Baichung Bhutia, heard about him? Known as the poster boy of Indian foot ball today, Nick named sikimesse sniper because of his shooting skills in foot ball. A true Indian from the beautiful North east of India (Sikkim), is the first Indian to play professional foot ball in England. Has been an outstanding player at National foot ball championships and also contributed so much to the Indian foot ball. His valuable contributions in various crucial matches have won many titles for India, like SAFF champion ship 97, SAFF Champion ship 99, 2003 afro-asian cup runners-up, Nehru cup 2007, SAFF Champion ship 2005, SAFF Championship 2008 runners-up etc. He has also won various titles for individual performances like man of match awards, the most valuable player of the year, player of the tournament etc. He has emerged as a successful foot ball player against all obstacles, that too from a region which is often being neglected by the government when it comes to development, a very important territory of India which stands isolated when it comes to development, the beautiful, of course, Incredible North east of India. The Indian government recognized his achievements and awarded him Arjuna award and Padmashree award, which is appreciable. The important thing which should precede recognition is opportunity, provide opportunities, and then recognize achievements. There are thousands of youngsters from the region look for opportunities to rise and shine for their country, a pool of talent waits for opportunities.
India should realize the true potential of the north east, not only in terms of human assets, but also about various other unexplored revenue opportunities the region provides, at the same time, government has to lay the foundation of development work before this region could contribute something to the nation.
Since the beginning of the economic liberalization in the 1990s, studies have shown that this region is lagging behind others in terms of development, while many Indian states have improved comparatively better than these seven states. Why these states have been neglected? Is it because, these states are far away from the mainstream India, and we don’t bother about those people who don’t look like us, or do we just want those territories to be part of India, but never mind about the developments of those region.
According to B. George Verghese, one of the authors of Vision 2020, Northeast will have to grow by 12 to 13 percent every year in per capita income and basic social indices, if it were to catch up with the rest of India by 2020—assuming a 9 per cent growth rate for India. “Closing the gap,” he believes, “will not be easy but is doable.” However, the centre will have to make major investments. The popular opinion about north east is that the central government doesn’t allocate enough funds for the region.
But controversially, Dr.Ajai Sahni, Executive Director, Institute for conflict Management and the South Asia Terroism Portal; and Executive Editor, Faultlines and and Dr.J.George, Prof. George Jacob is Professor & Head of Department of Economics, and Disaster Management, at the Harayana Institute for Public Administration (HIPA), Gurgaon, and a founding member of the Institute for Conflict Management , have published a report about North East with a different perspective, the report titled ‘Security & Development in India’s Northeast - An Alternative Perspective’
An Excerpt from their report “The strife-riven States of India’s Northeast are a case in point. It is commonplace to say that this region has remained an area of neglect for more than five decades since independence. From the point of view of national political consciousness, this is, perhaps, a correct evaluation. In the context of developmental allocations and a wide range of economic and social indices, however, this is far from the truth.
The States of the Northeast are ascribed a "special category" status by the Government of India, and the National Development Council (NDC), the apex body for the approval of Plan funding, earmarks 30 per cent of total Plan allocations for special category States as central assistance for State Plans. Significantly, these States receive 90 per cent of Plan assistance as a grant, and just 10 per cent as a loan, as against the norm of 30 per cent grant and 70 per cent loan for other States. Favoured treatment is also given by the Finance Commission with respect to the sharing of Central tax revenues. Clearly, therefore, these States have not been made to suffer as a result of their resource endowments. The financial flow of funds to the Northeast, and the persistence of ‘underdevelopment’ against a backdrop of financial support from the Centre, consequently demand an examination of the decision making processes and patterns of resource allocation within these States.
In the first place, the financial support to these States from the Central devolution (Planning & Finance Commissions), accounts for over 80 per cent of the per capita revenue receipts in this region. Secondly, developmental expenditure as a percentage of revenue expenditure ranges between a high of over 72 per cent (Arunachal Pradesh) and 60 per cent (Nagaland). Thirdly, capital expenditure as a proportion of total expenditure was, on an average, at least 10 percentage points higher than the national average”.
