Illegal Taxation & Extortion in Nagaland: We are finally famous

Nagaland is finally famous. Famous for the wrong reasons again. 

Go to Google Search and type in ‘Illegal taxation and extortion’.

No, don't mention even the name of our state. or any other location. Just type in 'illegal taxation and extortion. 

Now, view the results.

Out of literally 10, 80,000 pages containing the two English terms from across the world’s 195 sovereign countries, the first-rank entry, on the first-rank search page that the American web technology giant shows will be, yes, a page from inimitable Nagaland.

In fact, even countries with the highest extortion offences such as Mexico and other Latin American countries do not even figure in the Google first-page list.  

Meaning: ‘illegal taxation’ and ‘extortion’ in Nagaland must be now cancerous enough that even a global technology giant such as Google Inc. would connect the two English words ‘illegal taxation’ and ‘extortion’ directly to Nagaland. It is too much of a coincidence.  

On Thursday, June 18, One of the most affected commercial services in Nagaland, transport and carriers, have decided to work toward what they said curbing “illegal taxation” in the state.

Commercial transporters and owners have declared in a joint statement that they will work to “discourage” and ‘curb” any unauthorized “tax” and any form of monetary levy by “various organizations and unions”.

Popularly so-called “Illegal taxation”, it is a euphemistic term used locally in the state to mean any monetary solicitation that is unauthorized either by local government statutes or state legislation. In the context of Nagaland “illegal taxation” often involves threat or perceived threat particularly when it comes to the armed Naga underground organizations. 

The Dimapur District Truck Drivers’ Welfare Trade Union (DDTDWTU) and the Dimapur Truck Owners’ Association (DTOA) issued a joint statement on Thursday, June 18.

Quite interestingly, on this day in 2013, the entire commercial town of Dimapur was shut down in protest against the so-called “taxes” by myriad civilian and underground groups. Amid still-continuing tepidity of the state governments, a popular mass-based organization, Against Corruption and Unabated Taxation (ACAUT), had risen to the occasion to fight extortion and corruption in whatever way it could.

In the absence of government action even after years of public outcry, the growing outrage of the public against the so-called “Christian” state’s most dilapidating disease is slowly being translated into activism at the individual and private community levels.  The recent decision of the Dimapur District Truck Drivers’ Welfare Trade Union is one such engagement reflecting the domino-effect. 

“The Dimapur District Truck Drivers’ Welfare Trade Union and Dimapur Truck Owners’ Association have signed a memorandum of understanding between the two parties and have formed a co-ordination committee to curb unauthorized and illegal taxation from truckers,” the two trade organizations said in the statement.

“According to the memorandum of understanding which was signed by chairmen and executives of DDTDWTU and DTOA stated that the two organizations are indispensible and should have better understanding and co-ordination between two parties”.

The coordination committee comprises representatives of the DDTDWTU and the DTOA. The committee will “make effort to discourage and curb collection of unauthorized toll tax or any form of collections from the members of both the parties, which the memorandum of understanding said is being practiced unabatedly by various associations and unions”.

The decision of the truckers to act against the so-called “taxation” follows a recent order of the district administration of Dimapur: A few days ago, the district’s administration banned all calls for monetary assistance–forced or requested– in the district.

The ban covered “any form of taxes membership fees, subscriptions, contributions, donations, charges, levy, toll or any other form of collection of money by setting up of counters on state highways, national highways or market places except those expressly authorized…”

Officiating Deputy Commissioner of Dimapur Elizabeth Ngully had stated in the order that violators of the directive would be sternly prosecuted.

The order stated: “it is hereby directed to all concerned that in the interest of the general public" any union/association/non-governmental organizations or any other private or community organization by whatever name shall not be allowed to collect any form of taxes membership fees, subscriptions, contributions, donations, charges, levy, toll or any other form of collection of money by setting up of counters on state highways, national highways or market places except those expressly authorized by the government issued by the concerned secretary of the department”.

“Any person, organization, union, association or NGOs found collecting such money shall be prosecuted under relevant sections of the law,” the order stated. The order comes into immediate effect,” the order had stated.

This image was used as a publicity front by the United Nations’ Development Program for a contest to design a theme and logo for the 2013 Anti-Corruption Day in February, 2013. Corruption and its brothers, extortion and unlawful taxes, continue to be a bane for third-world countries such as India. And the most affected are nascent, underdeveloped tribal communities such as Nagaland.    

Still waiting for the government

On this day, June 18, in 2013, the normally noisy commercial town of Nagaland looked like a ghost town when business establishments across the economic capital closed shutters in one of the biggest show of protests against extortion and “illegal taxation” in the state. The protest was called by the ACAUT under the aegis of the Naga Council of Dimapur.

During that time, leaders of the ACAUT had said that the protest was a small beginning of ‘things to come unless concerned organizations and authorities’ recognize the disease plaguing the Naga population and demonstrate accountability and political will to the trust the people put in them when they were elected.

The ACAUT has demanded mechanisms in place to curb the unabated “taxation”, particularly the multiple “taxations” by the underground organizations. This field was a prerogative of the state government to check, the public leadership had reminded. It was during that time that the slogan ‘one tax, one government’ came to the fore.

The ACAUT had declared that there should be only one “tax” payable to any one underground group.

Community leaderships: No ‘tax’ collections on UG’s behest

The commercial transport union’ move to curb the disease also follows another expression from the burdened community, this time the local community leaderships. The resentment against the so-called “tax” being levied by the myriad armed underground groups in the state led to the June 16 declaration of village councils to decide against collecting “tax” for them. 

Various major local authorities of village councils in Dimapur issued a statement on the 16^th of this month declaring that the village councils would no longer collect “tax” for the underground organizations and had even warned of own course of action.

Community councils of Kushiabill, Darogajan, Bamunpukhuri-I and Bamunpukhuri-II and Zani village in Dimapur met in a joint council consultations on June 15 in the town. The meeting was conducted in the premises of Bamunpukhuri-I Village Council.

The declaration stated: “The house thoroughly deliberate on the directive of the Deputy Commissioner, Dimapur Vide his letter No. CON/L&O/2000 dated 19th May' 2015 and after prolong deliberation the house unanimously resolved not to collect any kind of tax on behalf of the Naga political groups within its jurisdiction,” the council leaders of the villages and areas stated in a joint statement issued to the media this week.

“The house also resolved that any kind of tax(s) collection will not be allowed within the jurisdiction of the joint council”, the communities stated.

“The house further resolved that any illegal activities found doing, within its jurisdiction by any N.P .G. or any individual/group, the joint council will take its own course of against them,” the statement had added.

Again, just a week prior to the village councils’ resolution, the Nagaland Government Registered Class-I Contractors’ Union (NGRC-I CU) had announced that none of its members would pay any form of “taxation” at “check gates and on any highways as per the government standing order.”

“While such a statement, in any other place, would have invited the question as to why the contractors were paying such taxes in the first place, the situation here in is Nagaland completely different. By design as well as by default, government orders in Nagaland are mostly lip-service exercises” (Eastern Mirror, June 6).

The contractors had reiterated their support to the ACAUT’s beacon of “one tax, one government” slogan raised by thousands that attended public rallies in Dimapur and Kohima on October 31 in 2013 and October 31 in 2014, in that order.

The meeting also resolved to support the ACAUT movement and extended “sincere appreciation for their selfless commitment in the fight against corruption and unabated taxation.”

Meanwhile, the common Naga continues to suffer. 

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