As the panchayat polls are approaching fast, a reality check of the performance of the BJD Government in mitigating the plight of the most neglected sections so far in the State-farmers, teachers, chit fund investors- brings to light a disheartening story.
These three sections of society represent the grassroots populace and they will be prime deciding factors in the rural polls. But a ground study reveals that these sections feel most disenchanted against the ruling dispensation. For, instead of any solid actions to end their woes, the Government has either acted in piecemeal or ignored them by just paying lip-services. Consequently, no perceptible improvement has taken place in the lot of these people.
Farmers are still in the fringe with their basic grievances lying unaddressed as the Government action is short of genuine concern for them, said an activist here. He maintained that with the Government making a special Agriculture Budget, the expectation had soared high but at the end of the day, what is found is the agrarian crisis requires too higher doses of palliative what the action plan of the Government is deficient of.
The most heinous form of venting angst is farmer suicide. Even as the trend is continuing unabated, till date the Government has not admitted that they happened due to financial stress and loan burden. On the contrary, the horrendous rising suicides, which earned nationwide condemnation for the Government, were rather attributed to personal causes of the deceased farmers. The actions taken for wider access of institutional loan facilities and discourage money lending system are not 100 per cent and as a result, they still stare in the face and continue to torment the distressed farmers.
Similarly, half-hearted approaches have been found in providing irrigation, and timely distribution of seed, fertilizer, farm implements and subsidy. Most importantly, the messy procurement system has not been set right, while demand to hike MSPs of paddy and other farm produce continues to fall in the deaf ear. The State and the Centre are engaged in mudslinging over the MSP issue.
Given the multiple problems besetting the education system of the State, it would not be out of tune to say that the teachers from elementary to university level are a harried lot in Odisha. While elementary education is still to look up despite the top claim of much policy intervention through the SSA, the basic problems of teachers most of whom are working on an irregular mode are not sorted out. The Government’s quick fix measures to claim providing education to every nook and corner has fallen flat as the teachers appointed to work under measly pay are not working properly. The Government has tried to skip the Block Grant issue by repeatedly giving false assurances. So much is the distress situation in schools and colleges in rural belt that the teachers, fed up of fighting their cause democratically, have finally given up to a continuously lying and misleading Government. The historic Grant-in-Aid (GIA) policy in the State has been discontinued and the Government is virtually ‘forcing’ the teachers to work as irregular staff till their time of superannuation.
The chit fund investors, who have been duped of their hard earned money thanks to the bait of high return dangled before them by the fraud firms which grew in leaps and bounds thanks to sponsorship from political leaders to actors, are now facing a bleak prospect of getting back their deposited sums. The Government has set in motion a meandering process which is confusing and there is little hope of its ending within a few years. The commission appointed to probe the case and identify the losers is also heading to nowhere as the chief is favourably disposed to the Government under whose wings the chit firms thrived.