BY WHOM ARE WE GOVERNED?

[The edited version of this article is published in 'Herald' 0n 20/08/2012 Pg. 6] Goa is on the threshold of introducing the ‘Super Governance’ model that has been dictated by some technocrats and industrialists. This is about governance that promises Suramya, Susanskrit, Santulit, Suvidhya, Samruddha, Sushasit and Swanandi which probably fits under the brand name of ‘Parivartan’. So what will be needed is a new set of measurement tools altogether. We are familiar with terms like ‘horsepower’ to measure power or the rate at which work gets done by machines. But how exactly will one measure ‘S-governance’ considering the unpredictability, irrationality and inconsistency of Government policies in Goa? One of the suitable terms that may come to the mind of a lay person is ‘aSspower’. Asspower is the ability and rate of governance at which the public can be made to feel like an ass. In a State of the blind, the man with one eye will obviously draw up the road-map for development. The dream of those blinded by the prospects of profit generation can be expected to get marketed as the ‘Vision for Goa’. These road-maps may claim to have been evolved after wide interaction with civil society, but a closer look will reveal that the civil society for the consultants is no more than a bunch of industrialists and their galaxy of decorated scholars and professionals whose conflict of interests, if any, are rarely visible to the public at first glance. Under this scheme of governance, the irony is that the ‘aam admi’ in the village is considered to be ‘non-sanskritised’ to understand development and progress in an ‘India’ that the technocrats and scientists have been attempting to construct since the independence of our country. In such an era of S-governance, it is the sole prerogative of a select class to think creatively. Anyone else who attempts to venture into this space and think differently runs the risk of being labelled an ‘ASS’. Yet the same road map will talk about inclusiveness, affirmative action and instilling a scientific edge to Goa’s education. The ‘road-map’ prescribed by Mahatma Gandhi in ‘Hind Swaraj’ over 100 years ago is still too frightening for technocrats to even consider reading. The reluctance to do so probably stems from the fact that there will emerge a realisation that the problems which afflict our Parliament and cities after independent India chose the western materialistic model of governance and development are nothing more than what had already been predicted by Gandhiji. Our governance is corrupted, our cities and towns are not safe and our food producers are being driven to suicide. We live in a democracy where awakened citizens demanding their ‘Right To Life and Livelihood’ are considered pests that have to be eradicated, displaced or incapacitated with pest control measures like ‘Land Acquisition’, ‘Operation Green Hunt’ or ‘POTA’. Those who do not fall in line with the corporate vision of economic growth will get branded as anarchist, anti-national or anti-development and the most decorated term confered today is ‘Naxal’. In other words, incapacitating and reducing the citizens and democratic institutions to beggary instead of self-reliance is about ‘progressive governance’ and ‘economic growth’. Therefore, even 20 years after the Constitutional Amendment, the Local Self-Governing Institutions are being denied their constitutional space in social and economic development. Our villages have been forcibly kept open for abuse and plunder by the wealthy. Our women are being looked at as sex commodities and the men as prospective gamblers and consumers of alcohol to generate huge revenue to pay the salaries of our flourishing MLAs. So while the parivartan chariot drawn by seven aSses races down the ‘Golden Quadrilateral’, the visibility of democratic governance in Goa seems to be diminishing by the hour. A contract hungry Government is even ready for a 60:40 deal with the Union Government to kickstart the expansion of the national highway through Goa. Mopa and its rich mineral reserves, income from casinos, sex, alcohol and drugs, and prospects of extensive real estate has given rise to hyper-governance. Besides the hyper-rhetoric to console the public and make it let down its guard, there seems nothing more than an ever growing debt on every new born child. Unfortunately, public memory is short and the politician and his fan club are able to exploit this weakness to the fullest. If only the public could be more prudent and discerning, the socio-political situation in Goa could have been quite different. But what can one expect from a public with myopic expectations that does not go beyond money for votes, concession on petrol, cheap fish, scrapping of house tax and government dole to get their daughters married or help for their housewives to cope with price rise? As Goa is now demanding ‘Special Status’ the Russians are also expecting that Russian language be introduced in schools. If so, what is wrong with the Roman script as the official script for Konkani? It appears that every fresh bout of governance in Goa seems nothing more than furthering Goa’s decadence. It is about generating a tribe of beggars dependent on industry for employment and on politicians for dole, instead of self-reliant citizens and sustainable development. Because the politician and the industrialist very well knows that self-reliant citizens will not be vulnerable to political intimidation and market manipulation. At present governance is about creating scope for relentless dependence on markets and consumption of goods and on contracts, which besides boosting the GDP will also contribute towards filling the party coffers to acquire that cutting edge for vote capture in the next election. From Panchayat to State level, development is stuck in concretisation and nothing beyond. So the release of a Road Map or Vision for Goa coloured with sanskrit terms and sacred numbers from time to time at public cost cannot be expected to ensure good governance. How long will the public tolerate being treated like asses by successive governments and their consultants?