Twenty-five Years of Statehood

A month and a day from now, we will be observing twenty-five years of statehood. I say observing, not celebrating. We have celebrated the golden jubilee of Goa’s Liberation last year. Another celebration is not called for. What we require is introspection, course correction, plan for the immediate and long term future, and a shared vision. A free debate in the media, in the villages and towns of Goa with minutes recorded and compiled by a Government appointed commission, a detailed statement of the aspirations of the people based on the said  minutes, and a vision statement  derived from this process and endorsed by the Legislative Assembly would be the right way to go about. A time bound plan based on these inputs and having the consensus of political parties could be the guide for the future. We could measure the progress from time to time.

The method I am suggesting implies the participation of the people and their interaction with the elected representatives at all levels of government. This calls for a radical change of attitude on the part of the people, but more so on the part of the government and legislators. The people are in a mood to participate as amply demonstrated in the past few years. I am sure the elected representatives will also oblige, having seen for themselves in the recent elections what happens when they lose touch with the people. And isn’t the present Government, in a way, the beneficiary of the people’s ire?

I shall now go back twenty-five years in time. When Goa achieved statehood on May 30, 1987, by an Act of Parliament, the celebrations were a damp squib. It wasn’t like after Liberation of Goa in 1961, or after the results of the Opinion Poll in 1967. May be the memories of loss during the Konkani agitation in the preceding year were still fresh. May be the unfortunate Konkani v/s Marathi debate had taken its toll. May be the people had no expectations from the set of politicians who were then in power. Indeed, two years later in 1989, the first state general election results showed a vertical divide of 21 seats for the ruling Congress and 19 seats for the opposition, leading to instability lasting for more than a decade.

Nevertheless, some celebrations were organized here and there. The Aldona Panchayat organized a public meeting with Assembly Speaker Dayanand Narvekar, Health Minister Shaikh Hassan and Youth Congress leader Mauvin Godinho in attendance as honoured guests. I was one of the speakers, and among other things I made a critical reference to “the tourism master plan” that the government had just come out with.  I also spoke about protecting our land, and the need to continue the struggle to protect our land and identity. I clearly remember Mauvin Godinho telling me in the sidelines that it would be better not to have any plans in the future as people keep opposing the same, but to go ahead with schemes and development. Twenty-five years later in the run up to recent elections, and referring to the demands of the people, Godinho is reported to have compared the people to children in school, and further having remarked that teachers can’t give in to every demand of the children. My purpose is not so much to indict Godinho as to point out the mentality of people entrenched in power. Anyway, the children (read people) had the last laugh. They taught the teachers (read politicians in power) who the real masters are.

Planning with people’s participation, aided by experts, must become the hallmark of all future development. If we can seriously start this process as a mark of the silver jubilee of Goa’s statehood, we will have arrived at a turning point. Intellectuals, opinion leaders, academicians, industrialists, environmentalists, other professionals and political leaders can make the beginning. The process can then percolate to the people at the grassroots. Let us once take a break from jubilee celebrations and work out something new. Will our new Chief Minister take the initiative? 

At the close of the discussion on Goa Statehood bill in the Lok Sabha, late Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, spoke thus about us: Very beautiful people living in a beautiful part of the country, who have shown rare maturity in overcoming difficult and complex problems.

I shall end this piece thanking the memorable Rajiv Gandhi for this compliment, and with a promise to revisit this topic at least once before  May 30, 2012.

Published in The Navhind Times, Panorama 29.04.2012

Celebrating the Earth

We live in a place and time where celebrations abound. Birthdays and anniversaries, marriages and jubilees, victories and days dedicated to concepts like friendship, motherhood, etc. Not forgetting the time tested religious celebrations and national days. In recent times, commercial interests have given a boost to these festivals and even promoted trivialities as festivals. Fortunately, we also have some days in the calendar every year, dedicated to serious ideas. Some of these are very important but are not given the publicity and proportion they deserve. They do not therefore make the impact on public consciousness that they ought to make, and which is highly desirable. The Environment Day, on 5^th June every year, is an example of a day that needs to be observed on a much wider scale. And how many people know that today, 22^nd April, is observed as Earth Day all over the world?

