Tumbenthung Y Humtsoe
University Of Hyderabad
Picturesque landscape, vibrantly colourful people with rich traditions in songs and dances, the Nagas inhabit their ancestral land of majestic hills and beautiful vales. Culturally, ethically and on several counts, the present Nagas inherited richly from their ancestral fathers. On Naga egalitarianism, the writer Mr. Nag commented, “We talk of social welfare state, of social security and the like, but there is a society in which they have been in practice long before the most progressive countries of the west got any of such ideas.” Sadly, notwithstanding our past-inherited values and riches, we’ve gone to the extent of evolving ourselves into a rather disturbing, in my terms “Newfangled Nagas” (henceforth referred to as new Nagas).
Novel developments are creditably worth welcoming if those are more superior and more welfare enhancing to the precursor they substitute. The new Nagas, however, are rather blatantly or speciously faring worse than the old Nagas. Slothfulness, untruthfulness, selfishness, morally-degenerated, etc. are the rules of the new naga with only handful being exceptions to the rule.
In what follows, neither am I engaging in the age-old wrangle, ‘Are we faring better than our forefathers?’ nor am I denying the legitimacy of seeking interest in novel ideas and practices originating within or without. Also, I am writing this not to identify the off beams of our ancestors or to critically evaluate their routines. My humble endeavour is to provoke public reasoning in regard to the cons of the ‘new way of life’ we have embraced. As and when befitting I shall revisit the dying old virtues of our ancestors which we are so proud of, yet we are miserably failing to inculcate as we go about our day. Faced with the challenge of the intrusion of popular yet unhealthy culture, an attempt to reinvigorate traditional institutions and values needs no mention.
Succeeding generations ought to be more progressive, i.e. change for better. Appreciating the emerging voice of the informed Naga intellects (thanks to social media for its facilitative role), one step towards that direction require the government (the parallel NGP’s as well) to encourage public reasoning, providing opportunities for citizens to participate in policy discussion and to influence public choice. In a time when ‘extra legal justice’ (even gun-point coercion) exists, the government should respond and engage when the youths, frustrated but not saying, “I’ll enter Under Ground and see that this ‘corrupt’ gets what he deserves,” but come out demanding for a just and fair society in a peaceful manner. The youth should never be allowed to lose hope in democratic process, and hence pick up violence. At the same time, the youth should be aware of how easy it is to despair of our corrupt system and fall into the abyss of ‘frustration fueled violence.’Commenting on how West Bengal lost rank to other states in areas like health, literacy, higher eduation and research, Kaushik Basu, the current Chief Economist of World Bank wrote, “The failure of the state was an intellectual failure…” On that note, andas Nobel laureate Amartya Sen once wrote, ‘Silence is a powerful enemy of social justice,’ the Naga intellect and public ought to understand and ask ourselves and proactively engage in scribbling our own common history.
‘Abundance of Alcohol and Scarcity of Water’: On NLTP Act of 1989
Nagaland-under Nagaland Liquor Total Prohibition (NLTP) Act 1989 is pompously declared by our Government as a “dry state” (though the term is not coined by our Government). One wonders if it’s perhaps because our law sees that our ponds, rivers and lakes linger dry in most of the seasons of the year, and hence ‘dry state.’ In an inquiry conducted by Nagaland Post, it is reported that India Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) worth approximately Rs. 20 to 25 lakhs were being transacted on a daily basis from Lahorijan, Khatkati and Bokajan areas of Assam to the state. The sheer figure (daily transactions) is disturbing but the real cause of concern is the whopping consumption that sustains such high daily transactions. Even if you’re among the fortunate few unaffected and not in tears, the evils and social cost of alcohol, and the miseries brought forth by water scarcity are quite blatantly overt in display for one to witness and be aware of. The end-result reality is ‘abundance of alcohol and scarcity of water,’ but the more disheartening part of the picture is that those concerned, abdicate to leave the dual problem as it is. Those concerned ranges from the government down to the church, the Hohos, and finally to you and me.
