...AND THE WINNING TALUKAS
Since Goa has only two districts, india today decided to analyse its 12 talukas to get a better picture of the state’s development. Data collected from different agencies and databases, like the NITI Aayog, Reserve Bank of India and the Census, helped evaluate the talukas on parameters such as female literacy rate, access to drinking water, households with electricity and telephone connections, infant mortality rate, maternal mortality rate and number of workers and bank deposits. The aim was to get a comprehensive picture of where each and every taluka stands and where it needs improvement.
The best talukas have been judged on the basis of their achievements in the past two decades, whereas the most improved talukas have been judged based on improvement over a decade. Awards were given only to the best talukas. The most improved talukas are also being mentioned so as to acknowledge their pace of development. All talukas have great potential for tourism, eco-friendly industries like pharmaceuticals, information technology, packaging and the hos
pitality and service sectors. A healthy competition among them will help Goa emerge as one of India’s most soughtafter destination for investment.
EDUCATION (FEMALE LITERACY) Best taluka: Bardez
Suraj Chodankar, headmaster of Shri Vasant Vidyalaya in Siolim, is proud that the number of students, especially girls, in his school has been rising for the past four years. With dedicated teachers like him, Bardez achieved the top rank in female literacy. Its female literacy rate of 88.1 per cent, according to the 2011 Census, was better than the state average of 84.7 per cent.
Most improved: Sattari
Sattari showed maximum improvement in the female literacy rate between 2001 (11th position) and 2011 (ninth). During this period, the female literacy rate went up from 66.3 per cent to 78.6 per cent—a jump of 12 percentage points as against the 9 percentage point improvement at the state level.
UTILITIES Best talukas: Bardez & Tiswadi (joint winners)
Sandwiched between the rivers Chapora, Mandovi and Mapusa, Bardez is best known for its beaches—Candolim, Calangute, Baga, Anjuna and Vagator—and the Mapusa market, the main centre for trading and shopping. The state government is improving infrastructure facilities, such as parking at the beaches and beautification of the Calangute market circle.
Tiswadi, Goa’s most developed taluka, is also a hub of education, as most of the big and popular schools have opened their centres in Cujira. Tiswadi is also an entertainment centre as it houses malls and cinema halls as well as six off-shore casinos and around 20 on-shore casinos.
The talukas also do well in proportion of households with access to electricity and those availing banking services as per Census 2011. Bardez had 98.2 per cent households with electricity connection and 91.3 per cent households availing banking services. About 93 per cent of households in Bardez had a telephone connection.
In Tiswadi, 97.7 per cent households had electricity connections, 92.3 per cent had telephone connections and 91 per cent had availed banking services.
Most improved: Pernem
This taluka was selected in the first phase of the coastal tourism circuit project. The Goa government has announced the development of an electronic manufacturing cluster at Tuem, which could boost the local economy. Another mega infrastructure project, an international airport, is proposed for Mopa. The taluka has registered a massive jump in the proportion of households with access to telephone connections, which increased from 10.7 per cent to 83.9 per cent between 2001 and 2011, and households that availed banking services, up from 60.9 per cent in 2001 to 89.1 per cent.
DRINKING WATER Best taluka: Mormugao
Mormugao reported the highest proportion of households with access to safe drinking water (95.7 per cent) as per the 2011 Census while the state average was 85.7 per cent. About 85 per cent of households had access to drinking water within the premises— only marginally lower than in Bardez (86.3 per cent) and Salcete (85.2 per cent). The taluka also had the highest proportion of households with closed drainage connectivity for wastewater outlet (64.5 per cent), which was significantly better than the state average (43.7 per cent).
Most improved: Pernem
Pernem taluka vastly improved access to drinking water, with its relative ranking improving from 11th position in 2001 to eighth in 2011. The proportion of households with access to safe drinking water jumped from about 27 per cent to 73.2 per cent during the same period. The Goa government succeeded
in supplying drinking water to every school in Pernem with the help of the corporate sector. Also, the proportion of households with closed drainage connectivity increased from 2.3 per cent in 2001 to 25.2 per cent in 2011. The proportion of households that had toilets within premises increased from 30 per cent to 66 per cent.
AGRICULTURE Best taluka: Canacona
Spread over 352 sq. km, most of Canacona taluka is forest. The famous Canacona cashew and Canconchi
chillies are cultivated in an almost 100 sq. km area. Rice is cultivated on manmade terraces on the hills. Farming has been the main source of income. The percentage of cultivators to total workers was the highest, at 30.5 per cent, as per Census 2011. The government offers full subsidy for construction of polyhouses and 50 per cent on planting material.
Most improved: Salcete
The soil in Salcete is suitable for growing vegetables. The area has over 1,000 vegetable farmers. The percentage of cultivators to total workers went up from 1.5 per cent in 2001 to 2.8 per cent in the 2011 Census. In the past few years, farmers in villages such as Chandor, Dicarpale, Curtorim, Verna, Nuvem, Arlem and Loutolim have shown a growing interest in the cultivation of vegetables as well as local varieties of banana, coconut and cashew. With farmers cultivating vegetables in an area of 10,000 sq. m availing government assistance, vegetable production has gone up manifold.
PROSPERITY Best taluka: Tiswadi
Tiswadi attained the top position among the 12 talukas in prosperity. Signs of this prosperity are visible in capital Panaji, with showrooms of expensive auto brands, such as Audi, Jeep and Harley Davidson, setting up shop. Dnyanesh Hadkar, chief executive officer of Audi in Panaji, says the customer response has been satisfactory.
Consisting of six small islands, Tiswadi is also the hub of political, cultural and educational activities. One of the biggest attractions of the taluka is the six offshore casinos. The locals have protested against them, but since they contribute over Rs 200 crore annually in revenue, the government is reluctant to shift them. Tiswadi is also one of the best talukas of Goa in terms of infrastructure development—wider roads, bridges on the Mandovi river, gardens, planned townships and an efficient public transport system.
Most improved: Pernem
Pernem taluka in North Goa district ranked first in improvement in prosperity. It moved from 10th position in the 2001 census to ninth in 2011. It also attained the highest percentage increase in per capita deposits and proportion of main workers.
INDUSTRY (NO. OF WORKERS) Best taluka: Salcete
Salcete taluka in South Goa ranked first in industrial development and has wide scope for eco-friendly industries, like pharmaceuticals. Around 126 industrial units were functional in Salcete in February 2019. The biggest industrial town, Verna, has automobile and packaging industries. The taluka reported the maximum estimated average number of daily workers employed in registered factories in 2017-18—49,751. It was distantly followed by Ponda taluka in North Goa district, with 31,428 daily workers employed in registered factories as on March 31, 2018. Salcete’s industries contribute more than 50 per cent to Goa’s gross domestic product.
INDUSTRY (PER CAPITA DEPOSITS) Best taluka: Tiswadi
That Tiswadi scores very well on liveability is perhaps why it recorded the highest per capita deposits of Rs 10,62,336, significantly higher than the state average of Rs 4,66,784 during 2017-18. The taluka also had the highest proportion of ‘main’ workers out of the total workers (89.3 per cent) in the 2011 Census.