Hi Arwin, Of course I don't have all the "answers". The response was to a very specific comment by Ole Xac/Bernardo about "uncontrolled" migration and what I see as the out-migration link to that (which nobody wants to talk about for obvious reasons).
Of course, corruption and lobbies taking over governance is a serious problem -- though I would not see it only in terms of illegal conversions and mega projects. As far as 'vote banks' go: QUOTE The term vote-bank was first used by noted Indian sociologist, M. N. Srinivas (who also coined the terms Sanskritisation and dominant caste), in his 1955 paper entitled The Social System of a Mysore Village. He used it in the context of political influence exerted by a patron over a client. Later, the expression was used by F. G. Bailey, a professor of anthropology at the University of California, San Diego, in his 1959 book Politics and Social Change[3], to refer to the electoral influence of the caste leader. This is the usage that has since become popular. Thought the term originally referred to voting along caste lines, it was soon expanded to describe votebanks based on other community characteristics, such as religion and language. ENDQUOTE The only vote-banks in today's Goa certainly aren't migrants. There are Hindutva, minority (Cristao, and Muslim in pockets), women, Konkani, Marathi, caste-based, New Conquest, Old Conquest, industrialists, BPL (below poverty line), and other groups. Why pick on migrants alone, while being unwilling to discuss the others? And are all migrants one monolithic block? Are there no other segments of the poor, who see the politician, howsoever corrupt, as their succour? When you say "Goans being denied employment due to high level of corruption", do you see the problem as ethnicity or corruption? I personally agree with some of your diagnosis of some problems, but not necessarily with the priorities you assign to each. Also, your solutions seem simplistic to me, as Augusto Pinto too has also pointed out here and elsewhere. Lastly, I don't think Goans can merely claim victim-status perennially. This may be a good formula for some parties to rise to power (Shiv Sena, TDP, even the BJP) but it hardly sorts out any problems of a long-term nature, in my view. FN 2009/9/22 Arwin Mesquita <[email protected]>: > FN. > You seem to have all the answers/excuses to support uncontrolled migration > into Goa. Surely you will also appreciate that there are other factors which > make the situation worse e.g. > (1) illegal conversion on Land to bring in Mega-Projects and with the > migrant workers and settlers from other part of India. > (2) Migrant Vote-Banks fueled politicians. > (3) Goans denied of employment due to high level of corruption, I personally > know many who had to leave because they could not afford the huge bribes > required by the corrupt government > I have missed you views on the above 3 points; kindly let me know -- FN +91-9822122436 P +91-832-2409490 Updated: http://goabooks.wordpress.com
