GUWAHATI: A whistle-stop visit to India’s gateway to the North-East for a meeting of the Press Council of India, a statutory watchdog of matters related to newspapers, leaves one with intense mixed feelings of hope and frustration, of democratic vibrancy and insurgency menace, of poverty-stricken people and the unemployed youth, of rising expectations and slow-paced development.
The list of these sharp socio-economic contrasts between successes and politico-bureaucratic failures is long. The underlying grudge in this setting is the feeling of neglect nursed by the local people. The villain of the piece in this context is the Delhi-centric mentality of “Burra Sahebs” in North Block and South Block.
There are as many as 95 project proposals worth Rs 1,000 crore submitted by the Congress-controlled Assam government. The proposals are stuck with the Ministry for Development of North-Eastern Region (DONER).
The money for these projects has to come from the Non-Lapsable Central Pool of Resources (NLCPR). Only four projects, worth Rs 29 crore, have been cleared. These are: storm water drainage system, upgradation of a rural hospital, the Silchar water supply scheme and the construction of a road for the famous Kamakhya temple.
At the official level the slow-paced Central response is attributed to the NDA government’s “political bias”. A report in a local daily, The Sentinel, suggests that the Assam government will take up this matter with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on his return from the three-nation tour.
Faster economic growth and the generation of jobs hold the key to the ultimate search for the triumph of the people’s power over the bullet.
As of today, the Bodoland issue can be tackled by the state government in cooperation with the Centre by a give-and-take approach. The major insurgency group in Assam — the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) — is already on the run. The security forces have so far tackled the crisis effectively and intelligently. But the problem here is of fresh recruitment.
“How can we stop fresh recruitment from among the unemployed youth? There have to be allround efforts in this direction. Whatever little is being done right now is just a drop in the turbulent Brahmaputra”, Mr Ajit Kumar Bhuyan, Editor of an Assamese daily, told me.
Look at the he-river Brahmaputra. It appears calm on the surface after its monsoon fury. But beneath its placid look, you can see its swift and flowing undercurrents. This typifies the deceptive situation in Assam and other parts of the North-East.
“These youthful currents will have to be harnessed for the good of the people. Not on paper, but in a fast-moving plan of action”, the Sentinal Editor, Mr D.N. Bezborua, told me.
The people are surely pleasant and sweet-tempered, though the pace of life is slow. Assamese women are reputedly more hardworking than men. What is, however, important is the flow of life. I saw swarms of young men and women at the city’s famous Fancy Bazar for puja shopping. The whole place was vibrant.
The spirit of festivity is very much in the air. The historic Kamakhya temple on the top of Nilachal Hills attracts thousands of devotees from all over the country during these auspicious days. The temple is an important centre of tantric form of Hinduism and Shaktism.
For the poor and the rich the festive season provides a refreshing diversion from the rugged, dreary and violence-prone daily life of struggle and deprivation. The economic condition of the average Assamese is reflected in the poor condition of roads and civic amenities. Still, the people do not grumble as is the case in the North. They are not so demanding. All they desire is a fair deal as an honourable state of the Union of India.
An official booklet describes Assam as “a land of magic and ethereal” beauty and as the “most vibrant part of the North-Eastern India”.
Assam is bordered in the north and the east by the kingdom of Bhutan and the state of Arunachal Pradesh. Along the south lies Nagaland and Manipur, and to the extreme south is Mizoram. Meghalaya lies to its south-west. West Bengal and Bangladesh are located to its west.
Talking of Bangladesh, knowledgeable persons express deep concern at the unchecked infiltration from across the border. They make a pointed reference to the videotapes seized from Al-Qaida which show a Bangladesh training camp as “a hub for all sorts of Indian insurgency groups and Islamic militants”.
According to Mr E. Rammohan, a former Director-General of the BSF who has battled insurgency in the North-East for years, “direct and indirect links between Islamic militants from Bangladesh and insurgents in the region pose a major threat to peace, tranquillity and security and demography of these areas”. This was reported by the IANS.
What is the way out? Politically and otherwise, it may not be
