Bengal poll results- some random thoughts

I would dare say that Bengal poll results has surprised me, although I hasten to add, thats its a pleasant surprise. There was an undercurrent of change, but that the undercurrent would soon convert itself into tidal wave was beyond my wildest dream. Honestly I had almost given up on ever being able to witness a West Bengal without leftist regime in my life, since the better part of my 32 years had been under their rule.

Why is it a pleasant surprise? Reasons are multiple. First, vindication of my own stance. While most educated middle class was busy villifying Mamata and her so called politics of driving out Nano and anti industrialization stance, I had a subtle feeling that what she was doing was absolutely correct in the long run. She was playing straight from her heart.

You may ask, what did the communists do wrong? They wanted industrialization and a prosperous Bengal. My answer, what were they doing for 30 years?

Let me put down in bullet points what wrong they did, and why this massive tidal wave of change has swept over Bengal.

• Statistics and hard data shows that number of industries closed in Bengal is substantially more in the past 30 years than anywhere else in the country. My note: Any unbiased observer go and have a look at the industrial belts in Naihati, Bujbuj, Howrah, Garfah, Durgapur, Asansol. Many of them have turned into wastelands or at best, the industries are languishing. Here is one study of noted economist Bibek Deb Roy on West Bengal' economic condition under leftist rule - http://www.slideshare.net/indicusanalytics/transforming-west-bengal-changing-the-agenda-for-an-agenda-for-change?type=document

My personal experience - there was an Usha company on Prince Anwarshah Road near the placed I spent much of my childhood. That factory got closed down owing to trouble by CITU, CPM's militant trade union. The land was sold and in its place a huge and sprawling shopping mall has come up, while the erstwhile labourers are dying out of starvation. There have been many cases of worker stravation, suicide of workers from closed down industries and workers vending small wares to earn a livelihood. So, you are talking of industrialization, very good, but what about existing industries which are getting closed down? Here is a quote from our industry champion chief minister who is a darling of media for being industry friendly - "We cannot revive those which are closed, we'll have to get new ones". Great, but what if the new ones get closed as well? Where is the effort to set fundamentals right?

• Health care and Education - These are two sectors which have been utterly destroyed by CPM. In every educational institution they removed men of honour and merit and put party loyalists, even if they were incompetent, noted examples being Santosh Bhattacharya, the vice chancellor of Jadavpur University, or Amlan Dutta. All noted educationists who did not speak for the party were sidelined and their place was occupied by party enthusiasts whose main job was to uphold the interest of party above everything else. Can any good emerge out of this? The result is, West Bengal's educational system is in shambles. In rural areas people don't have proper access to education and it is no surprising that school dropout rates are highest in West Bengal. The highest accolade is received by any teacher not for teaching but for being a loyal party supporter. No wonder then that literacy rate in West Bengal also absymally low. Same story goes with higher education - Universities like Calcutta, Jadavpur etc. are languishing for the lack of quality teachers and research workers as meritocracy has taken a backseat. The most dangerous trend in every school, college and university is the CPM and CITU supported workers union who controls the work culture.
• Same story goes with healthcare. Almost all Government hospitals are in the last stage of health themselves and their revival is next to impossible. Here also the main culprit in CITU supported failed work culture and deliberate mishandling and mismanagement of affairs by party loyal superintendants. Doctors and nurses in Government hospitals are an indifferent lot, indifferent to patients' woes. Patients normally lie on grounds instead of beds, because free beds come with a price tag, a neat sum to the local party leader. As regards private hospitals and nursing home, they are ubiqitous but nobody to do a quality check or regulate their affairs. So they happily fleece patients and even then provide the shoddiest treatment. No wonder then that people from Bengal flock to Tamilnadu, Andhra, Maharastra and Delhi for treatments
• There is party affiliation everywhere, even among administrative officials, so naturally if party loyalty can ensure them plum posts and promotions why would they work? more so if the work demands a fair and unbiased attitude. Result is Westbengal lacks in almost all projects, be it rural eletrification, rural roads, sanitation, primary healthcare, eucation or urban infrastructure
• Only one industry has prospered in the past 20 years in Bengal - that of real estate. If you have a piece of land, there is no guarantee that it will remain yours if the local leaders have their eyes on it. An entirely new class of exploitative entrepreneurs have come up called promoters - on who buys land and sets up apartments to sell them and make a killing. They have very close affiliation with party and police (in most cases partymen are promoters) and have enough muscle power to grab any land or settle any dispute in their own favour.

The election results were so because people are fed up with lies and deceit. They want tangible results, development. They are tired with a notoriously arrogant party with a bunch of hooligans and ruffians who have ruled Bengal with an iron hand for the past thirty years but still did nothing for its people and took them for granted.

Specifically mentioned these areas of failures as these are the backbones of any development but for the past thirty years these are most neglected areas. Most of the rural areas in Bengal are pathetically underdeveloped, infact that being a primary source of discontent, industrial belts have dried up leading to rapid urban poverty, while crores of central funds remain unutilized or gets into the pockets of corrupt officials and party functionaries. So where are the right fundamentals for development?

What can should be done?Answer is simple. Aggressive infrastructure building, both urban and rural. Only asset building can salvage the state from total disaster. While our chief minister stresses on industry creation, he should understand the simple fact that a horse comes first, not the cart. Unless infrastructure is available, there cannot be industrialization. Roads, railways, bridges, electricity, health and sanitation and education, these are the pillars on which any development drive should rest, not aggressive industrialization at the expense of the poor farmers and farmland. Industrialization is the end and not means, means to achieve it is capital expenditure, which will drive growth, build assets, provide jobs to millions and provide impetus to industrialization as well as entrepreneurship. If you provide rural folks with good roads, uninterupted power and water supply and proper education, they will find growth avenues for themselves. They themselves will create lot more opportunities. Again by roads I don't mean expressways in place of farmlands on which Mercedes can move at 120 kmph, but good rural roads with connectivity to national highways so that tractors and pick up vans with perishables can go to the markets fast.

I hope the neo lord Buddha and his followers are listening!