By Gregory Shullai
Would anyone like to take a look into the secret of how to take away the resources and the hopes and the aspirations of the children and the grandchildren of today’s generation? Does anyone have the courage? Is there really a way in which we can do that? Very well. Here is an attempt to open the eyes of the people into what the children and grandchildren of Meghalaya today will face when they become adults because something is being done that is taking precisely that away from them. Here is a peep into the dark workshop of the future of the State and the people who will be around at that point in time…this is a look into what it is that the present-day children and grandchildren will find themselves in. It is not something that can be seen in the way we see things today, because we are accustomed to seeing only those material things that are right in front of our eyes…we are no longer capable of seeing what lies ahead like we once were capable of, because the present has got us so tied up in traffic and song and dance and the acquisition of wealth and property and technology that was never there before. It will take more than just a little time to adjust ourselves and especially the eyes of our mind into what lies in the future – near and distant. Adjust them now…Now that the eyes have adjusted to what they are required to see questions confront the mind of the onlooker. What is going on out there? Speak out what it is that you are seeing because we are all waiting to hear what it is that you see…and hear. We are listening with the greatest intent, but sadly “we” in this case refers only to the present-day parents and grandparents who know what the consequences of taking a loan entails, not even a single of the tens of thousands of young girls and boys are concerned with what lies in store for them, and that is precisely the problem with this loan that the State Government is taking…a 50yr loan that will impact them – not us. Anyway, let us hear what it is the elderly people have to say and we will pass on what it is that they say to the younger generation of today…if we ever get the chance and if they ever “lend us an ear.”
It is very clear that with regard to any loan that anyone takes, including State Government, a fundamental insight is required to be applied by the person taking it or by the person for whom the loan is taken. And since the loan is being taken for us the people, we have a right to state our opinions on the rights and the wrongs of this decision. As to how this idea of taking a loan was conceived and for what purposes and what the collaterals are, which evidently is the State in this case, there is a real need for an insightful examination of the matter because what we have become in the present day is something we do not want to precipitate once and for all on to our children and grandchildren knowing that there is the preponderance for everyone, even among the concerned citizens of the present day, to evaluate and to look upon ourselves as contemptible, because of what our State has become. This may appear to be a harsh judgement to pass on the simple innocent people that the State is largely populated with but that is unfortunately the judgement we pass because that is exactly what the people who represent us have made us out to be. We need to draw a line between those that represent us and the common man, and that cannot be done – because we all know that the State Government is basically the people and not any specific individual, and if any insightful assessment is required to be applied at all it will be that which reflects from the policies and practices that our leaders convey to the rest of the country, and judging from the way things are going on now, it is not a pretty picture and the ones who may have to feel the retarding influence (of the loan) more are the younger generation, the ones who essentially are totally unaware of what that retarding influence could be like, because we are incapable – for now – of seeing the prejudices that are inherent in the entire process. The mischief that this prejudice is capable of doing is the nihilism of the citizens of the future, and not on the leaders of the present day. The mischief will not only be on the finances of the state, though that is where it may be the most prominent, but more on the social, historical and moral aspects of the society once its influence has been unbridled. It will be worse than anything that the citizens of the State have ever gone through in the past. And what could that be. Well, here’s what is probable.
We will never be in a position to repay such a huge debt since we are a deficit State, a State that depends entirely on the Centre to stay afloat. Our leaders should not overlook the almost benevolent nuances that the Centre bestows on us. Here there is one thing that we shall be the last to deny. The land and its rich mineral resources belongs to the people and if the State Government is prepared to lease the land to the Central Government for mineral exploitation on a term basis as a collateral and, we the people, having been confounded and overthrown by the prospects of development pay no heed to this development, even if it is ill constituted and poisonous to our original state and well-being, we would have then overthrown the actual purpose for why we joined the Union of India through an Instrument of Accession.
