Will Smaller Districts Combat Regional Disparity?

Educationally, the western districts of Mokokchung, Dimapur, Wokha and Kohima recorded higher literacy rate ranging from between 84 % to 91 % in contrast with low 56 % to 73% recorded in the eastern districts of Mon, Tuensang, Kiphire and Longleng. In power infrastructure, Dimapur district is the largest consumer of energy with 215 electrified villages whereas Longleng has the lowest number of 35 electrified villages. In term of road infrastructure, Kohima has 1674 km comparing to Longleng’s 440 km of road coverage under R & B Department. Again, the Human Development Index (2011) was highest in Dimapur with 0.81 as against 0.50 recorded for Mon district, indicating a low level of income, dismal education, low life expectancy and hence overall low standard of living in the eastern periphery of the state.

The advent of new millennium saw the creation of four new districts of Peren, Kiphire, Longleng, and the recent creation of Noklak as the newest district of the state, carved out from the erstwhile undivided districts of Kohima and Tuensang. More recently, committees were constituted in various pockets of the state to forge ahead the aspiration and politico-economic objective of the people. District Demand Committees in respect of Tseminyu (under Kohima District), Bhandari (under Wokha District), Aboi and Tobu (under Mon District) were formed as pressure groups to realise their regional interests.

The regions from where demands for creation of new districts cropped up have all been classified / notified as backward except Tseminyu subdivision. However, Tseminyu is comparatively at the receiving end of development as the areas contiguous to the subdivision have better connectivity. Therefore, it may not be a mere postulation to project backwardness and uneven diffusion of development in the state as the causal factors for people of the regions to aggressively assert dissection of district/s into smaller regions along the conscious tribal and subtribal lines as the lone panacea to regional disparity. In addition, the hegemony of the dominant tribe in a district at the cost of the minority sub-tribe/s (to the extent of physical manhandling, denial of diversified job & livelihood opportunities, vigilantism) is held responsible for schism as well as mutual mistrust between communities, which usually climaxed at demand for new districts.

A theoretical assertion which presents smaller geographical region as an ideal scheme for effective governance has been a sought-after model for the regionalists. More than just a hypothesis, smaller size of states has its advantageous points. The states of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Uttarakhand which were carved out from the states of Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh have seen a double digit economic growth in most of the newly created and divided districts, when contrasted with a single digit growth rate that remained more or less stagnant prior to territorial demarcations.

It is also argued that small size of an administrative unit is invariably quicker to respond. This minimizes gap in service delivery, access to infrastructure, reaching out the perceived vulnerable region of the state. In India, smaller states like Haryana, Punjab, Kerala etc. fared well in human development indicators. At the global level, Scandinavian states are rather small in size. Though subject to certain limitations, this northern European region is virtually the most stable and happiest region of the world. For instance, Finland topped the Forbes’ 2018 happiest list of countries in the world.

Creation of smaller districts is also viewed from the prism of collateral generation of more jobs and better employment opportunities. Extended department branches and sub-offices would automatically result in. The immediate by-product is the creation of more jobs. Moreover, new networks of market may be established. This will accommodate the growing number of unemployed youth in the state.

One fallacy on which the votaries of smaller districts bank upon is their ultimate aspiration to socially, administratively, and economically control the region to which they belong as their means to arrest widening disparity. It is however observed that creations of new districts were seen as just shifting of power to new district headquarters without requisite financial capacity to sustain infrastructure and to render the facilities operational.
Identifying creation of jobs as a direct or cascading benefit of creation of new districts may prove suicidal. State’s dependence on central government to meet its expenditure limits the scope of expanding its network of administration. Despite being a resource-rich state, the state has neither needed facility nor manpower to exploit huge untapped natural gifts thus far. Therefore, at present, there exists little hope to offer more jobs when there lacks corresponding outcome in revenue generation. The administrative expenses, expenditure on emoluments of overstaffed but underperforming employees, cost of maintenance and management of district offices could more productively be channelized towards augmentation of existing infrastructure programs. Each district has a unique and specific resource to contribute to Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) when the potentialities of each district are properly identified.

There are some reservations over the statement that smaller district will warrant timely delivery of service and hence more proportionate response to events like communal tension, natural disaster, and so forth. The communal flares following the murder of a couple in 2016 in Kiphire district, or the poor response to Uttarakhand’s 2013 cloudburst resulting in claiming of many precious lives have, though not completely, debunked the projection of smaller unit of administration as a more viable alternative. Moreover, Naxalism affects both new and old, large and small states and it continue to hamper governance.

The three new districts of Peren, Longleng and Kiphire along with the peripheral districts of Mon and Tuensang were placed at the bottom in terms of literacy as per 2011 Census. More than a decade passed since their divisions and creations, these districts made little progress in education, in uplifting the standard of living and even in terms of development. Not much is left to be desired for new and smaller districts as far as catalysing the above qualities are set to be achieved.

On many instances, larger districts of Kohima, Wokha and Mokokchung have better indicators on access to healthcare, education, economy, and infrastructural facilities including banking and connectivity. Smaller districts of Longleng, Kiphire and the interiors of Tuensang and Mon read poorly on these parameters. At the national level too, larger states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu etc have good records of human development to their credits. This attest to the fact that smaller district may not invariably be an option to facilitate equitable distribution of resources and developments.

To offer alternative measure to division and creation of new districts, policy makers face impending challenges to fulfil the aspiration of the regionalists without deconstructing the present status quo. Firstly, the Nagaland State Human Development Report 2016 has noted lack of financial authority by the district agencies as one reason for almost stagnant developmental activities in the districts. As opposed to devolution of more financial power to the local authorities, GST has limited the scope of local bodies to generate revenue whereby the local bodies will have to depend on state government to implement programs and policies. As such, schemes for development largely rest on political party/ies that wields the power. Policy makers may explore ways to decentralization of not only mere responsibility but delegate equal financial authority to district agencies / local authorities. This is justifiable on the premise that local people have deeper knowledge of the local issues and measures to tackle such contextually.

Secondly, politicians and bureaucrats are sometimes an impediment to quality delivery of service. People with connections to the political elites are at an advantage to gain undue favour in bidding and awarding of contracts and supplies at the cost of quality workmanship and timely delivery. Undue influence of politicians and bureaucrats in decisions making consequentially imbalance evenly distributed development across the state. Minimizing or sheer absence of political and bureaucratic interference in the development of the districts and across the state bids fair to moderate regional imbalance.

Thirdly, infrastructure plays a vital role in upliftment of the far flung areas. Infrastructure should not be solely looked from construction angle. Infrastructure entails improvement and maintenance of road infrastructure, uninterrupted or alternative power and water supply, affordable and accessible internet facilities, access to credit facilities and secured networks of market, providing equipments and machineries to schools and hospitals. Dedicated effort of the policy makers in these parameters may well contain the discontentment manifested in various subdivisions, especially in Tsemenyu of Kohima District and Bhandari of Wokha District.

And in conclusion, we need to effect attitudinal change and inculcate behavioural values as our approach to attain our ultimate goal of peaceful coexistence fundamentally relies on our collective social responsibility. Finland was adjudged as the happiest nation in the world, not because of its smallness in size but because of their achievements in a series of variables including healthy life, trust, stable income, generosity, low level of corruption and social security. New and smaller districts sans the above discussed values may have little or no impact. Additionally, the cost of setting up administrative units may more profitably be invested in supplementing the existing but deteriorating infrastructure.

Nukhosa Chüzho
Kohima