Age no bar for neglect in Angphang, Mon district

S Henlly Phom MON, MARCH 16 THE ENSF currently on an “Advocacy Tour” of the four districts observed the 9th day of the tour at Angphang village of Mon district. Here too as in previous stops in different villages along the tour instances of mismanagement of centrally sponsored schemes prioritised the list of neglect and needs. Poor education infrastructure and questionable quality of teaching also formed the common refrain. The disconnect in governance for the people is all too apparent at all levels from the treatment of primary students to senior citizens.Senior citizens here have been told of the National Social Assistant Programme (NSAP), but on closer examination the citizens here have never received any forms to qualify them for the same. A man whose father is around 100 years was said to have been denied the forms for two consecutive years. On every occasion that he went to avail the said scheme for his aged father, he was turned away. Many others had the same story to narrate. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Act (MGNREGA) earlier was operating from the Centre directly to the concerned districts. But currently this scheme is operated from the Centre to the State and then to the concerned districts. Thus the beneficiary state is causing some persons in authority to abuse schemes. The village folks expressed the need for the schemes to be operated as before and not in the present form i.e. they want the schemes to directly go from the centre to the particular districts. Even the Indira Awas Yojna (IAY) and Backward Region Grant Fund (BRGF) schemes were said to be misused by the authority. The guidelines clearly mention that the homeless/unaffordable and Below Poverty Line (BPL) families will be provided financial assistance. But instead of financial assistance they were said to be given CGI sheets. Even in this, the folks lamented, they were not receiving the quantity they signed up for. They alleged that the authority concerned has increased the units of CGI sheets but decreased the number of households for distribution. The education sector continues to be under threat with shortage of teachers and textbooks, and random implementation of the Mid Day Meal (MDM) is in practice here too. Furthermore, the ENSF was dismayed over the attachment issues of the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Tuensang and Medical Superintendent (MS) Mon at the Naga Hospital Kohima. On this issue, the federation has submitted a representation to the Commissioner and Secretary, Health & Family Welfare, on March 14, 2014 to immediately expedite the detachment and posting of the said two officers within 10 days of the representation. Such an attitude has not been taken kindly by the ENSF. They have been pressed to state their protest by saying that the continuation of such practices by the department and officers concerned is only adding to an already vitiated air brought about by the neglect of the Eastern districts of Nagaland.