The latest NITI Aayog report card on multi-dimensional poverty index puts Meghalaya just above Bihar amongst the states with the highest in poverty ranking. This may come as a shock for the urban elite who have lost touch with ground realities in their state. But for large sections of the population in Meghalaya poverty is a stark reality. Only those sitting in ivory towers making policies that don’t resonate with the people who most need to be lifted out of the black hole of poverty find it hard to accept these harsh realities. It is also a NITI Aayog report that over 37 % of Meghalayans live below the poverty line. Meghalaya has been unsuccessful in poverty alleviation because it has not yet come up with an economic roadmap that its people can be part of. Add to that its population explosion. There are never enough resources to meet the needs of a growing population where the family size is still 7-10 in the villages. Poverty is replicated in every household where a teenage girl becomes pregnant and delivers a child and then continues to do so year after year without a gap. In most cases the husband is engaged in daily labour where he is unpaid if he falls sick and is unable to work. But statistics have also revealed that at least 41% of households in Meghalaya are led by single women parents. The main reason is the tenuous nature of co-habitation or living together which carries no stigma. But living together with no formal ties also means that the couple are at liberty to break up the relationship at any given time. The matrilineal society enjoins upon the mother to look after her children hence the father has no responsibility and hardly ever maintains his children after abandoning them. Family planning has completely failed and any talk of contraception is met with resistance. Women have become reproductive machines. Safe sex is a taboo subject. No wonder Meghalaya has the highest total fertility ratio (TFR) in the country.
In the current situation inflation is rising at an alarming pace. Malnutrition and under-nutrition is rampant since nutritious food is out of reach of most families. Healthcare is beyond the reach of most families because government hospitals are poorly equipped and usually have no medicines hence people don’t frequent them. Primary Health Centres and Community Health Centres in most villages are functioning in the breach hence institutional deliveries are few and far between. Most villages are still not motorable and it does not seem that they will be any time soon since the priorities are skewed. Unemployment is a huge challenge because employment generation has not been able to match the young population entering the job market. The best brains from the state are all working outside. Ironically, the number of High Net-Worth Individuals (HNI) is on the rise and they belong to the class of politicians and business persons. Obviously much of the funds for human development flow into private coffers. This is not a state secret. So who will save Meghalaya from this free fall?
