Goan Welfare State

The United State of America began its Welfare System in 1930’s under trying circumstances of the Great Depression, a concept wherein the government protects and promotes social wellbeing of its citizens. Some European states already had their welfare systems in place, which were designed on the premise that they will be funded through redistributionist taxation which means taxing the wealthy.

Welfare of citizens is justified when undertaken by rich countries or those that are growing at a rapid pace, as government revenue collection are robust. But once an economic slowdown occurs and starts hurting government income, it reflects on their spending. To overcome this mismatch, governments raise debt to tide over these expenses hoping it is a temporary problem. It is this debt that has now spiraled out of control in Europe and banks are shying away from refinancing government debt. The European debt crisis has exposed government expenditure on unnecessary welfare even though European economists and politicians are in a denial mode. The recently suggested austerity measures that are being recommended to these countries to qualify for economic bailouts might have signaled the beginning of the end of the welfare states.

In the recent budget the new Goa Government announced a slew of welfare measures notwithstanding the European debt crisis. While some measures were necessary many might actually lead us into our own little debt traps. For example the eliminating of VAT on petrol was very important to tide over high speculative oil prices, but some allowances to Goans have the resemblance of the ‘cradle to grave’ welfare policy followed by many European countries, that is now turning out to be a graveyard to their financial existence.

The most worrisome part is that Goa already has a deficit of around 82 crore in this budget, which makes all these welfare measures all the more needless. The figure might look small but can balloon when interest gets compounded. This is like a Chief Minister donating money to the not so needy with his credit card without knowing how he will settle his credit card bill. Spending beyond your means and thinking of collecting revenue later is not a clever policy.

Deficit financing is not wrong per se, but makes sense when utilized for capital expenditure. For example Goa takes a huge loan for building a green power plant that will make Goa self sufficient in power, or a dynamic unemployment allowance for the Generation Next (by the way was first suggested in this column) which puts pressure on the government to create employment. These are important decisions worth taking loans and the tax payer will not mind the risk because he knows the end result.

The policy to collect revenue by milking the tourist to feed the local population might result into long term animosity between the tourist and the local. We must not assume that the tourist that visits Goa is uninformed, once he figures out the math of government income and expenditure that takes place it will give rise to one arrogant tourist treating Goans as second class citizens. Remember the last time the central government changed visa norms for long staying tourists; many tourists went on record explaining how this decision will affect the economy of Goa. Revenue collection from a tourist should be treated as a deterrent to improve the quality of the tourist and not to feed Goans.

Years back when Mumbai found out that children were used in the business of child begging, the city ran a advertising campaign that used a slogan which read something like this; ‘Give money to a child and make him a beggar for life’. Let this Goan dole not rob the Generation Next Goans of their dignity.

Europe and United States welfare states came about in difficult circumstances as these countries were ravaged by World Wars and the Great Depression. Comparatively Goan circumstances are much better and do not deserve a welfare state.

Above Article appeared on Herald Goa on April 20, 2012 

Goan Split Personality

A split personality is ‘A relatively rare dissociated personality disorder in which the usual integrity of the personality breaks down and two or more independent personalities emerge’: A person that puts up a double face, or an individual who never walks the talk. 

Goa had its fair share of split personalities at work in the recently concluded elections, whose intentions to join the political process was never to win the elections, but to swing results in favour of the highest bidder. Goans should be grateful that the corruption issue dominated the elections, therefore double talk by these personalities scarcely mattered and Goans more or less got a result they aimed for. Losers now lamenting that split vote did them in, know very well that they have been beaten at their own game.

Does vote splitting exist? More importantly, does money change hands in such arrangements? Do corrupt politicians with deep pockets pay weak opponents to split rivals’ votes? Did vote split prevent a complete rout of corrupt elements who somehow manage to win some seats? It is time the Election Commission works beyond their scope and formulates a fair assessment report to Goans.

Contestants fight elections for a variety of reasons, some want to do genuine good to the society, while some get fascinated to the huge publicity that comes along with elections in Goa. Many contest because of their affiliation to relevant and sometimes irrelevant political parties and quite a few are habitual contestants who never want to retire. However, there exists a small percentage that contests to fix the outcome of the election not necessarily to their benefit. They come out of hibernation mode whenever elections are announced. Actually it turns out to be a win-win situation to all parties involved. Imagine a job that needs you to work for just two months canvassing without the pressure to win? Furthermore, you get paid to abuse your boss or the sponsor on a public platform. When you lose you actually get to blame the voters and make them feel guilty for not wanting a change in the society. In other words eat the cake and have it too. Are Goans expected to be so naive that they should be subject to such type of mental manipulation every election?  

Recently three Pakistani cricketers were sentenced to jail for spot fixing - which if correlated, is like fixing a single vote. Extrapolate this on a split personality who manages to split around a thousand votes, should it not invite punishment multiplied by a thousand. Both offences take the paying public for a jolly good ride. However, cricket is just a game, elections are not.

The best way to bring an end to this Split voting business is to put a money trail on all candidates so as to deter the Generation Next Goans. More importantly we might have to change the system from plurality to Run-off voting where the top two winners contest again to find out the actual winner.

Splitting votes can be condoned to a certain extent if it is done to defeat a bigger corrupt evil, but is unpardonable if made into a business for financial consideration. We want the Generation Next Goans to enter politics for the right reasons that will earn them the trust of the people, and not some double faced actor’s stage managing the election process, by exploiting loopholes in the system and making a mockery of the democratic procedures. 

Above Article appeared on Herald Goa on March 26, 2012

Cleanse Society, Overthrow The Corrupt.

If at all one day India becomes free of corruption, than history might judge the events that took place in the year 2011 effectively marked the beginning of the end of the India corruption story. The year saw a simple man Anna Hazare turning the corruption struggle on its head and force Indian law makers to work overtime into drafting the anti-corruption bill. Although the bill is yet to see the light of the day, at least there is some ray of light at the end of the tunnel. 2011 also saw high profile politicians and corporate CEO?s jailed due to their involvement in different types of scams.

All the above in jail deserved no sympathy, but for a moment if one takes time to reflect on the family reunion of former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, M. Karunanidhi with his daughter Kanimozhi at the Tihar jail, one will have to agree that it was an emotional nightmare for all involved parties. Imagine an 87 year old father, wheel-chair bound, forced to make a trip to jail to meet his educated poet and journalist daughter. According to media reports the duo cried seeing each other. This whole episode only demonstrates how the moral fabric of our society has broken down.

How does a father entice his young daughter into accepting that first bribe? What is the purpose of the daughter?s education, poetic wisdom at that, if she was unable to decide between right and wrong? Does it make sense in having fancy educational degrees that parents plan for their children, if ultimately they teach kids to steal from the masses? Karunanidhi/ Kanimozhi are not the last father/daughter combination we will hear embroiled in corrupt deeds. In fact they might have motivated manipulative fathers into taking advantage of their daughters.

There are two ways people create wealth for themselves, the straight or the crooked method. In this imperfect world there will always be a certain percentage of people in every society that will use the crooked method to create wealth. The law usually will catch up with them, but before that, these crooked people get discarded from society. Surprisingly this logic does not work in the Goan society? The more you amass wealth through crooked means, the more your social circle expands exponentially.

Call it ignorance of the people, deception by the corrupt, or crooks staying ahead of the law, Goan perception towards the corrupt needs to transform. For example the recent politician?s wealth published by media, as part of their campaign to educate voters on how politicians amass wealth, when in power, hardly makes any impact on the voting choice of the population. It actually increases the social status of the politician in question with undue publicity, thereby serving the purpose of motivating other wily Goans into joining the bandwagon of politics.

But all is not lost we still have a chance to demonstrate that we are ready to eliminate corruption in our society provided we take the hint. Politicians might be under the impression that Goa?s music icon Remo Fernandes was chosen by the Election Commission as the ?Election Icon? to attract Generation Next voters to vote. That might be true, but by choosing Remo the Election Commission has tried to send a strong message to voters that they fully endorse what Remo has been advocating all this while on corrupt politicians. The choice of Remo is a wakeup call to the Goan society to come out of the rut. It is now for us to take the Elections Commission?s hint and elect honest leaders. We owe it to the Generation Next Goans.

