Goa Beyond India Constantino Xavier http://thegoan.net/story.php?id=67
India is in the global headlines again, and this time for all the bad reasons. It now has a Prime Minister who is deemed to be an “underachiever”, its economic growth sank to “a mere” six per cent, and foreign investment is “rejected” in the midst of large corruption scandals. The golden reforms era that propelled the country to rookie superpower status in the early 2000s seems to have come to a sudden stop. Who to blame for this gloomy scenario? Many,for sure, but India’s regional states in particular. Whether on foreign investment in the retail sector, water sharing agreements with Bangladesh, or the establishment of a National Counter Terrorism Centre, India’s big states are all playing an increasingly influential and – yes, let’s face it – obstructionist role that New Delhi is struggling to overcome. This is part of a centre-state balance that is threatening to tilt in favour of the states, especially big ones.In the minds of Delhi’s federal politicians and policymakers, the competition between these colossal regional forces, from Kashmir to Karnataka and from Gujarat to Assam, will always smash tiny Goa into oblivion. That is the cost for being a disproportionately wealthy and small state in a large electoral democracy. Goa represents only 0.1 per cent of the India’s total population and territory, 0.4 per cent of the country’s total wealth, and it sends a mere two out of 545 representatives to the Lok Sabha (0.004 per cent of the voting share). But Goa is also India’s richest state with a per capita income almost three times higher than the national average, the Eleventh Finance Commission ranks it first in infrastructure, and it offers the best quality of life according to the National Commission on Population. There are two ways Goa can respond to this paradox. One is to remain sitting at the sidelines of Delhi’s giant matches, whining and hoping for some fortunate attention. Another, more productive approach is to change its perspective and, instead of the traditional inward look across the Ghats and towards the Northern hinterland, now shift its focus to the ocean and revive the dormant links that once made it a strategic hub in the first wave of globalization after the 15th century. This extrovert reorientation does not preclude Goa from continuing to lobby Delhi and perform its federal obligation by advocating for its interests domestically, also because these may be for the common good of other small, and maybe even also big states. But no longer can Goa’s comparative wealth and advantage remain ignored and unexplored, especially in an era in which other Indian states have started to develop their own foreign policies and respective institutions, whether to attract foreign investment or manage their regional diasporas. Goa is in a privileged position to ride this new wave of globalization and explore the geo economic shift from a world traditionally revolving around the Euro-American transatlantic axis to one anchored in the Asia-Pacific. No other Indian state has such rich historical links with, and expertise on a variety of crucial countries and world-cities, from São Paulo to Singapore, and from Maputo to Macau.No other part of India had such a long connection to the modern West (451 long years) and to South America, Africa and East Asia at the same time. This is the old Indian Ocean region coming to life again in an expanded version now also known as the Indo-Pacific (or maybe Indo-Atlantic?). Goa is close, but not too close to Mumbai, and it is small, but not too small to be reduced to a little casino paradise. This is the time to think how to make bestuse of its global comparative advantage. If it plays its cards right, in a near future Goa will not only get New Delhi’s, but the whole world’s attention. -- This is the first of the fortnightly column "A view from afar" by Constantino Xavier in the new weekly "The Goan on Saturday," and appeared in the inaugural edition on July 28, 2012: http://thegoan.net/story.php?id=67 For the e-paper version see www.thegoan.net