Recent studies
into the various welfare measures and schemes, in relation to the real stake
holders, has thrown many ugly and interesting truths to light. India being a
welfare state it endeavours to execute its various policies and programmes
through its bureaucratic machinery manning the various departments and
agencies. Funds are supposed to trickle down to the real stakeholders through
various stages from these different departments and agencies once the budget is
passed. Now the real question is, do these end up with the intended target?
Does it benefit the real stakeholders? A general conclusion drawn from random
case studies into such aspect from the state of Nagaland has been presented
below.
The people
generally tend to look at their elected representatives as people with wealth
power and authority rather than as representatives they elected for a fix term
to effectively and efficiently implement various policies and programmes for
all round development of their constituencies. That periodical elections are
held to make them responsible and accountable to the electors. Active
participation of the people in their governance is almost absent. Under such
circumstances, election becomes an arena for people with vested and selfish
motives.
The government
has at its disposal hundreds of various department and agencies to implement
its various welfare and developmental measures and schemes. Employees of the
government are paid public servants to serve the people. But employment in the
government sector is only seen as a lucrative prospect. It is seen as a
position of pride and prestige as well as for financial stability and security.
The attitude of the general public towards them is of awe and respect. They are
therefore not seen as paid servants to serve their interest answerable and
accountable.
Under such
circumstances, any funds meant for the welfare and development of the people
becomes just financial packages for those in power. All these stems from lack
of awareness or lacklustre attitude of the people towards their representatives
and government employees. The general public, the government employees and the
elected representatives are more or less disconnected and detached.
It has also
further come to light that even in those areas where there are strong political
consciousnesses among the public, except for some basic infrastructural
development like roads and electrification, all others becomes financial
bonuses for the people to supplement their modernised lifestyles. You will see
just symbolic representation of the projects rather than the materialisation of
it.
Self preservation
is the call of the day and financial incentives are only sought to pay their
way to finance their modernise lifestyles. The sorry state of misutilisation of
funds for the specified projects especially in the rural areas for economic
development has many causes and complexities. Ignorance of the masses of the
various welfare measures and schemes of the government, remoteness and
inaccessibility and market of the finished products etc are some major issues
in relation to rural areas.
But whatever the case be, the question is, can
we change it? Can sensitisation and trainings address the problems and changes
be brought about? Or do we need a working model to be able to provide the
necessary logistics, guiding and leading them as well as provide them with the
necessary structural network to thrive in a corporate environment of productive
growth?
