The recent protest rally and the closure of 42 colleges across Nagaland under the aegis of the All Nagaland College Student’s Union is not a new issue that suddenly cropped up. It is a long pending issue. The demand of the students to the government is to streamline the process of students’ scholarships and to settle land disputes of government colleges around Nagaland. However, in both cases, a middle path approach may be the only solution.
In the case of scholarships, the government needs to ensure that proper information is imparted to students about various scholarships, stipends, and book-grant schemes that the Central government provides. It is only imperative that the government initially open a special cell to sensitise students about schemes from other non-governmental agencies for students, and those from the corporate sector too, as demanded by the students. Later it can also act as a facilitator for deserving students. On the part of the students, it should be mandatory that only genuine deserving students avail the scholarships.
The present post-matric scholarship scheme from the Ministry of Minority Affairs is given to students from the Scheduled Tribes, Scheduled Castes, Other Backward Classes and minorities. In Nagaland, however, it is considered a right by all post-matric students. This has also increased the financial burden of the government—it is done in bulk in Nagaland. Section 4 of the guidelines reads: “Scholarship will be awarded to the students who have secured not less than 50% marks or equivalent grade in the previous final examination and the annual income of whose parents/guardians from all sources does not exceed Rs.2.00 lakh.” If the rule is followed in letter and in spirit, the financial burden would be less and would result logically in timely disbursement. The government on the other hand can assist, through a dedicated cell, those who are not eligible for existing post-matric scholarships but are deserving of other schemes.
The second demand is for settlement of land encroachment issues and disputes in almost all the government colleges in Nagaland. It is a classic problem that is facing not only colleges but government offices too where the lands were not bought. Our pioneers both on the side of the government and the landowners were overtly magnanimous and their gentlemen’s agreement was flouted over the years at the convenience of vested interests from both camps. Many government lands were donated freely for development by the landowner-villages with the tacit agreement of allotting civil works and grade-IV employment in some cases.
In many cases such an understanding was just verbal agreements. However, the government officials who were in-charge of the land allocation started to allocate the gifted lands to other private parties over a passage of time. The beneficiaries were nowhere related to the purpose for which the land was donated. Such instances have irked the donor villages. Again later in some cases, members of the donor villages too started to occupy back the land they had gifted without any official allotment. Consequently, with the poor planning at the beginning, the evolution of college townships with an environment for learning was disturbed, and the evolution might not happen even in the future.
It was during the late ‘90s that the encroached land of Dimapur Government College was reclaimed only after the ANCSU had organised a general strike in Dimapur to pressurise the government. The difference between the others and the present case is that the land was vacant and not developed by any party. Evicting encroachers from the encroached lands might not be very difficult whoever the squatters may be. However, evicting those who were legally allocated through various vested interests will be a gargantuan task for the government. It is not impossibility because the land allocation document a.k.a. land ‘patta’ is but a legal fiction. It is not called so for nothing. The government can take it back anytime. However, the government requires a huge amount of money that shall have to be given as compensation. But presently, the state government may not have the required resources. So it is imperative that the donor villages and the government sign fresh undertakings to put an end to the previous practices by both parties.
This should be acceptable to the students’ community for now as their academics must take precedence. It is also imperative, whatever the case, that the students also should respect the sentiments of the donor villages.
