[Goanet] Musings on the Bhaile influx
* G * O * A * N * E * T C * L * A * S * S * I * F * I * E * D * S * Enjoy your holiday in Goa. Stay at THE GARCA BRANCA from November to May There is no better, value for money, guest house. Confirm your bookings early or miss-out Visit http://www.garcabranca.com for details/booking/confirmation. The transaction centric approach to formulating the bhaille influx problem is encouraging and potentially useful in charting the broad directions which solutions have to take. But a much greater affort has to be expended on understanding the real nature of the bhaille phenomenon in all its variegated features based on explicit demographic/economic/financial analysis. The next crucial step is to identify the transportation routes used for the influx -- road, rail, air etc --- and how this facilitates, accelerates or hinders and blocks the flow. Finally, who are the gatekeepers of the vital transportation nodes who, by design or default, affect the social/political balance of the state of Goa? Remedial measures have then to be devised for the delinquent entities thus identified while strengthening those which are doing good (i.e. positive) work. This is the model I would suggest for meaningfully tackling the bhaille influx problem.
Re: [Goanet] Musings on the Bhaile influx
* G * O * A * N * E * T C * L * A * S * S * I * F * I * E * D * S * Enjoy your holiday in Goa. Stay at THE GARCA BRANCA from November to May There is no better, value for money, guest house. Confirm your bookings early or miss-out Visit http://www.garcabranca.com for details/booking/confirmation. On Fri, 2007-03-02 at 20:16 -0800, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: From: Rajan P. Parrikar [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [Goanet] Musings on the Bhaile influx To: goanet@lists.goanet.org Message-ID: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Goans have traditionally been welcoming and we do not have to shrink our hearts and minds now. But we should not be blind to the problem either, one that potentially affects everyone, from longtime Goans to bhaile who have settled here for a while. Recognising a problem clearly is the first step towards solving it. This is a very well-argued mail, in which r has taken the first step towards a rational debate on this issue by posting the issues quite cogently. Instead, let's be more discriminating and recognise that the Trivedis and the Pandits are rarities, that the bulk of the nouveau riche - Mirchandanis, Modis, Grovers and Sharmas - flocking to Goa are here only for the ocean view, or are running away from the urban bathrooms their own cities elsewhere in India have turned into, or simply want a vacation outpost to invest into. The Brits and the Germans are here for the sun sand, cheap food and cheap rents, a deal not possible for these (mostly) blue-collared whites in Europe itself. Goa to them is a playground and once it loses its shine they will seek a playground elsewhere. Yes, fine. But who's selling the properties which these people are buying? Goans. Who are the politicians who are making wholesale and irrational changes to land use patterns which are enabling all kinds of developers to put up the most terrible projects? All Goans. Who are the industrialists who are responsible for the environmental despoilation of the mining belt. By and large Goans. Etc. Yes, bhailles can and do create problems, but the enabling factors are right here. And some self-examination is needed. Do haath se taali bajti hai. The problem is from both ends, and solutions have to be sought at both ends. Goa does not have a limitless capacity to absorb everyone who loves Goa and wants to come here (if love of a place were the sole criterion for admittance, 95% of humanity would make a dash for the USofA today). It is supremely easy to love Goa if you are stuck in any of the noxious hellholes that are Indian cities. If this trend continues unabated Goa will not remain the oasis it is. It is well to recall India's spectacular record of rapidly turning perfectly habitable places into stinking quagmires (think Pune, Bangalore, and a host of other bathroomised towns in urban India). Well said. But what is the solution? You cannot stop people coming and buying property on the open market. The labour is here because there is work, if they were not to come, who would do the work? The main solution is to ensure that land use patterns are not changed. That will at least prevent property developments from coming up. About existing property, what can you do? Buyer wants to buy, seller wants to sell, what can be done? A rational debate will show that while there is certainly a problem, solutions are far from easy. Goa cannot withstand this rate and nature of influx AND still be the pleasurable haven it is (still). This has to be addressed at a political level (Indian constitution, the right to settle anywhere and all that) What are you suggesting, nobody should move from the place or state where they were born? If Goans are to continue to be allowed to do it, so should other Indians. through policy changes and possibly more. Bold ideas and prescriptions are needed. Some specifics? -- Question everything -- Karl Marx
