Z Lohe
Nagaland can be likened to that of the present Afghanistan under Taliban rule. The human right violations under the application of the Sharia law by the Taliban in Afghanistan has been the headlines in most of the TV channels. The freedom of Press and the freedom of women education, women entrepreneurship and their participation in sports and games are curtailed. Two third of the population in Afghanistan are below poverty line.
Is the condition of the common men in Nagaland better than that of the have not Afghans in their own country? Do we have the genuine peace and freedom to pursue our chosen vocations? Do we really have freedom of speech without fear of repercussion? Are the common men more freer than those of the Afghans in their country? For the sake of those who cannot speak out for themselves for series of reasons, I placed this article in the public domain.
Look at just one or two instances of specimen of how Nagaland has been managed all through these two decades. Under the siege situation, the Disciplinary Rules are set aside whereby those who dared to abuse their power for selfish interest have the full liberty to go to any extent without fear of reaction. Nagaland is thus converted into a land of freedom for corruption. No matter how the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) Ministry had tried to tone down and even to undo what the Nitti Ayog (the new nomenclature of the erstwhile Planning Commission of India), has unearthed the rate of miserable performances of the Government of Nagaland which were highlighted by NLTV, the disclosures have become the spilled beans. What is more serious than what has been disclosed by Nitti Ayok, the brain of the country. The series of gross mismanagements of funds in Nagaland according to the Reports of Comptroller and Auditor General(C&AG) of India cannot be challenged by anyone since the financial figures and act of commissions by each Department were approved by the respective Public Account Committees in the Evidence Meetings. Look at the projected Nagaland’s budget deficit that stands roughly at Rs.3000 crores or above by the year end as against the projected deficit of Rs. 600 crores as for Assam speaks volumes for itself comparatively speaking.
Just as North Korea is un-popularly popular for its missiles as against the pathetic economic condition of the common men, Nagaland is the most un-popularly popular State in the country for its misgovernance and the gap between the haves and the have-nots.
Throughout the 58 years of Nagaland Statehood, the successive State Governments had never exclusively governed Nagaland even for a brief period of time but with the erstwhile powerful FGN till 1975 followed by more national governments of the divided NNC/FGN post 1980. Yet, so much progress and developments could be brought to Nagaland all through those periods despite hassles because there was always dichotomy between the elected Government and the rest. In those turbulent decades, Nagaland did not lag behind any newer State in the NE as we are left to the rock bottom today. Today, if Nagaland has 11 NPGs, Manipur has 18 insurgent groups, and yet Manipur is one of the most progressive States in the NE as there exists the dichotomy between the elected Government and the insurgent governments.
Whereas, in Nagaland one can hardly recognize who rules the roost. The UDA is taking shelter under dillydallying ploys with regard to RIIN and without which the haywire remains, and the ILP cannot be enforced in Dimapur District. To UDA, the Banuo Z. Jamir Commission’s report is the Frankenstein’s creation. The UDA has been a stumbling block to augmentation of Dimapur Airport against the interest of Nagaland and also against the wishes of the Union Civil Aviation Ministry. The Kohima High Court building construction at Merema began in 2007 is in its 14th year with 35% progress as reportedly learnt as against the same category of High Courts in Tripura, Manipur and Meghalaya which completed the projects within 6 years each and started functioning since 2013. The Kohima Medical College may become another reverie. The dusty 4-lane Dimapur-Kohima road construction has been in shambles along with the other 2-lane road constructions for want of quality workmanship and timely completion. Etc., etc.
The future of the youth in Nagaland is damn grim. The then PDA Government has banned the appointment to post vacancies since the last two years and the same order remains. The vacancies may be even more than 5000 posts. Whereas, the figure of the educated unemployed youth has risen obviously as the State Government has become too helpless to take care of our potential educated youth. On the contrary, there seems to be people who enjoy dual salaries and people who consume pension benefits against ghost pensioners. Also, there seems to be cadres belonging to certain NPGs being in Government service or vice versa. Thus, the Government allows some unscrupulous people to avail undeserved benefits to the hilt at the cost of the deserving youth. Whereas, the Government is scare to clean the Augean stable. While the Government has banned the recruitment, hundreds of the educated youth are attaining overage every day as the weeks, months and years wait for none. In complete absence of a single industry, how our youth be absorbed? Had there been peace and security in Nagaland, the private entrepreneurs would have flourished and by which large chunk of youth would have been engaged in private sector. Unfortunately the State Government miserably fails to show its existence and rather allowed the unscrupulous elements to superimpose and under such environment no business can grow. The noise raised by the Business Association of Nagaland and the complete closure of shops by CNCCI supported by host of organizations on 16.9.2021 sent clear token message to now UDA that the State Government is responsible for the retrogression of the economy and impoverishing the people in Nagaland. I wholeheartedly congratulate the BAN & the CNCCI for having fearlessly carried out the token protest against the Government for shedding off its responsibility. The more fortunate citizens are those employed in Government service and yet not free from exploitation in respect of deduction of salary for paying illegal taxes. In such business, some unscrupulous employee collector cannot be ruled out in sharing the spoils with one or two more NPGs. It also cannot be ruled out the practice of certain unscrupulous Government employees harassing the gullible employees with salary deduction for themselves by misusing the name of the NPGs. I can imagine how those 111rd grade and 1Vth grade employees in certain Department have been surviving without pay for a single month for the last 9 months this year in a row. In such chaotic situation the elected Government has virtually opted to be the back bencher thereby exposing the general public to be the easy prey of the predators directly or indirectly. These are the few instances of how the indigenous citizens of Nagaland have been reeling under untold miseries over the two and half decades.
