SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2007 Edition

 

 

AS we celebrate 60 years of independence it is necessary for our democracy’s health to make note of examples of where the State has failed. If we cannot deliver justice and create conditions in which economic growth and development are possible, we should be prepared for democracy being in serious peril. In Jharkhand, democracy is already severely compromised. Jharkhand was created out of the larger state of Bihar six years ago, so as to be a more manageable entity and deliver better governance. Quite the contrary, it is wracked by corruption, confusion and decline. In six years there have been almost as many governments. Feckless politicians have switched sides. There is no accountability and no administration to speak of. For the past several months there has been only an actingchief secretary because factions within the ruling UPA won’t decide on a candidate.

Jharkhand is blessed with enormous mineral wealth. It could be a leading industrial hub. Instead, it has the largest number of poor people in the country. In the absence of an effective administration, it fails to attract investment. It is said that Lakshmi Mittal could not proceed with this plans for a steel plant because he did not know who to talk to in Ranchi. Some Rs 60,000 crores of investments in the power sector have been lined up with various industrial groups, but nothing has materialised. As the local politics goes, Independents call the shots. They make the larger combinations dance to their whims, switching sides and extracting whimsical prices for their shifting loyalties. When the NDA was in power, the BJP, Janata Dal (U) and so on had to bow to the wishes of Independents. Now the UPA does the same. Politicians take care of each other in Jharkhand. They share in the loot and it doesn’t matter which side they are on. So, as one lot goes out and another comes in, there is no real attempt to assess and correct. Not once in the legislative assembly has there been a serious debate on the core problems of Jharkhand. In fact, politicians seem to have no time for the assembly. The assembly should meet for at least 60 days, but it has never gone beyond a sitting of 37 days. Under the UPA a new dubious record has been set: the state budget was passed in one day!

There is little concern for how public money is being spent. Many examples abound, but sample these: Bihar with 243 legislators has 625 employees in the state legislature. Jharkhand with just 81 legislators has 600 employees. Each MLA now has a fund of Rs 3 crores.If the Accountant General’s report is to be believed, in the past six years Rs 46,000 crores have evaporated in extra budgetary expenditures. Among politicians there is no attempt to check this extravagance or to even discuss it. Once the UPA took over from the NDA, it was happy to turn a blind eye to the excesses of its predecessor. The fodder scandal in which a thousand crore rupees were siphoned off from the animal husbandry department by presenting fake bills took place in Jharkhand when it was a part of Bihar. Nothing has changed since it became a separate state. If anything many such scandals are going and vast sums of public money are being drained out. Chief Minister Madhu Koda recently made two important admissions. He said entire Jharkhand is under the threat ofMaoists. He also said corruption has spread like a cancer for which there seems no cure. Koda is quite accurate. But the responsibility for such collapse rests with politicians like himself.

The legislature plays an important role in maintaining checks and balances. It keeps watch on government and ensures that it is accountable for all that it does. In Jharkhand, this role of the elected representatives of the people has been all but forgotten. The reason is that Jharkhand’s politics is not based on based on any principles. There are no goals that have been set for development. Everything boils down to personal aspirations and greed. If there are 13 ministers in the government, each regards himself as the chief minister.No one is interested in accountability. It is a government that talks big and does little. Its invitation to invest in the Jharkhand attracted proposals from the Tatas, Mittal, Jindals, Essar. But none of these has materialised. The few small companies that did set up units are preparing to pack up and leave. If the government is indecisive and corrupt, Naxalites, who hold sway over the state, also deter investors. Then, power shortages are endemic. There have been no additions to the generating capacity. The State Electricity Board was to be restructured and made more efficient. But engineers with vested interests in the board have managed to defer reforms in spite of pressure from the Centre. The board loses Rs 900 crores a year. What does the future hold for Jharkhand? Going by what we see, it can only plunge deeper into chaos and arbitrary governance. It is perhaps more important to think of the implications for the republic when constituent states collapse. Can we afford to write off chunks of our land mass in this fashion?

Harivansh is Chief Editor of Prabhat Khabar, one of eastern India’s leading Hindi dailies.

 

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