Dimapur’s unemployment & the “Outsiders”

Nagas’ dislike for manual labour feeding Influx 

Al Ngullie
Dimapur | June 24

For the illiterate, unskilled worker from the forgotten rural fringes of one of the fastest-growing urban “financial” regions in North East India –Dimapur district – employment normally refers to a days’ wage of Rs. 70 for a day’s work in a contract paddy field. The alternative over working for small earnings from small agriculture activities remains a precarious preposition – there are bare-few “jobs” aside from whatever little ‘employment’ prospect agriculture offers.    

For the unskilled Naga worker any job outside the familiar domain for day-wages means an uncertain foray into tested and proven waters. Roughly 1, 84, 490 make up Dimapur’s rural peoples. Of them, an estimated 11,838 are listed as Below Poverty Line families. They are the ever-talked about but never-thought about “80%” that feed the gigantic agriculture-sustenance machine for the district. In fact, an alternative for the Dimapur villager normally means ‘leaving the plough to cut the paddy.’ 

Nagaland has no worthwhile industry of her own, leave alone any in Dimapur. With about a currently 80,000-plus making up the state government services and another roughly 40,000-45,000 unemployment registered in the Government Unemployment Exchange, the condition of the local economy is not unexplained. And for the about 200 villages that dot entire Dimapur district the stench of rural unemployment is an inconvenient malady for a district tagged as one of the fastest-growing financial district in the NE.

Alternative forms of employment and livelihood interchange according to situation but agriculture remains the main base. Till census 2001, the number of rural cultivators in Dimapur was a total of 15, 598 while “agricultural labourers” comprised of 1, 858. Those not engaged in agricultural livelihood were in the “household industry” working as helpers, cooks, gardeners and caretakers. They touched the figure of around 600. Others (marginal workers and day-wagers for instance) were listed at a huge 24, 850. Most interestingly, the “non-workers” or, loosely, unemployed persons, in the rural areas were stated at 69, 414.  

An instance of the intricate entanglement of rural Dimapur’s local economy and the “mainstream” commercial operations can be explained by the Nagaland government’s emphasis on equipping farmers with mechanized aids in the rural areas to boost production and ‘feed’ the state. In 2008-2009, Dimapur faced one of her worst agriculture downturns in remembered history. Nagaland state estimated her production losses to about Rs. 109 Crore, as estimated by the Agriculture department in 2009 alone. The damage on the state was natural considering Dimapur district, was the worst hit – Nagaland depends on Dimapur for food production and is the supply base. 

The emphasis on “mechanizing the farmers” is understood to be paying off. 2009-2010 saw an uptrend in agriculture production, thanks to the “80%” rural- workforce engaged in basic agriculture production activities. (There is no official data/survey to confirm the “80%” but the figure is popularly quoted by government and local concerns).

The Other Small Route
So, practically, talking about alternative livelihood away from agriculture-based activities usually means opening a tiny, sack-draped “paan” (an Indian spiced tobacco quid) shop along a dusty stretch of a village road. Or scour whatever off-season vegetables left in the previous year’s field to sell it on National Highway 39. An hour’s-trip to Medziphema – a Dimapur sub-division – demonstrates the reality of nonexistent employment alternatives all too clear.

Indexing ‘what’ nature of alternative aside from agriculture employment is a virtually impossible task. The mindset of Nagas is also n impediment: Most Naga parents don’t quite consider a person to be employed if he is not in the “government service.” Another problem to gauging the ‘alternative’ convincingly is that even public service and utilities (construction, transport, food, and hospitality sector) are far from even being unorganized sectors. 

No data or survey works could be obtained or informed to be available on the number, nature or terms of people engaged in employment other than agriculture-related activities. Nonetheless, it is an established fact that many a parent from the villages has children working as helpers in hotel kitchens and mechanic outlets and garages that dot the main commercial areas of Dimapur town. 

Even three years ago, it was unthinkable to the Naga “warriors’ pride” that a Naga boy would work in a dingy “alu aur samosa” kitchens or even garages as apprentices. The Nagas’ general reluctance – or even dislike – for menial and manual labour is no excuse today. Today, as the unemployment index in entire Nagaland has surged (Even the number of educated unemployed registered with the Kohima Unemployment Exchange lists at least 42,000). 

There are no more two-ways. “I did not pass class-ten and I know nothing about other works so I joined this garage,” said Soren (name changed), a boy 15. Soren works alongside his Bihari and Muslim colleagues in a small workshop in Dimapur owned by a Naga.

