By Amar Yumnam
To my great pleasant surprise, I recently attended a one-day workshop on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in the capital of our land. It was surprising because MDGs have never attracted the kind of needed policy and practice attention demanded by the significance of them and the needed orientations for their achievement. These objectives were established with a contextual orientation of implementation environment for meaningful pursuits. The workshop was pleasant because it became evident that the issues of development and the costs incurred by the people because of its absence do constitute core worries of a critical section of the involved people. The major manifestations of province and ethnicity-wide articulations have so far been main political for political ends. But it became strongly salient in the recent workshop that development does constitute a yearning at the grass roots here.
While appreciating international objectives of development it is important to remember that the objectives are to be provided contextual understanding in the light of the region one lives. It is also equally important to appreciate the many political economic situations to accompany the pursuit of the objectives.
In the recent workshop it became firmly established that Manipur is a very fragile state. While interpreting the meaning of fragility the just published study of the World Bank on fragility and development – Societal Dynamics and Fragility: Engaging Societies in Responding to Fragile Situations – is an interesting read. The study emphasises that there is no single understanding of fragility. While the absence of effective performance of core functions by the state can lead to a violent atmosphere, there are additional costs of development failures to be borne by the general population. Besides in addition to the generally understood concept of fragility as a region-wide phenomenon, there could be pockets where fragility get manifested.
The recent workshop brought to light the prevalence of fragility of Manipur wholly and in pockets. A speaker spoke of the non-existence of a world where the Nupimanbis can flourish and survive with dignity. The best they can become is to open a parlour and get into oblivion sooner than later. Their life is subject to many misconceptions and oppressions by the powerful sections of the population. This is something which has been with our society for long and the societal dynamics have forgotten the interests of this group of human beings. This condition is further worsened by the absence of a state which takes care of the vulnerable groups. Another speaker raised the issue of rodents destroying crops in Manipur. Now what is really surprising is that despite periodic occurrences in many places throughout the province, there is no policy yet to address this problem. Since this problem recurs in areas of relatively more vulnerable groups of population, it establishes beyond doubt the failures of the prevailing state in core functions. Manipur is a typical case where fragility exists because of state failures and unconcern societal dynamics. This is particularly to be expected in an underdeveloped region where the capability of the collective to cater to society-wide needs is rather weak and the state fails to perform core functions.
The absence of a performing state in Manipur is further salient in the light of the emerging scenario of the Indo-Naga peace talks. While the return to peace is to be welcomed and all should try for early realisation of it, it must be in the fitness of things to remember the lessons from around the world for post-conflict developments. We need a state which is alive to the contextual realities of the province. Any peace solution would certainly have implications. What is important for the state in Manipur to display is the spirit of facilitator to the resolution and never as a major oppose. The state in Manipur should apply the individual and collective mind on how to take care of unavoidable post-resolution developments and minimise the possible negative impact. The regional government is supposed to apply its mind on this issue and is the one competent to apply the mind rather than the central government. The meaningful way to behave is not to display the character of a spoilsport but to prepare the state for every possible outcome and strengthen the collective strength of the region. This brings into focus the continued failure of the state in Manipur to evolve any development strategy attuned to the contextual realities of the province. Of course this has served the purpose of the political class to thrive in a world of all round state failures and transfer all the blames for failures to the absence of policies from the Centre. Our successive governments have ensured that no contextual development policies evolve, the state fails in core functions and the world of convenience for rent seekers continues.
What I am trying to argue is that the state in Manipur has failed in two critical aspects. One, it has failed to perform the core functions for the society-wide progress. Secondly, it has not tried to address any pocket of fragility. So the fragility is found in two layers, one in pockets and another at the provincial level.
This is exactly where the significance of new social engagement with the globally articulated development goals arises. Well, it would be impossible to achieve now the MDGs related objective in the case of Manipur by 2015. What we should take as more important is the emerging global understanding of the post-2015 period. In this period, peace-building and state-building are going to be the core framework for pursuing development objectives. The need for providing economic foundations for the progress of mankind in a world of legitimate politics and world characterised by justice are the core focus of the post-2015 global commitment. The provincial government and the state it represents should head start application of mind on these issues. The responsibility and the inevitable imperative of the government of Manipur to think outside the box and look at things from a global perspective is paramount than in the context of any other province in India.