The historical photo from Goa, shot by Sandeep Naik, then
with The Navhind Times, on the banks of the Mandovi
https://www.flickr.com/photos/27593913@N00/50082616773/in/dateposted-public/
By Camil Parkhe
camilpar...@gmail.com
Scoops come suddenly and only rarely in the life of a
journalist. But that's what makes the event unforgettable!
That morning, a tight security had been maintained
at the Panjim Secretariat and the areas surrounding
it. At that time, in the early 1980s, the
sixteenth century Adilshah Palace on the banks of
the river Mandovi was still being used as the state
Secretariat, after the Liberation of Goa.
It was the official headquarters of the Chief Minister of
the Union Territory of Goa, Daman and Diu, his five-or-six
associate ministers and all senior government officials.
In spite of this, security was not tight at the Goa
Secretariat at that time. When the chief minister, ministers
and senior government officials entered or left, they would
be saluted by the four to six armed security guards at the
entrance. The rest of the time, when ordinary people moved
in and out, there was not even a simple inquiry made. Yes,
there used to be somewhat tight security during the Goa
Assembly sessions though.
Yet, even in the absence of any assembly gathering, on August
9, 1984, there was one special reason for the tightened
security at the Secretariat.
Student unions had started an agitation against the
Goa government's decision to start private,
capitation-fee based vocational colleges in Goa.
An educational institution from Andhra Pradesh had
sought permission to start private engineering
colleges in Goa. Permission had been granted by
Harish Narayan Prabhu Zantye, Goa's then education
minister who was also known as the Cashewnut Baron,
because of his family business in that field.
The student unions had learnt that the Andhra institute had
also purchased land for a college in Zantaye's Bicholim
assembly constituency. However, student unions were
adamantly opposed to allowing private vocational colleges
being set up in Goa.
Sometime earlier, nearby Maharashtra had taken a decision to
allow the opening of medical, engineering and other private
vocational colleges. The decision by the then Chief Minister
Vasantdada Patil had a historic and far-reaching impact on
the education sector there.
This led to the privatization of vocational education. Goa's
student unions were of the view that the government should
run its own vocational colleges, giving admission entirely on
the basis of merit. It was also argued that the hefty fees
of private vocational colleges would not be affordable to
poor students.
Leaders of the All Goa Students Union (AGSU) Satish
Sonak and Manoj Joshi, and leaders of Progressive
Students Union (PSU) Desmond D'Costa, Sandesh
Prabhudesai and others, were leading the student
movement. Since the government of Congress Chief
Minister Pratapsing Rane had come to power in 1980,
the role of playing the Opposition in the Goa
Assembly had been left to Ramakant Khalap and
Babuso Gaonkar of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party.
Apart from that, other agitations and protests had not been
carried out by the Opposition. This was true of the
ramponkars' agitation (by non-mechanised traditional
fishermen) in Goa in the 1970s and 1980s, the campaign for
Konkani to be made the state language, and for Goa to be
granted statehood.b The leadership of these movements, in
fact, had come from the people. The support of some
political leaders and the Catholic Church, to some extent,
had been crucial though.
This was definitely not the first time that student
organisations had staged an agitation in Goa. Earlier,
around 1978, the All Goa Students' Union (AGSU) had agitated
for a 50 per cent blanket concession on bus tickets for all
students travelling in Goa. At that time I was studying in
the twenfth standard at the Dhempe College, Miramar.
The Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party Chief Minister Shashikala
Kakodkar's government was in power at that time. There were
only private buses in Goa at that time and the powerful lobby
of the owners of these buses was strongly opposed to giving a
50 percent discount to students on bus tickets. However, due
to this agitation, the demand of fifty percent concession of
the students was accepted. Students continue to get this
benefit till this day. Shortly afterwards, Chief Minister
Kakodkar's government collapsed.
In 1981, I joined The Navhind Times as a Campus Reporter.
While covering the news, I simultaneously did my M.A. in
Philosophy at the Centre for Post-Graduate Instruction and
Research on the 18th June Road, Panjim, run by the University
of Bombay. So, in effect, I was playing a double-role as a
