FROM BIMARU TO POPULIST: A WHITE PAPER ON BJP GOVT.

Shashidhar .S. Kapur

While the government claims that it has brought Madhya Pradesh out of the BIMARU status , opposition strongly refutes the claim citing various reports about the poor status of health , education , crime against women , employment etc. On the one hand the establishment vouches that the state has gone from BIMARU to JUJHARU to SUCHARU and is now “Rising” & “ Emerging” MP , opponents contest that by saying that it is more of a statistical jugglery and MP is actually Nakali ( Fake ) & Farzi ( pseudo) . In this light it would perhaps do well to analyse the scenario sectorwise:

POLITY:Clipping the ministers by getting also to work done through empowered committees – sets a bad precedent in long term. Shivraj created a vote bank among women(rather nurtured and expanded one created by Uma Bharti)- in the first– and a vote constituency among farmers in the second innings. Third term was mostly about hanging on to the post –even if by sidelining potential challengers. In part it was to cultivate a constituency among the youth and vote bank of tribals. The standard BJP template has been mastered by him – wherein RSS is given a freehand in social cultural affairs while CM concentrates all the powers unto himself in other matters.

The increasingly shorter Vidhan Sabha sessions and even fewer debates point to a dilution of polity ( Though it is a trend almost nationwide ) .Furthermore, he did not devolved any authority to the local bodies while the promise of setting up a Vidhan Parishad – on which there was a biparty consensus remains unfulfilled. All in all, Shivraj made himself into an election winning machine rather than a transformatory politician.

Highpoint– Winning three terms; some sort of acceptability among Muslims too despite bluntly rejecting the Sachchar Commission.

Lowdown– Undermining institutions and conventions.

Grey Areas – Centralising all authority to self.

Half baked– Outsourcing Education and Culture to RSS.
Reverse-Centralising the informal sector.

Perverse-Promoting self in welfare schemes too.

Miscellaneous: Subverting the Congress – by co-opting its workers.
Beyond the core constituency and major vote bank- everything has been mere symbolism & tokenism . Playing the parochial card too- by declaring formation of new districts and Tehsils esp. in Congress’ areas viz. Aagar.
Verdict : A guerilla fighter , glorified bureaucrat , a social performer and an election winning machine.

LAW & ORDER ; They cite the example of wiping out dacoit gangs (of late the gangs have resurfaced) but across the state things have worsened ; crimes against women; slave trade/human trafficking ; against weaker sections – that too is an indicator of underdevelopment ; rise of Hindu extremism –M.P has become hot bed of both SIMI & Hindu Extremism; Naxalism is trying to get in. The plea that we’re now recording more crimes doesn’t wash after 15 years.

Highpoint -Elimination of dacoits in Chambal as well as Satna Region.Dial100 service.

Low Down– Maximum crimes against women and minors.

Grey Areas– Narcotics trade still a big issue.

Half baked– Police acting as the private army of the BJP / RSS

Reverse– Naxal resurgence in a few districts

Perverse– Hardcore Hindutva and Simi active.

Miscellaneous– Claim of a peaceful state overstated.; Rural courts; initiative in e- courts.;. Fast track courts for corruption ; confiscating property of the corrupt.

Verdict: Situation of law OK but conditions of order disturbing.

GOVERNANCE: Shivraj –failed to shine in governance too; trying to cover up with awards & symbolisms ; dealing mostly with empowered committees reinforces the impression that bureaucrats dominate control the BJP governments.; Ideally it ought to have been governance & infrastructure law &order in term –I & programmes and delivery in term -II and policy & governance in term III.; Tough drafted legislations such as Public Service delivery Act but on ground impact was less than satisfactory. In the third term it went from bad to worse as within each ministry – even CM’s office – an RSS man was posted .Thus the agenda of the unelected was pushed instead of the manifesto.

Highpoint– Passing the Public service delivery act; progress made in E- governance.

Low down– Maximum amount of ill gotten wealth from the Officers in MP.

Grey Areas– Ruling with the help of a coterie of officers.

Half baked– Allowing RSS a play in administration.

Reverse– Giving a higher role to promotee officers; inspector raj replaced by karyakarta /middleman raj.

Perverse– Lower bureaucracy at the beck and call of RSS.

Miscellaneous– A demoralised higher civil service ;they were fed up with the unrelenting PR machine – events, Ghoshnayein( announcements ),yatras et al – left little time for real work.

Verdict : Bureaucracy almost entirely politicised-a dedicated civil service.

ECONOMY– Here too for the lack of a vision , plan and a roadmap it took him nearly ten years to understand that MP should be the hub of MSME. Plan to have more industrial areas along Mumbai Delhi corridor; 26 more industrial hubs envisaged. Perhaps after GST some of the disadvantage of being a landlocked state may be offset. The point having a double digit growth overall or a twenty percent growth in agrarian economy makes little sense when at the end of the day per capital income remains among the lowest in the country as does the divide.

Highpoint– A healthy rate of growth ; Impressive infrastructure growth(roads, power)

Low down– Distribution of resources lopsided.

Grey Areas– Figures fudged.

Half baked– Neglect of the cooperative sector

Reverse– Promoting crony capitalists; ill conceived schemes such as “Bhavantar” had to be discontinued.

