INTERNATIONAL GOAN CONVENTION 2001
Significant Celebration

The International Goan Convention, comanised by the World-Wide Goans (WWG), for the third time in Goa on December 29, 2001, was a coming together for the members of the world-wide Goan diaspora. For the WWG, it was a celebration of a mini milestone--the NRI Cell Facilitation Centre.

"WE tried to establish a platform for the NRIs to discuss their problems. We consider ourselves as facilitators," said Tony Correia-Afonso, the president of the World Wide Goans, while welcoming the chief guest Charles Correia, at the Kala Academy in Panjim on December 29. Correia-Afonso remarked that Charles Correa and the late D Ragnekar were the only Indians who figured in a list of about 50 young achievers in the world published by the "Time" several years ago.

"There could be a gap between the two and this International Goan Convention is one opportunity to bridge this gap," was what the compere Ryan D'Souza had said then. And this year, Advocate Aires Rodrigues, the vice chairman of the newly founded NRI Facilitation Centre, recalling Ryan's remark, conceded that Goan nature has been very "divisive" and hence appealed for unity among all sections of the Goan diaspora. It is worthwhile to note that despite the inherent drawback, Goans manage to come together, generally to celebrate.

WWG Agenda

The World Wide Goans had a rather restricted agenda, and that was to demand a NRI cell facilities for Goans across the world. Such a demand was made time and again but it was at the last year's International Goan Convention that it was made from Goa itself. As the convenor, Advocate Aires Rodrigues had publicly requested the Chief Minister Parrikar, who was the chief guest at the last year's convention, to set up the Cell on priority basis. That the Chief Minister kept his promise by announcing the setting up of the Cell, much before the Convention, shows his government's concern for the NRIs and their problems. Konkani writer Chandrakant Keni was appointed its Chairman, who will be assisted by Advocate Aires Rodrigues as the Vice-Chairman.

NRI Facilitation Centre

Whether it would eventually spell benefit for the NRIs is to be seen. However, the general opinion was that it would be useful for one reason or other. Eddie Fernandes of Goanet-UK was confident that it would prove beneficial to NRI Goans if the cell had the concern for the NRIs at heart and was manned by persons desirous of helping it proceed in that direction. Said Aires Rodrigues, "I made it very clear to the Chief Minister that we will co-operate with whatever the government plans to do for the NRIs. I am sure that the Cell under the leadership of Mr Chandrakant Keni will better the interests of NRIs and bridge the gap if there is any between Goans and NRIs." He congratulated Tony Correia-Afonso for single-handedly comanizing the convention and given Goans overseas once again an opportunity to have a forum for discussion.

Guest-Speak

Besides chief guest Charles Correa, present on the dais were Speaker Pratapsing Rane, Konkani poet Dr Manoharrai Sardessai and representative of Fundacao Oriente Adv Fernando Colaco, for the inaugural function. Most of the Goa-based speakers kept up the refrain that the expats need necessarily to maintain and strengthen the links with their native culture and mother-tongue Konkani.

Konkani writer and president of the Konkani Bhasha Mandal, Damodar Mauzo introduced eminent Goan poet Dr Manoharrai Sardessai. In the introduction Mauzo said that Dr Sardessai has always tried to retain communal harmony between Hindus and Christians through his poems and writings.

Dr Manoharrai said, "Zo mhunis Goeam bhair asta tachem mon Goem asta. Don vhoddear legit paim dhorun ami buddlenam, kiteak amchea purvosani sangodd kelo." (Though Goans live abroad, their hearts live in Goa. We have survived because our ancestors had built a rapport.) He also said, "Tumchi avois bhas nam tor tumkam patticho konddo nam…gaindolla bhaxen. (If you don't know your mothertongue, you are like earthworms, without a backbone.) The most striking signs of being Goan are love for Goa and the knowledge of its language. A man born without Konkani is not a complete Goan. Language is the most important part of culture." He said that one need not feel that "Konkani is a small language because India has 1500 languages and Konkani occupies the 24th place".

Aires Rodrigues introduced Pratapsing Rane, who presided over the inaugural function. In his address Rane said, "Small as we are, we have a high per capita income and have achieved the general norms of development within a period of 40 years. We have some problems too because we tend to attract people from less developed places. Fortunately, Goa has retained a certain character-live and let live."

"Goans have a long tradition of migration for better prospects, employment, etc to metropolitan areas and wherever they went they assimilated and became a part of the area. Going abroad is a great sacrifice and lot of hard work, but it earns valuable foreign exchange for the country," Rane added and urged the NRIs to "patronise local institutions, such as banks". Rane felt that the aged people, who are left behind in Goa by their families to look after the large houses in loneliness, was a major problem for the NRIs, who should help the government and other comanisations to ensure that the aged folk are not sent to the old age homes but are given opportunities "to socialize with the people of their own social standards."

