Manipur News

For far too often we have been told, and indeed made to believe, there is no paucity of developmental funds for the Northeast. The North Eastern Council, NEC, with its headquarters in Shillong and the relatively recent Department of North East Region, DoNER ministry in New Delhi, are supposed to be the nodal instruments by which these development funds are to be disbursed for the purpose, and whatever funds not utilised is also supposed not to lapse but go into a separate coffer of non-lapsable pool of fund to be carried over to subsequent years and remain basically a Northeast developmental fund. Although we do not have the exact figure, understandably this non-lapsable pool of NE developmental fund would have built up quite sizeably in the years that have gone by. The question is, why is this fund not translating into any tangible and visible developmental projects? There are developmental activities no doubt, but hardly at the pace of magnitude that could or should have been.

A sense of urgency is what is primarily missing in any government activities in the regard. For the last five or six years, consumers in the state have been fed the excuse that electricity is scarce in the state because transmission lines available currently are outdated and not broad enough to bring in the state’s greatly increased requirement from the Northeast power grid and that these transmission lines were being upgraded to make them fit for the purpose. What is taking the government so long to do the needful? Why is it not taking up this matter on a war footing? The injuries this acute power shortage has caused and is still causing are immediate and desperate for it is stunting the growth of the state’s fledgling private sector, the health of which nobody will doubt will prove to be the ultimate solution to the employment problem above all else, the government’s direct employment capacity being limited and already super-saturated. This is a matter which cannot wait unlike say the rail line being constructed. The rail line is important but it is a long term need. Electricity is a daily necessity for any modern economy and indeed household.

In the midst of the monsoon, we also find treated municipal piped water is still scarce. One can only imagine what the situation would be even a month after the wet season is over. Why is this issue also not being taken up on a war footing? There are many more similar cases that need urgent government attention and with it remedial action. None however is forthcoming. There are also many ongoing projects, such as the Imphal sewerage project, which have been overshooting deadlines continually. What is worse, there are also no indications whatsoever so far that this project would come to a fitting closure in the near future. Meanwhile, the citizenry are expected to keep tolerating the fiasco created by these projects in perpetual states of incompleteness. It is atrocious that the old argument that it is insurgency which is keeping all these work at bay is still sought to be the balm to keep public outrage at bay. Development must happen despite all barriers. If the government acknowledges extortion cannot be curbed then let it factor in this extraordinary cost into its project estimates so that the projects themselves do not suffer.

What is also noticeable in recent times is that the military suddenly seems to have become flushed with developmental money. It is now thinking in terms of undertaking small and mid level developmental projects as part of its civic action programmes. Is this money coming from the non-lapsable pool with the DoNER ministry? The military can now donate community halls, sports complex etc to villages. Has there been a shift in the developmental funding pattern of the Government of India? The military adamantly refuses to be brought under civil law when it come to the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, AFSPA, which incidentally is 54 years old now, but would readily be given civil responsibilities in matters of implementing civil developmental projects. Is this an amplified version of what has often been referred to quite disparagingly as “donor agenda” (meaning donors would directly or indirectly dictate the terms and directions of development) when it came to funds availed to various Non Government Organisations, NGO, especially by foreign funding agencies? Is this a way of silently militarising civil space both literally and metaphorically? India is a thriving democracy. How then is it that in backwater states like Manipur, governance seems to tend towards conditions that resemble that of a military junta.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2011/08/fuzzy-development-logic/

It is frustrating to know this will be just another voice in the wilderness. The media is supposed to be the eye and ear of the society as well as those in power, unfortunately this is a truism which relates only to civilized societies. Manipur has long ceased to be this long ago. The days when unwritten codes of civilisation determined the ways of the society are today a very distant memory. The state and its people are indeed at a very precarious crossroads. They have given up the moorings provided by tradition but are still groping to find a footing in the modern. This twilight hour, there can be no argument, is dangerous for any given society and Manipur is in the thick of it currently. What are called for are also the vital beacons to be provided by leaders. Unfortunately, this latter breed, at least those formal leaders in the country’s adopted democratic model, are abjectly incapable of leading either from the front or by example. They have on the other hand, with little exception, surrendered their moral authority to lead by the very act of their institutionalising corruption in public life. It should be no consolation that Manipur is not an exception and that corruption in public life is an Indian malaise by and large. In any case, the other states are much more entrenched in the modern economy already which has resulted in the birth of many modern institutions capable of moderating quality of life, both material and spiritual.

It would certainly be difficult to decide where the clean up process should begin. The easiest thing to recommend at this juncture then is to begin from the beginning. Helpful in this regard would be to take the cue from the timeless understanding of physiognomy (or perhaps also psychology) that the face is the index of the mind. The simplest beginning is then to do a physical clean up of the tangible mess all around. As for instance, the authorities could decree for all the best heads in the government to come together and devise a way to dispose of the wastes of Imphal and other major habitation pockets of the state. In Imphal, they are littered everywhere. The sight is oppressive, the smell is sickening, thought of it is depressing… and yet, nobody in the government ever makes a serious enough move to resolve this matter. The ordinary men and women are expected to get used to these repulsive sights and smells and accept them as part of life. Quite alarmingly, such a desensitising process has been continually happening all around and indeed, the sight of garbage and filth is no longer a day spoiler as it used to be once. As for instance, amongst the Meiteis, the sight of faeces on the road as they embark on the day’s work was once thought to be a bad omen, and may even prompt the unfortunate soul to return home, wash, freshen up and re-emerge. Not any more – his inner world has been mediated successfully to accommodate what once would have been unthinkable. The loss of that sense of inner harmony is showing up everywhere and this microcosmic turmoil is reflected faithfully in the chaotic macrocosm Manipur is today known for.

There are many other simple matters where this beginning to a cleanup process can begin. The current monsoon has washed away many roads in the state, and even in the capital Imphal. If the face is the index of the mind, this face must be made to look good. Repair them at the soonest. Let it not be said anymore that these are hard times and everybody must learn to tolerate hardship. Such compromises are what have sold the state’s morale in all these years. Moreover, these are not unavoidable hardships,  all of them being by products of corruption in the system which our leaders have allowed to stay and relished enthusiastically. It must not be presumed anymore that the ordinary people are beyond understanding of this truth. They know, this is why they are angry, maybe not overtly, but this anger shows up in the manner in which they too have begun disregarding the law in every conceivable way they can think of. Why is it that there is so much power theft by consumers? Why do ordinary people default taxes for tap municipal water? Why is there so little respect for public property in our society today? The truth is, our leaders themselves have cut huge highways through the law to have their ways and under the circumstance why would not the ordinary citizenry also begin thinking of taking the easy route of using these same highways instead of navigating the barriers of the law?

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2011/08/microcosm-in-macrocosm/