The disproportionately high number of government employees in Nagaland is mindboggling, to say the least. For a small state like Nagaland with a population of less than 20 lakhs to have as many as 1,40,000 plus government employees is simply unbelievable. What is even more disturbing is that, as per reports, around 65% of the government spending goes toward paying the salaries of these staggering number of employees, and a precious little of the remaining 35% is spent on development works. To top it off, the government employees are generally inefficient and unproductive. No wonder, then, that the state of Nagaland is not progressing at par with the rest of the country.
Neighbouring states in the region, like Manipur and Meghalaya, has almost twice the population size as that of Nagaland. And these states have half the number of government employees as that of Nagaland. Yet, all development parameters indicate that they are progressing and developing far better than Nagaland. It is, therefore, safe to conclude that having an excessive number of government employees in the payroll is not the answer for progress and development. In fact, the figures indicate that the government employees are inefficient, underperforming and enjoying undue privileges, all the while eating away a major chunk of the state’s exchequer, generally speaking.
Now, what are the possible ways to buck this unhealthy trend? There is no easy way out. No political party in power would dare touch the subject of cutting down the number of government employees. They will talk about it because it makes them look good, but they will not do it because it would hurt their prospects of coming back to power. They will talk about downsizing but they will keep making backdoor appointments. Some will suggest Voluntary Retirement Scheme or offering golden handshakes, while others will suggest creating alternate avenues for economic growth and employment generation. Some will even suggest that the much hyped solution to the Naga political problem could offer some respite. However, there is no magic formula to guide Nagaland out of this disaster. The best thing would have been that we had the foresight to realize that overstaffing the government sector would be disastrous, instead of landing in the disaster and then regretting later on.
It will take a lot of advocacy, political will, and concerted effort of a whole generation for Nagaland to wiggle its way out of this disaster. Meanwhile, the craze for government jobs alone should be discouraged. The goal should not only be about downsizing the staggering number of government employees but, rather most importantly, the goal should be about ensuring that all of the government employees are performing their duties efficiently. The ideal way forward for Nagaland to address this disaster is by adopting a two-pronged approach, long term and short term. Formulating policies and enacting them to downsize is a process and will take time. This long term approach can be complemented by a rigorous and immediate action plan to ensure that all government employees are productively engaged and performing worth the salary they are paid with.