The Nagaland State Annual Plan Outlay for 2012-13 has been fixed at Rs 2300 crores, which represents a 27% growth over last year’s plan outlay of Rs 1810 crore. However this time around, the significance of the Annual Plan Outlay is the provision of Rs 300 crores made exclusively for what has been described as Special Development Package for Eastern Nagaland. Perhaps this generous offer was the result of the highest level meeting held recently between the Government of India officials led by none other than Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram and the State government led by the Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio. During that meeting the conclusion was that a separate State was not viable and the State government was almost given a blank cheque to take up development on a priority in Eastern Nagaland. The Rs 300 crores allocated for the ENPO areas during the meeting with the Planning Commission on Tuesday should be seen as a corollary of the stand taken by Delhi to develop the backward region of Eastern Nagaland. Before going to Delhi, the Chief Minister did the right thing by calling for a dialogue with ENPO leaders where the offer of a development package was reportedly made. The ENPO on the other hand has taken the stand that it will not accept such packages and reiterated the demand for Frontier Nagaland and nothing less.
Whatever may be the conflicting position regarding the ENPO question, the fact remains that the Centre has offered development funds exclusively for the region and clubbed this along with the Annual Plan Outlay. The ENPO leaders should accept this reality and look at what is on offer as a continuity of the State’s development objective irrespective of whether Frontier Nagaland comes about or not, because life has to go on. In fact the Planning Commission has even directed the State government to work out special development projects for Eastern Nagaland for the five year period of the 12th Plan. The Rs 300 crores is the first installment on this overall package. So in the five year period it is obvious that Eastern Nagaland could get anywhere around Rs 2000 crores or more. With so much of money going to come in, the obvious concern is how well we are going to utilize them for the objective it is meant for. This can be seen as an opportunity to actually start afresh. But the bigger question is whether we are willing to root out corruption and work honestly for the welfare of the people.
Although the ENPO region has been bemoaned as undeveloped and in need of special assistance, we cannot complain that there was no funds and that development funds are available only now. And if the decades of fund allocations had been used in a judicious manner the region should have reached a higher level of economic growth that is at par with some of the more developed areas in the State. But all of us know that this is not the case. The ground reality of ‘development’ in Eastern Nagaland is not commensurate with the generous funding from Delhi. As such, how well the present and future development funds are utilized will remain the determining factor—to ensure real development on the ground. We have to learn from the past and make sure that such funds are not merely hijacked by the politicians and their coterie. The public of the ENPO region should act as a watchdog making sure that there is transparency and accountability. Otherwise the plans and vision for development of Eastern Nagaland will remain a utopia.