The celebration of the Earth Day started on 22^nd April 1970 in America with participation of almost twenty million people. It has been widely credited to have launched the modern environmental movement. Observed every year since then by an increasing number of countries, it has now become an important event on the calendar of the environmentalists worldwide.  But it has yet to percolate to the masses and become one of the top events in all continents. It is the need of the hour. Love and respect for mother earth has to be inculcated in every human being right from the cradle to the grave. We are children of the earth. The earth belongs to us all here and now, and to the billions and trillions who will follow us as inheritors of the earth. If our ancestors had not kept the earth safe for us, we might not have been existing today.

 It is our duty and our pride to care for the earth. It may sound haughty to look upon ourselves as protectors of the earth. It is the other way round. The earth is our protector. It is our home. It nurtures  us in every possible way. It nourishes us with food from its soil and drink from its underground resources. It offers us fresh air to breathe. It heals us with its herbs and plants. It provides us with minerals and energy to build our civilizations. Its matter becomes the subject of scientists, their theories and insights. It rescues our souls with its wonders from the trappings of our own making. It ignites our minds with inspiration to become creative in our own ways. It raises our hearts and minds to higher spiritual levels and eternal possibilities. Founders and saints of great religions found enlightenment not so much in religious structures as in the deserts, on top of hills and mountains, and under the trees. The Earth Day must become a big global celebration, not just a mere observation. All stake holders should take up this challenge.

We, humans, can count ourselves both as the biggest beneficiaries and the worst destroyers of the earth. I still remember the story my class teacher had told about a man, who after taking shelter under a huge tree from the scorching sun, remarked that the tree had grown wild and must be cut. Of all the species that have inhabited the earth, human beings have damaged it the most. Not out of necessity but out of insatiable greed.

Is there hope? Yes. Look at the growing number of environmental heroes and the increasing sound of the protesting voices. International and national magazines keep bringing out stories on environmental issues, movements and heroes.  Celebrities, writers, artists, activists, journalists, and a slowly but surely growing number of politicians are committing themselves to the earth and environment. The results are trickling down. Al Gore of America, Marina Silva of Brazil (called the godmother of the rain forest), and our own Medha Patkar, are some of the leading lights. Some have reached the corridors of power, and are making their presence felt. Awareness and activism are on the rise. We must all make our contribution, raise our voices, participate in movements, and move our concern for the earth from the space on the streets to the seats in the parliament.

If not for the humble beginning on 22^nd April 1970 with the first Earth Day, we may not have had legislations and acts protecting air, water, endangered species, environment, and international conferences focusing on climate change, oceans, bio-diversity, etc.

I shall sign off, quoting Joseph Wood Krutch: When we destroy something  man-made and replaceable, we are called vandals. When we destroy something irreplaceable and made by God, we are called developers.

Published in The Navhind Times, Panorama 22.04.2012 

Democracy at its Best

Since Panchayat polls are due in a month’s time, I shall devote this column to the subject this Sunday. Don’t get me wrong by the title. I don’t condone the way things are today. Far from the ideal. The concept is awesome but the practice is awful. And getting from bad to worse.

In the nineteen-sixties and seventies, a number of good men and women, either after retirement or with years of social service to their credit, used to stand for elections in their villages. They were offering themselves for service, having accomplished their many other goals in life. Making money was the least in their minds. Today it is the other way round. Many who have failed in other spheres want to stand for elections. What with salaries, likely pensions and gifts in cash or kind. Idealism and service are not on their minds but their hearts are in their deep pockets. Education is not the criteria and ignorance is bliss. Manipulations and falsifications have become rewarding. And if my work can be done, to hell with civic concerns and priorities. This goes on because the majority is still silent. At election time the power is with the silent majority. The altruistic activist has to tap this power.

If “we the people” can assert ourselves strongly in this arena, we can make a big difference. Yes, we can.  If the people could bring about a change at the state level last month, they certainly can do it at the village level next month. We need better candidates, educated men and women of character and commitment. This type of people don’t usually come forward to stand for office. Civic minded citizens must come forward, encourage such persons to stand for the elections, support and vote for them. People’s candidates. People’s power. Not party candidates. And certainly not party power. Our elected Panchayat members do not have to be and should not be affiliated to any political parties. Their only affiliation should be to the village in general and to the people of the ward they represent in particular. All other affiliations may be personal and should not have any bearing on public policy and public conduct.

