Sunday, March 26, 2023
Editorial

Political goals

Our state has had its good and bad times. Its deep entrenched and intrinsic wisdom gave her pride of being an enriched people. But lately scientific knowledge and technological strides have re-fashioned citizens’ lifestyle that has undergone sea change. New political thought process and birth of capitalism-soaked economy have together thrown up new challenges. Economic polarization and wanton precipitation of wealth and assets has followed. Ill-addressed transition from agro-based society to a high end capitalistic social order has left indelible marks, by way of concentration of wealth into the hands of a select class. Majority of our home grown top layer capitalists are an entirely new lot, remotely entrenched in negative quadrant of our social ethos that smacks of aristocratic tendencies. This does not auger well for an infant democratic state? Because a huge and widespread middle and low income groups are being consumed as fuel for heating up the glittering yet dangerous capitalistic black pot. And all this to sustain the cobweb of unbalanced and lopsided capitalistic social order. Such an arrangement poses a grave threat to the basic politico-economic equilibrium, vitiating the system top-down. The challenge facing us is how to arrest and eliminate exploitative economic system in the next quarter of 21st century without denting citizens’ political aspirations? An answer may not be simple. Our society is currently in dilemma. Unfulfilled political aspirations and economic requirements are poised at cross purposes. Both are essential and fundamental to the citizens. Each phenomenon, however, exerts quantitatively equal thrust on the other. That is why after each spell of politically sensitive agenda the economic bandwagon knocks our doors. Whether we accept it or not, this is a perpetual reality since decades back. No denying the fact that vested interests have been exploiting the indispensability of our economic needs to suppress the political aspirations. This so often generates social instability by defeating genuine political aspiration of citizens. Economic agenda should not be at cross purposes with legitimate political aspirations. Yet these twins cannot be compartmentalized either. Discussing and strategizing economy the same way as political issues is primarily important. So can we strategize economy for say the next 25 years? Could it be an all inclusive corporate sector catering alike to the needs of our rural and urban economies with a massive withdrawal of non-contributing government departments, in favour of private sector? Or else, a corporate sector that creates those benign corporate entities and manufacturers who manufacture products and sell services affordable to the huge middle class consumer segment of our society with equal thrust on export centered economy. If so, we then must envisage an economy that focuses on rational wage system based on real time cost of living and a wider base for tax collection while exploiting our natural resource base. Citizens across rural and urban geographies must then find sufficient job opportunities around. Quality services at affordable price across healthcare institutions, educational institutions, eateries, public transport, communication and sports, all in private sector, must be basic and forthcoming. For achieving such goals our citizens’ think tank must invest time and wisdom in tune with the 21st century requirements. This needs socio-economic effort across spectrum. Prospective entrepreneurs must integrate their economic ideas in tune with genuine political aspirations of citizens. A robust economic regulatory mechanism based on reliable information technology system is the key. Human greed and lust for illegal money should end. Secret, unholy and unclean vested human interference in fiscal affairs needs to be kept at bay. Sincerity of thought and intent is, however, still a factor. Unleashing economic agenda to decimate political aspirations should cease to be the goal of political elite and their support system. Again, political entities should not decimate economic road map using weapon of political agenda. In nutshell, a balanced yet vibrant liberal economy that keeps the common ordinary citizen as its core responsibility, without prejudice to his/her political aspiration, should replace the elitist capitalist economy representing nothing but an anti-thesis of our political aspirations. Perhaps this could be the founding stone of our consistent yet crystallized political goals.

error: