By – Amar Yumnam
Imphal, July 15:
Two recent things make me come back to my frequent commentaries on the governance in Manipur. First, during the last few days, a very junior Minister in the Cabinet has taken many public appearances and making bombastic statements with hardly any logic, if any. Second, the Head of the People and the most important person in the Cabinet – the Chief Minister – has just brushed aside as non-significant the suicide of a person in a Relief Camp in the context of the nearly a year and a half old ethnic clashes. There are ample manifestations by the people in the government of lack of knowledge, inability to establish understanding of the issues involved and even unwillingness to establish a knowledge base of the issues for understanding and policy formulation. A strong Editorial in this daily (Imphal Times – 13 July 2024) has also questioned the logicality of the announcement by the CM of government support to a decision by an ethnic group.
Every social event has a context in terms of social, economic and political besides the context of time. It has also a structure. This structure follows a dynamics – one core and another fluctuating; a social event is a non-straight journey in most cases. Every social event has also lessons to be absorbed to prepare the society for better appreciation of more or less similar events in the future, and to prepare the government with enhanced capabilities to face the potential consequences. Any Governance has to be alive to the knowledge of the dynamics of the event. Let us recall Plato’s Principle of the Priority of Knowledge What. It was this Principle which Socrates used to respond when Meno asked if virtue could be taught. Socrates replied that without knowing what it is something, one cannot know anything about; without knowing what the virtue is, it is impossible to know anything about. While endeavouring to understand social dynamics, we should not be led by the norm of Richard Dawkins of questioning the validity of any tribal or mythological myths; history and historical dynamics are paramount in understanding social dynamics.
It is exactly in this framework of understanding that I have grand doubts on the knowledge base and commitment to evolve knowledge of governance as it prevails in Manipur today. A few words on a general understanding of what Governance is about may be relevant here: “”Governance seeks to understand the way we construct collective decision-making. Its introduction as a term into our debates, coincided with a sense that existing models were failing to capture what was happening, and not providing an appropriate framing of key issues for reformers. In both political and economic spheres, the established ways of making collective decisions have come under challenge. The basic unit of political organisation, the nation-state has been challenged by the complexity of social problems, the strength of organised interests, and the growing internationalisation of interdependencies.” (Vasudha Chhotray and Gerry Stoker 2009, p.2)
We must acknowledge here that governance issues are necessarily political issues. The strivings by the government for effectiveness in governance can be achieved only by reducing the political component and enhancing the social well-being component; this is easier said than done. Now we need to immediately understand as to how this can be performed.
It is exactly at this point that the relevance and the significance of knowledge arise. Evolving knowledge on an issue is not which falls from the sky, and it is not even in the Richard Dawkins’ sense of pure technicality when it comes to social issues. Let me take up the COVID19 effects in the context of Manipur. A few issues need to be adequately examined such that when such events arise in the future, both the governance and the public are better prepared. First, we need a detailed structural information on the households which suffered maximum illness and bore deaths. Second, we need a detailed picture of the interrelationship scenario in the areas where the incidence was at its highest such that we know where to intervene when a similar occasion arises in the future. Third, we need geographic and institutional information on the depth and the spread of the illness. Fourth, we need economic information at household, local and community levels on the incidence of the disease to evolve a proper understanding of the disease-dynamics based on socio-economic inequality. Thus we need creation of data in many socio-politico-economic dimensions.
The same need for data creation applies in the case of the present social crisis in Manipur. First, we need a very detailed classification of the age groups of the people adversely affected by the crisis. This would enable the Government to apply mind on the differential policy interventions of the age-differing population. This understanding is very necessary for the social sector interventions and have strong implications for the future social strength. Second, we need a very detailed data on the pre-crisis occupational structure of the people. This is to evolve a policy for meaningful engagement and to sustain the emotional stability of the population; governance must realise that the accompanying psychological impacts are huge and personal. Instead of making negative comments on the behaviour of the displaced people, the government must be alive to the emotional issues of the affected people and respond by appropriate policies. Third, the government should already be applying her mind on what overall needs are to be taken care-of for long-term stability.
In fine, Manipur now feels the absence of a state. This feeling of emptiness can be addressed only by the functioning of the government. But I must hasten to add that government cannot perform the function of governance without knowledge. But knowledge cannot be founded on emptiness, but has to be based on a proper understanding of the realities. This understanding has necessarily to be based on the basis of data. But data do not fall from the sky or on the empty public statements of a Minister. How to go about data creation and knowledge establishment are areas which the government should take as the Plato Principle applied to Manipur.