If we go by the report published by Ajai Sahni and J.George, where do the funds go, in spite of so much fund allocation? By now North Eastern States should have been in the list of prospering states of India. Unfortunately, the situation is worse when it comes to Industrial development, Infrastructural developments and Jobs. This is proven by the fact that thousands of North Easterners migrating to various parts of the country, and social unrest and insurgency in those areas have further intensified migration, over the years. What the region lacks is opportunity, Otherwise, contrary to the general view about the north east, they are far better in various parameter as compared to national average, like literacy rate, the region tend to be significantly higher than the national average, while population densities are significantly lower and the population below the poverty line, at 33 per cent, is less than the national figure of 39 per cent. Even access to electricity, at 44 per cent of households, is marginally above the national average of 43 per cent; as is access to a health sub-centre / hospital within five kilometres of the village, which stands at 47 per cent of villages in the Northeast, in comparison to the All India average of 41.2 per cent and the ‘social backwardness’ that we ascribe to the tribes of this region is a heavily concept-dependent value judgement, says the report Indeed, the character and equity of local institutions for village and self-governance in tribal societies tend to be far superior to the caste riven, feudal panchayats in much of rural India, the status of women is certainly higher, and crimes against women dramatically lower than they are elsewhere in the country. The report suggests that the per capita income is better than the national average, but our national average is it self is a worst figure, means thousands still starve and the rest struggle to lead a descent living, except a few. That is the situation in north east too, North east faces all the problems that our nation faces, but what makes their life more terrible is that the lack of opportunities as mentioned above, the lack of industrial development, infrastructural development and Jobs, may be today they manage to earn some income and some support through aides, but for the long- term , you need substantial growth in order to sustain and raise the standard of living, because when we don’t create a platform for industrial growth and job opportunities, a majority of the future generation may slip into poverty.
Finally, the authors (Dr.Saini and J.George) write in the conclusion “the fact is that substantial development has flowed into the Northeast; its impact on target populations has been negligible because of the corruption and violence of the prevailing politics. Much of this investment, moreover, has indirectly ended up financing militancy through the enveloping economy of extortion and collusion.
What they say is, there is a total network of bureaucrats right from the central to state involved in the financial irregularities, and in many cases funds are being diverted to rebel groups by the local authorities, recently , a report about the arrest of Niranjan Hojai ( the commander in chief of the Dima Halom Daogah (DHD), was published in mail today delhi edition dated july 4 2010 by NIA (National investigation Agency), the rebel leader was wanted in various cases including siphoning off of part of the development fund – sanctioned by the centre for the North Cachar Hills district – to fund terror, further the report says, The NIA had found that bureaucrats, in connivance with politicians, including some state ministers had diverted huge sums of the DHD (J) for procurement of arms and ammunitions. The nexus came to light last year following the arrest of two DHD (J) linkmen carrying Rs 1 crore in cash. We see a few countries as our enemies, but what about the enemies within our country, the traitors, and the corrupt bureaucrats.
Whether there is a lack of fund allocation or the funds allocated do not reach the common people, both are one and the same, in the latter case the consequences are still worse, you are wasting nation’s resources, funds are not utilized properly despite of allocation.
If we go by the report of Dr.saini and prof.J.George, the immediate action needed from the government is a set up a regulatory body consisting of economists and IAS officials to scrutinize, audit, plan and facilitate the flow of funds to crucial areas of investment, and this body should also minimize corruption. What is the use of allocating funds when they don’t reach the common people or not being spent for development work? The problem in India is the planning commissions and committees come up with great plans and projects but most of the time successive governments have failed to implement the plans effectively and efficiently. A mechanism to facilitate the flow of funds to key areas of investment to promote industrial growth and ultimately creating opportunities in the form of Jobs is the first step government should take to restore the authority of democracy in the area.
