In response to my request yesterday, a young Goan sent me a voter's wish list below for the upcoming May 30th elections in Goa. George
************************************************************************************* Any party /candidate who can fulfill my wish list has my vote - besides my support. 1) Make Government Servants Accountable: A 'gorment' job in Goa today is what every second youth aspires for. And why ever not? Reasonably good pay, steady income and job security for life. Absolutely no responsibility or accountability. Government servants in general are discourteous, inefficient and underworked. And their salaries are paid by our taxes. In fact Government salaries make up the biggest chunk of all Government expenditure. And all they do is calculate their bonus and leave and gratuity - specially those employed in the lower rungs. And now to top it all they are being offered handsome VRS options which again is being paid my our taxes. My definition of Government Servants includes semi-government employees in banks, corporations etc. Privatisation in the banking sector to a large extent has eliminated the chaff from the grain. The inefficent are being asked to leave and the super-efficient are being grabbed by the private sector for handsome renumeration. The Public Sector is one place where mediocriy is the norm and initiative is not encouraged. 2) Ban all Unions Strikes in Public and Private sector have resulted in Industries shying away from setting up here. The bullying capitalist has been overthrown by the bullying union leader - not necessarily to the benefit of the worker. There are hordes of unemployed. I say to al these strikers "If you do not like your job - leave it. Someone else will take your place". In Feb/March 2002 in Kerela the entire Government machinery was in disarray for two months when the Government Unions went on strike. The government did not buckle down to their demands. The common man supported the Givernment and finally the Unions gave in without a whimper. I doubt any political party in Goa is principled enough to stand up to the Unions. After all they represent precious votes. 3) Have Government Contracts Audited by the Opposition parties Every year the Auditor General's report shows how crores of rupees have been spent wrongly due to mismanagement, corruption and pure foolhardiness. That is our money. But nobody seems to be bothered. "Can't beat them join them" seems to be the name of the game with very enterpreneur now joining the bandwagon and bidding for lucrative Government contracts. After all the bribes are paid the job will naturally be shoddy and we the public have to live with this. 4) Privatise - Professionalise Much is happening in this direction but a lot more has to be done and fast. The sloth has already set in and unless private initiative is given encouragement Goa will stagnate. 5) De - beuracratise, De - legalise, De - mystify The lawyers, Chartered accountants and 'agents' seem to be the only people making hay out of the situation. The laws and the judicial process itself has to be simplified. The mechanisms of governance have to be made less complex. Or else every enterpreneur gets caught up in the morass of legalese and red tape -leaving no time for enterprise itself. 6) Ban all public displays of religion Recent events have shown that despite all our technical progress religious sentiments come to the fore and destroy years of work. If religion itself could be banned that would be ideal, but till then at least 'public' display of religion can be banned. The religious can conduct their affairs in the privacy of their homes or places of worship. They need not blast the entire neighbourhood with their beliefs. Once religion is made a 'private' affair then perhaps religious sentiments will not erupt and be given so much prominence. And we can move forward. 7) Make socio-economic factors the criteria for privileges. For too long have caste and tribe been the criteria for disbursing subsidies, land, education, jobs etc. As a tool of social reform they were relevant some time back but with the situation in Goa in the 21st century there are no groups that do not enjoy equal opportunity. Let merit be rewarded. Let a person be given a particular privilege becuase he deserves it. Or because he needs it (poor, handicapped etc). But not because he is from a scheduled tribe or caste. This directly discriminates against people because of their birth. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Health - your guide to health and wellness http://health.yahoo.com =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-W-E-B---S-I-T-E-=-=-= To Subscribe/Unsubscribe from GoaNet | http://www.goacom.com/goanet =================================================================== For (un)subscribing or for help, Contact: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Dont want so many e=mails? Join GoaNet-Digest instead ! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Help support non-commercial projects in Goa by advertizing!! * * * * Your ad here !!
