“Politics is for People”
By Dr. D.K. Giri, Director, Schumacher Centre
Last week I wrote about the mismatch between politics and development, citing the specific example of Mohammadi, a tehsil in Uttar Pradesh. There are many such examples in the country where high political activism sits comfortably with poor development. But the other side of the story is that, if development is put on the political agenda, then progress is quicker. Also I must add that it is the state (political leadership in a democracy) which is the principal actor in the development processt. Some would argue that the state should be the facilitator, it should rollback in the face of Globalisation and reposition itself as enabler or facilitator.
Only last week, the award given by Economic Times to the Chief Minister of Bihar Sri Nitish Kumar proves the contrathesis that in India that Development driven Politics is viable in a society torn by caste, religion and ethnicity. The award was for the “best reformer of the year”. This was for turning the state of Bihar around in governance and development. In his acceptance speech, Mr. Nitish Kumar said, ‘The award goes to hundreds of people working in Bihar to change things and they have dispelled the doubt that Bihar was ungovernable or development in Bihar was unthinkable. The state of Bihar which used to be one of the laggard states has registered 11.5% growth, more than the national average. This is remarkable progress.
The role of state is crucial in the development process. The civil society organizations, the professional NGOs, the CSR of the business sector will have impact only if the state is development oriented creating a conducive atmosphere for other players to make their contributions. So, one can win in politics by putting development issues in the centre stage which do not whip up mass frenzy. The old style politics of creating mass hysteria should be history, and the ‘new politics’ should deal with progress, peace and harmony.