Benjamin Maikho
While we are striving & praying on the threshold of unification under a common administration, are we forgetting to swallow the bitter pills of hard work for good future ? What belong to us no one will take it away. Remember when we were small sometime our parents forced us to swallow bitter pills to get over of fever. You frown while swallowing but after sometime it cure you from the sickness.
Let us introspect the famous ‘Aesop Golden Goose Fable’. A farmer once discovered his Goose delivered a peculiar egg. On close examination, he found that it was indeed a golden egg. Overjoyed over the new fortune, he checked out for few days and each day was the same. He became rich overnight. Suddenly he hit upon a nice idea that he could not wait for another day and wanted to kill the Goose and take the entire booty. When he cut open the Goose, to his dismay nothing was left. Let us draw some practical lessons from this fable for the good of our Society.
All NE States are literally dependent on Central Aids with no industrial development taking place. This barring a few private industries that are attracted by tax concessions and holiday. In Nagaland about 50 % and more revenue comes from Lottery. Other States also receive a huge chunk, especially Meghalaya and Arunachal have even gone online. Everyone knows how many people are employed by lottery industry which is nothing but gambling and selling dreams. It encourages people to dream and get rich overnight without doing anything . But how much does it adds to productivity and wealth creation of the society? Over the years funds have been sent from Delhi for development but Infrastructure growth & expansion have not taken place esp. in Manipur? No nation has progressed without industrial development but Infrastructure has to precede development.
By Infrastructure I mean Road, Railways, Electricity,Telephone,Irrigation & Water Supply etc. If all these infrastructures are put in place properly, development on its own will take place. Currently the internal road connectivity within Manipur is pathetic. Barring NH- 39 there is no proper road worth to talk about. Without proper road & transport facilities the agricultural produce cannot be marketed on economy of scale.
The passenger bus does on an average of 70 kms a day in interior villages, so also the trucks. Due to bad roads and tough terrain the vehicle guzzle double fuel, waste people time and also shell out fare three times or more. Imagine for travel in rail upto 250 kms the fare in ordinary second class is Rs.73, whereas a bus journey of 80 kms in Manipur & Nagaland is around Rs.70 - 80. It makes trading or selling of agricultural produce unviable & also wastes lots of time in traveling.
The water supply is not in place. It is a basic human need and also required for any industry. Electricity is required for running machinery but now, it is even insufficient for domestic consumptions. The load shedding is over 10 hours in a day in Manipur. The MSEB finds helplessness due to non payment of bills and reportedly owe Rs 120 crores to power generating companies & proposing to implement Electricity Act which empowers due recovery and punish theft. The situation in Nagaland is much better because the Village Authorities are involved in power supply and payment of bills. But people also must realize that to get amenity one has to pay. All villages are yet to connect by telephone. But in some Manipur villages even many existing telephones are either not working or disconnected due to non payment of bills. Irrigation canals and dams practically nil are required for bringing more barren land under cultivation. Rail travel the most subsidized travel is the cheapest means to travel and also for carrying goods.
The topography of the land is the excuse for the Railways for not building Railways but one should not forget how Konkan Railways was built, at what cost, and how the terrain is. Most importantly, let us note how the Konkan Railways has changed the economy of Konkan which was once a backward in inaccessible area. One can travel the whole of Europe in train with Euro Rail Pass. The Diphu – Karong Rail route has been shifted to Western Manipur. No blue Print exists for connectivity beyond Dimapur in Nagaland. The NH – 39 from Dimapur to Moreh cut right through Nagaland & Manipur but not in good shape wherever it falls under PWD. The NH- 53 is not really functional for now. Consequent to these bottlenecks the macro– economy does not improve. The neighboring Myanmar is equally undeveloped like Nagaland & Manipur.
When the South Asia economy was booming in 1990’s esp. Thailand, we could not benefit from it due to non opening of border and the infrastructure bottleneck within us. Now the ‘Look East’ vision of PM is showing some ray of hope but we have to wait and see. There are so many internal problems within us other than infrastructure. Imagine from Dimapur, to go to Thailand by Rajdhani type Train, it would not take more than 24 hours but one has to go reverse to Guwahati or Kolkatta to catch a flight.
