Headlines       Vol. 2 Issue 1-2

May 7- May 21 , 1999

Why the North-East lags behind : A case study of Nagaland Astra The commonly cited reasons for the backwardness of the North East region are resource constraints and infrastructural deficiencies. It would seem that economic backwardness was a cosmic fait accompli for the North Eastern states, made worse by human interventions like the seismic violence by insurgent groups and non-interventions like the state government's rhetoric which attribute the under-development of the region to the Centre's apathy and financial neglect. Let us ignore for the time being the cosmic and seismic factors and concentrate on the rhetoric. Has the Centre been niggardly in its allocation of funds to the North East? 'No', says Dr. Jayanta Madhab, chairman of the North East Development Finance Corporation and former director of the Asian Development Bank, from Assam. According to Dr. Madhab, not less than Rs. 42,000 crore had poured into the North East over the past seven years. Where has all the money gone? Who is responsible for the loss of funds — the political jingoists, the cultural imperialists or the economic militarists from the plains? Wrong. The money is lost through corrupt and unscrupulous elements who constitute an integral part of the society which it is intended to benefit. While corruption is not an indigenous product of the North East, it appears to have become institutionalised in the region where the politician — bureaucrat — middleman — militant nexus is responsible for the misappropriation of funds running up to crores of rupees. Here, the militant is not a mere spoke in the wheel of corruption but the axle around which the racket revolves. No wonder then, that the economics of the North Eastern states have gone into a tailspin with financial ruin staring them in their faces. The vandalisation of public funds is epitomised in Nagaland, where militants have been laying seige to the state treasury by forcing government officials to make withdrawals from public account, commensurate with amounts claimed from them through extortions. This leads to depletion of public funds which could have been utilised for growth and development in the state, where, according to a report of the Department of Food & Civil Supplies, 32.92 per cent of the people are living below the poverty line. According to reliable sources, in a recent, the NSCN-IM forced the Deputy Inspector of School of Phek district to submit false bills to the tune of Rs. 5 lakh, charged to the state treasury, but was caught along with the cash and the demand letter served on him, while he on his way to hand over the money to the outfit. The official had been supplied with the bills previously prepared by the outfit in the name of fictitious members of the staff. Cheating the people out of their own funds which could have been used for the creation of social or economic infrastructure has become rampant in the North East. Even ordinary school teachers are not spared. According to reliable sources, the NSCN-K had recently extorted Rs. 1000 from the salary of each teacher in Tuesang district of Nagaland, through the Deputy Inspector of Schools of the district. Earlier, the NSCN-M had collected amounts ranging from Rs. 500 to Rs. 1,500 from the pay of the members of the staff of the schools and the Education Department, as a routine measure. Meanwhile, Nagaland continues to sink deeper and deeper into financial mess as fraudulent practices and financial indiscipline grow. According to the major findings of the Auditor General for 1997, the state tops the list in financial improbity. Some examples: Rs. 202.86 lakh were illegally drawn from treasuries as pension benefits. Under the 'Member of Parliament Local Areas Development Scheme', work orders worth Rs. 108.18 lakh were given to 112 beneficiaries between 1994-97 but payments were made to only three individuals who, curiously, were not the real beneficiaries. Due to “injudicious planning”, a Rs. 3 crore loan from the LIC for police housing scheme could not be used for more than two years although government continued to pay interest on it. The Joint Director of Irrigation and Flood Controls had paid Rs. 61.75 lakh to 15 VVIPs, Rs. 10.71 lakh to seven individuals and Rs. 1 lakh to a church. There were no records for utilisation of a sum of Rs. 152.85 lakh, nor were there any proper authentication and distribution certificates for relief assistance of Rs. 171 lakh to 16,682 beneficiaries.

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