Hi Valmiki,
Your article below was an excellent summary of Goa's past and present
predicaments. All Goans have one last chance to get out of this mess and
usher in Good Governance - to back the most highly educated Goan politician
and an authority on Good Governance IITian Manohar Parrikar to become the CM
after the upcoming May elections - despite the mud-slinging that has been
initiated by the Goan Gaon Goon Chors who are making a Gaan of Goa and their
backers from as far away as Melbourne, Down Under !
If any Goan has any problem with Manohar Parrikar or any of his policies in
the past, they should go and meet him personally, voice their grievances and
clarify any misunderstandings ! Only when we have the best educated,
corruption-free CM in the nation can we be sure to have finally attained the
much elusive State of Goa Dourada (Golden Goa) !
Best Regards,
Dr. Carmo D'Cruz,
Indian Harbour Beach, Florida
currently touring India.
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Message: 5
Date: Sun, 7 Jan 2007 06:18:40 +0530
From: "Valmiki Faleiro" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Goanet] Goa deserved better
To: "goanet" <goanet@lists.goanet.org>
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="Windows-1252";
reply-type=original
DID WE DESERVE THIS?
By Valmiki Faleiro
To those of my esteemed readers averse to Goa?s politics, my unreserved
apologies. I?m aware our political scene is akin to a cesspool that any sane
Goan would prefer to avoid with a long bargepole. But I am also painfully
aware that our insulated attitude won't help us, or Goa, one bit. I've
decided to share -- hopefully, to some effect -- the little I know from
having once been close to Goa's political circus, as a journo, and, briefly,
as a minor participant, as my hometown's Municipal President. My two cents,
as they say.
Beginning this first Sunday in Goa's Election Year to the one following
Election Day, this column will pan to the politics Goa witnessed in the
years since freedom from the 451-year colonial yoke, her Legislative
Assembly, and its key players. And on what we, as sensible Goans, now need
to do. I'll begin with a general thought...
Goa deserved better. We are a tiny littoral enclave blessed by Mother Nature
with a bountiful combination of natural resources, both of land and of water
-- natural beauty, forests, mineral ore, a 105-kms coastline, riverine tidal
bodies, abundant monsoons, even mudflats for fields made from the sweat and
wisdom of our ancestors -- and, above all, an intelligent people. A "101
CyberGoans Honours List" published this Jan 1 by our outstanding journalist,
Frederick Noronha, throws a pleasantly surprising sampling of contemporary
Goans who rose to the top in their respective fields,
worldwide.
As I've said before, Goans have shone, generally, when outside Goa.
Back home, four and half centuries of foreign rule had some plus points, but
also a stark lack of opportunity -- in education and employment for the
Goenkar.?
Goa thus became a land of migrants. Our forebears migrated to Belgaum,
Dharwar, Pune,
Bombay and beyond, and overseas to Portugal and yonder, to get a decent
education for their children and jobs for themselves. The adventurous found
worthwhile avenues aboard ships and in Portuguese and British Africa.
Wherever they went, Goans carved a niche. Be it as cooks or butlers, clerks
or musicians, doctors or scientists. Then came 1961. As compared to the
centuries before, almost overnight, educational avenues opened in Goa. We
produced matriculates and craftsmen, engineers and postgraduates -- but
without matching openings for gainful employment. Goa continued to be a land
of migrants.
Providence opened the Persian Gulf and several other avenues that today
sustain a large part of
the Goan populace. But a land of expatriates, we continue to be.
From 1963, we held our destiny in our own hands. For 27 years as a
centrally-funded Union Territory. And as an independent State since May 30,
1987. The result?
Our balance sheet hardly balances.
A miniscule State as our `Supurl?lem Goem?, easy to administer and govern,
should have been, 45 years after liberation, India's sparkling showpiece.
Far from such an Utopian dream, we are today a mess of bad roads, bad power,
bad water supply, bridges that threaten to tumble and pipelines that burst
like bubbles. All diligently superintended by the worst ever governance --
crowned by corruption at every level in every public office, the type never
seen before. Led by men to whom politics is a job, profession and career,
combined. Corruption in public life has been central to Goa's
misfortune.
Goa has amongst the best population, literacy, social and economic indices
in the country. We are a tiny state, comparable to the size of a taluka in
an average Indian State. We have a huge bureaucracy that should have yielded
an administration superior to Switzerland's. Yet, Goa languishes. We survive
on future-uncertain NRI remittances, limited-resource mining (even if
enriches a few, and at high environmental costs) and a highly fickle
industry as tourism. Our farming and agriculture is all but extinct. We
depend almost entirely on neighbouring States for everything from
milk and veggies to foodgrains and power. Compared to the potential, our
fisheries are primitive. Goa has tottered. Why?
Because we, ?Goenkars? in Goa, torn asunder by petty and myopic politics of
caste, language, religion, and such like, elected the wrong governments. We
backed the wrong horses since 1963. Goa lost on an enlightened political
leadership when it was available. And on governance for the good of Goa.
Through the power of our own vote.
Not all is lost. This election year provides us another opportunity at
course correction. To give ourselves a government that Goa deserves. As we
brace for elections, let us look back at where we went wrong. Let us ask
ourselves if we will repeat the mistakes over again. Or whether, as sensible
Goans, each one of us will do our bit to help chart a new course ... a
course this little enclave, once "Sunaparant," "Goa Dourada,"whatever, cries
for. (ENDS)
The Valmiki Faleiro weekly column at:
http://www.goanet.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=330
