‘Mann’ of the moment

Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann who rode to a landslide victory in Punjab will have his hands full with a host of issues to be tackled urgently. The mainly agrarian state sits on a mountain of debt which spiraled during the last five years of Congress rule. The state’s total liability is more than 50 per cent of its GDP. It represents 31% of all states taken together. In fact, its liabilities were outgrowing its revenue i.e., 37% to 31% during the last five years. It remains to be seen if the AAP government, first to be installed in a major state, will be able to keep its promise to offer the plethora of freebies to the populace, notwithstanding the huge debt burden.

The AAP government will also be judged by its performance on employment generation which currently stands at 8% against the national figure of 7.2%. A state which is primarily agrarian, has seen almost no induction of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) during the post-liberalisation era, mainly due to apprehensions pertaining to resurgence of militancy which raged during the 1980s to 1990s. Instead of advancing towards industrialization, the State has regressed as several industries, especially textiles, pharma and bicycles, have made an exit during the last 30 years. No wonder then that youth get attracted to the consumption of drugs and deal with it on a large scale. A policy to rid the state of narco-traffic and to generate employment will be awaited with bated breath by those who have voted Mr Mann’s party to power.

Even though Punjab has done exceptionally well in terms of production of food grains— mainly wheat and rice—it has come at a price. It tops the states in India in exploitation of groundwater which has led to soil salinity and the threat of desertification looms large over the state. It can take pride in the fact that it ranks as the 7th gross producer of wheat in the world and generates the third largest marketable surplus after Canada and Australia. Overexploitation of groundwater is attributed to free power for nearly 14 lakh pumps which deplete the subsurface liquid with unnecessary efficiency, causing excessive load on the power grid and on water resources. It would be interesting to see how the AAP government resolves the dilemma of supplying free power in a state where the commodity is overused besides causing huge wastage of water.

The Mann government inherits the vexatious issue of extension of jurisdiction of the territory for the BSF from 13 km to 50 kms from the previous Congress government. The Charanjit Singh Channi government had criticized the decision as a violation of the state’s rights in a federal structure as well as an attempt to rule a state by proxy.

With 83 of the 92 AAP MLAs being newcomers, the party may experience hiccups in dealing with governance. But inexperience is as much an asset as a liability in politics. It is hoped the Mann government will have the goodwill of the people on its side due to its corruption-free image and the good governance model of Delhi.