Herald, Panjim, 4 April 2008 DARE TO WALK A DIFFERENT ROAD
------------------------------------------------------------- The Bigger Picture Let us remember that all is not lost. In Goa we are uniquely placed to tread a different path, and give the lead to others. We still have a relatively unspoilt environment and and natural beauty. We have a literate, well-informed, socially engaged population which is deeply attached to its land and culture. By Vidyadhar Gadgil --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a sense of desperation creeping into Goan society as the tsunami of irrational development threatens to overwhelm the state. As mega-projects mushroom and ever-growing mass tourism places greater strains upon the social and environmental fabric, the process of hawking Goa to the highest bidder is well under way. Things are at the point where the urban sprawls and rural deserts by now characteristic of much of India are replicated here as well. One of the worrisome aspects of the discourse on these issues in Goa is that most analyses seem to operate on the premise that this is some unique process, or that Goa can be insulated. If anything, Goa is a fortunate latecomer to this process, one that has been steadily gathering pace all over India and the world. It is a process that has reached its fruition in cities like Chennai, Bangalore and Pune. Once among the most charming of Indian cities, they are now nightmarish urban sprawls, with glitzy malls and steel-and-glass office blocks interspersed to make the unpalatable appear desirable. This is not to speak of the rural parts of India that have been blessed by ‘development’ in the form of mining projects, SEZs, and other mega-fantasies of the Indian elites. These devastated landscapes, depopulated of the original inhabitants, no longer have any resemblance to the sylvan and verdant climes they once were. Concurrent with this process is the inevitable social breakdown. There are reams of data about the ever-widening gaps between the rich and the poor. The rich live in glitzy gated communities, while the poor starve and seethe with resentment in squalid, miserable conditions. The cultural homogenisation that takes place under the aegis of globalisation and consumerism creates arid inner lives that become fertile breeding grounds for communalism, xenophobia, and racism. Meanwhile, we crow about high growth rates. All this is an inevitable part of the development model into which we have bought so unthinkingly. The obsession with ‘development’ and growth has prevented us from seeing the fallacies of these dangerous chimeras. We now believe that we can consume more and more, for ever and ever more. We have allowed our communities to break down, with dangerous divisions. A planet strained beyond endurance is now lashing back in no uncertain terms. The deprived and dispossessed watch with increasing anger which cannot be contained much longer. Thoughtful ecologists have pointed out that if the environment does not break down under this attack, the society we are heading towards is one in which the few super-rich elites will live under high security in enclaves, keeping the masses out through use of force. One now sees the start of the same processes in Goa. The environmental devastation is well documented. There are ominous signs of accelerating social chaos, as seen at one level in the rising tide of communalism, and at another in the Scarlett Keeling case. As thoughtful, concerned citizens in Goa look around them and organise to resist the onslaught, there are many lessons to be learnt from the bitter experiences of the rest of the world. Convenient blame games are easy to play -- there are many easy fall-guys, like migrants, outsiders, Goans who want to sell their properties for a fast buck, and rich elites who look for one more playground. But these are not the causes of the problem, they are merely the symptoms of terminal diseases called anti-people development and globalisation. And we need to look inwards as well as outwards if we are to fight these effectively. The village in which I live, Aldona, is in one of the most unspoilt parts of Goa, but it is also succumbing. We have proposals for mega-housing projects where the super-rich will come to get a slice of paradise. Villas, swimming pools, well-watered lawns and all the trappings will place unsustainable strains upon local resources. The projects are being constructed by migrant labour housed in appalling conditions. Many locals, while deploring the situation, are themselves in a rush to sell their properties so that they get the wherewithal to buy into the consumerist fantasy, with a spanking new apartment in Panjim and the latest model of automobile. As the villagers try to organise to resist, they are discovering that we are all responsible -- locals, outsiders, migrants, Goans. And equally, we are none of us responsible, because what each one is doing is only following received wisdom and treading a path touted as the only desirable way to go. Stopping a project here and a project there is laudable, but it is rather like trying to stop a dam from bursting by plugging the breach with one’s little finger. One cannot worship at the altar of neoliberalism and globalisation, and simultaneously try to maintain one’s own surroundings as an insulated enclave. As Donne once wrote, ‘no man is an island’. To that one should add, neither is any place. What goes round comes round. As we chase our consumerist fantasies, these same modern myths circle round to destroy us. There are unfortunately no easy solutions to this conundrum. What is needed is a thorough rethinking of the entire development process, and a major shift away from established models. Pro-people, bottom-up development, following a transparent consultative process; a major shift away from consumerism; a rejection of neoliberalism and globalisation -- these are the only choices we have if we are to halt our headlong rush towards disaster. In case the diagnosis sounds pessimistic, or the solution a pipe-dream, let us remember that all is not lost. In Goa we are uniquely placed to tread a different path, and give the lead to others. We still have a relatively unspoilt environment and natural beauty. We have a literate, well-informed, socially engaged population which is deeply attached to its land and culture. Our local self-government is relatively healthy. We have already done things which are unprecedented -- these include the scrapping of the Nylon 6,6 project, the GBA-led agitation which forced the withdrawal of the regional plan, and, most recently, the movement against SEZs which forced the government to backtrack. Nowhere else in India, nominal democracy notwithstanding, have governments been forced to climb down on anti-people development in this fashion. And it is people’s power that has done this. It is people’s power that we need to strengthen. And, of course, we have to learn to make the right choices, however much contrary to received wisdom they may appear. -- "Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet deprecate agitation, are men who want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the roar of its many waters...Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will." — Frederick Douglass
