Much has been reported about the recent blast at Tirupati and Chandrababu Naidu’s lucky escape (don’t know what else to call it).
Naidu is a popular leader, and populist. In my estimation, after a long long time, we have a politician who can be called a leader, a man with a vision and passion for his state. He had a mammoth task in his hands when took over as the Chief Minister of AP; the state coffers struggling to survive the impact of the “Rs.1.90 per kg of rice” measures of NTR.
Andhra Pradesh is one of the least developed states in India – mainly the result of chronic mismanagement by the Nizams of Hyderabad who ruled the region like medieval sultans until ceding power to the Indian government in 1948. Till recently, over half the population could not read or write and healthcare facilities were extremely limited.
A media savvy politician, he took a number of bold and calculated risks, one of them being the Janmabhoomi Programme which has paid off in more ways than one.
This Programme, to me, embodies the ideal format towards addressing the developmental needs of the state, viz. through community mobilization.
The Janmabhoomi programme envisages the beneficiaries themselves identifying the specific needs of the community, such as roads, electricity and school buildings. The beneficiaries are expected to contribute 30 per cent of the cost, either by way of money or labour and also supervise the work.
The Janmabhoomi addresses a variety of developmental issues such as : enrollment of children in schools, plantation programme, cleanliness and sanitation – malaria Control, construction of roads, AIDS control, welfare for the disabled, pollution control particularly in urban areas to name a few.
The reasoning is simple : if you want the Government to do something about your problems :
1. bring them to our attention
2. be prepared to contribute your time and effort to the cause, the Government will pitch in with the money and regulated effort
Lesson to the community : stop cribbing and do something. In this case, the people of the State are stake-holders and direct beneficiaries of the Programme.
Which I think is very fair.
Before you say, then what is the Government for? Why are we paying taxes? Think. Be reasonable. How much can the State Government do? How many small villages and towns can be completely covered by the Government?
As for NGOs and private non-profit initiatives, they are by definition limited in their area of operations and therefore, impact.
I believe the solution to sustained impact leading to development at a macro level, is community mobilization and involvement. Any amount of intervention by the Government / non-profit bodies can at best be limited and short-term, without the active participation of the community.
I do not have any inane statistics here to prove any point, but I instinctively believe that this is a model that all states with a welfare focus (this effectively excludes the BIMARU region) would do well to emulate.
Or, are the risks too high for other politicians to take?