Raia, my village

Raia derives its name from Agni Mukha Roy, one of the earlier Kadamba kings who established his headquarters in this village. According to Fr. Jorge Sequeira, an illustrious son of Raia, the village was named at different times as Rayanagara, Rajapur and Rayapur. With the decline of the Kadamba dynasty it became known simply as Raya and then Raia. Agni Mukha Roy brought the deity Kamakshi to this village. The temple of goddess Kamakshi was destroyed during the colonial rule and the image of the deity was shifted across the river to Rai Shiroda. 

The Raikars are known as “Wag” (tigers). King Gualladeva I, a Kadamba king settled in Raia was compared to Arjuna because of his valour and was described as “Wagmari” (killer of tigers) for having allegedly killed a tiger with his bare hands (Fr. Jorge Sequeira, “Resources for the history of the villages of Raia and Camorlim”).

Raia has evolved over the last fifty years just as other villages of Salcete and most of Goa. During my school days there was one primary school in the village with about a seventy students. Today we have several anganwadis, primary schools and high schools where more than a thousand students learn through the medium of Konkani, Marathi and English. This has been achieved mainly by private institutions. At the Government primary school, the total number of students is twenty-four. In the non-government school, across the road, the number of students in each class is around fifty. Government schools lack the minimum infrastructure. As a result, only those who cannot afford to enroll their children in private schools send them to Government schools. The Fundamental Right to Education for all children is enshrined in the Constitution. “Free education” means not only free from tuition fees but quality education in Government schools, adequate classrooms, playground, free uniforms, text books and other educational material for the poor and the needy. The constitutional provision has been amplified by the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act enacted by Parliament in 2009. 

Until the sixties there were hardly any motorcars in our village. People would usually travel by cycle or public buses. Bullock carts would carry goods and materials. At present, the number of vehicles  has increased exponentially. 

The inordinate growth of vehicular traffic has produced a great deal of noise and dust pollution and countless road accidents. This is a problem common to many villages in Goa. Government should assess the requirements of the present as well as of the next generation and build a four-lane or a six-lane highway across the entire State from north to south through uninhabited or very scarcely populated areas and provide bypasses to the populated areas .

Until the sixties we had two private doctors taking care of the health of the  villagers. There was also the Hospicio Hospital in neighbouring Margao with very limited facilities. We have now in Raia five private clinics, two government health sub-centers and several quality hospitals in Margao. Raia was one of the twelve villages of Salcete represented at the “Camara Geral do Concelho”, the general assembly of Communidades at the taluka level. The others were Margao, Verna, Curtorim, Loutolim, Benaulim, Betalbatim, Colva, Cortalim, Quelossim, Nagoa and Sancoale-Dabolim. The “Camaras Gerais ou Agrarias” were extinguished by the Code of Communidades of 1904 and substituted by Administrators of Communidades. The Communidades were cooperative associations governed by heads of family who were known as gaunkars. The foundation of the Communidade (or gaunkari, its original name) was based on collective ownership of land by a group of villagers. From the total produce a certain portion was earmarked for village welfare. The Government share in the produce was kept aside. The balance was distributed among the members as dividend or “jono”. 

Over a period of time, the Communidades lost their original characteristics and declined into mere societies of gaunkars who are members only by accident of birth. The non-gaunkars who came subsequently and also contributed to the development of the village have no say in the Communidades. It is estimated that at present more than fifty percent gaunkars reside outside the jurisdiction of the Communidade from which they take “jono”. Furthermore, the right of membership does not extend to the women in the family. The Communidades have ceased to be collective farming societies. The village development activities once the preserve of gaunkaris, are now entrusted to the gram panchayat.

Opinion as to how our Communidades should be reformed differs. Some would like the autonomy of the Communidades to be fully restored and Government to cease from interfering in their administration. Others recommend that Communidades should be reorganised as agricultural cooperative societies. Whilst experts may differ on the solution, there is agreement as to the need to review the Communidades system so that they may fulfill the objectives which justify their existence.

The Raia gram sabha decided recently that no further mega buildings should be allowed in the village in view of water scarcity, difficulty in garbage disposal and other problems. Indeed, mega housing projects have a negative impact on the life style of the local population. Mega buildings destroy the environment in the villages and should not be permitted.

Electricity and tap water became available to our village within a year or so after Liberation. There are still some deficiencies but the progress is unmistakable.

Late Prime Minister Narasimha Rao once told me, “Progress consists in solving existing problems and creating new ones”. In Raia, as elsewhere. 

(The writer is a former Union Minister)