The year 2011 gave the people of Tamil Nadu a chance to prove that their society was not corrupt, and prove they did, by throwing the corrupt Karunanidhi?s DMK party out of power with huge margin. Goa gets its chance in less than a week.

Above Article appeared on Herald, Goa on 26th February 2012

A Corrupt Goan Economy

During the dotcom boom of the nineties, former US Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan in one of his speeches to the American Enterprise Institute used the expression ‘irrational exuberance’, to explain the tech bubble, a term that was construed as a warning that the market might be overvalued. The short comment within the speech went on to become history because it was followed by an immediate market selloff worldwide.

A market bubble is best described when asset prices temporarily rises in the market far above their intrinsic value thus forming a bubble. These bubbles can exist for many years, but eventually burst causing prices to go below their actual values before returning to normal prices.

A bubble is not a recent market phenomenon, it has occurred way back in 1637 in the Netherlands where contract prices of tulips had a humungous rise that the Dutch only wanted to deal in tulips ignoring every other trade and craft. As a result when the crash came it turned out very ugly for the economy. This awful experience made the Dutch weary of speculative investments for quite some time.

Has corruption in India reached bubble proportions? The way corruption is engaging the whole nation’s attention, making Indians engrossed in debate like never before, the support for the anti-corruption crusade, and now corruption getting mentioned even in small talk. All of this might be strong indicators that we may be heading towards a corruption bubble if not already in one.

In that case where does the smallest state of India (Goa) stand in the corruption bubble? Goa might not attract attention in India in terms of scale, especially when you compare scams in other states with gigantic proportion. But corruption in Goa is in serious danger of reaching critical mass, where stealing via the state is becoming the only norm to create wealth.

When prospective and existing politicians, for that matter all and sundry make a beeline either to enter or hang-on to politics in such large numbers, means the incentive is huge in the form of perks and power. Any trade or service even if it means political aspirations, start getting chased by so many, at a given point of time, is usually an indication that a bubble is in the making. After all politics in Goa is one trade that gives you fortune and fame, and the means to make money in the form of kickbacks, illegalities, and extortions. The only qualification being, you should be able to control and manipulate the masses.

However, what is more distressing is not the accumulation of wealth by corrupt means, but the deployment of this tainted wealth in a sophisticated manner into legitimate businesses throughout Goa. It will be too much to expect ignorant Goans to understand the difference between earned wealth and stolen wealth. As it is the job of the regulators who unfortunately pretend as if these transactions never exist. To prevent money laundering into the economy the Reserve Bank of India has cumbersome forms for the common citizen know as Know Your Client (KYC), when actually they should be having a Know Your Politician/Proxy (KYP) form which will effectively achieve their desired goal, if they have any and that too with less voluminous paperwork.

However, the good news in a bubble formation is that it invariably breaks. If corruption in Goa has reached this magnitude it’s a matter of time this bubble will burst. However the challenge will lie in tracking tainted money being laundered into lawful commerce. If the Goan economy gets used to this kind of money, everything fraudulent will be made-up to look virtuous. It will be unfair on the Generation Next with legitimate degrees forced to work for illegitimate businesses. We cannot expect Generation Next preparing for a job interview to spend time in scrutinizing on how the owner made his first million.

Above Article appeared on Herald, Goa on 7th January 2012

Goan Corruption Simplified

Imagine this scenario; you have decided to go to Panaji from Margao to attend an anti mining rally. You reach the bus stop, as you are about to enter the bus, somebody picks your pocket. You had five thousand rupees in the purse, and more importantly id’s and other documents. You see the thief running, not at great speed, and you realize that you have a chance to catch the thief. In that split second, what would be your decision?

You had two choices; miss the bus to Panaji, run after the thief in the hope of getting your belongings, or forget about the purse and think that there is bigger loot happening to Goa in the form of illegal mining, hence take the bus to Panaji.

If one poses this hypothetical question to Goans, most would impulsively decide to run after the thief. That does not mean that those running after the thief have no interest in stopping illegal mining, but their first priority would be to secure their possessions and rightly so. To protect our belongings is human nature, but lately the debate on illegal mining seems to have sidelined other forms of corruption. In the process Goans seem to have let their guard down and have allowed thieves to continue stealing our personal purses with impunity. Worse most Goans are completely unaware of the loot they are subject too. Is our ignorance on the complexities of taxation and government spending affecting our judgment?

If one goes by media reports, almost any type of infrastructure project the government undertakes is involved in kickback corruption. This means every contractor or service provider that obtains a government contract, gives a percentage of the value of the contract to the deciding person either in cash or kind as a kickback. The bigger the contract the bigger the kickback, this explains why politicians make such a hue and cry on allotment of plum portfolios.

In that case tackling kickback corruption should be the number one priority of every Goan, who by the way is the financial sponsor of the entire transaction. The ignorance of the common Goan, that he hardly contributes to the tax collection mechanism actually fuels kickback corruption. We seem to identify and impulsively run after that thief picking our pocket on the street, but are unable to comprehend that kickbacks insisted by powerful people, in their posh offices, on government contracts are also a percentage of our contributions. It is money that got deducted as tax and could not find a way to our purse in the first place. Is it not our responsibility that the money we contributed, should be used for the purpose it was collected and does not go into someone else’s personal kitty?

Politicians seem to prosper on this ignorance and it is in every political party interest not to edify the voter with this information. The opposition if interested in coming back to power should have just one agenda, go to the poor and ignorant and simplify the taxation code. But which political leader will go to the masses, climb the stage and announce to the audience, that the official car he came in is from their contribution.

If corruption has reached escalated levels in Goa, part of the blame lies with the opposition. Their blow hot blow cold attitude in targeting individuals intermittently on corruption, seem to confuse the already confused Goans. It is in their interest to expose corruption to the people of Goa in totality.

Someday illegal mining will come to an end, probably because of the sustained pressure from media and activists and more so when the world commodity cycle turns down. But kickback corruption has a robust revenue model; if not tackled it has the potential to wreck havoc on Goa. Already politicians have started justifying to voters that kickbacks are compulsions of politics. We don’t want a situation wherein Generation Next believes that taking kickbacks is the only way to success and wealth.

Above Article appeared in Herald Goa on 20th December 2011

Goan Culture Club

Costantino Crasto owns a stall outside the Margao Old Market wherein he sells pork and goan sausages. His sausages although good to taste, do not match up with his competition, the diagonally opposite Moraes Pork Shop. But Costantino makes up for it with his customer service, for instance; if you happen to wake up late for shopping on Christmas/Easter eve for your ‘sorpotel’ meat, he is one man who might save you the day and the feast. He will have stocks long after Moraes and Company have exhausted their supplies, shut shop and called it a day. Inheriting the business from his father, his is one of the very few legal businesses in that market, which is fast turning out to be a one stop shop for the crunching illegal number trade.

Costantino is also a tiatrist (Konkani stage artist) and has directed three tiatrs. Whenever he has to leave the stall for his stage performances, he makes sure his sausage clients are served in the best possible manner. He makes small bunches of sausages, so that his deputy can deliver the sausages without counting, thereby saving his customers time. Costantino is involved in two products; the Goan sausage and the Goan tiatr. Both have a mass appeal, but when it comes to choosing between the tiatr and sausage, he favours his sausage business. He prefers to dabble into tiatr in his spare time, because he is more confident about the economics of his market driven sausage price versus the low tiatr ticket price. Stage acting might give him the fame, recognition and if lucky, might sometimes even ring the cash registers at the box office, but he still has to depend on his humble sausage sales to bring home the bacon.

Agreed, he might not be one of the leading directors in the business, but then most in the business actually treat tiatr as a secondary source of income, while income from holding institutional jobs or running small businesses form their primary source of income.

To make sure things never improve financially in this activity, the government has initiated the Tiatr Academy of Goa, a government of Goa undertaking. This is the surest way the government under the guise of promoting Goan culture, gets an opportunity to reign on the people that run this industry to form an exclusive club. It can then start influencing and manipulating content as well as mobilise public opinion in their favour.

