The ambitious 'Atmanirbhar Bharat Swayampoorna Goa' launched in the State in October has a singular objective of making villages self-reliant. But, can this be achieved without addressing the larger issue of land ownership? The involvement of villagers has been encouraging so far, but as officials pick up pace going about their work and covering new ground, a solution to the vexed land ownership issue is nowhere in sight.
Officials who have fanned out deep inside rural Goa interacting and getting insights into the problems faced by villagers, there and encouraging signs of people's involvement. It goes to show there is a belief that a revival can happen. In one of the meetings held at Agasaim people complained of being denied the benefits of schemes on account of small agricultural holdings. Others put forth issues of non-availability of fertilizers and seeds on time. In Aldona, there have been suggestions for repairing the old sluice gates to prevent flooding. Likewise, each village has been discussing their issues in every bid to take this mission forward.
The efforts that are going into this exercise are visible with the government putting up stalls at Xeldem providing detailed information of the schemes under various departments and make it more convenient to locals. Such information hubs must be established across other centres so that villagers and farmers avail of government subsidies and schemes.
While officials pick up the pace and go about their job, it has emerged that land ownership issue continues to be the biggest stumbling block towards the success of Swayampoorna Goa and self-sustainability of villages. And there is no clarity yet from the government's side on how it is going to tackle this.
For example, when officials recently descended on remote Ozarim village in Pernem taluka, it was found that around 80 per cent of the locals had no ownership rights and had to depend on a designated authority to get all NOCs and clearances. A large section of people in Pernem and Sattari is not in possession of land ownership documents and hence are not active players in this mission.
Much of the success of Swayampoorna Goa will depend on how the government proceeds with settling land issues. It is now to be seen whether the government brings about an amendment to existing laws and resolves the contentious issue of landholdings.
The ball is in Sawant's court, and it's not going to be easy playing it with a straight bat. The chief minister is seen as the face of Bahujan Samaj, but can he live up to the ideals of Dayanand Bandodkar who brought about radical land reforms giving ownership rights to thousands of tenants? Sawant knows that he has a task cut out, but also understands there are monumental challenges ahead. Only time will tell if he can usher a change with bold measures or choose the easy way out by ignoring the core issue.
