BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh is going to turn 64 on Sunday. It was on November 1, 1956 that Madhya Pradesh came into existence. It was divided on November 1, 2000, when Chhattisgarh was carved out of it. Free Press sought views of distinguished people on how state has done so far and what remains to be done.
Excerpts.
Realise our potential
Agriculture is the mainstay of our state. We need to realise our irrigation potential. This should our top priority. Also, there should be emphasis on research into high-yielding varieties of crops and modern farm techniques. We are at par with Punjab, as far wheat production goes. We need to boost our paddy production, too. As for industrialisation, I feel that many projects fail to takeoff because of lack of infrastructure, uninterrupted power supply and ease of doing business. We need to focus on these problem areas. Industrialisation boosts the service sector and generates employment. Madhya Pradesh can also become a popular tourist destination. But for that, we need to market our places of tourist interest. We need more ROBs and flyovers. Also, we can develop Bhopal and Indore ad IT hubs. When Hyderabad and Pune can become IT centres, why not our cities?
- KS Sharma, former chief secretary
Ensure quality edu to all
Madhya Pradesh holds 31st Rank out of 35 States/UTs in the quality of elementary education (Class I-VIII), as per U-DISE data (GoI). This is despite the fact that State Government’s claim of making MP. into an ‘Education Hub’ i.e. corporatised education. The only way out of this backwardness: Establish fully state-funded Free Common School System based on neighbourhood schools from pre-school to class XII in order to provide education of equitable quality without any discrimination but which is governed democratically in decentralised participative mode – children of the Chief Minister and the landless Tribal/Dalit labourer could study in the same classroom. No advanced country in the world, capitalist or socialist, has ever succeeded in educating its children through a privatised school system. Madhya Pradesh can’t be an exception to this historical experience.If this policy is not adopted, MP would continue to be ranked low even on its 128th Foundation day.
- Prof Anil Sadgopal, educationist and former dean, Faculty of Education, Delhi University
Divide MP into 3 states
I feel Madhya Pradesh should be divided into three smaller states. That would give a tremendous boost to development and make the life of the common man better. Planning should be decentralised. Areas from which minerals or forest wealth is extracted are devoid of the fruits of development because the revenue generated from there is used in the entire state. That makes development unbalanced. The Tribal areas are rich in natural wealth but they are lagging behind other parts in terms of parameters of development. This should change.
- Dayaram Namdev, Secretary, Gandhi Bhawan Trust
Free society of hunger, corruption
I don’t think broad roads, more airports or bigger rail network constitute development. I feel that a society that is free from addiction, corruption, hunger, violence, unemployment and crime is a society that can be called developed in the real sense of the term. We should try to build such a society. And the people have a major role to play in this. I know of a village in the Narsinghpur district of Madhya Pradesh from where not a single case was registered in the police station for 10 years. MP has a huge Adivasi population. They should get their land rights. Justice should be done to them.
- SN Subba Rao, social activist
Done well in arts & culture
Madhya Pradesh has done quite well in the field of art and culture. The Bharat Bhavan is a shining example of this. As for the other sector, I feel that there are problems with our planning. Urbanisation is happening but it is haphazard. Cities are growing fast but not in a planned manner. Things are not good on the health front. Look how the victims of the 1984 gas tragedy in Bhopal are still suffering. We also need to take care that industrialisation does not lead to more tragedies like this. The situation is not very good in the education sector.
- Manzoor Ahtesham, author
Pride of Madhya Pradesh
Nobel Laureate- Kailash Satyarthi
Ex-RBI Governor- Raghuram Rajan
Scientists- Narendra Karmarkar, Gwalior, Anil Kakodkar, Barwani
Chief Justices of India- J S Verma, Ramesh Chandra Lahoti
Bollywood- Ashok Kumar, Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar, Johnny Walker Salim Khan, Jaya Bachchan, Govind Namdev, Rajeev Verma, Javed Khan Annu Kapoor, Salman Khan, Raghuvir Yadav, Arjun Rampal, Swanand Kirkire, Ashutosh Rana, Divyanka Tripathi, Palak Muchhal
Hindi, Urdu literature- Ramkumar Verma, Gajanan Madhav Muktibodh
Harishankar Parsai, Sharad Joshi, Rajneesh (Osho), Nida Fazli, Rahat Indori, Kaif Bhopali
Journalists- Makhanlal Chaturvedi, Nathuram Premi, Mrinal Pande, Prabhash Joshi
Politics- BR Ambedkar, Shankar Dayal Sharma, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Madhavrao Scindia, Arjun Singh
Cricket- Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, Mushtaq Ali, Chandu Sarwate, Amay Khurasiya, Narendra Hirwani, CK Nayudu, Sanjay Jagdale, Narendra Menon, Sudhir Asnani, Rahul Dravid
Hockey- Roop Singh, Ahmed Khan, Aslam Sher Khan, Shivendra Singh, Shankar Laxman
