Back to the Grindstone (December 17)

Government employees have at last returned back to work after a crippling strike, but unfortunately, they have precious little to show for the nearly two months that they held the entire state virtually to ransom.

The accommodation the Joint Administrative Council of the AMGEO and AMTUC reached with the government was almost entirely on the government's terms, what concessions the JAC was able to obtain, if any, amounted to a few crumbs and pieces. The government's stance all along has been that it simply does not have the wherewithal to fulfill the JAC's demands - all it was prepared to concede was that House Rent Allowance and Travel Allowance would be restored after March
2002. 

We may suppose that the JAC decided to end the strike because sense had prevailed and we only wish sense had prevailed long weeks back, so that there would not have been the need to put the public to so much trouble, not to mention the heartburn and the breath as well as reams of newsprint wasted in debate on the pros and cons of the strike. As it was, with most government employees not receiving three months' salaries through the JAC's willfulness, the entire state had had to tighten its belt like never before, even during Ningol Chakouba, one of the Meitei community's most joyous festivals.

Over the months, it had become clear that the financial crisis gripping the state was of unprecedented proportions, and that drastic measures would be needed to overcome it. The government employees may have felt they were unfairly targeted when it came to the withholding of their perks and benefits, and perhaps the government could have been more even-handed about it, but the austerity measures were sure to hurt somebody or the other, and the fact remains that salaries and pensions of government employees account for the largest chunk of government expenditure. 

The government employees, we feel, would have done better to have cooperated with the government to mitigate the hurt, rather taking an obdurate stance that has done nothing more than aggravate the difficulties the public has been facing. It is to be hoped that the employees now realize that along with their rights, they have responsibilities to both the government they work under and the people they are supposed to serve.

Now that the government employees are back to work, it is time for both them and the government to turn their full attention to tackling the financial mess. The state cannot exist in a state of perpetual bankruptcy, nor can it live forever on Central doles. Without drastic and comprehensive measures, the state is doomed to an endless cycle of overdrafts and RBI bans and consequent stoppages of salaries while development works will continue to be a casualty. The government has been taking several steps to reduce expenditure, of which the withdrawal of allowances is only one. Let it now build on the victory it has achieved in its standoff with its employees in this regard and take more direct measures that cut nearer the core.

Alongside this, steps will have to be taken to raise revenue from all available sources. For one thing, steps might be taken to make collection of electricity and water dues, excise and octroi fees and the myriad other cesses levied by the government more efficient and accountable. A lot might be accomplished if the functioning of our oversized government workforce was more productivity oriented, but given that years of corruption, appeasement and flawed policies have made the work culture in the state lethargic and unproductive, that might be too much to hope for.

(Courtesy: The Imphal Free Press)

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