Adv Fernando Colaco, who represented the Fundacao Oriente-Goa, spoke about the various conservation projects undertaken by the comanisation. He said that Goa was known all over the world much before Vasco da Gama discovered the sea route to India. He also released the book "India and Portugal" edited by Dr Jose Pereira and Dr Pratapaditya Pal.

Charles Correa's address was small but significantly based on certain important aspects, which planners have to adhere to if heritage and environment is their concern. The world-renowned architect said, "Our towns and houses related to our culture and heritage. The role of our environment is important in shaping what we become. How resilient Goans are despite all the development and changes is evident from the fact that Goa still remains the same. Goa is a polycentric system."

Correa also said, "It (Goa) is so empty not due to the planning policies but because Goa was a feudal economic system and hence the low density of the polycentric system. Job location changes the entire nature of the place and hence Goa should not be over centralized." Despite the advent of tourism and Hippies, Goa did not break down because "Goa is still a conservative people and all the wild life at the beaches does not affect the village."

"It is a great danger to be too sentimental of the past-as in the case of losing the quasi-Portuguese architecture style. But some of the most beautiful places are pre-Portuguese, which even the Portuguese did not understand. Goa is an unusual combination of pleasure loving westernism and the pluralistic qualities found in Hinduism. Though a period of 450 years has made a difference, it is not much. Future generations will not ask what you have preserved but what new things you have created. Goa was real centre from where things from places went to the West," Correa said.

Correa cautioned, "It's really frightening what those interests will do to the stability of Goa's villages…What's at stake is more than the price of land. It might strike at the heart of what keeps Goa stable," he said. "Most people in the rest of India still think of Goa as a very wild place, which has drugs, parties and comies. You probably do (have it). But Goan society is very conservative. And beach life is another parallel system, which doesn't affect (much of the) state. That is held together by the family and village structure," he added.

Laughter Session

In the post lunch session, reputed columnist and president Emeritus of All India Catholic Union, Gecome Menezes, had the audience in splits with his talk on "Goan Humour", which was peppered with spicy Konkani terms. Menezes listed every known Goan trait which evokes laughter-love of food, showing off, Konkani language's peculiarities, Goan buses and braggarts, politicians, foreign-returned, Catholic rituals and the "Padr Vigar", the sons-in-law figured, etc. Gecome rounded his wit-laden address by reciting a poem penned by Goan poet Philip Furtado in praise of Goan "sorpotel". He said that Goans were lucky indeed to be able laugh despite the "sorrowful condition of our State".

Moderating a session on "Protecting Goa's Environment" by Mathany Saldanha, environmentalist Dr Nandkumar Kamat expressed fears on the fierce pace of transformation going on in Goa in every sphere--Neura's khazan lands, Divar's fields, pollution causing respiratory problems, vanishing biodiversity and traditional rice varieties like kcomut and asgo. He spoke in Konkani. Dr Kamat said, "Khoim asa Goemcho youth? (Where is Goan youth?). There are seniors, retired persons and others but there may be just about 15 to 20 young persons in the audience." He introduced Mathany Saldanha, who has been in the frontline of every agitation to preserve Goa and her ecology.

Mathany Saldanha said that whatever we do should be done "in consonance with nature, in agreement with the needs of Goa otherwise we are out for a great shock. We are slowly going to be wiped out in a different ways." He added, "If we want to protect our heritage we have to protect our resources. If we protect our resources we will protect our heritage.." He also emphasised the vital role of our mother-tongue Konkani to strengthen cultural ties among Goans.

Agnelo Remedios, Treasurer of World Wide Goans, introduced the chief guest Charles Correa, who released "Churches of Goa", a book written by eminent indologist Jose Pereira. Before Correa could rise to speak, Goa's popular cartoonist Alexyz, who has made it his own tradition at the WWG conventions, made a presentation of the caricature of the chief guest.

Expat Concern

Most of the expatriates expressed their concern about the environmental degradation brought about by rapid transition. The present system did not give them the confidence to invest in Goa.

Rhodesia-born chartered engineer A.J.Remedios, who said that he was not an NRI but an RNI (resident non-Indian) said, "Please bring an act in parliament so that your engineers get professional training…particularly in practice…They don't know what how to lay concrete. Your buildings are leaking, your roads are potholing, your bridges are collapsing." He bemoaned the fact that the authorities didn't care for the destruction of khazan lands while putting up the embankments for the Konkan railway.

"The politicians are doing nothing. They are using the engineers, confusing them and misusing them…If you ideas in foreign countries, come to India… I have come to India and residing year for 42 years," said Remedios.

In response to a query by Remedios as to why good people could not contest elections, Floriano Lobo of the newly formed Goa Suraj Party came up and asked, "Which honest Goan would spend 20 lakh rupees on winning an election, and then spend five years doing social work?"

Dalit activist Dadu Mandrekar availed of the occasion to inform everyone that he belongs to a benevolent comanisation, which provides education to poverty-stricken children. "If our Goan brethren from overseas wish to help Goans, they should form a committee to help secular societies, which are engaged in social activities," Mandrekar added.