Re: [Goanet] Musings on the Bhaile influx
* G * O * A * N * E * T C * L * A * S * S * I * F * I * E * D * S * Enjoy your holiday in Goa. Stay at THE GARCA BRANCA from November to May There is no better, value for money, guest house. Confirm your bookings early or miss-out Visit http://www.garcabranca.com for details/booking/confirmation. Rajan, In your rush to pass the buck you forget that, the fellow from Andhra is tending to a fishing net of a Goan owned trawler and the Kashmiri rents from a Goan landlord. If you had to spend sometime in Anjuna and Vagator(Goa's main drug belt) you would see that all the small time drug dealers are Goans. Your views are from the perspective of the urban upper class Goan. You would be well advised to ask the stake holders i.e. the coastal people on what they think tourism has brought them. The beaches are not only meant for the upper classes or castes to enjoy. The ramponkars are not there to provide you with a better scenery. If a thesis needs to be written it should be based on how tourism has enabled the erstwhile backward castes to break through the social barrier. Tourism has not only dismantled traditional Goan occupations but has effectively dismantled the caste discrimination that was based on these occupations. I however share your frustration with the situation Goa is currently in, but the believe the blame is entirely ours. All the issues you mention are linked. Polticians(All Goans) convert land(owned by Goans) for Big Builders(mostly Goan) who then need cheap labour(Kannadigas, Tullus, etc) to construct mega projects to sell to mostly, rich non-Goans. Why blame the construction workers or appartment buyers. Does the Goan government legislate on the working conditions the construction companies need to provide their labourers with? Where are they supposed to go after the days work is done? Is the Government controling the land use patterns for real estate? If there were no appartments to buy we wouldn't have the louts from Delhi or hooligans from Manchester crowding the coast. You have to consider that well educated and travelled people such as yourself form a small minority of the total voting Goan population. A vast majority of Goans will vote for the Politician who will get illegal things done for them whether it is building an illegal compound wall or sanctioning a multi-crore project. However they are firm in the belief that illegalities should only be commited by residents of the village/vaddo and not anyone else. Is there any chance that someone like Dayanand Narvekar won't get relected? His(and all the rests') strategy is simple. Allow all residents of your constituency to commit gross illegalities for free(so that they re-elect you time and again) and then rake in money by taking bribes for projects in the rest of Goa. e.g. trying to sell of the G.M.C. to his cousin, forcing the Chairman of the Goa Board to manipulate the marksheets of his nephew and my classmate(never an outstanding student) in full public view to make sure he(and his brother) got into GMC, selling plots in Dona Paula IT park to his brother-in-law, the Socorro IT Park land scam, etc. Parrikar would be a good CM if he had absolute powers(like JFR Jacob during presidents rule). The fact of the matter is even he will compromise on his priciples when it comes to grabbing the CM's chair. I won't be surprised in Somnath Zuwarkar(a proven corrupt Congressman) stands on the BJP's Taleigao ticket against Babush(whom Parrkiar made a minister in the first place). Goans fully deserve what they are getting. Regards Sunith Velho I haven't yet said a word above on the deluge from the other segments of the economic spectrum. That is another big looming story which only the blind would deny. The penetration of Goa from this end is startling. There are now UPwallahs, Biharis, Oriyas in remote villages. Fellows from Andhra are now tending to the fishing nets in places you least expect them. Then the drugdealing Kashmiri rats who have bought into property along coastal areas around Candolim Calangute (by colluding with the local politicos) with their phony front stores. the Tibetans, the Lamanis - oh brother, Goa is getting it from every conceivable orifice. You wanted tourism - here it is. (There's a good PhD thesis waiting to be written how tourism has dismantled traditional Goan occupations within a generation.)
