North East and systematic failures
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: August 26 , 2014 -
Call it callousness or disastrous red-tapism, the amount of Rs 13,000 crore is simply enormous, specially for the backward Northeastern region of India. DoNER Minister VK Singh’s startling revelation that over Rs 13,000 crore funds sanctioned by various central ministries for the North East never reached the region is ridiculous and outrageous at the same time.
According to the military officer turned politician, the huge amount vanished in the finance ministry. He said, “The amount is nowhere now. It is just on papers”.
The Non-Lapsable Central Pool of Resources or the NLCPR was created for the Northeastern States including Sikkim out of 10 per cent of funds allocated to different central ministries for utilization in the North East region.
But almost all the central ministries could not utilize 10 per cent of their budgetary allocations in the troubled region. The accumulated fund from different central ministries earmarked for the North East is non-lapsable which means they must be utilized within a specific time period or within the particular financial year.
However, in the absence of proper planning and political will, funds drawn from the NLCPR were never utilized.
After the expiry of the specific time period, funds sanctioned from NLCPR either go back to the parent ministries or the ministry of finance because the funds are non-lapsable.
Such is the irony of the North East and its socio-economic environment where everything is either lacking or lagging as compared to other parts of India. DoNER ministry, being a unique ministry, which is exclusively dedicated to the North East region, requires proper streamlining of its visions, objectives and functions.
What is the point of creating an exclusive pool of resources when the funds drawn from it could not be utilized properly and fully?
If DoNER ministry is at fault, none of the state governments have any moral right to claim themselves as holy cows. Why should people suffer because of red-tapism, inefficacy, indifference and insincerity on the part of the ruling elites sitting at New Delhi and the respective state capitals?
VK Singh was right in blaming the system for robbing such a huge amount off the beleaguered North East.
Yes, there are systematic lapses and the Government of India’s approach to the region is doubtful. The approach adopted by the Indian State as far as Northeast is concerned before the 1990s is popularly known as Nehruvian model.
This was before India undertook structural adjustment programme in the early part of 1990, which was based on two edifices, security and political-economy.
From the security point of view, Northeast was regarded as a strategically important region by virtue of its proximity to many countries such as China, Myanmar, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh.
On the other hand, the political-economy approach dictated that the people of the Northeast need preservation (like engendered species of plants and animals) as they are primitive people.
Fallout of this approach was that no financial institutions were allowed to be established or institutionalized because of the apprehension that sudden implosion of modern forces of economy can wipe out the people of the region. In other words, the understanding was that economic needs should be driven by the culture of the primitive people.
This approach underwent a dramatic transformation when India started its structural adjustment programme, which ultimately paved the path towards globalization, liberalization and privatization.
Cocooned and isolated for a long period under the Nehruvian model of political economy, the North East region was caught napping, quite unprepared as India started pushing vigorously for its Look East Policy.
Entrepreneurship skill and the know-how of competitive business sense which are the highlight of any global business were never allowed to grow in the region.
Then there are the institutional problems of institutions of finance and banking.
The Northeast lacks them, and as such meticulous planning and vigorous execution of appropriate policies are needed to bring the region at par with other parts of the country before exposing the North East to the onslaught of global capital.
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