State turns 45 on Saturday
SHILLONG: There is nothing much to cheer about when Meghalaya turns 45 on Saturday at a time when the states born together with it and after have made significant strides and achievements.
A case in point is neighbouring Tripura whose infrastructure development pattern and human capital development can be emulated by Meghalaya which is lagging behind.
Other than central road projects and schemes, the development initiatives of the State are on a slow pace.
The ‘middle aged’ Meghalaya is still a slave to many Assam rules and shares joint Assam-Meghalaya cadre even as the border dispute with Assam is yet to be solved.
Though there were several competitions held to get a State emblem, the government is functioning without adopting one.
The main concerns are lack of land reforms and land records which make it difficult for the Government to acquire land for development works in time.
“Sometimes there are multiple claims by more than one land owner since there are no proper land records which result in delayed payment to the real land owner which subsequently leads to litigations, thereby delaying the projects for which land has been acquired,” an official admitted.
As far as digital governance is concerned, Chief Secretary K.S Kropha had recently said on Meghalaya Day on January 21, certain certificates will be made available online.
On the border issue with Assam, Kropha had said he and the Chief Minister had written to their counterparts last year, but there was no feedback from the neighbouring State.
In terms of human resource development, there is nothing much to boast about as the literacy rate of Meghalaya stands at 74.43 per cent as per 2011 census compared to other northeastern states and the State cannot boast of a village which is officially 100 per cent literate for the last 45 years.
The government has also failed to bring about any innovations to arrest the trend of dropout rates.
In the absence of proper airports and railways, the only mode of transportation in the State is roadways. In the past, the High Court of Meghalaya had to intervene in the expansion of the Umroi airport.
On the health scenario, the civil hospitals in the headquarters of the State are yet to have adequate equipment and lack specialists to treat patients. The worst affected are the people in rural areas as they have to be at the mercy of remote PHCs and CHCs where doctors are rarely seen. The high number of anaemia, maternal and infant mortality rates is the result.
Another cause for concern is the rise in the number of educated unemployed youths as government jobs have saturated.
In the absence of jobs in private sectors in the State coupled with lack of practical schemes on the part of the government to attract the youths, the trend is the exodus of large number of educated youths from the State.
State BJP leader Shibun Lyngdoh said during his recent meeting with BJP leader Ram Madhav, Meghalaya not having a youth policy was discussed.
Several citizens of the State are also disillusioned over lack of adequate mechanism to check corruption.
Though promised, the Government is yet to set up Meghalaya Lokayukta to pursue corruption cases of public servants though the Act was passed in the Assembly a few years ago under pressure from several quarters, including various pressure groups.
Former Home Minister R.G Lyngdoh said a lot has to be changed in Meghalaya even as he recalled that MLAs of 70s and 80s were more passionate but the MLAs in today’s age are more of constituency-centric representatives.
He said the trend now in Meghalaya is that people get into politics driven by business families and pressure group leaders who found the MLA schemes to be quite attractive.
“Where will the common people go when there is money and muscle power,” he queried, adding that politics needs good people with vision, but the present setup is not giving opportunity to such people to do something for the state.
Recently, Opposition Leader Donkupar Roy had also feared the fallout of muscle power and money power in politics and decried the trend of businessmen entering politics to further their cause. He called upon the educated youths to join politics.
On the other hand, Daddengre MLA and NPP leader James Sangma said Meghalaya as a state has to do a lot of introspection and soul searching as to where it stands right now since it has tremendous potential, but it is no way near achieving its target.
He also deplored that the state despite being 45 years old does not have sports, education and youth policies.
Sangma also expressed concern over lack of effective mechanism to control crime against women and children.
“We are one of the few in the world to have a matrilineal society, but it is a great shame for us that we are not being able to give protection to our women and children in Meghalaya in view of the recent happenings,” he said, adding that Meghalaya is becoming infamous for women trafficking and sexual crimes.
Maladies of Meghalaya @ 45
lNo sports, youth and education policies.
lUmroi Airport yet to be expanded, Baljek non-functional.
lKhasi Hills yet to be connected with railways.
lGovernment employments saturated.
lRise in no. of educated unemployed youths.
lSchool dropout cases yet to be controlled.
lMeghalaya still banks on many Assam Rules.
lBorder dispute with Assam lingers.
lNo State emblem in the last 45 years.
lNo Lokayukta to pursue corruption cases.
lNo proper land documents, land reforms.
lNo reduction in anaemia, infant, maternal mortality cases.