Great Minds!!!

I had the opportunity to meet Dr Vijay Kelkar today who is in Kohima for having discussions as part of his assignment as Chairman of 13th Finance Commission. It was a pleasure to meet a renowned economist and thinker like him. Spending around 45 minutes gave me a feel of his knowledge, understanding and thoughts. Just a few hours in Kohima, and he was quite aware of the real issues facing Nagaland. I was impressed with his views on the need of having land survey and land records in Nagaland. He was quite correct that it is a must for dispute resolution as without any records, it might create a problem. Infact it already is, specially in urban areas where growing economy and population is making land a scarce and expensive commodity. He could not understand as to why we dont have land survey and proper records. I tried to explain him by giving reasons like the Mughals and the Brithish never did this for Nagaland as they did elsewhere in the country. And then when the State was born, in 1963, protection of land systems and customary practices was made a part of Article 371 A over which only Nagaland Assembly could legislate. However, we have not come up with our own Land Regulation Act or a Tenancy Act and that affects the land tenure system greatly. Even not having land records and land documents has greatly harmed the economy as people cant access loans and credits from banks!! This is actually sad. And then there is the question of equity. Without proper land records no one knows who owns how much land!! It is common knowledge that there are individuals and families who own more than thousands of acres of land!!! And some people dont have any land. This has led to an egalitarian society getting feudal overtones!!!
Dr Kelkar also asked about the Community participation in the social set up of Nagaland. He was greatly impressed when I told him how village affinities work very strongly and people spend time, energy and resources for the welfare of the villages they belong to. I gave him examples from my experience of Mokokchung, and how Engineers, Doctors and bureacrats of a village called Mopungchuket contribute ideas and finances for the village planning and development. This aspect of Naga society is unique and truly remarkable. However, there is an aspect of favoritism that comes in as those villages who have officers to help them out keep prospering and the villages who have been backward and do not have gazetted officers to help them out keep on suffering as there is no one to push their cases. Anyhow, there should be a system to ensure the element of fairness so that in the name of village and community affinities, we do not openly and brazenly adopt unfair means at the cost of other villages and communities!!!
We discussed many aspects including Naga political problem. More on that later. Overall it was a pleasure to meet this great man.