Saturday, January 25- 31, 2004

 

GOAN GOING GONE!

 

IGO<There is certainly concern bordering on consternation and paranoia over the fact that the Biharis, the Uttar Bhartiyas, the Kannadigas, the Keralites, the Maharastrians and more recently the Oriyas will soon take over Goa. In fact the wide-spread belief is that the bhaile have already taken over.>

TGF: Goa will suffocate itself by trying to insulate itself.  Goa can only benefit from the influx of individuals and capital from outside Goa. However, unplanned  development and uncontrolled changes in the demographics of any place will only destroy the place - in this case....Goa.   What is also happening in Goa is that the Delhi based and instructed government is excluding Goans from Government and Government funded jobs for which they are qualified, and post 1961 lawlessness and chaos is enabling Goan property to be either squatted upon or outright swiped. The most notable areas where opportunity is denied to Goans,  are Tourism and Information Technology. 

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IGO<You have only to take a look at the official government directory to realize the extent of which bhaile control all the top rungs of the administration in Goa. Among the Brahmins, the Indian Administrative Service and the Indian Police Service officers, over 95% are from outside Goa which is of course not surprising because no Goan resident in Goa since liberation has been able to get into the Indian Administrative Service or infact any of the central administrative services. And Goans from outside Goa who are members of the Indian administrative and other central services are reluctant to come to Goa because they are painfully aware that honest independent central service officers cannot survive in Goa. Remember what happened to Richard D’Souza , Conservator of Forests.>

TGF : The above paragraph leads credence to  the view that Goans were not  liberated in 1961. If they were indeed liberated, they would have been in control of their own destiny. 

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IGO<What is surprising is that over 60 – 70% of the officers of the Goa civil service are also bhaile. Historically a number of outsiders join the Goa civil service because Goa become a full fledged state in 1987 recruitment to the Goa civil service was done by the Union Public Service Commission. That is why you have Reddy’s, Suryanarayana’s, Venkatratnam’s, Varadhan’s, Hawaldar’s and Rao’s galore among the officers of the Goa civil service.>

TGF: Think about it, is this what is (or was) meant by liberation?

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IGO<When Goa was liberated or annexed, thanks to the deliberate neglect of higher education and technical education by the Portuguese, there was a severe shortage of educated and skilled workers. The problem was compounded because the official language was changed overnight from Portuguese to English. Not only bureaucrats but civil engineers and electrical engineers and mechanical engineers were needed for the public works department, the electricity dept and the irrigation dept. The majority of these came from Maharashtra.>

TGF : Was it in the interest of Goans that the official language was changed from one colonial language to another? or was it done to edge qualified Goans out of jobs - so that the Bhaille could come in and reserve other jobs for their cousins in their home State?

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IGO<Before liberation there were no English medium schools or colleges in Goa. This lacuna was filled with migrants from Kerala, for the English medium schools, and from neighbouring Karnataka was so heavy, that a few private schools in the Kannada medium were started. Never mind that in the immediate post-liberation period there was not even a single primary Konkani medium school.>

TGF : That is a load of rubbish. Rajan Narayan is either unaware, trying his hand at revision, or in serious denial.  At the time of the Indian military action in 1961, there were several very good English medium schools in Goa.  The fact is that the pro-merger with Maharashtra, MG Party of  Senhor Daiananda Bandorcar took a strategic decision to destabilize and displace Goan Catholics who were known for their opposition to merger with the neighbouring State of Maharashtra. Catholics were also (mainly) fluent in the English language (and Portuguese). The best way to get rid of the Catholic vote was to get rid of the Catholics. And the best way to do that was to deny them jobs - by bringing in folks from outside Goa. Just imagine - since 1961, there has never been a Goan Director of Tourism! And Goa is supposed to be one of the world's premier tourist destinations!

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IGO<Tourism Boom
Before liberation all the best chefs in the starred hotels in the country were Goans. So one would have presumed, that when the Tourism boom began in the 80’s with the charters, Goans would secure employment in all the new hotels, restaurants, beach shacks and the travel agencies that came up.

