Patricia Mukhim
It is not without reason that coal is called Black Diamond. It indeed is the magic mineral that has occupied the mind space of Chief Minister Conrad Sangma and his cabinet colleagues like no other issue has, since he occupied the CM’s chair in March 2018. Coal has created the affluent tribal elite. It has brought in a climate of fear and intimidation because of feuds on account of land grabbing. Coal mining is an environmental disaster where rivers are killed and drinking water is no longer available. The death of several miners not just in recent times but in the past too and who are buried unknown inside the mines forever does not seem to matter to Government. If what is happening in the mining areas of Jaintia Hills, West Khasi Hills and Garo Hills is not ecological terrorism then I wonder what is.
To have a Government that is inured to these issues and which incessantly makes out a case on behalf of coal mine owners, ostensibly because coal brings in revenue, shows we have reached the nadir of politics. The arguments favouring coal mining are facile. The fact of the matter is that coal money funds politics in the state; sustains it and fuels the political parties because elections are an expensive affair. Have money, win elections. No money; no votes. Our misfortune is also that we have a Government led by a political party that wants to carve out a niche for itself as a national party. Ask anyone running a political party whether anything is possible without money and you will get the answer why money is so important for the NPP. First of all you need to have some moneybags to fund the party; next you have to pay those moneybags with contracts and also dance to their tune. The people don’t feature in the scheme of things of most governments today. Keeping the party alive and kicking is the sole pre-occupation.
In the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections we have no issue from the NPP other than putting the NGT ban on coal mining at rest and reworking the mines. Are all of us buying into this issue? Is coal the end all and be all of our existence? The impression we get on reading not one, but several newspapers including the so-called national dailies with their sensational captions – “Meghalaya CM Sangma promises to restart coal mining after addressing safety and environmental issues,” is that every Meghalayan has bought into this agenda. People who don’t know better and rely on newspaper reports would believe that coal is the only revenue generating activity in the state. If so then what activity is tourism? Can coal mining and tourism co-exist? Are there many more stakeholders in tourism where incomes are spread horizontally across or are more people invested in coal mining which has only a few people owning hundreds of mines each? Take your pick! But impressionist politics can be misleading.
The Congress Party has been harping on the NPP’s dalliance with the BJP and how the latter is anti-minority. We’ve got it and we were all united against the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) with or without the Congress telling us to do so. In short we know what is good and bad policy. So the Congress had better come up with a better agenda if it wants our votes. For the NPP-UDP, the blame game about what’s happening and not happening in the state, during the Congress rule of nine years, no longer captures our imagination. We need something more meaty! Job creation and not NYAY where people will be paid for not working is not something that one expects from the grand old party. It’s as if the Congress is just trying to top up what the BJP is doing. If people are paid for being jobless, instead of creating jobs for them it shows the Party in poor light. More so, because all this money will come from the taxpayer’s kitty! Poverty in this country is real and in your face but giving money for not doing anything is a surefire way of rewarding indolence. Poverty is created by the accumulation of bad policies which have tended to reward a few top business enterprises in the country. India has not done creditable research on what causes poverty and in which regions and how it can be dealt with by better, more incisive fiscal policies.
In Meghalaya, no one is talking of farmer’s issues which are now at a critical level. Government policies thus far have not started with people’s needs but from what Government perceives to be their need. And between reality and perception there is a huge chasm. Times without number Government has pointed to the horticultural potential of the state but it has failed to create the value chain that can turn such products into sought after brands. Sure we have the best turmeric (highest curcumin content at 7.9%) in the world; we have orange honey; mandarin oranges; pineapples, bay leaves, black pepper, ginger and more but have we branded each of these products? All that we see in the shelves of supermarkets are the Government brand – Meg- which has no unique selling point.
Recently a strawberry farmer informed that Spencer’s would be buying strawberries off him and at a premium. That’s because he is an educated farmer who knows how to strike a deal. What about the hundreds of other farmers who are repeatedly involved in distress sale of their products – particularly ginger! It is shocking to learn that a paltry amount of Rs 47 crore out of the total budget outlay of Rs 16,202 crore for the fiscal 2019-20 is allocated for Agriculture and allied activities (horticulture, animal husbandry and fisheries). Also, that an amount of just Rs 7 crore is set aside for start-ups under the Meghalaya Institute of Entrepreneurship shows how lop-sided the budget is. The common complaint is that there are several young people that are trained to become entrepreneurs but they don’t have the start-up capital.
Hence wannabe MPs should talk to the youth, the farmers and entrepreneurs to feel their pulse and accordingly launch their election campaigns. They should stop mouthing rhetoric. The sitting MP should distribute pamphlets showing how he utilised his MP funds and not use the time allotted to him at public meetings to make claims about what he has done. We need MPs who are futuristic and can gaze into the crystal bowl of Meghalaya to see where it is poised to be in 2030. By then if the NGT ban is lifted the environmental degradation in some regions of Meghalaya would have become irredeemable. And why just coal? The speed at which limestone is being mined in the state is also going to turn into a horror story. The idea of inter-generational mining where the entire quantum of coal available is assessed and only a certain amount is allowed to be mined up to a particular year is unknown in this state. The motto here is, “If land belongs to me I can do whatever I want with it.” It’s a concept that the Khasis call “bam duh” or eat up everything until only the shell remains. The concept of earth as the mother and sustainer of life (Ka Mei Ramew) have long been forgotten or remain only as poems crafted by visionaries like Soso Tham.
The fact that in so many years we don’t have a single school or a hospital set up the mining conglomerate in Meghalaya tells us how absolutely selfish their business model is. For them the concept of corporate social responsibility is alien. The environmental fund that they have started paying will not compensate for the ecological terror they have unleashed.
Normally in any election, the public should come up with a shadow manifesto which they should present to political parties. In Meghalaya we are all silent on this! That’s why we get the MPs and MLAs we rightly deserve.