A Visionary.....Wanted!

Taibangamba Yumnam *

The highly successful people in the world are naturally leaders in their respective fields. If we want to realize any level of success in our own life, then we need to make the commitment towards becoming a leader inspires others to do the same. Leadership is about creating a strong foundation within ourselves that is able to support and nurture those that are weaker than we too are. We should focus on becoming great at what we love to do in life and then step up to the plate and inspire others to do the same.

Leadership is about creating a strong foundation within ourselves that is able to support and nurture those that are weaker than you are. People will only follow a vision that is perfectly clear in their minds, therefore, it’s extremely important that we possess a crystal clear vision of what we want to accomplish and the direction that we want to go. If our vision is the slightest bit blurry in our mind, then how can we expect to lead people if we don’t know where we ourselves are going.

We must be able to see the big picture and then develop the plan on how to get there because in order to lead people, we have to keep things simple enough for them to take action on and we must be able to convey our vision to the people. We need to always remember that vague goals will always produce vague results. Take any great leader throughout history and study their life and you will undoubtedly see a truly great visionary.

Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, guided his country through the most devastating experience in its national history the Civil War. He is considered by many historians to have been the greatest American president. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a voice for those that did not have one; he changed the course of history and is remembered for the cause he fought so hard for: equality for all. Thus every country or state in the world has witnessed a great Leader in their history who is worshiped by the people and inspires them in many ways.

Our Leaders such as the Chief Minister and his other Ministers in charge, who are responsible for the economic and the social development of the state must know their responsibilities and deliver their commitments on time, if at all our so called Sana Leibak has to dream of a land where it's people can live without the current chaos of unemployment and insurgency.

Our Leaders must have what it takes to be a Leader and also understand why they hold that position rather than focusing on how to steal the funds or the budgets that they receive from the central government. They should prioritize and utilize the funds which have been sanctioned for the various projects for the economic development of the region in the most efficient and effective way keeping the accounts and bills in records for reference. It is disappointing that less than 40% of the state's budget is actually utilized annually leaving the fate of the more than 24 lakh population into darkness.

Our Mantri babus must know that they are the ones who is driving the wheel of economic development of this trouble torn state and their children are growing up to be the next generation. The government system is at its worst; corruption is visible in most of the government departments. The aspiring civil service candidates are expected to pay 30 plus lakhs to get into the interview process after clearing the written exam of Manipur civil service examination, not to forget our most popular recruitment of Sub-Inspector and Assistant Sub-Inspector and its huge payment to confirm the selection.

The fact is that our Leaders are not concerned about the development of the state but are more concerned about the way their (Palace-like home) looks to the people and what kind of jewelry their wives wears to show their status in the society. The primary aim of every politician is to loot the funds of the state as much as possible and our Chief Minister stands at number one in this list who holds assets worth crores of rupees. He and his bunch of ministers have zero knowledge on how to lead the state into progression but they are highly specialized in demanding more and more forces from the central government only for their security purposes in the name of suppressing the insurgency. In other words they do not care about the peoples' security, every day a civilian is shot in some part of the state and the fake encounter cases increases with times.

They have no vision or the target to achieve for the welfare and the overall development of the state. Our state has not seen a true Leader or a Visionary in our lifetime, who will lead us into the progression and I doubt we will not, for years to come. In order that a state or a country should be developed the foremost requirement is the election of a good leader or a visionary who would take every steps to lead his state or country to prosperity, we have been missing this kind of a Leader from the times immemorial or at least for the last 50 years. Of course, the public's co-operation and support is mandatory by paying the taxes and all the bills in time, using public properties and government offices responsibly etc, forming of unnecessary organizations by the public should be stopped which mostly turns out be for monetary benefits.

We need an educated and an intelligent Leader who is able to communicate efficiently and effectively with the other Leaders of the country, he should be able to demand the required budget of the state and utilized it to the fullest for its development and not just misuse it by distributing amongst them (ministers). We all know that more than 50% of it is mis-utilized and the habit of feeding some percentage of it to the insurgents must be stopped immediately

Manipur needs a chief minister who is a visionary and a true leader who can influence his fellow ministers to follow the right path, who can dedicate his life to restore peace and prosperity in the region, who's voices and action would win the hearts of the people, who will create a new dawn for the new generations to breathe a fresh air without the present chaos, so let's keep hoping....after all it's better late than never.