navy also showed a lot of understanding in wanting to continues with a dialogue with the villagers and answer all their doubts. But clearly stood out was this. There was absolutely no connection, understanding or trust between the MLA Mauvin Godinho and the villagers of the Island, where life functions according to strong local customs, and norms.
It is that relationship that was tested Saturday when villagers were concerned and nervous when the Navy team arrived and started digging holes. That is the time when the MLA who was very much in the constituency should have rushed to the spot and pacified the agitated and confused villagers and explained the Navy programme. And also ask the Navy to speak to the local village bodies as a courtesy. If there was trust the situation would have got diffused immediately. It is clear that there was no trust which is why the MLA was not present either on Friday morning or Saturday morning.
On Saturday afternoon when the tensions were high and the CM said those opposing the flag hoisting (no one actually opposed) would be dealt with an iron fist, Mauvin Godinho, the local MLA, added to it by saying that the Navy should file a police complaint and go ahead with the flag hoisting under Goa police protection. At that point in time, it was Captain Viriato Fernandes, an ex-Navy officer and Social Activist of Goencho Ekvott, who met the villagers to explain the sequence of events and propose a joint flag hoisting in a friendly amicable environment. The situation would have gone out of hand if this intervention was not done.
The islanders of St Jacinto were pacified and relieved and agreed to the commendable joint flag hoisting, which diffused the plans of those who wanted FIRs to be filed with serious charges against the harmless villagers. The local MLA was certainly not on their side.
2 Has anyone wondered why the islanders of St Jacinto Island were scared and nervous when the Navy team visited the island initially?
The harmless and simple villagers of the Island have felt threatened due to recent plans which threaten the existence of the village. They are afraid that big megaprojects could come because of the manner in which the Coastal Zone Management Plan for the village has been drafted with big roads shown. In addition, the Major Ports Authority Bill will take the rights of the local people to decide on their land use, away from most villages. This is also the only village where people have retained their land and have their only homes there.
The arrival of the Navy personnel made the simple people nervous and scared that this was going to be some activity connected to some project which would take their land away. It was only a day later when the purpose was explained to them that they calmed down.
They were under stress and they would have hoped that the government and the MLA came to them as a friend. Sadly, and painfully the opposite of that happened.
3 Match-fixing likely reason being Cong promising 5 tickets and assuring 1
The formula of the present Goa Congress leadership of promising five tickets to five people in constituencies and then telling one that he was the final choice has started creating enemy candidates. With four rebel enemy candidates likely in each seat, you can guess who is going to be the likely beneficiary, the ruling party of course. Some of the Congress top brass is also likely to be involved in this match-fixing which is also likely to involve some other smaller parties pretending to be genuine. But everyone is likely to be in this game to benefit only the ruling party.
4 Congress needs leadership, not positions to be filled
Who is a real leader? Someone who inspires confidence takes people along is an inspiration and someone who can fight for change along with the people. The Congress may be looking for a new GPCC president, but it needs is a real leader whose first commitment is to Goa and its people and when parties cannot produce this leadership, it is the people who have to identify and back good people, from their villages, towns and talukas to be people’s candidates for a peoples party.
5 Can we have quotas for professionals whose jobs involve life and death
Caste-based quotas for jobs are a way of ensuring that the weaker sections of society do not get left out due to fewer agencies. Political parties, dependent on caste votes have caste quotas for professional colleges and institutions too. Even Goa Medical College has an OBC quota for medical seats.
We need to ask whether there should be caste-based quotas in professional institutions, especially medical colleges. The medical profession is all about skill and research and training, all of which goes into creating doctors for the society, which is why there is no much emphasis on merit to ensure that only the brightest minds enter the profession.
Once merit is no longer the criteria, the crop of doctors our land produces goes down. That is when even the top-notch meritorious doctors do not want to be with doctors produced out a quota system.
More importantly, professional health care suffers not only in top hospitals that these doctors finally practice in but also in rural centres which is the foundation of our health care system.
