Dr Joe D’Souza
In ancient India, people followed the leader but today the leaders follow the people. Hence directly reflecting about Goa, I dare say, that in a waylaid society in which we live has resulted in the production of substandard men in governance over the years.
If one carefully analyses in our country we have a government of the people, who buy our people and remain far away from the problems they face. In a true democracy, the people are the masters and the elected representatives are supposed to serve the society at large. Once a paradise on Earth, the State today is a “living hell”.
If one has to be a teacher in high school, one has to be at least a graduate, qualify professionally as a teacher by doing a BEd, pass a series of written tests and interviews to be screened for merit and endurance. Finally, one has to pass a medical fitness test. Naturally so, over the multitude of screenings and selection procedures, the best hopefully are chosen, weeding out the unworthy individuals to stagnate as unemployed trained teachers. Look around everywhere and we notice tens of thousands of accounts clerks and other professionals be it doctors, lawyers, engineers, finding no suitable gainful avenue. Even as I write, there is a growing recession that has rendered both business houses as well as professionals without secure employment.
And, on the contrary, there are no screening tests or exams for politicians - you elected fairly or by foul means - no IQ required. Then it is no surprise to see politicians regularly mouthing out views which are ridiculous and anti-Goan in nature.
Dr Ambedkar and many of our founding fathers had contemplated not only minimum qualification for being a public representative. They had deliberated that a voter too had to have a degree of maturity, knowledge and responsibility to be able to judiciously cast his/her vote.
We must accept that it is Goans who have betrayed Goa and the society at large “ they have betrayed their own self and values. How can we ever see Goa rising and shining if we are unprepared to liberate our selfish and insecure mindset centred on decisions forced upon us?
We all know that illegal extraction of natural resources in Goa has done a lot of destruction. We also know that the iron belt is rich in biodiversity and has economic stability, yet as Goans we sing and dance, as our hills are butchered and our emerald green forests and the verdant hills are bled and raped. See as to how we are treating our sacred rivers. The haphazard tourism policy has laden our rivers with garbage and sewage releases. Our riverine and marine biodiversity is strangulated and stagnating with pollution. Our economy is dwindling. Our living and survival are under threat due to the growing stress of contamination and pollution.
Interestingly, we all believe that our half-baked and uneducated ministers would use a “magic pill” and make all the ills to vanish into thin air, and we would witness prosperity. The politicians in Goa are playing cruel jokes on us and we remain calm and uncalculated. Look at the realities and the day-dreaming we do.
We expect Goa to be a prime destination for medical tourism and being a vibrant society is our dream. The bitter truths are that our elected representatives usurp tens of crores of public funds to treat themselves in foreign countries and we gleefully hope that foreigners would fall into our ridiculous trap of “medical tourism”, in garbage polluted and chaotic traffic environment. Heavy metals, enteric bacteria, virulent viruses as well as copious amounts of pesticides, aromatic hydrocarbons, and industrial effluents are growing menacingly in Goa. The sites chosen and the technology employed by our government for effluent and pollution treatments are unscientific and disastrous. The voice of the scientific community are ignored or are treated with a pinch of salt.
Mhadei water is vital for Goan biodiversity and water security “ this is known for centuries. However, to convince ourselves and the courts we have to carry out Environmental Impact assessment studies in our university and research institutes, thus establishing how water diversions could destroy Goan ecosystem and biodiversity, with impacts on our economy and basic livelihood. In Karnataka, scientific institutions are working on projects establishing the relevance of Mhadei waters to our neighbouring state. Goa University has done no work on the importance of the downstream water flow to our ecology and environment. By making loud noises we would not be able to save Mandovi. Lawyers require ecosystem data to convince judges and not loud noises and meaningless demonstrations. We spend money as lawyers argue before tribunals but not a penny is invested in research projects in Goa. Instead, we have grandstanding by uneducated and incompetent politicians, who rule over us and destroy everything around us in the garb of development.
As is the king, so are the subjects. This is an old well-known adage. However, in the last few decades, this has got transformed “as is the people so is the king”. This plainly means that we get the leaders and the government we “deserve”.
