It is common sense for any right thinking person to demand quality in a product or service rendered. By experience the government sector fails to deliver on this front. Everywhere you go, most products or services handled by the government are below par in terms of quality. The same is the case in Nagaland when it comes to our roads, electricity, health care, education, water supply etc. Many people misconstrue that quality require more costs and that it is expensive to maintain quality services. Such an argument is not necessarily true. The important thing to do is to manage whatever resource is made available in an efficient manner without wastage and compromise. As is being emphasized regularly by the Chief Minister himself, we need to maintain quality control while implementing public works. However this is easier said than done. If we desire quality in our government, we have to do away with the corrupt system—of paying kickbacks and commissions. The so called deductions made from the State coffers by our national workers while being a contradiction is also part of the problem. All these are added to the enormous costs of implementing a project. The result is that quality suffers a great deal. This is the crux of the problem. It is not that our engineers or contractors are incapable of doing a good job rather they are faced with enormous hurdles. If the Chief Minister is serious about quality control, periodic verification of all major ongoing projects can be taken up. The earlier decision during the first DAN government to constitute inspection groups failed miserably.
When we speak of quality, it is not only about building roads and bridges. It is also about the state of our school system, our health care, our human resources etc. A few years ago it was highlighted that Nagaland has the least number of trained teachers in the country. In other words, the quality of teachers in the State remains far from satisfactory. This is true of our work force employed by the government. The core of the problem lies in the job recruitment process or the lack of it in this case. It is common knowledge that the bane of administration (including school systems) in Nagaland has been that the quality of its work force. Appointments particularly in the middle and lower rung bureaucracy or school levels have mostly been done by politicians through back door manipulations. This has resulted in unqualified personnel and subsequently poor motivation and interest resulting in the deteriorating work ethics and culture. This is another area that we need to make the necessary reform. What is required is a more open system of recruitment process that will give equal opportunities to the qualified and deserving youths waiting in the wings. At the end of the day what is required in Nagaland is good quality public service and infrastructure. But for this to be realized, our leaders must demonstrate the political will to take corrective measures. But this will be too much to expect. What it required is a moral awakening within our society involving not just politicians or national workers but everyone. We need to learn right from wrong. We need a new politics based on ethics, a renewed commitment to public service and an enlightened public to become active participants in the democratic process.
