Assembly Polls 2023: The circus called governance in NPP-ruled Meghalaya

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The National People’s Party-led Meghalaya Development Alliance has governed Meghalaya for the past five years. So what are its achievements, if any? Consultants taking home hefty pay packets are hitched closely to this political wagon and they are parked here in Shillong to tutor the NPP-led MDA government. But like previous governments before it, the MDA and NPP have miserably failed in showcasing or developing an economic vision for the state.

Economy In Doldrums

Unemployment is high since there are no jobs outside the government sector. An economic vision for Meghalaya dictates that private investments in the food processing and allied sectors could have generated the much-needed investment apart from being the model for other start-ups.

Meghalaya has great potential for expanding ginger cultivation and its processing. The state is already processing, branding and successfully marketing its famous Lakadong turmeric that has a curcumin content of 7.9 per cent. But scaling production remains a hurdle successive governments are tripping over. The huge output of pineapples, oranges and ginger should have resulted in processing units. But that is not the case.

Private investment in these areas require land availability. That is Meghalaya’s biggest challenge since land belongs to the people and the Land Transfer Act, 1972, precludes alienation of land in favour of a non-tribal individual or entity.

So this puts paid to industry, and even green sectors like IT which are the only means to create employment outside the government sector. Though the Conrad Sangma ministry has not tapped private investors in its five-year tenure, it has, quite ironically, depended on loans from ADB, World Bank, etc to fund schemes.

Social Sector Crisis

Forget achievements, this government has presided over the near collapse of primary school education: the NITI Aayog places Meghalaya just above Bihar on this score. The state is a laggard in terms of data availability. A visit to Meghalaya’s villages will reveal that a huge chunk of children who should be in primary school and high school have dropped out after the two-year COVID lockdown.

Children, mainly boys, are sent by their parents to tend to cows and goats. How can any government have the temerity to make any claims of achievements when things on the ground are pathetic? The government claims to have inaugurated two new five-star hotels, one of which has taken 34 years to complete. But are these priorities? What about the incomplete medical colleges? Are these not more important in a state with very poor healthcare facilities?

Sops, But To What End? 

Take the farmers’ scheme intended to trigger a revolution by way of farmers coming together to form Farmers’ Producers Groups. The NPP has turned it into a political gimmick. The intent is to empower farmers to decide the price of their produce and get out of the autocratic controls of middlemen who come to the farm gate and squeeze the prices of farm products.

Ginger sells at Rs 50/kg at the farm gate but costs Rs 200 a kg in the market. So this reform was important. Funds from the FOCUS (Farmers Collectivisation for Upscaling Production and Marketing Systems) scheme was distributed six months before the elections at Rs 5,000 a farmer. Without any handholding and training on forming cooperatives, how could individual farmers suddenly come together and start doing business?

But such questions were neither asked nor answered. Farmers took the Rs 5,000 but one does not hear of a single farmers’ collective in the entire state. This despite the Conrad Sangma government allocating a staggering Rs 200 crore for this scheme.

All Hype, No Substance

Another scheme the NPP-led government takes credit for is PRIME (Promotion and Incubation of Market Driven Enterprises). The scheme sounded good and might have benefitted a few individuals that already have the training and entrepreneurial skills but there are too few of such young people in the state.

For many who have not been trained to keep their books of accounts and read balance sheets, PRIME will again be a one-time windfall that could fall apart sooner than later. A corpus of Rs 125 crore was set aside for the scheme but now the sole aim seems to be to score brownie points in the elections.

To understand topsy-turvy development, consider this: Reporters visiting the interiors of Garo Hills have come across villages that have never had electricity since Independence and yet their homes have been fitted with smart meters and they get bills despite not having power. It might sound like a joke but it is the reality for large swathes of rural Meghalaya.

Borders: Progress, Then A Setback

There is a view that this is the first government that has taken the border disputes resolution to the next level. This was also because the whole process was overseen by Union Home Minister Amit Shah and the MoA (Memorandum of Agreement) was inked in March last year. Of the 12 areas of dispute 36.79 square kilometres (sq kms) were taken up for settlement in the first phase, Assam would get full control of 18.46 sq km and Meghalaya of 18.33 sq km.

The second phase slated for November last year was soured by the Mukroh incident where Assam Police shot dead five Meghalaya villagers and injured several others. Assam Police termed those shot timber smugglers, when they were actually farmers returning hurriedly from their rice fields after hearing gunshots. The shots had been fired at a truck that was carrying timber from the state forest claimed by Assam.

But as far as the villagers of Mukroh are concerned the entire stretch of forest traditionally belonged to them. However, since people have short memories you wonder if that November 22 killings, which brought the Cherry Blossom Festival and a much publicised Literature Festival to an abrupt halt, would have any bearing on the elections.

The Non-Tribal “Others”

Although the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) is part of the NPP-led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) government, its MLAs had to veto the passage of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in a resolution passed by the state assembly. The irony here is that the NPP MP from Tura, Agatha Sangma, voted for the CAA in Lok Sabha.

Meghalaya is a state where it is easy to nudge at people’s heartstrings with songs, especially one with an emotional appeal. This often means appealing to their basest emotions of love for the motherland, and how the candidate would give his/her all to ensure that this land would never go into the hands of the “alien”. This is a common reference to Bangladeshi migrants, but which often is a brush to paint all non-tribals with.

Since the communal frenzy of 1979 when non-tribals here were attacked on the slogan that they were illegal migrants, the non-tribal voters who mainly live within the urban hub of Shillong have voted candidates that guarantee their safety and security. The non-tribal voters live precariously and it takes only a small spark to fan the flames of communal fury in Meghalaya. Alas! The non-tribals find themselves short-sold time and again with no action taken against those who threaten them.

BJP-NPP Redux Or TMC Surprise?

Elections in Meghalaya are a lot of fanfare and those who expect change are idealistic. With all the muck-raking that BJP has indulged in against its partner – the NPP, the fact is that the two are likely to form the next government too unless the TMC throws up a major surprise. But with 15-16 seats at most, the TMC may find it hard to cobble up a coalition even if the Congress and UDP were to join it.

The BJP and NPP will ultimately have the deciding power. But again, anything is possible in the politics of Meghalaya. We cannot forget that in 1978 a government was formed by a draw of lots! Has this happened anywhere else in the country?

Patricia Mukhim is Editor, The Shillong Times, and author of the book "Waiting for an Equal World". Views are personal and do not represent the stand of this publication.