A few day ago I ran into Fr. Visitacao B. Monteiro and got into a political discourse. I have met him on several occasions at T.B. Cunha hall, etc during important meetings as he is to be found at such meetings especially if these are sensitive Goa related meetings. And naturally, we lapsed into the Goan Identity topic when he asked me if I had read his column 'OPinionateED' on Special Status for Goa which he had written some time ago. I said no, and took down the date it appeared in the Herald. It was a tough time to fish this copy of the Herald out of my endless stacks of old newspapers, continuosly organized and disorganized over a period of time. But I was lucky to find it. As such I want to share it with fellow Goans who are overly sensitive towards the preservation of the elusive 'Goan Identity. This article makes a lot of sense just like the post of Arwin Mesquita referenced above. The good 'father' did mention to me that he never uses the prefix 'Fr' in his writings. ** OPinionatED Special Status for Goa By Visitacao B. Monteiro Herald, Friday, 31 October, 2008
Over the last three months the issue of special status for Goa is being much talked about, discussed and debated, be it in the media or at government level or at various public or group meetings and still needs to be discussed so that we Goans are clear about why we want Goa to enjoy special status within the Union of India, what this special status should include, and what will be the concrete means to achieve and fulfill it. It will not be far from the truth to say that Goa had a special status under the Portuguese regime even before India was proclaimed an independent nation. This was even acknowledged by the first Prime Minister of India Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru in his visit to Goa in May 1963. He openly acknowledged that Goa should be considered as "distinct individuality" within the Union of India in order to preserve its unique identity. He may not have elaborated at length as to what this special identity consisted of for reasons best known to himself and perhaps in the context of the then proposed 'merger' of Goa into Maharashtra. But it was clear that he was convinced that Goa deserved to enjoy a special status. The Goans effectively dealt with the bogey of merger through the historical opinion poll and subsequently Goa was granted statehood by Rajiv Gandhi, the grandson of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru in 1987. However, special status has continued to elude Goa. Soon after the liberation of Goa on 19 December 1961, many meetings were held throughout Goa. The first important meetings were held at Old Goa where presently stands the statue of Mahatma Gandhi. I was a witness to two of these meetings where a host of then Central ministers were present and the words spoken at these meetings still resound in my ears. They were all focused on the benefits of liberation. I still remember a few of those sentences in Konkani. "Tumkam anik Goyam bhair vochunk podche na. Soglleank tumkam hanga nokreo meltoleo" ( There will be no need for you to go outside Goa for jobs, all of you will get jobs here); "Goyechem kheritponn ami sambaltoleanv" ( We will preserve the special identity of Goa.) Goans were given the impression that the state would be a land flowing with milk and honey with our special identity and jobs for every Goan. But alas, all these promises were conveniently forgotten. The sad reality is that we still have to go out of Goa for jobs despite having so many industrial estates in this small state of Goa where locals are being speedily displaced and the salaries are too dismal to provide any incentive for jobs for Goans. Today our Goan identity is practically finished by the very first popular government (and every successive government.) Instead of honoring the promises they have forgotten them totally and destroyed our identity to a great extent. Even today we don't seem to have clarity of vision as to what the identity of Goa consists of and what kind of special status we should ask for Goa. Our CM has openly said that Goa Goa needs a special industrial status and for this he would lead a delegation to New Delhi. Others are still discussing what well be the special features of this special status. I still wonder whether we will arrive at a conclusion on a unanimous vision for special status for Goa based on which we can put forward our demands. Certainly we do not need a special status for industry to preserve our Goan Identity. Debates have raged in the media about our Goan identity but I feel we are still groping in the dark. I personally feel that we cannot understand the special identity of Goa without the Comunidades - the Goan village communes or the gaunkari system. These centuries-old special Goan institutions which flourished nowhere else in India or in the world at large, are the first and foremost unique distinctive constituent of our Goan identity. They were the authentic village republics and the most democratic institutions of our Goan land extending from North to South, taking care of the development and economy of our agricultural villages. They built our village Temples and Churches and maintained these buildings and the cult till the passage of land to the tiller legislation which sounded their death knell. Many are under the erroneous impression that the Comunidades are Portuguese institutions. Although the exact time of their birth may be a subject of scholarly debate, some dating them before Christ and others after Christ, the first written document available about them, according to Professor Olivinho Gomes, dates back to 1054 AD, thus giving them the distinction of being the oldest unique Goan institutions existing throughout the length and breath of Goa. So it is impossible to understand the Goan identity in depth without the Comunidades. Our Goan villages are not just wasteland but well-planned villages, the fruits of the sweat and toil of our forefathers, who have left for the posterity vast khazan lands and coconut groves ( the sources of our Goan fish, curry and rice), cashew orchards and properties. The benefits of this gaunkari system were enjoyed not only by the gaunkars but percolated to all the villagers, who sowed the paddy fields, had a roof over their heads and were duly compensated when they worked for the Comunidades. Thus they formed a unique village entity: the Goan village. It is in this context that one can understand the reaction of our villagers towards the mega housing projects which will be surely destroying our village lives and ethos. I have said earlier that successive governments have tried to finish our special Goan identity - the Comunidades. May be reforms were needed in the system that would meet the needs of all Goans more efficiently and not only gaunkars. But instead of bringing in reforms in the system, it appears that there has been a systematic attempt to destroy the system through the obnoxious tenancy and