By Patricia Mukhim
After a long while we can proudly say that matrilineal Meghalaya which used to be scoffed and scorned by scholars and researchers for its ambivalence (matriliny with few or no woman wielding political power) is now behaving true to form. We have a female Home Minister in Roshan Warjri; Ampareen Lyngdoh has succeeded to retain her Urban Affairs Department. Deborah Marak is in charge of Social Welfare which is crucial in addressing the poor nutrition levels among women and children besides other welfare measures, but, above all, in assisting people with disabilities who have always got the rough end of the stick in our State. We hope they are able to deliver better services than their male counterparts. Ampareen Lyngdoh has shown that she can drive a hard bargain, put in long hours and dig in her heels to overcome bureaucratic intransigence. Make no mistake; bureaucrats are more often than not a stumbling block. They are disconnected from ground realities (many of them are ensconced in the secretariat) which impinge on politicians who are finally answerable to the people.
This brings me to an important point. At the beginning of his tenure, Dr Mukul Sangma had expressed his anxiety about the poor delivery system and the fact that politicians have to bear the brunt of badly executed projects or schemes that are untidily implemented or are marked by tardiness. He had got together a group of senior and experienced individuals and scholars of Economics and Sociology from NEHU to craft out a Social Audit Bill to allow stakeholders of all schemes/projects to audit those and call for transparency and accountability from the government. Much intellectual labour had gone into the making of the Bill. And it was done pro-bono! It was then circulated around the government tables for comments from respective departments. Sadly the Bill has come unstuck. Senior bureaucrats are said to have a problem with it. That was inevitable. All this talk about involving civil society is alien to those in government. No one wants civil society to enter the sacred domain of the bureaucracy. They would have been more enthusiastic if they could have brought in some consultant from outside who would have charged a bomb, to come up with a similar bill. For reasons best known to the bureaucrats they do not welcome home grown wisdom and expertise. Meghalaya has become a famous sanctuary for outside consultants to come and make a killing here without having the faintest idea about the culture and sensitivities of the people they are making schemes, plans and programmes for. Many of these consultants sub-contract their work to local experts after paying them a miserly sum. One wonders what’s behind this fancy since many of our top bureaucrats are known to be squeaky clean but perhaps it is their ego which is the enemy!
But let me not stray from the point. The Department of Home is a crucial one in Meghalaya. The top guy in the police hierarchy was removed just before the elections, allegedly because of some shady wheeling-dealing. Junior cadres and men in the police department say he is extremely vengeful and can transfer them in a jiffy if they fail to abide by his diktat. His colleagues in the IPS are, however, silent. They stand by their ilk anyway. Now that the elections are over it remains to be seen whether the former DGP will be reinstated to his previous post. And if he is reinstated there have to be valid grounds for doing so. Have the charges against him of “collecting money from contractors on behalf of the former Home Minister before the elections,” been cleared? He was excoriated for doing precisely that and election observers have actually taken cognisance of complaints from knowledgeable quarters. Is it a good practice for any State to reinstate a police chief once removed on some irrefutable grounds of venality? What would that do to the morale of the entire police force? In a uniformed force, discipline and integrity in the leader is key to the responsible function of every individual in the chain of command. If the top creaks the others down the ladder will break. As it is, the police force is known for the corrupt practices of some. It is also well documented that constables collect money from all quarters but particularly from coal, cement and timber laden trucks and that money passes on to their seniors. This is no state secret. If some of the tribal officers had to be evaluated for the assets they had prior to joining the force and what they have acquired over the years, it would be quite a shocker. And mind you, even the drivers who are loyal to their superiors and keep their traps shut about shady deals that carry on in the shadow of darkness are well rewarded. They too are allowed a free rein to extort money from every conceivable source. Try doing a survey of some of the police drivers and their assets. Some would have as much property as their bosses. And this is no crap I am talking (with due respect to those officers who have steered clear of such controversies). However, I am not generalising. There are police officers and men who live by their own ethics. But there are also many others who have developed a Mafiosi type code and have greed written all over their faces. It usually settles in their bellies. These are the kind that the new Home Minister might need to be wary of. And I can say without a shadow of doubt that running the Home Department is no cakewalk!
The other day a gentleman dropped by at the office of The Shillong Times office and I was struck by his observation. He says 20 % of people are clean and good, 20% are crooked and dishonest and the rest 60% are fence sitters. He said when we create a system where the 20% good, honest people can live and operate in a non-threatening space then the 60% too will fall in line. But if we allow a system where law and order is not palpable then the 20% of crooks will rule the roost and the 60% fence-sitters will also go that way. He said it is important to block every opportunity for dishonest people to thrive. This sounds like great philosophy albeit tough as praxis especially in the light of the recently concluded elections. We saw up close the greed of the voters who want hard cash and are ready to bargain away the other fruits of governance.
For Deborah Marak this tenure is challenging as well. Social Welfare is no mean department. On it hinges the welfare of lakhs of women and children especially those living below the poverty line. For a long time this Department has come under the scanner as successive ministers have turned it into a business of procuring noodles laced with monosodium glutamate (MSG) which is known for its harmful effects, and also of other food items which are hardly nourishing for our children. It is unimaginable that a Department aimed at addressing one of the UN mandated millennium development goals (MDGs) which is better nutrition and health and also of counselling and anchoring the outlets for providing folic acid tablets to pregnant women etc., should be embroiled in such corrupt practices. In fact the Anganwadi Centres in this state are not functioning as they should. Many of them are hardly open. These are great challenges indeed and one hopes that the lady faces these with equanimity without an eye for profit. The food supply and contract business in the Social Welfare Department is a well-oiled machinery and unscrupulous traders from outside have leached on to this system. Will Deborah Marak have the courage to break this well entrenched network?
And by the way, Labour which is also a very critical department in the light of the work permit controversy is also with Ampareen Lyngdoh. Those before her including here beta-noire in the last election have walked the tightrope without success. We hope to see a workable model in the next five years without the need to placate any individual or group!
On that note, I rest my case and feel proud to have such women of substance at the helm of affairs!