Warped sense of timing : Disorienting culture
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: August 11 2011 -

A good spanking is what the Government and its employees need right now. Either it is the freebies collected over the years or it must be the cushy job which have softened their sense of reasoning or how else does one explain the decision to launch a cease work strike at this particular moment ?

This is taking absurdity to new heights !

On the other hand, those who come higher in the ladder of the pecking order have no business to be in office if they cannot put their mind and energy into ensuring that what is due to the employees are given on time.

The demands of the Government employees include, among other things, correcting the pay anomalies as well as the release of their arrears, which was due in June.

It is understood that the State Government has agreed to study the pay anomalies and this assurance was probably given during the now infamous cease work strike launched last year when the attention of everyone was drawn to the proposed visit of NSCN (IM) supremo Th Muivah and the decision of the State Government to put everything at its disposal to thwart the visit attempt.

This was in May and the days that followed. That the SPF Government has gained notoriety for confusing between the “yes and no” is well known and the failure to fulfil its earlier assurances to the employees is nothing but another manifestation of its character, which has been carefully crafted under the personal supervision of the first among equals.

So what is new ? Nothing.

There is nothing new or novel in the way in which Government employees under the Joint Administrative Council of AMTUC and AMGEO have decided to go ahead with the cease work strike and there is nothing unusual in the manner in which the Government has failed to release the pending arrears of the employees.

The indifference of the Government to the very assurance it gave earlier and the decision of the JAC to go ahead with the cease work strike is another way of cocking a snook at the public.

Sadar Hills is a burning issue today. From the demand to upgrade it to the status of a district, the issue today stands dangerously close to the precipice of hurtling down the abyss of a communal cauldron and it is in the midst of this crisis that the Government employees have decided to cease work !

The question of whether their demands are justified or not is something beyond the purview of this comment, but the timing reeks of a mental make up which says loud and clear that the public can go and hang themselves.

It is this attitude of “we care a damn about the public sentiments” that is unacceptable. Nowhere in the dictionary of cease work strike or agitation does it say that the employees cannot go ahead with their agitation at a latter date, or when situation takes a turn for the better.

Moreover the agitation does not have much to do with the general interest of the public. That is, if we take into consideration that it is mostly to do with the arrears of the employees as well as the pay anomalies. A case of the Only Me culture threatening to suffocate the people.

It is not for nothing that so much importance is attached to timing. Ask the lady toiling away in the kitchen preparing dinner for the family and one will get a fair idea of how the taste and texture of a dish depend on when salt or turmeric powder is added.

Ask the football star in the middle of the field and one will be told of how important timing is to jump and connect the head with the ball to send it crashing into the net.

Ask the general on the battle field and one will be told in no uncertain terms of how important timing is to the whole battle strategy. These are some of the examples that come to mind at the moment and the decision of the employees to go ahead with their cease work strike at this juncture tells the tale of how culture of freebies and having a comfortable, cushy job has crippled the power of rational thinking.

It happened last year and it is threatening to happen this year again. Tough times call for tough decision and tough action. The Government should crack the whip. This is not the time for pampering.

This is not the time for sugar coating one's word. Rather this is the time for all arms of the Government to co-operate with each other and see how the immediate crisis can be worked out.

On the other hand, the political netas and their Babus have been pussy footing things for far too long. Why does the Government wake up only when the people resort to things like cease work strike, economic blockade, total bandh or go on the rampage, burning down Government offices and goods laden trucks. There is so much that needs to be done right now.

Other than the need to exorcise the ghost of Sadar Hills the Government should be at work to tackle the escalating prices of essential commodities. Or is it a case of the price of a kilogram of potatoes hitting the Rs 40 per kg mark not reasons enough to do something ?

The public too need to come out and tell everyone to behave. For far too long, Manipur has been held hostage by the shenanigans of the political class, the Government employees, the numerous JACs and power players and perhaps this is just the right time to show these people where they belong. Stop the juvenile antics.

This is not the time for pursuing personal agendum. This is the time for all arms of the Government to work in close collaboration so that the inconvenience of the public can be brought to the minimum level. Get down to work. Manipur needs the service of each and everyone.