If with so much of problems there are bus & train running between Punjab, Delhi and Lahore, why can’t bus also run between Dimapur and Bankok ? Is this not a case of political artificial barrier in the era of Globalization? Our Governments and responsible Govt Servants choose only begging strategy from Delhi & Over Draft from RBI and can’t think of anything else. And after they get most moneys seems spent on salary and administration. Some moneys pumped on infrastructure development does not create results due lack of good governance, accountability, inspection and supervision? In short no asker and no teller. Consequent to this syndrome we remain backward?
Let us adopt three approaches which will help to build the infrastructure & empower people economically which in turn will raise standard of life: One, the CMs & State Cabinets should rise above begging bowl from Delhi syndrome and start talking about Business. They should start building infrastructure on war path. Ask for more allocation of funds but not spend on salary and establishment. Watch how CMs in other States like Buddhhadeb Bhattacharya, Narendra Modi, and Nitish Kumar are doing.
They are marketing their states to people in the World to invest. In our case we cannot expect our CMs to do the same because the infrastructure is not in place. Let us take Tourism, which with least infrastructure can change the economy of Nagaland & Manipur. But we cannot expect tourist to come to a strategic place other than states capital like Senapati without even a proper public toilet to answer nature’s call.The situation is not better with other towns also.
For remedy of all these dismal state, there should be strict tender norms with time bound completion for executing infrastructure projects. If the quality specified is not adhered to, the contractor should be taken to task. There should be accountability, incentive for timely completion and penalty for late completion. This is how the thousands of flyovers in Delhi, Chennai and Mumbai were built in few years and changed the face of transportation in these Cities.
Secondly, the Contractors should be more matured, professional and responsible while executing the projects. Profits should be reasonably made but quality has to be maintained after all he/ she also have to use the facilities.
Now let us come to moral of the story. Putting the infrastructure in place is like the farmer’s goose laying golden egg daily. Slowly and gradually without direct Govt help people will get economic empowerment themselves and raise income and standards of life. Even the work culture & ethics will raise. Reason is, with infrastructure fully in place, life will become easier: with good roads travel will be cheaper and save time, sick can reach hospital faster, farmers can sell their produce faster with better price, with telephone communication is easier and distance killed. Even education which is the highest cost due to large size of family will come down because children can stay at home and attend schools for longer distance instead of locating near the School or College.
With regular power supply people can run at least small scale & cottage industries. The produce can be easily marketed at better price. Raw materials can be soured easily. With Irrigation Canals, new arable lands will be brought under cultivation and add to more harvest. The benefit is endless. Non execution of Infrastructure project is same like the farmer killing the golden goose. He cut open to find everything was gone. The money given to build a road but actually not built properly but just dug up the earth, spread the soil around and drawing the bill is like the farmer cut opening the Goose to find that no golden goose inside. Because the opportunity cost of road already sanctioned but road not made is not made. So building Infrastructure as mentioned above is the harbinger and mother of all developments.
And third, the people who are going to be beneficiaries of Infrastructure where ever it is should know their civil rights and liberties. If the Govt, the Officials and Contractors are entering to unholy nexus and don’t execute the projects properly or encash the bill without executing, people should ensure that they are taken to task on war path. This can be done by getting detail information on tender specifications or schemes from the Office concerned through designated Information Officer under Right to Information Act passed recently. When there is deviation from the specifications compliant against the persons concerned may be lodged to the Appropriate Authorities or file PIL in the Court against them and ensure that they are taken to task.
The Central Govt also should ensure that moneys sanctioned are put to proper use. The States Government should be more responsible and accountable. All stakeholders must think of new perspective, which is development of infrastructure for what is ours is ours and no one will take away. At times it may hurt the high profitability of a few individuals initially but may be good for society both in short term & long term. The bitter Pill first and later on reap the harvest.
Let us not kill the Golden Goose. Let thousands of Golden Geese live in our place.
(The writer is originally from Senapati now working in Delhi & a Social thinker)