For now, this is just a possibility, the diminution and levelling of the Khasis. Does this constitute to the greatest danger of posterity? Maybe. At this point I cannot suppress a sigh and a last hope – the Voice of the Peoples Party (VPP) and its’ enigmatic leader. The Party is now in power in the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) and their role will not be an insignificant one. They are our last hope and as things stand now it is on the VPP that the people place their trust. For now, we are regarding it as a quiet problem, a problem that fastidiously directs itself to a very few ears. Just because it directs itself to a very few ears does not in any way make it a matter of small interest as everyone needs to ascertain what that ‘good’ is when they are being told that the loan is taken for the “good” of the State (the people). The high-ranking people of the State Government will no doubt designate the loan as something good and just because they say so does not mean that it is in the larger good of the common man. It is important for us to understand that when the rich leaders say that something is ‘good’ it actually means it is ‘good’ for them.
But for now, most of us cannot comprehend the state of affairs that is likely to emerge from this taking of a loan for the simple reason that we can only comprehend what we see and feel in the present. We are incapable of connecting what is happening with what could happen, and for very good reasons. Is this idea of a long-term loan the recommendation of the State Planning Board? Because if it is we can safely assume that it is an affirmation of the long-term plan and is it noble and worth pursuing? and we say this with a hint of concern and doubt since we are at the rock bottom of virtually every noble national index that is released by Niti Aayog, and this has come about because of the way the State Planning Board functions. Under such circumstances we need to consider whether the plans the Board conceives, even this plan to take a loan (if that is from where it has originated), is motivated by a single individual or is a follow up of a pre-conceived idea or something different to what we’ve been doing all along. There is something we must not overlook – we have become the laughing stock among our neighbours. While they live in trust and openness with themselves, we have become a people that resent ourselves because of the hidden manner in which our leaders are conducting the affairs of the State. We resent ourselves because we know that we are neither upright nor naïve nor honest and straightforward with ourselves though that is not what we would like to think of ourselves knowing that deep within us, we are conscientious Christians. Our hearts have hardened to the fact that we are a corrupt people who love nothing more than to be left alone to face the contempt of our neighbours. We are even beginning to lose that sign of the strong full nature of a society of people in whom there is a latent goodness that is capable of recuperating and forgetting who we are because we know what we really are. We were once capable of shaking off any accusation against us with a single shrug that would normally eat deep into others, in us there was the love of everything upright and good. It is not so now – there are only a very few who may be still engendering that spirit. Is it there in any of our present-day leaders?
The entire idea of taking a loan is contrary to every wise teaching. The Bible, which is the Holy Book of a majority of the population, is replete with maxims against taking loans. Ecclesiastes says, “do not let your passions be your guide, but restrain your desires. If you indulge yourself with all that passion fancies, it will make you the butt of your enemies. Do not revel in great luxury, or the expense of it may ruin you. Do not beggar yourself by feasting on borrowed money when there is nothing in your purse.”
This taking of a loan, is the contrary of what a good man does. The intention itself is bad from the very first time it is conceived for the simple reason that it indicates a lack of satisfaction with what one has and an unsatisfied hatred of what one already possesses. The former being an indication of a comparison with someone else, a side issue, a contrasting assessment and the latter the beginning of a never-ending slave to wealth and possessions. One is bad the other is evil and though these words may indicate different notions isn’t it strange that they both originate from the opposite of the same concept of “good?”
Here there is one thing that cannot be denied. This is how things are at present – they were not like this some decades back. There is a gradual diminution and a leveling of the nature of the leaders we have and they should know that they constitute our danger or our hope. As it appears now there is nothing that can be seen to indicate that our leaders want us to become greater, upright and noble in character and we suspect that things will continue to go down, and even to become more mediocre, more indifferent, more wasteful, more foolish, more worldly and less good. And this is the fate of the future generations of the State. There was a time when we loved our leaders, we revered them because they were elected by the masses and the masses were the conscience of the State, but the way things are going now, we have begun to lose that love and reverence we had and in the process, we have lost hope that our leaders will ever lead our State to greater heights. If that is not nihilism tell me what else is?
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