On the eve of Revolution Day, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant made an impressive pitch of moving towards a revolution targeted towards welfare of Goans. From making his governance people-friendly to creating 100 per cent employment opportunities, Sawant appears to have the fire in his belly to take it forward. The challenges are huge. Former chief minister Manohar Parrikar had a similar vision and wanted to revolutionize the State with some innovative thinking, but fell far short.
Between then and now, one major change is the stability that the government is enjoying. But that is not all that is required for a revolution to happen. The ground realities continue to be challenging and it is to be seen how Sawant navigates. Take for example the taxi issue. The government is firm on going ahead with Goa Miles, but it is not in a position to bulldoze the high and mighty private tourist taxis because it’s not an ‘all against one’ situation. There are lobbies within the government strongly rooting for private taxis, while some are fence-sitting favouring technology in the taxi business but not clearly saying yes to Goa Miles. However, the bigger question is, has the government done its homework on taxis? Government is firm on introducing an app-based system. The concept has worked fine elsewhere and accepted the world over. But also accepted is the fact that private tourist taxis in Goa are dominating the business a la mafia style. The government should have been ready with all possible data on taxis to go about its job systematically rather than taking the bumpy ride it is currently undertaking. There are nearly fifteen thousand registered taxis, but does the government have data on owners, contractors and other parameters?
Agreed that this is one of the few surviving businesses identified with Goemkarponn, but in the absence of any government control it is only being allowed to go out of control. There are some owners who have thrived and have a fleet of taxis, while there are few others who religiously run their single taxis. And still there is a third category of unregistered taxis which have managed to bypass systems. How does all this add up?
Then there are other issues. The chief minister’s promise of a change in education is welcome. Goa needs it on a priority. The stress on skill development and vertical mobility, and the focus on youth are paramount. Parrikar too had a vision on education and had kept a huge budgetary allocation for the sector but very little moved. Garbage too has been an issue which has been plaguing Goa for decades, and its only getting worse by the day. The focus on youth too was also promised earlier to such an extent that Parrikar even planned an unemployment dole. Putting the bureaucrats under the scanner and mooting performance-based incentive is another positive, but have we done an assessment on their performances ever? If yes, what has the State done despite knowing the fact that some central postings in Goa are like paid holidays?
The challenges are indeed massive, and so are the odds. Sawant is still in his early days and will be watched on how he walks his talk.
