By Our Reporter
Shillong: Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma on Friday said the developmental structure of Meghalaya is good enough for other states to replicate.
The Chief Minister made the comment while replying to a query on whether there is a particular state which he considered as a role model in terms of developmental activities which Meghalaya should replicate.
Dr Sangma, who was participating in an interactive session organized by NICT and The Telegraph here on Friday, said Meghalaya is trying to do away with the beneficiary system in the State and that this concept is an offshoot of the strong belief of the Government that it needs to empower people.
“When we are going to empower people, I don’t think that the concept of beneficiaries is going to empower people. If we are to empower people, we have to transform our society so that it is made up of people who are capable of being vigilant and capable of contributing towards growth,” said Dr Sangma while adding that this can happen only when partnerships are developed.
“When we build a partnership, you give due respect and dignity to your partners. Since our democracy has been designed in such a way that the citizenry of the state is given due respect and dignity through empowerment. Therefore we firmly believe that we must re – strategize our approach and the concept of always seeing the people as beneficiaries must be done away with,” Dr Sangma said.
“Maybe this is one of the things that Meghalaya is doing which can be replicated in the future by other states,” he opined.
Under the system of beneficiaries, people always have the tendency to be dependant and are unable of standing on their own feet and taking care of their own affairs. “Therefore we have designed our investment policy in such a way that every programme that is being implemented starts with the mobilization of the masses. The people are told what can be done through a partnership that is built, what is expected from the partners under such a partnership and what can be done by the Government under the same and how to proceed as partners.”
“In our democratic system, the political system itself creates a situation where there is discrimination,” said Dr Sangma while clarifying that the Government wants to do away with this kind of discrimination because only when everybody is empowered and is capable of contributing will you have sustained growth.
“When our people are not productive and are not able of contributing to growth, you will always have problems. You will have growth but then you will also always slip back down. This will lead to a situation where there is always uncertainty a division in the society besides frustration and anger which results in a loss of confidence in the system which leads to a situation where there is a threat to democracy,” he added.