The ‘Outsiders’ & the Illegal Immigrants 
Most interestingly, Soren is just one of the hundreds of rural “local” boys caught in an invisible but palpable tension Dimapur is going through today: the burgeoning number of illegal immigrants and the number of ‘non-locals’ (normally workers from other Indian states). Till February 2008, Dimapur alone issued 31, 618 Inner Line Permits to non-Nagas (whether they were foreign nationals or Indian citizens, was not mentioned in an official Dimapur Police record obtained by this Reporter). The total including those newly issued, renewed (those issued ILP from earlier period), for the year 2008 came to a staggering 35, 276 persons – and the number does not count those who entered Nagaland through the porous Nagaland-Assam borders. In fact in 2008, Dimapur officials observed there could be at least than 8 Lakh illegal immigrants (mostly Bangladesh nationals) in Nagaland, and at least 2-3 Lakh in Dimapur and her fringe regions, alone. 

It is a known fact in Nagaland that Bangladesh immigrants have been flooding into the state through Assam thanks to fraudulent documents (some even secure public ration cards and voter identity in Dimapur) from places like Karimganj, Nagaon, Golaghat and Sibsagar in Assam. An administrator from the Dimapur administration said the reason Dimapur is a virtually safe haven for illegal immigrants for the simple fact that Dimapur district does not come under the purview of the Inner Line Permit (ILP) regulations.  

Once into Nagaland, the illegal migrants are absorbed into the Naga society as cheap agricultural labour. In fact, in Dimapur two out of three non-locals would be illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and when queried they respond with the claim that they are actually “Assamese.” From small “paan” shops along village roads, to big textile stores in the main commercial areas to driving Autorickshaws or paving roads, Dimapur is a ticking – as one local student leader put it – “illegal immigrant timebomb.”

Estimates of their number are virtually impossible to obtain (if there are any). Even the administration or the government have no hard record of the number of illegal migrants in Nagaland. The reason for this is attributed to the sensitivity of the issue – there are certain sections that have come to harbour the illegal immigrants. They provide long-term cheap labour. And Nagas general dislike manual and menial labour which is responsible for attracting literally thousand of unemployed aliens from across the border. The tension is that the illegal migrants are today progressively overtaken the local economy: Muslim migrants today run almost half of the estimated “10, 000” (Dimapur Municipal Council records) shops in Dimapur town centre. Only “98%” ate ‘locals.’

The problem is so severe that this year in March Opposition Congress leaders in Nagaland expressed grave concern over the influx of illegal immigrants and increase in criminal activities. These anti-socials are affecting rapid change in the social structure of the Naga society, the Congress cautioned. Participating in the debate on the Motion of Thanks to the Governor’s Address in March, 2010, Congress MLA Apok Jamir reminded the state government of the threat posed by illegal immigrants. He said that besides smuggling activities, the mushrooming of ‘Madrasas’ (Islamic schools) in Nagaland and the unprecedented growth rate of illegal immigrants particularly in Dimapur and Wokha are posing a grave threat to the very existence and internal security of the Nagas.

The Income “forgone” by Nagas 
In 2008, the Department of Evaluation undertook a survey that brought to the fore how much the state is ‘foregoing’ resources and ‘income’ to ‘non-locals.’ For instance, the report said that the monthly average income of a non-Naga person in Dimapur is Rs. 8967 (reported in The Morung Express in January 2009). It was found that, for instance, there are an approximate 14, 000 business establishment operated by Nagas and non-Nagas in the three survey-sample districts Kohima, Dimapur and Mokokchung. The total number of the non-Nagas workforce earning their livelihood in the three district is about 45, 815. The yearly total income of these non-Nagas is a staggering Rs. 450.60 Crore which translates to the average annual income of Rs. 98, 352 and monthly Per Capita Income of Rs. 8, 196.

Of the lot, Dimapur emerged recorded the largest non-Naga workforce with an approximate 32, 700 persons who are earning a total annual income of Rs. 351.85 Crore. The annual income of non-Nagas in Dimapur was the highest, with Rs. 351.85 Crore. This translated into the annual average income of about Rs. 107601 and monthly income of Rs. 8967 per non-Naga person in Dimapur.

The report highlighted the Nagas’ dislike for menial and manual labour – and yet conveniently asserting lack of “unemployment” in Nagaland.

This News Report is filed in aegis of the Inclusive Media Fellowship for Journalists 2010, awarded to the Reporter by the Center for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), New Delhi under the Inclusive Media Project.