PRESS RELEASE
Date: 22nd July 2022
Eastern Nagaland is a cluster of 7 major tribes of Nagaland vis-a-vis Chang, Khiamniungan, Konyak, Phom, Sangtam, Tikhir and Yimkhiung,with the formation of Naga Hill Tuensang Area (NHTA) erstwhile Tuensang Frontier Divisionin the year 1957 and Nagaland State coming into being in the year 1963 in consonance with two entities, wherein a solemn affirmation was concord between and vouched to share equated opportunities in all the Governmental aspects henceforth. It is to note that with the arrival of the British East India Company in the early 19th century followed by British raj, it dominated the whole of the South Asia including Naga Hill but the land and the people of Eastern Nagas presently (Tuensang, Mon, Longleng, Kiphire, Noklak, Shamator) were free from any form of the colonial rule and in contrary in the quest for formation of the state of Nagaland, the Eastern Naga too have equally contributed and sacrifice to build the larger Nagaland, which too is enshrined and evident in the 16th point agreement and article 371(A) of the Indian Constitution.
Albeit the affirmation, the vouch for equated share remained futile till today and there has been an infinite disparity in orchestrating/allocating the shares despite the constitutional rights enshrined in Article 371(2) (b) of the Indian constitution stating where any money that is provided by the government of India to the government of Nagaland to meet the requirement of the state of Nagaland as a whole, the governor shall in his discretion arrange for an equitable allocation of that money between the Tuensang District and the rest of the state. The very provision which was to cater and mitigate with the best ulterior motive to bring about the long-lasting peace, prosperity and development in the state was never maintained in letter and spirit by Nagaland state machineries.
India is the largest democratic country in the world and the constitution of India ensures all its citizens the right to Justice (Socially, Economically and politically)/ Equality (of all the status and of opportunity; and to promote among them all)/Fraternity (assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity of the nation).The attitude maintained by today’s Nagaland state government is completely a mockery to the preamble of the constitution as the very gesture jeopardize the idea of Fraternity, Equality and Justice; radically the root for all this is biasness and Oligarchy.
In the midst of today’s contemporary society flourishing with rapid globalization with intense advancement in various activities of lives, the land of Eastern Nagaland remained a remote barren land with socially and economically backward despite the surplus inbound of capital invested by the central government in order to develop the Eastern region.There is no plausible sign of development because the government of today despite being apprehensive has never shown keen interest to address the needs of the people and bid to felicitate the needs despite persistent hues and cries over the issues now and then. The Eastern most region of Nagaland state today hems in with most deplorable road condition, lack of human resource developments and infrastructure which had potentially contributed towards the economic and social backwardness of the region.
The clandestine and arbitrary selfish motives of the government machineries in orchestrating and allocating the schemes and funds for development of state vis-à-vis the development project as a whole allocation done for the Eastern Nagaland is just a speck and it doesn’t even synchronize the allocation done to one district. Various departments in Nagaland are engulfed with numerous projected schemes, programs and developmental projects to uplift the whole lot of Nagaland state socially, economically and developmentally; but it is flabbergasted to encounter that there has been a lot of disparity in implementing the same. The question here is, who is sole responsible for disproportional discrepancies in developmental activities? The federation is very much aware of the 5 years or more developmental activities pursued under the present government within the ambit of Eastern Nagaland and Nagaland; wherein the lion shares are been enjoyed by the few sections of the society which is crystal clear and evident by whole lot of Nagas in general.Nagaland has more than 80 departments and the below mentioned are some micro evident facts and figures which is a classic example, in which manner the eastern areas and people are being deprived at large.
1. PMJVK under Ministry Of Minority Affairs,the Eastern Naga areas were allocated arguably with just 11.95 cr out of 279.72 cr.
2. List of priorities projects under North-Eastern Council (NEC) 2022-23 out of 30 projects under the state, an estimated cost of (normal 58.11 cr,Projection 120 cr) only a lone project, an estimated cost of 3.50 cr was earmarked for Eastern Nagaland.
3. Ministry Of Tribal Affairs (SCA to TSS Division) funds under special assistance to Tribal Sub-Scheme During 2020-21(creation for capital asset-non recurring), out of total amounting Rs. 9,09,30,000 for 17 projects, only Rs. 1.5 cr was allocated for Eastern Nagaland.
The hoodwink and biased gesture is a clear manifestation of lackadaisical and step motherly treatment towards Eastern Nagaland. Such attitude was maintained since the inception of the state.the intensity of suppression and deprivation that the denizens of Eastern Nagaland had faced since time immemorial, and the excruciating pains inflicted upon are ineffable despite state machineries being very much cognizant of the horrendous conditions of the area, it still continues to deprive without hesitation.
In the light of the above discrepancies, the federation strongly objects over the biased distribution of funds as corroborated in the recent selection process. Hence, the Federation vehemently demands that all the proposed/approved projectsunder existing departments of nagalandbe reviewed and allocate with equityin the larger interest of the Nagas. The trend of inclining towards a section of people/areas in the process of development will only jeopardize the very fabric of Naga integration in the near future.
(Chingmak Chang)
President
(Kaibo Konyak)
Asst. General Secretary