Corruption is now so rampant at the panchayat level. It is one thing, bad enough as it is, when government servants demand bribes. But we have reached such low levels that elected members blatantly demand bribes from people in their own wards and villages. What can be more perverse? Just imagine, some of them wear Anna caps when it suits them. And if a good man or woman wants to set things right, then the common refrain is, “tum anink tamtun kiteak podta?”, meaning leave them alone, don’t dirty your clean hands. The waters of petty politics are so dirty that you can’t even wash your hands clean. And yet I must, cynical refrains notwithstanding, proclaim and proclaim aloud that all is not lost. The future belongs to those who dare. Change is possible if we believe we can. Change is in the air all over the world. We have done it in Goa. We can now do it in our own villages. Next month.

There are allegations that wards are delimited to suit party interests. The Council for Social Justice and Peace, Goa, has pointed this out, and rightly suggested that this process and the whole panchayat election should be conducted by the Goa State Election Commission. Political parties should also not openly enter in the fray. If corruption has to be fought against on a war footing, the battles should begin at the panchayat level. Once elected, the members should build good relations with the MLAs and ministers to get works done but never be their slaves. All are elected at various levels to serve the people, and the only masters are the people.

Our panchayati raj system is unique in the world. It has evolved historically. Late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and late Chief Minister of Karnataka Ramkrishna Hegde are two leaders in recent times who introduced reforms to empower this village system in the country and Karnataka respectively. More reforms are required. More empowerment is necessary. But right now our system falls short of even the possibilities already granted in the constitutional amendments. May be people will have to agitate in the future. But for now, let us do what we can through the ballot box.

Published in The Navhind Times, Panorama 15.04.2012 

The Triumph of Hope

Change is in the air. Not just in Goa but all over the world. And though we often evoke spring and springtime in this connection, I’m not referring to climatic change, ominous as it is. I’m talking about the change that inspires hope, and hope that triggers change. It may be called a virtuous circle. It is a theme in keeping with the Easter season and the prolonged season for change that started with the Arab spring.

The latest results have come from Myanmar, where Nobel peace prize laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi, has won forty-three parliamentary seats in by-elections held for forty-five. About eighteen months back, Wang Dan, a Chinese leader of the 1989 Tiananmen Square student movement, had described her in an essay in Time magazine as a lady called Hope. This was after her release from the in and out house arrest by the military junta, lasting for over two decades. He had called her “a symbol to those … fighting for human rights against authoritarian regimes”.

She was placed under house arrest in 1989, during another time of hope inducing change. Nelson Mandela, the political prisoner of the century, was about to be released. The Berlin wall was about to  fall. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was falling apart after Mikhail Gorbachev’s perestroika and glasnost. Communism was crumbling under its own suffocating weight. Poland had shown the way by saying goodbye to communism, and other East European nations were soon to follow. We Indians had shown the door to the Congress for a second time, under the leadership of V. P. Singh. Change was in the air all over. But in China it was the massacre of students fighting for change at the Tiananmen Square. In Burma, now Myanmar, it was the house arrest of a great leader in the making, the daughter of General Aung San, hero of their country’s independence more or less at the same time as  that of our own in 1947. Aung San Suu  Kyi’s physical movements and activities were confined, but her spirit soared beyond boundaries. No power on earth has authority over one’s spirit. Quoting Suu Kyi,“the only real prison is fear; and the only real freedom is freedom from fear”.

The Nobel prize for peace made her an international celebrity in 1991. The people of her country placed their trust and hope in her. To the outside world she became the “moral imprimatur”. And to all, inside and outside, she became an icon of democracy. Be it in victory or defeat, she is the symbol of courage and change. Says she in an interview published in Time, “my very top priority is for people to understand that they have the power to change things themselves.”

Change is not easy. Those leading the people towards change need to be men and women of tremendous courage, matched by an iron will power. They have to be self sacrificing and morally upright. Suu Kyi has proved herself to be having all the qualities of a great leader, with her resistance as well as persistence. Her stature can’t be contained in a title.

