Recently questions regarding irregularities and misappropriation of public funds and resources have been alleged by persons and communities based on Right to Information disclosures. This once again reminds the public of the need to constantly question corruption that is based on well documented evidence. Without questioning the ongoing corruption, the health and well-being of Naga society is at risk of being eroded from within.
Corruption remains a primary concern in Nagaland. While it has evolved within the backdrop of continuous armed conflict over many generations, the fact remains that corruption and conflict often go hand in hand. Many times they fuel one another with power, money and greed. While armed conflict is overtly responsible for devastating human life, corruption perpetuates institutional violence that leads to society’s moral decay from within. Corruption is a lethal form of violence that garners strength through power imbalances, complicity and impunity that is embedded in the status quo.
The Naga situation is entrenched in a State structure rife with violence and corruption that only strengthens the opportunity for corruption to become the norm, and to assume an institutionalized character. The level of corrupt practices is so blatant that the powerless are resigned to coexist with them. Many others are overwhelmed by cynicism and fear that thwarts exploring creative solutions to arrest this phenomenon. Because corruption in the Naga context has assumed a collective and societal demeanor, initiating a public discourse around it becomes difficult, even though corruption is recognized as enveloping the Naga way of life.
The disease of corruption should not be allowed to numb the Naga consciousness and psyche. It is a form of social mental illness making people feel delusional as they live a dual reality attempting to reconcile how to continue living under these conditions. Eradicating it requires a long-term committed collective effort with full participation from the people. Our learned helplessness has become paralyzing. This is due to the realization that the peculiar political situation and distinct social-cultural relations are an obstacle to addressing these illicit practices using conventional legal methods because they permeate all levels of State and government.
Fighting corruption in Nagaland requires an out of the box approach. This means that we need to draw from our own cultural context to identify possible deterrents in the Naga worldview. For instance, the notion of causing ‘shame’ continues to be an effective method to address social problems among the various Naga cultures. Hence, can ‘corrupting’ corruption be a way forward in confronting these practices. ‘Corrupting’ corruption is a means to expose and negate the social and cultural legitimacy that ‘the powers that be’ have usurped over time. Along with this, it will employ implementing different forms of deterrents that are socially and culturally contextual and relevant.
Overturning corruption in the Naga context has far reaching positive implications that go beyond questions of good governance, accountability, transparency, honesty, fairness, truth-telling, a responsive judiciary, and the rule of law. Essentially, turning corruption against itself has the potential to recover and re-instill positive social and cultural values that can be rewoven into the Naga social fabric.
Each one of us has contributed to the corruption at some level by, at a minimum by not addressing what we observe occurring in our daily lives. We are accountable to each other for reclaiming our social, political, religious, and economic spaces. We can begin by addressing corruption at the interpersonal level. Then, as the momentum gains, we can engage more widely throughout the Naga context by systematically eradicating corruption, especially in the areas of our culture and society where they have become institutionalized and ‘normalized.’
