Urban governance that defies tradition | Nukhosa Chüzho, Kohima

Election to the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) and the consequent question of governing urban affairs has been a Damocles’ sword over the Nagas for over two decades. The diametrically opposed stand postured by the ruling dispensation and the influential civil society organizations (CSOs) has so far brought nothing positive, let alone a successful resolve to bridge the missing link in urban administration. On the one hand, the fear of losing in a race for funds and the imminent legal proceedings for delayed election to ULBs push the state government to the fringe. On the other hand, the massive apprehension of defiling and contaminating our established social practices has forced the CSOs to advocate for further deliberation of the issue. However, there is no unanimity even amongst the participants of the latter group. The contentious thirty-three percent reservation for women and the tax on land and building have been at the heart of the turmoil, with the Nagas ontologically branded as misogynist and anti-tax. This writer, in his limited understanding of the issue, attempts to navigate through the bone of contention.

Sponsorship was not an issue even during the undivided NNC as ten families collectively contributed to support one Naga Army. It is still believed that the Nagas would replicate such reciprocal altruism to support and sustain a people-based movement. Hence, it is not that the Nagas do not pay tax. On the contrary, the Nagas freely give when and where they feel it is appropriate. The sociological understanding of the Nagas is that the civil society and the community, or, to be precise, each adult individual member, share close affinity with their lands and the resources thereon. The land signifies its pride. Their landed property amounts to their identity. Being landless is incongruous with the social construction of the Nagas. In all aspects, the Government of Nagaland represents the Government of India. The Nagas, in general, have a tendency to stay aloof from paying taxes, especially on land, lest such is being categorically misconstrued as abject subordination and submission of rights to the dominant power. Therefore, so long as the Nagas identify themselves as independent although politically subjugated under the Indian Union, the Nagas may not willingly come forward and accept the tax on property being imposed, as such is liable to be interpreted as the tax on our identity and concomitant deconstruction of the very fabric of our civil society.

Though the constitution has guaranteed us a complete ownership over our land and its resources and delegated to us the authority to devise a mechanism for governance based on our time-tested traditional practices, it has been empirically evident that our unmindful experimentation of public policies that are alien to us and such policies not being scanned through the rationale lens of public discourse has on multiple occasions threatened and even diluted our rights duly recognized by others.

Sheer absence of women participation in decision making in the traditional village administration (prior to institutionalization of the Village Council) is a subject of academic interest. If their participation in the traditional village administration is inhibited by the assumption that they are inferior in making decisions, or by virtue of the roles they shoulder in the traditional family institution, or the inhibition is biological, such thinking is intellectually flawed and our traditional mindset needs enlightenment. Reservation, if required, must be accorded to women. Yet, such must be preceded by commissioning a study to ascertain the factors associated with low women participation in decision making bodies. For public policies suffer paralysis when policy makers inflate or do not have accurate statistics to rely on.

The problem creeps in since the policy makers encounter policy paralysis as to how to go about with the governance of urban bodies. Our traditional society neither experiences urban life nor administers urban affairs. Therefore, the policy makers, without exploring alternative solutions to administrate urban affairs, casually adopt and enact an Act to experiment urban administration in haste. The end was tragic, losing precious lives.

Now, what is of immediate concern is the imposed election to the urban local bodies and the tax on land and building. Firstly, every citizen is a witness to the vices of election – from gross indulgence in offering money and kinds to influence voters’ behavior to exercising franchise in favour of the candidates offering the highest amount. Election, which is found absent in the past glorious days, does not reflect the true meaning of sending our representative to represent our voice. In today’s context, leaders are the ones who own wealth, as opposed to people’s choice.

Therefore, as some organizations have suggested, nomination of councilors in lieu of state-sponsored election could bring out the most capable candidates to govern the affairs connected to our urban settlements. Secondly, collecting tax on land and building in itself does not amount to infringement of Article 371A, as some commentators chose to believe. However, we ought to remind ourselves that our social practice is breached and the principle of Article 371A is relegated if state instrumentalities, on default of payment of tax, transfer to itself the landed property of the private citizens. For most Nagas, as discussed above, the state government is an embodiment of the GoI and hence they feel uncomfortable to share the resources with whom they deemed to have been the main oppressor of their rights. Furthermore, mismanagement of state resources is one fundamental reason why the citizens do not want to bequeath their resources to the state apparatus. Any effort to generate more revenue, be it liquor or land and building, will not augment state resources so long as resource mismanagement plague the state machineries.

Nonetheless, in the event of extreme requirement of tax especially on land and building for the purpose of discharging civic duties in urban areas, a staggering fifteen percent tax proposed for land and building ought to be scaled down to the minimum possible percentage point, the decision of which may be arrived at through due consultation and/or collecting, collaging and mincing popular public opinion. Also, the current unregulated sectors such as mobile water supply, online-based delivery services may need to be regulated to ensure efficient and quality service delivery and generate revenue. And, as far as election to ULBs is concerned, it is certain to further aggravate the divide along the political fault line. Therefore, since discharging civic duties is in common interest and not in the interest of any political party, the extant process of selecting / nominating a representative as is prevalent in village units of administration offer the most viable alternative to conflict-ridden election. Nomination by consensus by the residents of the ward and the provision to recall (if needed) could well fulfill the intent and purpose of Article 371A.