By Kartik Lokhande
Mr
Amit Shah, National President of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is
ruling at the Centre and in several states, must be appreciated for his
latest statement that rampant corruption is hampering development of
North-Eastern states. For, despite pumping in thousands of crores of
rupees in the past several decades, much has been left to be desired as
far as development in the North-Eastern states is concerned.
During
his speech at Chumkedmia Police Complex near Dimapur a couple of days
ago, Mr Shah rightly pointed out, “Developmental policies and funds
provided by the Central Government for developmental purposes do not
reach the people.” Of course, he is not the first person to have made
such a statement. Right from political leaders to surrendered militants
to retired bureaucrats to military officers to national-level policy
planners, many have spoken about the issue of rampant corruption in the
North-Eastern states and its adverse impact on development there.
However, not many of them spoke of the issue when they were in power or
in service.
The nature of corruption is indeed the same as it is in
other parts of India or the world. However, whenever the issue had been
raised with specifics, the previous Governments had been more inclined
towards pushing those under the carpets, for the fear of militants in
North-Eastern states taking advantage of this and stoking the
‘anti-India’ sentiments of local people. Thus, corruption, or, shall one
say, exposing and punishing the corrupt elements in North-Eastern
states has got a security dimension. Still, over the years, with
enhanced people-to-people contact, the people from the North-Eastern
states have developed a collective will for development, and have
started speaking up against corruption.
The corruption in these
states is mainly in the form of diversion of public fund to private
pockets. This diversion -- or, leakage of developmental funds that Mr
Shah referred to -- is effected through a complex nexus of
militant-politicians, politician-bureaucrats, contractors-politicians,
contractors-bureaucrats, contractors-militants and so on. In several
cases, crores of rupees pumped in for various projects, found way to
militants. From this fund, the militants got weapons to terrorise local
people and fuel ethnic clashes. There is favouritism too in allocation
of work. And, in the process of this siphoning of of the funds meant for
development, several local leaders including some surrendered militants
have assumed for themselves the tag of ‘neo-rich’. And, common people
of the North-East have continued waiting for development so that their
standard of life could improve.
There was, and is in certain parts,
subversion of rice, salt, kerosene, wheat etc meant for Public
Distribution System (PDS) and sale of these items at higher than PDS
prices to common people later on. In some cases, wheat landed at the
flour mills controlled by militants, and then this wheat-flour was sold
at almost double the price of wheat. Around the year 2000, this entire
‘system’ was estimated to have involved a transaction to the tune of
more than Rs 50 crore, in Assam alone. Similarly, it was estimated that
between 1992-93 and 1998-99, of a total of Rs 1,165 crore pumped in
under the head of rural development, only around Rs 400 crore was
utilised on ‘legitimate’ schemes. This may indicate just the quantum of
corruption.
There is no dearth of funds supply for the North-East,
from the end of the Government of India. However, there is problem with
proper percolation of these funds to achieve the set goal. During a
visit to a couple of North-Eastern states in the year 2012, one of the
local acquaintances had told this correspondent, “We receive hundreds of
crores of rupees for horticulture development, but only a part of it is
utilised for the stated purpose, and rest of it is shown as ‘utilised
fully’ in official reports. As a result, situation does not change much
on ground though utilisation of funds is 100 per cent.” A former MP
brought to fore another dimension of the story -- despite audit reports
pointing at corruption, there was general lack of political will in
North-Eastern states to punish the corrupt.
Sadly, there is one more
dimension to the story. In case of Arunachal Pradesh, spread across a
length, if a political leader has to reach out to people, he has to
spend a lot of money and time only on travel, as there are no cheaper
and faster means of transport. Wherever he takes halt at night, people
start asking him for monetary help. Being a peoples representative, he
has to oblige the people.
This may sound to be a story everywhere in
the country. However, in case of North-East, the problem is compounded
because of lack of adequate opportunities of gainful employment. For,
there is not much of economic activity due to lack of infrastructure
development. And, while extending monetary aid to people during almost
every visit, the political leader has to also strike an ethnic balance.
And, to fulfill people’s ‘expectations’ in this regard, he has to ‘earn’
that much money himself. How does he ‘earn’ it? Everyone from the
remotest corner of the North-Eastern state to Delhi’s power corridors
know the answer.
Of course, there has been palpable change in the
situation with rising aspirations of people of the North-East. With
increased education and exposure to other parts of India, the people of
North-East have started speaking up boldly against corruption and
favouritism. This is a good sign as it will change the situation for the
better.
What they need is support from a decisive political
leadership that will punish the corrupt and put fast-track development
on its agenda. On this count, the statement of Mr Shah definitely offers
hope for the North-East.
(April 19, 2015)
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