By Savio Pinto
Come 11 June 2017 and Goa will elect a new managing body in all its Village Panchayats that will spell out the future course for their respective villages.
Interestingly, the villages that have been under tremendous pressure from the marauding builders will have to withstand further pressure. Some of the villages in Goa have almost lost the serenity as well as virginity of yesteryears.
The so called ‘grass-roots’ activism is at stake at every panchayat level and it is to be seen how best the people make their choices of candidates. There may not be too many money-changers or doles for those who are in waiting as most of the voters are ignorant of the ground situation in their own villages. But who ever gives them a peg or two of drinks and convince them by bullying and false allegations etc..etc.. of the opposition, they are the most gullible votes who can easily swing the votes in favor of any candidate. Such is the sorry state of affairs prevailing in our Goa.
In fact, every candidate should be screened for his/her honesty and their vision for the development of their village has to be unearthed. We find very few candidates who really yearn for the betterment of the village as a whole and they succeed at times. But mostly they are subjected to unwarranted allegations and criticism which frustrate them to the end and they just walk away from the scene.
For those who shout from the galleries, it’s a testing time to their challenges and gets elected if at all they contest the elections.
Actually the panchayat elections are best to those whose greed to make a fast buck knows no limit and especially once they taste the success of enhancing their bank balance through unfair means. We need to thank to the system because the panchayats in Goa are basically a tutorial exercise to learning corruption. Just imagine how many people in Goa have made their fortune through illegal means and now sitting comfortably least they would have been just round the corner like a waste paper basket.
The educated and not so well educated are treated on par by the voters. And this is the biggest question mark on their character. The personal egos-neighborly bickering and social malice plays a bigger role in voting against well deserving candidates. Because the unsocial elements in every village unleash the vicious tirades against each other and thus eliminate the best candidates from contesting. So literally speaking, the deserving and well educated candidates have no space left to seek votes. The people don’t care for the educated and to those who seems to work for the betterment of the village. The vision and the hard work of those who are willing are either side-lined or ignored by the voters who will go on cursing later once they see the mischief indulged by those elected.
There was a time when one had to be pushed or begged to contest the village panchayat elections. But over the years Goa has seen the mad rush of contestants. Whether they have their own vision and capability is the different matter all together. For some of the candidates, proxies run the show.
Secondly the employees working in the panchayats are no longer saints either. Visit any panchayat office in Goa and you will find a ghost doing the job for you at a price. The modus operandi used is simple. Mostly they are the ones who fall prey to the whims and fancies of their ring leader.
Most of the time people ignore the gram sabhas-meetings whenever they are called. But they ensure their presence whenever they have their personal agenda listed. They don’t care a damn for rest of proceedings or any welfare measures of the village. And mind you, these very same people are the first to avail the benefits from the village panchayats.
Thus the grass-root participation of any villager is paramount to the development of each village at all times. So, let hope and pray the villagers stand up to the present day challenges and vote to the deserving candidates.’
