I'm a full supporter of our Agriculture Minister's dream to make Goa's agricultural produce a brand name as this state is now more than ever a tourism hub. We need to declare Goa a tourism state and pass a resolution and work to this end.
Every fruit and vegetable market in Goa should have a space for grown-in-Goa chemical free agricultural produce, and every food item including local fish be given priority if Goa is going to excel as a tourism hub and locals and not out-of-state stakeholders are going to benefit from it. Hotels and restaurants should be encouraged to buy local produce. All this should be good for the local economy and Goan identity. Obstacles in the path need to be eliminated to keep our air and soil from getting polluted and our water taken away from us. A lot of pollution is already history but we do not have to accept it as a fait accompli. We can undo it. Places with heavy tourists footfalls should take the lead and not go misleading people about the safety of EDMs or our Tourism Minister and other supporters will have to resign if someone dies during a festival. No one will get away with it even if they try to defend themselves by saying the drugs were bought in Pakistan or besides electronic dance music someone also sang We Are The World. Yes, Goans are watching eagle-eyed. We have to undo all the negative work of previous governments and not engage in finger-pointing. Does it matter to the people who live in Goa or who visit this state and who have to breathe in polluted air if it is the BJP or Congress who is the mother of this mess we are in? Or our river pollution which is shocking! What's the point in blaming the casinos or hotels or the governments of the past for not getting our priorities right? Le's get it right from now on! We want a Goa which is run on clean energy so people from all over the world will want to visit again and again. We want a comfortable and a healthy environment with a lot of greenery. People who live in Goa will not be against it. Why would they? Add, Goan friendliness and a liberal attitude to the mix, and we have a win-win situation. Everyone should be anti-pollution, and people who are against pollution should be declared true sons and daughters of the soil. Polluters are traitors, nothing less. We need to grow or make whatever we can in Goa. At present we import almost all of our needs from other parts of India or abroad. Actually, it is easier to ask this question: what don't we bring from outside Goa? And, what to our benefit, do we need to make or grow in Goa? Even our staple, rice, coconuts and fish in a large part come from outside Goa. Make-in India, in a way, has crippled Indian creativity and ingenuity as we now make everything in India with foreign technology. Are Indian brains now living in the USA and other advanced countries, and Indian limbs in India? When I'm asked often enough how Japan is, as I used to live there, as compared to India I tell the questioner it is no different as I use a lot of the same Japanese technology here in Goa which I used in Japan. They look disappointed so I say something like how much I miss sushi, and in no time, I'm told we can get it in India and Goa, too! So, what's the point in visiting Japan I ask them? The government has to support indigenous Goan products in the agricultural, crafts and other sectors as long as it is non-polluting. A special Think Tank needs to be set up and this has to be done immediately as Goa is slipping in reputation and in reality, too. We have a great number of people who have the good of Goa at heart and who are knowledgeable. If only we can work together, then we cannot fail. We need to pocket our egos or even better bury them in the good red earth of Goa. Then only will a lotus bloom.
