Moa Jamir
Anti-social elements from outside are creating “law and order situation” in Dimapur, Nagaland Home Minister Y Patton claimed at an event recently. He added that it is imperative for GBs in all colonies of the city to properly identify new residents in order to bring down the menace of “outsiders” coming and creating problems. As a declaimer, he urged the gathering to live harmoniously and not be segregated by religion saying “any event in Dimapur has direct impact over other parts of Nagaland.”
This paradoxical statement is quite perplexing. Was the Home Minister resorting to ‘populist’ assertion to cushion the criticism the State government has been facing for its inability to come out with a definite policy to address the issue of migration? Was he washing his hands off the deteriorating law and order situation the city has seen in the resent past?
The issue of migration has been a big concern over the years. But so far the State Government has not shown any proclivity to address the issue, letting sporadic incidents to simmer down naturally but the tension beneath the surface is perpetual.
When this paper recently broke the story of alleged issuance of ‘doubtful birth certificates’ by Nagaland officials to “outsiders,” raising eyebrows among the concerned, the Ministry remained conspicuously silent. Only the Governor of Nagaland responded with action.
Over the years, well-meaning organisations from outside have also been appealing the State Government “to formulate laws for the regulation of migrants from all communities” but nothing has happened to that end.
Migration is a global phenomenon and the year 2015 was punctuated by a series of migration crises. While studies on International migration attributes Environmental, Economic, Cultural and Socio-political factors behind migration, the primary reason is referred to be the ‘push’ or ‘pull’ factors. The former refers to those that force the individual to move voluntarily, or, as in many cases, they are forced to move. Apart from conflict, drought, famine, extreme religious activity, lack of economic activity and lack of job opportunities are also strong push factors for migration. Pull factors are those factors in the destination country/place that attract the individual or group to leave their home. Those factors are known as place utility, which is the desirability of a place that attracts people.
Ours is a combination of both and as a part of globalized society we cannot escape the same. “Migrants are not the cause of the problem in our societies, but for many they become the face or the symptom of the problem,” wrote Frank Hoffer in Social Europe articulating that the debate has often been either ‘for’ or ‘against’ migration with a false policy choice of either allowing migration or stopping it.
The ‘perceived and actual’ problems of migration cannot be solved with ‘populist’ assertion which inadvertently plays into the hands of those trying to get political mileage out of the same. It also cannot be answered by antagonistic attitudes or vigilantism by general public. This would only aggravate the tension and lead to untoward incidents we have become frighteningly familiar with in the recent past.
Therefore, the need of the hour is not making a populist political statement but formulation of nuanced policies and implementing them earnestly. The policy should include not only answering the ‘law and order’ concern but, most pertinently, the economic aspects of the issue.
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