“That Government is Best which Governs Least” as righty said by Henry David Thomas is
the best strategy in my view to be adopted by a Chief Minister of any state or Prime Minister
of a country. Before coming to the problems and its solutions, let me begin first by
highlighting the key aspects of a “Good Governance” and my approach will be based on
these parameters. There is no doubt and debate on the matter that Democracy is the best form
of any government. However, it is to be understood that simply electing our representatives is
not the complete form of Democracy. It does not take much time when governance becomes
the privilege of these representatives and leads to misgovernance. We need a “participatory
democracy” where the voices of masses are heard and the policies must be based on the
welfare of helpless and needless people rather than keeping in mind the benefit of few chunks
of people. If I need to put it in 5 letters, I will follow the policy of SMART government-
Simple, Moral, Accountable, Responsive and Transparent. I agree to some criticizers that
these are ideal cases and look good only on the paper; however, I strongly believe that all we
need is just a simple point- “Political Will” and everything will move on in favour.
Assam is one of the prominent states of India and since independence; it has been facing
political and social issues both internally (in terms of insurgency of ULFA) and externally
(the Border issue with Bangladesh). Whether it is illegal immigration, migration of people in
search of better education, inefficient utilisation of natural resources, and rampant corruption
among the government officials etc. all have to be checked by a collective effort of the
Government and those who are being governed.
Let me then begin by taking into consideration the problem of illegal migrants. We must
understand the impact it has on the residing people. There is also too much pressure on the
natural resources which is available for the people of a particular area. Very recently, we saw
the violence in three districts of Assam which was believed to be a cause of illegal
Bangladeshi migrants. As said by the leader of Asom Gana Parishad, because of the increase
in the proportion of these illegal migrants, there is a growing aggressiveness among these
people and they sometimes clash with the local people for controlling the available resources.
As a Chief Minister, I will immediately discuss the severity of these issues with the Home Minister
and plan for sealing the Border. It is only the reluctancy of the Union Government
and the State Government and probably the vote bank politics of the State Government that
leads to such type of situation in the state. I will not wait for the next violence to take its
shape but will ensure that it is done and will also prepare a plan with the help of locals to
identify those immigrants and will take them to legal course of action.
The other problem which needs the serious attention of State Government is that of Education
sector. The literacy rate of Assam is 73.18% which is even below the national average (when
the national average is not too impressive!!!). Hence, we need a collective effort to improve
upon it from the basic level i.e right from the Primary level to the Secondary level. We find
most students migrate to other cities for higher education. Last year, our education minister
Himanta Biswas Sarma requested the HRD ministry to set up IIIT and IISER but nothing has
been done so far. It was a good step on the part of education minister of the state. But,
considering the fact that the central government lacks political will, as a CM, I will prepare a
plan and try to retain these students by collaborating with the research institutes to set up its
branch it my state. I want to apply this approach as my first step. This is because if I can get
few good institutes, I can attract many students from other cities too. This will in response
will reduce my dependency on the central government for funds. Also, I will try to allocate
more percentage of GDP in the education sector as I believe proper education can itself solve
most of the problems. For this purpose, I will improve on other sectors to gain more funds.
Assam is one of the gifted states on the ground of natural resources. Only thing we need to
understand that the state government is unable to attract investors. However, the primary
requirement for this is the “Infrastructure” which is purely on the hands of any state
government. So, even though I have no control over the geographic location of my state, but I
can surely improve the infrastructure of my state which will lead to the creation of investment
friendly climate in the state. Just like the “Vibrant Gujarat Summit”, I will create similar type
of Summit on a large scale with the investors of India and will make them understand the
importance of investing in Assam. At first, I will have to provide them the required incentives
to set up their industries or invest in the existing ones. Other areas where I can play to get
more investment in the economy is Tourism.Even though Assam is one of the naturally
gifted places, we are not able attract as many as other states like Rajasthan in “Tourism”. I
will try to promote it throughout the length and breadth of the country and promise to the
visitors their safe visit to the state. When tourism is a growing field, we should keep in mind
its impact on the economy. In some country like Monaco, their main source of income is
tourism. However, I will make it a point that tourism does not lead to degradation of its
unique culture as is the case with some tourist places like in Andaman and Nicobar Island.
On a further note, I would like to discuss about the growing menace of corruption. Assam
government is no good in this aspect. It is a general perception that most of these government
officials evade the funds meant to be invested in infrastructure, health and education only for
their personal gains. However, if I say that I will be an honest CM and will not allow any of
such activities to be in place in my government, I will be making a hollow statement because
people have probably lost their faith on the political class or their credibility has surely
decreased. Hence, to revive this faith, I will adopt the policy of “Right to Recall” and “Right
to Reject”.
On conclusion, I would try to create a link between the government and People. The political
class must understand that it is for the “Aam Junta” that we have to work and not for the
fulfilment of their political ambition. As far as economy is concerned, it is like a cycle, I will
take into account all together and not target any particular sector to become self sustained.
This is like a chain, even if any single unit is not working, it may destabilize the entire
system. Hence, I will improve infrastructure, look into investment, fund more into the
education sector etc. and only then we as a citizen can be proud of our state and will serve as
an example for others. Let’s take the initiative!!!
