Time is a most crucial input in any economy’s endeavour to move forward. This is the reason why all innovations are fundamentally aimed at shortening the time required for a productive work.

Though the importance of time has been appreciated since time immemorial, it has never been as high as it is today. With any new technology getting obsolete before undergoing a full product cycle, and with the internet making the knowledge growth ever faster, a society like Manipur’s just cannot afford cranky wastage of time.

Immediate impulse: My immediate impulse to think over how we are allocating our time and how we are articulating our priorities comes from two recent episodes. This week has witnessed two interesting events – one was the head of the people “supervising” the flow of phumdis down the Ithai Barrage; and the other was the highway hijack of a minister by an ordinary (in shorts and T shirt) army officer.

The head of the people of the State (I mean the Chief Minister) is the most important person in a democracy at the State level. His time cannot be easily wasted. While we have no qualms with whatever personal way he spends his personal time, we have every reason to closely monitor his spending of official time.

Whenever the head of the people spends a minute on anything, it amounts to spending one minute times the total population of the State. In other words, whenever he devotes one man-hour of his time to anything, it amounts to devoting two and a half million (twenty-five lakh) man-hours on it.

This is the reason why the head of people would be seen mainly in very important national and other significant events. If he attends to an official function, it implies the national significance of the happening.

Phumdi flowing as national event: It was with such significance we attach to the responsibility of the head of the people that we watched the media reporting with videos and photographs of him and a few other elected leaders witnessing the flowing of phumdis down the stream. Now immediately this makes us wonder as to how this has become a national event as to make the head of people to be present in person.

The other impulse for the present write up is the incident involving a minister and an ordinary army officer. While the way the army presented himself was plain stupid, the response of the minister was just childish.

But what really disturbs is the way this incident has cost the State in terms of time. The head of the people, some ministers, head of administration, head of police organisation and head of the army here had to jointly sit together to deliberate on the issue. So the total time cost of this incident has run into more than three million man-hours.

Rational when: The head of people spending time watching the flow of phumdis would be right only when it were a national event, which it could never be.

It may be that the persons and departments concerned were so incompetent and untrustworthy that the head of the people had to personally “supervise” to see to it that it really happens. Even if it were so, it ultimately reflects on the ability of the head of the people to get works done from his officials.

Coming to the other incident, the arrogance of the army and their view of the public as disposable animals are daily happenings for the common man. The only difference this time is the casualty turning out to be a minister of the local government.

But the way the minister personally responded to the stupidity of the army equally reflects on the childishness of the minister. Even more disturbing is the head of the people mobilising all the potent forces of the State to talk to the chief commander of the army in the State.

Was our head of people so weak and diffident that he needed support from all around to speak to the army? Even the issues raised, as reported in the media, in the meeting are quite unwarranted and demeaning. A head of the people in a democracy has to have the capability of making anybody accountable. If it is otherwise, well, we really need to ponder much more than we have ever done about the political economy of the State.

Issue of priorities: What I am fundamentally arguing is that time is of the essence, and the State today faces some very critical issues which cannot wait; we simply do not have time to waste on witnessing the flow of phumdis and mobilising the entire government machinery to counter an ordinary army officer.

I would like to harp again on what I have been saying repeatedly. The issue of development of the mountains in the State is one critical area demanding the utmost attention and articulation. The State has all along been treating the mountains as just rural areas in all its development interventions.

The reality is quite different – the mountains in the State are neither rural nor urban. We have not so far tried to comprehend and articulate the mountain economy of the State and have been blindly applying rural development interventions in these areas.

We are not sure if the government of the land has any commitment, competence and coordination within to bring any tangible development in the State. The example in Imphal is quite discouraging.

Imphal simultaneously is a political, commercial and historical capital. One important portion of it (the Paona Bazar) has been made unworthy of human entry for the last four years or so.

Now instead of this situation getting improved, the other important part (the Thangal Bazar) has also been made unworthy of human entry; Imphal city has been made homogeneous in its dirt and stink. To be fair, the coverage of this scenario is fast expanding in all directions.

Well: Well ultimately it is up to the leaders of the State on how they wish to utilise their time, but our plea is to at least devote some effort to articulate on the critical issues plaguing the land. Their manner of spending time now decides our future.