Perverse– Transferring public resources to private hands under PPP.

Miscellaneous: Sustainability compromised;. 1% (0%)interest rate loan to farmers.; Feeder separation.

Verdict : A mixed record- distorted growth and contorted development- jobless and lopsided.

EDUCATION: Primary education – Among the worst performing as per ACER /PRATHAM reports.

Secondary education – Among the worst performing in Math and English

Higher education – Vyapam.

Highpoint – Proliferation of technical institutes.

Low down – ACER//PRATHAM reports

Grey Areas –Crony Educationists.

Half baked– Safffron RSS control.

Reverse – Vyapam.

Perverse-RSS backed schools receiving patronage.

Miscellaneous– Teaching English to Vanavasi schools.; Hindi Vishwavidyalaya; Education loan guarantee; starting skill centres at all block levels; launching Skill University;making ITI a brand.

Verdict : Highly Farzi(Fraud)- a lost generation. Perhaps the worst sector- a blot.

SPORTS : Awarded the best department by performance. Having continuity-5yrs to director sports( Sanjay Chowdhary ). A little more on symbolisms ( as all BJP govts.) but also better delivery than Congress. Shivraj made a personal long term investment – in Hockey ( At govt. expense). Rural sports –A sports festival where the same village team comes winning right through till state level; sports medicine ,physiotheraphy, video analysis introduced.; Infrastructure improved substantially.
Highpoint- Most medals won in the national games albeit in non- conventional sports.

Low down– Maximum medals won by importred sportspersons from other states studying in our state academies.

Grey Areas– No original thought at the policy level.

Half baked-. No long term plan viz. sports culture in toddlers
Reverse– Importing stars from other states to be chief coaches viz. Madan lal, Sushil kumar ,Gopichand , Mansher Singh.

Perverse– Shivraj promoting himself in the name of promoting hockey
Miscellaneous- Holding CM sports meet – now redundant.

Verdict : Mostly Nakali (Fake) improvement.

HEALTH: Primary health – Among the worst performing as per malnutrition reports.

Secondary health – Among the poor performing states

Tertiary health – Still a laggard state.

Highpoint– Proliferation of Medical colleges and Hospitals; Dial 108 service

Low down– Paucity of doctors to man them.

Grey Areas-Crony medical colleges/ hospitals

Half baked– Biggest hunger deficit state; declining sex ratio.
Reverse-Clinical trials on unsuspecting patients.

Perverse-A hub of fake medicines.

Miscellaneous-A good idea of starting rural medicine was sabotaged by the doctors’/ Pharma Lobby.; sending Ayurveda Doctors to villages.

Verdict : The second worst performing sector after Education. Due to malnutrition future generation has been compromised.

SOCIAL SECTOR: Highpoint-: Plethora of social security schemes; Setting up of Happiness Ministry

Low down– Not enough programmes of community welfare.

Grey Areas– Naming most of the schemes as Mukyamantri Yojana.
Half baked- Many schemes ill conceived.

Reverse– Reversing the decision to digitally transfer funds.(viz. money for Bicycles)

Perverse– Asking the beneficiaries to join BJP.

Miscellaneous-Another sort of freebie culture.

Verdict : Perhaps the biggest success alongwith agriculture and infrastructure development. Many schemes emulated by other states.

CULTURE: Overall policy of supporting popular performing arts. Quantity increased but the quality has dipped – the state fast losing its tag as the hub of cultural activities . Classic replaced by massy, folksy.

Reverse– cultural policy of govt. –viz. promoting PT. Jasraj –it is not govt. of M.P’s job to support national icons -that’s left to national govts. /corporates.

Highpoints-Drama school started – June 2011; Reviving Rangmandal.
Low Down – Patronising popular culture disproportionately.

Grey Areas – Promoting pseudo religious in the name of culture.
Half baked– Making some of the activities exclusive rather than inclusive.(viz. Vishwa Hindi Sammellan).
Reverse- Inviting commercial stars (A.R. Rahman) ; supporting those whom the market , national bodies can support (Ratan Thiyam)

Perverse– Drama school doing play with Bihari Lingo and mostly Bihari students.

Miscellaneous – MP losing a bit of its sheen as a centre of classical arts.

Verdict: As expected, one among the better performing sectors esp. due to the range of activities inspite of slipping down.

ENVIRONMENT: Highpoint- A healthy state of forests & wildlife.

Low down– All major water bodies polluted.

Grey Areas– NGT norms flouted

Half baked– Neglect of the ecology.

Reverse– Plundering of mineral resources

Perverse– Environment clearances given in sensitive zones- Sidhi , Betul.

Miscellaneous: Sustainability compromised; Beginning wind & other energy schemes from tribal areas

Verdict : An average record.

Even if one were to believe government statistics as true – that agriculture which employs 70 percent grew at 20 percent and the state grew at 10 percent . It means that the remaining 30 percent of the population grew at a lower than national average of 7-8 percent .The very fact that road connectivity is still far less than developed states like Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu , Punjab and per capita income remains among the lowest – much lower than national average shows the figures look impressive since they began on a low base – the reality is still bleak. There could be some solace in the fact that MP ranks at the top among the BIMARU states. The ground reality however shows that disproportionate populism has merely changed the state has changed from BIMARU to populist rather than truly developing.