Al Ngullie
The beginning of 2010, Chief Minister of Nagaland Neiphiu Rio, unveiled his dream for a food-sufficient Nagaland by year 2020. The mantra has been a regular highlight in his public statements since then. The chief minister’s ‘vision’ is widely understood to mean that the state’s agriculture and allied sectors have to be developed on war-footing and harnessed if within one decade Nagaland is to have progressed from “consumer society” to “exporting society”.
The chief minister's emphasis that Nagaland’s sole commercial district, Dimapur district, is the all-important nucleus of all development-centric endeavours, has not been missed. “If Dimapur is doing well the state economy is healthy or is vice-versa,” the chief minister told officials and village leaders during a recent meeting of the Dimapur District Planning and Development Board (DPDB). The DPDB is the highest decision-making organization of the state government tasked with matetrs of development and planning, at the district level. And, the chief minister said, Dimapur being the commercial hub of Nagaland, it has a colossal role to play in impacting overall economic development of the state.
The last five-year estimate on the rural human development index for Dimapur district hovered around 0.73 – the highest of Nagaland’s districts. The development indicators of five-years that were used to arrive at the figure were sieved from the greater scopes of existing rural assets and systems – annual grain production, outrach of primary education, sanitation and irrigation systems and so on; in brief, the existing socio-economic assets.
With Dimapur as the standard, the Nagaland government made clear that to attain economic growth, “social capital” will have to be capitalized on – participation of villagers and the community at the village level, in the government’s objective to develop.
Toward the stated objective, the Nagaland government announced “a perspective plan for 2020” – optimized agriculture production and gradual building of an agri-industrial scheme of market revolving around the local rural economy. The ‘perspective plan’, as expected would employ the principles of a now well-known system Nagaland state is credited with pioneering – Communitization.
The system of Communitization
Deeper understanding of Dimapur’s rural development processes within the ambit of ‘impact’ can be had through understanding the concept of ‘Communitization’. In 2002, the Nagaland government introduced through the Nagaland Communitization Act/Communitization of Public Institutions and Services Act, 2002, the now-tested system of communitization, of all public institutions and services. ‘Communitization’ simply means the village or community’s participation and social ownership in the development and implementation process.
With the Communitization Act, the Nagaland government handed over ownership and management of the service sector hitherto governed and implemented by the state’s agencies – healthcare, water, power, education and bio-diversity management among others – to the local community.
Since communitization, public services and the task of implementing developmental schemes have been entrusted on village/community-level local organizations. For instance, village education committees (VECs) came into being to oversee education in the villages/local areas; village development boards (VDBs) to oversee development of rural infrastructure. For each sector within the community, delegated bodies were instated: village or urban health committees (VHC) or management boards for instance. The change saw marked improvement of services and their delivery to the common man; greater check and accountability over government funds meant for infrastructure and development; and a leap in the quality of rural management.
Seven years after the Nagaland Communitization Act came into force, Nagaland government was honored with the United Nations' Public Service Award in New York, the United States, for innovative use of social capital, i.e., communitization.
If gauged by the results government-sponsored poverty-alleviation programs have borne, Communitization in Dimapur district has been generally “reasonable”. Dimapur being the tacitly accepted standard, village-level functionaries across the state have been the pivot around which development objectives for the rural poor in a given district revolved. And with the introduction of the institution of village councils (or Panchayats) and village development boards as implementers, the government has now ‘reserved itself’ the role of facilitator over essential public service sectors such as health, education, power, rural tourism and water supply. Here, the village development institutions led by councils are entrusted the task of overseeing implementation of government’s schemes at the village/local area level.
Examples: ‘No food, but roof at least’
Today, it is unusual to come across in Dimapur a thatched hut (except for granaries, field hearths or cattle shelters) that passes for any proper family’s dwelling. No doubt, there are also many of those who are compelled to ‘rough out’ when the elements of nature strike. But as a popular dictum in Dimapur goes: ‘food to eat I have none but a roof I have, to keep me dry and safe when work comes.’ The allegory may be drawn to one of Nagaland’s best know rural projects specifically targeting the rural homeless, the Indira Awas Yojna (IAY). “At least the hungry are not homeless,” a elder from Diphupar village commented wryly when asked for his opinion on rural schemes.
