Like the rest of the world, Nagaland also talks a lot about the so called development taking place. To develop is to grow and make our lives better through the benefits thereof. And so simply put therefore, development ought to be about touching people’s lives—to bring change and where people are able to enjoy its fruit. If this is indeed development as it ought to be, then we can hope for much progress and prosperity. While no doubt development in the true sense is taking place, but this is not happening in great numbers. For the most our development is about benefiting not all of the people but only some of them. It is not the amount of money that is spent but rather how well you spend that matters. In Nagaland the concept of development is distorted to suit the interest of those who want to make money at the expense of the common good. Here development is about preparing project report, applying for funds, getting sanction, fund diversion and the leftovers used for showing some development on the ground. And what is the result or outcome of our so called development model? There is vast improvement in the standard of living of the few who have become wealthy and developed themselves while the State and the majority of its people remain undeveloped, neglected and poor. So it goes without saying that if we want to see a developed Nagaland then it is time to make our development work for the people. And this can be done only if we cleanse the corrupt system and work with honesty and hard work. No matter how well we write our vision goals or propagate our development mantras, we have to ensure clean, transparent and efficient governance if we want to succeed in the goals we set or the plans we make.
The other concern besides the problem of corruption is about the kind of development that we ought to pursue. Too often, the development that we envisage does not have clear goals, direction and purpose. More importantly we need to start working on local contexts if development has to benefit the people or region. Planning and development cannot be done simply by a few officials sitting in the State Secretariat at Kohima and earmarking funds for this or that project. People’s need has to be addressed and for this there has to be greater communication between the government and stakeholders. The problem is that development has itself become the monopoly of a few people. A simple reading of the government’s annual works programme is proof of the kind of development that is pushed by powerful interests. We need to honestly appraise about where we are and revisit some of our development policies. Recently the Chief Secretary Nagaland (before his promotion) during an official programme in Mokokchung rightly mentioned about how we need to change the way we are looking at our economy. The point he was making was on how we have to plan our commerce, trade and industries and our economy based on the perspective of people’s need and the local context. Just as an example, the Meghalaya government has approved the new ‘Meghalaya Industrial and Investment Promotion Policy 2012’ by replacing the 1997 policy to address issues related to ‘land-alienation’ besides encouraging and promoting local indigenous entrepreneurs along the international borders of the state. The old development construct if it has not delivered needs to be reviewed, revised and replaced. We need to explore new ideas, be creative in our approach and work out action plans that will bring the right kind of development not just any development.
