100 action points for first 100 days A fiasco in the making?

In a democratic system, the voters are said to be the kingmakers. True. And all the electorates, who exercised their franchise in the recently concluded elections, wish to witness a better Manipur way more than the 60 contenders who won their respective constituencies to represent them. Kudos to the Election Commission of India for completing the entire election process in just 62 days. The feat was something N Biren Singh & Co. should learn and digest to help themselves in expediting the recruitment process of state government departments. So often, the BJP-led government appears to have forgotten the results announcement of various recruitment exams; in some cases, the job aspirants took to the streets to demand the results. The people of the state have glimpsed many such episodes. Though five years have passed, the saffron party couldn’t deliver on the promises mentioned in its Vision Document 2017 sans few. It had ten action points. Manipur witnessed a stark difference in their announcement and fulfillment.
After the new government formation, Mr. Biren’s announcement of “100 action points for the first 100 days” came as a surprise and shock to many. After taking oath as the Chief Minister of Manipur for the second term, Biren said that the first task of his government would be to make the state corruption-free – a task which is also included in the 100. But it was nothing new. To commoners, recruiting employees based on bribes or through their connections with high-ranking officials or lawmakers is seen as one of the government’s top corrupt practices. In addition, taking a long time in the recruitment process is considered a delay tactic. Therefore, if the new government is genuinely striving for a corruption-free Manipur, the first step should be to declare the results of all recruitment examinations held just before the Assembly polls; it will undoubtedly give an impression that Biren walks the talk. Making a drug-free Manipur is one of the priority agendas of the new government apart from the eradication of corruption, both he attempted and failed miserably in the last five years.
Attention can be paid to what Biren 2.0 promised to develop the education sector, which is a significant facet of the economic development of any country. The National Education Policy 2020 strived to make the Indian education system more contemporary and skill-oriented. Opposition parties shared suggestions and ideas, which were taken into account in the NEP 2020 formation. Therefore, all sections of the society welcomed the policy though the goal of 6% of GDP is not yet achieved. In the Manipur context, the new plans don’t seem to result from detailed dialogues among stakeholders as they did not cover all sectors uniformly.
Along with some freebies, the strengthening of 50 schools under the School Fagathansi Mission and Churachandpur Medical College inauguration will have Mr. Biren chest-thumping in his upcoming addresses. But the plans were nothing distinctive. He boasted of committing himself to improving the education system, but equal respect for all subjects was not yet paid. Since his last term, he focused mainly on medical institutes, sports infrastructures, and free IAS coaching at a time when many state government colleges in Imphal and surrounding areas struggled to provide quality education. Given that, Biren needs to ponder why thousands of higher secondary graduates from Manipur, who aspire to become IAS or IPS, plan to study at Delhi University? What happened to our state government colleges? It is mainly because Biren lacks the quality of appreciating talks, debates, discussions, and criticism on any platform, be it in media or simply on social networking sites. But, they are the requirements for constructing a developed society. Thus, he needs the courage to face the truth.
Spelling out some of the 100 points on March 26, Biren had also emphasized that it will bolster citizen-centric governance, fill gaps in infrastructure, quicken economic growth and strive for inclusive development of the state. But most of it was nothing remarkable or promising. Money will do the job as no extra efforts are demanded. Inaugurations, foundation stone laying events, distribution of freebies, etcetera, filled the 10-page-long flyer. Unfortunately, most big goals also lack foolproof approaches; therefore, formulation of techniques will require inputs from think tanks and not from self-appointed PROs or contractors. Otherwise, the “100 Action Points for the first 100 days,” which already sounds hyperbole, will end up with a talk full of foolish rationalization from the Chief Minister to some news channel in the run-up to the 2027 polls. And only claques will like it.