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Two new showrooms/office spaces, double height (135 sq m each with bath) for lease in upscale Campal/Miramar beach area, Panaji, Goa. Contact: [email protected] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ A blow for the youth By Derek Almeida “We are so many sanyasis wandering about, and teaching the people metaphysics -- it is all madness. Did not our Gurudeva used to say, ‘An empty stomach is no good for religion?’” - Swami Vivekananda At the outset we wish to state that GT stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the youth employed in casinos in the State. Their show of strength at Azad Maidan on Wednesday was a desperate cry to the government and pseudo-moralists to give them a shot at building careers in an industry that is over 15 years old. There are over 2,500 youth employed in casinos earning salaries that makes them want to stay back in Goa instead of looking for greener pastures elsewhere. Today that hope is threatened by a meaningless decision of the government to raise entry fee to casinos by 1,000 per cent from Rs 200 to Rs 2,000. The prospect of losing jobs is real and the fear of joining the army of the unemployed frightening. Their plight cannot be understood by those assured of a salary at the end of the month or those is plush offices with air conditioners. It can only be understood by those who are out of jobs. Hence we stand with them because they represent a vibrant future while the rest are vestiges of a past, which was more corrupt and devoid of any sense of decency. The voters of yesterday are responsible for the political degeneration of today. Nothing can be more corrupt. Such a generation has no moral authority to pontificate to the youth who are on the threshold of their careers. Search your conscience and see if you are pure enough to cast the first stone. We are a bunch of hypocrites with double standards. We want to slash and maim casinos because they are visible, but turn a blind eye to matka which has taken root in society and generates incomes for a large number of families in the State. We challenge any political party, the government, NGOs and any other organization to launch a campaign against matka and get rid of it. The last effort was made by Manohar Parrikar when he was chief minister of the State and he was stopped in his tracks by his party because of the patronage this game received. Do not try to ease your conscience by saying matka is illegal. That is only on paper. In reality, the game is allowed flourish with the blessing of the government, the police and the support of the people. Cast your double standards away and open your eyes and see how hypocritical we have become. We are handing over a very corrupt political system to the next generation because we did what was convenient. And now we want to clothe ourselves in suits of white without having the decency to pay for the suit. We are asking the casino industry to pay for it. To the moralists we say, give up your jobs, comforts and financial security, experience the uncertainty of being unemployed before you even think of talking to the youth who congregated on Wednesday to protect a source of livelihood. Listen to the words of wisdom written by Swami Vivekananda decades ago that you cannot teach religion to a hungry man. Some months back the noted historian Ramchandra Guha was here to deliver a lecture at the D D Kossambi Festival of ideas. He noted that India had progressed over the last 60 years. Some decades back the slogan of the day was roti, kappada aur makhan, he explained. Today it is sadak, bijli, pani, and that is progress, he said in not so many words. On Wednesday when the youth gathered at Azad Maidan they had one message: Protect our roti, kappada aur makhan. We have pushed our youth backwards instead of forwards. Are we worthy of them? To the politicians we say, stop your petty games. Stop trying to build reputations on the shoulders of the youth for they will bend, and eventually break. You are the ones who started casinos because you didn’t have the patience or perseverance to build an alternative. It is because of you politicians that Goa missed the IT bus. It is because of your hunger for ministerships that you allowed Goa to be ravaged until you were stopped by an agitation. And the people of Goa not only allowed you to pursue your fights for the chair they even participated in it and shared the spoils of office by voting you back to power. And now you want to destroy an industry that you created long ago. Remember this, you shortsighted ones, every nation in the world that is prosperous today rode on the power of its youth. Read Nandan Nilekani’s book ‘Imagining India’ and you will note that our time as a nation has come. The youth are waiting, wanting and willing to charge. Do not place stumbling blocks in their path. Do not hesitate or they will grow old waiting and lose their vitality before even starting the race. Do not let them down. Remember what the poet Khalil Gibran said about children: You may give them your love but not your thoughts, For they have their own thoughts. You may house their bodies but not their souls, For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams. You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you. For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday. - Kahlil Gibran ----- The editorial above appeared on the front page of Gomantak Times dated September 11, 2009 ===
