Manipur now witnesses very parochial and socially divisive atmosphere – the shared idioms are no longer the same and the articulation of identities are increasingly fractional and factional; even Meetei and Meitei inter alia are emerging potential arena for explosion.
By Amar Yumnam
Democracy cannot simply mean periodic elections and just end with that. While democracy may mean many things according to the context we are talking about. While the core meaning stands similar, the behavioural and structural manifestations are varied. Democracy may mean one thing in the United States of America and another in Japan. At the sub-national level, democracy in the behavioural and structural manifestations cannot be the same in Mumbai and Imphal.
The significant point is that political democracy should get reflected in economic democracy; in regions where the initial economic democracy is low, it is imperative that the political democracy serves to generate and sustain towards economic democracy.
Manipur happens to be one region – socially and economically – where the imperative for generating a move towards economic democracy is very paramount. The market size of the economy of Manipur is very low, and as such it would take long for the economy to generate a self-sustaining process on its own. Further, being a federating unit, she does not have the free access to global resources. Even further, we all know that Manipur is characterised by diversity in space and ethnicity. In such circumstances, the responsibility and challenges facing the provincial government are different from those of other regions. By necessity, the local governance has no alternative but to be alive to these realities twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week and 365 days a year.
This implies that the provincial government has to have a policy for engaging the minds, spirits and labour of the people all the time. The government on its own does not have the capability to do everything in a context of diverse geographic and social reality. This being so, the necessity of a social policy for collective and shared engagement is called for. But in a very uninspiring way, Manipur has been without any policy from the governance side on social and economic components. An inauguration here and another propagandic announcement there cannot constitute in any way that the governance is following a policy.
Here someone may ask me as to what was the nature of the Congress-led governments in the past. I can state definitively here that for the Congress, the issue was not the lack of a policy but a weakness in the implementation of it. The present situation is that there is no policy.
Understandably, socially Manipur now witnesses very parochial and socially divisive atmosphere – the shared idioms are no longer the same and the articulation of identities are increasingly fractional and factional; even Meetei and Meitei inter alia are emerging potential arena for explosion. This is because a diverse population in a non-homogenous geography have been left with no policy leadership to occupy the mind and direct the energy at a higher level; an idle mind is a very dangerous thing and more so in a shrinking social scope for development.
Governance is inevitably the leading of the society to a direction of forever healthier social contract. This cannot be taken as a free lunch or like a parlour trick. The term governance as a guiding concept became popular because of the rise of developmentalism rather than just modernisation approaches. As Mark Bevir writes in his Democratic Governance (2010) the concept of governance (a)“ evokes a more pluralistic pattern of rule than does government; governance is less focused on state institutions, and more focused on the processes and interactions that tie the state to civil society;” (b) has spread because new theories of politics and public sector reforms inspired by these theories [developmental history] have led to a crisis of faith in the state”; (c) “Governance and the crisis of faith in the state make our image of representative democracy implausible’; (d) “ Policy actors have responded to the challenge of governance in ways that are constrained by the image of representative democracy and a faith in policy expertise.”
Manipur is right now experiencing these constraints. The only way to escape from this is devotion of governance mind and energy to evolve a social policy for Manipur. There is a need to dovetail the schemes of the centre to the social policy of Manipur for otherwise the outcomes would be without the expected returns, and further social fragmentation. Let me quote Thandika Mkandawire (2004) here: “Social policy is collective interventions in the economy to influence the access to and the incidence of adequate and secure livelihoods and income. As such, social policy has always played redistributive, protective and transformative or developmental roles. Although these different roles always work in tandem and synergistically, the weight given to each of these elements of social policies has varied widely across countries and, within countries, over time. In the context of development, there can be no doubt that the transformative role of social policy needs to receive greater attention than it is usually accorded in the developed countries and much more than it does in the current focus on ‘safety nets’. The leitmotif of this volume is the following problem: How can social policies be used to enhance social capacities for economic development without, in the process, eroding the intrinsic values of the social ends that policy makers purport to address? This problem of the relationship between social welfare and economic performance has a long Social policy is collective interventions in the economy to influence the access to and the incidence of adequate and secure livelihoods and income. As such, social policy has always played redistributive, protective and transformative or developmental roles. Although these different roles always work in tandem and synergistically, the weight given to each of these elements of social policies has varied widely across countries and, within countries, over time. In the context of development, there can be no doubt that the transformative role of social policy needs to receive greater attention than it is usually accorded in the developed countries and much more than it does in the current focus on ‘safety nets’. The leitmotif of this volume is the following problem: How can social policies be used to enhance social capacities for economic development without, in the process, eroding the intrinsic values of the social ends that policy makers purport to address? This problem of the relationship between social welfare and economic performance has a long pedigree, having occupied the minds of some of the luminaries of classical political economy – Smith, Turgot, Condorcet – who were acutely aware of the positive link between social welfare and economic progress..”
Some lessons of global experience may be in place such that the present governance truly endeavours to take Manipur to a transformative stage. First, poverty and inequality are the biggest challenges to social stability. Second, if the issue of inequality is not addressed in a directed way, the fruits of any developmental effort would be less efficient. Third, if the poverty and inequality issues are not addressed on a priority basis, they become increasingly difficult to address.
In fine, Manipur should not continue in a policy vacuum. All the inaugurations and pronouncements should be within a framework and converge with one another. The social signals are already emitting dark gestures.
(Amar Yumnam is Visiting Professor, CESS: Hyderabad)