By Rajan Narayan

THE fall in high-end tourist traffic and the cash-for-jobs scam have dominated the headlines and social media during the year 2024. There has been increasingly loud protests by tourists and Goa-lovers over the state of collapsing tourism infrastructure in Goa. There have been bitter complaints over overcrowding on the beaches. Of domestic tourists drinking and littering the beach with broken glass pieces. There have been pictures of domestic tourists changing their clothes on the beaches with a focus on their innerwear. All this only exposes the lack of regulation and decent infrastructure on the beaches which tourists may use for their private moments.
No other beach destination in India or the world permits tourists to drink alcohol copiously on the sands of public beaches. Every beach tourist destination has changing rooms for tourists. Every beach destination has decent washrooms for the use of tourists and locals. No beach tourism destination permits hawkers to harass tourists from enjoying their beach holiday in the sun in peace.
OTHER beach destinations in the country have reliable public transport and affordable private transport to beaches and other places of tourist interest. The tragedy of Goa is that even though it is projected as among the top ten tourist destinations in the world the state government has not created reliable infrastructure for tourism. Never mind that tourism has become the largest source of jobs and tax revenue for state and central governments.
Also regrettably private tourist stakeholders like the five-star and seven-star hotels have not shown any initiative in strengthening the public infrastructure around their own properties. There is no reason why all the stakeholders including those ranging from the starred hotels to the shacks should not participate in creating a safe and clean infrastructure for tourists. Surely beach resort hotels can help keep the public beaches clean and ensure that there is no harassment of tourists. There are many beach resorts that claim ownership of the beach in front of their hotels but do not participate in maintaining them unless they take over beach sections to turn them into private beaches through sly means which is illegal to do. Then the locals and general tourists have no access to a particular beach.

CASH-FOR-JOB SCAMS
AN issue that has agitated Goans and Goa equally is a cash-for-job scam. In the months of October and November 2024, suddenly there were new reports every single day of someone being arrested for taking cash on the promise of a government job. Government jobs have always been sold to the highest bidder. Every minister and every MLA has no choice but to create and offer government jobs to those who voted him to power. The obsession with government jobs is so intense that traditionally Goans have been quite willing to pay for government jobs.
The best investment in Goa is not bitcoins or shares but government jobs. A government job ensures security not only during your lifetime but also when you retire as you get an assured pension of 50% of the last salary earned for the rest of your life. Both during your working life and in retirement you are compensated for inflation and the rising cost of living. Government jobs offer the kind of perquisites that few private jobs offer. To give a simple example, a government job, particularly for women, offers maternity leave and even a childcare leave up to two years.
Unfortunately, men do not get maternity leave or childcare leave. Those in government service also get study leaves with pay. At the higher office levels you are entitled to government quarters, subsidized housing loans, leave travel allowance and a host of other benefits. What has changed is that there are no more vacancies for government jobs. But Goans never give up dreams or hopes of getting a government job in thriving cash-for-job rackets.
The now common complaints about being cheated are because the agents who promised government jobs and accepted bribes have not been able to deliver on their promises. Goans routinely borrow money by even selling their gold and property or land for money to invest in government jobs.
Naturally, they get not just upset when they don’t get their desirable government jobs that they had paid for. During the last few months job seekers have lost hundreds of crores to unscrupulous agents who looted and plundered them. The twist in the tale is that it is women who have now taken to cheating job seekers. Some of them have been school teachers and even policemen. After a wave of arrests, there is no news of what happened to the cases that were filed.

GROUND REALITIES
CHIEF Minister Dr Pramod Sawant has threatened to confiscate the properties of those who involved in cash-for-job scams. Which is not easy till the culprits are convicted. The bitter ground reality is that these cash-for-job scams are not possible without the patronage of various politicians themselves. At various times Health Minister Vishwajit Rane, Revenue Minisster Babush Monserrate, and recently the wife of the CM, Sulakshana Sawant, have been implicated in cash-for-jobs scams. Sulakshana Sawant has now even filed a defamation case against AAP leader Sanjay Singh for implicating her in the cash-for-job scam in a Bicholim court.
The cash-for-job scams have created a political crisis with each minister pointing at the other. Chief Minister Pramod Sawant himself is engaged in battle for survival as he is being targeted by Vishwajit Rane and Babush Monserrate. Indeed, there were reports over the last weekend that Pramod Sawant is likely to be replaced by senior BJP leader Rajendra Arlekar.
Returning to the fall in high-end tourists it is not only because of poor and failing infrastructure. It is also because Goa has priced itself out of the market. Every time there is a long weekend the price of air fares to Goa shoot up. During the peak of the peak season in December particularly, during the Christmas and New Year season, airfares touch astronomical levels. Even bus fares doubled during the peak of the peak season as in the long ago recorded case of baby Jesus when his parents Mary and Joseph could not find a place in Bethlehem to spend the night…rentals for a place were so high or so it seems. There was no accommodation and so it was in a shepherd’s manger that our lord Jesus Christ was born.
Not just five-star hotels but even guest houses are beyond the reach of the average tourists coming for some recreation in Goa. Now it has become more economical and fruitful for aam aadmi tourists to have a holiday in Thailand, or Malaysia, or Vietnam, or Singapore or even further in the Indonesian islands. But Goa continues to attract international and domestic tourists because of its unique cosmopolitan blend of East and West. It does offer some of the best cuisines in beach belt restaurants and eateries along with live music and a dance floor…which is something many seek come Christmas with its cribs on show everywhere and carol singing and the bakeries bursting with plum puddings, and all manner of confectionary. The five-star resort menus will of course feature roast turkey with cranberry sauce.

OASIS OF COMMUNAL HARMONY?
ABOVE all Goa is much loved because it is an oasis of communal harmony in a country which is increasingly witnessing intolerance. Unfortunately, the serpents of communalism have crept in recently over the issue of beef being sold down south Goa and the butchers’ union (mostly minority Muslim butchers) are boycotting their trade and livelihood for fear of violence from majority community fanatics and lunatics.
The contagion which started in Canacona seems to be spreading and under the circumstance if tourism is to continue to flourish, Goa must work towards more common sense and offer peace and harmony along with affordable tourism infrastructure. This means downsizing the cost of public transport including the price of tourist taxis and hotel accommodation rates too.
Coming back to the cash-for-jobs issue we have to accept the fact that there is no scope for further employment in the government. Goa already has more than 75,000 government employees if we include daily wages contract jobs. Jobs in private concerns remain frozen in Goa. Outside the tourism industry there are no jobs at any level for graduate engineers to ITI trainees. The only jobs available are in the service industry in hotels and shacks and shops and the construction industry. Jobs that Goans do not want and will not take even if offered freely and easily. The only answer is to upgrade their skills so that Goans qualify for the available jobs in the service sector.

FOR BETTER 2025
THE current year 2024 has been a very difficult year for Goans. And particularly for the residents of Panaji city. The Imagine Smart City projects have destroyed Panaji with never ending potholes and bad patches, the drainage system has been mismanaged and new constructions rising everywhere are adding to the general stress – not to forget mega events like IFFI and Serendipity contributing to the nightmare on crucial roads and residents protesting against the noise and dirt being raised around their residences. We may only hope 2025 will be better.