By Avner Pariat
Nostalgia kicked in today and I remembered how just over 10 years ago one of the first consultancy firms was brought to Meghalaya – Mott MacDonald – vouched for by a then unelected Jemino Mawthoh who was the spearhead of the Synjuk Ki Seng Samla Shnong and was thus the perfect spokesperson for the group. I had just returned to Shillong and remembered a meeting he had chaired where Mott MacDonald gave us a blueprint of what needed to be done to solve the waste management crisis that Shillong was facing back then. The report was handed over to the then government; it went through due process but was subsequently forgotten like every single document processed by the government. Jemino Mawthoh ended up winning his election. The matter was closed and Mott MacDonald disappeared into the shadows.
Since then, we have had possibly hundreds of stakeholder meetings. Since then, every single person in the government has continuously been talking about waste management. I emphasize on the word – TALKING. This has also included vocal citizens like Patricia Mukhim who has been writing about this issue for a long time, and who has been attending numerous stakeholder meetings too for a very long time herself. I am wondering if we are missing the point here. After all this time, is it not safe to say that the meetings have been pointless. And additionally, I would actually argue that the meetings have been one of the biggest problems themselves. The costume of Democracy that such meetings put on has served one purpose only – to allow frustrated citizens to vent out their exasperation every few months and thus alleviate the pressure that is building up within society. The meetings and the soothing tea and snacks accompanying them pacify the stakeholders for a while but if we actually review them no actuals, no tangibles are ever outlined.
If I were running a waste and sanitation initiative, I would first look at the basics. How much money is to be allocated and which agency will fund me? What Health Insurance coverage must I get for those collecting the garbage? What sort of cleaning equipment do I get and how much would it cost me? All these vital questions are never raised at the aforementioned stakeholder meetings. They instead always devolve into shaming contests about Public Indifference and the onus is always shifted onto Individual Responsibility. I don’t know how people can be such Reaganites/Thatcherites/ Friedmanites. Why do they love blaming other people for all the wrongs of the world! Don’t they realise that this serves the government agenda? After all, if the thoughtless, brutish and callous individuals are to be blamed, then government can shrug off much of its own responsibility in the matter. The essential investments can be forgone for the much cheaper and much less useful Awareness component. (Please allow me to digress and rant a bit here – Awareness is a load of horse manure, it is anti-people and a complete waste of time and money!) After all, if the only thing that is seen as a problem is the Lack of Awareness, then government need not invest in the garbage bins, incinerators, shredders, compactors and other capital goods. Money might definitely be an issue for a cash strapped state like ours but if the targets are tangible, then we can at least sit and plan how to get that investment.
I’m interested in investing in this thing and I know others who are interested as well but it has to be clear and serious. What support will I get if I invest money, time and effort in this thing? I ask this of the CM, CS, and the other functionaries. We keep hearing about how Waste is Wealth. Show us how. How will we do this? Enough talk, enough meetings. We want to work. We are ready to work.
When RJ Nicky goes around asking people who is to be blamed for road side dumping, the answer is very simple. He is to be blamed! And so is everyone who attends these pointless Stakeholder Meetings. Because we have not learned the lessons of the past decade. We refuse to accept that we live in a Capitalist System that is inextricably linked with Unnecessary Consumption. When people go around telling other people not to pollute, they should actually be telling them not to consume so much but that is hardly addressed because to say that would be to throw a wrench in the engine and that is not something good for many businesses, so we shut up. We should in effect be “strategically” banning things such as small plastic packets, small plastic bottles while ensuring cheap natural options. I use the word “strategic” in order to differentiate my plans from those of Ampareen Lyngdoh’s unplanned blanket ban on plastic carry-bags, from a few years ago, which was a complete failure.
We should be increasing the tax on the terrible gutka and tobacco products which destroy lives and the environment. We should be investing in more bins and trash cans so people do not dump along the roadside or into the rivers. Instead, we tell people to put the delicious, sugary, melted mass-produced Capitalist chocolate wrappers into their pant pockets. How barbaric and uncouth! Let us not punish the people but instead, make their choices easier. If there is a trash bin around, I believe, they will do the right thing. And if they happen to burn down the plastic bins, then buy durable steel ones. What is so difficult to imagine in any of this? Why must all trash cans be removed because of a few incidents? If someone got murdered in PB, would the authorities ban people from going there? Of course not. Let us look at the general rule and not allow a few exceptions to determine Policy.
Capitalism has created these banes of our existence and it will have to solve them. Let us acknowledge that we live in a Capitalist society, not some Tribal Utopia of Tirot Syiem or Pa Togan. Let us also stop trying to change people suddenly by beating them into a bloody compliant pulp. Slowly nudging them into compliance has been shown to be far more effective and efficient. Remember that all the great buildings of London used to have a huge problem with people pissing on them. There too – until about 100 years ago – the authorities were all puritanical prudes who wanted to imprison everyone who dared to piss in public. They did not succeed, they failed miserably in fact. Only when some smart people came along and suggested public toilets did the smell of piss and puke subside in London city. Here too, let us think smartly and stop WASTING TIME ON THESE PSUEDO DEMOCRATIC STAKEHOLDER MEETINGS. Otherwise, another decade will go by without results. I don’t think any of us want that.
This is not to say that Individual Responsibility is not important but I am arguing that it is only half of the problem, not the entirety of it. Generating awareness among the people can be one of the solutions, not the only one. Let us be calculating and actually achieve the hype of Wealth from Waste. That should be the core incentive that will ensure an observable shift in our state’s cleanliness and sanitation.
Also, I believe the government needs to support people like Jeff Kynjing and others who have been doing this work for years while struggling financially. They are heroes who need to be paid adequately for their work.
Also I congratulate the Water Resources Department, Urban Affairs etc for trying to start a rudimentary sewage treatment plant along the Wah Umkhrah and its tributaries. It’s high time!