Goa Is Becoming More Like The Rest Of India... By The Day

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GOA: FORMER PORTUGUESE COLONY HAS CHANGED FOR BETTER ...AND WORSE

by Frederick Noronha

Panaji (GOA), Nov 6 : This former tiny Portuguese colony and 
headquarters of Lisbon's empire in Asia is becoming "more like 
the rest of India... with each passing day". 

Both positive and negative changes have taken place here since 
colonial rule ended nearly thirtyseven years ago, says a new book 
by a Canada-based academic which zooms in to take a detailed look 
at this region.

Goa's Mediterranean buildings are decaying, and the region is 
losing its architectural and cultural uniqueness, says Professor 
Arthur G Rubinoff of the University of Toronto's Political 
Science Department. But the economy has been making rapid 
strides.

"What remains of the Lusitanian culture is largely being 
preserved for the benefit of tourists. An entire generation has 
come of age having known only Indian and not Portuguese rule," 
says his just-published book called *Integration and Identity in 
Goa*. 

Its author has been doing research on Goa since the 'sixties.

Compared to the situation under Portuguese rule, Goa has now seen 
a high level of social development -- as reflected by its high 
literacy, low birth rate, improved health care, and educational 
facilities. 

Goa Chambers of Commerce and Industry also boasts that this 
region has the distinction of having "the best quality of life... 
in the country" measured in terms of per capital income, level of 
literacy, per capita power consumption, birth rate, death rate, 
infant mortality rate, maternal mortality rate, doctor-population 
ratio, road length per thousand square kms, motor vehicles per 
hundred thousand people, and the ratio of population per banking 
office.

Education, which was not much developed under the Portuguese, has 
expanded rapidly. Only one-third of Goans were literate in 1961, 
when Portuguese rule ended. Today nearly three-quarters are 
literate.

Under Portuguese rule, there had been some 476 primary schools 
and 119 secondary schools. Higher education consisted of one 
Lyceum, one pharmacy school, and one medical college. Over recent 
years, the number of students has increased vastly.

Goa, says the book, has also advanced in the field of economy. It 
has transformed from being an import-oriented economy supported 
by exports of mineral ore, to one sustained by service industries.

But farming has become more commercial, as even small cultivators 
rely on daiy labour. Remittances from abroad have compensated for 
the decline of revenue generated by the mining industry. 

Some one hundred thousand Goans -- mainly Christians -- who are 
in the Gulf (West Asia) are equivalent to the amount of money 
generated by the state's mining economy, says Dr Rubinoff.

Bank branches have increased from two in Portuguese times to over 
three hundred today.

But Goa also has problems of its own. One local newspaper called 
Goa "a small state with big problems". 

Economic growth threatens to "overwhelm the scenery" that 
attracts tourists, luxury hotels obscure beaches, and buildings 
with Portuguese style architure are disappearing.

Goa's politicians have approved plans for gaming in offshore-
casinos, and some hotels have begun transforming themselves into 
casinos.

Says Dr Rubinoff: "The possibility that Goa will replicate Macao 
as another Las Vegas in Asia has generated fierce resistance from 
residents as the crime rate has soared and the number of murders 
averages between seventy and eighty a year." 

Significantly, he addes that there are "indications" that the 
Bombay-Dubai mafia has established linkages in the state.

Goa has also seen citizens' protests over environmental pollution.

These include disputes between miners and farmers over pollution, 
traditional fishermen and trawler owners over the harvest of the 
sea, and protests in the 'seventies over a chemical fertilizers 
plant set up by US multinationals and Indian big business called 
the Zuari Agro Chemicals.

"New forms of economic activity and the new style of 
administration since 1961 have brought considerable numbers of 
non-Goan Indians and foreign tourists into the region," says the 
book. 

Migration patterns between Goa and other parts of India have 
"promoted integration (with the rest of India) and threatened 
local identity".

Urban sprawl -- particularly in the larger town of the 'Old 
Conquests', or the areas of central coastal Goa conquered by the 
Portuguese in the sixteenth century -- has led to deteriorating 
sanitation and living conditions.

Fortunately, Goans remain largely appreciative of their diverse 
customs, despite attempts by politicians to exploit differences 
for short-term political differences. 

Just as in Portuguese times, emigration has served as an outlet 
for the discontented. It is estimated that there are about one 
hundred and fifty thousand Goans outside India. 

Ordinary Goans "increasingly feel" that they have not benefited 
from the region's development or its integration with India, says 
Rubinoff.

"Persons born in Goa before December 19 , 1961 are now eligible 
for Portuguese passports and citizenship in the European Union, 
accelerating emigration. Since April 1994 there has been a 
Portuguese consulate in Panjim to process applicants," notes this 
book. (END)

  LUSITANIAN CULTURE that remains is largely being preserved
  for the tourists, says Rubinoff. Photo shows paintings
  at a luxury hotel.