The preparation for the Vision Document for the State of Meghalaya 2030 was commissioned to an outside firm because Meghalayans ostensibly has no expertise on anything. People consulted for preparing this document that are mostly serving or retired government officials and the work was way back in 2009, presented to the Government in 2011, was revised and then presented to the MDA government. In the rest of the country and the states people are already talking of Vision 2047 but as usual we are a laggard state so there are no surprises. Much of the data that this document relies on are dated 2007- 2009. Between then and now things have not become better. On the contrary Meghalaya has slipped further down in education, health and other human development indicators. About 98% of the respondents to the questionnaire are men with just a few officials and nurses being female respondents so we can well imagine how participatory, inclusive and gender-equitable the Vision of Meghalaya is. But we can be sure that a huge sum of money has been paid to the consultant firm.
Most of the consultants are young IIM/IIT and other graduates with a smattering of experience on environmental issues, tourism, marketing, social media management for government et al but with no understanding of the ground realities of Meghalaya. The Departments concerned don’t seem to mind this intrusion into their area of work because their officials don’t produce any results anyway. They draw salaries but productivity is never measured. Hence the consultants take away a lot of their work. All these departmental officials and clerks need to do is feed the consultants with information, much of those based on assumptions because government employees like to believe they know everything about the state. Schemes like FOCUS and PRIME are the brainwave of these consultants who suggest them without having tested the absorption capacity and readiness of the targeted beneficiaries.
The Vision Document 2030, is not much in circulation so is it being used by the various government departments as a reference point and to guide their interventions in the rural areas and on which to anchor their development programmes on. Evidently not many people have set eyes on this Document. The MDA Government should actually inform the public how much it has spent on paying consultants. Is there no local expertise, no intellectual or social capital in Meghalaya for government to fall back on? Or is government wary that the realities provided to it are too stark and daunting? The Vision Document speaks about private investment but does not mention problems related to this. Private investment in any sector requires land. The Meghalaya Land Transfer Act is a bugbear. Pressure groups won’t allow railways to come in. There is large scale extortion and law and order is not exactly conducive to private investments. In fact, this critical issue is never debated at election platforms.
