Admirers of the new government may not be inspired by its performance during its first five months. Its functioning during the period has been devoid of the dynamism newly elected governments usually start exhibiting soon after taking over. Lack of dynamism has created an impression of the new regime having been overtaken by inertia. A close look at the past five months developments reflect this trend. First take the political aspect of the functioning.

The ruling party had, in its election promises, announced that upon coming to power it would take action on the chargesheet it had submitted to the President against the former BJP government. The chargesheet contained serious allegation of corruption, nepotism and land grabbing.

Virbhadra Singh declared at a party meeting on April 17 that he did not believe in framing cases against BJP leaders and workers. He, however, said that those who were found guilty of having indulged in corrupt practices would not be spared. “The government is looking into all such allegations.” His government had asked the Vigilance to hold an inquiry into the allegations leveled in the chargesheet against the former Dhumal government.

There is no indication about the progress of the Vigilance probe that seems to be going at a snail’s pace. The government itself took action in two cases: Cancelling of lease of the land given at throwaway price by the BJP government to its favourite Baba Ramdev’s company; and, taking over of the vast Annandale grounds from the chief minister’s son Anurag Thakur-headed Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association. The Annandale grounds which had been under the use of the Army for many decades was handed back to the Army which had been its long term leaseholder before it was given to the Cricket Association.

Obviously showing lack of faith in the Vigilance under the Congress government, Prem Kumar Dhumal has written to the Governor demanding “all allegations should be probed by a sitting Judge of the High Court in a time-bound manner.” One is not aware if he, when in power, had also got the allegations against the Congress leaders probed by a sitting High Court judge or confined himself only to get them probed by his own Vigilance.

The state Vigilance departments in the country have become the political instrument of the incumbent rulers to browbeat their opponents. This had happened in Punjab. On coming to power Capt. Amarinder Singh-led Congress government used the Vigilance to launch prosecutions against the Badals. When the Badals came to power, that very Vigilance department acted as its tool not only to help the Badals secure acquittal in the corruption cases it had earlier launched against them but also instituted corruption cases against Amarinder and his family members.

Take the development issue now. In their endeavour to capture or retain power, political parties recite the “development mantra”. They have also been doing so in Himachal Pradesh that is in dire need of development in the areas vital for its development.

The most important sector requiring speedy development is roads. These are in a deplorable condition. Carriers of civilisation, the roads are largely the mainstay of the hill state’s economy. Himachal is the country’s largest apple producing state. It is also emerging as the cement bowl of India. Thousands of trucks carrying the two commodities to other parts of the country cause huge wear and tear of roads, particularly the interior ones. Little was done under the BJP rule to improve the road network. Its condition continued to worsen.

The second important task needing concentrated attention is the social and welfare sector particularly education and health. The Centre and the states have also been laying great emphasis on their fast development. The Dhumal government used to take pride in claiming that under its rule Himachal had become the country’s one of the best performing state, particularly in education and health sectors.

The bogus claim of the best performing state in education was exposed by the Annual Status of Education Report-2012. The report released last February states that Himachal Pradesh, which was once rated high on the literacy front, almost next to Kerala, has taken a sharp dip in the learning levels during 2007-2012 (BJP rule). It revealed that the Class V students, who could read Class II level test, had gone down from 82.3 per cent in 2007 to 72.8 per cent in 2012. In the same period, the percentage of students in Class V, who could solve three digit problems, declined from 66.9 per cent to 48.7 percent.

If the mother’s health is poor, her children are destined to suffer acute ailments. This is the case with the financial health of Himachal Pradesh. It is in a very bad state, which is in turn adversely affecting its development. Populist announcements by successive governments without resorting to additional resource mobilisation have pushed the state’s economic health to a terminal stage. The formal Dhumal government was one of the main culprits for this state. During its regime, the debt, which was Rs, 21,241 crore on March 2008, is destined to cross Rs. 28,500 crore by 2013.

The Virbhadra Singh government will have to take major surgical operation on crucial fronts if it wants to bring the state out of its messy state. Notwithstanding the opinion of his detractors within and outside his party, Virbhadra Singh is viewed by the people as a well-intentioned chief minister, who wants to ensure the state’s speedy development. His being a mass leader with a large support base can help him in his endeavours. But if he fails to end the prevailing inertia in government functioning it will start losing goodwill. This will prove disastrous for the ruling party in 2014 Parliament poll for the state’s four seats. (IPA)