Leading tiatrists instead of starting their own academy to take care of the interest of their clan chose the easy way out of involving the government to spend tax-payers money in opening the Tiatr Academy. They probably got carried away with the fancy positions offered to them in their committees.

All is not lost though; and leading tiatrists in this academy should take the initiative to put to test the academy and government intentions. It should immediately start brainstorming remedies to overcome low ticket prices.

There is no point giving awards to the generation past tiatrist when their poor financial condition and leaking roofs still make local headlines. But wealthy tiatrists are not in the government scheme of things, they always need the tiatrist under their thumb.

Tickets should be properly priced and if audiences don’t patronise expensive shows, then probably it is time tiatrist review content, make proper market study and learn a thing or two in promotion and marketing.

 

Above Article appeared on Herald Goa on 2nd December 2011

Goa's Primitive Procedures

When was the last time you took the trouble to personally pay your electricity bill? If no, then one procedure would be visiting one of those lousy cooperative banks operating in Goa that the government has tied up as their payment gateway. If one enters these banks the only person attending the longest queue will be the teller accepting these bills. The rest of the staff is busy idling away their time or meditating with their eyes open. If you happen to reach a minute late, the teller will politely refuse your money pointing you to the procedural cut off timings mentioned on some board.

If you acted smart by clubbing all outstanding bills of residence, offices in different locations of Goa, be prepared for a shock on your turn at the counter. The teller will proudly show you some weird color coding on the bill consisting pink, yellow, green and enlighten you that your code does not match with the one s/he is authorized to accept. This experience is good enough to make you feel that your clever idea was actually a stupid one. There are some banks which might accept all color bills but they are few and far between.

Most Goans accept this color coding as some great mechanism the department follows to collects its bills, so nobody question the procedure. Actually it is a rigid way of providing customer service, which is a result of a monopoly business run by the Government for decades, with no pressure whatsoever to enhance its procedures.

A bill collection system which was set up probably when cooperative banks were the toast of the day, due to its geographical reach, still rule the roost. The system remains the same even though the scenario outside has changed with the advent of private banking, ECS, ATM’s, Credit Cards, online or mobile bill payments.

Let’s not blame politicians for the mess, even if they desire to make a change, employees will obstruct any proposal fearing automation might affect their employment. Let’s not even blame the teller that gives you a hard time to receive your money at that cooperative bank.
S/he is the most hassled employee and merely a slave of an outdated procedure.

The blame lies with the top managers handling bills receivables in these departments. These employees sitting for decades in the same position have not kept pace with the new technology that is fast evolving. Their only interest seem pocketing their salaries with zero accountability to the cash flow of the department. If only their salaries were linked to the amount of cash they collect for the department, that would force them to do some productive work. 

Why do we hold on to such primitive procedures that get the job done the tedious way? Do we know the meaning of continuous improvements? Do we ever think from the customer point of view? The Government of Goa should check out the central government owned BSNL on how it collects is bills, and the options it provides to customers, not forgetting the incentive it provides for signing up for ECS. This might have not completely eliminated queues outside their office, but at least valued the time of its busy customer.

Most Goa Government department has procedures that were designed before the computer or the internet. Yes fancy computers do exist on each table, but as white elephants or part of the décor. If basic tasks of paying utility bill have to be paid the old fashioned way, one cannot understand the rational of providing free computers to the Generation Next Goans. Do they expect a computer savvy Generation Next to ignore available technology and stand in queues for mundane tasks, just because we don’t have the will to improve our procedures. It is time we make Goa attractive to the Generation Next and make our procedures in line with the best in the world, especially if we want to attract the Generation Next Goans residing abroad.

Above Article appeared in Herald Goa on November 4, 2011

Protecting Goan Ideas

In 2002 Divya Narendra, an Indian American conceptualises an idea of a social networking site, involves his Harvard classmates, twin brothers Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss. They name it Havard connection and later change to ConnectU.com. They hire a programmer Sanjay Mavinkurve for writing the codes, but Sanjay has to leave the project, because it is time for his graduation and cannot resist a job offer from Google. Divya then approaches Victor Gao, who takes over the project and by the time Gao has to leave, quite a bit of coding on front-end pages, registration system, database, back-end coding, and a way to connect users with each other, is completed. Gao, before leaving, recommends Divya and team to approach Mark Zuckerberg which they do. Zuckerberg is roped in the project to complete the unfinished work and sweat equity in the partnership is verbally agreed.

 

Zuckerberg takes over a fairly accomplished site and though his first reaction is that the project can be finished in a matter of days, he has a change of heart and starts deliberately delaying the project. Meantime, he is already busy coding a parallel site with the same concept, completes and launches the site which is now known as the famous networking site facebook.com, leaving Divya and Winklevoss’s flabbergasted.

 

This is not a fiction story smartly dramatised in the movie ‘The Social Network’, but a fairly true account of how Facebook was born. There will be disputed versions of the story, but the fact that Divya and Winklevoss’s were awarded US$65 million in cash and stock options as part of the settlement against Facebook, only goes to show that the original idea was plagiarised to a great extent. Apparently, what did Zuckerberg in, were email transcripts between Zuckerberg to Divya-Winklevoss’s, that exposed his delaying tactics, and more damning emails between Zuckerberg and friends where he mentioned his intentions to deceive.

 

What has the Facebook saga got to do with Goa, the first striking similarity is: Divya-Winklevoss’s like most Goans acted naïve. They preferred a verbal agreement to a written one. The only thing that saved them is that the event occurred in the United States, a country which respects and understands the power of a good idea, its financial potential and protects original thinkers.

 

Imagine this scenario playing out in Goa, let alone the dispute dragging on for decades; Divya-Winklevoss’s would be condemned, confused and made to look dumb. Our record in protecting and monetising ideas is very dismal. We readily accept the person’s idea but not the person.

 

A small example; do we know the name of the toddy tapper that made the first bottle of feni, never mind the type and taste. For that matter do we know who filled that first goan sausage? Let’s not refer history books, both might have died poor, not knowing what they invented. Yet today we are proud and ready to be part of that idea.

 

Repeating past mistakes will be naïve and therefore Generation Next Goans must start showing discretion when it comes to protecting and propagating their ideas, however trivial they may seem at the time. Maintaining confidentiality from conceptualisation of an idea to the actual deployment is one delicate process and even though one might be forced to discuss ideas with some people along the way, one must never shy away to sign a non-disclosure agreement. People with integrity will be more than willing to sign one.

 

After we have exhausted all natural resources of Goa to create wealth, Generation Next Goans will have to depend on game changing ideas to make it big. It will be a pity if these ideas are not monetised and the originator is not fully compensated. Today courts in Goa have endless land property disputes to settle, it will be imprudent of us to think that intellectual property disputes will not reach courts, especially when the stakes get high. Let’s not be naïve in thinking that people like Zuckerberg do not exist in Goa.

 

(Above Article appeared on Herald 23rd September 2011)

The Anonymous Goan

Herald, on the front page of its Heartbeat section, publishes the ‘Quote of the Day’ in two languages, English and Konkani, and if one notices the English quote it has the author’s name, whereas the quotes in Konkani are invariably anonymous. Assuming Konkani quotes were written by Goans, how come such Goans of wisdom were not given credit for their writings? Were they copied or translated from other languages? Or was it that Goans intentionally conspired to keep them anonymous for reasons unknown? The oldest newspaper of Goa, despite its best efforts and resources, is unable to track the author’s name. This only goes to show that Generation Past did a pretty decent cover-up job of striking out records of these authors. Compare that with the quotes written in English, finding credits seems so easy, despite the fact that its origins emanate from distant lands. Of course, these Konkani quotes have survived many generations and some might justify that Portuguese in their quest to crush Konkani language, may have deliberately destroyed records. In that case, how is it that only the author’s name got lost and not the quote itself?

A very popular Goan Mando ‘Tambdde Rosa’ might be on most Goan lips, but how many of us know off hand that it was composed by Ligorio Dacosta in the late eighteenth century. Are we Goans bad and biased history writers waiting for an opportunity to conceal due credits whenever possible? Have we neglected or misunderstood the meaning of intellectual property? Was this a rule of thumb used by our Generation Past to suppress free thinking? Are we not able to come to terms that talent might exist in places where we least expect them?

