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Misplaced Priorities

Misplaced Priorities
Santosh Kumar Prasad, Jorethang

Misplaced Priorities

India is home to one sixth of the world’s population, it is also one of the poorest countries in the world, with 47% of the population living below the international poverty line (WRI 2000). Roughly 40% of the population does not have access to safe water, while 70%, live without adequate sanitation. Yet, we have the audacity to spend billions in research and technology to send ‘Chandrayaan’ to the moon in search of water.  The next thing we know, we’ll have a water pipeline from the moon to the earth. Would it not be better if we concentrated more on solving the water problems of our own county and spend that money on providing safe drinking water?
Well, the fact is, it is almost impossible to comprehend this uncanny knack of our so called LEADERS of our distressed society to consistently make mistakes. While most of us look onto them as our guiding light, our beacon of hope, it is enthralling to watch when their irrationality and lack of true sense, overshadows their otherwise diligent quest. How is it possible for them to make a complete mockery of the values they stand for and the system they work for? How is possible for them to abuse their own intellect for the determent of the society we live in? Well, the answer to this is what we call – “MISPLACED PRIORITIES”.
There are a lot of projects like Chandrayaan where the tax payers’ money is spent on everything but issues that demand immediate attention. The dominance of this brand of illogicality is widespread. Our state has its own share of IDIOCRATS (The Elite Idiots in a Democracy) who have vested interest in creating Chandrayaans at the cost of everyone’s inconvenience.
Yes, we might not have basic infrastructure and toilets in many Government run Primary Schools, but this urgency to build expensive fountains in every nook and corner of the state never rests. And the fact that there’s a severe shortage of water in most of our towns is totally overlooked.
Lakhs of Rupees are spent on building temporary shelters – Pandals, to host trade shows  eg., SARAS Fair during Jorethang Maghey Mela, (ignoring fire safety standards and the convenience of the locals), the money which could be used to construct permanent structure to host such events all year round. But who cares? Projects like these are cows that can be milked forever. The cash cow.
Tons of money is being spent to build the multi storied parking plaza at Jorethang to house 200 odd local taxis yet the severely ill-equipped PHC (which is situated at the heart of the town) which caters to 25000+ Garib Janta is totally ignored. It does not imply that the new parking plaza is unimportant, but the fact is that, there are issues that demand immediate attention and parking is not one of those. Would it not have been nice if the spacious SNT Compound could be transformed in a less extravagant taxi stand. That could have saved a lot of tax payers’ money.
The RAC Building (also a multi-crore venture in the middle of nowhere) which was recently ordained to Head Quarter of Livelihood Schools or something, at Karfectar, Jorethang, holds a record in Guinness Book of Sikkim Records for being the only office building to be inaugurated twice in three years. Offices of various departments were first shifted from in and around Jorethang, to the RAC and before the offices could fully take off, the building was evacuated to house some new scheme. This just goes to show the lack of apposite planning that our Government has. It will not be surprising if the same building is transformed into something else in a few months time. It can be presumed that the frequent shipment of offices is one of the schemes for livelihood. Someone is definitely going to make a living out of it, right?
The same roads are dug many times a year. Sometimes for drains, sometimes to lay underground cables, sometimes to install those huge sewage pipes, sometimes for making pedestals and god knows what. And after every dig, the roads are carpeted only to be unearthed again, much to the inconvenience of the people and few extra digits on the bill. A little bit of co-ordination and planning could save us a lot time, energy and money. But again, how can we ignore the farsightedness of our Government?
Mamta Didi on behest of the Sikkim Government inaugurated railway line to Sikkim. Praful Bhai got us the Airport. Some 2000 crores will be spent collectively on these projects. But the fact that most of intra-state highway is in terrible state is somehow unnoticed. The next project will be to have mini rail lines from every village to Rangpo and mini airports to fly us to Pakyong. How else could a person from some village in West Sikkim be able to enjoy these facilities that our Government so vehemently bestowed upon us?
Google “environmental implications of hydel projects in Sikkim” and you could find various studies on the matter, mostly suggesting that Rivers, environment, culture, forests and mountains of Sikkim will be completely and irreversibly destroyed, but that has not deterred our government, from committing itself to develop large number (42 on last count) of big hydropower projects, without much consultation with anyone. Someday, in our near future, when we Google “Sikkim”, all we will be able to see is a cobweb of high tension wires in the shape of our state. Our state will be reduced to huge tanks, tunnels and wires. This is our future. We have set our priorities wrong and our future generation will pay the price for these complacencies.
Cynicism is not the moral of this story. What we want is that the leaders who are elected by us and people who are appointed as office bearers understand the need of the hour. What we want is proper planning of everything that has anything to do with development of our society. We want growth and development that will sustain, not gimmick and definitely not at the cost of our future. We don’t want Chandrayaans as of now. Cater to the basic needs first.

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