Jharkhand govt should act on basic issues: Experts

jamshedpur: the jharkhand state has moved forward into the second year of its existence. but its government needs to "go back to the basics" in the second year. novel plans, surplus budget and stable government, all are fine. independent experts maintain the government ought to concentrate and act on the core issues, like drinking water, education and law and order to actually take the state forward in the second year year."safe drinking water, firewood and education should be the top priority. these are the three main issues, rest is window-dressing," observes entrepreneur-cum-management guru, gautam mukherjee. "the government must provide safe drinking water in all the villages. the rural populace should have firewood. the dropout rates for boys and girls in the tribal areas of the state are 87 per cent and 82 per cent respectively," mukherjee points out and adds: "education is the most potent weapon to battle corruption and bureaucratic apathy". mukherjee is a member of the xlri's team preparing the vision for the state for the planning commission. "the marandi government has formulated a very good industrial policy. the decision on unbundling of the power sector is also a step in the right direction. power is the biggest enabler for industrialisation," he says. some, however, feel the bjp-led government has "squandered" the first year. "i see no change after the creation of jharkhand. laloo's bihar appears better than marandi's jharkhand," says social activist dinesh mishra. the law and order situation has not improved in the state and a bus is looted on ranchi-patna highway almost everyday, he says. the politicians and the bureaucrats, mishra asserts, have not learnt from their previous mistakes. "now is the time for action. there have been enough announcement and foundation laying ceremonies. we need to have time-bound programmes, he says". the minister, quips prem chand of the free legal aid committee here, need to learn the basics. "at times, it's hard to make out whether it's the minister or leader of opposition. the government has faced more threats from its allies than the opposition in the last one year," he says.