SHILLONG, July 19: Embarrassed by Niti Aayog’s ranking of Meghalaya as India’s poorest state after Bihar, individuals and organisations in the state have asked the government to undertake measures to improve the economy and reduce the gap between the haves and have-nots.
Meghalaya TMC vice president, George B. Lyngdoh said the ranking was not a surprise since they had been cautioning the government for the last 5 years.
“The reality is that people don’t have access to jobs and wages. Inflation is extremely high. People will remain poor if there are no earnings and the cost of living is too expensive,” he said while adding that for the past three years, material payments under MGNREGA were stuck and the government was unable to clear the pending dues which is in excess of Rs 500 crore.
“If people’s hard earned money is being squeezed to fund government programmes, how will the people prosper?” he questioned.
Pointing out that local contractors are denied work in favour of big companies, Lyngdoh said funds coming from Delhi go back to Delhi and Guwahati through these companies and there is no benefit for local labourers and suppliers.
“What economic benefits have wage earners got from the big infra projects? These companies have only done shabby work and some have even abandoned the projects midway,” he said while castigating the government’s dependency on “heavily-paid consultants” who lack ground experience and local knowledge.
Robertjune Kharjahrin, an NGO leader said the Niti Aayog report, if based on authentic data, shows the Meghalaya government has failed its people.
“It has failed to give a proper and visionary governance which helps raise the living standard of the people. We need to wake up to choose good, visionary, and non-corrupt leaders if we do not want things to go from bad to worse,” he said.
He added that the people need to come together to ensure Meghalaya is not turned into a kakistocracy (a government by the least suitable or competent citizens of a state).
Retired police officer, M. Kharkrang said high rates of unemployment, lack of opportunities for startups who could have created a lot of employment, lack of a sustainable market for farmers’ produce, high migration from the village to the city, highly educated youth from the state who could have helped in the state’s development leaving for better pastures, and reduction in consumable purchase are tell-tale signs of a dwindling economy.
“The state will only develop if the plans and policies of the government create an opportunity for the lowest income group to increase their income and if not, it will only be a window dressing,” he said.
A prominent lawyer, P. Yobin said is ashamed that Meghalaya has been ranked the second-poorest state in the country and it only shows that the legislators have failed to alleviate poverty. “The legislators here have assets worth hundreds of crores while the state with hardly any industry continues to be poor,” he said.
A school teacher, Babukular Khongjirem termed the state’s ranking as unfortunate while Mominul Haque said the situation will not improve due to corrupt legislators.
Bihar topped the chart in terms of deprivation with 37.21% of its population poor followed by Meghalaya (31.3%), Uttar Pradesh (30.03%), Jharkhand (29.75%), and Arunachal Pradesh (22.21%).
