STATE NAGALAND
Naga’s without papers
What would happen if you lost your car documents or worse
still lost your house papers? Yes we all know that sinking
feeling, but what if you were told that all the original
documents of your state were lost and as a matter of fact
this would mean that you have no original papers to prove
your boundaries. Forget Greater Nagaland today, the state is
not even in the possession of any documents which show the
boundaries of the state.
The Union home ministry and the Assam government,
which originally kept the records of Nagaland, do not even
have the valid “map” of the state which is demanding to
carve out Greater Nagaland by extending the existing
boundaries of the state and taking in parts of Manipur,
Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.
This entire matter came to light
when during a meeting before the
Local Commission on the Assam-
Nagaland Border, the Officials
representing Nagaland said that
they were not in a position to give a
written statement unless “its original
documents which were purportedly
lost by Assam” were returned.
The matter came as a shock to
home ministry officials when it was
brought to light for the first time
by Nagaland during its submission
before the Local Commission on the
Assam-Nagaland Border during a
meeting recently.
The Local Commission on the
Assam-Nagaland Border has now
asked the home ministry and Survey
of India to help trace Nagaland’s original documents.
Meanwhile the Government of Nagaland has expressed
serious concern over the losing of the original map of
Nagaland, which was kept with the Union Ministry of Home
Affairs and the Government of Assam.
Replying to queries raised by Opposition Leader
Chingwang Konyak during the zero hour of the second
session of the Eleventh Nagaland Legislative Assembly
today, Chief Minister, Neiphiu Rio said the matter is very
serious and the responsibility lies with the Government of
India and the Government of Assam.
Asserting to the House that the Government would
seriously pursue the matter with the Centre, he said that if
the original documents showing the boundaries of Nagaland
cannot be retrieved then the claims made by Nagas will be
right.
28 October 08
Processed Food for Thought
However, he also said that the Government of India has
granted permission to reconstitute the map by assessing the
archives available with other States.
Earlier, the Opposition Congress Leader, Chingwang
Konyak, raising the matter of public importance during the
zero hour, had asked the Government to insist that the Centre
and Assam Government find the original documents.
Meanwhile, interacting with media persons on the
sidelines of the Assembly session, Home Commissioner, H.
K. Khulu revealed that the Government of Nagaland had
forwarded certain documents containing about 42 annexures
in connection with the Sundaram Commission Report along
with the map of Nagaland to the MHA, which was again sent
back to the Government of Assam.
It may be recalled that areas
dominated by Naga tribes remained
split between Assam and the then
North East Frontier Agency (NEFA)
till 1963 when statehood was finally
granted to Nagaland.
The NSCN movement in the
last few years has been on the
integration of all Naga Areas which
have historically belonged to the
tribesmen.
With the disappearance of the
map there has been a lot of suspicion
on the secret intelligence agencies
since such a delay in finding the
maps of the state will impede the
peace talks between the NSCN and
the Central Government.
The State Government has
requested the Survey of India to extend help in reconstituting
the original Nagaland map. In this connection, Mr. Khulu
said a meeting of the MHA, Survey of India and Nagaland
Government has been scheduled for 13th of October, 2008
while the next hearing of the Local Commission on Assam-
Nagaland will be held on 1st of November, 2008 but the
answer from the department is still awaited and there
are fears that even they may not be in possession of the
documents.
Whatever may be the case, the truth is that while the
insurgents and politicians are more interested in rhetoric
about Greater Nagaland, someone may have disappeared
with the papers which will eventually play an important role
in the final settlement of the Naga peace talks.
Till then the search goes on and on and on and on.
TNT News
With Thailand’s interest is starting business with the north-
eastern states, taking into consideration food processing,
energy, agriculture and textiles, people in the seven sister
states feel that the food processing industry would boom as
the population in this part are largely from two categories,
middle class and higher middle class and this industry can be
started from as low as the level of cottage industry.
The region having a large working class and with this
class of people pressed for time to prepare meals, they would
prefer processed and ready-to-eat-food. The Northeast has
abundant resources for domestic use as well as for export to
neighbouring countries.
The food processing sector could play a significant
supportive role in
diversification and
commercialisation of
agriculture, horticulture,
fisheries, poultry and
animal husbandry,
improving value addition
in agricultural produce,
employment generation
and providing income
and production of agro-
food products for export.
Agriculture plays
a vital role as it is the
backbone of the region’s
economy. With a range
of natural conditions
and varied soil and topography, the region produces a good
quantity of rice, maize, pulses, and oilseeds such as mustard,
groundnut, soyabeans, sunflower seed, ginger, turmeric and
fruits such as pineapple, lemons, oranges, papayas, bananas
plums and vegetables like, cabbage, carrots, tomatoes,
cauliflower, peas, squash, and pumpkin. The region still has
lots of potential cultivation areas in the foot hills, mild hill
slopes and along the river banks.
That is the positive side of food processing; we also have
a negative side to this industry. In the Northeast this sector
is unorganised. None of the state government are giving due
importance to this sector. In fact, this is discouraging for the
entrepreneurs or industrialists. According to some of the
industrialists, there should have been a separate Ministry of
Food Processing like we have at the Centre. The Government
of India is providing sufficient funds under this sector, but the
funds are scarcely utilised. For starting this kind of industry
there are as many as a dozen obstacles, apart from organising
capital, getting a licence or clearance from Weight & Measures,
the Power department, Industry department, Pollution Control
BUSINESS
Board, Sales Tax, Income Tax and others.
As most people of the north-eastern states are meat
consumers, so the animal husbandry and meat processing
industry have been identified as thrust areas, by the various
state governments in the NE region, under the Industrial Policy
1997, whereas no special incentives have been provided either
to attract new entrepreneurs or to assist existing ones in this
sector unlike the export oriented units to which certain special
incentives have been considered.
Transport costs in this region are too high. Products of the
food processing industries are generally low volume and high
value contrary to others like lime and lime products, cement
industries, ferro-alloy, ingots and re-rolling mills which have
considerable advantages
in the claim of transport
subsidy being offered by
the central government.
The food
processing industries
are hardly benefited
in claims for transport
subsidy. Transport of
food products demands
maximum short
duration and optimum
care. So, most of the
industrialists in the trade
of food processing have
demanded 90 percent of
the transportation cost,
either by road or by air as most of the north eastern states are
interconnected only by road and air.
Another hurdle is, we have to import all kinds of meat,
call it beef, pork, fish, mutton or even eggs. Here we have to
pay very dearly. Every year each state’s import is to the tune
of a few thousand crores. Even the spices used in the process
are imported from Germany. This can be reduced if the
production of meat is increased here. Another thing we lack is
cold storage; most of the government owned cold storages in
the region are unfunctional.
The north-eastern middle class population holds the
key to success or failure of the processed food market in the
region. Though a majority of families in this segment have
non-working housewives or can afford hired domestic help
and thus prepare food of their taste in their own kitchens,
the profile of the middle class is changing steadily and hired
domestic help is becoming costlier. This is conducive to an
expansion in demand for ready-to-eat foods.
By Rajoo Sharma
October 08 29