The myth of unnayan

It would be a matter of great satisfaction to be able to believe our leaders claiming a surge of development in the country. But the ground realities straight away belie those claims. What we see around us are the ugly signs of decay and decrepitude, not the glimmer of a society in the throes of development. Our century old railway, the country's biggest real estate owner, was stopped because of its bankruptcy. Our ailing airlines went aground rather unceremoniously and even now it is on the verge of collapse. Our power generation plummets to all time low throwing entire agriculture sector in doldrum. There is countrywide outcry for water, electricity and fertiliser. Is it what our leaders want us to believe as a country afloat on developmental surge?

Our leaders have done little to move beyond the fantasies and address the prevailing realities. Instead they continue to indulge in weaving out the fantasia and parroting ad infinitum the myth of unnayan. Our power wielders have, if at all, a very myopic view of development thinking, perhaps, an odd culvert repairing or making a stretch of road to be a great feat of development in this country. They do constitute developmental work of sorts but development itself in its wider context has a civilisational connotation subsuming in it not only the developments of the means of material wellbeing but also the developments of human qualities and values.

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What kind of polity or society are we indeed living in? Isn't it one that is corrupt to its hilt and rotten to its core? Such an entity seldom develops for corruption and development do not go together. Here is, however, a pretension for its development -- thanks to the efforts under the auspices of international monetary agencies, the world body itself and, of late the NGOs. But here too the graft culture persists resulting in, at the best, a trickle down effect meant, in general, for the world's poors. Our leaders are fond of making a ballyhoo only around this phenomenon.

Our delinquent leaders must search their soul to find out if only the very basic needs of the hapless public have really been attended -- let alone the question of making available to it the true benefits of a developed society: uninterrupted utility services, fresh drinking water and essential healthcare.

In this country of abysmal poverty, inequality and moral degradation the myth of unnayan has since been exploded, notwithstanding a Goeblian tirade over it. Things seem to be withering away with no central power to hold them together -- a familiar characteristic of a self-serving consumption-oriented society. Things are falling apart, there are visible signs of economy collapsing, politics heading for a head-on clash, militancy and violence devouring the society. Yet here is no sign of going back from the precipice of impending danger.

The crisis of credibility of our leadership deepens as they sink deeper and deeper in their myopia, illusion and obsession grown out of mediocrity. This is not surprising in a country having more number of jewellery emporiums than book stalls. By now, by all appearances, the unnayan is already a devalued currency in the backdrop of a country gripped by multifaceted problems. The government must either turn these problems into possibilities or find another buzzword still enjoying currency. But then a new buzzword also is likely to be a devalued currency unless the burning issues of the country are addressed in their proper perspective. The issues topping the list are terrorism, militancy, corruption and consumerism of a few in one of the world's poorest countries. Unless these problems are addressed and eradicated the crisis of credibility is bound to persist even if myths after myths are built up by them.

Brig ( retd) Hafiz is former DG of BIISS.