Goa Bachao Abhiyan 

Dr. Oscar Rebello

Conferred on Goa Bachao Abhiyan “in recognition of its gallant and undeviating resolve to awaken the masses to conscionably evaluate Goa’s ecological heritage and reclaim the power to conserve it.” 

Goa Bachao Abhiyan (Save Goa Campaign) came into being in the wake of the reverberating opposition to the Goa Regional Plan 2011.  The core of Goa Bachao Abhiyan is made up of concerned citizens and NGOs, and it functions without any political affiliations or constraints.  The fundamental aim of the organization is the preservation of Goa’s natural environment as well as the development of her social, cultural and economic characteristics.  Dr. Oscar Rebello serves as the convener, and the co-conveners are Mr. Shridhar Kamat and Ms. Sabina Martins.

Comment:

Conservation is collective consciousness and it must be inherent in our psyche before we can impose upon those in power to enforce it.  We live in an era where our existential needs are at constant conflict with nature’s prerogative to survive in its primordial majesty.  A realization of the natural environment we live in stimulates a sense of reverence, and through it, a genuine commitment to conserve it.   Lack of realization perpetuates indifference, and consequently the blueprints for plunder and irreversible devastation.

 

In the quest for conservation there needs to be, foremostly, a habitat of coexistence between demographic growth and the natural environment.  Both can mutually prevail if we effectively divest our genetic makeup of its inclination toward stoic and mindless greed.  Nonetheless, organizations such as Goa Bachao Abhiyan and the Goa Foundation serve as beacons in the conservation of the natural environment, orienting society’s indifference towards enlightenment, and in the process, become worthy of posterity’s gratitude

-Dom Martin