Society under attack

 Be it the chronic problem of mushrooming of illegal and multiple taxations which invaded society in Dimapur since the late 80s and whose negative and adverse impact continue to be felt across the state; the mushrooming of over a hundred unions, which seem to be solely involved with collection of “membership fees” besides the syndication of the market, formed legally, also contributes to adversely affecting the daily economic activities of people. Dimapur is the commercial centre of the state and important gateway to Nagaland as well as Manipur. These unwanted activities, some pursued under ‘authorised agencies’ to collect or impose tax, has earned the state a dubious distinction as having a thriving cottage industry of extortion. On the other hand, Dimapur has earned the unwanted distinction as the collection capital of the state with estimated illegal collections ranging around Rs.400 crore to Rs.500 crore annually. These issues have been raised umpteen times by various organisations since the late 90s. For instance, even before ACAUT Nagaland picked up the gauntlet against multiple and unabated taxations in 2013; there were other organisations that organised protest bandhs etc against these activities. The government had even ordered a ban on all forms of collection, whether authorised or otherwise. However, it proved easier to issue orders than in implementing them. Some organisations had even gone to court and in response, the state government was reminded about its own ban order. In 2013, ACAUT Nagaland organised protest rallies across the state and people’s rising anger at the collection racket and market syndication reached its peak. The impact of ACAUT’s rallies was huge and the government could no longer pretend that it was concerned with its people’s problems without action. The state government, as with its habit, instead of taking cognisance of the complaints, took the easy way out by constituting a three-member High Power Committee, headed by retired Supreme Court judge in August 2014 to examine the complaints. The HPC went about its work and finally submitted its report in June 2015. Had the government been as sincere as it pretended to do while constituting the HPC ,it would have responded by declaring the contents of the report and then make its stand clear. However, the report remains under cold storage since 2015 which proved that this is how the government deals with difficult problems. Then ACAUT itself virtually went in to hibernation and only in 2018 its offshoot –Public Action Committee(PAC) under the aegis of Naga Council Dimapur picked up the gauntlet. The PAC directed its full force solely against gate collections. The state government has not done anything over this issue. It may also be pertinent to point out that the Police department held a press briefing on July 2,2020 to rebut the June 16,2020 letter of the state Governor to the chief minister, over inability of state police in effecting rule of law against offenders. The police rebuttal read like an annual report on crimes but left the main issue unanswered. Be that as it may, the time has come for the elected members, apex tribe hohos, church besides the civil society organisations to take a clear and actionable stand over corruption, extortion, syndication and anti-social acts, otherwise not doing anything or enough to end criminalisation, will spell doom for society.