The last few weeks have thrown up disturbing indicators. Half of the current academic year is over. The students of a number of schools in Cuttack district are still waiting for free textbooks. In order to universalise primary and secondary education, a Right to Education Act has been introduced to provide free education up to a certain level as a right of every child. The Central and State Governments are providing midday meals, free textbooks and uniforms from Class-I to VIII. The Odisha Department of School & Mass Education has, however, failed to provide free textbooks to many students in Cuttack district even though nearly half of the academic year is over. Available reports indicate that students have undergone internal assessment without receiving the textbooks. This is the scenario even after the directives of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to the School & Mass Education Department to provide the textbooks and uniforms by August-end. This indicates the mismatch between the policies and their implementation and the general apathy in the Government towards the need of the community.
We were relaxing under the thought that this year’s monsoon would be a normal one ensuring adequate productivity in agriculture. But things have turned sour. Untimely excessive rain or lack of rain brought about a distorted situation at the ground level. Suicide by farmers has also been reported even as the State Government has announced relief measures for the crop failure areas. The anticipated rosy picture has turned out to be a nightmare. While basking in the comfort of a normal crop year with productivity, we have suddenly been caught with the problems of crop failure and drought. There is an apprehension of crop loss due to drought in 15 districts covering an area of about 3.16 lakh hectare. The Government has rushed to sanction Rs 216 crore for disbursement of agriculture input subsidy to farmers towards drought aid. The funds have been sanctioned from State Disaster Relief Fund. The highest aid is of Rs 68.60 crore for Balangir district, where crop loss is reported in 1.6 lakh hectare in 14 blocks. Similarly, Rs 62 crore has been sanctioned for Bargarh, where crop loss has been reported in 88,770 hectare in 10 blocks. In Dhenkanal district, where the crop loss was reported in 24,504 hectare in eight blocks, an amount of Rs 16.66 crore has been sanctioned. Funds have also been sanctioned for 12 districts of Angul, Boudh, Deogarh, Jajpur, Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Keonjhar, Khordha, Nayagarh, Nuapada, Sambalpur and Subarnapur for distribution of input subsidy to farmers. The hopeful situation has landed us finally in a disaster situation. Suicide by farmers is likely to increase and requires attention of the Government.
Farmers still do not get the adequate price support for their produce. The prices of items of vegetables are skyrocketing during the last few days. Onion price has been increased by more than 50 per cent. The cost of items of vegetables is beyond the reach of the common man, except probably potato. But the benefit of this price hike does not flow to the farmers. It goes to the middlemen, who speculate through the fluctuating fortunes of the market. We have completed 18 years of the disaster of the Super Cyclone of 1999. Stocktaking indicates that adequate protective measures and preparedness for remedial measures are not at the adequate level. The stress on the common man of high prices of food items is definitely distressing. Ironically, the benefit of high food prices does not go to the benefit of the food producers. The middlemen still take the cream. The cooperative sector being in disarray is not able to give any support to the farming community in terms of marketing facilities.
At this juncture, the Chief Minister has directed the Secretaries, Heads of the Departments, senior district officials to undertake intensive field visits to ensure implementation of the Government schemes.
The Chief Minister has put an eight-month window for the official time to deliver the services to the people. This exercise has been on the purported presumption that the delivery of services should be completed before the next monsoon arrives.
Imploring Secretaries and other senior officials for field visits so as to ensure implementation of Government schemes, is nothing new. It is almost a ritual at the annual Collectors’ Conference. The Chief Minister holds out the proposal that he shall review the performance of the concerned departments after one month.
Amidst the scenario of natural calamities and human efforts to meet the same, emerge the cases of failure and success in implementation of the various social programmes. There is yet to be a proper dovetailing between the party activities and the Governmental developmental programmes.
The forecast of a good monsoon has been belied in so far as Odisha is concerned. Either there has been excessive rain or shortfall of rain, both leading to a disaster situation. There has not only been case of drought, but there have been reports of excess rain, waterlogging in the fields and rotting of crops or their germination leading to disastrous consequences. Nothing is predictable in the vagaries of monsoon.
Whether it was the case of Anganwadi Workers or those of Gram Rojgar Sevaks, their remunerations were hiked after prolonged agitations. In both the cases, the Government agreed that there was a justification for an upward revision. But a lot of acrimony, agitation and demonstration of popular demand had to continue over a prolonged period for what was found to be legitimate. There appears to be a mismatch between the professed leadership of the Government and the actual translation into action at the field level. The call of the Chief Minister to ensure delivery of all “people-centric” programmes of the Government before the next monsoon arrives appears to be platitudinous.
If the demands are legitimate and the programmes are people-centric, the Government should be proactive in decision-making. It does not have to make the persons go on their knees and ask for their legitimate dues through mass agitations.
All these indicate an absence of goal-oriented purposefulness which divides the society into sections and factions. The youths are not involved or blended well with the aspirations of the different sections of the society. They are still treated as a force to be utilised for political purposes and forgotten thereafter. They have to react now to the maladies of the system and ensure remedial measures for a better future for themselves. They have to form themselves into groups and convert themselves into pressure groups and opinion-makers so that they are enabled to ensure realisation of the benefits from different programmes and schemes of the Government. All that has been narrated earlier needs to be achieved through intervention of the youth power while other sections of the society should join hands in the common cause. Surely, all these concern all of us!
(The writer, a Senior Advocate, is a former All India Service officer, a former diplomat, a former editor, a former President of Orissa High Court Bar Association and a former Advocate General of Odisha. jayantdas@hotmail.com)