Editor,
The Shillong Times in its 26th May edition carried two pertinent issues. The first a headline proclaiming that development of the NE will form the main agenda for the NEC meet to be chaired by the PM. Second, the article by Sumarbin Umdor on the Challenges before the NE. “Too many cooks spoil the broth” is an adage that instantly comes to mind when concerns over NE development is aired. DONER, NEC, other Central Agencies together with all the eight state govts concerned believe they have exclusive rights over NE development at the risk of total indifference to what the others are doing. Too many players, at times pulling at diagonally opposite directions, is the region’s greatest developmental drawback. The NE has to reinvent itself and this is the most appropriate time for such an exercise. The time has come to synchronise focus of all concerned on one or two core areas of NE development concern.
The first core area of concern is vision or the lack of it. What is expected of the region in the next 20 – 50 years? Should it continue to remain as an appendage, totally dependent on central doles for its sustainability or should the region be now allowed to blossom into an economically autonomous region, on EU lines, capable of deciding its own policies, managing its own resources and generating its own revenue? Is this possible? Why not? The development policy of the region should change from the conventionally flawed approach of a production and manufacturing economy to that of a service oriented economy. Under the aegis of the Look East / Act East Policy tourism can become the flagship concept for NE development. Let’s go beyond scenic beauty related tourism and start looking also at cultural, ethnic and historically linked, educational and health-care related tourism. Can we visualise such an eventuality? Why not!
The second core area of concern is the total breakdown of governance throughout the region. In our quest for stability for our democratically elected governments, the people of the NE have been left at the mercy of opportunistic politics, and good governance accorded the least priority. If good governance is the “ability of the political system to manage resources (financial, human and natural) for the betterment of society” then the NE political system has betrayed us. Instead a system of political patronage has been imposed on us. We are fed lollipops while hunger gnaws at our stomachs. Governance in the region has merely focused on how to make the rich richer. This has to change. The Centre has to tighten its purse strings and not allow regional and state satraps to squander funds and resources. Together with vision there has to be political accountability and transparency on how funds are spent. Curbing the extravagance of the MLA funds is a typical example of what I mean.
The third core area of concern is the isolation of the region both physically and psychologically. The region led by its political and NGO elite has been unable to think out of this cocoon. We are scared of change while admitting that change is inevitable. The Centre too has fallen into the trap of attempting to contain the region instead of encouraging it to branch outwards. Security aspects of the region are understandable but so is the development of its social, economic and political entity. We need to open up to the world. If the Act East Policy is India’s outreach programme to its eastern neighbours then it is important for India to take the NE along with it. So far the Policy as it is today, is passing over our heads. Central facilitation is therefore required to make the Act East relevant and pertinent to the region. Left to our own local politicians this is unlikely to happen. It is hoped that the NEC deliberations will address the issue.
Yours etc.,
Toki Blah
President, ICARE
Head in the air politicians
Editor,
That our politicians have no head on their shoulders is largely seen in the ongoing drainage work at the Laban Main Road and it seems that those who are bald are doubly empty-headed. It may be a good initiative to put in place a drainage system but if that comes at the cost of traffic movement than do we need it at all in the first place? Vehicles have become a part and parcel of human lives and one cannot think of a day without them. The heavy cemented lids that are laid conjoined over the new drain will have to bear the burden of round the clock movement of vehicles. How long are going to sustain given the standard of civic works of the state government is anybody’s guess. The irony is that now the width of the Laban Main Road has reduced than that of the two parallel drains on both sides. One may not have seen such a legendary civic work being carried out in any other roads in this town. One can see the crashing sight of cemented lids near the Usha Studio junction and it is imminent that the newer lids will ultimately cave inside leaving both vehicles and man to negotiate only the reduced four feet wide narrow bituminous road with deep drains on either sides. In such a situation how is the local MLA expected to meet the people of his constituency, too. The chaotic effect is clearly written on the wall.
Yours etc.
- Lyngdoh
Shillong – 4