The art of persuasion is a crucial skillset for a politician or in politics. Glib talk and lofty promises too are essential ingredients for sustaining or starting any political campaign.
In contrast, statistics often come as a humble reality check. Nonetheless, the persuader often has a way out, many a time, employing the ‘fine print’ or contextualisation as the exit route.
It is against this backdrop, one should examine the recent survey report on Local/Block Level Statistics for Local Level Planning 2020, published by the Directorate of Economics & Statistics, Nagaland.
The survey on the availability of basic amenities in villages across Nagaland, plausibly, could be one of the most comprehensive statistics capturing the ground realities. According to reports, the survey covered 1237 villages in Nagaland and the status presented were as of January 2020.
One of the most striking highlights of the survey was regarding the electrification of villages in the state, noting that nine villages were yet to be covered by electricity in the state.
This came as a huge surprise given the Government of India's ambitious initiative for 100% rural electrification in the country and subsequent claim to have achieved the goal in April 2018.
“28th April 2018 will be remembered as a historic day in the development journey of India…I am delighted that every single village of India now has access to electricity,” a tweet from Prime Minister then informed.
In August last year, the Advisor for Power, Nagaland also maintained that the State has achieved 100% rural household electrification under Saubhagya Flagship Programme, the lofty ‘power to all’ scheme launched by the GoI.
One wonders why such claims were not reflected in the survey. Perhaps, both the PM and the Advisor were referring to villages listed in the 2011 census or created after their claims or the percentages were rounded-up. As stated, the ‘fine print’ or contextualisation could give a clearer picture.
Notwithstanding the contrasting figure, it was indeed assuring to read that 99.27% (1228 out of 1237) have been ‘electrified.’ Apart from electricity, among others, the survey depicted that 96% of the villages were covered by Anganwadi Centre while 97.97% had fair price shop facility. A total of 1182 (95.55%) villages were connected with PHED water supply.
However, it also draws attention to some grim realities regarding the access to basic amenities in the State demanding urgent attention from the different stakeholders and most importantly, the State government at various levels.
Take the case of healthcare, the survey stated that only around 41% of the villages in the state have Sub-Centre medical facilities whereas 0.6% of the villages in the State are having Community Health Centres. Given that an SC can serve many villages – around 3000 population in hilly/tribal/desert areas – it is understandable that the only 37% have such centres; however, if the figure pertains to actual access, corrective measures must be adopted.
The figure on financial inclusion is astounding, to say the least. According to the survey, only 1.6% of the villages have access to bank facilities while 1.7% of the villages have access to ATM Booths.
The state of affairs is reflected by the fact that even in Kohima district, at the core of the political and economic structure, only 4% of the villages were banked and just 3% had ATM booths. Located at the periphery, none of the villages in Mon district had such facilities.
However, the survey also provides outlets to amend the lack of certain aforesaid amenities. For instance, the survey informed that mobile network services were available in all the 1237 villages in the state. Financial inclusivity, to a large extent, could be achieved by making use of such connectivity, while crucial health information could be availed via such medium.
When statistics do the talking, glibness seldom persuades. The survey findings are hugely instructive; the State Government must reflect, act and secure the access to basic amenities to every citizen, as a right as well as the fulfillment of lofty promises.
