Why
GOANS FIRST ?
A
troubled Economy | Influx
Indicators
Sandesh Prabhudesai
7 May 2003
Goa is presently passing through a critical phase of its
history. The economy is in a shambles ever since it attained
statehood in 1987. No doubt, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar
has proved that this tiny state can manage its financial resources
on its own and not merging Goa into a bigger state was not
a mistake. Many may not agree with his ideological views (this
writer certainly does not), but it would be really difficult
to disagree with the financial management he has practiced.
In spite of this, the opposition is pressing him to demand
special status for Goa, while Mr Parrikar feels the state
could overcome its deep financial crisis if the centre gives
a one-time grant.
"However, in view of the structural reforms pursued
by us which involves substantial financial cost and the result
of which would be visible only after a certain time lag, the
state is presently facing a liquidity crunch, which is adversely
affecting the fast pace of development that we intend to achieve…
Under these circumstances, I would request you to provide
a one time grant of Rs 100 crore to the state, which would
see us through this period of financial crunch". This
is the crux of the letter written by Mr Parrikar to Prime
Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on 5 December 2002.
On the other hand, tensions are mounting in the society day
by day, with people becoming self-centred, selfish, indifferent
and frustrated. The crime graph is not prepared to look downwards,
while the culture of tolerance is becoming a rare species.
Corruption is not only practiced wildly but, regrettably,
is respected widely. Land is scarce, while pressure on housing
those migrating to the towns and cities is increasing day
by day. Unemployment reaches a new height every time it is
measured. The social imbalance is more than visible.
The situation is also aggravated due to the continuing influx
of non-locals, not because they want to disturb the socio-economic
set up of Goa but simply because they get better opportunities
here than in their home states. Just as Goans look at Mumbai
or the Gulf, Goa has become the 'Gulf' for many other Indians.
But this has brought immense pressure on local resources,
land, housing, education, employment, industry and infrastructure.
It is also giving rise to a slowly growing blind hatred towards
non-Goans, without understanding the stark realities.
It is a fact that unskilled labour has come to Goa from outside
in large numbers since Goans have given up traditional occupations
like agricultural labour, construction, tailoring, hair cutting,
selling vegetables, etc. But it is not a fact that non-Goans
have migrated only to take up this casual labour, which Goans
have lost interest in. It is also not a fact that Goans have
given up traditional occupations merely out of fascination
for urbanised work or white collar jobs. Rather, it is because
many of them are no more economically viable. Education reaching
every nook and corner of the state has not provided them the
skills necessary to professionalise their traditional occupations
or their cultivation. Consequently, the more professional
non-Goans come in and hijack it.
On the other hand, it is a fact that even deserving Goans
have been sidelined from getting a job in many spheres by
a strong and united lobby from particular states in particular
fields. This process began with non-Goans recruited in 1961
in the government or officer-level positions in the semi-government
establishments, private establishments, industries and the
education sector. The chain of recruiting their ganv-walas
began since then and continues till date, as the 'originals'
have reached top influential and decision-making positions
today.
Nowadays, the first preference of any unemployed person or
even of a private employee, is a government job. Over 60 per
cent among those lining up in front of any MLA's house every
morning are such job-seekers; who are most of the time even
prepared to 'pay' for employment. Till very recently, a government
job was a rare possibility, until the Parrikar-led BJP discovered
a treasure.
The BJP was the first party to realise that 10,000 government
employees, recruited in the '60s and '70s will retire between
2000 to 2006. The plan to reduce retirement age to 58 was
also announced in the 1999 election manifesto, adding 2000
more to this figure. The 'golden handshake' VRS was also an
election promise, with at least 6000 expected to opt for it.
Since things are falling in line as per their plan, the BJP
will succeed in creating 18,000 vacancies in government jobs
by 2006. (See BJP's visualised break-up in box).
The pre-employment training scheme for fresh recruitment
was also announced in the same manifesto, and is being implemented
now. Government figures show that only 1078 trainees have
been selected, while the state has received 31,669 applications
which are still pending. In addition, the government has now
printed one lakh new forms, which are pouring in. Besides
this, the government has also created 1601 new posts since
January 2001. Since January 2000, 4469 old posts have been
filled, a major chunk of which was probably in the Goa Police.
Following his vision statement on industrial policy, Mr Parrikar
has now also provided Rs 50 crore to create 25,000 more opportunities
in a three-pronged employment strategy. It includes retention
of employment in the traditional sector, creation of large
scale employment by providing incentives to industries which
recruit locals and encouragement to self-employment in the
next three years. The total estimate of employment generation
by 2006 thus rises to 43,000.
This vision deserves to be commended and these efforts deserve
to be appreciated as far as the planning aspect is concerned.