mundkar acts and all the illegalities allowed on the land belonging to these institutions. So our special identity will focus on : 1) Preservation of Comunidades, 2) Promotion of our Konkani language, irrespective of script, 3) Our Goan culture, 4) Our ancient Goan heritage of respect for each other's re religions, and 5) Uniform civil code. Taking into account these five essential constituents of our Goan identity in our demand for special status we Goans will have to endeavour not only to preserve and develop these five constituents but as a necessary corollary of the same we will have to fight for: 1) Jobs for Goans and payments of due salaries taking into account the living standards of Goa today, 2) Preservation of our village identity and therefore no mega housing projects in our villages, 3) Special Act to stop sale of Goan land to outsiders, 4) Well-regulated tourism, and 5) Stopping unlimited influx of migrants in Goa. I hope that all the protagonists of the special status for Goa will try to understand these special features of our special Goan identity and try to promote the same if at all we are sincere about ourselves. Comments: In my speech at the Lohia Maidan on 18/February, 2009, meeting organized by GOA MAP (Mine Affected People) to show solidarity with Seby Rodrigues against whom Fomento has filed a Cr. 500 defamation suit in the Kolkata HC, I mentioned three items that will lead to the demise of Goa and Goans. 1) Mining, 2) Comunidades, and 3) National parties. That age old Comunidades are sought to be destroyed to gain more and more mining access and that National Parties have no love of or for Goa and that they are on the looting spree. Remember, I had said, that our forefathers have achieved and left this haven for us through their toil by wearing the Goan 'Kasti'. How else, I asked, do we find rubble fences (durgam) all through the nook and corner of Goa? Was that not planning?? The need of the hour, I have said is to drive out all the National Parties from Goa's sacred soil and to restore the Comunidades to their former (pre -Bandodkar) glory and ofcourse phase out mining in Goa. Now, let me quote the chapter on "Comunidades" from the Goa Su-Raj Party's 'ROAD MAP FOR GOA' [XIX] GAUNKARIES [COMUNIDADES] The Official authentic translation of the 'Code of Comunidades' which exists in the Portuguese language shall be fully translated into the English language and thereafter in Konkani for wider dissemination. Comunidade organizations shall be revived and revitalized to put them back on track by carrying out necessary amendments to the 'Code' to curb the powers of the Government, and laws whereby these institutions shall not only have full control over their owned properties that have been encroached upon, or those that have been taken away under the provisions of the Tenancy Act, so that they may be able to perform their obligations and relieve the Government of the financial burden to maintain bunds, gutters and all other functions that at one time the Comunidades used to perform without casting any onus upon the coffers of the Government and to relieve the entire population of Goa from paying in taxes for these past mistakes. Explanation: The Code of Comunidades was the creation of the Portuguese regime which served the purpose, ostensibly, of protecting these 'centuries old' pre-Portuguese Institutions by enacting into law, what were hitherto only practices having the force of law which were already in operation in the Comunidades and which governed the relationship between the Comunidade as an Institution on the one side and its components, namely the gaokars [or share holders] on the other, as well as its relationship with the communities residing in the village who were not gaokars/shareholders. With modifications in such laws the Government assumed a paternalistic role as there were accusations of mismanagement and profiteering and various other disputes between the management of these Institutions and its components. This job of oversight by the Government did not come about gratis. The Comunidades were made to pay heavy taxes to the Government in proportion to their incomes in the form of "DERRAMA". These Institutions were essentially agriculture-based. They did, however, hold other land in the village which was also utilized for grants (AFORAMENTOS) for the purposes of erection of residences, institutions, play grounds, or other activities of social importance. From the auction of the fruits of the orchards, and the cultivation of the paddy-fields by temporary lease-holders, the Comunidades would derive their main income. Only a fraction of this income was meant for distribution to the components and the share-holders. The remaining amount was spent on the maintenance of culverts, gutters, repairs of roads, bunds, financial help to the destitute for burial or cremation etc. Non agricultural land or uncultivated land was reserved to cater to the increase in the population. Each Comunidade had a plan (TOMBO) which indicated such lands meant for residences, with well demarcated plots and access roads, and it was from this reserved land that the grants were to be made for residences. Because of this important role in the village the Comunidades were known as "Village Republics".
From the day that the first Government came to be installed, these
institutions became the targets for destruction, first by enacting the Tenancy Act where Comunidades and Religious Institutions (apart from the private landowner) were overnight dispossessed of all agricultural lands and later by programs such as the 20 point program and the regulations mandating grants of land for residences to all Government employees not having their residences in Goa. Obviously, the only people who benefited from these last two programs were the non-goans who were imported in their hundreds by the first elected Government. Subsequently, the remaining land became the target of government acquisitions for industrial estates, acquisitions for the purposes of industries being set up by public limited companies etc., and only a pittance was paid to these Institutions. With all this pillage, and depradations carried out by the successive Governments against these Institutions in the name of TUTELAGE as well as the greed of same gaokars, it is surprising that these Institutions still survive, though only in a truncated form. Courage is necessary to recognize that the Tenancy Act has not only not done what it was supposed to do, namely to improve agriculture, but on the contrary, has cast a tremendous financial burden on the Government of Goa. This needs to be rectified. Steps need to be taken in the interest of future prosperity, to not only increase agricultural production in the State but to drastically reduce the expenditures of the Government which has assumed the financial burden to carry-out works and maintenance earlier carried-out by the Comunidade in its own particular village. End Cheers floriano goasuraj
