Our daughters, mothers and sisters are not safe; they still not free to go out at their discretion. In 60 years, we see several rapes and murders, but the State Chief Minister blames parents for not controlling children.
Is this called Liberation? The Chief Minister, who is in charge of law and order, fails miserably and blames the parents. Is this what we have achieved in the last 60 years?
A Mapusa girl Siddhi Naik’s body is found in a semi-nude position six months ago, but the top Police Force in the Country, according to CM, fails to even get a clue, and the investigations drag on. The poor father has to run from pillar to post for justice, but his cries go unheard.
SURAJ NANDREKAR
Edito, Goemkarponn
Goa is celebrating today its 60th Liberation from Portuguese rule. In the last 60 years of Independence, what Goa has achieved cosmetic success. We have seen big bridges, wider roads, concrete jungles destroying the ecology of Goa.
Even after 60 years of Liberation, if a woman has to walk kilometres to fetch water, a student has to go in dense forests to get network connectivity and sit under a streetlight to study, people dying due to bad roads, people searching for beds and Oxygen then there is seriously something wrong with our administration and management.
For 60 years, we had to wait for a pandemic like COVID19 to improve our Health infrastructure.
Our daughters, mothers and sisters are not safe; they still not free to go out at their discretion. In 60 years, we see several rapes and murders, but the State Chief Minister blames parents for not controlling children.
Is this called Liberation? The Chief Minister, who is in charge of law and order, fails miserably and blames the parents. Is this what we have achieved in the last 60 years?
A Mapusa girl Siddhi Naik’s body is found in a semi-nude position six months ago, but the top Police Force in the Country, according to CM, fails to even get a clue, and the investigations drag on. The poor father has to run from pillar to post for justice, but his cries go unheard.
Since Liberation, several political parties have ruled Goa the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, the Congress, the BJP and many others, and the blame for the present condition has to be shared by each one of them. It’s not just one party everyone is equally responsible.
Remember, a government is as good as the Opposition. If the Opposition is good, it can get any government to work better.
Compared to other states of the Country, Goa which achieved Liberation 14 years later, still isn’t free. We are still slaves of our narrow thinking; we are still slaves of poverty; we are still slaves of malnutrition; we are still slaves of casteism; we are slaves of misinformation.
Simply declaring Goa is Open Defecation Free (ODF) and Har Ghar Jal (piped drinking water) will not help. In reality, many villages in Goa are still deprived of water, electricity, roads and network connectivity.
How can we call ourselves liberated when over one lakh of our youth are registered unemployed? With no opportunities in the private sector, the youth are left to depend only on government jobs, which are given out as per the whims and fancies of the politicians and, in some cases, also sold.
How can we call ourselves liberated when the government school students still have to sit with an umbrella as rains drip through the classrooms? How can we call ourselves liberated when poor parents have to take loans to get a better education for their children?
Today, as we celebrate the 60 glorious years of Liberation, for which our ancestors fought for, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is with Goans to celebrate the day.
As Goa awaits some special announcement from the Prime Minister of the Country, it does not want big projects, special packages or any other incentive. What Goa wants is the protection of its identity.
Goa wants the Coal handling to be stopped at the Mormugao, Goa wants the three linear projects – destroying the environments to be stopped, Goa wants the Centre to stop Mhadei diversion by Karnataka, Goa wants Casinos to be shut, and finally, Goa wants trading of elected politicians to stop.
Today, Goa is going through a phase that was never witnessed ever before. The people of different religions stayed together like brothers and sisters, but today, the divisive forces are at work and created a vertical split amongst Goans for their electoral benefits.
Today, outside parties have landed in Goa, who have butchered people like animals in their state and call for saving humanity in Goa, and some power-hungry, greedy politicians have aligned with them.
But the 60th year of Liberation allows us to correct the wrongs of history. In the coming elections, we have an opportunity to give ourselves a new start and elect good and honest people.
We may call ourselves independent, but we are certainly not liberated. We are not free to love, we are not free to express, and we are certainly not free to speak. We never have and probably we never will, considering the type of life we have chosen for ourselves and our generations to come.