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| wise words ::. | | What is the difference between genius and stupidity? Genius has limits. - Albert Einstein. |
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| editorial. | 19/09/02 |
Broken Promises
With the Mizoram Health Technical Staff Union (MIHETSU) going on an indefinite again from Tuesday, the recent solution to their grievances which ended their earlier strike would seem to have been no solution at all. Like the MIHETSU, there are other groups of government employees, who had earlier been appeased by the government, poised to call a strike again. Not only are employees ready to go on strike, but the people themselves are ready to meet the government head-on to see that promises made by heads of the government are fulfilled, as in the case of the Hnahthial people.
What this tells us is the government is unable to come up with a long term or permanent solution to these grievances of its employees forcing it to resort to short and immediate solutions which are no help at all as is clearly seen in the case of the MIHETSU.
According to MIHETSU leaders, their grievances now does not seem to lie with the politicians, but with the bureaucrats. The minister's directives, it seems, are not being implemented by the secretariat, which in short, means the secretary. Even their press release clearly spells this out when they say they were happy with the steps taken by the health minister. However, being at the helm, the MNF ministry has to bear the brunt of all the grievances that employees and the people feel. And the government is morally and intellectually, not to mention physically, responsible to the people.
If rumours are true, and current incidents certainly indicate this, the bureaucrats seem to be controlling the government more than the ministers. If this is the case, then what the state has is a weak and ineffective ministry the meaning of which is a President's Rule all but in name. Is this what the people voted for in the first place? No. The people voted for a government that would right the wrongs of the last ministry, a government that would look out for the welfare of the people and not of a particular group, leaders that would not put themselves first before the people.
The people didn't place the reins of power in the hands of the present ministry to have it placed in turn in the hands of bureaucrats either.
So many promises have been broken by this and past ministries that it will be wonder if people will still have faith in politicians in general and turn out to exercise their franchise in the coming VC and MLA elections. The onus of correcting the view of politicians and the political system that is slowly prevailing among the people rests heavily on the present ministry. If the people's faith in the government is to be restored, it is imperative that the present government take corrective measures in its dealings with the people.
If, however, it looks out only for itself and continues in the same line of governance as before, the much needed political reform will sink deeper and deeper into the quagmire of corruption to be soon out of reach of a realistic rescue.
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