By R Fernandes

What causes rage? Some common anger triggers include:
Personal problems, such as missing a promotion at work or relationship difficulties,
a problem caused by another person such as cancelling plans,
an event like bad traffic or getting in a car accident.
Politicians have everything a person can possibly have. They have good emoluments, unlimited foreign medical care as witnessed recently, pension for every term, cars, telephone allowances, kickbacks. And no responsibility: Sonsoddo, pot holed roads, contaminated fish, garbage problems, plastic, mining ban, mining loot, no sewage TP, no water, no electricity, no jobs etc are their failures which have no shoulder to be placed on! No reason to get angry.
On the contrary, all the above failures can trigger rage in the ordinary citizen.
The former do have triggers: getting elected with no performance, and getting into the ruling party — which, as recently seen, required selling their souls, — passing all projects brought to them by businessmen wanting to make a killing, all this while selling off Goa!
The Minister for Garbage Michael Lobo, made a statement that they had formed the government — we know how — and now, the government would not tolerate any opposition to ‘good’ projects. Now this can be seen as an emotion of anger, against activists. But why? Rather, it is the common citizen who should have been triggered by anger.
What is a good project? Sonsoddo Garbage plant: is it a good project? Till date, no one objected to it: but will the Minister say it is a good project? Are roads ‘good projects? From the recent clamour on pot holes , this does not seem so. What about the road widenings? Are these good projects? For the businessmen yes: but for the locals? They have lost houses, are subjected to noise and dust pollution besides vibrations affecting their houses. People do not get drinking water even for two hours a day while electricity is not up to the mark: yet new mega buildings are allowed to be built and the fancy lighting on the Atal Setu is always on. The local exhibits a very high control of his emotions! All the wells in Goa are contaminated — absolutely criminal — the Mandovi is not fit to swim in-as per NIO. The companies that have set up in Goa prefer cheap outside employees. Open defecation is widely prevalent, and the CM says migrants come to Goa, build a hut with no toilet. His concern is the open defecation only: not how the illegal hut has been built! Every year, his government will extend the cut-off year for legalising the illegal construction. Is the ‘hijacking’ of village football grounds for development a good project?
The CM, canvassing in Maharashtra, lambasted the activists, who, he says, is responsible for the mining ban. By merely speaking he professes an untruth as a truth! It is difficult to know whether he is being precise or correct. A Goan working in a hospital in Africa, was amazed that people in Goa can die from malaria and dengue! But if you look at the death certificates issued, the cause is given as — liver or other organ failure. I’m sure, for dengue, it will be low platelets! It is never malaria. Shame on the medics here. So, the CM’s remark is in the same vein?
The GGCI President exhibited the same rage on taking over the post: he will not tolerate obstructions. Nitin Gadkari publicly stated he will steam roll over any opposition: and he did. Now MPT has transferred all its profits to Adani and company. Locals do not get jobs there anymore. Goa will have no rivers, which will be with the Adanis’ and soon become dirtier than the Ganges.

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

Is rage good? But why do leaders need to have the same when they actually have nothing to lose — if they are honest? We need to go back to Daniel Goleman and his Theory of Emotional Intelligence. We know about IQ, and the lack of the same in all our elected representatives. It is said that a high IQ gets you the job but not success. A high EIQ gets you the promotion and success! The late MLA from Panjim had a high IQ — assumed from his qualifications, but not a true indicator. His qualifications got him the job, but success? We all know the number of U-turns he did! The Central BJP credits him with a good administration especially in the Health Department! Does this credit go to him, or the people and the legacy of the Portuguese? And the high EIQ of the locals?
Daniel Goleman’s work in the 1990s on emotional intelligence (EI) popularised the idea that it is not sufficient for managers to have a high IQ and be technically skilled. If they wanted to win the hearts and minds of staff they also needed to be emotionally intelligent. Goleman identified five characteristics that managers needed to develop if they were to be successful — Self-Awareness, Self-Regulation, Motivation, Empathy, and Social Skills.
We note that the rage mentioned above translates to a low EI. There is an absolute lack of empathy from the leader towards the local. This is more significant because, in the case of the MLA, it is the people who elect the former. Emphasis must be on ‘for the people’, so why the lack of empathy? There has to be a reason. The reason obviously is that the MLA is not working for the people but ‘against’ the people. So, whom does he work for? The GCCI President too exhibited unnecessary rage towards the people. Why? Low EI, but still why? Environment today must be protected but is always a hindrance to the businessmen’s profits. He wants immediate success. Mining, coal handling, mega projects near coastal areas where there is no sewage treatment plants, insufficient water, electricity, garbage plants, pollution of the Mandovi and wells. Effluent from the industries go untreated, leaching into wells and groundwater. Steel rolling mills even pollute the power, causing electronic home equipment failures. In the tourism section, there is more garbage generated, noise pollution, drug menace which is making inroads into schools, prostitution in small villages poisoning the young minds, blocking of entrances to beaches for locals, locals needing to ‘pay’ for visiting the beaches, the list is never ending.
Industries want a large base of cheap contract labour to the detriment of locals. Industries want this cheap outside labour, but do not provide housing for them. Instead, they look to the government to provide the same. The MLA obliges, as it provides him with the votes to get re-elected. He takes it from the local people and we now see the lack of empathy and the reason for rage. In all this, who stands to lose is any body’s guess! So why will the one who stands to lose not object?
In all this, the government and industry alike claim that Goans do not want to work and only rush for government jobs — which, mind you, are sold.
IANS reported this Monday, the results of an online survey conducted by Oliveboard, at the space for a competitive exam preparation. The survey revealed that Indian youth is driven by job security followed by a healthy work-life balance. This makes them opt for government jobs and banking. 79% of the surveyed were from tier 2 and tier 3 cities. The CEO of Oliveboard revealed that when one speaks of the aspirations of Indian youth, one must look beyond the mega cities teeming with MNC’s and start-ups! He further revealed that a majority on Indians live in small towns and villages where Public Sector jobs are most sought after!
Goa is not a Tier 1 city. It is not teeming with MNC’s nor does it have Public Sector units. In fact, there are no jobs at all! Yet, this preference for government jobs — even though it is an all India preference — is sought to be made as the preference of only Goan youth, in a derogatory way (like what people unjustly feel ‘Ghanti’ is) giving licence to companies in Goa, to not employ locals! From the survey, it appears that Industry wants employees who will work on contract, like in metro towns, but with low salaries. If this is not a conspiracy, then what is it?
A social media clip shows a management guru speaking to high profile Indian CEOs. He told them that they believed themselves to be successful. But it was not so: they were growing the company but not personally successful. This is true. For instance, we know that liquor cannot be advertised. Yet, all major brands resort to surrogate advertising. This results in growth for the company. But is subverts the law and results in minors drinking. They know this very well: but such managers are credited with growth.
A survey of management students in the US, covering more than five years, showed that EIQ went up by even 40%. By contrast, IQ is invariable. What is required is to re-define the role of the elected representative, which, over the last decades, has been totally reversed. It is the people who elect the politician who in turn must work for the people. The EIQ of the Goan is very high, as exhibited above. He has high empathy towards the former with very few demands. He has sacrificed on all fronts and still remains calm. Steel has an elastic limit or yield point beyond which it becomes plastic and will not be able to attain its original state. If the Industry and the government work within the rules and improve their EIQ scores corruption will fall and success will follow.
Only such people should have memorials built! And only the people must decide who gets the memorial: again, at the cost of sounding boring, people elect you to do our bid- not your fancies.