The Mandate 2012 And Two Wishes

Chabungbam Amuba Singh *

Election result scene across Imphal on eve of election result day on March 06 2012 :: Pix - Victo Singh

More than two-thirds majority! (Seventy per cent, to be precise). Historic and massive mandate! That too in the face of an unprecedented and unique opposition from the powerful non-state. My friend, who was a senior Fulbright fellow, has rightly said that the mandate is a choice of the people between a failed state and a failed non-state.

Or, shall we say that the mandate is against both? On a more positive note, and viewing from a slightly different perspective, one can say that the mandate is for the incoming Government to pull out the state from the abyss (of failures) it has fallen into.

Why is Manipur dubbed as a failed state? Consider any index/indicator of human development - availability of basic amenities (electricity and drinking water), infrastructure, employment, law and order, peace and security of the people, comfort of living, cost of living etc. (keeping aside the essentials: food, shelter and healthcare) - Manipur can hardly get a positive score. Hence the 'accolade' of 'a failed state'

Yet, we are resilient; we will never give up hope, and one day we will join the band-wagon of the 'successful'. Why not? Just look at the Manipuris outside Manipur doing so well. That shows that individually, we are a talented lot . The problem is the collective failure of 'our' state.

There is, however, hope for the Manipuri society. Look at the women folk. They are warrior defenders against human rights violations by both the state and non-state actors. In Manipur, whoever wins the women's vote is the winner. Women's mandate is the people's mandate.

In all fairness, we must, therefore, stress the one thing that the women folk of Manipur had unmistakably and consistently stood against--the rampant use of grenades and bullets for exacting extortion and kidnapping for ransom, all in the name of revolution for freedom.

Too many of such incidents had occurred, and every time they happened, the women folk of the locality invariably came out with spontaneous sit-in protests braving the risk of they themselves becoming the 'target of the unscrupulous'. (It makes me gloomy to think that the so-called human rights activists, who are invariably male-dominated groups, hardly bother to raise any perceptible voice against this form of blatant violation of human rights by the pseudo-revolutionaries).

Therefore, here is my first wish vis-a-vis the 'Mandate 2012': Please liberate the people from the griping state of siege perpetrated by the unscrupulous anti-social elements onto the hapless common people. Please eradicate the menace of the 'Extortion Bombs'.

My second wish concerns with a specific state of deprivation the people of the state have been subjected to for over a couple of decades: the issue of (deprivation of) electricity and drinking water.

Here we sense a problem of perception. In my childhood days, six decades ago, electricity and pipe-water were viewed as urban luxuries and hence were not considered as essentials of civilized life. Shadow of this obsolete perception seems to be still looming large over the static minds of some people in the Government and its bureaucracy.

Otherwise, how would one explain this deplorable condition of electricity and water supply in the state even after more than half a century of planning and development? Note that even in the elite VIP colonies in the heart of the city, undrinkable pipe-water is available only through the roar of a tulu (the locally popular term for an electric pump).

To appreciate the need for urgent redemption of the state from the pathetic power situation, the Government, the Power Minister in particular, has to be in the appropriate mind-set. The perception of electricity as a mere service for domestic comfort - lighting up the nights and powering household appliances - is obsolete and has to be given up.

Instead, electricity has to be perceived as an essential commodity and as an essential ingredient for development. Today, electricity is as essential for development as water is for sustaining life. It is needed for setting up and sustaining industry of any scale (micro, mini, small, medium, large). It is needed in cottage industries also. Artisans of all kinds - blacksmiths, goldsmiths, carpenters, tailors, weavers, embroiders etc.- all need electricity to enhance their skills and make them more productive. Technicians of all trades need electricity for value-addition of their trades.

Electricity is also required in all forms of manufacturing. Without electricity, how can we even dream about changing the sorry face of industry in the state? Only a dull mind can dream of developing tourism in a state where there is no power and water. How would the state take advantage of the emerging economic connectivity made possible through India's look-east policy and border trade if it does not have the basic essentials for establishing mini-scale industries for value-addition?

Honourable Chief Minister Sir, we should have electricity at all costs. Please feel the necessity of having a robust power policy and of charting out a road map towards achieving 24-hours' power supply in the state. We also need a Power Minister who is competent enough to be able to see through the labyrinth of arithmetic jargons of the technocrats and bureaucrats and who is committed to draw up short term and long term plans for ensuring 24-hours' power supply for both domestic and industrial uses.

Much similar words can be said about the drinking water supply in the state. We need to draw up a long term sustainable plan for harvesting and supply of water in the valley and the hills.

I, for one, have not lost hope. Surely, we can find some people in the Government machinery who are committed to the welfare of the people. Or are two simple wishes too much to ask for?