Hotchpotchization

The process of industrialization of Nagaland through its urbanization with the help of globalization to rid it of tribalization, in a manner best suited to civilization, has been long wound. So now, the attempt is towards liberalization. It has been suggested for a while now that the quickest way to embark on this project is through the establishment(alization?) of Special Development Zones in Nagaland—since, you know, tribalization of the Naga lands has led to such economic downtrodden-ness among the Nagas, the need is to be saved from balkanization first of all. Where else to look for models of peace but the free market?

The Nagaland Legislative Assembly, in March, 2014, passed a resolution to set up Nagaland Special Development Zones (NSDZs). The Resolution’s agenda includes the structuring and introduction of policies that could facilitate investment from non-Nagas, on either a lease or permanent basis, in the foothill areas of Nagaland—in its words: “To liberalize the system of entry and stay of non-Nagas in the NSDZ for the purpose of investment.” That is great because not only is a four lane foothill road proposed to facilitate the “entry and stay of non-Nagas in the NSDZs for the purpose of investment,” a rail line is supposed to take shape on Nagaland’s foothills to serve the same purpose. The missing inspiration is here.

An SDZ, much like a Special Economic Zone, is expected to be a geographical region where the economic policy and other related laws are more liberal and free-market oriented than a particular country’s typical or national laws. These zones are primarily established to attract investors that, the country hopes, would generate employment and income. While no independent research exists to suggest that this model actually works for India, what effect would it have on the Naga people?

Since Nagaland finds itself in a peculiar position vis-à-vis rights of the indigenous peoples, it could be helpful to study the effects of such special economic/development zones on the indigenous peoples of Philippines. Researchers suggest that while benefits of such zones for indigenous peoples in Philippines have been limited, disadvantages are numerous: unskilled local residents are usually hired on a temporary basis for the least paid, menial jobs, these projects tend to encroach on the resource base that indigenous peoples depend on for their social, economic and cultural life, usually converting or reserving their use for outsiders and investors, the influx of new migrants and laborers pit local communities against them in a fight for local (scarce) resources, and unsustainable displacement of local communities, among other things.

In a run for the zations that the world has on offer today, it could bode well for the Naga people to study these new world models of “self actualization” by placing the local populace, and their particular requirements and aspirations, at the core. Let us hope that the NLA Resolution will give way to such sensitive liberalization (if there is such a thing) and not more, honestly unrequired though sort of inevitable, hotchpotchization.