 |
| ‘As of now the morale of the men in olive would be quite low considering one of their own top bosses has levelled some very derisive charges against another serving general’ |
The controversy that continues to dog former general V.K. Singh, who is in charge of the DoNER ministry, is not good news for the region. Here is a man who was once in charge of the army but is now caught tweeting and rubbishing his own former colleagues. Could a critique from him not have come more discreetly while he was in office? Would that not have been more appropriate, ethical and perhaps more effective?
As of now the morale of the men in olive would be quite low considering one of their own top bosses has levelled some very derisive charges against another serving general. The Congress party has rightly questioned the wisdom of Narendra Modi in disregarding these serious misdemeanours of Gen. Singh, not to speak of the other MP and minister Nihalchand Meghwal who is allegedly embroiled in a rape case.
Modi’s adamant stance vis-à-vis the duoreflect an obstinacy. Does this also symbolise what this government would be like? That it would pay no heed to dissent and choose to ignore all protests because it needs to go on with governance? So what does governance mean then?
Another worrying issue is that of giving undue precedence to Hindi as the lingua franca of this country. Reports emanating from the home ministry that social media communiqué from the ministry would be in Hindi are a cause of concern. While Kiren Rijiju, the minister of state for home has allayed all fears of imposition of Hindi as the official language across the board, the very fact that our Prime Minister speaks only Hindi makes it difficult for those outside the Hindi belts to grasp the nuances of his messages.
In the Northeast, only the people of Arunachal Pradesh are adept in Hindi. The rest of the six states know only a smattering of the language. While we can appreciate the fact that Hindi is spoken by large swathes of India’s population, English continues to be the lingua franca of the Northeast and of the south Indian states. Leaving aside those in the civil services for whom Hindi is compulsory learning, most of us would be left in the lurch if we suddenly had to transact all our businesses and government communication in Hindi.
The point that the BJP-led NDA should not miss is that India is a composition of several societies, communities and ethnicities and they thrive best in a plural milieu where each one enjoys their space and freedom to pursue their own causes. So long as those causes are not threat to this country and its integrity, there should be no hindrance to their pursuit.
If divisive forces are not restrained, then India’s pluralistic character would be under serious threat. We have not heard Modi say anything on this issue. Granted that the law would take its course on the matters, but that such incidents should happen a few days after the BJP government is installed is not a very happy sign. And the fact that the techie happens to be a Muslim is even more telling.
While Modi is focussed on reviving India’s shrivelling economy left behind by a profligate UPA government, and while he is trying to build ties with neighbouring countries, he cannot lose sight of internal politics. Unless the foundations of our domestic politics and policies are robust, we cannot expect to succeed abroad. We have seen how the UPA dithered both internally and externally and, therefore, gained nothing of consequence. These are important learnings which the new government cannot ignore, or do so at its own peril.
The northeastern region suffers from severe infrastructural and governance deficit. All seven states fall under the “special category” status meaning that the central government underwrites 90 per cent of our spending and we only have to generate 10 per cent to match up with the Centre’s dole.
Modi has warned the country about the hard measures that would need to be taken to tide over the economic crises. He was upfront about the fact that while there are high expectations from his government, he would necessarily have to take measures that could be painful. This sort of hard talk has never been heard in the past. Our governments felt secure in the understanding that they could go to Delhi with a begging bowl and chief ministers would proudly proclaim that they have been successful in convincing the Planning Commission to reward them with the amount projected in their budgets, sometimes with a 10 per cent increase. There was little or no monitoring as to how the funds are utilised. It was a quid-pro-quo of sorts. If there is a Congress-led government at the Centre it tended to be generous with a Congress-ruled state.
I recall Tripura chief minister Manik Sarkar ruing the budget cuts that his state suffered even though Tripura is one of the best-performing states of the Northeast with very little funds leakage. Now that we have a new government at the Centre, will it exercise greater professionalism in analysing the state budgets and be more stringent in giving out funds to state governments? Will there be greater monitoring not only to check corruption but also for better deployment of funds?
The Northeast is notorious for incomplete projects or delayed completion, leading to time and cost overruns which are ultimately met from public funds. This should not be allowed to continue. Roads and highway construction projects tend to hang fire. These have to be completed within definite timelines. In fact, the new government should call into account all state governments and find out why projects have such lengthy gestation projects.
States like Nagaland should be rapped on the knuckles. It is hard to believe that the Dimapur-Kohima road, the lifeline of the state could remain in such disrepair. It would be in public interest if an RTI was filed by Naga NGOs on how much money has been spent in the last 10 years in repair or construction of this so-called Asian Highway 2. This would inform many of us that the money meant for this road has instead gone into constructing some of the best mansions of politicians and bureaucrats in Nagaland. Such blatant loot of public money has to stop. That is what change is all about. That the underground groups in Nagaland have never said a word against the state of the roads in Nagaland just goes to show that they are very much a part of the corrupt establishment.
The Northeast needs to see some swift changes if it is to progress at the desired pace.
(The writer can be contacted at patricia17@rediffmail.com)
