Cry, the beloved country

Think innovatively, plan realistically, govern with participation

Sanjoy Hazarika Xxxx

Last year, a team of 100 enumerators in eight states of the North-East conducted a visioning exercise, focussing on the rural population, on what people wanted to see in their lives 15 years late. It reached virtually every district and over 40,000 rural households,. I discovered, as team leader, that this was the first time that anyone had come to them for their opinion on anything, especially on planning for their future. They were asked for their views on their priorities, dreams, and where they wanted to see a difference: quality and levels of health, education, governance, communications, agriculture development and rural development.

The survey clarified one thing – that basic minimum needs were yet to be met despite all the funds that had been poured into the region (a staggering estimated Rs 12,000 crore in both Plan and non-Plan projects in the past 15 years). For most households, health and education were top priorities. In addition, there were concerns about new livelihood opportunities and food security. Governance was seen as critical and received lowest marks in the survey but the interest in being involved in planning, reviewing and implementing government projects that had an impact on their lives was encouraging.

What relevance does this exercise have for the essays set forth in this magazine?

It’s simple: 60 years after Independence, barring some parts of India, most regions, especially places like the North-East, which have been chronically unstable and devastated by both natural and man-made disasters, remain cut-off from the basics of good governance and transparency through public participation, which are at the heart of responsive governments and policies.

The region is among the most complex in Asia, with over 200 ethnic groups and as many languages and dialects. Just this one characteristic makes governance under the standard administrative format developed from colonial times, extremely difficult because there is an urgent need to respond to different local conditions. Then there is the problem of insurgencies and militancies, seeking separation from India or greater rights or just recognition. There is migration, largely from Bangladesh, and cross-state movements from places such as Bihar. Large populations are on the move, creating new faultlines in traditional societies.

To complicate matters here are eight states with a population of 40 million and barely one per cent of the region’s land borders are with India. Myanmar, China and Bangladesh and even little Bhutan have longer borders with the North-East than mainland India.

We are not, for lack of space, getting into issues of insurgency, migration and other confrontations. Here the focus is on the questions of public participation and involvement in issues of governance and delivery of promises. While Arunachal Pradesh, the plains of Assam and Tripura as well as Manipur are covered by the 73rd and 74th Amendments with Panchayati Raj (PR) in the rural areas and municipal committees in the urban centres, there are special constitutional provisions for Nagaland, Meghalaya, Mizoram and the hill areas of Tripura and Assam which seek to give greater powers to local institutions.