Look in the Mirror Mr. Gupta By Venita Coelho [EMAIL PROTECTED]
As a member of the GBA and part of the Core Committee I read with concern Sujay Gupta's column 'Oscar Rebello fell to Goa's Traitors'. He propounds a conspiracy theory led by a cabal that was 'jealous' 'sold out' and 'enraged with the support and goodwill that Oscar had'. According to him this conspiracy began with the letter allegedly "rejecting" the Interim Task Force report that the same 'forces with the GBA' 'prevailed upon' Sabina Martins to send. It ended with a plot to 'force' Oscar Rebello and 'his trusted aides Ritu Prasad and Patricia Pinto out of the Task Force'. FACT: The letter that was sent out rejecting the "procedures adopted in formulating the Interim Report" of the Task Force RPG 2021 was the end of a long process of analysis and understanding. Across two months discussions and analysis and no less than five meetings were held to find agreement and consensus on our stand A letter that is two months in the making can scarcely be described as being forced through. The minutes of the GBA prove that the letter itself was the end result of a process of very careful consideration. Not the result of so called 'forces' bullying the rest of group. FACT: Patricia Pinto and Ritu Prasad continue to be members of the GBA and part of the Core Committee. Ritu, in fact, heads the effort to revoke amendments to Section 16 and 16A to the TCP Act, 1974. Public presentations have been conducted by these two members and Pravin Sabnis in Panjim on 02 August and in Margao on 09 August, 2008. Surely that in itself is enough to nip in the bud fantastic theories of whole sale conspiracies of ouster and backstabbing. The columnist then calls the GBA 'mainly a body of internet tigers and a bunch of rabble rousers'. FACT: The GBA includes social activist Roland Martins, who has ensured door delivery of cooking gas and exposed many a fraud by marketing agencies; Architect Dean D'Cruz who is a member of the TF; Soter D'Souza who is the Director of the Centre for Panchayati Raj; Fr. Maverick Fernandes, the Executive Secretary of CSJP; Sridhar Kamat, a practicing Engineer and a poet; Sabina Martins, a well-known figure on gender issues besides being a Chemistry teacher at Sharada Mandir; and others who are established names in their chosen fields of work. The columnist dismisses all the above people of great personal integrity and impeccable professional qualifications and proven track records. His own track record makes for woeful reading. His so called 'expose' on the 'naxalites' in the mining business was fully exposed by Dr. Claude Alvares of Goa Foundation in the pages of this very paper. Without taking away at all from all that Dr. Oscar has contributed to the GBA, a people's mass movement is not a one man effort. It has been the effort of no less than two dozen NGO's and over thirty Core Committee members. The very same leaders who went to the people and motivated them to protest the Regional Plan 2011are now being labelled 'rabble rousers'. According to the columnist the Task Force in its report 'completely neutralized the absolute discretionary powers of the government (granted) by the amendment ( 16 and 16A) to the TCP act.' FACT: No "Rule" can ever neutralise a "Law". Rules can be changed by the Administrative Secretary. Laws need legislative powers to change. While the Regional Plan may be visionary in trying to incorporate people's participation the fact is that it operates within the mandate of the TCP Act, 1974, with no powers to change or over ride it. The fact is the opposite of what your columnist states - amendment to section 16 and 16A actually completely neutralizes all that the Regional Plan seeks to do. FACT: What the Amendment does in fact do is leave a back door open for the government to hustle in PPP projects by conveniently labelling them government projects. All such government projects fall outside the purview of the Regional Plan. Any right thinking and right meaning individual can surely see the dangers inherent here. FACT: So serious are the implications of amendment to section 16 and 16A to the TCP Act, that all members of GBA have put their weight behind opposing the Amendment. Ritu Prasad, who, according to Sujoy Gupta, has been 'backstabbed', and 'forced out' by 'traitors', leads the fight to get the amendment revoked. She and members of the GBA are currently involved in visiting MLAs to explain the situation, and in holding a serious of public workshops to bring the facts to the public. The columnist's frivolous interpretation of the implications of a very serious amendment reveals his shallow journalistic abilities or his vested interest in misleading the readers or both. In the same vein of superficial understanding he states that 'a comprehensive plan for people's participation' is provided for by the requirement that the plan proposal be explained to the people through a Taluka Committee. FACT: The Regional Plan does provide for Taluka Committees, which is actually a re-packaged PDA, to explain the plan proposal to people. Mr Gupta has glibly read explanation as equal to people's participation. It is not. What the people get is a four month window in which to submit comments and objections. This is 'reaction' not 'participation.' FACT: One state in India -- Kerala -- has actually seen through 'bottom up', participatory peoples planning. But it did so after a two year exercise in training local bodies on how to plan. What the Regional Plan gives us is a four month window in which to react, not to plan. FACT: This Regional Plan has gone much further than others in trying to incorporate people's participation. But, however well meaning and visionary this particular plan is, it has two fatal flaws. One - Amendment to Section16 and 16A leaves a huge hole that the government can use at will to over ride the Regional Plan. Two - The plan provides direction but no real mechanism for power to be given to the people. This can only come with the implementation of the 73rd and 74th amendment in its true spirit. FACT: Without real power returning to the people, the GBA's job is left undone. The 73rd and 74th amendment are crucial to actual powers being given to the people. This has been GBA's stand from the beginning and is a part of the Memorandum to the Government dated 18 December, 2006 -- from long before Dr. Oscar Rebelo was appointed to be a part of the Task Force. This has been the GBA's consistent stand and the same was also communicated to the Task Force vide letter dated 26 May, 2008. With the Regional Plan 2021 nearing completion it has become crucial to push for real people's participation, not theoretical participation. Far from being 'traitors' and 'betraying' the people of Goa, this is what the GBA is now working towards. Mr Gupta suggests members of the GBA go to the grassroots and listen to the people. He is ignorant of the fact that a large part of the GBA is made up of people who work on a daily basis at the grassroots. It is because they have worked so closely for years at the ground level, that they hold the real interests of the people at heart. The real interests of the people are served by a revocation of Amendment to Section 16 and 16A which annuls all that this Regional Plan 2021 seeks to do. The real interests of the people are served by giving to them real power, not the promise of it. That can come only with implementation of the 73rd and 74th Amendment in its true spirit as incorporated in the Article 243 of the Constitution of India. This is the second time this particular columnist is being exposed as being long on purple and empty prose and woefully short on facts. Goans in general, and readers of the Herald in particular, have a right know Mr Gupta's real agenda. Is he merely using his often repeated from-the-rooftops declaration of love for Goa to curry favour in these parts? Or does he carry the brief for powerful mining and construction lobbies, as Dr Claude Alvares' earlier demolition of Mr Gupta's mythmaking has proven beyond doubt? It does the reputation of your paper no good to give column space to journalists who have a malicious agenda of their own. Mr. Gupta suggests that members of the GBA look in the mirror and see the definition of 'evil'. You could do with reflection yourself Mr. Gupta. Feedback to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 9867166057 / 832 2470861