By H H Mohrmen
The year that the State reaches its golden milestone should also be the year that we look back and forward and more importantly look inwards on how the governance system in the state has fared since it was first established. We are now at the beginning of the year and we have barely passed two days of the year 2022 which is also an important year in the history of the state. More importantly it is that moment in our history when we need to ask difficult and piercing questions like how best have the different governments governed the state in the last fifty years of its existence?
This article is looking at some areas of governance which even with change of governments from time to time in the last fifty years, this particular aspect of governance has remained unchanged since the state was first established. It is telling the truth as it is that the current MDA government is no different from the previous governments as it continues with the politics of appeasement in every aspect of governance.
Politics of Appeasement
The NPP-led MDA government not only continues with the politics of appeasement in everything that it has done from proposal of development activities to appointment of chairmen, vice-chairmen and members of different committees and commissions. Similar procedures are being followed in the implementation of schemes and setting up of development projects in the different parts of the state. Decision to implement a project is not made based on data and other scientific information or evidence. In fact, in some cases not even a proper study or baseline survey was conducted to arrive at such an important decision. In many cases the announcement was made at the drop of a hat just to pacify the party’s constituent which was rubbed on the wrong side and was severely affected by the decision. The case in point is the shifting of the Jowai North Division to Shangpung and how the government without any study but in one fell swoop announced that it would construct a mini secretariat in the location. The idea is that the land which was earlier used to house the Jowai North Division will now be used for construction of a mini secretariat. No doubt this is being done to appease the brothers-in-law duo who are going to be affected by the decision.
Community Health
Services
The Health Minister has recently laid the foundation stone of a proposed Community Health Centre at Shangpung but the truth is there is already a CHC very close to Shangpung. Laskeiñ CHC is less than 20 km from Shangpung and there are few questions which the public need to ask with regards to this grand plan of the MDA government. Question number one is, isn’t it true that Laskeiñ CHC is less than five kilometers from Shangpung as the crow flies? Can the government waste its resources in having two CHCs at places which are at a very close proximity to each other and that too in the same development Block? There are Blocks which have no CHC like the Saipung Block in the East Jañtia Hills which it is also the most neglected area and it urgently needs a CHC. The next important question that the public are asking is, do we have enough doctors (as per norms) to man all the existing PHCs and CHCs in the state? Isn’t it true that the CHC at Shangpung was proposed just to pacify the NPP MLA from the area who was recently dropped by Chief Minister from the Council of Ministers?
It may also not be out of place to mention that a similar announcement was made before the 2018 election that the government of the day had decided to upgrade the Ummulong and Nartiang PHCs to CHCs. But are there any changes in the mentioned PHCs? More so when the MLA from the area was re-elected and continues as a minister in the current government too? Obviously, politicians take advantage of the fact that public memory is very short and the people were simply taken for a ride.
Higher Education
The state government can claim that it has done something in the area of higher education by starting community colleges, which of course needs to be applauded. But what exactly are these community colleges? Community colleges which the government recently provided financial support to, were colleges which were initially established by the communities at their respective locations. The government is simply providing funds to improve the function of these colleges. There were no innovations introduced by the Education Department to improve the content in the courses provided in these colleges. It is simply a case of adopting the college lock, stock and barrel just as the community had left it.
Despite the fact that the government is aware of the statistics that educated youths who have graduated from similar colleges remain largely unemployed due to absence of skills training, yet there was no innovative thinking to come up with ideas of how these colleges could address this very serious problem that the state is facing today. The government would have been able to kill two birds with one stone if it had put on its thinking cap and come up with creative ideas and worked on the strengths it already has. It should have also trained youths in these community colleges on traditional skills, like agriculture farming, livestock farming and others which would help the youth be gainfully employed when they return to their communities.
The truth is that Community Colleges were recognized just to enable the Education Minister to financially support the college in his village. This is another case in Jañtia hills which was done to placate the other NPP MLA who was dropped from the cabinet minister rank.
The government has also announced that it would start its own engineering college this year and the MDA government deserves to be appreciated for achieving this milestone. But again, the question that begs the answer is whether the college will continue to provide training on traditional engineering trades which are already very popular. We already have qualified youths in trades like civil engineering, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering in plenty. Are we going to repeat the same mistakes? Can we expect the government to introduce in this in new engineering college courses like Artificial Intelligence, Robotics Science, Data Science and other new engineering courses which are expected to be in great demand in the future?
Political Appointees
How many of those members appointed to the different Committees and Commissions in the State are not members of the ruling parties in the MDA coalition Government? All such appointments are not based on educational qualifications, merit, training or experiences but solely on the basis of political affiliation of the members. It seems the appointment is meant to accommodate the party loyalists and provide them opportunity to enjoy government pay and perks. In fact, the appointment is being treated as a reward provided by the incumbent government to the party cadres for being loyal to the party.
It will be interesting finding if an RTI is filed to find out the numbers of these political appointees and how much the Government spend to provide pays and perks to these appointees. Perhaps one should start from the question of how many advisers does the current Chief Minister have and what are the pay and perks of the incumbent advisors? Are the pay and perks justified?
Sports Development and the National Games
Despite the fact that the state has produced footballers of national repute, internationally acclaimed martial arts artist, award-winning athletes, yet the sports infrastructure in the state leaves much to be desired. The MDA Government may say that the previous government has not done much in the Department of Sports either, but the question is – what has this Government done to improve sports facilities in the last four years? Sadly, the Government’s plans to host the National Games as part of the state’s golden jubilee celebration seems to have gone for a toss, as the plans are still in disarray.
As the Government gears up to celebrate Meghalaya’s golden jubilees, the question that we need to ask is whether the current MDA Government is any better than the previous governments with regards to the politics of appeasement? There is no doubt that this Government is not only no different from the previous governments, and with regards to appeasement of the MLAs and party cadres, it has out-performed all the governments before it.
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