Where Is Our Dignity Of Labour ?
Economics teaches us about the relativity of our wants, commerce teaches us about the balancing of facts and figures, whereas social science teaches about the dignity of labour. In Goa at the moment, our human resources are at a low, our rich fertile fields are laid waste, all the old labour force has somehow disappeared in to oblivion and we have been forced to hire migrant labour which at most times lacks skills but have to do with it, as there are no viable alternatives.
I have witnessed that most of us Goan folks, feel shy to do their own work and for the least or the smallest of chores we seek hired help, my dad always told me, “son, never feel shy or degraded, to do your own cores, infact one must hold his head high and do ones own work” since then I have never shied away from doing my own work, it keeps me busy and healthy and I don’t have to waste my time begging every Tom, Dick and Harry to do my chores, that I can do myself. Sometimes the weight of money goes to our head, that we don’t even bend to pick up our things and ask others to pick them up for us, is this what life is all about ?
No doubt we have to enjoy our lives with what we have, that does not mean we have make others do what we could do ourselves. There is such a hue and cry over the mass influx of migrant labour, there is no doubt that it is indeed bad for Goa but who is responsible for this influx ? It is the indignity of Goans along with the greed and self-centeredness of our politicians, that’s responsible for this quandary, were we not self-sufficient in the supply of labour till the last decade ? In my younger days I remember our village people use to all go and work in each others fields in turns and avoid hiring labour ? Can we do that now ? No, we are educated who wants to work in the field, we have enough money, Indian rupees as well as foreign exchange coming into our accounts, so it’s easier to buy rice than work in our fields, in villages people use to plant their own vegetables, today if there is a Belgaum “band” one has to buy vegetables at the price of fish which sometimes competes with gold.
In Goa with the riches that we have attained, we have forgotten our roots and look for people to do all our manual work, our youngsters at the moment, have just one thing on their mind, finish twelfth standard and go on the ship or finish graduation or the specialized services and go overseas. Skilled labour is almost non existent and hence we have invited the influx of migrant labour and our government helping them to government jobs for financial benefits and vote bank politics has not helped us either. Our Government has to adhere to the requirements of our younger generation and create an environment that will tap-in their talents by providing a suitable infrastructure in HRD to stop the brain drain that’s prevailing, youngsters should be in a way enticed to go on for further studies, by providing better jobs that will overwhelm their ambitions if not sustain them, only then will our youth believe in a future in Goa.
Our Government has given all help possible to people who want to go overseas, for studies or for employment, but has our government taken any steps to improve the situation back home and create opportunities that would pull those overseas back to homeland ? The prevailing circumstances created by our corrupt politicians is infact driving away more and more of our Goans out of Goa, and the cynicism just keeps on increasing and spreading like the bush fires in Australia.
A week back I came across an article which is an example for each one of us Goans, it gives us a ray of hope but we have to lay aside our pompous pride and place the attributes of dignity of labour to the fore and do something for ourselves and for Goa. This article is about a Goan, who is a qualified Mechanical Engineer, he started a small farm with just a few goats, but today he is the proud owner of a farm, which he has now diversified into rearing rabbits, ducks, turkeys, pigs, quails and exotic birds, as the exotic pigeons and fancy pets like fan tail pigeons, Jacobines, fancy fowls are increasingly being sought as pets, doing very well for himself at his farm at Chandor, at first people just laughed at him, calling him all sorts of names but today he is become the envy of all.
The success of this farm, sends out a very strong message for every Goan, a conservative thought the process might be but it allows us to believe farming and education can co-exist, dignity intact. If we really believe in dignity of labour, success is there for the making.
If only our government could educate our people especially in rural Goa, about all such possibilities and render help in starting such escapades, as the scope for such ventures in rural Goa is enormous and with guidance and expertise from the government, Goans would be much better off, instead of being asked to become watchmen and squeal like pigs !
Freddy Agnelo Fernandes
Dubai - UAE.
