If the decisions the Manipur cabinet took yesterday are any indication, the Okram Ibobi government does seem to have finally left its wont of leaving every matter of the state to fate and hope for the best.
This policy has worked in the short run but in the long run it was spelling doom for the entire state, but public memory being proverbially short and the Manipur public memory notoriously shorter, by the time the failings began to show, everybody forgot where the genesis of the problem was in the first place.
The poor recall value may have saved politicians but not the state, hence the reason for everybody to worry. But the outcome of yesterday’s cabinet meeting which was published in most local dailies today, if in earnest, may be the sign that this governance ennui is about to undergo a radical transformation. What was clearly visible is, for once there is a governmental will to be in the driver’s seat in tackling some of the worst maladies afflicting the state. In a welcome departure from past cabinet decisions, which were by and large limited within a knee jerk stimulus-response matrix, what was visible this time was a clear intent to address long term issues in a substantive way. In short, the government showed signs of something which has always been in short supply for such a long time – a political vision.
There were three major identifiable strains in the decisions yesterday. One was an attempt to revitalise the moribund government education system, the second recognition of the value of encouraging sports and the gratitude the state owes to its sportsmen and women, and the third and probably one which promises to be the most controversial, another draconian attempt to address the issue of insurgency.
Being controversial is another matter, but the point is, the government is now stepping boldly out of the dubious shadow it has been in for a long time, in a definite exercise of policy will.
We too had always been critical about the government raising a civil militia as a counter insurgency measure in the belief that this can have very serious long term adverse consequences. In many ways this is like privatising or semi-privatising armed policing. But it does seem this view is being pushed aside and civil militia is waiting to become another reality Manipur simply has to get used to, like it or not.
It is however the two other decisions aimed at sports rejuvenation and education system overhaul which deserves unqualified applause. First sports. If there is anybody who doubts the image of good health and positive thinking that sports can bring about, he or she should reflect on why there is such a hot competition amongst nations of the world to host the Olympics. More pertinently, they should try and answer why China went ahead to sink 53 billion dollars to host the last Olympic in Beijing in such a spectacular manner.
This positive image of health and strength sports can give is infectious and translates into better business and political relations with the rest of the world too as the Beijing Olympic has proven. In this direction, Manipur sports persons have done more than anybody else in giving the state a positive identity. This being the case, the cabinet decision to introduce an incentive policy of awarding government jobs to gold medal winners in national and international sporting meets is good investment if not a long overdue show of gratitude.
The other decision which aims to overhaul the school system in the state, in our opinion is nothing less than revolutionary. For decades now, government schools have ceased to make even the slightest ripple in the annual matric examination.
In fact, a good many schools have been consistently showing zero pass percentage. It is also known that there are so many government schools which boast of healthy staff and teacher strength but unfortunately only invisible ghosts for students. Under the circumstance, the government’s move to shake up its education system, including the scrapping of non performing schools or else amalgamation of others with inadequate students enrolled etc, is not only welcome, but one which is a few decades too late. Better late than never!
The government also plans to introduce some special English medium government schools. This again is practical. It is a fact that every parent who can afford it send their children to English medium private schools. This of course does not mean, we have no doubt, local languages would not be taught anymore. English, it must be recalled, is no longer the language of the Englishman alone. It is the international lingua franca.
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