HVK Archives: 'Aid' to Northeast is shoring up corrupt Govt.
'Aid' to Northeast is shoring up corrupt Govt. - The Times of India
Sunil Sethi
()
14 July 1997
Title: 'Aid' to Northeast is shoring up corrupt governments
Author: Sunil Sethi
Publication: The Times of India
Date: July 14, 1997
Those eager to improve or enlarge their image by chanting the mantra of
peace and development must necessarily find a suitable backdrop for their
recitals. What better place to stage such a performance than the Northeast,
a region plagued by years of social unrest, economic stagnation and
political violence and also a place sufficiently distant from New Delhi for
its everyday miseries to be easily forgotten. Two prime ministers in
succession have made it their business to rush to the Northeast within days
of assuming office and outdo one another with offers of financial aid and
political autonomy. But as usual, there is a glaring hiatus between lofty
assurances and ground realities a dangerously widening gap between the
promise and delivery of goods.
Nothing demonstrates this better than the abduction last week of 38 year
old Sanjoy Ghose, a prominent NGO worker in Assam, by ULFA militants.
Ghose was picked up not far from Jorhat from a village in the island of
Majuli in the Brahmaputra believed to be the largest riverine island in the
world a place that is backward remote and in the sway of militants. Both
the circumstances and the consequences of his kidnapping are curious. An
odd feature of Ghose's disappearance is that his abductors say they haven't
kidnapped him but "arrested" him. Nor are they demanding ransom. They
claim that Ghose was functioning as a "spy" and "agent" of the Indian
government.
Clearly, the reasons for targeting Sanjoy Ghose are neither the rewards of
ransom or political attention; it is an attempt to cut short the success of
his achievements in the short span of two years he had worked in Majuli and
his growing popularity with the locals. As for being targeted for being
another hated Bengali, it is doubtful if Ghose's captors know that he is
half Telugu and in fact, has never lived in Bengal. Sanjoy Ghose came to
Assam in 1994, not with the platitudes of carrot dangling politicians but
with the simple desire to replicate a development programme that he had
successfully established in a chronically drought prone desert district of
Rajasthan.
Back in 1986, the city born and city bred Ghose, armed with degrees in
rural management and development economics and Anand and Oxford got his
first chance when he was asked to implement primary health and education
schemes in Bikaner through the Uttar Rajasthan Milk Union Limited (UMUL), a
milk co-operative akin to its more famous relative, and Anand Milk Union
Ltd (AMUL). In less than ten years, URMUL's health and education scheme
operating from its now famous hub in Lunkaransar diversified into allied
areas of agriculture water management and women's issues extending its
coverage to more than 3000 villages.
Another development enthusiast would have been happy to rest on such a
record of achievement but not Ghose. He felt his work at URMUL was done and
sought a harder challenge. Forewarned of the problems of working in Assam,
he decided to set up AVARD NE (Association of Voluntary Agencies in Rural
Development in Northeast) a grouping of local NGOs. He chose Majuli as a
place of particular underdevelopment and part of the group's task was to
make information available about government's programmes and expenditure.
Much of the island is flooded fox six months of the year and its
inhabitants are blighted by soil erosion malaria and lack of drinking
water, the terror of the militant's gun has exacerbated not eased their
suffering. Last month, after anonymous posters began to sprout in Majuli
accusing Ghose's group of being "agents" bent upon undermining Assamese
culture, Ghose held a public meeting for people to air grievances. He
asked them to pronounce freely on whether AVARD was a threat and if should
continue or leave. The answer was a resounding affirmation of support for
the group to continue. Some days later Ghose was picked up.
Financial packages and political sops offered by H D Deve Gowda and I K
Gujral are useless if the aid ends up chiefly in the pockets of corrupt
state governments. Law and order under the AGP government in Assam has
worsened since it came to power last year. Terrorist violence including the
recent attempt on Chief Minister Prafulla Mahanta's life is more
commonplace today than it was under the Congress regime. This is mainly
because of the AGP's inability to get tough with groups such ULFA. As the
kidnapping of Sanjoy Ghose shows it is not the process of development in
Assam that is in jeopardy as much as the rule of the AGP government.
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