Plan outlay for this ministry is a generous Rs 14,409.08 crore. However, a minuscule percentage of these funds seem to reach their target and the desired outcomes are rarely achieved. There are many reasons for this failure. Beginning with the manner of deciding which projects are really needed, to the siphoning off of funds, to the politician-bureaucrat-militant nexus, the entire process is ridden with shortcomings and loopholes. Monitoring and accountability of funds and works are almost non-existent. Earlier this year the government appointed a senior ofcer in the Central Bureau of Investigation to exclusively look into developmental scams and corruption in the north-east states. How far this will help is anybodys guess. A number of political observers in the region have pointed out that the larger issue here is one of governance and strengthening the trust of the people. Civil governance institutions suffer due to the endemic violence perpetuated by security forces and militants and are unable to deliver on their core activities. Just throwing money without addressing these issues will make the problems more acute and strengthens those who have a vested interest in keeping the region unstable and violent. In 2008, while releasing the North Eastern Region Vision 2020 document, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had spoken eloquently of the democratic sensibilities and traditions of the people and called the creation of the Vision an exemplar of participatory governance. Six years on, neither has his government sensitised the Delhi bureaucracy about the regions aspirations, democratic sensibilities or tradition, nor has the government managed to shift decision-making away from the centralised bureaucracy into the hands of the people of the local authorities. Even the minimal demands for the repeal of AFSPA or for reining in the excesses of the security forces have been ignored. The mainstream Indian media too ignores the region, as has been amply demonstrated in its non-coverage of Mizoram elections. Ultimately, highsounding platitudes must be accompanied by the desire to engage politically and culturally. The bridges that need to be built are not merely of the infrastructural kind. The government and civil society of India have failed to build both.
separate statehood. The split among the voters was sharply along communal lines, with the Christians (35 per cent of population) voting for the United Goans and the Hindus (60 per cent) supporting the Gomantak... The Central Government, including the Prime Minister, have always maintained that the future administrative set up for Goa will be determined according to the wishes of the people. Well, the people have now expressed their wish... What does the Central Government propose to do? Finding the contending forces more or less evenly balanced, the temptation will be to continue the status quo a course unequivocally rejected by more than two thirds of those who voted in the elections.
WEEKLY NOTES
Goans Verdict
Free Goas rst elections have been inconclusive insofar as no party has won an absolute majority of seats though the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak with 14 seats out of 30 is likely to form the Government with the support of 2 independents but they have established beyond doubt that the most important issue exercising the people
Economic & Political Weekly EPW
was the political future of the territory. The elections, in fact, took on the shape of a plebiscite with the people voting for either separate statehood or merger with Maharashtra. Not that Goans did not have complaints against the Central administration of the territory during the two years since liberation. Prices have gone up, a measure of economic austerity has been haphazardly imposed, import of consumer goods has been reduced to a trickle and at least one leading Congressman has threatened to clamp down prohibition. ... In contrast to Congress ambivalence, the other two parties took denite positions: the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak for merger with Maharashtra and the United Goans for
vol xlviII no 50