There are two topics below. They may seem unrelated at first glance. If you
read deeper, you will see the relation that it is the government officials who
want to hold on to their power and thereby do not empower the citizens who are
quite capable of handling some of the functions currently being handled in
Dispur or New Delhi.
Dilip Deka
====================================================
From the Sentinel
Panchayats on Paper
One of the most vital prerequisites of a healthy
democracy is the devolution of power right down to the grassroots level. Unless
there is empowerment of people down to the lowest level of the administrative
set-up, we can have democracy only on paper. What is central to the idea of
democracy, therefore, is that there has to be complete decentralization of all
subjects except a few vital ones like currency, defence, foreign relations,
immigration and so on for democracy to mean anything for the people who ought
to be at the centre of things. But even 60 years after Independence, there is a
very strong vested interest that insists on not delegating to the panchayats
even the powers that were committed to them. This is because a large section of
the political executive and the bureaucracy feel that if the State government
were to give away to the panchayats even half the powers committed to them,
they would be bereft of all power and would cease to matter to the people any
more. This is the very opposite mental attitude to
the one that believes that the state should wither away if there is good
governance. It is also militates against the concept of a good teacher who
should have no regrets about becoming redundant after he/she has inspired the
student to be an avid learner. Devolution of power to the panchayats also means
a considerable loss of income from bribes in the corridors of power.
Be that as it may, the Asom Governments reluctance to hand over power to the
panchayats constitutes a serious breach of promise. This is particularly
significant considering that the Tarun Gogoi government has always been
particularly vocal about the devolution of power to the grassroots level. This
should be all too evident from the item on Efforts to Revitalize the Rural
Infrastructure on page 10 of the Congress manifesto which says (this is a free
translation from the Assamese) that according to promises made, the party has
established three-tiered panchayat elections and involved the panchayats in the
development process and the entire responsibility for development, with 29
subjects, has been given to panchayats. In actual fact, this has not happened
because the State government is quite unwilling to part with all the powers to
panchayats. Things have come to such a pass that though the government has set
up a cabinet sub-committee under Dr Bhumidhar Barman to ensure
the devolution of powers to panchayats in respect of these 29 subjects, the
committee seems quite unwilling to expedite the devolution of power to
panchayats. In other words, the formation of the cabinet sub-committee would
seem to be no more than a charade for public consumption. And even though the
State government prepared the activity mapping under pressure from the Union
Minister for Panchayats and Rural Development, Mr Mani Shankar Aiyar, there has
been virtually no devolution of powers to panchayats so far. The choice for
Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi is obviously very clear. He can turn our State into
what looks exactly like a banana republic by keeping all political power with
his cabinet, or he can opt for a real democracy by sincerely empowering
panchayats.
No Locals for NE Trade
Lately, the Union Government has begun to bend
over backwards in promoting trade between Indias Northeast and countries like
Bangkok. In March this year, DONER Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar led a delegation
of businessmen from the Northeast to Thailand. This was reciprocated by the
Thai Commerce Minister leading two high-level delegations to India, one to
attend the 3rd Northeast Business Summit in New Delhi and another subsequently
to the Northeast. It is in the fitness of things, therefore, that a Northeast
Investment Week is being planned to begin in Bangkok on October 2, 2007. While
all this is very well, what the people of the Northeast would like to know is
why entrepreneurs of the Northeast should always be denied the trade already
being generated as a result of such exchanges in the form of air travel,
arrangement of accommodation in Bangkok etc. We know for a fact that local
travel agents had made a bid for the air travel bookings and for the
arrangements for hotel bookings in Bangkok. Those who have travelled
abroad extensively with local travel agents handling all their travel
arrangements will vouch that they provide as good service as any travel agent
in the metropolitan cities of India. The crucial question is: why should the
organizers of such meets create a vested interest which is hell-bent on denying
all opportunities to local entrepreneurs? How is it going to look for DONER and
the Union Government if someone decides to tell the Thai counterparts that
entrepreneurs of the Northeast are regarded as such outcasts that even the
travel arrangements had to be entrusted to a Kolkata firm? The next question to
follow should be: Are you planning to do business with a group of businessmen
who are considered by their own government as being quite incompetent even to
make the travel arrangements for this trip? The answers should be very edifying
indeed.
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