Dear Mario Cabral e Sa, Sir,
Due to my preoccupation with family matters, the celebrating kind though, I
had no time to look into the daily load of newspapers I subscribe to and
hopefully I shall be able to catch-up with the goings-on of the past few
days. But, as a force of habit, to the point of 'come what may' I always but
always do not miss to scan thro' the NT Panorama, for it never fails to
deliver. And it did, today, with this letter of yours to our 'Goumvli Bab-
Archbishop of Goa. And, Goa World Today has saved me the trouble to
transcribe the entire text so that I may venture to make my two bit comments
on your said letter.
Your have started by identifying two major mainstays of our economy, that of
'mining' and 'tourism'. It is not proper for me to correct an eminent
personality of your stature but I think you are very much wrong in your
classifications since both these so called mainstays have been looking after
not the economy of Goa and Goans but of a few persons who are in charge of
these from time to time.
As far as mining is concerned, it should be temporarily banned completely
until such time that a more disciplined and eco-friendly mining policy is
put in place so that Goa's lungs, which are the forests and hills are saved
on the one side and people's actual lungs are saved from the chronic dust
pollution emanating from this destructive industry. According to me, a
policy on the lines of " If the God given mineral deposits do not profit the
common man of Goa and on the contrary its extraction jeopardizes his very
health and natural cover, let these deposits lie where they are, undisturbed
and untouched" would be most appropriate and sound.
As far as the tourism industry is concerned, Goa's leadership have been
chasing a moving and vapourising cloud. In the bargain Goa has been milched
for its goodness of resources and laid wasted for generations to clean up
the mess, with no benefits neither for Goa nor for its people. Only those in
power from time to time have profited from this mainstay so much so, permit
me to say, that they have not been able to look at our golden beaches as our
heritage but just milching cows on the one hand and not even having the
capacity to put up a simple pedestrian crossing overhead-bridge at the
tourist-boating jetty in Panjim.
You then talk of 'aggressive negativism' where you have the 'Council for
social peace & Justice' heading the anti-SEZ movement, anti RP-2011 etc in
mind. With all your precious experience, would you classify these as good
for Goa when they were gifts for the moneyed, custom tailored to denude and
amputate Goa on the one hand and load it with excess baggage of unwanted and
unnecessary human load that would be better-off jettisoned into the Arabian
Sea? Could the people who took these decisions be termed as 'trust-worthy
and sons/daughters of Goa?
You are asking the good Archbishop a question you should ask our leading
politicians " Where are the jobs, Sirs?" In the same breath you wax-eloquent
about Manohar Parrikar for his Catholics cultivating skills in his usurped
constituency of Panjim by naming Fontainhas and Mala which names will never
stop giving Goans sleepless nights for the rampage his dear RSS undertook to
divest its Portuguese influence. AND if you think Manohar Parrikar has given
you moments of joy to wet your pants, then I shall want to tell you a story.
I had coaxed a Catholic Gujarati Industrialist (anglo to be precise), a
foundry-man, to bring his non polluting, modern 'Engine Block Making
Technology' to Goa, to use local produce of 'pig-iron' (instead of
transporting the same from Goa to Rajasthan), train Goan workforce etc. This
technology was Swiss, could manufacture engine block from JCBs to small
cars. Requirement of sand and water was minimum with a requirement of a land
plot of approx 100,000 square meters (which was identified, accepted and
negotiated for in Valpoi, privately). Mr. Rosario was told by me that Goa
sports a Chief Minister who is an IIT'an in Metallurgy and setting up this
unit would be no problem. Mr. Rosario invested in two trips to Goa from
Ahmedabad but he went away a sour man. He never stopped telling me that my
IIT Metallurgist CM told him that he does not understand these things and
shunted him to the puppet Pollution Control Board who struck off the project
off-hand without looking at it stating that 'foundries' are polluting and
cannot be accepted in Goa. But the sad thing is that the same CM introduced
umpteen steel rolling mills in Goa which are devastatingly polluting and
free of cost power-guzzling. Amen.
