Russian Roulette

Tweedledum and Tweedledee

The director general of police Bhim Singh Bassi and the inspector general of police KD Singh could go down as the two funniest cops that hit town ever (Funny not in a ha ha way!) Bassi defended the Russian belly dance sizzle (apparently Belgian too) at the new police station at Anjuna as not being ‘indecent’. Singh said he saved the taxpayer Rs 3,00,000. Then like Russian Roulette and having fired the first chamber, it hit them. Now, they had to fire all the five remaining. What we got was a ‘belly’ full and finally the last rather weak shot, BLASPHEMY – ‘going to casinos is like going to temples or churches’ – snapped up eagerly by Manohar Parrikar. Only he (Parrikar) got it right. What next Mr. Bassi? A ‘Full Monty’ at police headquarters to raise funds denied you by the Centre for a commando force?

Three questions still dog me though: why was virtually half the second rung brass invited to the m.v Casino Royale, why didn’t their families go along too, after all, cops take their families to temples and churches and finally, why did Yogi, the event organizer based in Delhi agree to fly down an entire troupe of belly dancers, who don’t come cheap in the first place, and that would include putting them up in an expensive hotel? What’s in it for him, or is Yogi like the friendly fast talking Yogi Bear created by Hanna-Barbera Productions. Nah, doesn’t happen in India. There’s got to be a catch here somewhere.

'Police Academy’ of another kind

It happens all the time. Non-Goans get to take all those lucrative jobs (!) going abegging at the industrial estates, though as you will see soon, there aren’t too many on offer. Goan job seekers and entrepreneurs seemed hemmed in from all sides – they couldn’t even bid to keep our police entertained as the Anjuna gig proved. Here is a list of industry biggies of the kind Aleixo Sequeira said would give Goans jobs, if only we let them in, never mind if they trample all over us. The list given to me by the Voice of Villagers, Nagoa, gives the number of ‘contract’ workers employed at the Verna industrial estate, which the organization that opposes any further massive and unplanned expansion of the industrial estate, obtained under Right to Information. Shockingly, the data reveals that 2,421 contracted workers (daily wagers) were supplied by 72 labour contractors in the two years to April 30, 2007 when the data was issued. The deputy labour commissioner, Margao stated clearly he did not know how many of these contracted workers were Goan. His office did not maintain a job profile record of the contracted workers. In fact his office did not even have basic data. The list: Ratiopharm -25, Ratiopharm -18, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories -10, Cipla -20, Sanofi Aventie -10, Cipla -20, Cipla -15, Lupin -16, Glenmark Lab -20, Glenmark Lab -10, Ratiopharm -40, Ratiopharm -100, Ratiopharm -18, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories -15, Marksan Pharma -20, Cipla -50, Lupin -150, Marksons Pharma -20, Marksons -30, Cipla -25, Glenmark -20, Ratiopharm 40, Marksons Pharma 40, Watson Pharma -15, Sanofi Synthelabo -150, Watson Pharma -10, Erica Lifescience -150, Ratiopharma -25, Aventis Pharma -50, Lupin -40, Lupin -25, Watson Pharma -20, Sonafi Synthelabs -19, Sonafi Synthelabs -20, Micro Labs -25. The repetition in the number of companies is because these companies have bifurcated themselves for obvious reasons and deal separately with different labour contractors.

Don’t think these MNCs and big players would have added to their work force since then. They don’t because what the MNCs which have global footprints (including some Indian companies) have in Goa, are basically assembly line productions or they provide research and development. Their initial investments are undoubtedly huge, but these investments hardly open out to Goan civil contractors, who, if they are lucky only get some tertiary contracts. Don’t you think it’s strange too that the 72 labour contractors well outnumber the number of pharmaceutical companies, which goes to prove that the lucre is in hiring our cheap labour, and not as you are led to believe, in the jobs pharmaceutical companies provide. For the record, the deputy labour commissioner issued 1,149 licences to labour contractors as on April 2007.

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