By Philip Marwein
Apropos the article, ‘It cannot be back to business as usual..’ (ST May1, 2020) by Patricia Mukhim, I wish to congratulate the writer for the incisive and thought provoking write up. I am sure it has benefited public readers and above all, it must have influenced the MDA government think tank in spite of their preoccupation with the scourge of Covid-19 which has infected 12 lives so far in Meghalaya and claimed more than 2.5 million people across the globe.
I fully endorse the suggestion that social distancing needs constant drumming up. What I feel is that proper and repeated awareness about the dreaded disease should be conducted in every nook and corner of the state and in fact in every village by knowledgeable volunteers from the Health Department, from the NGOs, the district and block officials, the traditional institutions-syiemships, lyngdohships, sirdarships, village officials, religious organisations and the already formed Covid-19 committees at various levels so that each and every citizen of our state is fully educated about disease in order to uphold the mandated health protocols in respect of the infectious disease.
With regard to publicity, the central and state governments have already done a media blitz sufficiently in all mode of the media in all languages. However, more publicity may be required so that strict observance of health protocols will be adhered to by all.
Referring to the economy of the country, off all states and of every family, it is a fact that it is shattered on account of the Covid lockdown and will take a very long time to recover. Today, the treasury of Meghalaya is near empty and God knows for how long the Government can meet its committed liabilities which include payment of salaries of employees and repaying huge outstanding loans. The impact of Covid-19 has hit the state very hard. The economy of majority of the households in the state is in shambles and in fact, many families are in penury not knowing from where the next meal will come. The primary, the secondary and the tertiary sectors are badly affected and joblessness is at an all time high. In Meghalaya we have no giant corporate houses but we do have some medium industries and many small manufacturing units. All these were also under lockdown during last two months due to the corona disease. Even the tertiary sector was shut down. But the primary sector of the state was completely shattered. Even transport, trade, business and commerce came to a grinding halt. Under such difficult circumstances it requires immediate and long term solutions to circumvent the difficult situation in which we are in.
First and foremost we appeal to the employers of different manufacturing units and business enterprises to re-employ the workforce if and when their businesses resume. We also appeal to the members of the public, business houses, NGOs, religious organisations etc to open up their big hearts to continue to come to the help of those who are in dire need, till alternatives are found. Appeal also goes to the government to find ways and means to extend a one-time financial assistance to those families who are in need and for those individuals who are artisans to arrange soft loans from financial institutions in order to become self-reliant at later stages.
In Meghalaya we have the Meghalaya Public Grievances Committee. At a time like this the public should approach it (MPGC) with their various grievances and it is its duty to sort those out with the government. In fact, all along this committee has been jobless yet its members are paid heavily from the public exchequer. Again we have the Meghalaya Employment Generation Council (MEGC) which existed without generating any employment avenues for the thousands of jobless youth of the state. Of course, as mentioned in the article we cannot forget the existence of the Meghalaya Economic Development Council (MEDC) and the Meghalaya State Planning Board (MSPB). What good have they delivered to the state during last 48 years? Employment generation, economic development and state planning are very critical for the overall progress and economic advancement of the state. These bodies require immediate and complete overhauling by appointing people fit for the respective jobs and who can deliver the goods.
The MDA government cannot be blind the fact that most of the political appointees in various boards, councils, committees, corporations cannot do justice to their jobs and in fact they are far from being productive. Yet they enjoy fat honoraria with sumptuous perks. Several crore rupees are spent every year from public exchequer for such unproductive appointments. In difficult times like we are in today it is the right opportunity for the government to either do away with such superfluous bodies and/or reduce such appointments.
Today, we face the coronavirus pandemic; in future we may face some unforeseen calamity like famine for example. This pandemic has taught us many things. One of them is severe food insecurity. We depend on other states literally for all our food items. Of course we already know from the past several decades that we are not self-sufficient in food grains and other products. But after 48 years of statehood our dependency on food import has become more pronounced. During the lockdown we frantically went around to buy rice, sugar, pulses, cooking oil and other food items. Luckily the food chain did not break. Where are the food grains and other food items produced from our gardens, our paddy fields, hill slopes, our valleys? What is the agriculture, horticulture, fishery, animal husbandry doing during last 48 years after investing million of rupees?.
After taking a hard look at our pros and cons it is the right time to accord top priority to the primary sector- agriculture, horticulture, apiculture, aquaculture (fishery), animal husbandry and veterinary, poultry and so on. It is sad to mention here that many kitchen gardens, back yard gardens, open gardens, paddy fields in the valleys and hill sides are left abandoned or left uncultivated. There are many reasons for this. One of the main reasons is that most of the cultivated lands do not belong to the cultivators. In Meghalaya there is no land policy, there is no cadastral survey and no land ceiling act. Landlessness is acute and it is estimated nearly 70 of the households in Meghalaya are landless. Hence there is an urgent need to have a land policy, land ceiling act and land use. Development of any kind without taking land into consideration is no development at all. Anyway, the scope for development in Meghalaya lies in exploring the potentials in the primary sector.
Tourism development in Meghalaya has already shown its potential but the lockdown has done the damage. However, when the situation normalises it will pick up again but again this is linked to land ownership and land use.
That leaves us with the secondary sector and tertiary sector. For variety of reasons the secondary sector has not taken off in Meghalaya in spite of the much touted Single Window Agency. Somehow there were no Indian Companies investing in Meghalaya not to speak of FDIs. Except for the ten odd cement companies at Narpuh Elaka (East Jaintia Hills District) no company worth its name has come to the state. And then these cement plants are infamous for causing environmental hazards owing to the complacency of the Meghalaya Pollution Control Board!
With regards to the Tertiary Sector, I would like to mention that 99% of small manufacturing units and enterprises are run by private enterprises and they contribute nearly 40 % of the state GDP, though some of them cause environmental hazards again, due to negligence of the Meghalaya Pollution Control Board to implement the relevant Acts.
In light of the above, it is important for the MDA Government to do some strategic, non-populist thinking to restore the economy through some hard decisions. Post-Covid is the time to be tough with reducing Government spending and to invest in economic sectors that are productive and have visible outcomes.