But then stature alone does not suffice. A leader has to have the humility to be in touch with reality, and also subject oneself to change based on realistic assessment. Not a change of principles but a change in functioning. As Mahatma Gandhi would say, be the change you want to bring about.

Suu Kyi has, specially in the last two years, shown herself to be pragmatic. Her present victory is also to be attributed to her pragmatism in engaging with the reformist President of Myanmar, Thein Sein. Her party, the National League for Democracy, will now occupy forty-three seats in a house of six hundred sixty-four. The landslide victory of forty-three out of forty-five seats indicates great future possibilities, specially in general elections due in Myanmar in 2015.

Suu Kyi has stated that she would prefer to work as a member of parliament, to which she is elected, than accept a role in the army backed government, which requires her to give up the parliament seat. This decision is another feat of pragmatism to keep a proper balance between the people whose face of hope she is and the government whose face of democratic legitimacy she could be. 

I wish her the very best. She has to meet the challenges of a country, rich in energy and mineral resources but with poverty and ethnic problems. Myanmar needs her as a leader. The world needs her as an inspiration.

Published in The Navhind Times, Panorama 08.04.2012  

Be not the Shadow but the Light

Recently the former MLA of Fatorda, Damodar Naik, came out with the idea of functioning like the shadow MLA of the constituency in which he lost the recent election.

Perhaps he borrowed this idea from the United Kingdom, where they have the concept of a shadow cabinet.

Now a shadow cabinet is in order, and we would do well to informally adopt this system in our country though not as a constitutional requirement. It should be done voluntarily by the opposition party or the opposition group that is willing to form the government in case the incumbent government falls any time during the tenure of the Legislature. Thus we can have the leader of the opposition as shadow prime minister or shadow chief minister, a shadow home minister, a shadow tourism minister, etc. This exercise will be beneficial to the state on two counts. First, there will be an alternative to the existing government with each shadow minister focusing on his shadow area of work, keeping a constant vigil with an eagle eye, developing insights and probable solutions. Thus he will be better prepared to take over whenever the mantle of ministerial leadership falls on his shoulders. Second, he can offer constructive criticism and keep the incumbent minister on his toes, pointing out the flaws in policies and the failures in practice.

There is a big difference between a shadow minister and a shadow legislator. While the former idea is good the latter is both bad and dangerous for democracy. This is because in a parliamentary democracy, the ministers hold office as long as they enjoy the confidence of the legislature. Whenever the ministry loses the majority in the legislature, it has to resign, and the president or governor has to make alternative arrangements, which include an invitation to the leader of the opposition to form the government. A leader of the opposition with a shadow cabinet would always be in a ready state to assume the reigns. But there is no such provision for shadow MP or MLA. He is elected for five years, and if his seat becomes vacant for any reason, the people of the constituency have to elect a new person. No shadow MLA, Mr. Naik.

I have elaborated on this topic because the idea that Naik has expressed may be sought to be practiced by either defeated candidates or future aspirants. We must allow the elected representative to function as our only representative for five years, as at present there is no right to recall. Laws can be made only by the elected legislators. Works should also be executed in consultation with them, whether they are members of the ruling party or of the opposition. Extra-constitutional centers of power should never be encouraged.

Once a candidate is elected, he represents all the people of the constituency, not only those who voted for him. The MP or MLA belongs to all, and should work for all. The defeated candidates and aspirants can always continue their social service, and offer their candidature when the next turn comes. As was done by Rohan Khaunte, who won from Porvorim after the exemplary social work during the last few years. Or Dr Hubert Gomes, who, however, lost gracefully in Benaulim inspite of his worthy social leadership. Opportunities to work for the betterment of the people and the area are plenty. There is so much darkness to overcome and so much light to share. Be not the shadow but the light.

As late Matanhy Saldanha told his niece Melissa Simoes, "winning or losing is not important but being in the midst of people and touching numerous lives … inspiring them." I’ll sign off quoting Elisabeth Kubler-Ross: People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is light from within.

Published in The Navhind Times, Panorama 01.04.2012