By Patricia Mukhim
There has been a lot of bad-mouthing against IAS officers serving the state. In fact, it veered on the unparliamentary to hear an MLA naming certain officers (the Kumars) as being the rulers of Meghalaya perhaps because these officers are inconvenient to their scheme of things. Later the Education Minister, Rakkam Sangma while speaking at Sngap Sing College, Mawkyrwat reiterated what the VPP leader, Ardent Basaiawmoit spouted out in the Assembly. He went a step further and asked if there is any alternative to the Kumars and Bhattacharjees today in the bureaucracy. Sangma was of course exhorting the students to excel in their studies and claim their space in the civil services.
When tribal chauvinism goes overboard its stinks. The reality is that Meghalaya is still a part of India lest some forget this fact. We may think no end of ourselves but the fact remains that it is the Indian taxpayer’s money that our government subsists on. States like Meghalaya have little revenue generation and sometimes cannot even invest a tenth of what they are supposed to do for projects funded by the Centre on a shared basis. So dependent states cannot also be talking big. We have seen how important it is for any government in Meghalaya to be with the ruling side in Delhi. It’s a fact of life we cannot get out of. Meghalaya, like all the six other states in the region, is not economically viable. It’s a state created for political expediency.
The all-India services is a reality we must accept too. The second reality is that the ‘Kumars’ who were mentioned by name in the Assembly as if they are some kind of imperfection in an otherwise perfect world, are the ones that struggle well past midnight sometimes when everyone, including the large army of local tribal officers are warmly tucked up in bed, to ensure that the broken health system that was not addressed for decades begins to be more responsive. One Kumar has worked tirelessly to make agriculture more viable for Meghalaya although he has had to struggle against political populism which pulls the other way. I once was at Mawlangbna when the water canal was inaugurated by Chief Secretary, WMS Pariat and KN Kumar was then a senior bureaucrat. Later while walking around the village, he seemed to know all the villagers. Some of the elderly women of the village showered so much affection on him. This can only happen because of a bureaucrat’s connect with the ‘grassroots.’
Similarly, when Sampath Kumar was DC, West Garo Hills, he actually revolutionised people’s ability to work through self-help groups and also helped reduce the incidence of malaria in the district. We have another officer – Swapnil Tembe who is currently the director of school education. As DC, East Garo Hills he donated his salary of two months to help renovate the schools in the district. In his present position he does something innovative which is to do a podcast with school administrators, students and teachers to find out what their vision for education is. These officers have come here to serve and they are doing just that. It is unfair to think that they do not have the best interests of our people at heart.
The idea that a tribal IAS officer from the state would work more energetically; be more honest; more people-friendly and would double the outcomes of an officer from outside the state is not borne out by any evidence-based study. So, MLAs should be more circumspect. Within the Assembly their words should carry meaning and substance. It is wrong to reduce everything to gutter politics. The problem with Meghalaya is that people put politics at the centre of their psychological, emotional and even spiritual life. This is asking too much of politics. Once politics becomes our ethnic and moral identity then it becomes impossible to compromise because compromise becomes dishonour. The Voice of Peoples’ Party (VPP) is too entrenched in a politics that sees every other party as not being pure enough; good enough and all tried and tested and found wanting. This sense of superiority can alienate rather than embrace.
Just recently, Dr Manjunatha C, Indian Forest Service (IFS), 2007 batch who was attached to the State Government and was Secretary, Animal Husbandry and Veterinary passed away very suddenly due to a heart attack. He was only 45 years of age and had a 4-month old child. Earlier Manjunatha was also looking after Environment & Forests and also the State Pollution Control Board and hence was under great stress as he was the point person having to represent the Government at the High Court in all cases related to the Department. In fact, quite a few of the senior level officers do suffer from a great deal of stress also because often they have to pander to the dictates of their political masters who live by the dictum of, “do the work now or be transferred.” It is not easy for a bureaucrat to be working with a corrupt politician because he has to live with the knowledge that he could not prevent that corruption. He also knows that administrative procedures are compromised in some cases. And should things backfire it’s the bureaucrat who will have to take the rap!
In all these years I have yet to come across a non-local civil servant who has not given his/her best to the state. From Nari Rustomji to Ms PP Trivedi they never considered their jobs any less important because they were attached to smaller states like Meghalaya. They worked tirelessly and with no stench of corruption. In fact, we should recall their services and also those who came in later such as Mr KS Kropha who were honest to the core.
It is easy to blame – blame the system, blame bureaucrats, blame the government, blame everyone but ourselves. However, verbal attacks, fair or unfair, are stock in trade of politicians and they will use that tactic to the hilt. But what of the impact of those words on bureaucrats that have been singled out? Do we expect them to be robots with no feelings and emotions? Also, it is good to remember that it is the political class that makes and implements policies. Bureaucrats are the cogs in the wheels. The problem with Meghalaya is that there are very few policies whether we talk of economics, education, transportation, dealing with hawkers et al. True the bureaucrats have to craft those policies but finally they have to be passed by the Assembly after due deliberations. And for a long time we haven’t seen a policy being discussed and debated in the Meghalaya Assembly. It is pointless therefore to blame the bureaucrats. Name one politician who in recent times came up with a white paper on any sector. There’s not a single one. Politicians can’t think long term. They live for the day and that day extends for 5 years only. All the schemes that are being dished out are essentially populist in nature. They are not intended to serve the long- term interests of the people of Meghalaya. And for this we cannot blame the bureaucracy. Take on the politicians if we dare to! To take the battle to the bureaucrats is to shoot at the wrong target.