Eat Local, make local
With special status appearing more like a mirage in the hot coastal sandy state of Goa, it is becoming increasingly important for Goans to find various ways to protect the local economy from going completely into the hands of outsiders, and maybe even attempt to reverse the take over trend which we have witnessed over several decades now. With the new four-lane concrete road starting in Maharastra and ending in Goa, the economic take over of our state economy will soon be complete if we do nothing to stop it. The cake of the Goan economy will be nicely divided between Maharastra and Karnataka. Eat local, make local might be a good slogan to start with to protect the economy of Goa by Goans and for Goans. We need to become self-sufficient as soon as possible in the production of food and not outsource our food needs from Belgaum and outsiders! The school mid-day lunch program is a good place to start as it is often embroiled in controversy. Items included for lunch are often not supposed to be there, such as, cockroaches, flies, and lizards, besides others? How can we make the mid-day lunch better for our children? Do we need children to fall ill, to be rushed to hospital every now and then before we have a system in place which puts full responsibility on the people who are in charge? Local farmers must get involved in the school mid-day lunch programs, and communidade land can be used for this purpose, with the government subsidizing the farmers and the people who prepare the meals. It has to be a joint community project of schools, parents, and farmers. As the majority of the children from the villages attend the local schools it is a win-win situation. Every parent would like their children to have the finest, healthiest, cleanest and most nutritious lunch. When not possible three of four villages could pool their resources together. More power and jobs to the local people. Unless the locals take the initiative the school mid-day lunch scenario will not get any better, and when it doesn't, it usually gets worse! The government will certainly want to support this project if the people so desire as it has already started encouraging and supporting local farmers to grow, distribute and sell their vegetables and fruit all over Goa. Now is the time to strengthen the local economy but the people, especially the parents of village children, have to take the first step to safeguard the mid-day school lunch program. appeared in Herald today Jan 7, 2015