By TFL Mawlong
Governance is in the shape it is today because of what we have become. Dilapidation of governance is the most talked subject, perhaps next only to corruption. It forms a central theme of innumerable letters to the editors and editorials in this esteemed daily. As I dwell upon the matter, I find that, governance has been rather lopsidedly discussed. We seemingly misconceive governance to be totally synonymous with the government. We overlook the fact that in a democracy, governance is all pervasive – embracing every citizen, the government, social institutions, businesses, media, political parties and the like. All these elements concerned will have to be held culpable for governance failure.
In a democracy, governance is a ‘jealous mistress’; she demands the participation of the whole society. It is also like the ‘orchestra’ in which every instrument is required to produce the best music. My point is, for good governance every element of the society must do their bit. As a matter of fact, the level of people’s mental faculty sets a limit for the level of governance. Thus the level of governance we have in our state is the same as the level of our mental faculty. ‘We the people’ are the core of governance. The shape and appearance of governance depend a lot on us. So let’s ask ourselves – how do we fare? Where do we stand? We are crying for good governance. How much idea do we have of what it takes to achieve it? Are we performing our duties and obligations as citizens?
‘Generally speaking’ we have forgotten our duties. Perhaps we are too busy pressing for our rights. True, the right to good governance is an essential part of a citizen’s right. But we forget that rights come along with duties. We’re overlooking our responsibilities in shaping good governance. When governance fails we wash our hands as honest bystanders. And our eyes and fingers are all directed at the government. How insensitive; how ignorant; and how inert we are. It should be noted that a serious trouble with governance starts when people don’t care to vote on meritocratic lines. Day in and day out we grumble and mumble at the ineptitude and corruption of politicians. But to what end? Do we, at all, remember that it is our ‘duty’ to elect a ‘proper’ representative? We have become cynical electors. We are easily swayed and manipulated. We don’t think and we fail to judge. Then for few hundred bucks and a bottle of whisky, we readily sell our vote! When our vote is cheaper than a pair of sandals, every smart and rich candidate would of course resort to money power, to increase his chances! Even among the educated, many of us consider election a bother and altogether abstain from voting. If that’s the level of citizens, it is no surprise to see a system getting smacked from top and bottom alike.
Further, our aspiration is immoderately confined to ‘self’. Of course without self interest the human race wouldn’t survive. But the problem starts when people are completely encased in the self, and people’s ego, continually inflating. A self-concern is crushing to the ground what precious little empathy we have. We tend to alienate ourselves from societal issues and process of governance. In our passivity we wait for good governance to be served on our platter. We seem clueless that we are part of the process itself. We must be active for a smooth running of the system…But why would we care of course; our lack of seriousness is very apparent. If people aren’t serious, what makes us think that the government should and would be serious?
And look at our education system – it’s getting metamorphosed into a ‘factory’ producing human machines or instrumentum vocale. There’s this growing crude materialism in school curriculum; social and familial pressures for outstanding academic performance is rising. Much time is spent in tuitions and lame project works (which students usually just copy from the internet!). Spare time is spent in video games and TV etc. There is no time for anything good and organic. Consequently the sweetness of childhood is killed and the rationality of students, destroyed. Ergo it’s not surprising to see anomalous behaviors among the youth today. A T-shirt caption “I was born intelligent but education ruined me”- that we see around – isn’t just another random caption ; it vividly reflects the mood of youths today and tells a whole lot of stories. What’s particularly horrid is that our education system is producing brains without a sense of proportion – not knowing to distinguish between good and bad. So the youths today are easily misled and fickle in their views. Many of us are becoming increasingly acquisitive, pliable and boorish. And lo the anti- social elements unfailingly take advantage of the recalcitrant youths. How then can we suppress a menacing bandh culture, or a mob-culture for that matter? And how could such youths possibly have a sense of responsibility for the society?
On top of that we have many escapist and moribund politicians and political parties that confuse the society big time. And also not to forget many inert and moribund intellectuals who would channel all their emotions against the government. Unnecessary emotions serve no purpose. Thus negative criticisms of all kinds are being heard. Such criticisms are destructive and negate all attempts at good governance. I wonder why one would criticize for the sake of criticism. We forgot that in democracy even ordinary people with very limited abilities and humble backgrounds can rule and head the departments. A question is – Does carping about politicians (inept and corrupt as many of them are) and the government doing any good?.. We fail ourselves, don’t we? Lord Acton said, “In a democracy the danger is not that certain class of people is unfit to rule. Every class is unfit to rule”. There’s no perfect ruler or administrator. So to create the best out of the material available (to run the system), people should ‘constructively’ participate; and with all good intentions. People can’t afford to remain estranged from governance. If we divorce ourselves from the process of governance it suffers insurmountably.
Then we also have this lop-sided concept of honesty. We are being misled by a dictum “honesty is a best policy”. When honesty should be our ‘way of life’, we are taking it as a ‘policy’. This is a mistake. It is hypocrisy. How irksome it is to see many so-called honest officers who camouflage their incompetence, indifference and fear of sanction by a garb of honesty. Files get piled up, no decision is taken and delays in progress are inevitable. It’s hard not to mention here the negligence and venality of government servants. Derelictions of duty, staff absenteeism (especially in remote areas) and venality are affecting governance at all levels. Personally I feel it’s a weak culture in the society that breeds and sustains venal government servants (especially among the police!). If our State has around 80% Christians, then overwhelming majority has got to be the skeletal Christians – impregnated with hypocrisy in their marrows. We should note that a weak societal culture and good governance are incompatible. In fact if society is weak, people’s participation in governance becomes a caricature.
And then here are our press and other media. Are they discharging their duties responsibly? An unreasonable question one might think. But many a time the irresponsible and hasty reports of media give an incorrect picture about the officials and politicians. Public opinion is unrealistically shaped. It gives rise to all kinds of negative impressions of the government. Solid investigation ought to be done before reporting anything or passing any remark. On many occasions the reports are so brief and one-sided that one finds it hard to make out what the truth is. Does the press ever care of the unbecoming remarks which could potentially demoralize good officers? Our media unknowingly harm the cause of good governance in more ways more than one.
The reality therefore is that while the government has undoubtedly a major share in governance failure, it is not the lone culprit. Among others, ‘we the people’ are significant share holders too. We have failed in our performance of duties and obligations.
So when governance fails, why all the fuss?.. Instead of foolishly making a fuss, it would be wiser if we first ask ourselves whether we deserve good governance or not. Good governance is a luxury which comes at a cost. To achieve it we need to relinquish our selfishness and build a strong culture with a sense of responsibility and duty. Without a balance between rights and duties, governance evaporates into thin air. At this point let me rephrase Joseph De Maistre: “Every state has the governance it deserves”. It is only when we the people deserve it that good governance can be achieved.