NO EGGS?
Goa's big biz and tourism sector is not only growing but also groaning with pain for the locals. Not only do villagers have to live with big biz and hotels changing the character of their villages but also the rising cost of living, and illegalities, too. Poor villagers! They, by and large, are salaried workers! Is it karma? Has God decided to punish them or is it simply the incompetent policy of the Goa government? The government has fallen in love with big business in its various avatars. If you belong to this group you are lucky! Otherwise you are an example of God's mistake. How can the situation be changed for the better? It is time for a public debate on the issue as the government appears to be in need of help, desperately. And if the public does not come to the rescue of the government with suggestions to solve problems of all kinds including garbage the whole of Goa is going to smell like rotten eggs! Does the government care more for big business and the inflow of foreign capital than the welfare of Goan villagers? Is the government getting its priorities right? Water, air, food, health, no garbage …? Judging by the government's economic policy, the writing is clearly visible on the wall. The golden eggs are for big biz and hotel collaboration with foreign companies and rotten eggs for the villagers. Big projects, destruction of the environment, marinas where they should not be, two sets of rules, one for people who have money and power and another for people who don't? No, it is not really as bad as that as doles are available for the aam admi, the equivalent of food stamps for the poor in the USA? Why can't this government take pride in upholding the law and make sure owners of mega projects and hotels also do so? Why turn a blind eye to illegalities and then seek to change, for example, the CRZ rules? Is this - as reported by several people in the media - the plan? What was bad for the environment a few years ago is good today? How is this possible? It doesn't make sense at all. And whatever happened to Mathany's idea of village tourism - home stay - for the villagers, by the villagers, and of the villagers? Chief Minister Parrikar had said he would work on it. He is now Defense Minister in Delhi and possibly the future Prime Minister of India! Will the Goa government show him a bit of respect and be humble and not so cocksure: support his commitments to the people of Goa on a variety of issues, and not laugh them away! Government, after all, is a continuum! What has the Goa government done to develop the village economy via tourism where the benefits go to the villagers and not to outsiders, and certainly not to foreign-owned companies and foreign nationals. When the eggs occasionally go to the villagers, they aren't golden. Most of the time they are rotten or if not rotten only good enough to make a greasy omelet! Goans need to ask, especially men need to ask other men who are the economic juggernauts of their homes the all-important question: How are your eggs? "Give a man a fish, and you have fed him once. Teach him how to fish and you have fed him for a lifetime," is a well known Chinese maxim. Our young people need skills and an opportunity to build their own small businesses in every field, from agriculture to tourism and other crossovers. Why not allow farmers to open restaurants in fields all along the tourism coast and also in the hinterland to make agriculture more lucrative? Is there an ecological problem? Rice farmers can open rice and fish curry restaurants in fields all over Goa, allowing fishermen to work together productively with farmers. After all, what is more Goan than fish curry? Protect our economy, protect our food culture, protect everything Goan! We need to bring various sectors of the economy together for Goans to benefit and be able to keep more of the profits for themselves. With more and more Indian big businesses forming partnerships with foreign companies, the golden goose is starting to lay more and more golden eggs for foreign companies! In Goa, more and more multi-nationals are taking over our villages. Goans who want to sell their land to the highest bidder should become wiser. Sell, if you must, no more than 75% of the land and retain 25%. Wait for the project to be completed and then start you own business in the now upmarket area. You will find that you have managed to keep some of the eggs, and a few eggs might well be sunny side up. Bon appétit! Finally, remember not put all the eggs in one basket.