The IAY is one of the most ‘heard-about’ in the state as is in Dimapur district. The Nagaland government is pushing the IAY offering rural housing models based on local living requirements and local-low cost technology. A special aspect of the IAY for Nagaland is the consideration given to the localized but diverse tribal, social, traditional and local requirements. Under IAY, citizens in Dimapur’s rural areas are provided tin roofing sheets; houses are constructed and guided by the community; contributing free labour and materials such timber and split bamboo matting for 'walls'.
Nagaland’s performance in implementing IAY is considered by many to be a “100%” success scheme and the agreement echoes in many a villager’s story. During receiving the Bharat Nirman Award, Nagaland’s Parliamentary Secretary for Rural Development Pangnyu Phom opined that through the IAY '100 percent' housing in many villages have been achieved. The poorest of the poor citizens are being given “an identity” in the dignity of owning an own house. Denizens from various villages in Dimapur said they receive CGI sheets in an annum through Village Development Boards or Village Councils.
There are a few constraints though. For instance the about 200 established villages in Dimapur are mostly without proper communication network or roads. Inaccessibility has also led to some villagers not receiving their quota. “I heard that tin sheets would be given to us but I still live in a thatch house,” a villager from a Western Sumi village told this reporter. And there are others who are not sure if the NREGA or IAY are actually in implementation. “Yes, we have received some tin sheets about a year ago” and “adha-puoa” (about half-a kilogram) of rice the previous year,” Heka, a villager from Dhansiripahar said. But, sustained, long-term results and economic security and self-sufficiency for the villager remain a virtually insurmountable challenge.
Whatever facility the Dimapur villager has for now is transitory, alternative and exigency-based rather than sustained subsistence.
Semblance of “progress”
VDBs and VCs organize day-to-day execution of project works. So far, VDBs of the four administrative blocks of Dimapur (Medziphema, Dhansiripahar, Kuhuboto and Niuland with about 200 villages spread among them) have taken up at least 7718 works under the NREGA alone. These works by and large comprise of paving agriculture link-roads connecting village market-areas with the district’s highways and then into the retail centers of Dimapur town. Other need-specific undertakings such as irrigation canals, drinking water-supply ways, piping and even marketing sheds have been undertaken at the village level. Under NREGA the works in Dimapur’s villages have been listed at around 4, 065. The work-in-progress was informed to be at 3653 at the time of filing this report.
Due credit is given to the village development boards and village-level implementers in Dimapur for the marginal ‘improvement’ of NREGA implementation in fiscal year 2009-2010. In 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 Nagaland was criticized for her poor 'NREGA performance' to which government leaders attributed various reasons (including that of not being conversant with the guidelines). Decisions taken at the grass-root level (VDBs etc) are understood to be more pragmatic considering they are taken by those associated with the ground-realities of rural life itself. Till date, Nagaland's VDBs generally have to their credit about 3.19723 Lakh households provided with employment from the rural-employment scheme from the total funding of Rs. 465.21 crore and about 4065 ‘completed’ need-specific projects (irrigation, piping etc) from an expenditure of around Rs. 438.98 Crore. The NREGS outreach for Dimapur shows that 0.383 Lakh households were provided with employment. Dimapur has perhaps the largest concentration of non-Naga labour force and comparatively, even with the local population. The total fund for Dimapur was stated at Rs. 42.34 Crore with expenditure at 39.97 Crore. The total number of works taken up under NREGA in Dimapur is 562, with 96 works completed and 466 in progress.
Sustaining employment and nurturing the local rural economy still demand greater involvement of targeted and 'holistic' government policies that can also offer alternatives. From Chumukedima to Dhansiripahar, one often comes across signs that proclaim ‘Road constructed under NREGA’ or ‘Irrigation line built under NREGA’, ‘play ground paved under NREGA’ and so on.
However, on a more practical level what impact on livelihood such as the NREGA or Indira Awas Yojna has had is a temporary respite for the district’s poor. Yet again, in a district that has more than 11,838 identified BPL families and without any other job prospect save “Hajira” or one day-wage (The Morung Express, front page, June 2, 2010) whichever hand that has reached out forward to feed, remains the kindest hand yet.
