Text by William Gracias, New Delhi Seminar on Goan Diaspora
by Goenkarancho Ekvot (New Delhi) On the 15th of December, 2007, Goenkarancho Ekvot (New Delhi) organised a seminar titled "Goan Diaspora - between the Home and the Host" at the India International Centre, Delhi. With a host of invited individuals and speakers with connections in Goa, with Goa, this seminar was an effort to provide a forum to recognise and address issues faced by Goans settled outside India and provide a common platform for Goans outside Goa, and those within India to integrate and share. At the outset, Mr. Eduardo Faleiro (Commissioner for NRI Affairs) reiterated the fact that the word "diaspora" includes Goans who are not within the national boundaries of India, but outside. The Goan diaspora was represented by Ms Beverly Bhangi (Scholar, Jawaharlal Nehru University) from Bahrain, and Mr Constantino Xavier (Scholar, Jawaharlal Nehru University) from Portugal. The seminar was organised in two parts, the first discussion was titled "Place of the Goan Diaspora in making of Contemporary Goa". During this session, eminent speakers who voiced their opinions were Mr. Julio Ribeiro (Ex-Police Chief of Punjab), Mr. D. H. Panandiker (Economist) and Mr. Pramod Kale (Artist). The session was chaired by Mr. Edgar Rebeiro (Architect). Mr. Ribeiro spoke of his experience in policing and his childhood experiences about Goa. It was interesting to note his mention of the "kuds" which were Goan houses in Mumbai meant for Goans in transit (who today constitute the Goan diaspora); people who used these kuds to stay were people travelling abroad and people coming back to Goa from foreign lands. They were meant to be like a "home away from home" to make the transition easier for Goans from a familiar environment to a foreign place. Mr Ribeiro also noted that the Rosary was recited daily as part of the morning at the kuds. This system today no longer exists. A pseudo kud that exists could be the Goa Sadan that is meant for government employees only. There is a need to revive this age-old system, if possible, to help so many Goans who till today go abroad for employment, or join a cruise company, or have to travel to other parts of India. Mr. Panandiker's presentation was an eye-opening one. He pointed out that today, Goa's per capita income is around 66,400 per annum, the highest in India, around 2.5 times higher than the Indian average. He went on to reveal that the major drivers of the state’s income were Agriculture (~ 8%), Tourism (~11%), Mining (~31%) and Manufacturing & Commercial Services (50%). These figures were an eye-opener to me as they squashed the previous notions that Goa's economy was mainly driven by Tourism. Goa is also well in line with the national average of growth in manufacturing and services (~51%). And till today, we think that Tourism is the whole and soul of Goa, while tourism ruins and spoils our beautiful state with increased pollution and exploitation of resources. Due to inadequate planning and inability to uniformly enforce regulations, Goa till today is not well equipped to handle the tourism it attracts which does not augur well for Goan economy, when Goa has to live up to the title of one of the top tourist destinations world-wide! Mr. Panandiker also revealed that from the approximately 24 billion dollars that come into India as remittances from NRIs, Goa gets around 100 million dollars from the Goan diaspora. This itself constitutes 4% of Goa's State Domestic Product. And unfortunately this money is not well-spent within Goan markets. Only around 25% of it is spent within Goa on Goa; leading to huge losses for Goan markets. Today, Goa's growth attributed to these remittances may be around 2% only. These figures are definitely food for thought. Mr. Pramod Kale touched upon the cultural and attitudinal issues plaguing Goa today. He explained how the lower middle class in Goa (constituting a huge bulk of Goa’s population) is neglected when planning development and policy. An example he narrated from his experiences in Goa was whilst travelling in a local bus - the bus conductors earn a meagre living and because of very little regulation and policy in their line of job, they live lives of insecurity and hardships. This group of people (bus conductors, taxi drivers, auto drivers, pilot drivers, etc.) is also the face of Goa to travelers as they are some of the few Goans a tourist will first interact with. The attitude they display goes a long way into building (or breaking) the brand of Goa. In the open discussion that followed, the audience was allowed to ask the speakers questions during which Mr. Eduardo Faleiro assured the support of his department towards any study/work taken up with respect to the "kuds" in Mumbai. The second discussion was post-lunch. Titled "Goan Diaspora and the Host Community", it delved further into the heart of the theme of the entire seminar. During this session, eminent speakers who voiced their opinions were Mr. Edgar Ribeiro, Ms. Beverly Bhangi and Mr. Constantino Xavier. The session was chaired by Prof. Peter Ronald de Souza (Director, Indian Institute of Advanced Studies, Shimla). Mr. Edgar's