When a dead body goes missing in the GMC morgue because it has been misplaced there is a hue and cry. When it is discovered by the parents that it has been incinerated, what more can be said?
The official noises emanating from vocal chords of the government are not in harmony with reality. How can this government genuinely feel remorse for a misplaced dead body when this coalition government does not care for the living, as we have had the unfortunate experience of witnessing in the previous couple of months. Let's get real. A government which cares, and a minister who cares would resign immediately by taking full responsibility for the sins of omission and commission of his portfolio. That would have happened in the past, not today though. Do you see anyone resigning? Formalin and a misplaced dead body are too much in a short period of time. Anyone with a healthy sense of self respect would have handed in his resignation papers by now. Every passing second is a second way, way overdue. No words or gestures can bring back the loved one and there will be no closure for the Gonsalves family. They will have to live with this tragic news all their life. Having a few heads roll without the head of the Health Minister included in the list is a farce. Will the doctors be debarred from practicing medicine in future? Or will they be transferred to a hill station while an inquiry is on for a while and then make a back door entry? Finally, will the heads of junior employees roll? Now, no one should get the impression I am a spokesman for the Congress Party as I have a healthy contempt for them. Their greedy and shameless politicians are waiting in the wings, circling overhead with eyes of a hyena. While Lady Luck is on their side, make no mistake as they too are shockproof and have not much human feeling. No need to elaborate as quite a few major scams started and flourished during their tenure. Making Gujarati language a job requirement for employment in Goa is another recent shocker, and one more item on the menu which is giving the average Goan a bad headache and indigestion. Promising jobs to Goans is a mirage on the beaches of our State. Recently, Chief Minister Parrikar was courageous enough to admit that it is not possible to coerce unwilling factory owners and industrialists to employ Goans. They need qualifications, and being Goan is not one of them. A former Congress Chief Minister Luizinho Falero had assured locals 80% of them would get jobs in the industries in Goa when he was Minister of Industries. Nothing happened, which is not unusual. The IT Minister Rohan Kaunte has announced 172 start-ups and jobs for locals amid a lot of fanfare but not a word on the number of Goans projected to be employed in them. It is anyones guess. Is the magic statistic going to be 172? If not give us a number! Goans are waiting desperately for jobs, even Goans who would like to go abroad at a time when Brexit is about to release a rain-soaked cloud on the heads of the emigrants. Will Rohan Kaunte announce the magic number of Goans who might expect to get jobs in the IT start-ups or will he do a Luizinho Falero on us? Goans need to get used to the fact of how much our elected representatives value us. We are worth less than a formalin-laced fish. With the elections not too far away, expect a lullaby, a song to gladden your heart and soul, and your Goan and village identity. We are being promised our villages which are still villages will continue in future, and become smart villages! The villagers are elated to hear the good news. I hope the definition of village will not change into something which excludes most of our villages. Goans need to be awake and vigilant, and not allow the definition of Goan villages as they are today to be changed and our village labelled a town. The villagers need to be allowed to make the final decision. No point in fighting over definitions. Otherwise get ready to witness another farce or a civil war between the people of Goa and the government. How will the Regional Plan have an impact on the smart village plan? Calungute, a so-called village and a couple of others are exceptions. More than twenty years ago they had ceased to be villages, and are a negative model and disaster which Goans need to reject and escape from as we are doing presently with formalin-laced fish. Life without quality is not life, and the people in Calungute know it only too well. Villages - and a lot are on the way to becoming towns - need to remain as villages if the villagers so desire! Now is the time to fight for your village to become a smart village. Now is the time to make a smart move, and not after your village is no longer categorized as a village, smart or otherwise. After all, we cannot turn back the clock. Obviously, the first step is to ban the construction of more than ground plus first floor. This is the backbone of the character of the Goan village identity. And no 10-meter roads. If necessary one-way streets as is done even in towns in Goa today because of poor or no planning. Will the Panchayat Minister Mauvin Godhino do it? If the Panchayat Minister implements this obvious and necessary requirement he will go down in history as a hero. He talks of bottom to top planing. Good idea. Let's begin! The title - Goans First - is simply to remind readers of how the rights of the local people have been trampled on over the years by the political horseshoes of our elected representatives. The gilded gold-plated self image is sacred and in safekeeping. The politician is a two-in-one persona, and of course one is unrecognizable to the other even though both reside in the same house. Even if some people think the ordinary Goan is the same as the politician, I say it is not the same, it is very different. The ordinary Goan does not have the political power to wield destruction on a massive scale in Goa.