Unfortunately this did not happen. This did not happen because successive governments in Goa did not have the foresight to set up adequate man-power training institutions such as institutes of hotel management and catering colleges to train Goans for jobs in the hospitality and the tourism industry. In the 80’s a centrally funded catering college was set up in Goa. Unfortunately all the seats in the catering college are filled in by a central competitive exam. There were no reservations for Goans. The result is that, let alone the general managers, even the F&B managers, Front Office managers, the stewards, the chefs in the overwhelming majority of the 7-star , 5-star and 4-star hotels are bhaile.>

TGF : There is no problem with investors bringing in their own managers. It is their money and their right to look after their money. It is also good management to bring in skills which are not available locally. But, IF the Goa Government is providing any benefits to the investors, Goans need to receive benefit from that. TGF, however, is more concerned with Government jobs. If top Government jobs were in the hands of Goans, the offensive denial of jobs in Goa to qualified Goans in the private sector, would never have occurred.

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IGO<Forget about the starrred hotels. In the last decade a huge number of up-market restaurants and night spots have come up in Goa. The majority of the fancy restaurants and the night spots, whether it is Ingo’s Saturday Night Bazaar or the Club Cabana or the J & A restaurant in Baga or 10 Downing Street or Primrose or even the health-conscious organic soya bean speciality restaurant, Bean Me Up are all run either by foreigners or by Mumbaikars. >

TGF : Again, if foreigners have invested their funds in Goa - and they are legally doing business  there, NO reason why anyone should crib about them running those businesses. If Goans wish to start businesses, they should do so. The questions are : Are qualified Goan investors being harassed and prevented from running businesses in Goa? and Are these foreign investors allowed to get into the local market and stay there mainly by bribing some corrupt officials?

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IGO<Till a decade ago at least the shacks on the beaches were run by Goans. In recent years, whenever I have gone to the shacks, whether in Benaulim, Baga or in Arambol and asked a question in Konkani, I am met with a blank stare.     Over the last decade even the profile of the local posorkar’s have changed. The majority of the shops on 18th June road in Panjim are owned not by Goans but by outsiders. The approach to every beach is lined by shops selling T-shirts, sarongs, costume jewellery, so called gems and carpet shops, which are all run by Kashmiri’s and lamanis.>

TGF : Again, as long as these businesses are legitimate, licensed and are NOT squatting on anyone's  property or walkway, or creating any health hazards,  there is NO reason on earth why they cannot operate in Goa. Further, if their services were not required, their businesses would not have been patronised, and the so called bhaille would have left and gone else where. As far as the "blank Konkani" is concerned, please visit the Dabolim Airport cafe and try listen if you hear any Konkani music being played there. Ah.....my 'liberated' Goa!

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IGO<The most recent migrant wave into Goa is that of the Oriyas. Almost every private security guard in the State is now from Orissa. The security guards at the Herald office, where I worked for 20 yrs, where from Orissa. All the barberias in the State have been taken by the Andhraites. Even the maid servants now are increasingly from outside Goa.  Wherever you go in Goa, its difficult to find a Goan. There have been suggestions that Goans should be labeled an endangered species.>

TGF : So what? If there are jobs which Goans do not wish to do - is there a problem if folks from Andhra or Orissa come and do them? Doubt that reasonable Goans have a problem with that. What they have a problem with, is the fact that these folks have not been graduated into Goa. Hence they have brought their filthy paan-spitting ways to Goa.  And as they are being employed for pittance, they end up squatting on the pavements, or in some Goan houses, and answering the call of nature in .....nature!

This is not liberation. This is a return to the ways of the jungle - with the corrupt politicians and uncivil servants ruling - with the Law of the Jungle! 

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IGO<Census Figures
There are no definite figures available official or otherwise of the number of migrants in Goa. But the census data gives us some indication of how many migrants have come into Goa since liberation. At the time of liberation the population of Goa was around six lakhs.  Estimates vary but even conservately speaking it is believed that between 40-50 % of Goa’s current population of around 15 lakhs are bhaile .And the fear is that by the end of the decade there will be more bhaile in Goa than Goans.>

TGF : Total garbage. Anyone who contributes to Goa's well being is a Goan. Hence the question of bhaille does not exist. A "Bhaillo" is a person who usurps a position meant for a Goan, tries to wipe out Goan culture and Konkani & impose his/her own culture on Goans, and assists in the degeneration of the place. All this while engaging in unmitigated corruption and religious discrimination.