Let’s not be under the impression that this phenomenon existed in Goa only in the centuries gone by; it exists even in a modern Goa, an era of information age and instant communication. Last year a Konkani film ‘O’ Maria was released, the producer smartly used Remo Fernandes in the promotion of the film. However, the day of the music launch, Remo was absent at the show. Apparently the producer had to choose between inviting a politician or chance the presence of an honest Remo, and his frank views on politicians. Was Remo’s absence, result of the producer’s hobnobbing with politicians, or a subconscious effort to keep Remo anonymous from the project? The producers eventually made amends by inviting Remo on centre stage at their silver jubilee celebrations. Too little, too late! Remo is Goa’s music icon; you can’t sweep him under the carpet, once you get the music out of him. Imagine the music composer was not the famous Remo, but an anonymous artist wanting to make a mark in the industry. With an attitude like this, instead of getting a career boost, would he not be lost in some fine print, to be later mentioned in history as some anonymous artist?

Goan cricketer Shadab Jakati and Swapnil Asnodkar are already going the anonymous way inspite of they being cricketers and members of the winning IPL teams, their names get mentioned very sparingly. Fifty years down the line, these cricketers will go down in history as anonymous cricketers of Goa. On the other hand, fifty years down the line, our present politicians will have their names written in history as great leaders and visionaries, despite our knowledge that their vision never extended more than political seat number crunching and booking air tickets to Delhi. It is time to start distinguishing true success, it has two advantages: it helps the successful person to strive harder and creates genuine role models for Generation Next. We need an environment where creativity is respected and the creator gets due credit.

(Above Article appeared on Herald Goa on August 26, 2011)

Brands for Generation Next

By Plastino D'Costa

Lately, the hit American brand Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) made a quiet entry into Goa, quite because there was hardly anything spent on advertising as compared to what is usually expected of them. So high is the brand appeal of KFC, that Goans were seen thronging in an unfinished shopping mall, trying to get a taste of KFC. The long queues have now become manageable, but they still remain steady. Good news for everybody, the owners of KFC and Goans will now spend big bucks to taste international brands. KFC, because of their fast increasing customer base, and brand loyalty among Generation Next, will slowly change Goan food habits, and will eat into the market share of the cuisine of Goa which, till date, has remained unbranded.

We cannot compare fast food with elegant Goan cuisine, but in order take on the mighty KFC, Goans should start thinking in terms of improvising some of our own cuisine into creating fast food brands such as a chicken ‘cafreal.’

The reason being if Goan cuisine has to survive the onslaught of international tastes then creating, managing and building a chain of brands of at least some our foods, might be the only alternative forward. In this competitive world, everybody is free to promote and sell international brands and therefore, it becomes imperative that local brands of foods are created which are in imminent danger of being wiped out.

In the Middle East, there is a craze among their Generation Next to patronise American brands, KFC being one of them. These international brands attract their customers not necessarily for the taste, but also because they are cool places to hang out.

At this rate, there was a danger that Arab food habits were changing and therefore, some enterprising local businessmen created their own brand of chicken that matched the outlet of a KFC and offered their own grilled tender chicken instead of fried. This gave the customer a choice of eating an international fried chicken or a local grilled tender chicken.

At least, they made sure that their taste of chicken competes with KFC, and at the same time, is economically viable. Countries in the far east have developed their own local food chains and compete side by side with international brands at food courts in prestigious malls.

Goans should start thinking of creating fast food brands which are easy to prepare, and faster to serve. For example, creating a brand for the all time Goan favourite ‘Choris Pao’ might not be a bad idea.

At the moment, available in not so comfortable local bars, its clientele is limited as it does not attract trendy customers, but once you place this product in a place that is cool and trendy, chances are that these foods might survive the next generation. A two-year old idea by a political party of creating a brand of the famous Vada Pav is taking shape in Mumbai, and although it is delayed, at least their intent is right.

Creating a brand is not an easy task, as it needs strong financial backing, publicity, and overcoming logistical hindrances. Sometimes you might have to tweak the original recipe to suit changing tastes or to make it economically viable.

Even KFC went through a transformation, and its recipe according to its original founder Colonel Harland Sanders is not the same that he prepared in the 1930s.

After he sold the franchise for $2 million in 1964, the company changed hands from Heublien to R J Reynolds and now with Pepsico from 1986, which now holds the brand through its subsidiary Yum Brands.

Economics play a big part in the longevity of a brand, and as long as their basic recipe has remained unchanged, a little bit of tweaking should be acceptable.

Why bother creating a brand strategy for products which historically has done well? Well they might have, in a protected environment but there is no guarantee in the changing competitive scenario that these Goan foods will survive.

Having said that, there are few Goans who have been in the process of creating Goan brands. Mahendra Alvares in Loutolim has shown the way on how in his project ‘Big Foot’ he is able to take you back in time, and yet strike a chord with the Generation Next thereby creating a brand image for the venture.

‘Goa Chitra’ an ethnographic museum conceptualised by Victor Hugo Gomes of Benaulim, promotes the concept of ‘Back to Basics’ which now makes more and more sense, in this high inflation scenario.

Goa needs brand positioning and efforts from our stars like Remo Fernandes, who recently composed music and sang for a Konkani feature film, or Wendell Rodricks designing the Goan Kunbi saree, will go a long way in building brand ‘GOA’.

Their efforts have, at least, positioned brand Goa positively and changed the perception to the outside world, although it might completely not arrest the eroding brand value of Goa, which our politicians have attained over the years.

Badly handled tourism in the hands of politicians for a few more years will position brand Goa next to a brothel, where anyone and everyone enjoys on their terms, but at the cost of Goans. The toppling political games our politicians play might amuse the local population, but when these events take place, brand Goa always takes a hit.

A couple of years ago, India biggest private bank ICICI Bank took a hit when rumours were intentionally floated about their weak financial position to enable a certain bear cartel to short sell the banks shares. The bank quickly realised their brand had taken a hit, and took decisive action by roping in Shahrukh Khan for their advertising campaign to reinforce their brand image, and contacted their depositors to dispel those rumors.

But then, ICICI Bank is a private bank and is answerable to its shareholders, depositors and its customers. Their very existence depended on the brand they had created, over these years.

Enterprising Goans must start thinking of creating local brands, because it might be our only chance to compete, with the best in the world.

The brand must then make enough money to sustain itself on its own, instead of begging for government dole and political favours; and least of all, never make politicians inaugurate that new venture, whatever might be the compulsions.

In Generation Next lingo, they are the opposite of cool, they are not the Generation Next idols, your brand might create initial curiosity but in the long run, it might never takeoff.

Our existence will now depend on how fast we adapt to this changing scenario.

Above Article appeared on the Herald on 29th January 2011.

Wanted Leaders with Humility

If anybody watched Sachin Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli play for their school in their early teens, or for that matter practice at the nets of Bombay’s Azad Maidan, and if one had to predict who would be the more successful of the two, without a doubt most would select Vinod Kambli. Such was the dominance of Vinod that it was very obvious that even if both played for the country, Kambli would be the more successful of the two. That said, their brand of cricket was so special that it kept most commuters on foot, shuttling between Victoria Terminus and Churchgate stations and using the Azad Maidan shortcut opposite the Bombay Gymkhana, always spellbound and awestruck. That usually meant these commuters would be missing connecting trains, losing sales calls, delaying appointments and unable to reach their destinations on time. But there was no denying the fact Vinod was always the more belligerent and promising.

Today if Vinod honestly reflects as to why his career did not take off on expected lines, among other follies, arrogance and flamboyance would have had something to do with it. Of course there were lost opportunities, injuries that played spoilsport for Vinod, but the major difference between an average career for Vinod and a great career for Sachin was arrogance versus humility.

Cricket is a performance oriented sport; you perform or perish. The system although tainted at the moment, on match fixing allegations, is designed to measure performance based on the runs you make or the wickets you take. Having talent helped, but eventually it was Sachin’s humility that played a part in him becoming the greatest cricketer of all time.

