Goa, celebrating 40 years of development
By MENINO PERES

THE democratic Goa is now 40 years old. These years have been full of inspiring moments. Never in the long history of Goa has so much change taken place. We could achieve tremendous progress due to the inspiration of leaders of this great country, who believed that democracy alone could release the energies of the people and enable them to participate fully in the national re-construction. We were fortunate to have leaders who defined the essence of democracy as ‘The art and science of mobilising the
entire physical, economic and spiritual resources of various sections of the people, in the service of common good of all’.

On the anniversary of Goa’s Liberation Day, I recollect my childhood days at Nocto, Bhatpal, in Canacona, especially the one on December 18, 1961, when I was nine years old, when some elders infiltrated in our village and virtually evacuated the area and transferred us on a nearby hillock, Moitol, considered as a safe place. It was around 11.15 a.m, I remember, my mother had kept her budkulo for preparing rice for us and at the suggestions of elders, following all the villagers, we fled to a safe place. We could hear the firing on the border and the Indian troops were closing in to Ordhfond bridge, which was a few metres away from my village. The Portuguese had a small base atop the raised ground at Ordhfond bridge from where they were obstructing the invasion of Indian troops with a threat to blow off the bridge, which could harm the nearby villagers, and hence the elders had opted for evacuation.

My mother, who never cared for her life and was thinking of her hungry children, went straight to her residence at Nocto and brought the boiling pot of rice on her head to Moitol. Her children and neighbours cherished the soft canji as there was no other food to relish.

At that time, when I was witnessing the liberation of Goa at the Southern border of the region, I never had even an iota of thought that, 40 years after, I would write on what one achieved during these four decades of democratic rule.

The first thing we achieved with the liberation is the rule by the people, meaning a government in which the right to make political decisions is exercised directly by the citizens, acting under procedures of majority rule through representatives chosen by and responsible to them.

Goa’s development over the past 40 year since liberation has been unique and commendable in many ways. It has recorded many firsts and set a new standard in progress, whether it be in the field of industry, tourism, social welfare, education or infrastructure. It has achieved several milestones in the development sector which are emulated by the rest of the country.

In 1960, on the eve of Liberation Day, we had population of 5,47,448, which has now grown into 13,43,998. The census undertaken in 2001 has recorded 7,57,407 persons in North Goa and 5,86,591 in South Goa, which has shown a decadal growth of 14.89 per
cent.

At the same time, we have also increased our literacy rate to 82.32 per cent which speaks volumes of efforts to spread education in the state. Though planned development process was started in Goa only in 1963, twelve years after the planning process commenced in the country, the state has achieved a lot which can be attributed to the active involvement of the people in socio-economic development.

Liberated Goa was fortunate to have Dayanand Balkrishna Bandodkar as the first Chief Minister, who with his efforts to sow the seeds of democracy in the state from 1963 to 1973 earned the title of ‘Bhausaheb’ becoming the first leader of masses. The period was followed by Ms Shashikala Kakodkar, who in her tenure as the Chief Minister from 1973 to 1979, brought in social and agragrian reforms and showed to the world that women in Goa are not lagging behind in art of governance.

In 1980, the state saw Mr Pratapsingh Rane assuming the Chief Minister’s post which continued till 1990. During his tenure and then from 1994 to 1998, the state had seen a balanced and planned development and an imbibed discipline in the state’s administration. During this period, to be precise on May 30, 1987, Goa was declared as a full-fledged state, thus giving a distinct identity to the people of the state.

Then came Mr Churchill Alemao and Dr Luis Proto Barbosa, who in their short tenure as Chief Ministers proved that Goans have matured in democratic polity, while from 1991 to 1993, Mr Ravi Naik, as Chief Minister involved common masses in the administration and rose to be a leader of weaker sections. Dr Wilfred de Souza who served as the Chief Minister in three tenures displayed his qualities as statesman and an able administrator with capacity to organise the people of the state. Mr Luizinho Faleiro, who took over as the Chief Minister in 1998 and again in 1999 brought about a dynamic and drastic change and had been a champion in espousing 100 per cent jobs for Goans, Goa’s statehood and Konkani, as the state language. Mr Francisco Sardinha, as the Chief Minister in 1999 brought smartness in the Goan administration.

Mr Manohar Parrikar, a technocrat Chief Minister has put his sharp, analytical mind to good use, both on the political and administrative front and the people in the state have high hopes on his ability and tenacity in his decisions, for the betterment of the state.

Goa’s march towards progress was smooth as the Union Government was always sympathetic to its demands. The statehood was conferred on it on May 30, 1987, thus handing over the destiny of Goans in their own hands. This was preceded by recognising Konkani as the sole official language. Similarly Panaji Bench of Bombay High Court was established in the state.

Another milestone of development is the setting up of Goa University, a centre for higher education. The state is now proud to have National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), Antarctica Ocean Development Centre (AODC), a Naval Akademi, Naval Aviation Centre,
a base of Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC), a Science Centre, Konkan Railway, an Electronic City, besides a natural harbour which contributes to the growth of the state economy.

The Government has now, in its 41st year decided to transform Goa into an intelligent state, helping the overall growth of economy through use of Information Technology. The aim is to create a fully e-governed, information rich state with real time access to information, on line commercial transactions, State-of-the-Art communication and industrial infrastructure.

Today, Goa has a good network of roads which inter-links every village. The 110 km, long coastline of the state has the finest beaches in the country. The task of further upgradation of all existing services and introduction of new ones has been taken up. The Water Supply Augmentation Schemes costing Rs 250 crore are in the final stages of completion and another water supply scheme at Madei costing Rs 75 crore is on the anvil. On road sector, geometrics of state as well as National Highways is being improved
and most of these roads are hot-mixed for smooth traffic.

Goa is the only state in the country to make the school education for child between the age group of 6 and 14 years compulsory and Computer Literacy Programme has been introduced in all the schools.

In comparison to all India, the state of Goa stands better in respect of almost all health indicators. Birth rate of Goa is 14.3 as against 26.1 for all India, death rate is 7.2 as against 8.7, infant mortality rate is 15.5 as against 70 for all India.

With high literacy, well-educated manpower, peaceful environment and good transport and power facilities, Goa is emerging as one of the best industrial locales in the country.

The waters of Multi-state Irrigation Project at Tillari will flow from Liberation Day which will add to the waters of Selaulim and Anjunem, which are already cultivating the Goan land. A water policy for judicious use of water has been also announced.

The government has recently constituted 2 public sector undertakings- State Infrastructure Development Corporation to undertake mega projects in infrastructure sector and Goa State Sewerage Development Corporation which has undertaken sewerage projects in several towns.

Tourism, which is making substantial contribution to the economic development by way of foreign exchange, has been declared as an industry. Most recently, a policy for tourism has been framed to have a decisive promotional thrust on related activities.

The higher technical education saw a new phenomenon. The IIT level education has been introduced in the state with a memorandum of understanding signed between Goa government and IIT, Mumbai for upgradation of technical education which envisages setting up of mechanisms for the upgradation of quality and level of technical education, e-learning facilities and setting
up of technology incubator programmes. An extended campus of IIT has already been set up, at Farmagudi Engineering College.

The state in 40 years has transformed from a power deficit state into power surplus state. In order to supply flawless power to Goa, a transmission line from Kolhapur to Colvale and erecting of a 400 KV sub-station, at Colvale is in final stages of completion.

I now feel that the hardships, the freedom fighters and common people faced for the liberation, are recouped with the progress and welfare achieved during last 40 years.

(The author is the joint director of the Department of Information and Publicity).
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