By Benjamin Lyngdoh
The phrase ‘let them eat cake’ signifies insensitivity and detachment from the sufferings of the common people. It indicates ignorance on the part of the rulers and the unwillingness to learn of the ground realities. Although not unanimous amongst historians, the phrase is largely attributed to Marie Antoinette around the time of the French Revolution when there was a famine in that part of Europe. Her reply to reports of bread-starved people in the country was, ‘let them eat cake.’ Since then, the phrase is used to depict a damning attitude of the government/authority towards people and the other way round, the hatred of the commoners towards those in governance. The MDA I (2018-2023) has three specific instances (apart from many others) when their response fits, ‘let them eat cake’. It is needed to remind on these as it is a norm that the past moulds the future. The intention is that MDA II would take cognizance of it and perform better this term. The specific focus is on 3 Es.
Education
When the education performance grading index (PGI) report 2021 placed Meghalaya as one of the worst states, the then Education Minister Lahkmen Rymbui dodged the matter and instead pointed towards Meghalaya’s improved performance over the period 2017-18 to 2019-20. The fact that the aggregate scores (out of 1000) were only 584 for 2017-18, 610 for 2018-19 and 649 for 2019-20 representing an increased rate of only 5.29% was totally ignored. On the important domain ‘learning outcomes and quality’, the score remained constant at 126 (out of 180) for the three years. It would have been fair to expect a concerned and worrying response from the minister. Rather, what came out was ‘let them eat cake’.
Notably, the education scenario has not improved much in the recent reports too. With the MDA II having a second go at governance, can we expect things to be better? Apart from the general observations about poor buildings, communication technologies, absentee teachers, etc, two issues require utmost and urgent attention. Firstly, the text books that are being used currently in the schools need to be revamped. The students will have to compete at the national level and the advent of CUET has enhanced the urgency of the matter. It makes sense for MBOSE to consider using NCERT text books from now on for all classes and streams of study. Any lingering concerns about lack of content on Meghalaya in NCERT books can be addressed by assigning teachers to develop such reading materials. Secondly, despite much financial investment in education, nothing much has happened on the ground. One reason for this is the lack of monitoring. The establishment of a specialised monitoring agency/commission which is free from political interference can bring about the much desired change. It will hold the stakeholders in education development responsible and accountable for any shortcomings.
Employment
In May 2021 when Meghalaya was under lockdown due to the second wave of Covid-19, Deputy CM Prestone Tynsong said that people should eat rice and vegetables instead of meat. This was in reply to the question of increased prices of eatables and large scale unemployment due to the pandemic. Since the loss of jobs had drastically reduced purchasing power, such a retort by him was downright insensitive and irresponsible. That time, the price of vegetables had sky-rocketed. The unemployment rate was high and many were surviving on credit purchases. Hence, what he said was nothing short of ‘let them eat cake’.
MDA II has an opportunity to address employment through proper planning. What is needed is to identify economic sectors with the potential to employ many with promising monetary returns. One such sector is agriculture. Around 68% of Meghalaya’s population depend on agriculture for livelihood while it contributes only 30% to the state GDP. This dichotomy in scale and returns has to be properly researched. It can be argued that it is so as the majority of the agri-produce is sold as a raw product only. For example, potatoes and tomatoes go directly from the field to the shelf. There is no value addition. It is time to look at food processing at a wider scale. Train the people to become value-addition agents for deriving better returns on the produce. The other sector is tourism. Apart from the need of a tourism development model, etc, the budget speech of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on food streets resonates greatly. It is about food which is properly made, packaged and served. Shillong city food streets and of tourist spots (take Laitlum for example) lacks hygiene and substance. If this is properly managed then the number of consumers would increase thereby providing more employment.
Empowerment
Towards the end of 2022, the MDA I (more precisely NPP) went on a freebie distribution spree by inappropriate usage of a development scheme called FOCUS. The scheme was supposed to be an intervention for producing competitive agricultural products and transform the livelihood of farmers. The aim was empowerment. On the contrary, it was used as an election freebie and as a result made the beneficiaries disadvantaged. This exercise went on for three months in almost all corners of Meghalaya. After the first few instances, there were voices of protest by society, but, to no avail. Once again MDA-I said ‘let them eat cake’.
The main element of empowerment is agency. It refers to the capability of people to decide by themselves and for themselves without depending on others. Agency can only happen in the presence of a nurturing and enabling ecosystem. The ecosystem that is needed is proper infrastructure. Instead of giving money that would last a week, it would be better to think long-term for increase of per capita income of the people. For example, in the case of both agriculture and tourism, a public-private partnership model would work very well in marketing networks. There are many enterprising marketing graduates who would jump on the opportunity.
There’s much work to be done on irrigation facilities, approach roads, quality checks, packaging help, training of workers, etc. The point being, just provide good infrastructure and see the people and the communities come together and transform. If this argument is not convincing enough, MDA II can do its own bit of research and realise how many villages have been able to develop not because of freebies but because of infrastructure. Governance has to shift from killing the spirit of enterprise and entrepreneurship towards agency and empowerment.
In the end, MDA II has a wonderful opportunity to reverse the trend from ‘let them eat cake’ to ‘let them have development. ’But, will it be sensitive and attentive to the aspirations and needs of the people? Will it be able to brush aside the claims of it being ‘high level’ due to its past performance? Would it honestly and sincerely work for the development of Meghalaya and not be swayed by ‘push and pull’ factors of favouritism, nepotism and insensitivity in public infrastructure development investments? Only time will tell.
(The writer teaches at NEHU; Email – [email protected])