Governing with head and heart

Mamata Banerjee is sweeping a new broom through old problems

by DIPTENDRA RAYCHAUDHURI

NO one, other than her sycophants, will claim that Mamata Banerjee is an excellent administrator. But her first month as Chief Minister has proved that the quality of governance does not depend solely on expertise but also on willingness to reach out to the people. The new Chief Minister is virtually changing the administrative pattern, coming up with utterly simple solutions to vexed problems. And they are working.
She has passed a Bill to give back land to those “unwilling” peasants of Singur, and even the Left decided not to oppose it. During the vote, the Left walked out of the House but in protest at not having had enough time to study the Bill properly.
Throughout her agitation against forcible acquisition of land, she had assured the farmers of Singur that if she was victorious in the election, she would return their land. She fulfilled that promise within three weeks of coming to power. It was the first Bill her government passed. So the acquisition of land for Tata Motors has been nullified, something that political circles thought an impossible task.
The new CM has also solved, for the time being, the vexed Gorkhaland problem, and that too by offering a not too different package from the previous Left government. An analysis of what the agitators got and what the government conceded is redundant, for the CM has offered nothing new except for a committee that will look into the demand of additional territory for the new Hill Council that will come into being in the future. What is important is that the hill people have welcomed it with open minds. Banerjee could achieve this because she is not treating the Gorkhaland agitators as enemies, like the previous government, but as co-travellers entitled to dignity and feeling. This has changed the scenario radically. Her handling of the Gorkhaland problem is the best example of how governance by heart can better even the old principles of good administration.

Crying for funds: A loan of Rs 200,000 cr
WEST Bengal has a loan burden of about Rs 200,000 crore. Asim Dasgupta, the former Finance Minister and a reputed professor of economics, claims that the figure shot up owing to higher wages for government employees in the wake of the Sixth Pay Commission. He maintains that it is not insurmountable. But his successor, Amit Mitra, who is a former chief of FICCI, feels immediate action is needed to avoid a crisis. The current revenue negative balance of the State is Rs 17, 056.79 crore. Again, 31% of revenue earned is going to debt servicing. Add to this the huge burden of salaries and it becomes clear that the State has very little left over for development expenses.
The Plan size has increased over the years, but the State has failed to match the Central grant with its own resources and thereby lost portions of assistance. It has rightly argued that there are hindrances (for example, coal cess) but until these things are changed, it will have to work within the present parameter. The Centre is extending help to the new government, with some sort of package being worked out. A moratorium on interest payment for a year or two is being discussed. A special grant for minorities and adivasi development is also under consideration. Discussions with the Planning Commission may result in more money pouring in for education and health. However, the State has to perform much better than in recent years to get a real boost.

Banerjee has announced lowering of the income ceiling for entitlement to cheap food grains for the people of junglemahal, the Maoist belt. She has ensured regular presence of doctors in hospitals and employees in government offices by surprise visits to these places. She has formed a committee to examine the cases of all political prisoners so that those falsely implicated or kept in prison on frivolous grounds can be freed. She has announced 45,000 new posts for teachers, 2,000 more hospital beds and a few other similar measures.
According to sources, a lot of such measures are awaited. For their implementation, the State government needs money. The accrued loan of Left rule amounts to about Rs 200,000 crore. The economic health of the State is not stable but the new Chief Minister is confident that she will be able to manage a large sum of money from the Central government.
Her biggest success is that she has been able to restrain her partymen from going for revenge against the Communist cadre who, in many places, terrorized people. In West Midnapore district, which was a CPI (M) stronghold and where the Opposition could not even dream of a meaningful election contest, 10 skeletons have been dug out of the ground until now. Almost all the bodies have been claimed by people who had lodged missing person cases with regard to relatives. One thing that is common to all these dead people: they were Trinamool Congress workers. Some of the bodies were found near a house which belonged to a Minister in the former government, Sushanto Ghosh. He is said to have masterminded the reign of terror in the district. Even after this, the Trinamool and Congress workers of the area have remained more or less calm. In some other places, there have been clashes. But, considering the tide of revenge that could have launched, they are insignificant.
YET, the cry for justice is reverberating through West Bengal. The new Chief Minister has promised investigation of political and custodial killings. The Governor, in his speech, stressed this issue. A sense of relief is being felt by many people, who are mustering the nerve to demand justice for relatives killed in the past several years. Though Jyoti Basu had the deserved reputation of a great leader, his regime saw brutal attacks by the police and his partymen under the blind eye of the government. His successor’s regime attained even more notoriety. So a thorough investigation of all such cases and uncovering of skeletons in the Left cupboard is imperative.

She had assured the farmers of Singur that if she was victorious in the election, she would return their land. She fulfilled that promise within three weeks of coming to power.

Good governance will mean tactful handling of affairs and creating a new dynamics of administration that will not be centred at Writers’ Buildings. Banerjee has also promised that no force will be used against a democratic agitation. Yet, it is still too early to judge her performance. She has to overcome three major hurdles: the ever-deteriorating work culture, the Maoists, and the lack of able assistants. How she will cope with these problems will determine her future as administrator.