Great people are generally humble and competent modern systems are generally designed to reward humble people. Arrogant leaders might have led dictatorial states in the past, by keeping their citizens fearful of everything around them, but those kind of dictators have no place in a democratic setup, specially if there is a strong and transparent media presence. Strong media presence with a combination of educated citizens who are able to decipher actual news vis-à-vis fake, is one combination most arrogant leaders are unable to manipulate and eventually meet their fate. The arrogance of Republican George Bush Jr. is the reason Democrat Barack Obama became the President of the United States. Of course economic meltdown helped.

In a generally democratic world where arrogance is usually punished, how come Goa has not found a way of showing the door to its arrogant leaders? We can tolerate them for one term maximum, but the public have a chance to rectify their mistake when they appear for a re-election. Have we got so used to arrogant leaders around us, who go to the extent of playing politics over a pothole or a streetlight? Why do we give these leaders so much control of our lives? There are instances where our leaders do the most corrupt and immoral things in the afternoon and on the same day lecture their citizens on morality over a toast raising ceremony at some evening reception party.

Our inability to speak freely and make up our own mind has seriously jeopardized our thinking ability. The more the processes, licenses, and permissions you need from leaders, the more they show you who is boss and an arrogant one at that. Great leaders usually provide solutions to a problem that might arise in their work area. In Goa most leaders create the problem, so that they are automatically called upon to be part of the solution. Lousy leaders usually thrive on chaos, the more the chaos the more they control the population. This is the reason leaders loathe smart and efficient systems, because it threatens their leadership and might render them obsolete.

Great leaders are usually never insecure of their leadership; their thumb rule is to usually have subordinates that are smarter than them. That gives them an edge as a team, to perform better and stay ahead in the race. That also makes sure the leader is always humble and listening to smart advice from his subordinates. Lot of Goan leaders are seen promoting their offspring into the political arena, nothing wrong with that, but are any Goan leaders ready to listen to ideas from their offspring, for that matter is any offspring ready to point out the mistakes of their political parents?

Narayan Murthy’s highly qualified children can change their names, walk into Infosys premises and get selected for a job based on their merit. Infosys as a policy till date has not encouraged offspring taking over management, because the organization is beyond petty power struggles. Arrogance is killed at the doorstep of Infosys and that makes them the most humble organization always geared towards customer service.

Google founders Sergei Brin and Larry Page found themselves too young and inexperienced to run day to day affairs of the scale Google was turning out to be. They immediately hired Eric Schmidt as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Google. Even though all the three run Google as a triumvirate, it takes audacity on the part of the founders to handover the company operations to an outsider.

Narayan Murthy, Sergey Brin, Larry Page can be termed as humble leaders whose performance is measured by the results their companies declare. No big talk over the mike can mask their performance like our leaders resort to, because the audience they usually address, are not used to listening too much prose, they listen to facts and figures.

Performance oriented systems usually put pressure on leaders to perform or face consequences. Goans must come out of the dictatorial mindset of the past, which might have delivered great results, but there are enough checks and balances to stop corruption, high handedness, nepotism, red-tape even in a democratic setup. For that to happen we the citizens must use our voting power judiciously. We could make a start by changing our vocabulary and start addressing our leaders from ‘honourable leaders’ to ‘humble servants’. This will have dual advantage, it will remind the leaders every time that they should be humble towards their citizens and more importantly remind the citizens that leaders are selected to serve us.

Measuring performance of leaders might not be as easy as counting runs and wickets in cricket, but surely before selecting a leader we can set benchmarks they should achieve. There is an old saying that goes something like this, “Fool me once, Shame on you, Fool me twice, Shame on me”. If we go by this proverb, and the amount of times we have been fooled by our leaders, Generation Next Goans will be branding us in their history books, as Most Shameless Goans of all Time.

Above Article appeared on Herald, Goa on 20th October 2010.
Archives : http://goangenerationnext.blogspot.com/

Ignorance is not blissful

Every Goan however poor she or he may be has to make purchases at some point of time or the other. A branded product is being purchased from the market, be it a packet of biscuits or toilet soap. The product is wrapped in laminated paper and has its price printed on it, which includes all taxes. This tax simply means that the end user of that product has effectively paid his contribution in the form of tax to the government, even though the actual tax transaction takes place between the manufacturer of the product and the government. This contribution, however small, is meant for usage by the government to prudently run its operations, build state infrastructure, healthcare, education, maintain law and order, manage garbage and all tasks which are carried out collectively by the state for the benefit of its people.

Goans, whether rich or poor, pay their taxes in one form or the other, even though their contributions differ depending on their net worth. However, over the period of time, politicians, with the help of bureaucrats, and in order to have an upper hand over their citizens, have learnt the art of using fancy names to this tax contribution such as the Direct Tax Code, Excise, Octroi, Personal Income Tax, TDS, VAT, MAT, Sales Tax, Corporate Tax, cess, and what have you.

Keeping aside this terminology, it simply means that money is collected from every citizen, whenever they happen to purchase a product. It is also deducted from their salaries or the TDS (tax deducted at source) from fixed deposits opened by citizens with various banks. The income so earned goes to finance the government machinery and the upkeep of those in charge of the government.

Most Goans, due to their ignorance, do not believe that they pay taxes since they don’t file their income tax returns or pay their personal income tax. For example, Goans working on cruise liners never realise that they pay taxes on their big ticket purchases, because they usually bring their money in cash. Those who opt to use banking channels don’t take the trouble of filing returns. They literally donate their money to the government in the form of tax deduction at source, on their fixed deposits. Most never understand the complex world of taxation, wherein the government has devised a plan to make sure that every citizen falls into the tax net. Of course, Goan politicians prefer that their voters remain ignorant, so that they can continue to keep them on a tight leash. If at all this does get noticed, then they have a Plan B explanation which says that hardly anything comes to the state and most goes to the centre. The bottom line is that all Goans pay their taxes irrespective of whether it is collected by the centre or the state.

Politicians are elected to the seat of power. They exploit the poor and ignorant. The time has now dawned to educate this section of the population that everything the Government spends, comes from the contribution of each and every Goan. The need to decode the tax jargon and change the Goan psyche is of paramount importance now, because most Goans are still under the impression that Government produces money from thin air or at the most, taxes the rich and pays the poor, through their endless schemes. For politicians this is a win-win situation. They collect money from the population without them even becoming aware of it. While disbursing the same, they pretend it is their personal money, thereby gaining instant Robin Hood type of popularity. No wonder, almost every poor Goan, is made to believe that voting a more corrupt leader, is in their personal interest, so that they can avail schemes from the government coffers officially. Unofficially, it can also be obtained from the politician’s personal account.

Few Goans do shout, write, and demand accountability on a regular basis from politicians. This hardly makes any dent on the majority of the population, because most don’t believe that the money involved is theirs. Goans should instead demand better services from the government in return. After all, they expect value for their money. Cunningly though, the tables are actually turned on the people themselves. Politicians view it as a favour to the people, no matter whatever little they do. No wonder some politicians are making an all out effort to prove that more and more people are given the ‘Below Poverty Line’ status, so that they can be hammered below the belt, once they avail of poverty benefits. If the poor is somehow made to realise that the money received from these politicians is actually from their own contribution, the perception towards their leaders may change.

When a politician approaches its electorate to seek votes, it is generally perceived that the politicians would decide on the electorate’s behalf and wants to be in charge of the taxes that are being paid by his constituents.

Poverty along with ignorance is a deadly cocktail which is being successfully exploited by our leaders to come to power, time and again. It, therefore, assumes significance that smart and knowledgeable Goans start educating all those in their circle of influence. This applies to the milkman, housemaids, vegetables vendors, fisherwomen etc., of the basics of tax collections and expenditure.


Once the poor realise of their capabilities and the fact that even the beacon on top of the minister’s car is bought from their contribution, their perception will change thereby forcing a leadership transformation, from an arrogant variety to a more humble one.

Only then can Generation Next politicians with the right credentials, think of entering the political scene.

Above Article appeared in the Herald, Goa on 4th October 2010.

