Naga talks: Assam, Manipur Arunachal to be involved
http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=80364
SUDHI RANJAN SEN
Posted online: Thursday, October 20, 2005 at 0016 hours IST
NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 19: The centre will approach Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh to discuss integration of Naga-inhabited areas. The move comes after the Naga leadership agreed to go step by step in reaching a solution. Oscar Fernandes, who represented the Centre in the recent talks on the issue with NSCN (I-M) in Bangkok is back after holding five meetings. Involving the three states was likely to come up when he briefs PM Manmohan Singh on the talks.
The government feels that the Nagas agreeing to go step by step, ought to be reciprocated, sources said, adding the government wants to involve the people and the political leadership of the three states to get the view of these states on the Naga issue. It is also likely to reduce growing pressure on the Naga leadership
from cadres to take the process further and show results. The key point in the 30-point proposal submitted by the Naga leadership earlier is a special federal relationship proposed with India, on which the NCSN (I-M) will prepare an unofficial paper. Though the purpose of this unofficial paper is not immediately clear, it is understood that the Centre wants the NSCN (I-M) to spell out the special status it has been demanding. The Nagas found unacceptable, the earlier offer of autonomy on the lines of J-K. Naga sources said the special federal relationship is based on the distinct political and territorial identity of the Nagas. They want the special relationship sealed through an agreement that cannot be changed unilaterally by either side. The sources said that they were willing to share functions and responsibilities with India in such a way that the interests of both
were addressed. The unofficial paper, it is understood, would be discussed in the next round of talks in Bangkok in November.
NSCN no to Oscar planhttp://www.telegraphindia.com/1051020/asp/guwahati/story_5375478.asp
NISHIT DHOLABHAI
Dimapur, Oct. 19: The NSCN (I-M) today thumbed down Union minister Oscar Fernandezs suggestion that the Naga impasse could be ended with an interim solution even as the dialogue for a final settlement continued. The insurgent groups kilo kilonser (home minister), Rh. Raising, said Delhi had not even discussed the possibility of an interim arrangement with his organisation, leave alone work towards it.It may be one among many formulas for consideration, but we are looking for a lasting final solution, a decision on which will be taken by the collective leadership (Isak Chishi Swu and Th. Muivah), he said.Fernandez, the Union minister of state for statistics and programme implementation and leader of the ministerial group negotiating with the NSCN (I-M), said in Kohima
yesterday that an interim solution to the Naga issue was possible, if agreed to by the outfit. But Raising remained non-committal on whether his organisation would at all consider such an option if Delhi raised it at the next round of formal talks.The insurgent leader met Fernandez away from the prying eyes of the media and declined to disclose whether the minister mentioned any such proposal.It was a private chit-chat, nothing for public consumption, he told The Telegraph. Raising said the Naga peace talks, which have weathered several storms along the way, were being held on an even keel and both India and the Nagas must continue to respect one anothers point of view on key issues. The NSCN (I-M) kilo kilonsers meeting with Fernandez was ostensibly arranged at the eleventh hour. Just before leaving a government accommodation for Dimapur airport, the Union minister received
feelers from the insurgent leader to arrange for a tête-à-tête. His flight to Calcutta was delayed by over an hour, allowing him the opportunity to oblige Raising.Raising sounded a note of warning, too. He said the insurgent group was committed to the peace process, but would not take things lying down if it did not progress in the right direction. The next round of talks is slated for December, probably before Christmas. The NSCN (I-M) leader, however, declined to hazard a guess about any Christmas gift to the impasse-weary Naga community. Fernandez told the media that the Naga issue was five decades old, but the UPA government in Delhi had dealt with it for only nine months. He said the three states, Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, opposed to the campaign for integration of Naga-inhabited areas of the Northeast were yet to have extensive discussions with Delhi.
A question of numbers: How many people in Nagaland? by SANJOY
HAZARIKA
http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=14&theme=&usrsess=1&id=93045
The 2001 census of the state of Nagaland says that it has a population of 19 lakh or 1.9 million. The government there has not yet accepted or rejected the findings. But the question of how many people actually live in Nagaland is a major and sensitive issue.
The fact of the matter, according to senior government officials, researchers and non-government groups, is that the actual population is not more than 14 lakh or 1.4 million, or five lakh less than the projected figure. This is a staggering indictment of the census process in the state and raises fundamental questions about the basis of planning and
governance there. According to researchers who have trekked to remote villages and hamlets, battling bad weather, poor roads and tough terrain, even figures given in the 1991 census are vastly incorrect.
In other words, an elaborate fabric of lies has been consistently woven under the façade of planning and development to garner more Central funds. Where have these funds gone? Into the pockets of the political and bureaucratic elite of the state, including the militant elite. The militant elite is no longer outside the parameters of the state: it is part of the state, no matter how much they declaim their independence of it they are sustained by funds that come from the Centre to the state. This is true not just of Nagaland but also of Manipur. And it has been going on for decades. But let us return to the question of the number of people. In this horrendous exercise of deception,
in which villagers themselves were involved by inflating the numbers, hoping, as they told researchers and scholars, for more funds from the state, for more MLAs who would gift them more schemes and funds, the Centre cannot escape responsibility.
State, Planning Commission, DoNER must answer. What on earth has the Planning Commission and its highly qualified members, advisers and officials in charge of the North-east been doing all these years? Have they asked questions to the state government or are they just blindly following the data trotted out to them? The data from the states in the North-east, as one has found from years of field work, is not merely inconsistent with the facts, to put it mildly, it is grossly misleading and inaccurate.
What about the ministry of development for the North-east, which is supposed to be the nodal development and funds accruer (thanks to the
10 per cent allocation that each ministry, barring just two or three, is supposed to slice out of its annual budget and hand over to DoNER unless it has its own projects in the region where it apportions the money)? Has it also asked questions of the government in Nagaland or is it happy merely to let things be and not ruffle feathers. How can development take place on the basis of two sets of population figures? Forget about planning for five years or developing a vision plan down the road: how can any planning take place for even one year if the facts are so skewed?
Take the example of Jami village in Mokokchung district: it returned 197 households in the 1991, repeat 1991, census. Researchers who went there a few weeks ago counted 27, repeat 27, households. These questions must be faced. The state government of chief minister Neiphiu Rio needs to give some straight answers. The
Governor, Shyamal Dutta, one of the most upright leaders of the police before his retirement, should gently nudge the state government to the straight and narrow path. The Planning Commission, especially the member in charge of the North-east, BS Yuganthar, another respected figure in the bureaucracy, and his team have some fact-finding and soul-searching to do. So does the Ministry of DoNER.
How could something so obvious have gone wrong so blatantly? Where are the state and the Centres checks and balances? These are issues of public interest and lie in the public domain. The right to information also has come into place and it is a good thing that the Nagaland government has appointed a committee, for the time being, to oversee the initial stages. Answers can be sought through the RTI and the courts if the responses are dissatisfactory.
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