Goans in a ferment over their precarious future by Filomena Saraswati Giese
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/Goans-in-a-ferment-over-their-precarious-future/articleshow/19523127.cms A new and serious lament has arisen in Goa. It is about the projected disappearance of the Goan from Goa. Goans are alarmed at the rate at which Goan land, assets, jobs, government contracts are passing into the hands of non-Goans. Our Goan tribals have been in Goa for many millennia, perhaps since pre-history. They are losing their ancient land rights which they have hung on to through the vicissitudes of time and change in Goa. It was touching to me to talk with local Goans like farmer Uday Natekar in Bicholim, lamenting the loss of the thousand year old agricultural livelihood of his family to the mining runoff and strong arm tactics of the mining companies and other moneyed investors pushing him off their land. One should remind the reader that the prosperity and wealth that the central and state governments and the mining, industrial, tourist, and other economic sectors have been extracting from Goa's unique identity and resources, is also creating the path to Goan extinction. Mining companies are making billions of dollars in profit by digging up and selling Goan mining resources, and damaging other resources such as ground water and agriculture. Hotels, airlines, casinos, restaurants and the tourist businesses are capitalizing mightily on the Goan culture and heritage "trade brand". What do Goans get back for the land resources and the heritage and Goan culture that these investors then market for billion dollar profits? The majority of Goans feel that the end result of this development activity has not been sustainable development for Goa and a strengthening of the presence of Goans in Goa but rather, big scale destruction of Goa's unique natural beauty and biodiversity and the marginalization and displacement of the native Goans. Goa's activists have fought for liberation of Goa. They have also been battling to save Goa's heritage and environment from mega industrial schemes like the SEZ's, mining destruction, a tourism and casino business that brings in drug and human trafficking, and mega construction projects that clearly are for wealthy non-Goans. But "Save Goa" for whom when there has been no action to ensure the continued presence of the Goans themselves in Goa and to see that they own an equitable share of their homeland? Right now, ownership of land and housing by Goans in Goa has fallen to 40% of the total in many areas. According to a July 2012 article by former external affairs minister Eduardo Faleiro, the cost of land in Goa has skyrocketed and is beyond the means of the ordinary local Goan. Since foreigners can no longer legally buy land, wealthy non-Goans from the rest of India are buying up Goa's land and housing. There is a profound sense of crisis and loss among local Goans. A strong factor why Goans cannot afford to buy land in Goa is definitely the cost. Another is that Goans have to sell land and property because ownership of land and housing in Goa is riddled with property claims by heirs (I heard of one case that had as many as 51 heirs to one ancestral property) and tenant occupancy rights. This situation has been forcing Goans into protracted legal disputes with each other that result in their selling precious land and homes. Goans live in mistrust of each other and too many are embroiled in property disputes and court cases. Instead of using their capital to buy land and houses, Goans are paying the expenses involved in these protracted disputes. One may also add that Goans spend their capital on festivals and family celebrations instead of pooling it to develop housing and jobs for each other. While one Goan is pitted against another, a builder or wealthy non-Goan can afford to pay off the many claimants and tenants to the property and buy it outright. Providing affordable housing to each and every Goan would provide a path to the settlement of these destructive claims and legal disputes over property. Loss of land by Goans can also be attributed to the sale of large tracts of Goan land by large institutions and landowners to the highest bidder in a capitalistic free for all. Sadly, they are unable to see the profound social impact of these sales. Local Goans are dismayed that their politicians and NGOs have been known to facilitate illegal land sales to the local and foreign mafia, selling them entire tracts of forest and coastal land, dare we say, in return for bribes. The governments of Goa, past and present, have simply not taken swift and adequate action to protect the Goans who are their electorate from being marginalized and displaced from their homeland. Neither the former Congress government nor the present BJP government have done anything to solve any of these problems and set to work to provide affordable housing and land for the native Goans. The central core of any effort to keep the Goan in his/her homeland is to provide affordable housing and land for Goans. As Faleiro points out, in India itself, the state of Rajasthan has made thousands of houses and plots of land available to its people; in South Africa, free land is given to the poorest citizens; Singapore provides public housing for as much as 80% of its population without compromising its prosperity; in the UK and other countries affordable housing units are mandatory by law. What has the Goa government done to subsidize housing for Goans? Nothing noticeable. In other countries such as the US and the UK, builders must provide a certain percentage of the units they build to low income citizens. In Goa, mega construction projects offer no lower priced units for Goans but instead cater to the non-Goan luxury market. What about jobs, investment opportunities, and Goa government contracts? Goans are also lamenting that these are going to non-Goans at an increasing pace. With the money these non-Goans make in Goa, at the cost of the Goan tax payer for government jobs and contracts, they can afford to buy land and housing in Goa and displace the local Goan. In a TOI report on July 24, 2012, titled "Why are Goans not given a chance to help in the state's growth?" the Goan owner of a flight support company called Aviation Services Management writes that he has received no replies to letters to the government asking if he could invest in aviation services and establish an aviation academy in Goa. He ends with the reasonable question: "Why do we need any industrialist from outside the state to invest here when we have an array of Goans that would not only be interested but even forthcoming in offering their services to the industry in Goa?" Whatever political party is in power, and whatever promises are made to the Goan electorate, the government of any party is not effectively dealing with these problems and trends. While I was in Goa, chief minister Manohar Parrikar, and many other politicians and NGO leaders were promising action and making statements that something should be done to give Goa and Goans special status similar to that of other ethnic groups in India so that their presence and ownership of Goa is maintained. But no one had any concrete plan of action except to promise to ask for special status for Goa. In fact, Goans I talked to are downright cynical about the promises of most politicians and NGOs whose past performance shows that they are not all that trustworthy. And, by the time that any political agreement is reached for a special status for Goa and Goans, the Goan in Goa will be marginalized and displaced by wealthier non-Goans through a competitive, capitalistic system without any checks and balances where outside money can buy land, votes, jobs, and government contracts, and rob the local people's millennia old heritage from them. I submit that it is time to have a respectful and civilized conversation with the Goa government and all political parties and social leaders in Goa for practical action, and perhaps a petition not to save Goa or to give special status to Goa (which will be decades in the coming, if at all) but to take immediate action to save Goa for Goans and give native Goans continued ownership and an effective share in the land and prosperity of their Goan homeland. The writer is a Goan actively involved in Goan issues. A retired teacher, she is based in Berkeley, California. The views expressed are her own.
