The declaration by the chief minister, Okram Ibobi, who also holds the additional portfolio of finance, yesterday on the floor of the Assembly that the state government would not be in a position to implement pay hike for its employees with retrospective effect as in the case of Central government employees is unfortunate but nonetheless the stark reality of the state that the striking employees must come to terms with. They should console themselves that at least they would be getting a raise at a par with Central government employees as per the recommendation of the 6th Pay Commission from April 1. True this is not good enough, but not too bad either. This is a time the embattled government employees should retrospect and remind themselves of what one great orator and statesman, American President, John F. Kennedy, once famously said in one of this speeches: “Ask not what the nation can do for you; Ask what you can do for the nation.”

The fact is, as the chief minister pointed out, the additional Rs. 200 crore needed to pay arrears is simply not available with the government, as the Planning Commission of India was not willing to approve a proposal of the state government to have the 13th Finance Commission take care of this additional expenditure in its forthcoming award for the state. All the state government can do under the circumstance is to divert developmental funds to meet the expense, and this, no sane person will agree, would be a wise decision. Such a move will condemn the already devastated state to sink further into the abyss, and make it more impossible for it to think of finding its own legs to stand on again. Moreover, developmental funds are for everybody in the state, not just government employees, to divert it to employees’ benefit alone would be unfair to the rest. No doubt there are larger issues of regional disparities involved, and the Central government did not address this problem adequately when it decided to give its own employees a substantial salary hike. While richer states would find it less difficult to keep pace, it should have known poorer states would be in trouble. Perhaps this is an indication that it is time for another rethink of the 7th Schedule of the Indian constitution.

Given what is there in the statute book, the fact is, the macro factors that determine the shape of the Indian government’s economic and political policies are beyond individual states to control, much less peripheral states like Manipur. Therefore, what is prudent for the striking employees is to begin thinking in terms of getting the best out of what is available. Persisting on this strike despite the facts on the ground would amount to the tantrum of the spoilt brat who insisted the elephant should be made to walk through the hookah pipe in the Manipuri proverb: Tongjei marilda shamu lit-hallu. Already the strike has caused much hardship to everybody and not just the strikers themselves. Let it not continue any further so as to allow everybody to get back to normal but serious business of life.

There is another reason why everybody, in particular the state government employees should remind themselves of Kennedy’s profound statement although delivered rhetorically and profusely dramatised as any political speech can be. The idea of giving back to the state at least as much as has been taken from it is not merely about a standardised philanthropy or patriotism. It is in the last analysis, a vested interest of the individual citizen – or an enlightened self interest as some would even put it. In fact, in the lingo of political economy, the notion of the “State” itself is represented as the aggregated vested interest of its entire subjects. A healthy State is for the benefit of everybody under its umbrage. To make it healthy, it is also essential for everybody not to shrink back into individual shells to think of only taking all they can from the state. Everybody must also abandon some of this myopic self centeredness to look beyond. Everybody must begin to see that it is in his or her own interest ultimately to give back to the society. The government employees can begin my pledging to make the departments they have been given responsibility of, healthy. Let our schools, colleges, hospitals, public health centres and other essential services be back on rail. Many people think robbing the state institutions to enrich themselves is justified. Let them think again for they are only robbing from the common future. The environment their own children and grandchildren would be in tomorrow will be determined by what they rob or return to the society today.