Nagaland panel suggests steps for administrative reforms

KOHIMA, August 10: The Nagaland government has constituted a committee headed by the Chief Secretary RS Pandey in order to make the administration more effective, responsive and transparent as a follow-up action of the Chief Ministers' conference, reports PTI. According to official sources here on Wednesday, the committee recently made a detailed discussions on each recommendations of the Chief Ministers' conference and issued directives to certain departments. The committee felt that "citizens' charter" is important for grievance redressal and providing provisions for independent scrutiny of a department with involvement of citizens and consumer groups, the sources said. The committee was of the view that there was an urgent need to streamline the system for redressal of public grievances, besides maintaining transparency and good public relation business in office functioning, the sources added. For an effective public redressal mechanism, the committee recommended that the commissioner or secretary to P and AR department be nominated as the chief public grievances officer having jurisdiction over all departments in the matter of public grievances, the sources said. Self-employment scheme: Nagaland is contemplating on introduction of a state-sponsored self-employment scheme for educated unemployed in the age group of 21 to 40. The Industry Secretary Jane Alam told a seminar here on Wednesday that Chief Minister's self-employment scheme for educated unemployed proposed two categories of beneficiaries, offering up to Rs 1 lakh for an individual and Rs 3 lakh for joint venture with at least two partners. The candidates should have the minimum qualification of matric appeared. For youths with matriculation qualification, individual project sanction is Rs 2 lakh while for joint venture it is Rs 5 lakh (two partners) and Rs 8 lakh for three partners. While the subsidy component is 25 per cent, the remaining 75 per cent of the project cost will be financed by banks and financial institutions, the scheme proposed, emphasising the need for an effective mechanism to recover loans. Explaining the imperatives of loan recovery, the secretary said the village development boards and village councils are to play a crucial role in successful implementation of the proposed scheme as guarantors of the loans to be offered to beneficiaries. Alam pointed out that the peculiar land holding pattern in Nagaland, does not facilitate banks and FIs to take drastic step to recover the loans as under the present law prevailing in state, no land can be mortgaged. Under such circumstances, therefore the only village-level constitutional organisations must ensure steady recovery of loans, he said.