[Assam] Forcing unilateral choice-The Sentinel Editorial

[kamal deka]

I hope,someone can answer the following before clamoring for full autonomy.

Take municipal corporations --  an exclusive state subject. Which district
of our state can boast of a single locality which is spotlessly clean and
which is happy with the civic amenities provided?

Take public health and safety -- one more subject in the exclusive domain of
a state. Does the state of Assam have a record to be proud of in that
sphere?

Take prevention of floods -- a state subject. Have we done anything
worthwhile on our own?

Take law and order -- yet another exclusive state subject. Can our
state hold its head high in that area?

Take local self-government including village administration -- yet another
important state subject. Has our state done anything concrete and lasting
about it? What is the condition of our city and village roads? Remember,
road development is a state subject.
 It is essentially a matter of being able to walk before wanting to run, of
being able to digest what is served before craving for a multi-course
banquet.
KJD

On Sun, Mar 22, 2009 at 7:18 AM, Roy, Santanu <sroy at mail.smu.edu> wrote:

> The editorial fails to inform us how "autonomy" (or more correctly, greater
> devolution of political and economic power from the Indian centre to the
> state of Assam) is going to be detrimental to the interests of the people of
> Assam.
>
>
>
> Why would they be worse off? And if they are not worse off, why would they
> be opposed to it?
>
> To be fair, there are hints of the thinking behind it in the editorial
> piece.
>
>
>
> It consists of two arguments:
>
> (a) The folks spearheading the demand for autonomy are proven monsters that
> will use the post-autonomy political environment to expand their political
> and economic clout (possibly extra-legal) to expropriate the honest
> commoners and entrepreneurs.
>
>
>
> (b) People of Assam are so corrupt and incompetent that any greater "share
> of the decision making cake" devolved to the state will be preyed on and
> wasted.
>
> There may be other arguments - but I could not see them in the piece.
>
> First, consider (a).
> The extra-legal clout exercised by any group, the amount of money it can
> extract by force, the way they can influence decisions - are they really
> dependent on whether the initial resource allocation and other government
> decisions are made in Delhi or Dispur? Is there any evidence, for example,
> that nefarious groups have been more effective in gathering monies from
> activities in Assam that pertain to the "state list" and less intensively in
> activities that pertain to the "central list" i.e., funded and approved by
> the central government and officials of the central government? If there is
> any such evidence that central agencies and centrally funded projoects have
> been better at fending off corrupt monsters, we would really like to know.
>
> More importantly, even if this is the case, isn't there a self-correcting
> process here? Why would the people of Assam not eventually vote out a
> government that feeds such extra-legal clout by any group?
>
>
>
> The answer is probably related to (b).
>
>
>
> There is something intrinsically inferior about the public morale of the
> citizens of the state. Therefore, the greater the share of economic
> decisions and political power kept safely vested in the centre, the better
> it would be for the people of the state. Just repeat this sentence for a
> moment in your mind and see if you find it convincing. At least you will
> know that this was the famous argument for British rule in India and all
> colonial rule by white people elsewhere. The natives are inferior.
>
>
>
> And nobody, not even someone compulsively argumentative as I, can argue
> against such an article of faith.
>
>
>
> Regards,
>
>
>
> Santanu.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________________
> From: assam-bounces at assamnet.org [assam-bounces at assamnet.org] On Behalf Of
> assam-request at assamnet.org [assam-request at assamnet.org]
> Sent: Sunday, March 22, 2009 1:30 AM
> To: assam at assamnet.org
> Subject: assam Digest, Vol 44, Issue 34
>
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