The Naga Hoho has rightly pointed out that business establishments should be reined in from hiking prices of goods under whatever pretext, be it extortion, “corruption” or donations. Reminding that the common citizens are suffering at the hands of the business and “shops,” the Naga Hoho has demanded greater vigil from the authorities and citizens. There have been recent reports in the local media about escalating costs of goods and services in Dimapur, the commercial hub of Nagaland. While there could be genuine reasons as to why prices are always on the higher side (with the extortion culture), the issue raised by the Naga Hoho needs to be addressed by the State government because it is obvious that there is no visibility of any government regulation, as should be the case. It is a known thing that businesses especially in the commercial hub, they are known to charge exorbitant rates to consumers giving the excuse that they are being heavily taxed themselves. The point is that one should not take law into their own hands and exploit the situation to one’s advantage. For too long now the so called extortion culture has remained unaddressed and this has snowballed into all sort of problems—crime, price rise just to name a few. The failure to rein in the extortion culture by everyone concerned—government, underground groups and public—is not very surprising because extortion has become a thriving industry with immense potential for generating easy money.
And we cannot blame only the armed groups and their cadres. Everyone seems to be extorting, or perhaps a better term extracting, one way or the other. Even corruption or taking heavy commission for various projects is extortion of development activity. It is quite ironic that while our Ministers emphasize on quality when it comes to building our roads, bridges and other assets, yet they encourage the culture of paying commissions by demanding the same. What quality of work can one expect when commissions have to be first paid? So you see we cannot just point our fingers to one type of extortion only. As the Naga Hoho has rightly pointed out the general public is a victim of ‘corruption in high places and extortion’. As already suggested in these columns, the State government should direct the concerned authorities in Nagaland to find out as to why the consumers have to pay so much. There could be several reasons for the cost escalation. Some of them could be genuine while a majority of cases may not be justified. For instance, there is a tendency to make huge profits at the cost of the consumers. This trend is quite visible in Nagaland. While there is nothing wrong in making profit, this should not become blatant. We must distinguish between profit and greed. In this regard, one should also make a mention that awareness about consumer rights in Nagaland is indeed very poor. A vigilant public is the need of the hour. Along with this, the government should stand up and take appropriate steps and put the necessary checks so that unscrupulous elements are not allowed to exploit the weakness of the system or the situation.