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IGO<NO JOBS FOR GOANS
The most distressing and worrying phenomenon is that even Goans who are technically qualified seem to find it difficult to get jobs. There are as many as one lakh Goans registered with the un-employment exchange. Of the one lakh, 80% are matriculates and above.  The bhaile coming into Goa are landless labour from chronically drought prone districts. Unlike Goans they find it difficult to get even one meal a day. Unlike Goans who have a family home to fall back on, fish in the river and their country cousins sending them money-order, the bhaile do not have any source of income. If the bhaile do not get work they will starve. From zero, which is what they can earn, back home in Gorakpur or Bijapur even Rs1000 or Rs2000 is an enormous improvement. For bhaile from Bihar and Orissa and neighbouring Karnataka and Maharasthra, Goa is their El Dorado. Goa is their Gulf. And they are willing to work for very low wages and work very hard because for them it is a matter of survival. >

TGF : Employers who pay such wages are the other major partners in the ghetto-ization of the once beautiful Goa. Their colleagues in the degradation of Goa are the despicable corrupt politicians & civil servants and the self serving lapdog alleged journos who are doing the whitewash. 

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IGO<NOT SUSSEGAD
I strongly believe that Goans are as hard working and as committed and as motivated as any one else. I believe the basic problem is that Goan employers because of the availability of cheap labour from outside are unwilling to pay decent wages. And I do believe that the reason why Goans have not been able to get jobs is because of the irresponsible attitude of successful governments to man power training. >

IGO<WILL IT IMPROVE?
Will things get better? I am afraid not. They will probably get worse. This is because on the one hand the Gulf bubble has burst. There are no white collar jobs any longer in the Gulf because they are reserved for locals. And a blue-collared job fetches much less as there are Philipinoes, Sri Lankans , Bangladeshis and Palestinians willing to work for much less than the Goan will do. And the problem is being aggravated by the systematic marginalisation of the minority community in Goa. In recent recruitments the minority community is being deliberately discriminated against. Goans by the end of the decade will be a minority in Goa. Worse still there will be more unemployed Goans in Goa than we have now. The bhaile will continue to come and thrive and prosper in Goa. >

TGF : Those are the fruits of the so called liberation. The Ostriches may not realise this but Goans have gradually been liberated of their Jobs, their Land, their Houses, their Language, their Culture, their Self Confidence and their Way of Life.

Mercifully - only in Goa. Not abroad.

Goans are well known for making Home wherever Home is. And that is what is happening now. Goans are making the most of their talent - all over the world. All the "bhaille" can come to Goa and swipe it away from Goans - they will NEVER EVER take away Goa from the Goan heart.

For most Goans, Goa will continue to exist ad infinitum - albeit in cyberspace.

As for the Ostriches and the corrupt Politicians and Civil Servants who let this happen to Goa - please envisage what lies ahead. Please learn from the experience of Bihar and Orissa. Remember: The snake which you have in your house, will one day - bite you.

TGF
Jan 27, 04

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Kolis raise a stink in Mumbai (Bombay)
Syed Firdaus Ashraf
February 10, 2004
Edited for TGF from http://in.rediff.com/news/2004/feb/10sfa.htm

The fishermen of Mumbai, called 'kolis', are gunning for the north Indians who are involved in the trade. Last year the Shiv Sena had attacked some North Indian students who had come to take the railway exams.

"These bhaiyas [a derogatory term used for North Indians] buy fish from wholesale market and sell fish door-to-door in Mumbai," says Ramkrishna Keni, president of the organisation that looks after the interests of the community. "Because of this we are losing customers. If some steps are not taken immediately we will be … left with no business."

"The north Indians go to the wholesale markets as early as 5 am and pick up the best catch. They then put them in aluminium tubs and go to middle-class localities. Our koli women cannot do that as traditionally we sit in the fish markets of Mumbai. For our women to bring fish from wholesale markets to people's home is not possible"

Asked if it is not wrong to pressure the north Indians, as it is their country too, he says, "We are the original inhabitants of Mumbai. We don't mind the north Indians coming to our city and selling bhelpuri, sev puri, ragda patis or anything else.  But why are they coming in our traditional business?  At least leave something for our community so that we can survive here peacefully."

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