Secondly, As far as North East is concerned the issue is not only about development, unlike the naxal affected areas, the north east region consists of those seven states have different culture, tradition, language and ethnicity, many groups have been fighting for separate lands for years, the struggles started long back during the British era itself, but development is a significant issue. Majority of the North East Indians, I mean Indians; have been raising their voice for years about the government’s lack of interest in developing those areas. We have been fighting those rebels for years, while many rebels groups of the regions have been suppressed and militancy level has been decreased to a considerable amount, still a few groups are active and operating with the help of china. China has been indirectly supplying arms to their comrades, for what they call as a war against India. China has been claiming a major part of Arunachal Pradesh as its own territory for years now. The common people of those regions still have belief in the government and electoral process, and play a crucial role in keeping democracy alive. It’s now government’s obligation to respond to the needs of those people to sustain their belief in the government.
The militancy level has been decreased to a considerable amount, I have myself talked with few people from those regions, they say, now it is far better than what it was earlier. Here we need to thank our paramilitary forces, which have been fighting our enemies from all fronts, they fight the rebels, in the thick jungle where the enemy has the advantage, and on the other side,they have the responsibility to protect the border from Chinese intrusion. But, most common allegation usually made by people in any insurgency affected areas is security force harassment. Government should take steps to ensure that, such kind of incidents do not happen, because the first step government could do for the people of the insurgency affected areas is this, a good relationship with the locals and government forces. They see security forces as representatives of the government, the face of the government, thus it is crucial for the government to ensure that the security forces do not harm people.
I have written a lot about development issues in my earlier of two articles title ‘Carry out operation green hunt’ and ‘the buck stops at whose desk’, the second immediate step governments (respective state and central government) should take is to restore law and order. ‘ The rule of law’ and ‘ rule by law’ need to be established, which cannot be restored only by force, that is what mainly earlier articles focused about, the two way approach to deal with militancy, government should carry out a coordinated offensive to suppress militancy and other notorious criminal gangs operating in the region and at the same time it should show it’s compassionate face towards common people by addressing their issues and agendas, development is the key and should be the top priority for the government.
Though the many parts of India need development, and governments need to ensure uniform development of all these regions. Why North East stand as an important region for development and why establishing the rule of law and restoring the authority of democracy is vital?
Here are a few reasons why government should take north east seriously and ensure the development of those regions and establish rule of law with immediate effect.
1. There has been a growing desperation among a section of North East People that the Central Government does not take their issues seriously and feel like isolated from the main stream of India. People’s dissatisfaction and lose in the faith of government and law is a dangerous sign of a law and order collapse.
2. The region has lot to offer to the rest of India, in terms of Human assets, as the literacy rate in this region is considerably higher than the national average, youths looking for opportunities in Jobs and Sports. A few Baichung Bhutias are waiting for opportunities and may bring a few gold and silvers from the Olympics for India as they are sports enthusiasts and in terms of revenue that we get like oil fields of assam, tea and for all those the region is famous for and future revenue opportunities like tourism which is now taken a back seat due to insurgency.
3. Thirdly, the strategic location of the region, near china, our undeclared enemy, who eye every opportunity to grab a pie of north east. Any social unrest, civil war, internal conflicts, law and order issues, revolt may become an advantage for china, in fact, they look for such dramatic event to take place to take charge of the situation. This is evident from the fact that they continuously try to enter our territory; claim a part of North east, a few months back issued separate visas for people for J&K, opposed to Dalai Lama’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh and a number of reasons. Now recently, china is helping Pakistan to build nuclear reactors. They look for right opportunity, I have written two article about china , one about how and why they are anti- Indian , title ‘ China’s dream of disintegrating the great Indian federation’ and the other one about China’s spreading influence in the world titled ‘why the red dragon is on the offensive mode?’.
So, it’s time of us, for India, for the government to take North East India seriously, no special treatment is required, but government should ensure that the region grows or develops along with rest of India. If the so called economic growth of India is true as claimed by economists, then North East also should be a part of this success story. Not only because North East region is important as a part of India, and for the source of revenue and for the people who are Indians like you and me but also strategically the region is very important for India.
