CONVERSATIONS FOR OUR FUTURE

In the Lok Sabha elections 2019, most voters faced the proverbial horns of a dilemma. These voters who want a non-communal, non-corrupt government have, on the one hand, voted for a particular party whose record in combating communalism and corruption belies its lofty rhetoric of upholding values of honest politics and secularism. On the other hand, some may have voted for a new party, whose unique selling pitch is its tirade against corruption, and whose new-ness has ensured that it has no real record of malfeasance.

However, these two choices—though made in desperation—have a fatal flaw built into them: they are stopgap solutions and have consequences for the future of the polity, society, and the environment for the next 10 or 20 years. As far as electoral representation is concerned, if the abovementioned dilemma gets resolved momentarily by choosing the lesser evil, throughout the next several decades, we shall only be electing the lesser evil.

One can appreciate why many voters are desperate. The Indian first-past-the-post electoral system with the minoritization of thousands of communities often leaves people with little choices other than the short-term, stopgap ones. Often, voters operate based on guesswork over how best not to waste one’s vote, and also get some short-term benefit by choosing the lesser evil. More often, one hopes that the short-term choices have no long-term destructive consequences.

It is crucial, therefore, to have a new type of political conversations, which ensures long-term solutions to our current problems. Our powerless-ness and hopeless-ness during elections should encourage debates over long-term changes in politics, society, and environment. As many have started to recognize, deepening democracy and combating communalism and corruption cannot happen during elections alone. What we do and say after an election, anticipating the next, buffers us from powerless-ness and can truly give us a choice. Accordingly, we can think of education, workers’ rights, and environmental protection as part of a multi-pronged strategy for providing us with better choices during elections.

We must have political conversations over issues that are useful in the long-term. Education is fundamental if one is to live in an empowered society. In recent times, Goa has seen the demand for government aid for English as a medium of instruction at the primary schooling level. In terms of higher education, we are witness to spirited fights for securing the right for education and employment in universities through affirmative action.

The importance of education and the discrimination therein should impress upon all the need for affirmative action in our schools and universities. The empowerment of a generation of young persons, otherwise excluded from these spaces, will create a citizenry that contributes to equal or equitable social relations. Currently, schools and universities are battlegrounds where the marginalized lose out to the privileged. The reason is that schools and universities have not provided equal opportunity for all. By leveling the field through education, the electoral process will see the participation of young voters who are not easily swayed by demagoguery or false promises.

Another theme for a political conversation is migrant workers and the bogey of ‘vote-banks’. Some of us get enraged by ‘vote-bank’ politics when the truth is that it denies a large section of the population their basic rights. These workers provide vital labor and hence, rather than rail against the ‘vote-bank’, we need to be sensitive to the matter of their fundamental rights. Securing the rights of workers such as minimum wage, health insurance, housing and enforcing these rights in good faith empowers a constituency to be not exploited by the vote-bank politics of the national and regional parties.

Protecting the fundamental rights of migrants have advantages for locals as it strengthens the rule of law internally. One can see an interesting parallel with the denial of basic rights to migrant labor and the crisis facing Goa’s mining-dependent, or the locals. In the case of the mining-dependent, the government had no safeguards against rampant illegalities and the economic fluctuations of an industry based on the whims of the global capitalist players. The mining-dependent, much like the migrant labor, are expendable in the larger scheme of the capitalist-party politics nexus. The mining dependents form a large group of people whose destiny depends on the goodwill of politicians and big businesses. They, too, vote but hardly control their destiny.

Thinking of workers’ rights and mining dependents, we can easily see the connections with environmental degradations. More and more people are pushed into doing the work for large, capital-intensive industries like mining and construction in the name of ‘development’. This ‘development’ often occurs by flattening forests or filling prime agrarian land. Every successive election sees an intensification of the destruction of the forests and the communities that call these forests their home. Together with the communities which depend on agriculture and mining, the forest-dwelling communities form another chunk of voters. It is best if the electoral process does not deny these communities an independent say, so they also contribute to the common good.

In each of the issues I have discussed above, there is currently a tremendous opposition from privileged members of our society, blinded by the caste and class privileges they enjoy. In such a context, a change in political conversations emphasizing social justice above everything else will alter the rules of the electoral game. Taken together, then, an emphasis on equal access to education, securing rights and protection for workers, and preventing environmental degradation promotes the empowerment of many voters who vote due to powerless-ness rather than out of free choice. Without truly empowered voters there are no democratic choices.

