While individuals make New Year resolutions even if those are more broken than observed, what has never been witnessed is a political party resolving to do better. Perhaps this comes from the assumption that every political party is on the right track and does not need course correction. It is this smugness that prevents political parties from taking stock of their performance, more so if they are in the government. In fact. What used to be called in Hindi a chintan-baithak or a soul searching exercise is much needed for political parties so that they honestly review their performance and check whether they have been able to deliver on their promises as per their election manifesto. It is this lack of monitoring from the public which encourages politicians to disregard their lapses and to dare return to people every five years to solicit votes.
Some politicians have in fact learnt the trade of keeping their seats intact every five years. They have perhaps engaged researchers to study the profile of their voters and in areas with a large non-tribal presence they have learnt how to control their minds and to act as the protector from the occasional strife where non-tribals become unnecessary targets. Politicians are wily people and know what the weaknesses and strengths of their voters are. Those seeking votes from constituencies with larger number of poor households know how to keep their vote banks intact by giving out doles from time to time. This dependency syndrome is what assures victory. Such voters who have no idea of the issues, never read the manifesto and are too poor to ask questions actually make the bulk of our voters and politicians would rather have more such voters than the enlightened types that will ask uncomfortable questions and seek accountability from their elected representatives. It does not look as if this trend will change any time soon since the number of very poor households in Meghalaya at last count stood at 37%. That was some years ago. There are no indications to show that these poor people have been specially assisted by any scheme to come out of the dark hole of poverty. On the contrary, poverty appears to be on the upswing with school drop-outs on the upswing due to parents being too impoverished and therefore unable to meet the education expenses of their children.
If the present MDA Government does not take stock of the economic condition of the state and comes up with a series of measures for employment generation, more young people are going to take drugs out of desperation. Already about one tenth of the populace which is also at its most productive age is on drugs and therefore out of school and colleges. Drug rehabilitation is a long and tedious process involving behavioural change. In fact, several of those on rehabilitation backslide and get back to substance abuse. The journey is time-taking and fraught. Whether the State is seriously considering opening up rehab centres in all districts is the moot question. The MDA Government needs to prioritise its actions. A business as usual attitude will no longer be acceptable. Its only a matter of time when people start asking the right questions.
