Of all the lies our politicians have told us the lie of Special Status has to be the most despicable. Why do they lie to the people through the teeth? If these politicians truly intended to save Goan land from "outsiders" there is absolutely no need to wait for special status, which they fully know will never come, because we Goans are not the type to take AK47s and roam the streets. To protect the land, there are plenty of things they can do without Special status. a) Impose a 50-75% tax on any non-resident Goan buying property in Goa. This will affect NRI Goans but a caveat can be added to protect us. b) Increase the years for transfer of ownership. Right now I think if it is sold in less than 3 years it is hit with tax. Three years in nothing. This measly time-spam is causing speculative buying from outside of Goa. Increase it to 10 years. That way, we build a housing market for Goans, not non-Goans buying holiday houses. c) Let the government offer long term 30 year housing loans at rock-bottom interest rates to resident Goans. This will ensure more middle-class Goans can afford houses and land plots. d) Pass legislation to protect the aesthetic identity of Gan villages. Stop all mega-projects in Goan villages as these irreversibly destroy the social and aesthetic fabric of the Goan village. The idea of stopping mega-projects for building violations or that they cater to the elite will not work. These are short-term protests which any builder can argue against. The defacement of the Goan village is a crime against humanity. The only way to preserve something so unique as the Goan village is to make a case for it being an effective model of administrative and social governance, which doesn't exist elsewhere in India and for it to be preserved rather than destroyed. If you examine the model of the Goan village, it is very European in nature. It is a square, at the centre of this square lies the Church and surrounding it is the post-office, a small school, a few shops, a pharmacy and maybe a health-clinic. Life then spans out from this centre. It's a carefully planned model of a self-sustaining living habitat that is so rich in its social interactions that I can honestly say it doesn't exist in most parts of the world. All of these are not novel ideas. They have been carried out effectively in all parts of the world but most stringently in the UK where land and especially heritage and agricultural land is premium. These MLA of ours travel abroad at tax-payers money all the time. Can they not take home some of these ideas. The truth is, these people don't care for the land nor the people. But they are very good at fooling people. They just don't care. Best, selma
