Neither here nor there

 Out of six issues that the state cabinet deliberated, it deferred decisions on four crucial demands- implementation of Register of Indigenous Inhabitants of Nagaland(RIIN); enhancement of superannuation age of medical officers from the current 60 to 65 years; shifting of the office of DC Dimapur to Chümoukedima and implementation of standing government order on ban on fresh appointments. The cabinet okayed the proposal for urging upon the Centre for a separate high court in the state and approved new courses for government polytechnics in Mon, Wokha and Peren. By deferring decisions , the cabinet may have given itself a breathing space but it will have to eventually take a call. Past and present governments, had in fact flirted with these issues in the past. The governments had raised the bar as they felt these issues were popular. Today, when the time has come to take a call on these issue which it had flirted with, the government has now shifted the onus of responsibility on consultations with CSOs. Delegating responsibility to others is absolving responsibility. For instance, the ban on fresh appointments is a standing government order since 1997 and reiterated in 2020. However, since 1997 hundreds have been appointed through various doors-back, front, side etc whether sanctioned nor non-sanctioned or temporary attachments etc. Re-discussion is also an admission of shifting responsibility. The other issue of RIIN was another populist syndrome to bring Dimapur district under Inner Line Permit(ILP) . Probably the government felt it sounded right to go against illegal immigrants through ILP. In order to do that, there has to be a base to identify who can or who cannot be under ILP. This necessitated identification of who is or who is not an indigenous inhabitant. The government thus constituted the RIIN commission headed by a retired chief secretary and with two others as members. The Commission submitted its report during the end of 2019 and the government assured it would do the needful. That did not happen and the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 came as a relief since it provided much needed alibi in not taking any decision. Even in February 2021,days ahead of the budget session, Joint Committee for Prevention of Illegal Immigrants(JCPI) along with other apex tribe bodies of the state, made a fervent plea on the government to table and pass RIIN at the session. It was not done and JCPI had issued another ultimatum to enact RIIN on or before March 31 but it too went unheeded. Now the government has decided to hold a series of re-consultations with various tribe organisations which means delaying the process. On the superannuation issue as demanded by NIDA, the government has decided to consult students on the matter. The other issue of shifting office of DC Dimapur to the new complex at Chümoukedima was decided decades back but today, the government is unable to implement its own decision. Not implementing decisions only makes people feel that the government, rightly or wrongly, is in a state of indecision and can flip flop on crucial issues.