Patricia Mukhim
2020 will be remembered not just for the pandemic but the hardships it has caused a large section of Indians, which includes a sizeable chunk of our own people here who live a hand to mouth existence. It is curious that despite all the interventions, poverty, malnutrition, stunting of children is on the rise. Maternal and infants deaths have spiked especially during Covid times and laid bare our decrepit health care infrastructure. One is unsure if serious interventions in the health sector are on the cards or whether the financial crunch will deprive the health sector of the much needed resources. As it is, Meghalaya allocates a bare minimum for education and health, No wonder we are neither truly educated not fully healthy.
The year that was has been most challenging for the Government of Meghalaya in terms of resources available. But even if there was no Covid, the roads in Shillong city would have shown up as being the most sub-standard. Those in Government, especially those heading the Public Works Department ought to take a round of the city to witness the extremely poor quality roads which can only be compared to those of Nagaland. These roads will now get a makeover which will be washed away by the first heavy shower because our road engineers have not been trained to make roads in areas with heavy rainfall. Actually the reason is because they have used sub-standard articles to cover up the mess underneath because the bulk of the money goes into private pockets. It’s a sad commentary on the state of Meghalaya that we have not heard of a single case of corruption taken up by the Chief Vigilance Commissioner, despite blatant misuse of public funds by the PHE and PWD Departments, among others.
And while the post of the Lok Ayukta has been created the institution is crippled by lack of resources and manpower. From all indications the government is not really keen on empowering the Lok Ayukta because it has to be made answerable for its acts of omission and commission. Hence every institution created for whistle-blowers is running at half-speed. It’s not a good idea to be fastidious and acrimonious while critiquing governance because so many factors go into the process of governing a state. Firstly it is a lot of grunt work and in any system there are those that work relentlessly and others that simply work to earn a salary. Having the best minds and skills does not necessarily guarantee one a job in the government. Those that have neither mostly get employed because that too is an accepted part of the recruitment process.
A state that is soon arriving at its 50th milestone has nothing much to show by way of achievements. Perhaps, if the Inner Line Permit is granted by the Shah of the BJP, now that the saffron party has also joined the ILP bandwagon, then there may yet be a feather in the cap of the chief of the MDA Government. But what the ILP will achieve twenty years hence could be a negative growth rate with Meghalaya becoming more dependent on the Centre and its youth having to leave the state to look for jobs outside. We can also say goodbye to any other institution building dream. Do any of the ILP states have national or international institutions for human resource development? Would the Institute for Hotel Management or IIM Shillong for instance have been set up in Nagaland or Mizoram or Arunachal Pradesh? And who actually wants the ILP? Has a survey been carried out?
In any case, Meghalaya has been a state with a huge silent majority which includes its well-heeled intellectuals and academics that will not go against populist demands. NEHU with its Economics, Political Science and Sociology Departments should have done a cost-benefit analysis of the ILP. That would have enlightened those who don’t much understand what the ILP entails. Some of NEHU’s leading lights with doctorates to boot should have given their considered opinions but that’s like asking for the moon. In any case NEHU is too embroiled in its internecine politics to be able to contribute anything of lasting value to the society. The well-paid intelligentsia with the luxury of thinking remains silent while issues are hijacked by those that have not the faintest idea on how the ILP will strangle the fledgling economy of Meghalaya.
A silent majority is a danger to democracy. For years Meghalaya has been held hostage to pressure groups. The railways are yet to enter the Khasi-Jaintia Hills. Here too no cost-benefit analysis has been carried out. We are all victims of the politics of representation. A few hundred people out of three million citizens decide what’s good or bad for us and we have to remain silent and acquiescent or pay the price. We are willy-nilly co-opted to be on the side of those who oppose every progressive idea. The reason why we have elections is because the constitutionally elected representative can be held accountable for decisions taken on behalf of the constituents. Representation implies acting on the expressed wishes of citizens. On the ILP do all the citizens of Meghalaya actually agree on it? This writer travelled extensively to interview stakeholders in tourism if they know what the ILP is all about. They do not have any idea what it implies. All they know is that tourism will be affected for sure.
The MRSSA which is a faux ILP now says that day ‘travelers’ from Guwahati to Shillong and return will not be entertained. Anyone entering Meghalaya as a tourist has to spend a minimum of two days here. What happens if a similar Act is applied by the Assam Government and people from Meghalaya needing to seek medical assistance or attend to any business in Guwahati are told they must stay back at least two days or will not be allowed to enter the state of Assam? Of course Assam is too benevolent to even think of such a quid pro quo but Meghalaya is not on the right track as far as the surveillance on Indian citizens is concerned.
Protectionism is bad because it kills competition which is the fundamental premise of every successful enterprise. The MRSSA and ILP are all instruments of protectionism. Protectionism is popular primarily for political reasons, not economic reasons. Harvard scholars call it economic suicide.
Those in favour of protectionist policies also claim they are protecting the ‘jaidbynriew.’ Can they give a detailed analysis of how that protection, which amounts to economic isolation will benefit the people of Meghalaya? This bellicose sub-nationalism is built on irrational fears of the future. The ILP and MRSSA are built on a catastrophic, apocalyptic vision of the world around us. To the uninitiated the above instruments seem like the only way out. But how can they be the way out when they are likely to choke the economy and there are no imaginative proposals from the proponents of the ILP on our economic future? Meghalaya is not and cannot survive as an island in the 21st century. It needs to engage with the world around it. The ILP on the contrary is an unrealistic policy proposal that intends to stifle that opportunity. One can understand the exhaustion and pessimism of the voters who see no change with every successive government but the pressure groups too have been there for decades. Some among them have joined politics but showed no inclination to break away from the road much trodden – the road of corruption, of selfish business interests and of hanging on to power at all costs. Sadly the voters have time and again been pushed to bear false witness against reality as they are doing now by their studied silence.
2021 has arrived but for the people of Meghalaya there is no promise of a secure future, only toxic distortions of how that future will pan out, even as more leaders are created for the next elections. And that’s the way the cookie crumbles. Meanwhile between now and the next elections we will continue to hear the over-wrought bellowing about the monster in the closet – the demonic other who is the cause of our existential identities.