Educate to Liberate How de-colonialized is our thinking? Miguel Braganza
Today is "Liberation Day", the 47th anniversary of our change-over from being a Portuguese colony with a local co-opted "Parliament" to being a fiefdom of Delhi with a full-fledged Legislative Assembly to do its bidding. If proof is at all required of the broad spectrum of acceptance of this view, one only has to listen to the recent interview of the former CM and current BJP Leader of the Opposition recorded for a Congress-leaning cable TV network done by Pramod Acharya, a former point man of CNN-IBN in Goa. Said he, "If the Government in Delhi changes after the oncoming elections to the Lok Sabha, there will be a change in Government in Goa" or words to that effect. That is the truth ever since Goa became a State and joined the National mainstream of politics. In fact the trial run was the first "make-over" of the Congress-U [for Urs} to Congress-I [for Indira] in January, 1980. Till statehood, the Lieutenant Governor looked after the "interest" of Delhi. Delhi is the undisputed "capital" of India since the days of Sher Shah Suri and Akbar, long before Vasco da Gama was even born! The Goanet debate is whether Goa was "liberated" [as we celebrate while we inebriate] annually on the night of 18 & 19 December or "conquered" as stated in the Government of India's affidavit in the Supreme Court of India with respect to Daman and Diu traders, who wanted to continue their trade, or "annexed" like Sikkim or simply united with the Indian Union through "Police Action" as in the case of Nizam's Hyderabad. The choices as many as in a Russian roulette, and equally loaded with possibilities and dangers. In any case it is a holiday in Goa and we have to be thankful for that. The reported registration of a complaint under Section 307 IPC for "attempt to murder" against the young lawyer, Adv. Joao aka John Fernandes, from Quepem makes one wonder if the Freedom Fighters in Goa barked up the wrong tree al this time. Here is a man who is standing up against the establishment to defend the poor Gawda, Kunbi, Velip and Dhangar [GAKUVED] community members of Colomb, Cavrem, Sulcorna, Rivona, Maina and other villages around the Selaulim dam. These poor, semi-literate to illiterate villagers of the GAKUVED community are struggling to protect the river Kushavati and the Selaulim dam from getting silted prematurely with silt from the mining rejects dumped on their banks. The illiterate know more about environmental protection that many who have done EVS [Environmental Science] from Standard I to Std. XII or graduated in Botany, Geology or Engineering, and even some who have done post-graduate studies in Environmental Engineering. If one wants to know the difference between educated illiterate and the uneducated literate persons one only has to listen to the debate or read mandgoa blogspot. The "Naxalite" Seby Rodrigues is documenting it for posterity. One wonders how the colonial "Titulo de Concessao" or the "concession" given by the colonial regime of Estado da India Portuguesa to exploit the mineral wealth in Goa, is available to people in "liberated" Goa. How can someone own the mineral beneath someone else's home, field or school [as in the case of Don Bosco's Farm School, Sulcorna, or the Government school at Maina]. Is mining more important than education of our children? Can a Portugese TC continue in liberated Goa when the Communidades can no longer run their own affairs. Does the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, of the British Raj extend and have jurisdiction over the Communidades of the Portuguese Raj? If yes, can the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, also apply to buying surface rights of mines "in public interest", or not? Dr. Manohar Rai SarDessai, a linguist and lover of Konkani, wrote thus in his poem dedicated to the 18 June satyagraha of Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia in the run up to the liberation of Goa , "Kitle aile ghele, otthra Jun! Ambea-mullant Kuddkuddta Gawdea-por ozun!" !19 Decembers also come and go the same way, with no relief to the poor workers, the Gawdi, Kunbi, Velip and Dhangar. Reservation of jobs as Scheduled Tribes, The budgetary provision under "Tribal Sub-Plan" and such other gimmicks are all a joke. Ask Pandurang Madkaikar how it feels to be at the butt end of a joke or Rama Lavu Velip what it feels to be at the wrong end of a lathi. What has been done in 22 long years to compensate the family of Floriano Vaz, who was gunned down in cold blood on 19 December, 1986? The world stands in need of liberation. That is the chorus of a hymn not normally sung at Christmas. I am just back from Orissa that was rocked by violence beginning on 23 December, 2007. The State Assembly was on, and so was the tirade against "conversions". The state is tense as there is a 12-hour bandh call issued by the growing number of people who are concerned about the death of Swami Laxmananda and not at all worried about how many lives it will take to sort out the issue. There is no Taj hotel in Kandhamal district. The Pana and the Khandhi tribals are like our GAKUVED. The "Trident" in Kandhamal does not belong to the Oberoi Group of hotels, it is a simple steel "Trishul". Straighten the outer prongs of the trishul and one would see a cross. Will Alyque Padamsee or Simi Grewal spare time to speak for them? Will Barkha Dutt interview the poor? Enjoy your "liberation". Christmas season is no time to talk of such issues. That is okay during Lent or Holy week. (ENDS) Miguel Braganza's column at: http://www.goanet.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=482 =========================================================== The above article appeared in the December 19, 2008 edition of Gomantak Times, Goa
