One fine morning, I came across a man known to me. I wanted to know where he was going. He said he was going to repair the punctured tube of his bicycle, adding that he wished the tube and tyre too had been gifted like the bicycle by the Government so that he never bothered for the problem.
For a moment, I could not make out his statement, but soon I understood that he was grateful that the Government had given his college going daughter the bicycle and he would have been more grateful if the tubes and tyres were available for free till the bicycle lasted. Further, it did not take much time for me to dawn upon a bigger truth: the expectation level of the parasitic people of the State on a gift-making Government.
There is no denying that gift-making has been one of chief sources of strength of the BJD Government that has been ruling in the State for record four terms despite the fact that the old and most endemic problems of the State lie unaddressed and the State not being able to shed its age-old tags of backwardness and poverty. While the Odias were poor and backward for long years, now, they have become idle and dole-dependant. For, they have been enjoying so many facilities for free under several schemes that they are expecting too many things from the Government. A culture of alms-giving has taken a deep root with everyone, whether poor or rich, vying to get included in the schemes for receiving free ration or availing any other doles. The beneficiaries of the schemes are identified as BJD supporters and hence availing the BPl people’s benefits has been a mark of pride and prestige.
Since gift-making works wonders, the Government has been in quest of evolving more such schemes or extending the scope of the existing schemes. Even, the schemes which the Central Government has discontinued, the State is assuring people of their continuance from its own funds. The State Government has now declared to extend the Aahar scheme to all the districts.
When the people of the State and the Government are blindly after short term gains, the State’s most crucial requirements get glossed over. Farmers’ problems may be cited as a case in point. Odisha, whose economy is primarily agriculture-driven, has made no strides so far as addressing the most crucial problems in the sector is concerned.
Despite a special budget for agriculture, farming sector remains sluggish and bleak. From getting irrigation facility to seed, fertilizers, inputs, loan, subsidy and marketing, the journey has been bumpy for the hapless farmers of the State. Still, farmers largely hinge on monsoon rains in the absence of wide irrigation coverage. They have not been able to fully rely on messy institutional loan and are knocking the doors of the moneylenders. That is why, when the crops fail, they have no option except committing suicide.
The Government looks to have no fire in the belly for aggressive reforms in the farming sector. It is only happy with some cosmetic reforms which miserably fail to offset the permanent handicaps. Sadly, no one wants to get to the root of the problem. The Government only is seeking to evade the current crisis of farmer suicides by announcing some half-hearted sops though the tactic failed to gain the confidence of the farmers. like in other situation when the Government was on a weak wicket, the Opposition this time also is trying to gain political mileage by shedding crocodile’s tears over the farmers’ plight. The people of the State are in a state of worry but it would not last longas had been during the serial deaths of babies in Sishu Bhawan in Cuttack. These people can be recast in the same mould by announcing one or the other freebies.