The concluding session, with Tony Correia-Afonso, Chandrakant Keni and Eddie Fernandes on the dais, was devoted to an open discussion on the NRI Cell. While moderating the session, Adv Aires Rodrigues, the Vice-president of the recently set-up Goa government's NRI Facilitation Centre, said, "The idea of holding the Convention came from Chandrakant Keni three years ago in London, when World Wide Goans was formed. And as a ritual every year we are conducting an international convention of Goans in Goa."

Aires appealed to Goans to "try to be united because we are divisive and are good at forming several associations, which does not help the cause of Goans. Explaining the main purpose of the NRI cell, he said, "If the NRIs have problems anywhere in the world, the problems should be resolved instantly".

Aires said, "The NRI cell will be catering online. It will have a 24-hour answering machine to ensure that problems are resolved instantly. While establishing the Facilitation Cell, the Chief Minister has set up four goals: to register all NRIs, to channelise entrepreneurship, skills and resources of NRIs and to operate schemes for the benefit of NRI communities. One of the schemes is pertaining to insurance coverage, particularly for those working in the Gulf. The Chief Minister is very keen that we start a scheme of insurance for the NRIs. If the husband dies, the wife will get Rs.5 lakh, and 4) to ensure measures to protect land holdings and properties of NRIs of Goan origin."

Aires also said, "It is high time Goans across the world unite and don't just think what Goa can do for you…you have to think what you can do for Goa. Because Goa being our soil of birth we have to contribute in whichever way we can. I would request our politicians and those in power that they have done enough for themselves and now it is time they do something for Goa."

The expatriates appeared rather disillusioned with the lackadaisical attitude of the State government and were apprehensive of investing their funds in Goa, where the situation was hardly conducive to entrepreneurship. They said that Goans were compelled to migrate due to lack of opportunities in their homeland, and that the situation has not improved significantly despite Liberation.

Despite the prevailing situation, they felt that situation could improve if certain measures are adopted. World Bank operations officer Emmanuel D'Silva said that China's example of tapping its overseas diaspora was exemplary. He added, "I am very impressed with the fact that almost $1,000,000 flow to China from the overseas Chinese."

Said John de Sa from Cortalim, who works in Qatar and is attached to the Goan Overseas Association there, "I have a suggestion. I know so many Goans in Qatar, who are ready to invest in Goa but they are not ready to leave their jobs because they hold good positions and earn handsome salaries. If the Goa Chamber of Commerce is willing, they are ready to send hundreds of thousands of dollars. What they want in Goa is a management group, possibly the Goa Chamber of Commerce …We should work on something like a fund or a Credit Co-operative Society or Group, where every Goan NRI, instead of putting hundred per cent money in the bank, bonds, etc, send about 10 per cent of the money to such group, and within a year we could have crores of rupees."

Said Lourdes, "There are several reasons for immigration. Goans have always migrated. The State (Goa) is too small for several learned people, and they never get jobs…It is in favour of the Goans, if they brought home some ideas, to create jobs over here, train and teach them, suggest how they can, for instance, improve their agriculture and maintain their properties…"

The concluding Session was an Open Discussion on NRI Cell, set up by the Government of Goa under the nodal agency of the Economic Development Corporation Ltd. Expressing his opinion on entrepreneurship, the hon treasurer of Goa Chamber of Commerce said that we should come forward without relying on the help of the government. "Some time back the government said that jobs should be for Goans. Why not the ownership should be with Goans?" he asked, saying that we should not go begging around because Goans are intelligent and skills. "If you need help, we have a Cell which is working closely in tandem with the NRI of the Goa Government. The Chamber of Commerce wants NRIs of Goan origin to come to Goa and set up enterprises to provide further job opportunities to our fellow Goans."

The awards instituted by the US-based NGO Goa Sudharop Trust were distributed at the hands of Adv Albertina Almeida to Panjim municipal councillor Patricia Pinto for social and environmental justice, Dalit rights campaigner Dadu Mandrekar for civic rights, women's campaigner Auda Viegas for social and political justice, anti-sound pollution campaigner Floriano Lobo, and coconut crafts veteran Vijaydatta Lotlikar for promoting the entrepreneurial spirit.

Master entertainer Emiliano da Cruz and his band provided music and was joined by Jose Velho Pereira with a Goan medley "Nostalgia". Ben Evangelisto and his group put up an entertaining programme of songs and skits in Konkani.

There was an exhibition of paintings which were a part of the competition held for the art students by World Wide Goans. A commemorative plaque too was released on the occasion.

The Convention, which concluded with a vote of thanks proposed by Tony Correia-Afonso, President of World Wide Goans, pondered over the possibilities of the Centre's effectiveness. Goans--at home and abroad-- will have to collectively ensure that the Centre bears the much cherished results.

Joel D'Souza