Special status for Goa? Where is our Goa heading? To a life controlled by drugs, booze, sex, swords, daggers and cops? There is little doubt in the common man's mind that criminals are lurking at every street corner, at construction sites, bars, discotheques and even with politicians. Recently, the guardians of the law have themselves been found stealing from duty free shops at the airport. or taking contracts to eliminate people. Times have definitely changed but let us not blame Bush or the U.S. for the escalation in the incidents of crime and communal clashes in Goa. Successive governments in Goa since liberation have done nothing but divided Goans on basis of caste and religion. The various policies of the governments have imported trouble makers from other parts of the country into the State and done away with healthy social practices and relationships. The Communidades have ben robbed of their land and the laws have been repeatedly amended to accomodate crime and disease by calling it development. Even Housing Boards were set up to create housing for migrants and push out the goans. Scooundrels have not only been encouraged to buy land but also dig up the earth and export the minerals for huge profits. Every time goans rise to defend their rights they are condemned as anti-national, anti-development, pro-portuguese conspirators and now even branded as naxalites. Goa definitely needs a special law to guarantee permanent protection of its precious natural resources, fragile ecosytems and unique identity.
-Soter D'Souza Socorro