Goan Generation G A P

The Bollywood film ‘Rock On’ was a huge hit. Farhan Akhtar produced it and played the lead role. He dominated the film, even singing the title song and five other tracks. So huge was its popularity and critical acclaim, that today the ‘Rock On’ script is showcased in Hollywood, as part of the archive of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Rock On’s songs were written by poet and writer Javed Akhtar, who is also Farhan’s father. In the ’70s Javed wrote the epic blockbuster ‘Sholay’ with partner Salim. Their other great scripts included ‘Deewar’ and ‘Zanjeer’. He is now Bollywood’s most sought after lyrics writer, with hits like ‘Swades’ and ‘Dil Chahta Hai’. Javed’s writing lineage can be traced back seven generations, and it is no surprise that Farhan is so talented.

Farhan and Javed live in India’s city of opportunity – Mumbai. If Farhan and Javed were Goans, chances are that Farhan would probably be on constant collision course with his father. The latter would scuttle all his ideas with ‘great’ and ‘glorious’ stories of the past.

Frustrated, Farhan would eventually pack his bags and move out of Goa in search of greener pastures. The clock would have stopped on Javed’s success, if he chose to stay in Goa. He would be entangled in political games played by the GenerationPast, disturbing his creative mind. The only choices would be to leave the system or adjust to mediocrity.

Sad but true; this is Goa. Highly talented individuals quietly leave Goa, unable to work around the bottlenecks of GenerationPast. They then settle in places where their talent is better appreciated. The loss is Goa’s. Our obsession for insignificant details and purposeless regulations has lost us the big picture. Young talent is too fettered by rules. We have a dearth of new ideas. A system with too much policy is not necessarily a smart system.

The exodus of young talented individuals has widened the gap between GenerationNext and Generation Past, both physically and mentally. Young Goans are sidelined; they have hardly any say in decisions affecting the future of Goa. Were any youngsters taken into confidence when an international language was dropped for the mother tongue as the compulsory medium of instruction in government-aided primary schools? Take an unbiased survey among 18 to 21 years olds and ask which language they prefer…

Most of GenerationPast is resigned to the belief that their family can progress only by sending their sons and daughters away from Goa. This also gives elders complete power.

Otherwise, how can one explain a mother coaxing her son the very day after he arrives from out of the clutches of sea pirates – freed by the intervention of the Prime Minister’s Office – that he must return? Let’s not fool ourselves. She isn’t persuading her son to join a battle to save the country. The family is too used to foreign remittances, even if it means sending their children into harm’s way.

Some Goan politicians say they are promoting their children. This is an eyewash. Instead of surrendering their own seats to their children, they actually try to increase their political footprint by getting their children elected from a neighboring constituency. That way, they can control two or more constituencies; have their cake and eat it too.

The government also contributes to the Generation Gap. The old-but-not-needy of GenerationPast get Social Security, but there’s no sign of an allowance for the genuinely educated unemployed. Our politicians should thank their stars that they are not in a developed country, where unemployment numbers are published weekly and politicians are held accountable for any significant rise in numbers. Forget corruption, nepotism, red tape… Goa’s politicians don’t deserve to be elected on the single count of not creating enough jobs for the youth. They have cleverly made sure things remain in a permanent flux, so that ambitious youth should leave Goa for their careers.

Youth who choose to stay and perform in Goa are usually overlooked, discriminated against or intimidated. Laxmikant Shetgaonkar’s wonderful film gets recognition in faraway Canada, but not here. But now the writing is on the wall. GenerationNext wants a level playing field, to perform without sucking up to the political class.

Some gap between generations is natural in a society that promotes independent thinking. But there are places like Carmona, in South Goa. This village exports its scarce educated youth out of Goa. Those who stay back are at the mercy of village elders.

No wonder a movement against a mega project has failed to pick up steam; the village is controlled by elders who lack the virtue of the youth. Gram Sabhas are stage managed and manipulated.

In many Carmona families, Generation Past is more educated then the children. Was this intentionally done so the elders can call the shots till eternity? Politicians are always on the prowl to broker big deals in land-scarce Carmona, because there are few educated youth in the village; the old think-tank decides! A modern hall finds favour over a modern educational institute – could it fit in their greater scheme of keeping the village largely uneducated? Even an all-Goa topper from the village cannot effect any change! The odd educated youth who decides to leave the village for a career may never want to return. A healthy Generation Gap would have encouraged debate, avoided a herd mentality and would have contributed to the village’s collective wisdom.

Any ideal society has both young and old. Both complement each other to achieve balance and harmony. GenerationNext is full of energy, hopes, desires, dreams; but it can also be wayward, naïve, immature and prone to mistakes. GenerationPast is experienced; a generation that may have learnt its lessons, but can also be resentful, slothful and rigid in its thinking. Both generations are important, and society benefits when both keep an open mind about each other and learn mutual respect.

The old must ring in the new at the right time. In a 4x100 meter relay, the baton has to be transferred every 100 metres. Even the best runner can’t win without passing the baton. You just can’t beat the energy of four runners with one!

We can learn a lesson from Indian corporates. Industry stalwarts have been inducting new blood. Adi Godrej of the Godrej group inducted his daughter Tanya Dubash. Shiv Nader of HCL has brought in his daughter Roshini. Azim Premji’s son Rishad is being groomed to handle Wipro. Even the flamboyant Vijay Mallya has inducted his son Siddartha. In Infosys, the CEOs step aside, allowing other senior colleagues to lead.

In fairness, some parents in Goa do encourage their teenage children to think independently, even opening Facebook accounts and wearing trendy clothing to ‘keep up’. It does make a difference, but these are cosmetic changes. When Farhan asked Javed to write the lyrics for ‘Rock On’, the latter did not change from kurta-pyjama to jeans.

Instead, Javed changed his mindset and thought from his son’s point of view. That is why the songs and film succeeded. It is like Shakespeare writing songs for Led Zeppelin! As the title song of ‘Rock On’ says: “Hai yeh Waqt ka Ishara, Rock On…”

Above Article appeared on Herald - Goa on 1st June 2010

Goan Government Giveaways.

By Mr. Plastino D'Costa
Most Goans blame our corrupt leaders for squandering Goa's wealth and hold them responsible for the sorry state of affairs today. But truth to tell, to some extent ordinary Goans must also learn to take the responsibility, as they are equally culpable for the mess. As if Goa were some prosperous nation, successive governments have been promoting welfare schemes, some genuine and important, but most conjured and unnecessary. Politicians have over the years been neatly packaging welfare schemes which are not necessarily in the best interests of the population. Actually most politicians get away with inefficiencies, because they have been regularly feeding the population with giveaways that look beneficial in the short term but will end up detrimental in the long term. Politicians who can dish out innovative schemes in the name of the poor are assured their seat in the sun.

One such innovation, probably influenced by the US social security system, was our very own local social security scheme, meant for the aged, needy and the poor. This scheme has been openly abused by most Goans, dead or alive, rich or poor, old or not so old. Officials handling the scheme will tell you that in order to qualify for the scheme, most Goans go to the extent of lying to prove that they have no source of income, in spite of receiving fat transfers from their overseas children. Of course the government tries to check the credentials of the applicants, but that has not stopped some high net-worth Goans from receiving this dole money. The scheme, even if well-intentioned, hardly serves the purpose of taking care of our old and needy. Actually what is a thousand rupees in this environment of high cost-living? It hardly goes far for the receiver, but instead puts a collective financial burden on the giver. This scheme can only be compared to the bait a fish takes - the amount of food on the bait can never fill the stomach of the fish, and everybody knows what happens when the fish takes the bait.

Over the years the government has been one of the biggest employers of Goa, with politicians mostly acting as recruiting agents. Once Goans get employed in any government department by hook or by crook, that day they effectively forget the meaning of competence, integrity or hard work. In fact, once armed with a government job, they slowly learn the art of delay and put obstacles in the already entangled government procedures. There could be some who start sincerely, only to find out that there is no reward for sincerity. The government must realise that they can't solve the problem of unemployment by increasing the headcount of their already overstaffed departments by creating jobs of the synthetic variety. Most employees hardly add value to their departments; instead they are involved in duplication of work, unnecessary processes, or maybe employed to run personal errands for their immediate bosses. Even the government offices' seating arrangements do not synchronise the paper flow or the process of the department. Of course most government employees hardly bother to look into their consciences when they collect their heavy pay packets, which never reflect the work they do.

