Defence Minister MANOHAR PARRIKAR, who is currently involved in the campaigning of the Bharatiya Janata Party for the forthcoming state assembly election took time off to interact with RAMNATH N PAI RAIKAR on various issues including efforts of his party to fight corruption, comparison between the two regimes of the BJP government, and his own comfort zone – Goa
Q: It is perceived that the administration during the first tenure of the Bharatiya Janata Party government in the state between 2000 and 2005 was better as compared to that during the second tenure between 2012 and 2017. Do you agree with this view?
I don’t believe in it. However, if we observe the situations existing during both these regimes, you would note that during the first tenure, there were no crises like ban on the mining activities in the state. When the Supreme Court banned mining in Goa, the revenue of the state dropped by 25 per cent, and therefore, the objective of the Bharatiya Janata Party government, which came to power in 2012, as regards improving the administration obviously suffered a great deal.
Q: On the day of your swearing-in ceremony as the Chief Minister of Goa, held at the Campal Ground in March 2012, you had stated that your government will have zero tolerance to corruption. Looking back at the past five years, do you think that this assurance has been adequately fulfilled?
As I have stated, the biggest challenge before the government was financial crisis. Therefore, certain anti-corruption measures, which needed to be taken for reducing corrupt practices, particularly public and official interface, could not be activated to the level it was required. Nevertheless, I genuinely believe that we had taken lot of action in support of zero tolerance to corruption as also lot of related cases being filed by the government. However, the problem was that the government machinery was stuck up with the mining matters plus financial crisis so much so that whatever was needed to be done against corruption could not be achieved. I fully agree with this observation. We will definitely take anti-corruption steps during the next tenure of our government.
Q: The manifesto of the Bharatiya Janata Party government can be broadly divided into two categories, namely development for the state by way of various projects, and schemes for people including generation of jobs. How would the BJP government generate money to fulfil all such promises, especially with the meter of the 7th Pay Commission having already started and furthermore, mining as well as tourism sectors not functioning to their full capacity?
I think there is enough potential revenue that can be earned by our government. I don’t think the promises in our manifesto are something extraordinary. The implementation of the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission for the government employees has already been taken into consideration by our present government. What we have mentioned in our manifesto is extending these recommendations to all government-controlled corporations and autonomous bodies, which is not going to be a big burden. Speaking about the developmental projects and schemes, they are ongoing and would be completed as per their respective deadlines, through budgetary support as well as the central government support. The thrust of my party’s manifesto is on employment and projects like proposed Mopa International Airport and Electronic City will generate jobs. The state revenue, I feel would also be in right shape and with Goods and Service Tax system coming in, we expect more revenue to the state exchequer as Goa is a consumer state.
Q: Today, with many of the developmental projects in Goa having seen the light of the day, Goa has definitely moved from being a developing state to a developed state. Do you foresee that it can now be converted to a model state?
Making Goa a model state in terms of connectivity is very important. Connectivity of roads, bridges, high speed broadband/ internet services, Digital India and so on basically forms the aspects, which are required for this purpose. Furthermore, 24×7 water and power supply, and very consistent as well as smoothly operating public transport system are the targets for making Goa a model state, for which we will not only use the state funds, but also financial assistance from the Centre. There are additional aspects like housing for all, which also would be taken care of while moving Goa in this direction.
Q: Is Goa your comfort zone, as far as life in general and politics in particular are concerned?
I was born, brought up, and grew in Goa, except during the IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) phase in my life. So obviously Goa spells more comfortable environment to me.
Q: Finally, you had entrusted the responsibility of Panaji constituency to Sidharth Kunkalienkar as the legislator of the capital city. Today, after two years since he was elected to the state legislative assembly, how would you assess his performance? More specifically, where would you place him on the 1 to 10 evaluation scale?
Somewhere around 9 which is a very high rating. That’s because unlike me, as he could concentrate only on Panaji constituency, lot of infrastructure development speeded up here, which I would say was even better than that during my career. He is still learning some issues pertaining to political aspects. And he is quite good in it. Therefore, I believe that he would be a very good MLA, in his second term.