Dear Soter, While what you have written may be true, I believe that you have, possibly, missed a perhaps small but definitely not insignificant part of the problem i.e. the relative silence of the Goa-press which IMHO specialises in making a big jumbalaya after the water has flown way past the bridge.
May I ask the following questions: a: Did Goa always have this problems you have listed? b: If not, when did they commence? c: Do these problems occur with this consistency in places where there is a free and effective watch-dog press? d: What does happen to the aspiring-to-be-free but not-allowed-to-be-free watch-dog press? You may wish to contemplate on what the BJP did to Tehelka? So, why blame the average citizen aka the 'janta' ? Would you not say that they have just 'learned the ropes' and acclimatised to a hard time while call it good? jc 2010/1/19 soter <[email protected]> Sometimes it just baffles me as to why people blame politicians for Goa's miserable state. It is just like the parents of a drug addict blaming the friends, police and government for not doing enough to curb the drug menace. We simply deny that we are also part of the problem. When it suits us the politicians are good and when it does not they are bad. What keeps our politicians afloat term after term? Who pays bribes for a government job? Who goes to a politician for a favour to circumvent the law? Who attends the functions graced by politicians? Who gives commissions to politicans to get the contract? Who takes money during elections to campaign for the politicians and even distribute money to buy votes? Who gives the legal assistance to politicians to defend their crimes? Who permits anti-people laws to continue being enforced? Who sell their ancestral lands to non-goans? Who make false affidavits to avail of Government schemes? Who wants 6-lane roads, cars, buildings, eat-outs, ......? Who are those who give abode to migrants on fantastic rents without toilets? Who? Who? Who? Mind you it is Goa's rich middle class. If the rich do not stand up what can one expect of the poor who are vulnerable? Mahatma Gandhi was once asked by a person as to why do the British continue to rule over us even though their armies are no match to the strength of the Indian people. His answer was, " because we allow them to rule". We Goans are the people destroying Goa by our greed, ever increasing consumption, lack of civic responsibility and often two-faced role. Save Goa slogans are just for international and national consumption and self-promotion
