Home >> Articles >> Belling the cat for Manipur

By any stretch of the basic tenets of democracy, it is only fair that Manipur should have been declared a failed state as it has failed to function since long as a Govt of the people, by the people and for the people and delivered results in terms of effective governance. Semblance of governmental functioning that we see in and around Imphal and the district headquarters is, at best, catering to the needs and interests of a few select group of people who have ready access to corridors of power. For the vast majority, government is looked upon in awe as some kind of institution which is overloaded with muscle power, money power, terror power etc., so much so Manipur has been hogging limelight in the media for all the wrong reasons. People have been left high and dry, in fact, starving of governance that is caring and compassionate, a governance that provides relief and succour to people in need and pain. Yes all this, while, the entire exercise of the Govt has been geared towards information nay disinformation overdrive on how much they have done and achieved in order to bring about economic development. One wonders why so much of information overdrive when economic development, if any, would exist on the ground and, therefore, would speak for itself. It is only apt to remind ourselves of 'empty/hollow gong producing ear-deafening sound to the exclusion of all other sounds. Lest we be accused of spreading canard against the govt., it will be appropriate to scan through some of their flagship programme/schemes launched and implemented in the state during the last decade or so and update ourselves with the real state of affairs.

The roads in all the five hill districts are in deplorable condition. Forget about state highways, district and intra-district road connectivities, the deplorable condition of national highway (NH 39) (except for small stretch in the valley) which incidentally is the main lifeline for Manipur speaks volume of extreme insensitivity and callousness of the Govt. to the needs and sufferings of the people. It is hereby clarified that money spent on construction and maintenance of national highway is reimbursed 100% to the state Govt. by the Central Govt. It defies logic or even common sense why should the N.H. be kept in this wretched condition when the entire expenses on the construction and upkeep of the N.H. would be fully reimbursed to the State Govt. Is it a case of the State Govt. foregoing the central grants for the national highway out of sheer inertia? Or is it that the State Govt. is actually receiving the grants on the basis of fake accounts and work reports but the grants so received are diverted and utilized elsewhere? On both counts they owe it to the people that the Govt. must bare themselves and come clean with fully substantiated facts and figures on what has been done and how have the funds been utilized? At long last, good sense has prevailed prompting the Govt. of Manipur to hand over the NH in Manipur sector to the BRO who would henceforth be responsible for maintenance of the N.H. However, it is for Manipur Govt. as the main stakeholder to ensure that BRO/GREF does good work for the latter has also been found wanting in areas/states where there is slackness in vigilance on the part of the stakeholders.

The five hill districts which account for more than 80% of the geographical size of Manipur state do not have inter-district road connectivities even after 60 years of independence. Despite having received grants running into hundreds of crores under PMGSY year after year specifically for providing all-weather rural road connectivities, no road worth the name exists anywhere in any district. A retired army officer who has had a stint in the hills of Manipur in the early 1980s, aptly remarked that conditions of the roads he saw for himself in 2009 is worse than what was then in the 1980s. Almost the entire thrust of PMGSY is on rural road connectivities and the programme has been operational non-stop since the year 2000-01. It is not as though the grants are given to the State Govt. unconditionally and that the state Govt can spend the money freely the way they like. There are, in fact, stringent guidelines based on which grants are released and schemes executed/implemented. Grants are released in instalment subject to furnishing of utilization certificates and satisfactory implementation report from the concerned department of the State Govt. This is a matter of great interest that the state Govt. of Manipur has never failed to get the grants under PMGSY for reason of nonutilisation of earlier year's grants and non-implementation of approved schemes. The obvious question then is, where are the funds going to and which are the roads constructed and where?

True, it is for the grant-controlling ministry at the centre to satisfy themselves regarding veracity of the certification and reports on programme implementation they get from the State Govt. The grant-controlling ministry at the centre is of-course empowered to enforce the guidelines in order to ensure proper implementation of the schemes. But in almost all cases, for whatever reason best known to them, the concerned ministry at the Centre accepts the certification and reports at their face value and releases the grants as a matter of routine. The tragedy is, facts and figures shown on records and reports as spent and implemented as per guidelines and specifications are, however, not borne out by realities on the ground. No doubt, the blue-prints, guidelines etc. of any such development programme are master piece produced by the best brains but the saddest part is they remain master piece on paper with absolutely no trace in terms of tangible results on the ground. Added to it is the fact that the state PWD (Public Works Department) gets a major chunk of the state budget allocation every year for undertaking major/minor works of all kinds. Perhaps, the track records of their performance over the years would be impressive if we go by their departmental records, but the acid test of the efficacy of their existence and their performance would be the footprints of their works which unfortunately are not traceable in most of the cases.

The above reality is perhaps the most important reason why people particularly the youth have become disenchanted and cynical as they find most of their leaders (politicians, ministers, bureaucrats etc.) who otherwise should have been in the forefront administering public funds equitably, justly and objectively and dispensing justice within, bounds of laws, rules and regulations, prescribed procedures etc. have proved themselves past masters at fudging and manipulation. In public perception, for reason of having been let down time and again by their leaders (who call themselves public servants/Govt. servants), all developmental programme camouflaged with lofty objectives (pro people, pro poor) are only means to enlarge the 'booty of their leaders. Their clean and sleek talks do not carry any conviction as the public have routinely experienced and seen the ever widening gap between intentions and actions. The fact of the matter is even before the programme is launched, the conclusions or the end results are already scripted and so no wonder we end up in a situation wherein as the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi said 'only Re.1 out of Rs. 10 allocated to the poor reaches them' and his son Rahul Gandhi, just before 2009 Parliamentary election said 'only 10 paisa out of Rs. 10 allocated to the poor reaches them'. What a down hill slide just in a matter of 20/25 years and at this rate, it will take another 10/15 years to hit the bottomless pit with no hope for recovery. What else can explain a very popular practice that Manipur has invented called' 'flying bills' which is synonymous with scheming off the entire fund allocated for approved work with no work done. Now the plain and simple question confronting all of us particularly those of you charged with the responsibility of public governance is 'why should this be so'?