For some time now, I have been wondering what makes Goa different from some other parts of country. This is true at least in terms of the social indices it has managed to attain, the (sometimes) cooperative nature of its people, and its ability to attain levels of success and diasporic impact, going far disproportionate to its size.
Okay, this is not a case for 'Goan exceptionalism'. 'Goan exceptionalism' refers to the view that Goa's social, legal, and cultural features make it distinct (or even superior) from the rest of India. That its unique mix of European and South Asian institutions, a plural religious society, different land and inheritance systems, early exposure to print and global migration, and a self-image of cosmopolitanism explains Goa’s differences.
Regardless of which government has been in power (and, often, despite them) Goa can boast of consistently high human development indicators. This includes near-universal literacy, low infant and maternal mortality rates, high life expectancy, and comparatively better access to healthcare and basic services than most Indian states. More importantly, it offers possibilities for subaltern classes to get ahead, for people to escape poverty, and, till recently, avoid the excesses of urbanisation, such as slums and extreme poverty.
It has long ranked near the top in per capita income, quality-of-life measures, and gender-related indices such as female literacy and workforce participation. Even if there are signs of slipping backwards, it has had strong indicators in housing and electrification. Local solutions long coped with sanitation. This despite a small population, and aided by significant expat remittance inflows and a wide network of schools and clubs. Yes, there have been pockets of inequality and recent pressures.
Even before the transition of 1961, colonial Goa had fairly good indices compared to many parts of India. Ruling parties will claim credit for these trends. But, it is more than clear that controversy and dubious policies have been the middle name of every party in power.
So, what explains the many big achievements of Goa over the years, decades, and even centuries?
Maybe a long tradition of social initiative and cooperative institutions that created webs of trust, participation and accountability. This could be one explanation.
Village bodies like the comunidades, parish and temple committees, clubs, tiatrs, sports associations, and later unions and NGOs have nurtured generations of collective action.
This led to a rule-following people, and public debate, well before modern state welfare took shape. Such efforts lowered the cost of collaboration and spread education and skills.
Networks of this kind enabled migration and boosted remittances, to be reinvested locally. These created a culture where civic life mattered. Goans across centuries managed to translate their small numbers and limited resources into durable social, cultural and human-development gains.
Visitação Boaventura Monteiro, priest and social commentator who traces his roots to the scenic island of Santo Estevam, credits the comunidade system with laying the foundation for such an ability to work together. Monteiro's "Goan Village Communities: The Ganvkaris or Comunidades of Goa" explains how traditional village communities (comunidades) fostered collaboration among villagers, and built a cooperative base for societal achievements.
Goa's social capital was built on a cooperative ethos that was based on communal traditions, joint religious networks, and mutual aid systems that fostered trust and collective action among her people.
Stella Mascarenhas-Keyes' work highlights 'progressive motherhood' that led Goan Catholic women to contribute to family education and migration success.
Aida Dourado, studying some kudds (Goan residential 'clubs') in Bombay, pointed to how these institutions once worked. Men lived together. They cooked, cleant and prayed together. They helped one another get cheap and inexpensive access to food-and-shelter in the heart of the Bombay megapolis, at prices they could easily afford.
Many institutions have built the Goa success story--despite the many challenges and problems it faces today.
Educationists who worked not for money, and built institutions that shaped generations of well-equipped talented men and women, some of whom migrated all over the globe. To church and temple music schools, which nurtured talent at low costs, and in a very scaleable way. So much so that Goa played a dominant role even in Bollywood, and as they'd say, "Maharashtra sings through the throat of Goa".
Then the social clubs, some with names like the Associação Académica (in Moira), which ran not just for entertainment but to build talent and social capital too. So were the many sporting clubs, not-for-profit hospitals (which could have scaled more adequately), ramponkars' informal cooperatives, builders of riverine protective bandhs and reclaimers of khazan lands, sports and tiatr or natak groups, traditional artists who built and shared skills, the precursors to the NGOs of modern times, youth clubs and student organisations, diaspora associations and Goan community groups abroad, private libraries built in the early 20th century to nurture community growth, even the many small community and other presses that shared useful information in their times.
Goa has had legally entrenched community land institutions (the comunidades), a long-standing culture of multilingualism and script plurality, unusually high literacy and social mobility for a small region. It also created a durable public sphere shaped by print, music, sport and debate.
Its society evolved with early exposure to global law, migration, and education. In more recent times, Goa has sustained a visible culture of civil liberties, artistic experimentation, environmental activism, and international connectivity. This also has an influence in local public life and culture. It creates a discourse disproportionate to its size.
Value created by such work will never figure in any official balance sheet. We'll never know much such networks have really contributed. But we do need to better understand what all they did, so that Goa can reinvent itself to continue building its own value for the future.
