Stunting progress

Recently the Republic Day speech of the Governor of Nagaland L.Ganesan as well as the ‘wish list’ of the state government that was proposed with the North Eastern Council (NEC) at its 71st Plenary opens up the issue of proper and timely completion and utilisation of projects. Most projects are perhaps not actually viable in Nagaland but again that is not to suggest that all central projects are not implementable. The challenge is to undertake a serious and honest study at the ground and ascertain if for example, an ultra modern mini-stadium in a remote district is that the people need when roads are largely not motorable, where people still have to fetch water from a far away source and where there is hardly any electricity. When it comes to vision plans for socio-economic progress, there is no dearth of ideas and intention within the state government’s political and bureaucratic hierarchy. One of the problems is within the government system itself. For one, the bureaucracy has taken it upon itself the role as the indispensable player in furthering or promoting state’s economic progress. This has only led to creation of an exclusive domain of powerful and influential bureaucrats who make policies that seem complex for politicians to understand. This practise will continue since politicians are more interested in getting their “now/today” and least bothered about the long term outcome. Bureaucratic concepts also mean bending some when convenient and ignoring when inconvenient. Before taking up various dream projects or dream policies, it would be helpful to undertake an exercise to come up with a five-year plan and identify goals and priorities and the exercise be best left to reputed consultant firms. Economic development involves attaining progressive degrees of uptrending consumption, robust job creation and growing financial penetration. Financial institutions play a crucial role and this aspect has been often ignored. The problems faced by lending institutions is also self inflicted by those who loathe being posted to states like Nagaland for various reasons. The other important though not sufficient enough to warrant a freeze on loans , has been the awful manner in which government-sponsored schemes like CM’s Corpus Fund or PMRY have led to very high NPAs in banks.Many projects either remain incomplete, half complete or never even started for decades. What also needs to be taken into account are projects that launched with much fanfare during the past decades and what is their present status? In this regard, recently Nagaland Public Rights Awareness and Action Forum (NPRAAF), through a press release, revealed that there are 383 projects which are either incomplete/ongoing in the state. NPRAAF claimed that some of the projects were started 20 years back but despite colossal amount sanctioned, are in various stages of being incomplete while the state government remains unmoved or simply and wilfully turning a blind eye. Whatever be the factual figure, it appears, according to the CAG, that the estimated budget allocation for these projects is a whopping Rs.1,380.04 crore which have been spent by 36 government departments since 2003.The figures gleamed out of CAG report revealed that the Nagaland government has spent over Rs. 1,300 crore on 416 projects which are incomplete for over two decades. These happen if there is no transparency and accountability in the system and the absence of which nobody cares.