Ideally, school education should be considered a necessary expenditure of the government, hoping that students availing this free facility become productive citizens of society, and in turn pay back this subsidy in the form of taxes into the system. In Goa this turns out to be wasteful expenditure because a majority of these students end up becoming productive citizens outside Goa. To make sure Goans don't get an education, which might end up being detrimental to the interest of our leaders, an impractical condition of medium of instruction has been placed on schools to be able to avail the grant-in-aid. Without painting all parents with the same brush, there are some parents who spend their own money in sending their children to unaided english medium schools. These parents are not necessarily rich, as projected by many, but have made education a priority for their children. If wealth, or the lack of it, is the only criteria to avail free education in the state, then the government should close down most aided schools, as children from these schools do not necessarily come from poor backgrounds. The government is advised to make a survey at strategic aided school locations to observe how many children are dropped to their schools in the latest SUVs, sedans or hatchbacks.

Of course the wasteful expenditure on the population does not stop there. Pass around some of the villages of Goa and we notice small yellow toilets being built at Government cost, that too beside some very decent houses. Of course these are used as supplementary toilets to the fancy toilets that might exist in these decent homes. In some villages these toilets are so dense that they run the risk of becoming part of the culture of the village. But what is culture to these Goans, who have already pawned that to Mr Vijay Mallya by allowing him to paint their villages in red?

Ideally every government is supposed to take care of the welfare of their citizens, but for that to happen the government must have a robust revenue model. The Goa Government has been literally pampering Goans, and, to finance all these giveaways, those in the government in power as well as those in the Opposition are at the mercy of the hotel, mining and gambling lobby. No wonder most of our leaders are seen bending rules literally every single day to accommodate these lobbies - after all, like it or not, these businesses are the ones that bring in the money. The government, to balance their bills of payments, resorts to collection of taxes from businesses which might be environmentally unsound or morally unethical. Because of the nexus between politicians and the population scratching each others back, Generation-Next politicians will have to formulate a meaningful and honest way to win elections. The ill effects of receiving giveaways from politicians might work not be visible for a decade or two, but if we are concerned about Goa for the long term, then the general population should get their act together. The politicians will follow.

Above Article appeared on the Herald, Goa on December 14, 2009.

Goan Education Policy Vision

By Mr. Plastino D'Costa

Long time ago, a new Education Policy was promised by the Chief Minister, the draft of which was to be released on January 8th 2008. However, the promise keeps getting deferred and now it seems that the Chief Minister has been avoiding a definite date to avoid embarrassment. If a draft Education policy takes so long to come out, one can imagine the state of implementation.

Ideally all governments are supposed to regulate, through a regulator, the teaching imparted by educational institutions. But since the Government of Goa’s record on education (and every other domain they are involved in) is pathetic, it might now be a good time for a sincere Chief Minister to actually free the Education Department from government interference or entrust it to a more professional autonomous regulator.

The history of Government interference in education in Goa has been miserable. Politicians have an unpleasant habit of taking easy and popular decisions, keeping in mind their narrow vote banks. Education in Goa is already suffering for numerous structural problems. This was compounded by a highly popular decision that our leaders took by making the mother tongue the medium of instruction for primary schools and English for secondary school. On that day they effectively messed up one of the major strengths of Goans. One can understand not-so-intelligent politicians, with no vision for the future being naïve. But that decision also involved supposedly great intellectual leaders, unless it was a conscious effort to keep the Generation Next less educated.

That one decision changed the destiny of Goa directly or indirectly and today most of Goa’s problems are as a result of that very decision. Families in villages were overnight forced to abandon their comfortable ancestral homes and rush to buy second homes to be in close proximity to English-medium schools at that time available only in cities. This effectively broke up the joint families with couples with children being forced to split into nuclear families. Of course some couples used that as an excuse to stay away from nagging siblings or in-laws.

Parents avoided village schools not because of the quality of education, but because they could not cope up with change in medium of instruction, as they were themselves educated in the English medium. Slowly despite good infrastructure, village schools deteriorated as they went out of favour with parents.

Second homes purchased by anxious parents artificially increased demand and inflated prices. All of a sudden our cities became chaotic as parents chose convenience over quality of life of a village house. This one decision changed a geographically dispersed education system in Goa into one of cramped up schools in cities. Today the ‘builders lobby’ has become a word of abuse for Goans, but this is not the lobby that forced people to move from villages to cities. They merely facilitated the supply to meet the demand created by our leaders without foresight.

Now our leaders have hit upon yet another novel idea which only proves that education is really the last priority for our leaders. How else can one explain this new decision to move city based schools to the outskirts? The reason given is decongesting cities of vehicular traffic created by the parents who drop their wards to school. Take the example of Margao city: if the government is honestly committed to decongest cities why can’t it relocate the many petrol pumps in Margao city which cater to people all the way from Cavelosim, Carmona, Orlim, Varca, Benaulim, Navelim, Chinchinim, Assolna, Velim, Betul and so many other villages. Can’t they spread petrol pumps to the villages? Don’t we all know that people entering Margao to fill petrol far exceeds that of parents entering Margao to drop their children?

The Government instead of moving the numerous unorganized markets of Margao, some housed in pathetic conditions, is more than willing to move neat, clean and well maintained school campuses with compounds, just because they happen to be in the middle of the city. Is it the real estate that interests the government or is it because decent school managements are soft targets for bullying?

Another reason for the deterioration of Education is the huge subsidy the government provides to schools that choose to follow its decision of enforcing mother tongue as medium of instruction. Why should Goans who don’t have school-going children pay in the form of taxes for schoolchildren which are not theirs? As if education were not enough, why should well off Goans let their children have Mid-day meals and burden the exchequer? Goa may be the only place where children have a free lunch at school and accompany their parents at dinner in posh hotels.

Because of this subsidy Goans have become averse to any type of payments school management might request. The subsidy provided by the government may be more than sufficient for some schools but it is not adequate for other high quality schools. These high quality schools are unable to upgrade or grow because the government limits the subsidy and does not allow them to tap any other resources from parents.

The time has come for high-quality school management to rethink if they should remain aided and thereby bonded to government high handedness. It makes sense that government allows aided schools who have carved a niche for themselves to start charging students. A timely phasing-out of government subsidy could be announced by the government but for that we need to ask ourselves hard questions and take hard decisions.

Considering the above, the Chief Minister will do great service to Goa if in this Education policy he seizes the opportunity and frees the Education Department from government interference by giving it complete autonomy in the true sense. At least all the hard decisions of medium of instructions, subsidized education will be taken by an autonomous body that does not have any political compulsions.

At a time when politicians want their presence felt in possibly every domain that exists in Goa, it will take a courageous Chief Minister to keep politicians away from education. If he checks his conscience, a Chief Minister from Margao will understand that school managements of Loyola, Manovikas, Presentation, Bhatikar, Vidya Vikas, Fatima are much more trustworthy and honorable than some of his colleagues in the government.

Above Article appeared on 3rd September 2008 on Herald - Goa

Protecting the Interests of Goans

By Mr. Plastino D'Costa

When Bear Stearns, the fifth largest US investment bank was being run on by its creditors resulting in bringing the 85 year old company on its knees, the duo comprising of Chairman of the US Federal Reserve Mr. Ben Bernanke, along with the US Treasury Secretary, Mr. Mark Paulson came out with a package to bail out the bank, what is now famously known as the Paulson Plan.

Overnight they trashed out a plan, by which the Federal Reserve would lend US tax payer money to Bear Stearns competitor, JP Morgan Chase and allow it to buy Bear Stearns, for a fraction of the value. Last checked the same duo was busy convincing US lawmakers to pour some more US taxpayer money to bail out Fannie May and Freddie Mac the beleaguered U.S. mortgage-finance companies.

