About Goa being India’s Number ONE State By Brian Antao, Ph.D. Mr. Arun Shourie, Union Minister aptly described the term "nega-holics" and that a vast majority of Indians being nega-holics actually hamper development in India. In the same vein, he overlooked the more problematic Envy-aholics and the "Basket of Crabs.”
Since Goa had been rated the Numero Uno State in India, there are more Goans throwing stones at this ranking, than being proud of it. Not even many of the competing states, ranked lower than Goa has questioned the ranking. Simply goes to show how chronically negaholic a vast majority of Goans are. Firstly, Goa ranked at number One, based on the "statistical averages" for the entire state. States like Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu have the largest metropolitan areas in India with far greater and better facilities than Goa, but these states also have some of the poorest and most dilapidated areas as well. In addition, when you take the "statistical average" for the entire state, the "average" is much lower than that of Goa. Agreed the state of affairs in Goa is not even half as good as Mumbai, Chennai or Bangalore. At the same time, Goa is not so disproportionate in its development. The poorest of the poor in Goa are much better off than their counterparts in any other state in India. It seems we Goans are still "wallowing in the mire". It is time to move on, and the greatest pressure now is to sustain this Number ONE position. Will Goa be ranked as a Number ONE state again next year? Or will this ranking prove to be a "fluke.” Looking at the pace of developments, it is very unlikely that Goa will even rate anywhere near the top in next year's rankings. States like Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra are on a war footing undertaking massive development programs. Maharashtra State government wants to turn Mumbai into a bigger Shanghai! With a proposed Rs. 6,000 crore development plan. What development plans have the BJP led Goa government put into place for the future development of Goa? The Goa government is only running around the development of the venue for the International Film Festival of India (IFFI). Most of the initiative and drive for the IFFI comes from the Central government. The CM proclaimed that all the traffic island beautification work in Margao would be completed by August 15th... we are still waiting to see when this work will actually be completed, or perhaps the CM meant August 15th 2004! The Margao MLA recently (much after the deadline has passed) resorted to some sophistry that the beautification of Margao in fact would actually start from October. We are not talking about the general beautification of Margao, but just the small sub section of the work only pertaining to the "traffic islands.” to begin with. If this small section of the work cannot be completed on schedule, what great plans for the entire city are going to materialize ?. O'Herald recently reported that the Margao Municipality has been sitting on its ass for the last one year, not having done anything since the projects were approved for the construction of two fly-overs in Margao. Goa Government "incompetence" has always been a stumbling block in the path for progress in Goa. The major share of the credit for Goa being ranked India’s Numero Uno State goes to the enterprising private sector. Secondly, Some of these negaholic Goans have been complaining about the quality of education in Goa. Their solution for improving the quality of education is an obsession with the IITs, and seem to believe that getting an IIT opened in Goa will greatly improve the quality of education in Goa. How will an IIT based in Goa, improve the education for Goans? The IITs are central institutions, with an all-India admissions policy, an IIT in Goa will not ensure sufficient Goans will get admissions there, the majority of the student population at an IIT in Goa, will be non-Goan. Its time the cross-section of the Goan population obsessed with the IITs come to terms with some of these realities. Instead, the more constructive effort that would benefit Goans at large is being more focused at improving the quality of education in the engineering colleges in Goa. It is important to note that Engineering is a very "talent-driven” profession, much like music. The great engineers are due to the fact that they possess natural engineering talent and aptitude for engineering, much like the great singers and musicians who possess natural musical talent. No IIT or MIT in the world can make one a great engineer, if one does not have at-least a basic aptitude for engineering. These people take no notice of some of the educational “gems” that Goa has such as the Goa Medical College. This raises the side question about the validity of the IIT entrance exam, which has spawned off such a dense eco-system of coaching classes etc. The IIT entrance exam is not really an Engineering aptitude test. It is a ridiculously hard exam, simply because the test is based entirely composed of questions from a syllabus which is "out of reach" for the average HSSC student. The IIT entrance exam is entirely based on questions taken out from the first-year-engineering syllabus. The eco-system that has evolved around the IIT entrance exam specialises in preparing students to cram and regurgitate the first year engineering syllabus. One can set an even more difficult exam, by fairly limiting the syllabus of the exam to whatever the students have studied up to the average HSSC level across the country. But the IIT entrance exam setters take the lazy way out and the perverse pleasure by making the test difficult simply based on a syllabus "out of reach" of the average HSSC student. If one takes a look at the American entrance test used uniformly by all undergraduate universities across America, the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT). The SAT is based entirely on the high school syllabus, and is a true "aptitude" test having a proportionate share of questions tougher than any of the IIT entrance exam setter can dream of. The SAT, is a test well composed by educationists and testing professionals, who have a better insight on how to truly test “aptitude.” So, the best advise for many of our Goan aspiring engineers, those who really have an aptitude for engineering, and NOT those who want to go for engineering as it fetches a higher dowry. You can develop your engineering skills and talent at a much better rate in one of Goa’s own engineering colleges, and in the process also enjoy and live out a healthy childhood. It is not really worth wasting your childhood away preparing for the ridiculously difficult IIT entrance exam. If you have the engineering aptitude, you will be a great engineer no matter which college you graduate from. No wonder you see such a significant number of IIT graduates flocking in herds to MBA programs, and IAS programs etc, unable to sustain at a high level of engineering excellence in the real working world. (The author, Brian Antao, is an Indian citizen originally from Goa, educated in America, and currently back in his home town, Margao, Goa) ___________________________________________________ Medicine meets Marketing; Dr. Swati Weds Jayaram. Rediff Matchmaker strikes another interesting match !! Visit http://rediff.com/matchmaker?2 ########################################################################## # Send submissions for Goanet to [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # PLEASE remember to stay on-topic (related to Goa), and avoid top-posts # # More details on Goanet at http://joingoanet.shorturl.com/ # # Please keep your discussion/tone polite, to reflect respect to others # ##########################################################################