Our forefathers never abuse but celebrated over rice-beer during fests. The new species that I alluded to earlier is squandering their money, time, talents, destroying families and their lives to alcohol. The magnitude of the problem demands immediate attention, and merits a thorough investigation and intervention. Against such backdrop, the ongoing discourse on NLTP is laudable.
The present sorry state of affairs make many,citing economic reasons, argue in favour of scrapping the Act. However, after a serious thought, it appears more fitting to shift our discourse from ‘whether to retain or scrap the Act?’ to ‘Effective implementation of a revamped law.’ It is obvious that cost-benefit analysis will corroborate that the benefits-direct and indirect, quantifiable and unquantifiable will outweigh the cost of this needed endeavour of effective implementation. Befitting enactment and effective implementation of laws, on the one hand can certainly create incentives for encouraging certain actions and on the other hand, can also create disincentives against indulging in certain anti-social actions. It is reasonable to think that the demand for liquor of the current magnitude will likely sustain black-market and smuggling. In that case, however, only those having the means can gain access to black-market, the high price (resulting from scarcity) excluding the poor, fortunately in their own interest and the society at large.
The root of the problem also requires intervention of a sociological and psychological nature (instances of alcoholics switching to drugs in the event of successful total blanket ban by Women Hohos etc. are reported), and this is where the church has to actively involve. Laws certainly reflect the values and social commitments a state upholds, and as such Christian principles, ethical and moral implications, health issues, neighbourhood peaceful ambience etc. have to be considered in the discourse. More so, it is an obvious fact that at least every Naga parents (irrespective of one’s spiritual health, or even alcoholic parents) never wish their children to grow up as or to be ‘alcoholics.’
It is hard to ignore the glaring fact of untimely deaths contributed by sub-standard and adulterated liquors. However, this is a fall out of the loosely implemented Law and not because of the existence of the Law, which many like to say. A well-thought amendment of the Law is required to give legal basis and backing for NGOs like Mothers Associations, Students’ Unions etc. to help in ensuring complete blanket ban of alcohol. Besides, a person could be indulging out of frustrations caused by myriad reasons (…the current state of our economy, socio-politico ambience certainly has their bearings on this problem…). There is legitimacy in grumbling against the ineffectiveness of Excise Department or Police Department, but if we’re really serious about the issue we should ask ourselves, “why are they failing?” In passing, I’d like to opine that the Church which is quite influential in retaining the contentious NLTP Act should also render its help in implementation and spreading anti-alcohol movements (we see such initiatives in some villages). The problem requires a holistic and concerted approach and handling. And as the bestseller Superfreakonomics’ authors, Levitt and Dubner emphasised, sole supply side regulation (i.e., solely meting out punitive actions to sellers of alcohols) tends to be ineffective, demand side measure (say in the line of anti tobacco campaign) should be effected. In the absence of such, the law will continue to be known for its violation rather than for its adherence.
‘The Nagas now use lock and key’:On Coruption
Surprisingly, for the first time in the history of census in Nagaland, we registered a negative decadal population growth rate of -0.47 percent during 2001-2011. By intuition as well as statistically, it is absurd to say that we’ve reached what the demographers call ‘population peak’-Statics shows our birth rate (22.1 percent in 2010) is much higher than our death rate (7.2 percent in 2010). The marginal decline in both the parameters over the decade does not corroborate what we’ve achieved (at least in numbers). This calls into question our ‘honesty’- a virtue which was once part of the identity of our ancestors. Impressed by old Nagas’ integrity, V. Edwin remarked, “the Nagas do not use lock and key.” This illogical statistics is a display of dishonesty at ‘Naga as a whole scale’ to the world, and to the academicians in particular.
