Road accidents in the State, especially the Greater Imphal area, continue to be on a steep climb. Twenty years ago, a single fatality in a road accident would have raised public alarm. Thirty years ago, such an accident would have been the horrified talk of the town for months. Today, there is never a single day somebody or the other is not killed or injured in road accidents. Sometimes there are several accidents in a single day. The troubling thought is, this scenario is hardly likely to improve in the coming days, and in fact, if nothing is done, it can only worsen. There are several very obvious reasons for this. The most visible of these is the quantum increase in the number of vehicles on the road. The shape of the economy of the place being what it is, while a greater section of the population remains trapped in poverty, there has also emerged a new elite constituting largely of those who have garnered the cream of government jobs or else have managed to cosy up to the powers that be to be absorbed into the infamous patron client nexus of government authorities and contractors. The numerical growth of this class has also led to a reciprocal increase in the number of cars on the streets. All this would have been fine had the phenomenon been accompanied by civilisational moderation, largely in the shape of internalised awe and respect for rule of law. This however is more often than not prominent by its absence in any culture of the nouveau-riche anywhere. Sadly, the government has also not stepped in to ensure this is not so.
The idea of a civilisational moderation ensuring smooth absorption of the challenges of modernity into a given society is not to be taken lightly. So many scientists have contended convincingly that civilisation-bearing populations have better chances of survival and this need to be paid heed to. An interesting experiment in 2002, although it was not about survival chances, did show how the idea of archetypal civilisational values matter in the smooth transition of a society to modernity. A study by American economists Raymond Fisman and Edward Miguel, demonstrated how integrally linked cultural grounding and development is. The study takes into account records of illegal parking tickets earned by diplomatic vehicles from different countries outside the United Nations headquarters in New York. The figures seem hardly a coincidence. The two economists found out that diplomats from countries that rank high on the Transparency International corruption index piled up huge numbers of unpaid tickets, whereas diplomats from countries that rank low on the index got barely any at all. For instance, between 1997 and 2002, they found out, the UN Mission of Kuwait picked up 246 parking violations per diplomat. Diplomats from Egypt, Chad, Sudan, Mozambique, Pakistan, Ethiopia and Syria also committed huge numbers of violations. By contrast, not a single parking violation by a Swedish diplomat was recorded. Nor were there any by diplomats from Denmark, Japan, Israel, Norway or Canada. The reason for this as per their conclusion is, human beings are not merely products of economics, but are also shaped by cultural and moral norms. “If you are Swedish and you have a chance to pull up in front of a fire hydrant, you still don’t do it. You are Swedish. That’s who you are.”
In Manipur, people would even park on top of a bridge or flyover. This is where the difference is and one that would account for the rising number of road accidents on our streets. Each vehicle owner thinks he owns the street and would drive as he pleases, honking away to squeeze between vehicles, or drive on the wrong side to overtake, putting in the process everybody else in danger. This can hardly be said to be a manifestation of a memory of a civilisational past, where everybody respected the greater common good, and willingly put himself within the limits set by the law so that everybody benefits. Time to imbibe this lesson once again, and time also for the government to make sure everybody learns this lesson by reviving and strictly enforcing rule of law.
Leader Writer: Pradip Phanjoubam