NT-Editorial [26/09/2009]- ROOT OF XENOPHOBIA
THE captains of Goa industry want the state government to design an
alternative model for economic development. This urge arises from the
adverse investment environment that has been created by public opposition to
almost every new major project in the public or private sector. The
president of the Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mr Cesar Menezes
recently led a delegation of industrialists to the Chief Minister, Mr
Digambar Kamat to express their deep concern and call upon him to work
towards a model of development that would be desirable and acceptable to
investors and the public alike. The state government has more often than not
let projects be abandoned or put on hold just in order to calm down the
public anger.
We have to think about the crisis of development seriously. India is
advancing, Goa is not. Behind the celebration of all the 'national awards'
the sad reality is that the state is lagging behind. What piece of the
'outsourcing' cake have we got, for instance? How many new projects have
come up and how many jobs have been created? Cries for protection of Goa's
environment and Goan identity are fundamentally legitimate but we have also
to think that we cannot live like an island, inside a fenced cocoon. In
pursuing our passion for healthy ecology and ethnic identity we would be
wrong to dream of making Goa a wholly residential state, with a minimum of
food and clothing stores. Today, most of our engineering graduates and
diploma holders in various skills are migrating abroad or other states for
employment. Is the Goa of our dreams going to be like our boys and girls
move out to other places with little chances of returning to their homeland
except on holidays when they must have their residences in a primitive
natural environment full of greenery and just a few mom-and-pop stores for
grocery?
This is a highly contorted and misconceived dream; it is almost a fantasy.
And it is not a pride but an insult to the Goan identity-to remain forever
as a labour supplying state. The way to maintain and strengthen Goan
identity is to create opportunities for all the sons and daughters of the
soil within the boundaries of the homeland. That way they can contribute
their talent and energies to making Goa known not as a labour catchment area
but as a reservoir of creativity in business, professional skills and social
engineering. Today the best Goan brains move out and non-Goan brains move in
to fill the gap. Because we have no good opportunities to offer Goan
professionals and skilled workers. We have not attacked the root of our own
xenophobia.
There is a strong consensus on stopping environmentally damaging investments
coming in. But is there a search for the right kind of investments? This is
the question the GCCI has raised. If you need to prevent the out-migration
of Goans and as a consequence dilution of the Goan identity, you need
investors. You need businessmen who will create wealth and jobs and
satellite small business opportunities. Without that nothing happens. There
is little you can expect from the government in the present era. The
government is withdrawing from economic activities, except the core sectors.
We can do it. We can follow the model of Switzerland. Switzerland is a
land-locked country with strict environmental laws and few natural
resources-least of all cocoa. Yet it is a world leader in chocolate, not to
mention pharmaceuticals, banking and specialised machinery. The success
story of Switzerland lies in coping with disadvantage. Take the example of
Italy. It is a leader in shoe industry. Many of its shoe firms are
family-owned, yet very competitive. They produce new models continually, so
design industry flourishes too. And they have strict pollution control on
the tanning industry. Then we have Singapore that has amazingly prospered
with its apparel industry. The essential thing to note therefore is to
identify the right kind of growth potential and go full speed to exploit
it-with the help of the entrepreneurial tradition that is already there, and
with the help of entrepreneurial innovators that are waiting to be fostered.
COMMENTS
Most Goans who are advocating the elusive so called 'Goan Identity' will
discard this editorial as some nonsense advocated by a 'Bhailo'. And Arun
Sinha for one is one such 'bhailo' who has been advocating a lot of things
that Goa and Goans must do and not do. And most of the time, if not all the
time, we have found that there is some grain of truth in what he writes.
This is one such write-up where Arun Sinha is absolutely right in saying
what he has said. It does not matter if it is a 'bhailo' or a 'bitorlo' who
writes things about Goa and Goans provided there is substance in the
write-up. Arun Sinha may hate the name Goa Su-Raj Party, more particularly
double hate the name Floriano Lobo which is connected to it, but it makes
us believe that he has read Goa Su-Raj Party's 'Road Map for Goa', which
makes us happy. The above editorial is nothing but the comprehensive
understanding of that 'Road Map' in which we take pride calling it 'not just
an ordinary document but the 'work of a life-time'. Thank you Mr. Sinha for
saying what you have said.
Yes, Goa needs to get back every Goan worth his/her salt and must not rest
until this is accomplished. And to do that Goans must first kick out the
national parties from its sacred soil. If not, nothing will change and the
fate of Goans will be the same as that of the 'Red Indians' of the American
continent. You say you see no answer?? Well, look harder and you will see
Goa Su-Raj Party.
I shall want to give here a couple of examples to elaborate what I am
saying.
During the short-lived Manohar Parrikar's BJP regime, I happened to be in
Ahmedabad where I met an ex-Bangalore so called 'foundry man' who was
thinking of setting up a modern foundry in Rajasthan to manufacture A to Z
( small to big) in 'engine blocks' with most modern non-polluting Swiss
Machinery. And when I asked him what was his raw material and where it is
obtained from, his pat response was 'pig iron' from GOA. "If that is so", I
said, 'why don't you set-up the unit in GOA itself and save on the
transportation of the raw material?' . 'That would be ideal' he said, and
added that he could set up a training centre in Goa to train Goa's youth
when I told him that he could set-up shop in Goa if he would employ 80%
goans. "Give me the project file and I will see what I can do" I said
"especially when Goa has a CM who is IIT in metallurgy".
I didn't meet Manohar Parrikar directly but I talked to my friends Nitin
Kunkolienkar and Raikar of the GCCI through my brother , met them at Park
hotel, introduced them to Mr. Rosario, who in turn fixed an appointment for
Mr. Rosario to meet with Manohar Parrika, the IIT CM of Goa. It was sad to
hear that Manohar Parrikar dismissed the project file off-hand saying these
words which I can never forget " I don't know anything about this
project" -- directed Mr. Rosario to the GSPCB [Goa State Pollution Control
Board] where Mr. Vazrani, the then Member Secretary dismissed the project
saying " we do not allow foundries to be set up in Goa any more because they
are polluting industries". Happy to say that most of the polluting steel
rolling mills have been set up in Goa during Manohar Parrikar's time when he
does not know anything about such industries. Ha'
The other bright idea which went to sleep permanently is when an UK based
Goan entrepreneur had marathon seating sessions (more than 3 months) with
the then CM of Goa Mr. Luizihno Faleiro wanting to set up a 'Solar Power
Grid' on the hill of Bastora in North Goa [Just off Mapusa], confident of
supplying Solar Power to the entire City of Mapusa. And just when he went
back to UK, satisfied that all the angles had been tied down, he got a rude
shock of Luizinho Faleiro having been deposed by Francisco Sardinha. The UK
entrepreneur never came back to Goa, nor did he want to, because he did not
want to sweeten another pair of ears, he having had exhausted all his stock
of sweeteners.
Cheers
floriano
goasuraj
--------------------------------------------------------------
---Wanted for Goa---
honest ' fighters '
NOT honest ' hypocrites '
9890470896
www.goasu-raj.org
