The funny thing about Nagaland as all of us would have seen it is that we have such bad roads and yet we have the best and latest motor vehicles plying. In a crude way this probably explains the development index of our State. Statistics usually does not lie and the fact remains that our resource crunch State has the distinction of having a high density of vehicles especially in State capital Kohima and commercial hub Dimapur. As mentioned before, although Nagaland does not have major industries or the fact that we are highly dependent on central grants to sustain ourselves, an area of concern is the ratio of people and vehicles in the state. So according to a conservative estimate, the total motor vehicle population in Nagaland must have increased manifold. A visit to the District Transport Office in Kohima or Dimapur will explain better the rush with which we are adding new vehicles to the road everyday. So the vehicle population is way above what we should be actually having as per our resources. In other words we are living beyond our means and this is not a healthy sign for us to indulge in such extravagance. As per media reports, huge funds are pouring into the State for big development work. For instance the Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh says that the Centre plans to spend more than Rs 88,000 crore this financial year on rural development. Nagaland's rural development department has so far received over Rs 600 crore for implementation of flagship rural employment guarantee programme during the current year.
The question is whether such money would actually boost development or rather it may push up sales of the latest posh vehicles in the market. Jairam Ramesh is on record as saying that in many cases, SUVs are bought by the elected representatives using MNREGS money or that of Indira Awas Yojna (IAY). The truth is that “leakages” of funds are taking place from the money meant for the poor people. And that could perhaps explain the palatial buildings or the expensive SUVs seen plying on the roads of Nagaland. Off course Nagaland is not the only place where such a travesty of development is taking place. The problem also stems from our never-ending wants where we seek pleasure in accumulating more and more wealth and material goods for ourselves. And those who sell to us—the company and marketing people, they make use of this human weakness to incite and invite. So every other day, automobile and car manufacturing giants unveil new models keeping the consumer in mind. These companies know the purchasing power of those who may either have hard earned or ill gotten money. And it seems to be the case that despite the economic hardship faced in the Northeast, the living standard of some of our politicians is astonishingly high. One reason could be that the region because of the special category status, there is no dearth of central funds and obviously some of it atleast find their way into things other than ‘development’. Recently a news report stated that luxury car manufacturer Mercedes-Benz is targeting the northeast as the next big market for growth in view of the untapped commercial potential of the region. Obviously this is not good news for those who want to see development taking place because there is every chance that funds will be diverted to sponsor such expensive brands of vehicles.
