An Anti-Social Economy Is Gambling With Goa's Moral Fabric - Soter

 Lead article published in Oheraldo on July 28, 2025

The insecurity, distress and frustration in Goans around the rise in lawlessness around can be sensed in every street corner and at social gatherings. With the exception of the toxic positivity from ‘flying monkeys’ in such a deteriorating social and political atmosphere, the general public will agree that law and order has gone for a toss in the State, with the law enforcing agencies reduced to lame ducks by the political bosses seeking to protect and appease their agents and vote banks. This sense of loss and anxiety in the public is being exploited by messiahs, who under the guise of saving Goa are actually enabling the very same politics they claim to change. How long will Goans get entertained and take solace from such Pot and Kettle political show which is staged for public consumption?

The recent news reports of the cautionary remarks on the moral fabric of society by the Principal Sessions Judge of Anantnag court in J&K, while denying bail to the accused in the rape of a 70-year old lady tourist in Pahalgam, must serve as a wakeup call for the citizens of the paradise sold as God’s Own Abode (GOA). He warned that, “Mere meadows, mountains, lush green fields, forests, springs, rivers, rivulets and gardens will not come to the rescue of Kashmir as a desired tourist destination.” Denouncing the rape as “a reflection of the highest degree of depravity and sick mentality in society,” the Judge appealed for “a serious introspection” of societal values and morals. He said, “No sooner the sheet-anchors, conscious keepers, watch dogs, and philanthropists of this society will rise to the occasion to check what is going wrong on the moral front of the society, the better will it be for saving Kashmir as the paradise on earth in its true sense.”

Such moral decay is not restricted to a tourist destination like Kashmir alone, Goa is no better. Just recently, there was news of an 80-year-old woman being raped in North Goa. What went missing in this incident were the usual sound bites from politicians, unlike the hue and cry seen in the acid throwing incident on a student at Dhargal which went viral in the social media. Probably, it was a local involved in the rape, and not a migrant or from the minority community, which prompted such silence to protect the honour of the community. Or perhaps, the extent of sexual perversity prevalent in the State has simply desensitised Goans to such atrocities, to an extent of these being considered trivial.

To begin with, it is illogical for Goans to expect law and order to prevail in a social and economic environment which revolves around and tolerates vices like gambling, drugs, alcohol and prostitution. Such activities have been seen as immoral down the centuries and known to destroy flourishing cultures. Such socially corrupting economic activity can only thrive and prosper with an anti-social support system in place, the spill over of which will naturally take its toll on families and the larger community. It is known to attract those with antisocial tendencies, like thugs, pimps, touts, peddlers, and traffickers along with such type of clientele. Even ‘Housie’, which was merely an entertainment at community events all these years, is now becoming a cover for big money gambling in villages. Merely changing nomenclature from ‘gambling’ to ‘gaming’ does not change the corrupting effect of such activities on the mental health of citizens.

Similarly, there is a misconception that increased policing, CCTV cameras, denying bail, life imprisonment, death penalty, and other stringent legal remedies will act as a deterrence for antisocial and criminal acts. The futility of such assumptions can be seen from how the death penalty for rapists has hardly prevented rapes, just as changing political regimes has in no way reduced corruption in governance. What was hailed as a deterrence to rape has aggravated the threat to the rape victims who are now being killed after the crime to destroy evidence. Corruption in governance has galloped to an extent of denying and manipulating information and attacking whistle blowers. Where there is demand there will be supply, and the antisocial mind-set will find a way around the laws and enforcement agencies. When citizens themselves fail to self-discipline and self-regulate and behave as and how it suits their individual convenience, how many police and surveillance cameras will be sufficient to enforce law and order for a 15 lakh local population and some 50 lakh visitors? And what moral character can be expected of the law enforcement personnel emerging from such a society?

Goa’s pressing problems lies in what Mahatma Gandhi had said: “We but mirror the world. All the tendencies present in the outer world are to be found in the world of our body. If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. This is the divine mystery supreme. A wonderful thing it is and the source of our happiness. We need not wait to see what others do.”

The depravity in politics now appears to have moved beyond bad legislations and corrupt governance into a mental health crisis in society itself. This is seen playing out on our roads, in institutions and in the homes with the blatant violation of social norms and disregard for the well-being and rights of others. Goa’s political crisis cannot be tackled in isolation, without simultaneously addressing the mental health crisis in the community. If healthy politics for voters is all about regularisation of illegalities, protection for crimes, religious supremacy, sponsors and freebies, can there be place for law abiding and honest citizens in leadership?

(The author has worked with community initiatives related to Drug and Alcohol Abuse Prevention, HIV/AIDs Prevention, Panchayati Raj, Anti-Corruption, Environment Protection and Social Justice.)