The query would trigger considerable concern among those committed to ensuring national security, unfortunately political factors will thwart an honest and comprehensive answer. Will the government muster the moral courage to spell out the extent to which defence-related “civil works” were impacted by the shortage of labour in the wake of demonetisation?
There are disturbing reports that when the cash crunch caused a large section of the labour force to return to their villages for mere “survival”, major projects like construction of roads in border areas, runways at airports, and accommodation complexes got derailed.
Such slow-downs have affected projects being executed by the Border Roads Organisation, Military Engineering Services and allied agencies that depend heavily on the general labour pool. It would be in larger national interest if a comprehensive survey was conducted so that now, when the negatives of the “note ban” are said to be waning, a special effort is made to accelerate construction activity.
Although, strictly speaking, in such matters time lost can never be “made up”. Given the reality that India’s infrastructure along the northern frontier has consistently lagged behind developments on the other side of the LAC, a four to six months dislocation cannot be taken lightly.
Reports from the “ground” point to a large number of migrant labourers having returned to their rural homes in UP, Bihar, West Bengal and Odisha because they found it impossible to carry on their daily lives when the cash dried up. Many of them were “deployed” in remote areas where no banks function — and talk of “plastic” or internet-activated “wallets” would arouse much amazement.
It would, however, require the government to abandon its political bombast to have a professional assessment undertaken. When the Prime Minister, finance minister and other ministers refuse to “recognise” the horror stories told by those who spent hours in queues at banks and ATMs in urban areas, the distress suffered elsewhere is not going to “register”.
And with officials, all down the line, now opting to toe the line dictated by their political masters, there could be a concerted attempt at covering up what those in political authority do not wish to “see”. It is so easy to “talk security” in terms of acquiring sophisticated weaponry, and making gung-ho statements about “gallant soldiers” allowing themselves to be martyred in defence of the nation: at times an all-weather motorable road is as powerful as a tank or howitzer in thwarting the evil designs of the adversary.
Yet members of the labour force that toil when constructing roads in “difficult” border areas are seldom seen as critical elements in the defence effort. Not for them any medals, or marching down Rajpath on Republic Day.