Some years ago the Central Vigilance Commissioner quoted a kind of Parkinson’s law of corruption, that the greater the number of restrictive laws the more rampant is their organised evasion. So it comes as little surprise if Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to demonetize Rs.500 and Rs.1,000 notes has caused just those conditions in the North-east. Two interesting happenings in Nagaland deserve mention. According to an online report (in Hindi), a small plane with a lone passenger landed at Nagaland’s Dimapur airport, unloaded Rs.3.5 crore in demonetised notes and flew back. It also mentioned the name of the son-in-law of former three-time Nagaland chief minister Neiphiu Rio, now the sole MP from Nagaland.

According to a Dimapur-based daily, the incident took place on 22 November, the authorities concerned were present at the airport and after the formalities were over, the plane took off with three others from the commercial town. Earlier, on 13 November, another unscheduled plane reportedly touched down at Dimapur airport and after an overnight halt, flew back the next day. It is to be hoped the Centre will investigate these seemingly shoddy movements and make the outcome public. And there are also reports of the Centre having rushed new currency notes to Ukhrul, the home district of NSCN(IM) general secretary Thuingalemg Muivah, and his favourite Senapati district in Manipur. A businessman at Dimapur is said to have bragged that he had no difficulty in getting Rs 200,000 in new notes and that too from banks within 24 hours of Modi’s announcement on 8 November. Little wonder, Nagaland is the BJP’s friendly turf!

Tribals in Nagaland, or for that matter, in other North-east states, do not pay income-tax. It is an open secret that many businessmen from outside have taken advantage of this by becoming friendly with their compatriots and laundering their black money. Sikkim witnessed such a big racket after its accession to India in 1975. According to a private pre-2008 poll survey, Nagaland had 59 MLAs with assets worth several crore rupees. Neiphiu Rio then was logged at Rs.15.13 crore while former Congress Naga chief minister KL Chishi was perhaps the richest, with Rs 46.71 crore. Former Congress chief SI Jamir had Rs.35.32 crore.

But the wealthiest of them all was Meghalaya’s former deputy chief minister, Deborah Marak, with a whopping Rs 112 crore. The clear message is that after India attained Independence, only a handful of tribals have pulled themselves above the poverty line!