Quite unlike the farmers’ protest where the fear that they would be at the receiving end of the changes proposed by the government coupled with apprehensions that if they were to lose the fight they would be marginalized forever propels the need for a show of strength by the farmers; the slew of agitations that the state is witnessing now is one that aims to save Goa for posterity.

In both the cases, the sentiments involved are more than obvious!

Yet, one’s heart goes out to the motely crowd of crusaders in Goa who have taken it upon themselves to save and protect what is left of the paradise that it once was.

The air, the rivers, the sea and the land; nothing retains the pristine forms that they were known for earlier. After decades of proscribed activities have denuded the state of its natural bounties, pollution is the bane of modern day Goa.

The three controversial infrastructural projects in the state besides having raised the hackles of conservationists, have invited public ire over the insensitivity and indifference shown by the government towards their concerns.

If a Delhi-like situation is to be avoided in Goa, corrective steps are to be taken immediately to improve the air-quality in the state.

While the environmental impacts of coal transportation is well-known, why is the government adamant on going ahead with the rail double tracking!

Moreover, if it is a development project that the government has undertaken, why is it veiled in so much of secrecy that the laying of tracks by the railway authorities have to be necessarily carried out late in the nights!

While it is right to claim that a region constantly denied development will recede an eon into the past, how appropriate is to have developments being carried out in the state which come at the cost of the decimation of its natural resources and ecological devastation!

Goans are accused of being politically influenced while resisting any progress in the region and protesting whenever developmental projects are announced. The manner in which political leaders have been kept out of prominence in the ongoing stir should make one think so otherwise.

Goans are not against development, especially the nation-building ones. It is a genuine concern for their state that motivates them. 

With the locals taking up the cudgels against any and everything which seem to go against the interests of Goa and Goans, it is equally necessary that enough public support is mustered against attempts to turn the state into a den of vices.

Ingenious methods in flesh-trade operations continue to stump authorities in Goa!

With the sort of patronage, political or otherwise, that casinos in Goa have been receiving, it is apparent that they are here to stay. Casinos have assumed that integral position in the state’s tourism promotional policy which allows the state exchequer to rake in sufficient moolah – or so it seems!

Presumably, seen as a way to bolster its sagging economy, the state has enough reasons to justify the ‘high end’ gambling it permits on its soil – nay, waters.   

Are casinos, drugs and prostitution turning the picturesque coastal state into a ‘Sin City’!

The claims to the contrary notwithstanding, the state continues to remain in the headlines for the huge haul of drugs by the anti-narcotic cell of Goa Police on a regular basis these days which only confirms one’s worst apprehensions of Goa turning into a haven for drug peddlers.

If media disclosures about the state playing host to a number of rave-parties involving celebrities from Bollywood have not made the authorities sit up and take stock of the situation, the latest enquires into the alleged suicide of a popular tinsel-town star which had the sleuths from the Narcotics Control Bureau probing the drugs angle in the death case revealed a Mumbai-Goa-Bollywood connection to the whole sordid drama, should have galvanized them into action.

It is indeed shocking to have the state turning into a ‘Nirvana center’ for merrymakers who arrive in Goa from different corners of the country assured of an easy availability of psychotropic substances to keep them in a state of euphoric happiness.

Moreover, terms like ‘party drugs’ and ‘designer drugs’ gives an inkling of the types of concocted mixture of drugs which are accessible to varied sections of ‘consumers’.

Goes to show how well the drug market in Goa has evolved!

Besides, drug-related deaths are so common in the state that the multitude of Electronic Dance Music'  (EDM) festivals being hosted in Goa need not unnecessarily be haunted for the enigmatic aura they create around themselves.

As that time of the year when doing drugs and slipping into an ‘enlightened mode’ is the in-thing for many revelers, it is necessary that the cops in the Anti-Narcotics Cell  (ANC) up their ante against those plying the narcotics trade in the state.

The seizure of drugs worth lakhs of rupees in three simultaneous raids conducted by the Goa Police’s Anti-Narcotics Cell in the beach village of Arambol in North Goa last week is sufficient indication of the fact that the drug trafficking is a harsh reality that the state needs to come to terms with.

The proliferation of foreign drug cartels operating along the coastal belts in the state further lends credence to the belief that the local markets are only conduits for the bigger operators from outside the state to channel their ‘stuffs’ through.

The Goa police cannot afford to be complacent on this matter.As social malaises, prostitution, gambling and drugs have a debilitating effect on the society. However there are yet to be sustained campaigns to eradicate these social evils in the state. Not to say that activists have remained mum on these issues, but somehow these ‘crusades’ have never been taken to their logical ends.

Hence, not only environmental degradation, elimination of all avenues that could take the locals on a self-destructive path should also feature as priorities when talking of saving Goa for posterity.