By Patricia Mukhim
Union Home Minister Amit Shah has raised a stink by calling Meghalaya the most corrupt state in the country and lambasting the NPP-led MDA Government for mismanaging an amount of Rs 1849 crores. Shah warned that the Meghalaya Energy Corporation Ltd (MeECL) , the holding company for the power generation and distribution sector, is at the verge of collapse and Meghalayans must prepare themselves for the power crisis because the 24-hour electricity promised to citizens will soon be an elusive dream. Amit Shah must have been adequately briefed by Rituraj Sinha the BJP National General Secretary who has been parked here for the past two months to oversee the Meghalaya elections.
Amit Shah said all the things that resonate with the ordinary citizens and as is the classic case with the BJP electioneering style the public were made to answer ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ to every question. In a sense therefore it was a participatory election discourse that most political parties are unused to. Election speeches are boring because they turn out to be drab monologues. Amit Shah’s speech was electrifying because he had the figures and examples as ready reckoners. One of the key issues – the non-completion of even one medical college in five years was something that Shah hammered on. And this is what the general public too is worried about since Meghalaya is short of doctors as it is. Not that a medical college guarantees a seat to our own youth since getting through NEET is a huge challenge but perhaps in time even NEET will be overcome with the right kind of coaching within Meghalaya. This is possible if we have a responsive government.
It is ironic that the priority of the MDA Government on the contrary has been to get two premium hotels the Vivanta and Marriott off the ground. Granted that hotels are important but not more important than a medical college and of course revamping primary education which is in shambles. The top priority of the incoming government should be to get the statistics of the overwhelming number of kids that are out of school. Free and compulsory education in Meghalaya is a pipe dream for many. Nothing is really free. If we really want to see how education is delivered to the poorest without putting too much financial pressure on parents then the Ramakrishna Mission model is what needs to be followed. Tribal students get free uniforms and books. The uniforms are stitched within the institution and are of very high quality. The Maharaj Secretary Ramakrishna Mission, Sohra said that students have to buy only some books. If one visits any of the villages in East Khasi Hills, one is staggered to find too many children on the streets and a good number of them not in school but shepherding cows and sheep at an age when they should be enjoying their childhood. Girl-children aged 9-10 can be seen carrying their baby brother/sister on their backs instead of playing. What sort of life is this for God’s sake!
Amit Shah reiterated that at the Primary, Secondary and Higher education level students would be encouraged to learn in their own language. I am not sure if this makes sense in an ecosystem where the world does not begin and end with Meghalaya. The sky’s the limit and English is a global language hence while the vernacular is important, English is equally important for students in Meghalaya so let the BJP not undermine the need to learn English. What the BJP needs to do is set up a Core Committee to look at the text books prescribed by the Meghalaya Board of School Education. I was aghast at what is being taught in Class V in their Environmental Science Class. The book, written by some PhD holder from Delhi speaks about a Panchayat Ghar as a place where villagers sit together and exchange views on various affairs like weather, farming methods, political situation of the country, progress of the village etc. It is also the meeting place of the village panchayat. Firstly, students learn better when the reference point is from their immediate surroundings. Meghalaya has its dorbar shnong or nokmaship. The manner in which they are constituted is not akin to the panchayats. Why should books at that level of schooling be so far removed from the daily lives of students? Aren’t there enough educated writers in Meghalaya? And should students pass out of their upper primary classes without knowing about their own social structures and institutions?
The Health Education Book mentioned ‘cheese’ as a source of protein. A child in the village translated the word cheese to ‘ka khi’ (meaning ghee). Firstly in rural hamlets people can hardly afford a square meal and have probably never seen cheese. Their only source of protein is meat which at present is unaffordable for most rural families. Even the price of lentils (dal) has shot through the roof. So why teach children to aspire for things their families can ill afford? It’s more important to have books that inform them of local vegetables, greens and nuts that are locally available. This is why having the same text books for urban and rural children too does not work. Hence a new model of education is needed for rural Meghalaya as is the model in Gujrat. Do we wonder then why a good number of rural kids drop out of school or find the learning irrelevant to their situation? The Health Education book mentioned cashew nuts, almonds, walnuts et al as sources of protein. The Class V boy translated all these nuts to ‘Soh-ot’ in Khasi. This is a small locally available sort of chestnut.
The Environmental Studies book speaks of hills and plains but the writer’s idea of hills stops at Kumaon and Garhwal. They don’t mention North East India at all. This is how distant our books are from our own points of reference. In the past we grew up not knowing who our freedom fighters were. Now this is repeated in a different format.
Amit Shah referred to the farmers who he said needed connectivity to be better able to market their products. The Union Home Minister should be taken to some of the villages of East and West Khasi Hills where farmers have to actually carry their farm products on baskets and trudge up steep hills even today. In Nongjrong for instance, the people have their orange orchards and rice fields down below in the plains near the River Umngot. In 2019, Deputy Chief Minister, Prestone Tynsong came to the village and promised to build a road to connect the agricultural fields to the transportation point. That road never saw the light of day. Even today only those farmers who can afford pick-up vans to traverse the most horrifying road can get their agricultural products up the hill. Others must carry their products physically. This is the governance deficit in Meghalaya. The farmers continue to have a raw deal. I asked a farmer at Rapleng, East Khasi Hills if he was able to get the Rs 5000 paid to farmers out of the FOCUS Scheme. He said he didn’t want to take the money (a) because it would not take him too far (b) since the money was to be transferred to his bank account, he did not qualify because he did not have a bank account and was afraid to have one. Awareness about the benefits of having a bank account is a long way away in rural Meghalaya.
Chief Minister Conrad Sangma has been putting up hoardings making some of the most vacuous claims about empowering women. These claims are perhaps being crafted by the huge numbers of consultants populating this state who are also earning very well without traversing the length and breadth of the state and who have not done a reality check. I was quite surprised that there is a consultant even for tourism. Does Meghalaya not have enough local intellectual capital? This is outrageous because the consultants come here knowing nothing and get all their information from the local people to prepare their brief for the government. This has to end! There are enough young, qualified and experienced local youth that can give a more realistic picture of what kind of tourism is suited to a particular place.
Amit Shah said that the Modi Government would provide Rs 1000 crore for 68,000 homes for the poor. The PM Awaz Yojna for homes for the poor remains largely unfulfilled even in the suburbs of Shillong. Even the PM Garib Kalyan scheme for distributing free rice to the poor is not known to many. The 39 Eklavya Model Residential schools for poor students should come up whether or not the BJP comes to poor in Meghalaya. India is a federal entity and there are constitutional provisions where states must get their share of development funds no matter which Party holds the reins at the Centre. The less we speak of free LPG stoves and cylinders the better. These are only available to urban residents. In the rural areas, people depend heavily on firewood and trees are cut during this season to last them the whole year. No wonder our forests are bald.
Mr Amit Shah should know these ground realities. BJP leaders cannot be hanging around in hotels. They need to hit the dirt road and also see what ‘off road’ driving is all about. This goes for all the so-called ‘national’ and regional parties too. It’s tiring to see the election frenzy only in and around Shillong, Tura or Jowai. And mind you these are just a few issues I have flagged. There are many more left unsaid due to space constraints.