Nagaland of the times about 1990 to 2012 was in such chaos with extortions, kidnappings, ransoms, killings and whatever crimes you can name. It hardly nattered who that extortionist was, for anyone could tell any name to ask for the tax. Of course, every Naga, including the writer, support the Naga National Movement, and would gladly donate whatever is feasible and perhaps even sacrifice that beyond what is normally feasible, if the activities were truly for the real cause. That is what every Naga knew; but could not speak for fear of the gun. There were cases of robbing of employees’ salary, in bulk, before disbursement. Also bulk deductions of employees’ wages, by way of percentage deductions, etc. were usual a thing. In such a situation, the Nagaland state govt had to think of some ways to prevent robbery of salaries and bulk deductions. The seemingly best option was to prepare a Combined Pay Bill (A/Roll), with respective Bank Accounts into which the salary, of each, is to be remitted. Having been directly transferred into his/her bank account, all that an employee has to do is to go to the Automated Time Machine (ATM) booth to draw whatever amount is needed. This method of salary disbursement seemed miraculous and secured for many. However the method also has its disadvantages, one among many, is that many of the field staff are illiterate and hence to use the ATM Card is not directly workable. Such illiterate employees had to entrust a family member or a friend to obtain the ATM Card and its PIN, from the bank, as well as to use the ATM card to draw money. One can imagine the burden and inconvenience for the use of ATM Card by an illiterate user. Also the ATM booths have queues that are sometimes intolerable. Not ignoring the advantages of the use of ATM Card for many purposes, the system is surely in need of review, for many reasons, chief among which is indirect siphoning of govt fund without work output.
After realising that the Naga National Movement had turned into syndicated robberies and killings, a few enlightened Nagas started expressing their voices against the irony of the so called Naga National Movement. Of all the voices of the aggrieved people, ACAUT was the saviour voice, the revolutionary philosophy which advocated “one government, one tax”. This ACAUT voice has revolutionised the thoughts of many Nagas, especially the educated lot, and accordingly the law and order scenario has changed a lot in Nagaland, for the better. Hence as far as the case of syndicated robbery and kidnapping is concerned, the thinking of the Naga people have largely been refined to suit the “one govt, one tax” philosophy. But an evil comparable to unabated taxation has developed among state govt employees. This evil is drawing salary without going to work, by many employees. Unabated taxation is direct extortion from individuals; but salary without work is indirect siphoning of govt fund that is to say without commensurate work output. One should not be surprised if told that a state govt employee, posted to a place other than Dimapur or Kohima, or his/her place of residence, drew salary through ATM for several years, at place of residence, and then got transferred to another place, without seeing his workplace. The writer has discussed with many Controlling Officers about regular attendance of state govt employees. The simple answer given by many is the loss of control by DDOs and hence inability to discipline any errant employee, because of the existing system of Combined Pay Bill and its disbursement through bank accounts, so they say. Of course all that a DDO/Controlling Officer says may not always be justified since some DDOs may also be taking advantage of this system of salary disbursement. It is not surprising that many DDOs requisition the Pay Bills of his/her office to Dimapur/Kohima etc, sign it and send back to the office, for routing to treasury for disbursement through the bank accounts. If anyone is in doubt and wants to confirm what are happening in state govt offices, especially in the district offices, one has to spend some time gathering information and casually visit offices to see the ground realities. Even in Directorates or Secretariat, the instances of going to the bank for drawing salary, is a usual frequent excuse for absence. It is also not illogical to say that any bulk robbery of staff salary is neither unique nor does it happen only in Nagaland; but has incidences everywhere, although not desired. Under normal circumstances any such robbery may be due to connivance or carelessness and those responsible have to be reprimanded or punished.
An exhaustive or lengthy write up very often tends to be unfriendly to readers. Hence to make it more reader-friendly; this is only an appraisal with the intention to apprise the readers, specially the policy makers, that any policy, good or bad, needs to be reviewed periodically, to see its credibility or otherwise. If an adopted policy is found to be good, it may be continued. But if found not satisfactory or if any loophole or inadequacy is detected, the system may either be discontinued or be streamlined by supplementing with additional rules/guidelines or by removing the loopholes/lapses. However it is no wonder that in Nagaland, any policy or system, once adopted, is hardly reviewed or amended or improved, whether that system is defective or needed to be updated. Hence it is thought worthwhile to also highlight to the readers that under the state govt. policy of Communitisation of Public Utilities, several schemes namely Schools, Health Centres, Water Supply, Power, Tourist Amenities etc have been communitised, a decade or so ago. The concept and purpose of communitisation, in principle, is ideal and has worked satisfactorily in few cases; but not for many especially the schools, and the policy needs to be reviewed or may even discontinue. The concept and purpose of policy makers have not been perceived by those at the grass root, who are implementing the programme. Hence many nasty things are happening internally in the communitised schools and one of the indicative consequences is the poor HSLC & HSSLC Results of govt schools, since the foundation affects the superstructure, which is to say that poor Primary and Elementary schooling produces poor HSLC & HSSLC Results. For without the needed weapons and basic training the battle at the HSLC, HSSLC or Higher Ups cannot be won. Many unmindfully say that no parent wants to send their children to govt schools and they compete in sending their children to private schools, only. But let it not be forgotten that there are many underprivileged parents who have no option but to send their children to the fee-less govt schools, only. No doubt the govt teachers are the best qualified and best paid too.
Hence they are expected to perform better. But the ugly face of govt schools is shaped by the non performance by many of the govt teachers and involvement of too many hands of Communitisation. Surely too many cooks are spoiling the Education Curry and hence without much ado to expose the nasty things happening in communitised schools, it is necessary to discontinue the policy and instead empower the Controlling teachers so they are made accountable. This is the only viable option to improve the performance of govt schools. Like minded readers may kindly supplement, on “Salary through Bank Accounts” and “Communitisation of Public Utilities”, for the cause of common good.
Er. Mhondamo Ovung Retired Chief Engineer, PHED, Nagaland. Wokha, Nagaland
