Through the only opinion poll held in independent India, Goa secured its geographical and cultural identity on this day in 1967 as Maharashtra eyed its tiny neighbour, known for scenic beauty, pristine nature and for being a melting pot of many cultures.
Goa had a definite geographic boundary since the new conquests of the 18th century with hills, rivers and plateaus with definite flora and fauna. The food they grew and ate, the type of clothes they wore, their festivals and secular nature, along with the language they spoke, defined their identity as ‘Goans’.
At liberation and opinion poll times, it was not visualised that the social harmony would be disrupted over loss of identity due to failure to control the influx of ‘non-Goans’ into Goa and the takeover of the land resources by the rich and elite of north India.
Over four decades, there is conflict over land, jobs, resources and environment. As Goans leave Goa for greener pastures at sea or European countries, the vacuum is filled by the influx of labour from other parts of the country. Migration is fallout of urbanisation. Migrants will always exploit all available job opportunities.
The Tourism Minister claimed that over a crore tourists came to Goa in 2025. Goa is currently facing the heat as the local population finds their own place difficult to live in. The election of a non-Goan sarpanch in Sancoale, passage of law to legalise houses and the rich elite from north India buying land and property,
including apartments and villas, to be used as vacation homes, short rentals like homestays and B&B, have pushed the real estate industry into dismantling the green-cover and hill slopes as the coastline of pristine sands is irreversibly damaged by cement and concrete. Goa feels overwhelmed and a movement to preserve what is left of Goa is gaining ground.
Federal India is unique and complex because of social, religious, regional and linguistic diversity. In a federal country like ours, unlike the western model unitary state, predicated on homogeneity of its people, identity issues, sense of belonging and land matters are deeply intertwined. The question of land resources is a serious aspect of the question of identity.
A federal country cannot restrict its citizens from moving and settling from one state to another and enjoying the benefits. Even in states like Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, which have prohibited persons from outside Uttarakhand and non-Himachalis from purchasing agricultural land, the conditions are restrictive in nature, not prohibitive.
After the state of Himachal was formed, the first CM Y S Parmar moved to protect the scarce and precious land from being bought by wealthy outsiders. (Goa missed such statesmanship). The Uttarakhand law came in 2025 after the ‘Gaon bachao yatra’, as outsider-investors exploited rich state resources. Both these laws impose severe restriction on sale of agricultural land and restrict urban land but permit pre-built properties in urban areas to persons not having 15 years residence. It is not possible to make absolute prohibition on citizens based upon ‘sons of the soil’.
Issues of identity are always complex and critically diverse in the federal system. Fear of demographic and cultural threats arising from rampant land sale to ‘outsiders’ is an issue that overwhelms a region leading to a nativistic atmosphere getting built.
Ladakh is now a shining example and a section of Maharashtrians is today accusing neighbouring Gujarati industrialists of pushing out Mumbaikars! That atmosphere explains the emergence of Revolutionary Goans Party (RGP) in Goa, which collected 10% vote share and a seat in the assembly in their debutant elections in 2022.
India has five small states – Goa, Sikkim, Tripura, Nagaland and Mizoram. With 3,702 sq km of land, Goa is the smallest. Despite prohibition on the sale of Goa’s agricultural land to ‘outsiders’, green cover, hill slopes, orchards continue to be attacked. The problem is the absolute discretion in the Town and Country Planning (TCP) executive created by law itself in conversion of land and change of zones which makes agricultural land available for commerce.
Goa being a tourist destination, it is always at the disadvantage of being swallowed by land predators who come to Goa not to undertake
agriculture but only to exploit its land and nature. The Supreme Court was informed by the central government that with the deletion of Article 35A (which prohibited sale of land to outsiders), investments have started following into Jammu and Kashmir. This is exactly what the Goa government tells us as they permit exploitation of shoreline, low-lying paddy fields, hills slopes, plateaus and orchards.
Small states have the disadvantage of resources and political base for pushing any agenda of ‘sub-nationalism’. A federal structure is always skewed in favour of big states that have the political muscle in getting what is on their wish list. It is the smaller states that deserve to be treated with kid gloves to protect them. Both the engines of the ‘double engine’ require to move out in tandem and with a vision to deal with diverse and localised demands and aspiration of identity to avoid a chauvinist eco-system. Special status may soothe tempers but the important toolkit is prevention of change of zones and conversion of land while making Goa a land of opportunities. Only that can save the fruits of the Opinion Poll.
(Cleofato Almeida Coutinho is a senior advocate who taught constitutional laws for over three decades.)
