By Patricia Mukhim
The book “How the Mighty Fall,” by Jim Collins bears re-reading. Each time one reads this book one learns lessons on how and why companies falls and why some companies are better off dead. In our case we can substitute state for company; it will work out the same. This book is in fact an anatomy on how not to fail provided some tangible steps are taken when the signs of failure begin to peek in. Jim Collins speaks of failed companies that have recovered and others that could never come out of the ICU. In politics we have heard references to “a failed state,” but have not really understood or bothered to find out the parameters of that failed state and what series of events have contributed to that failure. Meghalaya shows those signs of a failed state where governance is concerned. And I don’t think I need to amplify this. The signs are so obvious! When a state is held hostage by forces inimical to its growth then those who govern it have virtually surrendered their mandate.
Sometimes in conversations we let slip that nothing seems to work in Meghalaya. Dystopia sets in as we see corruption being normalised and no longer a talking point. The rich are getting richer and the poor are staring at a very bleak future, what with potato – the poor man’s food – touching Rs 55/kilo. We know that landlessness in rural Meghalaya is also staring us in the face but just don’t have the stamina to address this issue. It is in any case a political hot potato. Anyone who touches it is sure to get fried in the next election. But is that the only reason why a cadastral survey is not carried out in Meghalaya? As journalists we often come across too much information. The latest is that the plush Birla House next to Tripura Castle in Cleve Colony – the Lutyens of Shillong – which must cost several crores of rupees will soon be acquired by a high-ranking politician of this Government. Just think how interesting it would be if a cadastral survey is carried out just in Shillong city and we get to find out who owns how many mansions in this City of Bliss. This asymmetrical development in Meghalaya which has created a class hierarchy is bound to result in localized turbulence, sooner than later.
Unfortunately, while in most parts of India the principal beneficiaries of India’s economic growth seem to have emotionally seceded from the politics to carve out their own growth story, in Meghalaya, politics is the way to affluence even as those in the ruling party live in a make-believe world of smug insularity. They are not bothered about the growing poverty due to loss of jobs and livelihoods.
Meghalaya has had a farm crisis which the Government seems to be unaware of and that is because those in charge of the Agriculture/Horticulture Department never go to the market to buy vegetables and nor do they care to find out at what rate the farmer sells her produce at the farm gate. Let me inform that ginger at the farm gate sells for Rs 20-30/kg while we retailers buy it at Rs 200/kg in the market. Why is this huge profit margin allowed to be raked in by the middleman? Is this not a cause for farmers’ protests here too? Should there not be a Minimum Support Price (MSP) for ginger and other agricultural products here, below which the buyers are not allowed to quote? When the Agriculture Minister, Banteidor Lyngdoh was asked how the three Farm Bills would affect farmers here his contention was that the State does not have mandis where the Government procures farm products in bulk at MSP, so that farmers are not squeezed to sell at less than the production price. Isn’t it time for Meghalaya to have a Farm Bill of its own which is farmer-friendly? Government of India provides MSP for wheat and rice. We don’t grow wheat and rice in bulk but we grow loads of ginger for which the farmer never gets the right price. So why not a state MSP for ginger?
Alas! No farmer has ever been elected to the State Assembly. It’s the businessmen and contractor lobby that have managed to run this state. The closest we had to a farmer (one who understood the travails of farmers) was Ardent Basaiawmoit. The other day I met a few people in Laitkor and asked them how their MLA was and whether he was developing the constituency. Their answer was not unexpected. He helps those that voted him in the last election. They said Ardent Basaiawmoit implemented the MLA scheme judiciously and hence had no money to buy votes during the elections. They were very cynical and said, “In this constituency anyone who has money to spend will win the next election and we hear that the new contender from the constituency in the next election has money to burn.” So that’s it! In a State where nearly 80% of people rely on agriculture, the issue of farmers has never figured in the election agenda of any political party. If at all it is discussed in public meetings it is generic in nature and not spelt out as it would be in Punjab and Haryana. Just goes to show what our political priorities are! Have any of the pressure groups spoken on behalf of farmers or had a protest on their behalf? Why not? Am curious to know!
Thankfully all is not lost for farmers. In Meghalaya we have bureaucrats that are committed and hyperactive and work with rare passion. They are not in a job but work with the intention to deliver. They know what ails the system; they know the loopholes in the system; they work around it but they still cannot bring about any perceptible change that’s worth writing about. That’s because the political system is unresponsive to addressing the cause of farmers.
For instance, the turmeric farmers in Jaintia Hills, mostly women have a close interface with officials in the Agriculture and Horticulture Department. But where they fail is at the brand-building and marketing level. The Meghalaya Basin Development Authority (MBDA) has several verticals, one of which is to do with entrepreneurship. Perhaps this vertical needs to take a harder look at how to enable the women turmeric farmers to build a robust brand and to join the dots that will enable a seamless marketing strategy. I can’t imagine a politician ever trying to do any such thing for farmers, although the bulk of voters are from the farming community. Our bureaucracy has to mend this fault.
Recently, it appears that the BJP has started a farmers’ wing and is touring the state to create awareness and help the farmers form a collective. This is imperative because farmers need a voice and a strong one at that. They should be the ones deciding what policy the Government should come up with rather than someone who knows to spell the word agriculture, framing a policy at the Secretariat. But who will empower the farmers? It is time that farmers’ collectives learn to speak for themselves. One hopes the farmers of Meghalaya are watching how their counterparts elsewhere are able to create pain in the body politic.
Politics in Meghalaya has been about advancing personal goals. But it’s one thing to make deals to advance those goals and it’s another to open the door to zombie ideas (ILP). When you do that, the zombies end up eating your brains and quite literally your economy too. So enough of zany ideas and get down to real governance and turn your eyes to the people who bring food to your home.