Electricity. Water. Phones. They would have come to the villages in good time,
increasing the infrastructure maintaining a balance between availaibility and
supply, instead of the haphazard growth of supply without increasing the
sources of availability, which gave rise to rationing of water and the frequent
breakdowns (brownouts and blackouts) of electrical supplies.
What the Portuguese gave Goans. There's more to life than electricity, running
water, phones, colleges, universities, banks. Basic education - by this I don't
mean literacy, but efforts to get everyone to live decently. There might not
have been grand roads, but there was access to basic justice. In general,
people lived safe. There was no need for bars on windows as was a requirement
in cities like Bombay of that time.
There were power plants in major cities, but blackouts few and far in between
and brownouts non-existent.
There were water supplies in the major cities, 24x7 (the same sources of water
supplies are still in use).
Where there were no bridges, there was river transport in the form of motorised
flat-boats or ferries manufactured in Goa which are unique and still in use,
now upgraded to have their own ramps (post 1961), besides motor-launches of
SANI.
The canal system built in Quepem/Chandor/Sanvordem, which few talk about, is
still in use today providing possibilities of year-round crops.
I believe the farms at Ela were proving grounds for experimental crops like
hybrid rice, bananas et al.
An international civilian airport at Dabolim, with its own airline TAIP, and
its own fleet of aircraft manned by Goan staff.
A developed harbour at Marmagoa with a large shipbuilding yard.
A powerful radio transmission service (Emissora de Goa) which transmitted
Konkani programmes that could be heard as far as the Gulf countries, and as I
heard said, also in East Africa.
But most of all, cleanliness - clean cities, well laid-out gardens where
people could come and relax in the cool of the evenings. Hospitals which were
well maintained and clean with a reasonable level of health-service for the
major villages of those days.
Finally, what the Portuguese also gave Goans, which the Brits did not give the
Indians, was full citizenship of their country. This fact alone enabled Goans
to assimilate into the various services of the Portuguese govt not only in Goa,
but elsewhere in the Portuguese territories, like supreme court judges, heads
of departments, etc. Sure, one had to go abroad to get the required
qualifications, but given time, Goa would have its own educational systems in
place, as it did later on, as the population increased.
Goa had its share of poor, but there were Provedorias de Assistencia Publica,
Albergues and other institutions to take care of them, in addition to hospitals
to take care of lepers and tuberculosis patients. A few indigents used to go
from house to house, doing their rounds once a week, but there were no young
beggars on the streets as you see now.
If I remember correctly, there was an element of free enterprise, which enabled
people like Salgaoncars, Dempos, Timblos, Menezes et al to rise high in their
business ventures without interference from paper-pushers or red-tape.
Equally, there were checks and balances in govt, something which disappeared
overnight with the enforcement of Indian-style govt regulations.
Radio receiving licences were not required. The requirements for such came
post Dec 1961. They were abolished years later (I was overseas by then). Ration
cards were unheard of before 1964.
Note that Goa got a reasonable good 'phone service only after CHOGM, for
obvious reasons, not necessarily to give Goans a good service, but like China
of the Olympics, to show what the Indian Govt could do, I suppose, for the
"occasion".
I have tried to put into perspective what many people have not realized. But
the fact that India was not prepared to increase funding for development was
because Goa was already developed (I believe Prof Nandkumar Kamat had written
something on these lines years ago).
Gabriel de Figueiredo.
--- On Wed, 27/8/08, Ana Maria de souza-Goswami <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> From: Ana Maria de souza-Goswami <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Subject: [Goanet] GHANTII
> To: goanet@lists.goanet.org
> Received: Wednesday, 27 August, 2008, 12:42 AM
> Hi Dominic,
> There was no electricity in the
> villages, no running
> water, wait endless for public transport. Did the
> portuguese build a
> university in goa, did they do anything to better the lives
> of the goans.
> Besides Pharmacy College and the Medical college, one had
> to go to Europe or
> across the border for eduction. Many were educated in
> Hubli, Belgaum and
> Dharwar. Today we have schools, colleges, professional
> colleges. Also to
> withdraw money, one had to go to the city to your bank.
> Today it the
> remotest village as a bank.
>
> Goans, do not criticise what the Indians and fellow Goans
> have done to Goa,
> but criticise what the Portuguese did not do for Goa.
>
> thank you
> Ana Maria de Souza-Goswami
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