The best laid plans
- Imphal Times Editorial :: August 04 2016 -

The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men,
Gang aft agley,
An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,
For promis’d joy!

(The best laid schemes of Mice and Men often go awry, And leave us nothing but grief and pain, For promised joy!)-

Thus wrote Robert Burns, a Scottish national poet in his poem ‘To a Mouse’.

The poem, although written more than two centuries ago (1786), has gained greater significance especially in the background of our present social and political imbroglios threatening to overshadow the precious little progress and development that have managed to creep in, more as a result of the unceasing pace of progress percolating down to our society rather than from any proactive or earnest efforts from any quarter.

Even though the state is situated at a geopolitically disadvantaged coordinate, the aspirations and ambitions of its people are nothing short of the contemporaries from oceans across.

The ever-hopeful and naïve public of Manipur has been fed lies, half-truths and cooked up stories, perhaps much more than is humanly bearable to the point that all we can ever be sure of is to continue to hope- hope for life and a better future.

We have been hoping, and will undoubtedly continue to, for a life where allocated basic facilities are provided, for a life where one’s faiths and beliefs can be practiced without hesitation, for a life when one can keep and enjoy one’s own hard earned pleasures, for a life when those elected to administer listened and followed their conscience rather than their greed and ego, but most of all, for a Manipur when one’s concerns are listened with empathy and understanding.

It is impossible to satisfy everyone all the time, but that should not be used to explain away the increasing voices of unrest, anger, anguish and exasperation in the state.

For all practical purposes, for every step taken towards development, the state is collectively taking two steps backwards, one- from the ill-intents and opportunistic attitude from everyone connected with the projects or activities, and two- for the feeling of distrust, suspicion and alienation every single public activity stokes instead of the other way round.

For years now if not decades, we have been promised and assured everything under the sun, including the moon, and yet ground realities taught us to watch every step lest we end up getting drowned in the puddle during the monsoons or dried up in the searing summer heat.

Every single developmental projects have become a mere opportunity for personal enrichment for everybody having a say, and emphasis have shifted from ‘Development’ to “Distribution’ with cronies of the high and mighty vying for the lion’s share of every and any work, complicated in no small measure by the increasing hordes of self-proclaimed saviours of the people diving in the already confused fray.

The declining trust and confidence of the public towards the government, bureaucracy and the armed activists is but a natural and rational reaction of the people who have had enough of the promises, assurances and ideologies behind which each have their own tainted agenda.

Now, the smoke of uncertainty is thinning up and the screen can no longer hold back the uncomfortable truth. The awakened public has started looking for examples not eloquence.