Of all the misplaced priorities of successive
Goan governments, the most recent is the Vibrant Goa summit. The summit aimed to
attract investment in the areas of pharma, tourism, IT, and real estate. Even a
cursory glance at the industries that the Goan government is promoting should
make the alarm bells ring. For it is precisely these industries and their
unregulated promotion that causes economic, social, and cultural problems in
Goa.
The problem with the government’s
promotion of such business schemes lies in the non-recognition of the
environmental cost on Goa and its people. Some weeks back, a tanker carrying
the poisonous naphtha chemical, docked at the port in Vasco, drifted and ran
aground in Dona Paula, posing a severe threat to the lives and livelihoods. We
are still anxiously hoping that the poisonous chemical will not leak in the
Goan waters, which are already polluted by MPT’s coal handling. The tanker
drifted because the October retreating monsoons brought with it the cyclone
Kyarr, causing much damage to life (in addition to trees and animals) and
property.
The government’s response to disasters,
whether man-made or natural, is inadequate. Governmental authorities do not
display the initiative that one expects of their government to regulate and
prevent disasters. It is not
the first time that a ship has run aground. The infamous
MV River Princess at Candolim and the barge hired for a wedding reception at
Arossim have cause irreparable sand erosion at both these places. Cyclone Kyarr
is not the first time that cyclonic winds have battered the coastline of Goa as
well as caused floods. The government’s preparedness is almost nonexistent,
which is to say that in times of crisis Goans can only depend on good fortune
and the divine.
When the government is so inefficient to
provide disaster management as well as the usual utilities like clean water
(recall that Ilhas had
no drinking water for 8-9 days in August and Ponda for
even more this year) and regular electricity, it is beyond ridiculous that it
promotes business and investment in Goa. How do you expect people to work if
they do not have clean water to drink?
A note also on the Vibrant summits, the brainchild
of the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, and a ‘Gujarat model of development’ is
in order here. The claims of economic boost through the Vibrant Gujarat summit
are at odds with the realities on ground. There is simply no accountability of
the investment brought in by the thousands of MoUs signed in Gujarat. Compared
to Goa’s 17 MoUs, Gujarat Vibrant summits have signed thousands of MoUs with
business houses since its inception in 2003. The most recent assessment
of the Vibrant Gujarat summit, with about 28,000 MoUs, confirms that it has not
delivered on its lofty promises. And so, the question emerges: why does the
government, assisted by the business community, engage in such shambolic
‘development’ and business practices?
The answer is startlingly simple: profit at
any cost. By ‘profit,’ I do not only mean ‘greed’ of individuals but also a
systemic problem wherein the social and political order rests on the extraction
of natural resources by displacing the poor communities and an absence of fair
redistribution of wealth. Demands for job creation or abysmal employment rates
are then used as a smokescreen to promote businesses that do not care about
worker rights and welfare. The government also does not display any seriousness
in protecting worker rights. The result is an economic system that can collapse
at any moment with catastrophic effects. Hence, it is a systemic problem that
causes the most damage. Here’s how.
The government makes laws, such as those that
create Special Economic Zones (SEZs) or Investment Promotion Boards, which give
businesses incentives like tax breaks and a free hand to operate how they
choose. Through its policies, such as trying to attract investment, the
government abdicates its regulatory role—otherwise business houses refuse to
participate in ‘boosting’ the economy. The government, as well as the business
houses, circumvent the will and consent of the people on whose lands or in
whose immediate vicinity these industries are established. Ignoring the
irregularities, or rather actively promoting them, leads to massive losses to
the exchequer. The exchequer also loses cash if the projects fail as the
government, through a contractual binding, frees the business houses of all
liabilities. In the case of the failed SEZs in Goa, the Goan government owes
damages worth crores to the private business houses!
The systemic promotion of profit through
law and policy is today, unfortunately, sustained by electoral democracy. Most
people participate in the electoral democracy for basic amenities such as
water, electricity, roads, and job security. But the result is opposite: both
the government and business houses fail to deliver a stable economic system.
Hence, the blame that individual voters are responsible for voting for the
wrong guy by taking bribes, even if it is the case, does not explain the cause
of my present situation. The vote of the honest voter also results in a
systemic failure. Every government in power does the same thing, without fail.
Thus, we need to change our thinking about
profit and economic growth. Stock market statistics are not a sign of progress
and prosperity. As long as businesses demand unfair incentives, and as long as
the government (party affiliation notwithstanding) humors such demands, the
economic and social ills will continue unabated. Both the government and
business houses must think of a ‘slower
economy of life,’ meaning not a slow down of
economic progress but a stable system that offers redistributive justice.
(First published in O Heraldo, dt: 6 November, 2019)