What then is the Remedy for all the ills inflicting Nagaland and compelling the gullible public to be the ultimate victim? The Remedy is the political solution out of the already concluded political negotiations in October, 2019 which remains elusive ambiguously. The solution will drastically reduce the number of governments from 12 to possibly 3 including the State Government When one becomes impatient about the inordinately delay with the solution, we tend to blame the GoI as though it is solely responsible. Yet, when we introspect ourselves, the Nagas are indeed largely responsible for the delay as we have divided ourselves into for and against the political solution. The formal political negotiations under the theme agreements called the Framework Agreement (FA) of the NSCN(IM) and the Agreed Position (AP) of the Working Committee (WC), 7 NNPGs respectively with the GoI could be completed in October, 2019. The official conclusion of the negotiations implies that the dateline set for closure was mutual between the GoI and the two Naga negotiating groups. Besides, it implies that no matter whatever were the contentious issues, each party had in the processes, prior to closure, ultimately resolved it or to leave such matter for further persuasion post solution with the backdrop that the GoI made it clear to the Naga negotiators that the issues of sovereignty and integration are not negotiable in the ongoing process. In other words, what is left to be done is simply the agreement to be signed by the parties.
Accordingly, the WC of 7 NNPGs has made its position clear that they are ready to sign the agreement. Whereas, the NSCN (IM) is sticking to its constitution and flag which are synonymous symbols of sovereignty. Thus, the NSCN(IM) is found unwilling to have the logical conclusion. Nevertheless, as I understand the standpoints of the Naga negotiators, any agenda is expected to be within the parameters of the basic agreements of FA and AP so reached respectively after all those are gentlemen agreements and nothing was done under duress. The approach to negotiation is expected to be realistic and practical as it is in the 24th year of negotiation as for NSCN(IM). The lengthier period of negotiation will neither become more convincing to either party nor can it fetch greater dividend as for the formal closure of the negotiations in October, 2019 says so. I believe that both the NSCN(IM) and the 7 NNPGs entered into negotiations with the objective to bring about a new era of genuine peace post solution in which the people expect to have a happier life than what we have today.
The State of Nagaland is not made to host the indefinite political negotiation. The people of Nagaland are tired of nurturing negotiations as it is found to be expensive and too taxing. No negotiator is supposed to enjoy the negotiation at the expense of the poorer mass, the youth and particularly the educated unemployed youth and the struggling indigenous entrepreneurs. The traders and the entrepreneurs are heavily taxed directly, and yet the general public are to bear the brunt of it ultimately. The cost of living in Nagaland is too expensive for the impoverished masses. Similar to that of Afghan situation, the bona fide citizens of Nagaland have been facing curbs in respect of freedom of business, freedom of speech and freedom of developments. Some who tends to usually campaign against Human Rights violation are sponsoring Human Rights violators. Many well to do local entrepreneurs lost interest to invest here in their homeland, Nagaland. Nagaland is economically strangulated by a typical strong syndicate. This syndicate is hell bend to perpetuate the status quo.
The expected political solution is the only panacea that can at least mitigate the amount of sufferings faced by the indigenous citizens of Nagaland. The UDA ministry has to stop pampering any negotiator trying to have inconclusive negotiation using it as its goldmine. The UDA’s facilitation must not transform the exercise into a protracted negotiation. The UDA’s facilitation is expected to be explicit and not the sophistic jargon laced with political motive. I also feel that the undue indulgence of the State leaders of not only from Nagaland but also from neighbor State in the negotiation process may dent on the political status of the negotiations from that of PM level down to that of State level.
