Of overdraft and pending salary : Back to the Future
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: April 04, 2012 -

Obviously there is no eccentric genius in our midst to take us back to the past in a Time Machine, but trust our policy framers to let the past haunt us and bring along with it terms which had disappeared from the pages of the newspapers for some years.

Overdraft is a term which became synonymous with the MSCP led United Front Government in the latter part of the 90s and accompanying this term like a Siamese twin was ‘Unpaid Salaries’ of Government employees for months on end.

Back then, when the troika of W Nipamacha, Dr L Chandramani and Th Chaoba lorded over the financial mess in the State, overdraft and unpaid or pending salaries of Government employees entered the lexicon of everyone, from the man manning a shop in the commercial areas of Imphal to the woman in the hills who had to come to Imphal to sell her wares, to the top ranking Government officials and its impact on the whole State was seen in the absence of any development works being taken up because the funds under the State Plan had to be diverted to meet the salaries of the Government employees.

The impact was felt on all spheres of life.

Business remained in the doldrums with no financial transactions taking place, all the shops at the commercial areas of Imphal looked more like ghost towns as there were just no buyers, a ban on fresh recruitment in the Government Departments had to be enforced to curb expenditures, Government offices, especially the implementing Departments such as the Public Works Department stayed dormant as no work could be sanctioned due to paucity of funds, the Reserve Bank of India had to issue strict instructions to the State Government from time to time and this was not surprising given the poor resources of the State.

Fast forward by ten years or so and Manipur today stands dangerously close on the brink of yet another financial crisis.

The script runs somewhat along the same line. If the financial crisis during the time of the United Front Government was attributed to the implementation of the 5th Pay Commission, a move that was then thought to be a populist measure, then one factor that has been pointed out as the immediate cause for the financial crisis looming ahead is the adoption of the 6th Pay Commission.

There will be arguments for and against this but this is besides the point. The important point to note is that Manipur depends heavily on the Centre for financial sops and while a friendly Government at Delhi may be more inclined to bail the State out, it would be foolish to nonchalantly write off the likely outcome of the Parliamentary election slated in 2014.

And with the anti-incumbency factor always playing a big role in elections across the country and with scams after scams tumbling out of the closet of the UPA Government, there is no guarantee that the honeymoon session that the State Government has enjoyed with Delhi in the last ten years will not come to an end.

A few days back, the Chief Minister talked about resource mobilisation and while it remains to be seen how the Government plans to go about with what the first among equals had stated, this is one area which the State Government should concentrate upon. At the last count, the State Government withdrew Rs 700 crores from the bank before the closure of the last financial year and by all account, this means that there is not a penny left with the State exchequer.

As things stand today, most of the money withdrawn will go to meet the salaries of the Government employees, which in turn will dent the development projects being taken up. This was what Manipur witnessed during the days of the United Front Government and there is no guarantee that the same scenario will not be repeated.

It is an onerous task ahead no doubt, but this is something which was not totally unexpected. Trips to Delhi with the proverbial begging bowl comes to mind, but then again this is something which our political leaders have done with panache down the years.

It may sound alarmist but it would not harm if the people gird up for the challenging days ahead.