Populism at what cost

Meghalaya is turning 50 next January. It would be interesting for any credible institution to do a performance grading of the State to analyze its development indices. The principle yardstick for any state is human development. This would include in the main the health and general wellness indicators. The mirror for this is provided annually by the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) which collaborates with local institutions to conduct these studies. The results have been dismal in the area of infant and maternal mortalities and nutrition. This would have aggravated during the pandemic as pregnant women and lactating mothers stay away from hospitals for fear of contracting Covid. A targeted study on this would reveal that Meghalaya’s health indicators as is the case with the education grading would have dipped very low. And these two are critical areas of human development.
In 50 years, the Khasi-Jaintia region has suffered from transport bottlenecks for want of railways. Railways are the cheapest means of communication for ordinary people, particularly students and blue-collared workers who cannot afford flights. But railways have become a live issue for the Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) and their raison d’être. Their only argument against railways is that unwanted itinerants would add to the list of infiltrators. No government till date has had the spine to state upfront that the railways are a national asset and a boon for travellers and therefore they should and will be allowed to come to the state. The people of Garo Hills are more far-sighted on this score. Trains coming up to Mendipathar have been of great help to farmer-producers who wish to export their products beyond Garo Hills apart from connecting them to the rest of the country.
Another sore point that should be a dampener to the Statehood celebration is the fact that barring Arunachal Pradesh which does not have an airport because of its difficult terrain, the only other State in the entire country that does not have a functioning airport is Meghalaya. The one at Umroi works in fits and starts. Indigo which operates the Kolkata-Shillong-Kolkata flight functions when it wishes to and pulls back at the first sign of low passenger intake. Development of Umroi airport has suffered from specious arguments about not cutting hillocks, thereby preventing the needed length for the runway which prevents landing of Boeings. When the Airports Authorities of India (AI) is willing to invest in the necessary infrastructure, the State has always been on the backfoot. Our dreams of seeing a Shillong-Delhi flight taking off is unlikely to materialize any time soon. So what’s there to celebrate? Populism always wins the day in Meghalaya, not governance imperatives.