But 'good' impact has not been found wanting either. Education and basic healthcare are two critical spheres that are gradually changing the face of the commercial district’s rural community. Since its initially-doubted introduction in 2002, the following three years of Communitization witnessed an unprecedented jump in the enrolment of both boys and girls in the primary education sector. One survey claims “with 0-percent dropout in as many as 23 out of 28 villages covered under the study.” In many villages in Nagaland, teachers' attendance improved thanks to the ‘social scrutiny’ of the government-empowered village councils.
However, the perennial problem of crumbling infrastructure so synonymous with Nagaland’s public service systems is best reflected – for instance – by the condition of government schools in Dimapur's villages. From Chumukedima to Diphupar, Kuhuboto to Khetovi, the fringes of Medziphema to the Bor-Lingri villages, government primary schools are, to say the least, in ‘sorry’ conditions. In fact, the sight of depilated, sack-patched, crumpled government school “buildings” at any given village is so common that citizens in Nagaland (leave alone Dimapur) have a common phrase for description: “Cowshed.” In fact, the Media in Dimapur regularly report on statements of even government ministers and politicians causally referring to government primary schools as “cowsheds.” Remoteness, lack of access to proper roads and communication and general dearth of government-funds are some of the chief hindrances in the path of education for all.
While communitization of the implementation-system has certainly increased the chances of the villager subsisting on hand-to-mouth options at least, there are some critical areas the system has not touched – long-term employment. Rural unemployment, under-employment and disguised employment are the district’s current challenge. As pointed out earlier (The Morung Express, June 2 edition, front page), the 11,838 BPL families in Dimapur district continue to subsist mostly on daily day-wage (“Hajira”). This illiterate and poverty-stricken community can only do small, day-to-day menial tasks for a very nominal wage – the current rate this Reporter found, is a measly Rs. 70 a day. “A kilogram of rice is Rs. 7 so I buy 3 kilograms to last me and my two children at least two days so by that time, I would have found another day-job,” said a poor, but ‘optimist’ villager from Dhansiripahar block.
The absence of long-term solution for the unemployed, underemployed or disguised-employed in Dimapur’s rural sections has also led to exploitation by illegal immigrants and labourers from other states.
The cheap labour is largely attributed to the bludgeoning floating population from Assam – mostly illegal Bangaladeshi immigrants – and migration of Nagas from rural areas of other regions of the state. Illegal Bangladeshi immigrants enter the district from Assam through the porous borders – and entrench themselves in the design of Dimapur’s Naga villages. In almost every Naga village in Dimapur district (leave alone the central commercial town) there are hundreds of illegal immigrants working in Naga farms as “Hajira” workers.
An estimate (no official data could be obtained or was informed to be available) put the number of Bangladeshi illegal immigrants at roughly 1lakh in Dimapur alone, till 2006. Due to the large unemployed floating population, a day-labourer is only too willing to work 10 hours in the paddy fields for a pathetic Rs.50 to Rs.60 a day.
The district’s rural “lower-working-class” in Nagaland comprise of an estimated 1, 84, 490 persons. And with high competition from other ‘non-Naga’ populations, for few employment openings, the plight of the estimated 11,838 BPL families in Dimapur district can only mean sorrier. The number has translated into stretching the state’s public service systems including health and power infrastructure.
On the brighter side, through Communitization the average villager is more aware of the benefit government and development schemes represent. The on-hand ‘participation’ and experience in community endeavours have heightened the rural people’s consciousness of the state’s role and their own in the uplift – or ruin – of a governed socio-political people. Dimapur district is Nagaland’s only link to the world outside. With the only rail and air connectivity and infrastructure in this hilly state, proper resource-management and economic facility are expected to be in place in Dimapur at least at accepted standards. But while basic commercial support systems are in place – transport and marketing linkages – the greater challenges are the general lack of service infrastructure, population discrepancies and a virtually non-existent resource base that are needed to optimize rural resources to develop the rural peoples.
This News Report is filed in aegis of the Inclusive Media Fellowship for Journalists 2010, awarded to the Reporter by the Center for the Study of Development Societies (CSDS), New Delhi under the Inclusive Media Project.