There are grounds to believe that it will not remain a mere
paper exercise, since Mr Parrikar has already started implementing
his election manifesto regarding the golden handshake and
the pre-employment training scheme. In case of the recently
announced industrial policy, even if half of the Rs 50 crore
gets channelised properly, the government could retain, create
and generate a livelihood for at least 12,000 out of the 25,000
he has envisaged in the private sector. Similarly, even if
the government could create 15,000 vacancies in the state
administration, the whole number of employment and self-employment
opportunities cannot be less than 27,000. This conservative
estimate is by no means a small number.
Goans had missed the bus in the first decade after 1961,
since we did not have the required qualified semi-skilled
or skilled manpower, whether to run the state administration
or private establishments and industries. Even today, there
is a considerable mismatch between the kind of education imparted
and the opportunities being made available for employment,
self-employment and entrepreneurship that are getting created.
Mere creation of opportunities would not do if there is no
planned career orientation. Secondly, the whole exercise could
go haywire if the state does not decide who is a Goan.
We need not simply blame the private sector for not recruiting
Goan manpower, since sometimes either it is not available
or the available manpower expects three times the remuneration
than a non-Goan demands. Activities like construction, mechanised
fishing or sand extraction are being carried out with 90 per
cent non-Goan manpower because, as Governor Kidar Nath Sahani
rightly points out, locals are shying away from it. In spite
of knowing this, our corrupt and anti-Goan politicians permitted
ferro alloy units to set up in Goa, which can run only with
a non-Goan workforce while their huge power thefts totally
disrupted the state's power consumption capacity.
Industries come to Goa because the infrastructure, including
land, power, water, etc, is comparatively cheap. The government
gives incentives on sales tax but what is much, much more
attractive is the five-year tax holiday. Goa's second biggest
attraction is its milieu. It has good schools, friendly people
and a cosmopolitan, liberal atmosphere. The best managers
of large companies prefer to come to Goa rather than to far
more 'backward' places. This means Goa is well placed to attract
large Indian and multinational companies, if the government
has a consistent industrial policy and the bureaucracy is
made more efficient. But does this mean that Goans will get
the jobs created?
D-Link is an example of a model Goan employer in such a situation,
as far as industry is concerned. According to Mr Nitin Kunkolienkar,
the young and energetic manager of D-Link and president of
Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry, 97 per cent of his staff
is Goan. But this is no fortunate accident. It was a carefully
planned exercise; the staff was trained in Taiwan while the
factory was being constructed here at Verna.
Never ever has it been made compulsory to recruit a Goan
workforce (except a circular to recruit 80 per cent Goans
for a while, that was not followed judiciously). But this
can be done without hamstringing industry - by devising a
methodology to train the required manpower locally.
The BJP-led coalition government's latest incentives in the
industrial policy to recruit local manpower need to be designed
with such methodologies. But the state planned to implement
it prematurely from 1 April, while suggestions were invited
till 5 April without even making the document available to
the public. The government probably thinks that what it decides
is the best and has no scope for improvement.
What we fear is that such a lack of democratic spirit and
political will may throw a spanner in the works of a brilliantly
worked out Goan-centric employment policy, especially at a
time when a golden opportunity of employment generation between
27,000 to 43,000 has come forth after 40 years.
Forget other things, our confused politicians (of all political
parties) have not even dared to implement a simple, straightforward
clause making knowledge of Goa's official language (Konkani)
essential to secure employment in the state. Instead, the
ruling politicians have withdrawn the four-year-old system
of certificates attesting knowledge of Konkani from the Goa
Konkani Academy, a government institution. which could judge
who is a Goan. Our selfish politicians, indifferent to the
state's burning problems, simply fall prey to the pressure
tactics of a handful of language fanatics, who are least bothered
about the socio-economic problems confronting Goan society,
especially its youth.
On the contrary, Mr Parrikar moved a bill in the Assembly
to make Marathi also the official language, after the pro-Marathi
organisations in the state lost a case in the High Court to
make knowledge of Marathi essential for government jobs. It
is crystal clear that if Marathi is also made the official
language of Goa, the government cannot make knowledge of both
Konkani and Marathi essential for jobs, because lakhs of Goans
do not know both the languages. In such a situation, the only
remaining option would be to make knowledge of Konkani or
Marathi essential. This would mean that a person who does
not know Konkani but only Marathi can get a job in Goa. The
floodgates of employment in Goa would thus be officially opened
to Maharashtra's 9.67 crore population!
Believe it or not, ministers and BJP leaders have been promising
in their public speeches in the villages that they will make
Marathi the official language of Goa along with Konkani, if
their party is brought back to power with an absolute majority
in the next election.
What is distressing is that the BJP is trying to keep the
age-old language controversy alive by playing to the gallery
in both camps. Quietly, they have reversed their official
stand that the language controversy is over and they want
to concentrate more upon development and 'good governance'.
In spite of knowing well that the four-decade-old language
controversy was put to rest permanently in 1987 by making
Konkani the sole official language of Goa with equivalent
(but not equal) status to Marathi, the BJP is deliberately
fanning the hopes of Marathi fanatics and keeping the language
controversy alive because it is a direct short-cut to the
party's agenda of religious fanaticism - Hindutva.
