Low score on the confidence graph : Eroded credibility of the State
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: April 03, 2012 -

Student bodies taking up vigil during examinations like the BSEM conducted Class X examination or the Class XII examination conducted under COHSEM, voluntary organisations cracking down on drug peddling, social organisations taking up the role of moral policemen and conducting raids at seedy restaurants with the latest being the ultimatum issued to all restaurant owners to clean up their act or face the music etc etc may be understood as the presence of a strong and influential social mechanism but on the other hand it is a clear indication of institutional collapse, which has been referred to repeatedly in this column earlier.

That it took a proscribed outfit to come out and crack down on the rampant use of unfair means and mass copying during the Class X and Class XII examination some years back says something about the extent to which the Government institutions have abdicated its responsibilities and stretch this beyond the said two examinations and examples can come pouring out.

It is obvious that accountability is something which has been confined to the dustbin of the Government institutions a long time back and with the formal institutions failing to dispense with its duties, it is but natural to see other ‘forces’ emerge to fill the void thus created.

It is the all pervading institutional collapse that has given more teeth to the understanding of a parallel Government and this may not be necessarily understood through the context of the armed outfits. Where are the Government agencies to check and monitor the functioning of roadside restaurants that have sprung up all across Imphal and its adjoining areas ?

Aren't licenses needed to set up restaurants ? Why should it be the job of moral policemen, who may come in different forms and shapes, to decide how the interiors of a restaurant should look like and how the seating arrangements should be ?

Only a couple of months back, at the height of the record breaking or record setting 121 days of economic blockade, it was the students who came out from their class rooms and went on the offensive against hoardings and check the prices of all essential commodities.

The amusing part was to see the Government following the footsteps of the students with its officials conducting surprise checks at the grocery shops in Imphal barely 24 hours later.

And now it is the turn of the All Manipur Road Transport Drivers and Motor Workers Union which has rung out the warning bell against the tardy pace of work on National Highway 37 ahead of the rainy season.

Lethargy, apathy and inertia brought about by a grandiose understanding of babudom is the foundation on which the all round institutional collapse rests. With the legally and formally instituted Government agencies wallowing in a cesspool of bloated egos and self importance and in the process abdicating their duties and responsibilities, the emergence of several power centres, each an authority unto itself, is a natural fall out.

This is when anarchy follows and the very understanding of the State gets eroded considerably and this cannot be good for any society. The numerous ‘Wakatchabas’ that appear in the State dailies is a clear pointer of where the Government institutions stand in the confidence graph of the common people.

Mr Okram Ibobi Singh is into his third consecutive stint as the Chief Minister of Manipur and while this itself is a historic feat, it will not be entirely unfair if one draws the conclusion that the Congress led SPF Government oversaw and lorded over the gradual erosion of the credibility of the State agencies.

The massive mandate that the party received in the 2007 Assembly election, far from doing justice to the universally accepted understanding of stability, instead gave birth to a culture of arrogance that reached its zenith during the 121 days of economic blockade last year as well as during the troubled days that followed the July 23 BT road incident of 2009.

The score sheet of 42 out of 60 should not translate only into numbers inside the Assembly, but should be about governance.

And one of the first steps towards this is to ensure that the continuing process of institutional collapse is reversed. Governance cannot be seen or understood sans the institutions of the Government dispensing with its duties effectively and competently.

For starters let's start with the question of why the Government agencies have so pathetically failed in keeping a tab on how the restaurants have come to be identified as seedy joints.