(First published in O Heraldo, dt: 1 May, 2019)

PAST AND PRESENT FOR 2019

Our political condition becomes worse with each passing year. The nature of public debate (rather the absence of it), the deteriorating condition of public infrastructure, and unscrupulous bids have plunged Goa into chaos. Thus, taking stock of the bygone year, or reflecting on the past on any anniversaries (such as the recently concluded 57th Liberation Day of Goa), appears to be an exercise in futility. However, can we really afford to ignore the past? If we do, we run the risk of subjecting ourselves to the same political manipulations of the past. It is only by considering the past errors that we are able to avoid blunders in the present and future. However, making sense of our present in relation to the past (thereby charting a vision for the future) is not as easy as it seems.

Tourism and mining are the two main industries of Goa today and the government’s policies regarding the regulation and development of these industries is a major concern for the future. These two industries in Goa share a similar history in terms of their origins in the economic policies of the Portuguese state. A large number of Goans depend on mining and tourism – more on tourism than mining today – and these two industries place heavy demands on resources like land and water, not to mention the human resource. The Justice Shah Commission reported huge illegalities in the mining sector, which means that the Goan hinterlands and forests have been hollowed out. Just a few days ago, the Union Cabinet has approved new regulations for Coastal Regulatory Zones, in an attempt to promote eco-tourism and development on the coast. It is a chilling reminder of what is in store for us as resource-extractive and culture-destroying economic activities have continued for over half a century, and the government today further seeks to promote this destruction. 

When the erstwhile Portuguese state gifted mining leases in perpetuity to private capitalists or industrialists, the Goan economy was experiencing economic stagnation. The increasing calls for decolonization in the 1950s had also put the Portuguese state under severe pressure to demonstrate that the Goan economy was fit and fine. In this, they conveniently gained the support of local industrialists and capitalists. The tourism industry, too, has its origins in the economic policies of the Portuguese state. However, the present tourism industry in Goa begins with the Indian government trying to boost the national economy either by exploiting Goa’s beautiful locales for leisure activities or by introducing exploitative and unsafe activities for the sake of earning foreign exchange. Goa was the main target due to its Portuguese- and Catholic-inflected culture. Goans were convinced by the central and local state authorities that large resorts (and golf courses) would bring in jobs, stopping the out-migration of Goan youth. In the last two or three decades, successive governments have used the rhetoric of preference-for-Goans in employment to promote the interests of large businesses.

Considering this long history, it is obvious that the economic policies of various states and governments have progressively promoted economic development dependent on large infrastructure and heavy industries. This has exerted immense pressure on the land and the people living in it. In recent decades, with an increasing imposition of neo-liberal economic policies – even by chest-thumping nationalists – we observe that there is an increasing migration into and out of Goa. In fact, migration in and out of Goa is related to the same economic and political processes that created industries like mining and tourism. With agricultural productivity declining from the late nineteenth century, Goa witnessed an outmigration to British-ruled cities like Bombay, Karachi, and Dar-es-Salaam. The out-migration continues, except to different locations; and the difference between the in-migration then and now is that, in our time, large numbers are migrating into Goa, who also face exploitation within the tourism and mining industries.

So, a long view of Goan economic history shows that we are heading for increased destruction of land and other resources and increased migration into and out of Goa all in the name of development, employment, and boosting the state’s and nation’s economy. But this is not the future that we want. Every contestant and each political party during elections give us a vision that further promotes this long process of destruction rather than suggesting ways to halt it. Repeatedly, we fall for such a vision not just because it comes with the promise of jobs and prosperity, but also because it seems that no other vision is realistic.

The results of the recently concluded state legislative elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, and Mizoram suggest that there is possibility of change in the future. Indian citizens are desperate for any positive change after the misrule of the BJP for the last five years. Would a change in power roll back all the bad policy decisions and destruction of the environment? Arguably not. The nexus of capital, big industries, and political parties runs deep in all national parties. This is important, as a shift in power at the center or state would not mean that land-grabbing, water-polluting, and generally destructive development would end. Therefore, we need to think out of the box, and force those who wish to represent us to do the same. Our would-be representatives need to tell us specifically how they will get Goa to step away from the current path of destruction; how we can break the pattern of Goa’s economic history for the last 100 years. 

