Wheels of progress

Every month, several hundred crore rupees go through the government system, but only a small portion of that gets to the people. This is how Nagaland’s economy looks right now. There are more and more people in Nagaland who are sure that decades of government experimentation have always been a distraction from long-term goals. The list is long and endless and numerous under the guise of infrastructure that never seem to be completed on time except take the form of cost overruns. The investment of huge funds for infrastructure has only created a haphazard economy in Nagaland and the reason why the state has not kept up with the rest of the country. Rather, the wheels of the economy has slowed down mainly because there is no return of revenue earning. Instead while the condition of the overwhelming majority have become almost pauper-like the wealth of the new breed of the “nouveau riche,” has quadrupled many times over. The perpetration of such a privileged section creates a negative economic development, as this has been self-defeating. A lot of talk about “potential,” but when tried, it falls apart. This suggests that the state’s impressive policies and visions don’t match up with what’s happening on the ground. That might not be entirely true, though, because the people, their land, and their resources still have a lot of room to grow and help the economy move forward. This is a clear evidence that the only kind of economy that is practiced is crony capitalism. In such an environment, the concept of wooing outside investors becomes a distraction under the government shoulders the responsibility of providing incentives, security, or other forms of support. In the case of tourism promotion, which is acknowledged as a viable employment-generating activity, the state government must align it with the ground reality rather than investing crores of rupees in an annual event that ultimately becomes a mere spectacle. Unemployment is a severe concern, and no amount of sacrifice is sufficient to prevent the next generation from being marginalized or even compelled to engage in illegal activities. Economic visions need to align with achievable goals by a generation of young entrepreneurs. To be clear, business entrepreneurship should mean working at any level and not persisting with the misunderstood notion that it is about being a kind of chief executive officer or an entrepreneur running the show like a top CEO of a corporation. An entrepreneur who does business as electrician, machine operator, plumber, construction worker etc is what should be emphasized if the current artificial unemployment in the state is to be addressed. India is currently experiencing a severe shortage of well-trained, skilled laborers, necessitating the urgent training of millions of individuals with the necessary skills. Calibration of the practical aspects of skill development to a symbiotic relationship with education would be necessary. These two are indispensable for the engagement of a broader population in the process of development. The government’s charge is also to ignite the engine of collaborative governance and stewardship. Ultimately, economics, at both the micro and macro levels, are contextualized within societies that have embraced the economic momentum.