With so much financial socialism being done by the US this time, one may argue that the American style capitalism has got it confused this time. However, the trend is clear, the US Government is setting a precedent that it will bail out every institution affected in the US sub prime crisis in order to protect the economy of their country.

Closer home, late last year our own duo of Indian Finance Minster along with the RBI Governor, in order to tame inflation, has been regularly intervening in the rupee exchange rate by artificially encouraging a stronger rupee by selling US dollars, so as to discourage exports in order to tame inflation.

However, in the recent bout of inflation the same duo having realized that tweaking the rupee every time and ignoring fiscal deficit might not be the correct way to tame inflation, so the focus this time has been aggressively raising interest rates, increasing CRR so that they suck out money from the economy in the hope that they will subdue demand.

Every Government wants to work for the people of the land, even if it means changing the rules and taking on the forces of Globalization, free markets etc. However, when it comes to protecting Goans, the government of Goa is always found wanting to make a strong case. If at all they decide something in the interests of the people, it is only a result of a reactive compromise solution only after the people have revolted.

Even while making the case, Goan leaders usually get cornered by the Central leaders, then everybody starts referring to the rule book that says that Goa is a free place and nobody can be stopped from settling here.

Yes it is true! Technically we cannot stop legitimate people from settling in Goa. Then how cum the US or for that matter our own Central Government, go about their regulations, if it is in the interest of their own people. The rule book says US Government is a capitalist country and is not supposed to spend tax payer money in saving private investment banks like Bear Stearns.

The rule book also says subsidies should be phased out fast and market forces should decide prices and yet in order to be competitive the US is yet to eliminate farm and energy subsidies. Back home, the Indian rupee is partially convertible, that probably explains the RBI intervention, but the Indian Government is not supposed to interfere in free trade by banning exports of food commodities to other countries in the name of food security. However, in the broader interests of the people the government does just that, even if it means taking on the forces of powerful countries crying foul.

If the Government of USA or our own Central Government takes action in the broader interests of its economy and its citizens, this action should itself tell something to the Government of Goa. The idea of protecting the local population in this era of globalization might sound an obsolete idea and yet most governments do just that.

One classic example of Government which chose to ignore the local population is Bombay, and today we can all see why the locals of Bombay have not progressed among other communities in Bombay.

Agreed some communities lived in Bombay even before Mahrashtra was merged with Bombay, but can anyone explain why the locals of Bombay inspite of living in the City That Never Sleeps are always caught napping and letting opportunities pass them by. Why do the locals of Bombay always have to fight for their place in the sun? Why do they hardly exist as members of the Bombay Stock Exchange, or for that matter the more popular Bollywood.

Over time their leaders have failed them. Instead of preparing them to meet competition from other communities head on, most of their leaders protected them with short term measures by reservations of jobs. Instead of focusing on good education, which by the way was available in plenty in Bombay, they were misled that job opportunity is their right and they shall have it without education, even if it meant burdening the company that hires them.

Do we see something common between the locals of Mahrastra and the locals of Goa? Our problems are far worse actually, we have a population who never demands gainful employment from the society or the government, which makes it difficult for Generation Next to believe in the Goa story. We are programmed to go abroad, so there is no pressure by Government on corporate community to create meaningful jobs.

There is a total mismatch between salaries in Goa, and there is a total disconnect between education and employment. Those who chose to stay in Goa are misguided by leaders to fight their own personal battles through them, and have lost the capacity to make their own decisions thereby depending on their leaders to make all the calls.

We have leaders giving speeches and playing to the galleries without any definitive plan that will actually protect the interests of the Goans. If the locals have to literally fight for their survival in their own land, it means somewhere we have a massive structural failure which needs challenging the status quo.

In modern day no Government would like to be in a position where it has to resort to protection of their local population, but that’s the price the government has to pay for keeping most of its population illiterate and incapable of sustaining themselves in their own land. So long as Goans don’t get an education, don’t arrest and reverse “good brain drain”, don’t learn to vote free of cost, the Government has no choice but to protect its local population. How to protect can always be learnt from the government of USA or our own Indian Government.


Above Article appeared on 5th August 2008 on Herald Goa.

Goan Success Stories

By Mr. Plastino D'Costa

Wendell Rodricks, residing in Colvale a remote village of Goa, over the years have been successfully making a mark in the main stream of world fashion industry. Recently he has been signed to be represented in Paris, the world fashion capital, for the Wendell Rodricks label. This means the Wendell Rodricks ‘Made in Goa’ label is poised to take-off worldwide on the fashion racks in the spring/summer of 2008. Big deal this, even with the limited knowledge we might possess on the subject of fashion. Yet Goans seem to have not realized the impact of his achievements. A Goan man is making a mark in worldwide fashion and we seem to be largely ignorant of what this might lead to. Even the Indian media gives more coverage to his accomplishments compared to our own.

Remo Fernandes, living in Siolim not far away from Colvale, started writing music when most music professionals in Goa were satisfied singing other people music. Today Remo writes his own music, lyrics and composes his own musical arrangements at his home studio. Remo has been India’s leading and highest selling rock musician and has been awarded gold discs in this category, not to mention the success he has achieved in the Hindi pop and film music and still maintaining his identity. This is actually a tribute to all those Goan musicians of the past, who have worked in the Hindi film background music industry but sadly their achievements also remained in the background. Yet we Goans seem to downplay Remo’s achievements, even the Government of Goa wakes up only after realizing that the Indian Government has already conferred on him the Padmashri at the hands of the President of India.

Carafina Pereira, over 20 years back along with her husband opens a small food stall in Betalbatim near the tourist dominated beach belt of South Goa, and with lot of dedication makes this small joint into one of the best restaurants of Goa. Most Indian celebrities frequently patronize this restaurant popularly called as ‘Martins Corner’. Yet most Goans shy away from praising her during their visits to the restaurant, given the fact that most Goans understand food more than fashion.

How many aspiring fashion designers of Goa keep Wendell as their role model, how many Goan music professionals are genuinely proud of Remo’s achievements, and how many Goan women who really cook well at home openly admire Carafina. Above Success Stories in Fashion, Music or Food are just some of the Success Stories the writer has used to make Goans understand the pattern that has been developed over the years among Goans, to ignore success and take extra notice of failures.

Our basic instinct to ignore Success Stories and focus more on the negative has actually muted the growth of Goans giving rise to mediocrity. No wonder even success of successful Goans is capped due to our ability to tear down the character of the ones who are trying hard to achieve. If the Ambani’s, Murthy’s, Premji’s, or Mittal’s were from Goa, their success would definitely be restricted, because Goans would find some reason to tarnish their image and make sure they stay distracted into some issues.

Wendell, Remo, Carafina are successful people in their line of work, and the more we learn about them, the more motivated our Generation Next will be. It is important to know more about Success Stories which does not always mean high profile stories, but even small successes in our locality, neighborhood, villages or cities. The more we find out about them and get inspired, the better it will be for us to achieve success that might be waiting to come our way. However, we need to make sure discussing Success Stories at regular intervals must have the desired effect of providing inspiration to Goans and not arousing useless emotions like envy and resentment.

Success Stories also need to be discussed on a regular basis and projected as role models for our Generation Next to offset the regular media blitz created by present or future politicians, or the so called social workers and what have you, who harpe on their achievements through paid media commercials. In a democratic setup as long as media space is cheap in Goa, these sort off personal advertisements are difficult to stop, but the fallout of these paid commercials, is it confuses Goans the definition of success. Therefore it becomes important to discuss Genuine Success Stories to offset the phony ones. This will help the Generation Next and Goans to differentiate Genuine Success Stories and change their perception towards success.

There are so many Goans who design clothes, and so many Goan musicians, and most Goan women can cook good food, so how cum Wendell, Remo or Carafina achieve so much success in their respective fields, definitely it is not by chance. Their success story has got a lot to do with their vision, hard work, dedication, attitude, achieving excellence, and a conscious effort to achieve their goals. Therefore it is all the more necessary to make a BIG DEAL of these types of Genuine Success Stories, so as to provide inspiration to the Generation Next.

Above Article first appeared on Herald - Goa on 27th January 2008