Along Longkumer
Consulting Editor
Can DAN III be efficient and responsive?
Readers may be wondering what this is all about. If you have been reading the post-poll lobbying for Ministerial berths and portfolios, you would probably have come across some of these terms—‘plump’, ‘bright’ or even a ‘handsome’ portfolio, not exactly something that is associated with government formation or statecraft. Supporters of successful candidates who fought the recent Assembly Election have been writing in to get the attention of party bosses, especially the Chief Minister and trying to get across their demand by resorting to the most creative of terms—plump being the most popular, although health-wise we know that this is not something that anyone would like himself or herself to be associated with. But when it comes to power and pelf—plump and pink it is that the ruling party MLAs wants, in terms of portfolio to be allocated to them (and their die-hard supporters).
The recent wrangling over power and office is a worrying sign, despite whatever people may say about the nature of mandate, which is an absolute majority no doubt, but nevertheless, this has led to an equally jumbo sized ministry. A resource crunch state like Nagaland cannot afford to support the fancies and appetites of power hungry politicians. This may be good for the ruling politicians but is not good for our financial health or for that matter for governance. Also, all this is indicative of the fact that people in power want the use of the State exchequer to ‘make hay while the Sun shines’ for personal gains. And even as this column is being written, there are reports that government employees are not being paid their salary on time. This is apparently because there is no money left with the government.
And now with such a big plump government, State finances will surely not improve. To begin with, there is likely to be extravagant spending on acquiring expensive SUVs for our newly appointed Ministers, Parliamentary Secretaries and MLAs. Other expenses spend out of public money will go towards making life comfortable for our political class as they settle down to fulfill the so called ‘people’s mandate’. Perhaps a legitimate question: will the new NPF led government deliver on the development promises made out in the election manifesto? While Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio may have done enough to ensure the political stability that he needs to run the government, the question that perhaps we would like to ask is whether it can be an efficient, responsive and responsible government.
Going by the way the Chief Minister has had to allocate portfolio to everyone i.e. to all the 40 MLAs of the NPF DAN Alliance, it is going to be nightmare for the bureaucracy in Nagaland. Unless the Chief Minister takes all out measure to discipline and coordinate his team members, the present arrangement is a recipe for confusion, overspending, incoherence and inefficiency. And this is not what Nagaland wants at this juncture. People want healthy finances, good-efficient governance and development back on the fast track. It is unlikely that a government as big as the one put in place is going to benefit people of Nagaland.
In a democracy, the key question is: Is the citizen the focus of the government? Is everything being done on his behalf, for his benefit? The honest answer is no, meaning that democracy is a sham in Nagaland. It is unfortunate that in the context of Nagaland the idea of good governance does not cut ice either with the politician or the majority of our public. Nevertheless the bottom line is that we need less government and more governance. At a time when we actually needed downsizing of government and restructuring of departments, the opposite is taking place. Whether the new jumbo sized government will take-off from the ground at all remains to be seen.
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