You say "I wish my request for a meeting with you had been conceded". But
than you were asking for the heavens. Didn't you realize that Archbishop
Raul Gonsalves had left his trade mark on the administration of the Bishop's
palace? You are required to write down what you want to talk to the Bishop
about. Only then your request will be considered, but never. Unlike you, I
had the same problem and I fought it out thro' my own unique fighting way. I
had to issue an ultimatum to the Bishop's Palace no less, that incase my
request to meet with the Bishop was not respected within a week, I would
work against the CHURCH full blast, period and I demanded that the
Archbishop got the message. That did the trick and much more. Wonder if you
will have some such ammunition to demand such fare and to neutralize the
ever powerful remote control J
And to your statement that "The society owes the Catholic community and its
leaders an immense debt of gratitude." My question to you is ' why?'
One look at Syngenta, the increasingly turning cyanide of Goa, thanks must
be delivered on the silver platter to the Bishop's palace for leasing the
land to Syngenta to kill Goa with poisons.
And ah! The Catholic Vote Bank. It more than asserts itself beyond physical
reaches. As a result, I would prefer to say that the concerned Parish
Priests drive in brand new Santros and sit on brand new computer work
stations. And ofcourse, this community is very vocal, visible and powerful
in defending the 'winnability of candidates' because they have the power to
shell out whatever one's heart demands.
And to "What kind of negativism am I talking about? "Say No" to whatever is
the
current slogan. But pray, "Say Yes" to what? Pro-ramponkar and anti-trawler
agitation of the 1970s?"...... all I want to say is if Goa had taken heed
to the anti trawling agitation of that time, Goa's seashores would be loaded
a plenty with fish to find on very one's plate. Instead the juvenile fish is
drying out on the plateau of Betul etc destined for packaging fish foods to
grow chicken loaded with steroids.
And you ask this dangerous question "Is the purpose of the present "Say No"
campaign to drive our own youth to migration?" without having considered
if the 'Say Yes' will automatically push Goans out whether they like it or
not by simply crowding Goa with Biharis and what not, considering the first
train from Patna is scheduled to arrive in Goa shortly to fanfare and
celebrations.
And you really make me cry when you say "I belong to the dying generation,
those that do not have much to look forward to. But believe me, Archbishop,
if you continue to delegate powers to ancillary diocesan bodies and let them
run wild - god forbid - this
beautiful Goa our ancestors so lovingly crafted for us, will topple
over." ...Did you Sir, Mario Cabral e Sa ever believe that there could be a
system of governance ingrained with self-sacrifice that could take over what
you have found impossible to change and really change it to work for Goa and
Goans? If you have not, then I shall advise you to look-up and actually go
thro' the Constitution and the Road Map for Goa of the Goa Su-Raj Party
which has been shouting hoarse to voice what Mahatma Gandhi conceptualized
"BE THE CHANGE THAT YOU WANT TO SEE IN THE WORLD"
End
floriano
goasuraj
9890470896
www.goasu-raj.org
----- Original Message -----
From: "Goa's Pride www.goa-world.com" <goaworldto...@yahoo.com>
To: <gulf-go...@yahoogroups.com>
Cc: <goa-go...@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, December 21, 2008 4:20 PM
Subject: [Goanet] A Letter to the Archbishop of Goa - By Mario Cabral e Sa
GULF-GOANS E-NEWSLETTER (SINCE 1994)
A Letter to the Archbishop of Goa
By Mario Cabral e Sa
Dear Archbishop,
We are just a few days away from X'mas, a day of joy, a day of celebration
of love, but unfortunately not a very happy Christmas this is going to be.
The economy is on a downward slide. The two mainstays of our economy were
mining and tourism. Tourism is down, so is mining, and the manufacturing
industry has stagnated. No new industries are coming to Goa for a variety of
reasons, not least being the phase of aggressive negativism Goa is going
through. Students are passing out from schools, high schools, technical
schools, colleges, the Goa University, etc. Many of the institutions, much
to the Archdiocese's credit, are run by it. Also much to the Archdiocese?s
credit the institutions are secular and not reserved to Catholics; in fact,
statistically, it is the other communities who are the biggest
beneficiaries. I will not say ? because logically I cannot ? that the
institutions are ideally run, but, comparatively, they are better and turn
out
better products. The same is the case of the archdiocesan healthcare and
social upliftment organisations. The point to bear in mind is that we are
manufacturing thousands of job seekers. Where are the jobs, Sir?
