Nagaland has been found to be languishing at the bottom of the list once again and why are we not surprised! The NITI Aayog’s India Innovation Index 2021 (III 2021) released on July 20 has ranked Nagaland at the bottom of the Northeastern and Hill States Category. It is like our state government is telling us to get used to being at the bottom – the abyss, the bottomless pit, the netherworld, nadir, rock bottom! It’s like the state government is not even trying to improve things anymore.
Earlier, NITI Aayog ranked Nagaland as the Worst Performing State in 6 parameters (poverty, health, affordable energy, sustainable cities, industries and infrastructure) as per SDGI index, 2021. Nagaland is also the Worst Performing State as per State Energy and Climate index (SECI), NITI Aayog 2022. Not forgetting that Nagaland ranks as the Worst Performing State under the National Health Index 2019-20 (NITI Aayog). One can only feel sorry for the chief minister who, by virtue of the office he holds, must attend every NITI Aayog council meeting as the representative of the worst state. The pain must be real.
For the uninitiated, the NITI Aayog is the apex public policy think tank of the Government of India, and the nodal agency tasked with catalyzing economic development, and fostering cooperative federalism through the involvement of State Governments of India in the economic policy-making process using a bottom-up approach. It was established in 2015, by the NDA government, to replace the erstwhile Planning Commission which followed a top-down model. The NITI Aayog council comprises all the state Chief Ministers, along with the Chief Ministers of Delhi and Puducherry, Lieutenant Governors of all UTs, and a vice-chairman nominated by the Prime Minister.
To be ranked last in one parameter while performing best in another is tolerable, so to say, but to be perpetually ranked at the bottom of the list of almost every index is something. It is an insult to the diligent and hardworking Naga people. This is like the Naga people were accursed by some gods of the underworld to burn in the eternal fire of discomfiture. The fact that there is no opposition bench in the state assembly hall to reproof the government adds fuel to that fire. If this is not doom, what is?
According to the NITI Aayog, the India Innovation Index ranks the states based on innovation scores calculated by measuring the Human Capital, Investment, Knowledge Workers, Business Environment, Safety and Legal Environment, Knowledge Output and Knowledge Diffusion dimensions. The Innovation Index was determined by a state’s ability for innovation. We would like to believe that Naga people are creative and innovative. The Naga people, particularly the youngsters, only need to be enabled to perform. And the government is not helping.