(First published in O Heraldo, dt: 2 January, 2019)

DISASTROUS PLANNING: DEVELOPMENT AND GOA’S FUTURE

Goans are constantly bombarded with large-scale infrastructure schemes and this has become routine. If there is a successful protest mounted against the expansion of coal handling in Mormugao/Vasco, then the battle-ground shifts to Mopa, from there it shifts to the mining areas, and currently we are at this juncture where something called “vertical development” is promoted through the controversial Regional Plan 2021 (RP-21). As protests have already begun against the revival of RP-21, it would be useful to check out what exactly the plan seeks to achieve.

One would expect, at the very least, that a master plan that aims to change the face of the Goan landscape would have some basic concepts clear. Since we are talking about the growth of large-scale ‘development’, the draft RP-21 is expected to have a clear idea of what it means by ‘development’. But nowhere in its 270-odd pages is there a clear definition, neither is there any clarity on how this ‘development’ will relate to the existing Goan conditions. This is a serious issue, especially when one thinks about how a loosely-defined idea of ‘development’ is at the heart of the destruction of Goan ecology.

Keeping aside the fact that the RP-21 has been criticized by several activists for procedural lapses that benefit the builder lobby, it appears to be also riddled with contradictions. The future that the draft plan envisions for Goa appears to be divorced from ground realities of what the people of Goa need, in terms of the basic facilities like water, sanitation, and public transportation (to name a few). For instance, the RP-21 envisions a better system of public transport in order to reduce traffic, but at the same time it also envisions new highways so as to handle the projected increase in the movement of goods due to new industries. One could argue that improving public transport and increasing the number of roads are mutually discordant aims. Similarly, one can suggest that the vision of improving agriculture or protecting forests is at odds with that of new highways as it is the fields and forested lands that give way for highways in the Goan context.

The main, and only, real aim of RP-21 is to have rapid economic growth. In this context, RP-21 laments the fact that Goa is experiencing a brain-drain of engineers, and envisions jobs only for persons who have technological expertise. One could point out that the bulk of Goans migrating out of Goa are not all engineers, but those who work in service industries – or so-called blue-collar jobs – around the world. How would the RP-21 protect such Goans from forced migration due to lack of opportunities? It won’t be able to because the type of industries and infrastructure that it hopes to foist onto Goans will be able to only employ a handful of engineers, that too, if they possess the requisite qualifications that the jobs created demand; everyone else still will have to seek greener pastures elsewhere.

Likewise, for the promotion of new information and technology driven industries, the RP-21 talks about the importance of instilling skills in the local people that would make them employable in this sector. However, it also talks about the need for more housing for the in-migrating population that would be employed in these industries. Clearly, these massive industries will require a large workforce from outside, so much so that for every job these industries create for a Goan, the RP-21 envisions that another will be created for a person migrating from outside. Thus, the argument that locals will get jobs if Goa is opened up for the development of large-scale infrastructure and industries is just a red herring. Goa’s population would not be able to supply the required workforce for these industries. If the plans go through, there will be a huge influx of people into Goa and no one knows what the consequences of this drastic demographic increase will be.

Similarly, there are many areas, such as the plans for double-tracking of railways and the construction of marinas for boosting tourism, in which one can observe logical and practical deficiencies in the draft RP-21. Its vision for a future Goa, thus, simply does not match the claims that it makes. Like many other master plans that the government has formulated thus far – whether through its own personnel or through private consultants – the RP-21 is also keenly aware of the problems Goa will face should the kind of development that it envisions become a reality. To that end, the plan advises caution, and checks and balances through governmental regulation and legislation. However, we have known time and again that the requisite laws and regulations are either not put in place or are jettisoned the moment private profit or pelf take centre-stage.

There isn’t much of an option left, but to force the government to abandon such schemes and visions as contained in the draft RP-21 (or even in legislations like the Investment Promotion Act). As Amita Kanekar recently wrote, what we need instead is to support the common folk, whose labour develops and sustain the region. Simultaneously, the authorities need to prepare a plan of how they would facilitate the young people in Goa to acquire various kinds of skills (and not necessarily technical), rather than devoting all their energy in ‘developing’ i.e. profiting from Goa’s land – as Marian Pinheiro suggested. For if we don’t have such a vision for the future, privileging communities and individuals, backed by iron-clad legislation to check irregularities, Goa will witness even more destruction.

(First published in O Heraldo, dt: 11 April, 2018)