Meghalaya is in its 46th year but successive governments have steered its fortunes without any policy. This has allowed the political executives and bureaucracy to get away with non-delivery since in the absence of clear cut policies the deliverables remain amorphous. Governments make claims of success that are not measurable. The public on its part is unable to measure outcomes of government-led programmes since they are not elucidated. For instance, the Integrated Basin Development & Livelihoods Programme (IBDLP) has not emerged out of any Policy but is the outcome of the initiatives of a few in Government who thought that it was a strategic way of creating livelihoods.
Since no external and independent agency has evaluated or monitored the programme, the gaps between intent and implementation have not been measured. Today the question in everybody’s mind is whether the amount pumped into the IBDLP has yielded any tangible results and what are the intangible outcomes? Have communities been empowered to initiate their own development models? Are women able to meet their strategic needs? Are they able to participate in decision making as a result of having participated in the Programme? Are communities better able to engage in governance than they were before the different livelihood projects? Most externally aided projects have strict monitoring abd evaluation systems in place so that in case of poor or wrong implementation there can be course correction. In the case of the IBDLP it is like a fast running train without brakes or alarm bells. This makes the Programme vulnerable to misuse by those at the helm of governance. This is what the absence of policy allows.
It is heartening therefore to hear the Education Minister speak of a Policy on this critical issue of human development. It is hoped that those looking after health, tourism and water supply, mining, land use etc., come up with policy documents sooner than later. That will be a credit to the MDA government.