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Governance by Unreasonable: Ibobi a Non-Starter
By Amar Yumnam
It is increasingly becoming a futile exercise to comment on the governance of the State. This is more so in the case of the present Ibobi regime. In the beginning, despite all the reservations expressed by all on the capability of Ibobi, some of us saw an inner strength in him and even went on to publicly express hope and confidence on him. The inner strength seemed to be exemplified by his registering of an FIR in connection with the killing in custody and his announcement that the Disturbed Area proclamation would be withdrawn at least for a limited portion of the State.
The Issue:
Now the mask is open and in general a lack of faith in his capacity to deliver has been sustained. The Disturbed Area proclamation has not been withdrawn. The issue is not, however, this. The issue is one of credibility of Ibobi. Well, one may ask: what difference does it make whether he is edible or not? It does make a difference for he is the head of the people of the State, and in a democracy nobody counts more than him. Ibobi, for that matter everybody in the State Government, seems to need a lesson or two on credibility.
It is now accepted among social scientists, particularly among economists, that credibility is what ultimately makes the major difference between success and failure of a policy. Even a bad polity can be successful if it is credible in the sense that the people believe the Government would pursue it whatever. But credibility demands, consistency. There is an example of consistency often cited in Economics. The best way for students and teachers is when the examinations are announced and the students prepare for the examinations but the examinations are not ultimately held. This way we get the students to study while at the same time avoiding all the troubles and expenses involved in con- ducting the examinations. Wonderful, is not it? Well we have a hitch here. Such an experiment can never pay the second time.
All the subsequent announcements for examinations would not be trusted and consequently would never have the positive outcome expected of these; Ibobi is committing this mistake of inconsistency. This would be costly both for himself and for the State as a whole. A Chief Minister should be looking at two things, the next elections and the likely place in history. No Chief Minister would like to be recorded in history as inconsistent and 'untrustworthy’. Further when the State Government is passing through such troubled times, it would be an unpardonable folly to be inconsistent and thereby sink itself into further troubles.
Still Further:
The State Government has been distinguishing itself for the last quite a few years by illogical actions. One area where it has conspicuously not learnt the lesson properly is in, the area of resource mobilization. We have been continuously emphasizing that resource mobilization does not automatically mean and confined to collection of more revenues. There is no harm in trying to raise more revenue, but again this process should be based on certain logical foundations. A State Government, which has been maintaining the same figure on irrigation facilities for more, than two decades, should be ashamed of raising the revenue on land. It has hardly done anything to improve the quality of land of the State and thereby deprived itself of its legitimacy to raise land revenues.
Another current example of wastage indulged by the State government is the expenses incurred by the police to top the selling of vehicle fuels by the general public other than the authorized depots. I find such an action absolutely illogical. I would explain why the Government has failed ill its fundamental duty of making the fuels regularly available in the authorized stations. Any citizen earns her or his bread from the economic activities she/he indulges. For this one needs mobility. Mobility demands fuel. Attacking the private sellers, while the authorized depots are nonfunctional, amounts to attacking the means of livelihood of the general public. It certainly reduces the welfare of the people further. At this juncture the private sellers are rendering a service towards welfare of the people. We should also be alive to the fact that the general public demands their services.
Conclusion:
In fine, we would say once again that improving the governance itself is resource mobilization. A governance which tolerated for five days the loose ends of tripped cables right in front of the Chief Minister's bungalow, needs to mind governance first before anything else.
(Courtesy: The Sangai Express)
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