Hekta Ngammi...syndrome: Small mind, big responsibility
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: July 20 2011 -

Students of JNIMS proceed for their daily classes

Chief Minister O Ibobi and the authority of the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences have a sadistic idea of a joke. How else does one explain the rationale of reserving two seats for faculty members at the medical institute ?

And the funny part is there is nothing innocent or funny about the joke that has just been scripted and demonstrated to the unsuspecting people of Manipur.

The soul of Dr Ambedkar must be a tormented lot for not only is such a move a reflection of the powers that be arm twisting everything to suit their needs, but it is also nothing less than rubbishing the noble thoughts that accompanied the architects of the Indian Constitution when they first thought of the reservation system to even out the fields for those section of people who for long have been deprived through the engineering of certain groups of people.

The pattern is oddly disturbing and there is definitely an air of familiarity, a sentiment that the people may have seen and experienced it before. From the earlier proposed five seats to be set aside for the faculty members, it was agreed that the reservation should be reduced to two seats only !

The reduction in the number of seats to be reserved for the faculty members definitely speaks of the political instinct coming to camouflage the basic instinct which otherwise is understood as greed and more greed.

Perhaps the only comfort lies in the fact that the attempt to camouflage the baser instinct is poorly executed and it will take something more to convince the people that the Government and the authority of JNIMS have done a favour to the people by reducing the reserved seat to two from the original projection of five seats !

Being in power for two consecutive terms has certainly gone to the head of the Congress led SPF Government and the head swollen with the false notion of power is clearly visible in the decision to set aside two seats for faculty members in JNIMS.

This is not only hilarious but also outrageous and the best part is, the JNIMS authority will probably laugh all the way to the medical seats reserved for them. Lest we forget, the boss of the JNIMS authority is the chairman of its society, the seat of which has been kept warm and cushy by none other than the Chief Minister himself.

If not for anything else then at least the SPF Government will go down in history for its innovative ideas and for testing uncharted waters. Correct us if we are wrong, but we have not heard of any Government run medical institutes implementing the reservation policy for its faculty members and it is here that the SPF Government is well set to score yet another first in front of all the country.

We can doff our hats to that ! Only those people who came up with such a brilliant idea can explain why Manipur needs to score a first in such a category and not a first in say effective governance or in maintaining its capital city or in preserving the environment. Or better still in instilling confidence in the Government.

Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Whoever came out with this gem of an observation will certainly have many followers in Manipur, led by no less than the leader of the people !

Everything points to the uncomfortable fact that the men running the affairs of the State are hell bent on living up to this observation and maybe even better it by ensuring that power also promotes inefficiency of the highest order.

It is not only a matter of merit, though this is very important, but it is also about the mentality of the people wielding the baton of decisions.

Bad decisions may be forgiven for a number of reasons, but decisions which deliberately seek to demons- trate that the people who wield the power can do anything they like is indigestible and the decision to set aside two seats at JNIMS for faculty members neatly fits into this category.

It is a classic case of "Ei Ngammi, Ei Touningba Touni."

Not only is it a question of two seats less in the open competition, but it is also about how the sense of self respect and dignity of the common people can be trampled upon so non-chalantly.

Anarchy is then what naturally follows when the sense of self respect and dignity of a people is molested and abused. This has been happening in Manipur for far too long and the disturbing part is, this has become all that more pronounced in the years that the Congress led SPF Government has been in power.

Power comes with responsibility. And responsibility does not end within the compound of one's house or within one's consti- tuency. This realisation and more importantly the putting to practice of this universal truth is what sets the leader apart from the wannabes or the statesman from the politician.

The question is whether any of the present lot, perceived to be leaders of the people, have demonstrated an inch of leadership quality in the last ten years or so of their time as Ministers and MLAs ?

Coming out with such outrageous decisions as reserving seats for the faculty members in a medical school is not leadership quality.

At best it is a personal investment for the future to keep the moolah flowing in. At worst it is the demonstration of a small heart and a smaller head told to bear big responsibilities !

Does anyone from JNIMS understand the profundity of the practice that no Judge sits on a case if it involves any of their kins or no member of the Union Public Service Commission sits in the interview room if any of their kins is to face the interview board ?