presentation was on town planning and the more apt regional plan of Goa. Outlining the history behind the policies that are in place today, he spoke of how in the post-liberation era (1962 to 1974) the Removal of Difficulties law was in place, and followed by (1977 to 2001) the more recent Goa Regional Plan. He reminded us that out of Goa's 3700 sq. km. of extremely fragile ecosystem, only 700 sq. km. is developable as per one of Dr. Nandkumar Kamat's report. A difficult issue in land planning today is managing the coastal land. Khazan land (or the intertidal regions and adjoining lands) were formerly recognised by the Portuguese rulers as fragile ecosystems and as a means of livelihood through seasonal pisciculture – a symbiotic relationship between man and the sea. This was managed by communidades. But later was mismanaged due to adverse policies. Today, slowly and steadily, the land planning methods and attitudes are changing towards olden methodologies he said. He also noted that the current Goa government under the leadership of Mr. Digambar Kamat has managed to scrap a number of SEZ projects (atleast 10) that was prescribed by the centre for Goa. Now the state government is left with 4 SEZs that is has to approve. Due to the ongoing political and public debate in Goa over SEZs, this decision has become very tricky for the CM. With mounting political pressure from an MLA who has vested interests in one of the SEZ and from the opposition and the public at large, the CM is faced with saving the government and the state the burden of a surprise election on one hand, and satisfying the opposition and people on the other. Ms. Beverly Bhangi spoke of her experience as a non-resident Goan settled away from Goa and being faced with the challenges of growing up in a culturally strong background in her family and the largely majority Arab culture in her locality. She spoke of how the second generation of migrant Goans is faced with the predicament of identity crises due to the dilution of ethnic Goan cultural traits that sets in after migration. Most families settled outside Goa today do not speak Konkani at home; as a result the one means to connect to a rich ethnic culture is forever lost by the newer second generation who get busy trying to grapple with the cultural differences around them. She went on to say that there is a huge responsibility on the older generation to pass on Goa's culture and heritage to the younger generation by means of language and traditions/practices, at the same time, the older generation must recognise that the younger generation needs to adapt to a foreign culture. Hence, a third space is created between the home culture (Goa) and the host culture (foreign country of settlement). This space is unique in itself as it draws upon the traits and cultures of both the home and the host. The newer generations of Goan Diaspora should be allowed to grow up in this third space for easier transition between cultures and secure their personal identities. Mr. Xavier's presentation was an interesting insight into how Goans who are settled in the coloniser's land (Portugal) are living and coping with cultural differences. Today in Portugal there are several associations of Goans, all exclusive to the period of migration of its members to Portugal. The main significant groups are numbering in 6. These groups do not interact much with each other inspite of having the same cultural and historical background. The social meetings and activities of the groups usually are leisurely in nature like evening tea and bebinca at the organisation office, with very little work directed at promotion of culture and integration of Goans. Mr. Xavier was critical in his observations of the Goans in Portugal who use their Goan identity as a social status to possibly gain an upper hand in society. The Goan identity is used as a badge of social status (or an accessory) that is used more whenever required, and less when needed. He also elaborated how Goans had made a good degree of penetration into the European society at large with many of them occupying significant positions of importance in the government and other offices. The open discussion that followed clarified some areas of doubt. To a question from Dr. Borges (French Scholar), Ms Bhangi clarified that the Hindu Goans settled abroad usually don't have as much difficulty in identifying themselves as Goan as much as Catholic Goans have because of stronger cultural roots in religion. Prof. Peter de Souza concluded the discussion with a note of appreciation to the speakers and requesting everyone to join in the concluding session, the filming of an extract from a 1985 M. Boyer's Tiatr titled "Ekuch Rosto". The film was provided by Mr. Pramod Kale. Among those present were also H. E. Luís Castro Mendes, Ambassador of Portugal to India, and Professor Balveer Arora, former Rector, Jawaharlal Nehru University, and several other Goans residing in New Delhi and neighbouring regions. _________________________________________________________________ The best games are on Xbox 360. Click here for a special offer on an Xbox 360 Console. http://www.xbox.com/en-US/hardware/wheretobuy/
