Assembly sessions are getting shorter. Those in the government feel that long sessions are meaningless because attendance dwindles and things take the form of a ritual. Besides, only a few people are asking questions in the House. The majority cannot be bothered to do their homework. And asking the right questions on the budget and the implementation of various schemes ( a great many of them announced in recent times), requires a lot of study and even asking RTI questions. We wonder how urgent matters of state that hold up its development can be discussed in three days. This is a question the electorate should be asking their representatives. And even on these three days many MLAs end up not speaking. They remain strangely silent as if everything is fine with the State. But do our MLAs really think beyond their constituencies? No one really looks at the big picture. Meghalaya is really no one’s baby. Everything is reduced to the personal (my constituency) and what schemes can come to the constituency. This is a matter of great concern.
NGOs like the Meghalaya Right to Information Movement (MRTIM) have made their concerns known about the truncated Assembly sessions but the Government does not care. In a sense it is the peoples’ representatives that should be demanding more working days because this is their primary duty. It is the MLA who is elected to represent our concerns in the state assembly. Many of them have failed to fulfil that basic duty. We are heading for the next assembly elections. Should the electorate continue to vote these MLAs? Is their active attendance an issue for our voters? Or are they happy with the largesse that MLAs give them in the form of plastic chairs and tables, pots and pans? How do we build a questioning, inquisitive electorate? The passivity of voters and their propensity to sell their votes to the highest bidder is destroying the very foundations of democracy. But who will bring about electoral reforms? The Election Commission can only do so much. The major responsibility has to be taken up by responsible members of civil societies. The voter must know that a onetime gift of five thousand rupees will result in bad policies and governance because a good candidate will not buy votes from anyone. It’s a simple equation.
