"This government is better than other government" says MLA Cortalim Mathany Saldhana in a recent interview to a Goan monthly magazine and there will be many to agree on this score discreetly atleast so long as CM Manohar Gopalkrishna Parrikar is at the helm of affairs and until such time he does not mean to introduce Hindu fanaticism in Goa to please his mentors outside Goa.
But I totally disagree with Mr Saldhana's contention that panchayats and Planning authorities are to be blamed for the illegalities they commit. Let us look at analyse these two facts. First, of all our electoral system declares "first past the post " as victor at the hustings . Why not amend it ? Can parliamentarians not insist that 50 % or more of the votes polled should decide the victor? This would ensure the right material of Parliamentarians , Legislators, Zilla Parishad members, panchas, and councillors. Second , what is the role of Parliamentarians and Legislators?(please dont call them ---politicians but they are "law makers") is it not to legislate on matters on the Centre, State and Concurrent lists? Had these "law makers" enacted fool proof laws rules regulations without scope for ambiguity corruption by the local self government bodies and the executives would be checked .It is the failure of the " "lawmakers " to do their homework well at the time of enacting the legislations that has allowed room for corruption. Even today Mr. Saldhana could go through all the laws prevalent in Goa constitute a committee of well meaning people concerned about the corruption in Goa,examine the loopholes and then start a peoples movement to for the remaining 39 legislators to plug these loop holes. Even a civil disobedience programme would not be out of place on this issue. In fact NGOs or public spirited citizens in Goa would do well to first aware themselves of the laws the rules the bye-laws before running to the courts filing PILs (Public Interest Litigations) Mr Saldhana will perhaps also agree that Parliamentarians and Legislators have a predominant job to lay down POLICIES governing each of the subjects in the Central, Concurrent and State list respectively before enacting laws . But what do we see today, Cabinet decisions which are piecemeal decisions easily reversible by future governments or no policies whatsoever. It is a disgusting sight to see a MP or a MLA forcing their electorate to "invite' them to inaugurate roads, public taps , toilets when these do not constitute their area of intervention but could as well be attended by the repective Councillors or Panchas or Zilla Parishad members or other politicians in and out of power or eminent citizens. Unless the above role of the "law makers" is performed by Mr Saldhana and his thirty nine counterparts in the Goa Legislative Assembly and the three Parliamentarians representing Goa in the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha we cant blame the "panchas zilla parishad members and councillors besides the Executive for the illegalities. Trust readers will agree with this point of view. godfrey j.i. gonsalves borda margao goa via email [EMAIL PROTECTED] ________________________________________________________________________ Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your partner online. Go to http://yahoo.shaadi.com ########################################################################## # 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 # ##########################################################################