Aheli Moitra
The Naga Blog should be proud of itself. It has taken an important step, albeit a small one, in the gargantuan task it is preparing for. It has used people’s power in a democracy, an enforced democracy as it is, to question political parties on their election stand. It is a much needed and relevant step in the right direction to ask political parties their agenda on critical issues. This editorial would like to add to the issues raised.
Corruption: What has the Vigilance Department been able to achieve till date? In the last few months alone, a number of cases of corruption (The Naga Blog should prepare a list) have been pointed out by the opposition with no real consequence thereafter. Have no doubt, there’s enough scope for discrepancies—Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS), Department of Under Developed Areas (DUDA), Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS), Revision of Pay (RoP), Old Age Pension Scheme, Public Distribution System (PDS) and roads to name a few. A state could set up a CBI branch or an Anti-Corruption Bureau but still work like the existing vigilance team; if it is simple enough to post a politician’s choice as one department’s chief, how difficult could it be to replicate the system in the other?
Total Prohibition Act: The state of Nagaland has been around since 1963, and the church even longer. Unless this question is put to the church first, there is no point asking the political parties. On January 1 alone, not less than 10 deaths related to drunk driving have occurred. Perhaps these should be attributed to religious and political institutions that refuse to see how prohibition is turning a blind eye to policy initiatives on handling a drunken society.
Illegal Immigration: IBI? It is a bit unnecessary and racial to pander to civil society stereotypes by a group of young people, especially since no real detection and deportation mechanism exists in Nagaland. The authority for this rests with the Central government, according to the Foreigners Act 1946, except in the state of Assam where a set of tribunals have been given authority to detect ‘foreigners’. The state of Nagaland was supposed to set up a Task Force last year to detect ‘foreigners’ present in Nagaland, which could then provide the basis on which to deport illegal residents. What happened to that?
The rest: In the Financial Year 2011-12, the state’s loans stood at INR 643.74 crore. These are external borrowings from financial institutions apart from the INR 1800 crore received from the Centre. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said in June 2012 that the Centre will make raising loans for states from the market easier still. If the state can’t raise it, the Centre will raise the loan for it. Economic slavery will be a pertinent issue for the next generation to look into.
Meanwhile, the state deficit at the end of 2012-13 stood at approximately INR 700 crore. State revenue, however, rose by a numbing 1%. The state has asked for a hike of grant-in-aid from the Centre by 10%-- Nagaland now needs Rs. 2000 crore from India. If you’re wondering where all the money goes, take a look at the Chief Minister’s report to the Planning Commission of India for Nagaland’s development in 2010-11 (available online). Be your own judge of it.
With the status of deficit, no political party will want to spend anything before election (forget post election) with the fear of not being able to regain it in their term. But they’ll still make money in office. So don’t ask the electorate not to ask for money, ask the political parties for their plan to increase revenue (industries and employment will get answered through this) and reduce the amount received from the Centre.
Money aside, the issue of violence against women, or political representation of women, does not even figure in the core issues raised by The Naga Blog. If even the youth do not think this is important enough, it is pointless to expect political parties, or the 60 male legislators, to care.
In any case, people hope that The Naga Blog has a plan of action depending on the response it gets from the political parties—it would be useful to collaborate with various civil fronts on this account so that the exercise is not put to waste. The Naga Blog’s exercise should be carried out in every constituency with every candidate. This will decentralize efforts to hold leaders, former and future, accountable.
