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From My Balcao

The Delhi Shadow

By Ervell E Menezes
We've just completed one month of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and once again (after a gap of some years) we are the shadow of the government in Delhi and Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar has wasted no time in presenting Goa's case to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. How helpful he will be remains to be seen but Vajpayee is sure to realise the efficient functioning of the first BJP Government in Goa will boost the party's image tremendously. Goa can be a "namuna" (exemplary) State.

For starters, Parrikar has only to curb the corruption and show signs that the government is working. That is something few of the previous Congress Governments did and the last one was a breakaway Congress, the GPCP. When I met Mr Parrikar a few days after taking over (it was Diwali time and he had only one-and-a-half working days in the first five, he told me) he seemed sincere about his promise to head a government that works. The bottom line was, "I would like to say that the Goans deserve something more than they have got in the last 10 years and I will do my best to give it to them." Many thought his withdrawal of the Baleno cars of the Ministers was a publicity gimmick but even after that he seems to be on the right track. Being an IIT-man and engineer it is apparent that he is intelligent.

But may be change should be judiciously done. He admitted that there were fewer "tainted men" in his Cabinet than in the previous one. And we have been told that Sardinha allowed them to do their thing. How far it is true one cannot say but like his predecessor Luizinho he acquired that arrogance which comes with sitting on the Chief Minister's chair.

How Mr Parrikar deals with his "tainted men" remains to be seen. Will he be able to clip their wings? The grapevine has it that the "tainted men" of the earlier government are blackmailing the marked bureaucrats who have been asked to voluntarily quit. The Economic Development Council is known to be a hot-bed of corruption. Will he be able to clean it? What about Viswajeet Rane, son of former Chief Minister Pratapsing Rane and Chairman of the GTDC ? His image during Rane's rule was anything but lilly-white. In fact, his name was generally linked with Godinho and company. So, being in cahoots with him will surely not enhance Parrikar's image but let's wait for the first 100 days. They say a government must be given 100 days before it is criticised. May be that rule should be changed in Goa because some governments barely survive those 100 days.
Mr Parrikar spoke of trying to get a better class of tourists. They all say that but how to do it is something only the professionals will know. He also promised to come down heavily on drugs. "Full-moon parties, yes but without drugs," he told me which in a way seems a contradiction in terms. And speaking of the new tourism season it isn't very encouraging. "It is yet to pick up," say the optimists. "Better than last year," say the pessimists. What do the realists say ? Well, they are mum at the moment, adopting a "wait and watch" policy. But one thing is for sure, the best tourism days are behind us and tomorrow belongs to the domestic tourist.

Met my old German friend Dr Georg Lechner, former director of Max Mueller Bhavan, who had come down here for the German Festival in India. One of the key questions I put to him was about globalisation. Has it opened new vistas for India? "Yes and no" was his instant answer, elucidating "Indians in German markets do not get as much a chance as Germans in Indian markets." He also attacked the American companies' insistence of patents for neem leaves and basmati rice. "The Americans are defending their markets with methods that are not always as just as they are successful," he went on. May be we'll soon need a corporate Gandhi?

Another management expert told me that in retrospect that the country's globalisation-liberalisation-privatisation phenomena should have been liberalisation first, so that the companies could have obtained enough strength by merger acquisitions to have a system that meets the global requirement. Simultaneously, privatisation could have come in and only after 5-10 years of privatisation and liberalisation had come in and sufficient momentum had been gained within the country, globalisation should have been encouraged.

But then aren't we known for putting the cart before the horse? This could be just one more instance. But with what far-reaching or rather disastrous results?

Questions or Comments? Please write to us at: goatoday@goa-world.com