Development. Oh! You like it. I Like it. Everybody likes it. And above all the State needs it. But the fact is that it does not happen in a vacuum. With all the constraints and experiences in the last few decades, Manipur needs a conscious and conscientious development administration more than any other State in the country. Besides, the State happens to be the most happening one in the realm of political economy. In this context, the necessity and urgency for a committed and efficient development administration cannot be overemphasized.

In this background: In this background, it is absolutely interesting to observe what has been happening in Manipur in so far as the administration relates to the development of the State.

Until very recently there was a widespread criticism of the failure of the Government to address the development needs of the State. Not only was development not taking place, but it was more of a development collapse. The Government used to indulge in blame game of the previous Government neglecting the development needs of the State. This continued for about fifteen years after about a decade since Statehood.

The reaction of the people to this was disgust and disbelief with whatever the Government used to utter. The people realized in due course that the Government was just indulging in blame game rather than sincerely putting in efforts to address the development agenda. This was the time when the political class realized the futility of their tried methods and started looking for alternative ways of attracting the attention of the people at least for winning the elections. But the damage impact of this period was the belief created among the people that Government was not meant for fostering development.

Now we are in the second phase of the approach of the Government to development administration. This period coincides with the new vigour of the Government of India to address the long neglected issues of the region. During this period, the State administration has tried to carve a new image of willingness, prepared and committed to bring about a sea-change in the development scenario of the State. In this the centrally sponsored schemes and the centrally funded projects came in handy.

The Government soon started with some kind of a trumpet beating of taking Manipur to a new phase of development transformation, and it was as if the results were to be seen in less than a decade. Well, so unfortunately for all of us, the cat is out of the bag now.

The Hidden Design: The hidden intention and design of the Government is now in full blown exposure. Well no Government, unless it is conscious and conscientious, would like to have a critical public. So it is now clear that it has been working on how to numb the criticality of the masses.

Here we must remember that before the current phase, the public had lost their trust on the capability and willingness of the Government to deliver on the development front.

The strategy has been like this. Bombard the people with lots of attention-drawing projects purportedly meant for development. Now do not complete any of these projects and blame it on non-state agents. Couple this with inconveniences in every aspect, in every dimension and every area where the public would have a genuine interest. When the public are so confronted with inconveniences and discomforts wherever they move, work or interact, they simply would have their capacity to be critical dissipated.

This is exactly what is happening in Manipur right now. Take the roads and one million dollars can be promised to anyone who could discover a working road-section. Take the condition of the marketing places of the people, and anybody would prefer an eleventh century bazaar as seen in paintings. Take the State health service sector and everybody who could afford would run away for life. Take the education scenario, we have now more students running for outside the State than new admissions within. We have more Government schools “disappearing” each year than functioning private ones.

So now what we are experiencing today is Government and Governance collapse in every conceivable area related to development. And the failure is so tragic, deep and wide that the people have just forgotten anything related to the Government. They do not even react to the development failures and just remain silent spectators. Well the strategy of the Government has paid off, but the portents are definitely bad for the State.n.