Siphoning off of public funds by those at the helm of power, down to the ‘tips’ (suppose to mean ‘to increase professional service’ but here it would mean ‘to increase personal salary, selfishly’) asked by Peons, the beautiful fabric of honesty woven neatly by our upright ancestors is tainted by the blot of corruption and dishonesty at all levels. One does not require an economist to explain that this kind of ‘rent seeking’ behaviour is counter-productive. The reality is that one family will be celebrating in style and with all religiosity over getting a job (…or for other reasons), while the other family to which the job rightly belong will be slogging in tears.
It still echoes in my mind the thunderous applause that followed the statement of our college freshers’ day’s Guest of Honour, “…It’s a known fact that the money (Rs. 1 lakh) I am donating is public money...” Such applauses following such statements are common as though we are approving such acts of embezzlemts. It should prick our conscience that such applauses contribute in decipitating the degree of guilt-feeling of those corrupts, or contributes in repressing the guilt conciousness whenever it surfaces. Also, it will be a classic paradox if the students’ bodies voice for corruption, not realizing that they directly or indirectly sowed the seed of corruption by calling chief guests for cash. It’s true that cash are indispensable but there are one hundred and one ways to legitimately raise money, and not by expecting public leaders for cash. The degrading practice of calling Chief guest for cash reflects that we value cash above ideas. It’s time we understand and call someone to come and tell us how to fish, and not to come and provide us fish. (NOTE: the kind of givingof our forefathers-from sweats shed and honest means, and never from embezzlement is extolled).
To a passing convoy of MLA’s and Ministers, it is common to hear people remarking, “the thieves…” The irony however is that the Naga MLA’s are the mirror image of the majority Naga electorates-selfish, who only wish and make every effort to leave only the crumbs for those outside their family, clan and tribe. The strategies employed by the candidates (vote buying, lavish food served with liquor, etc.) exhibits what matters to Naga electorates. Hardly, one will hear a candidate giving a speech on his plans to improve the infrastructure, socio-economic conditions of the concerned constituency simply because voters don’t vote on those lines. Why should they care to put their heads to think on those agendas and speak?It’s time we move beyond these ‘isms,’ and value honesty above clanism and tribalism. Itshigh time we stop stop saying, “so and so tribe have not become CM,” and start asking, “have we ever made an honest and capable person a CM irespective of his/her tribe?”
Just as it is crucial to make the MLA’s accountable, it is as much important to ask on what basis we vote a politician-whether on clan and tribal line, money, contract and job promises etc. or on our assessemnt of the candidates in terms of efficiency, integrity and capability.
Community First: We ought to wake up to the glaring reality of issues and confront them squarely, before the flame of the aforementioned issues become inextinguishable. The marginalized poor obviously are feeling the brunt of these issues more, however, with the flames of these issues raging more ferociously day by day, it will be impossibe for the ‘privelleged’ to remain not feeling the heat for long. Our very own yet dying community first attitude and our old style of concerted approaches in solving common problems is indispensable in addressing the issues at hand. Revisiting our inherent general sense of social identity and priorities in order to affect our actions will contribute immensely in turning a new leaf. On the positive side, what seems to be illogical data set (about the decadal growth rate discussed above)may also mean we are becoming more honest (dishonest data responses in 2001, and more honest respones in 2011). If that is the case, which i choose to hope so, we are moving in the right direction. However, the ‘as though OK’ response to the CAG’s report of irregularities by the Civil Socities’ leaders is alarming. The seemingly inactive governemnt and opposition should be pressured to bring the ‘stealers of public money’ to book.
Neither Angamis can live alone nor Lothas can, and neither ‘Aye’ can progress alone nor ‘Yepthomi’ can, its time we do away with parochial tribalism and clanism, andexercise our vote rationally, recruit on merit basis, and exempt bribes to not only one’s related ones but to all Nagas, and talk about progressing together as ‘Nagas’ and not praochially as Phom, Aos, Konyaks and so on…
Kuknalim!