The society owes the Catholic community and its leaders an immense debt of
gratitude. But, as you have said yourself, a few years back, in your
memorable Christmas address to the state's political leaders invited to the
reception, all is not well in Goa and urgent attention is needed.
I wish my request for a meeting with you had been conceded. Instead, it was
suggested to me by one of your aides that I either send a questionnaire or
contact the respective diocesan organ handling the problem. I wished to
acquaint you and seek your point of view on various problems, which are
assuming daunting proportions. Such problems, in my belief, cannot be
ventilated, leave alone solved, by remote control.
I am fully aware of the weight and importance of the Catholic vote bank,
particularly in South Goa. That gives it leverage totally disproportionate
to its size. And just as well. Despite its minuscule share of Goa's
population, it asserts itself several times beyond the physical reach of its
demographic strength. As a result, the community is vocal. It is visible. It
is powerful.
It is not in too many states of India that such a small community has such a
dominant presence in the legislature (14 out of 40, of which one is the
Deputy Speaker;) and in the 12-strong cabinet (6 full-fledged ministers out
of 12 + 2 parliamentary secretaries) and two chairpersons of some of the
more important PSUs.
Also to be reckoned is that, though concentrated in South Goa and pockets of
Tiswadi, Bardez and Mormugao or, to put it in geographical terms, on the
Goan littoral (thanks to the intensive proselytistic drive our masters in
the 16th and 17th and early 18th centuries) the community has considerable
weightage in Ponda, Bicholim, Sanguem, Quepem and Canacona perhaps even in
Pernem.
The former CM, now leader of the opposition Manohar Parrikar, a BJP stalwart
who is proud of his RSS roots, respects the Catholic community in his Panaji
constituency, cultivates it, and, in turn, religious differences no matter,
is backed by a strong lobby of staunch Catholics in the Fontainhas ward.
That is no mean miracle.
It could be argued that if mining is in a crisis that is a blessing in
disguise. It will save Goa from further deforestation. Likewise, if tourism
is on the wane, so be it. A lot of nefarious activities would come to an
end. But would they? Would not unemployment instead degenerate into
uncontrollable crime? An eminent military surgeon at the famous artificial
limb centre at Pune once told me that he never amputates unless it is
absolutely necessary, and when he does, he always gives a thought to the
patient?s rehabilitation.
Archbishop, you don?t need me to alert you to the social perils of a drastic
and sudden stoppage of profitable activity. You are intelligent. You are
highly educated. You are very well read. And though younger than I in years,
you are, perhaps, much wiser. Have you taken careful note of the kind of
negativism furiously pursued by some archdiocesan organs?
What kind of negativism am I talking about? "Say No" to whatever is the
current slogan. But pray, "Say Yes" to what? Nature does not gladly suffer
vacuum. One way or the other it fills it.
You surely have the intelligence to anticipate the consequences of the
ongoing unbridled joy of contrariness.
Remember the heroic pro-ramponkar and anti-trawler agitation of the 1970s?
What is the reality now? The rampons, the few that still survive, have to
largely depend on migrant labour to draw their nets. Many, if not most of
the trawlers, are owned by former ramponkars but their boats are crewed by
migrant labourers. Where have our own boys gone? I tried to find out. Most,
it seems, have migrated. The result is that at Malim, one of the state's
main fishing jetties, the lingua franca is not our native Konkani. It is
either Kannada or Malayalam.
Is the purpose of the present "Say No" campaign to drive our own youth to
migration? Save Goa, is a very resonant slogan. But, pray, Save a Goan-less
Goa?
I have only touched upon only some of the points on my agenda, and that too
perhaps ineptly. I belong to the dying generation, those that do not have
much to look forward to. But believe me, Archbishop, if you continue to
delegate powers to ancillary diocesan bodies and let them run wild - god
forbid - this beautiful Goa our ancestors so lovingly crafted for us, will
topple over.
(courtesy: The Navhind Times/21-12-2008)