Goans, unfortunately, have no other visible test of their
identity than their knowledge of Konkani. This identity needs
to be strengthened further by taking up several measures in
sectors like employment, education, administration and so
on. It is especially important to develop a comprehensive
test to identify who is a Goan. While the influx of non-Konkani
speaking people still continues into Goa, there are Konkani-speaking
people from outside Goa too. To protect employment in Goa
from both of these sources of influx, knowledge of Konkani
needs to be combined with another recruitment clause, of a
15-year domicile. Just the latter is not enough, since this
piece of paper can be bought for hard cash by non-locals,
thanks to our indifferent and corrupt bureaucracy, which is
least bothered to protect the interest of locals.
Yet another hurdle in protecting the interest of locals at
this critical time is a group of officials sitting in high
places in the administration, semi-government agencies, aided
educational institutions including Goa University, and even
private establishments. They do not follow the recruitment
rules as prescribed, or take unfair advantage of any such
rule not being made applicable to their establishment. The
whole budget exercise to create thousands of employment opportunities
is in danger of being washed away, as politicians, including
Mr. Parrikar, turn a blind eye to these conspirators for petty
political gains.
This is the reason the Kala Academy can dare to recruit two
music teachers from outside Goa without even advertising the
posts, while depriving nationally acclaimed Goan musicians
of these jobs. This is the reason that applications for electrical
junior engineers can be invited by relaxing the domicile clause,
probably to accommodate more Karwaris. This is the reason
the Institute of Psychiatry and Human Behaviour (IPHB) can
replaces the domicile clause with an employment exchange card
and hire a non-local who has simply transferred his employment
card from Andhra Pradesh to Goa. This is the reason several
aided institutions have been converted into hubs of recruitment
from other states. Is it any surprise then, that deliberations
at a recent Goa Librarians' Conference were held in Kannada,
and the majority of 'Goan' librarians had absolutely no problem
understanding the proceedings?
This kind of chicanery and manipulation in recruitment cannot
but raise resentment among Goa's unemployed youth. This resentment
has been simmering now for the last two decades, and is rapidly
reaching pressure-cooker proportions. Before it explodes,
what is needed is to keep cool and think rationally and nationally.
Slogans like Goa for Goans could whip up chauvinistic regional
sentiments and hatred towards any non-Goan. The last time
this slogan was raised - in the early '80s - it resulted in
a horrifying riot that ruined the state economy. But Goa's
unemployed do have a legitimate claim to jobs. Thinking nationally
and even globally, a rational and justifiable policy needs
to be adopted, which would simply say 'Goans First', neither
last nor never. Even the most advanced countries like Britain
and the USA have brought in tough laws to control the influx
of outsiders and protect employment opportunities for their
own citizens.
No one can get a government or semi-government job in Maharasthra
unless they have knowledge of that state's sole official language,
Marathi. In Karnataka, knowledge of Kannada is essential.
Goans, too, need to learn from our neighbours and unitedly
take a firm stand that Konkani is our identity and the Official
Language Act is one such powerful tool to safeguard our interest.
There is absolutely no need to bring in the linguistic fanaticism
that exists both in the Konkani and the Marathi camps. The
government needs to use this tool in all spheres, without
violating the constitutional spirit or damaging national integration.
But Konkani identity and Official Language Act cannot provide
solutions to all the problems confronting the Goa economy.
A well-co-ordinated effort in the prime sectors like Education,
Industry, Tourism, Agriculture, Environment, Administration
etc is also a must. Secondly, we need to stop or at least
slow down the influx which eats up the job opportunities available
for the locals, except in those areas where it is necessary.
Third, we need to protect the interests of the existing local
non-Goans. Many among them have integrated thoroughly with
the Goan ethos and their children have become niz goenkars
for all practical purposes. But merely putting it in these
words would not be enough. Our thinkers need to come together
and debate about who is a real Goan, not merely on the basis
of origin, but their integrity and commitment to the Goan
land and the interests of Goa.
A two-pronged strategy - short term and long term - needs
to be formulated to clear all the hurdles immediately as well
as permanently. In the short term, Goa needs to decide what
is the criteria to decide who is a Goan. Once this is decided,
the state needs to implement it vigorously and without any
compromise. Goa also needs to identify sectors where locals
need to be encouraged and those where non-locals need to be
roped in. Last, but not least, Goa also needs to respect all
Indians and the whole human race.
The mission should be to guard, protect and promote identity,
culture, and economic interests of Goans through the unity
of the people for asserting the right of Goans over Goan resources.
United efforts to foster the collective will as reflected
in the people's agenda and its adoption by the local population,
the state and all its instrumentalities is a must. The case
for the Goa Hit-Rakhan Manch lies precisely there.
A
troubled Economy
Influx
Indicators
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