[Goanet] Musings on the Bhaile influx
* G * O * A * N * E * T C * L * A * S * S * I * F * I * E * D * S * Enjoy your holiday in Goa. Stay at THE GARCA BRANCA from November to May There is no better, value for money, guest house. Confirm your bookings early or miss-out Visit http://www.garcabranca.com for details/booking/confirmation. --- Frederick \FN\ Noronha [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I wonder how Hotel Mangalore is doing. As you could gauge, in this sea of chauvinism, I have a sneaking respect for these so-called non Goans. Dear Frederick, What's this bit about the so-called non-Goans? The distinction between Goan and non-Goan is not as fuzzy as you imagine. For instance, my friend Neeraj Shukla is a Goan and I can easily tell him apart from a non-Goan. Furthermore, one can be both a Goan and an Indian simultaneously since one is a subset of the other. But not all Indians are Goans. You can verify this for yourself by constructing a Venn diagram:-). I think you have the wrong end of the stick. The nub is not that non-Goans cannot, do not, contribute to Goa. The real issue is whether Goa can sustain its quality of life, its physical beauty, and its spirit, given the uncalibrated influx of the bhaile, brown and white, these days (in addition to all the other ongoing horrors such as the ODP, RP2011, rampant construction, damage to the environment etc). Goans are rightly alarmed and this is not necessarily chauvinism or paranoia as you periodically suggest. Goans have traditionally been welcoming and we do not have to shrink our hearts and minds now. But we should not be blind to the problem either, one that potentially affects everyone, from longtime Goans to bhaile who have settled here for a while. Recognising a problem clearly is the first step towards solving it. Let me here dwell on the new bhaile from the upper end of the economic scale. If these recent incoming were all Sanjeev Trivedis and Heta Pandits it would have been cause for celebration, for a Sanjeev Trivedi and a Heta Pandit giveth to society much more than they taketh. They are assets and a positive force to any community they may choose to settle into. It is not these type of remarkable individuals who have chosen Goa for their home that is our concern. Instead, let's be more discriminating and recognise that the Trivedis and the Pandits are rarities, that the bulk of the nouveau riche - Mirchandanis, Modis, Grovers and Sharmas - flocking to Goa are here only for the ocean view, or are running away from the urban bathrooms their own cities elsewhere in India have turned into, or simply want a vacation outpost to invest into. The Brits and the Germans are here for the sun sand, cheap food and cheap rents, a deal not possible for these (mostly) blue-collared whites in Europe itself. Goa to them is a playground and once it loses its shine they will seek a playground elsewhere. Recall the bhaile of 30 years ago - mostly civil servants, teachers, professors, doctors etc. We played with their children and despite their different language, surnames and food habits we could identify with them without difficulty. In essence they lived among us and more or less like us. Contrast that with the character composition of the bhailes today, parachuting straight into an 80 lakhs apartment or a villa in Dona Paula (or a house in Parra). The very next day he zips around town in a Honda, books his children into Sharda Mandir (through 'influence' no doubt from some other bhailo) while his wife takes a facial at the Marriott, and has no real desire (or capacity), to fraternize with the ordinary Goan or contribute to local life in any significant way. This abrupt social re-vectoring doesn't come without its own set of undesirable consequences. (FN will blithely pronounce this as capitalism and think he has made a devastatingly insightful remark). Goa does not have a limitless capacity to absorb everyone who loves Goa and wants to come here (if love of a place were the sole criterion for admittance, 95% of humanity would make a dash for the USofA today). It is supremely easy to love Goa if you are stuck in any of the noxious hellholes that are Indian cities. If this trend continues unabated Goa will not remain the oasis it is. It is well to recall India's spectacular record of rapidly turning perfectly habitable places into stinking quagmires (think Pune, Bangalore, and a host of other bathroomised towns in urban India). I have been a bhailo myself, having lived for almost 2 decades in America, and I well understand the issues that confront the outsider. I have also seen from close range the shocks administered to the system through indiscriminate immigration and the consequent
