To Goanet - I sent this letter today to eh Heraldo editor.
***** In Herald (July 5), you show a photo of a man sleeping on the side of a street and wonder how this could be so when Goa has "rich residents." You should be asking this question of India, not of Goa and Goans. The man shown is most likely not a Goan, but one of the endless stream of migrants pouring into Goa everyday via the 'Patna Express'. Goa has now become an importer of poverty from the rest of India, people who come here to escape the squalor and misery of their own home states. As a fellow human being, the man deserves our empathy, but what this photo highlights is not the apathy of Goans, rather the miserable failure of India. Goa was doing alright, until the floodgates of migrants opened up in the past 10 years. You want to give us Goans a guilt trip by publishing this image, but here is what is likely to happen: this man will soon park himself on public Goan land, claim it as his own, and help expand the slums created by outsiders here. He will soon be fixed with a ration card and a voter registration card by one of the politicians as part of the migrant vote bank. Those who will continue to be left in the lurch are the Goan poor - for they are not part of the migrant vote bank and they offer no benefit to either journalists or politicians. When are the Goan poor going to make it into your pages, Sir? ***** Regards, r
