Delhi needs to follow Gogoi’s lead

The Assam Chief Minister, cruising on his massive mandate in the recent Assembly elections, is wasting no time in getting down to business. In a flurry of activity, Tarun Gogoi has, these past days,

• instructed members of his Cabinet to formulate their priorities in a document so that he can incorporate these into his annual Budget (the formal presentation of the Budget for 2011-12 was delayed by the May elections) — as a reward, a grateful Centre has hiked Assam’s annual allocation of Plan funds by a whopping 20%;
• strongly petitioned Government of India on the reported Chinese plans to build dams on the Yarlung Tsangpo, as the Brahmaputra of Assam is known in Tibet where the great river originates.

Mr Gogoi has asked for “strategy papers,” backed up by data on financial resources required to fulfill those goals by 25 June. This must be a first of its kind, at least for the state, and is important not just to present at the Budget but also to follow up strongly so that these “strategies” are translated into implementation.

Since Mr Gogoi is serious about tackling both short term and long term issues head on, he must take the exercise two steps further if it is to have meaning in real terms: the ministers and their officials must be asked to set annual targets with bi-annual reviews of their work and their continuance in office should be dependent on their report cards. A new minister should be given two-to-three years to show delivery of results; the veterans need not be given more than one or two at the very most. Mr Gogoi has the capacity and the mandate to crack the whip with complete assurance — there is no challenge to his leadership and it is important to show that he not just means business but also shows decisively that he can do just that.

Of course, it is easier, in some ways, to sack ministers than their permanent staff, but the latter must also be made accountable through the Right to Information process which becomes the public’s access to what public servants and government leaders are doing or supposed to be doing. In addition, the depleted Opposition, without losing heart, should function as watchdogs, with the media also taking up issues without being scandal-mongers.

One would say that this is the approach that one would seek from the Opposition and media in a larger context as well, not limited to one state but to all states across India as well as Parliament. The latest battles on the Lokpal Bill and the issue of corruption shows that there is a growing demand not just for accountability and able political leadership, but also for what one would call “clean politicians” at the Parliamentary and other levels. This should gather momentum in the next years and not peter away.

On the issue of the Chinese dams on the Tsangpo, — an issue highlighted by this column — Mr Gogoi has minced no words and pulled no punches, for this would devastate the agricultural economies of Assam and Bangladesh, so dependent on floods and the floodplains as well as the alluvial soil that enriches farmlands (both regions have low dependency on pesticides and fertilizers). This is the right stand to take, for the Chinese must be reminded that while internal dam engineering is their own affair (including the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze which is proving both economically and environmentally disastrous), they have no right to make unilateral constructions on international rivers which impact the lower riparian. India and Bangladesh must make common cause on this issue.

Mr Gogoi has been extremely astute: he has positioned himself on the side of the influential anti-big dam movements in the Northeast, putting Arunachal, with its ridiculous and anti-people plans for damning every river that flows through that state, in the hot seat.

But more important, by focusing on Tibet, he has shown a national approach; after all, it was less than 50 years ago when China invaded Arunachal Pradesh, then the North Eastern Frontier Agency (NEFA), to assert its territorial claims, and Jawaharlal Nehru made a pathetic broadcast that outraged and still angers the Northeast, virtually saying goodbye: “My heart goes out to the people of Assam.”

This will not be accepted by anyone in the region and Delhi would do well to follow Mr Gogoi’s lead and tell Beijing where to get off.

 
by Sanjoy Hazarika

North By Northeast, Sunday Guardian

http://www.sunday-guardian.com/analysis/delhi-needs-to-follow-gogois-lead