Analysing the relevance of Inner Line Permit and our existing Government processes

Yanpvuo Kikon

In today’s world, rational thinking and logical reasoning must be used to analyse our current laws, policies and the Government system, whether it is progressive or regressive in nature. If there is a law, we ought to understand the objective and impact it has on our political, economical and social structure. Taking the case of The Inner Line Permit (ILP), a law which was introduced by the British more than a hundred years back, which is basically an offshoot of the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulations, 1873. Why was the ILP introduced? The ILP was basically introduced to protect Crown’s interest in the tea, oil and elephant trade by prohibiting “British subjects” from entering into these “Protected Areas” (To prevent them from establishing any commercial venture that could rival the Crown’s agents). In simple words, the sole purpose of ILP was to protect the “Self Vested Economic Interest” of the British Crown in the so called ‘Protected Areas’. The word “British subjects” was replaced by ‘Citizen of India’ in 1950. Despite the fact that the ILP was originally created by the British to safeguard their commercial interests, it continues to be used in India, officially to protect tribal cultures in North-Eastern India.A law which was formulated to protect economic interest of the British Crown more than a century ago, is it relevant in our present generation? Is it serving the purpose of protecting the indigenous tribal population of our State? Is it being implemented strictly? What are the loopholes at the administration, operational level and the grass-root check-posts? Or is it only being used as a revenue generating mechanism for our Government? Or is there a need to amend this law to make it more business friendly but at the same time protect our tribal population? And the most important question, what is the purpose and outcome of this law? These are the questions which I would like to pose and also analyse it as a academic exercise from my personal point of view and understanding.
In Nagaland today, illegal immigration has become a critical issue which poses a threat to our future generation from becoming another Tripura or Assam. Our Apex organisations and social movements like ‘Survival Nagaland’ have been working towards ensuring that the illegal immigration issue is tackled effectively. The problem of Illegal Immigration can be addressed if we examine and devise an effective solution in which these laws are implemented such as the ILP application, checking, validation, ILP issuance and verification mechanisms. Whether the current system either needs a revamp or need to be amended by tweaking the law and making it more investment and business friendly but at the same protect our population against Illegal Immigration is a much needed debate at this juncture.
The existing loopholes in the ILP system in Nagaland would be:
1. We have heard of how some taxi drivers themselves keep fake ILP certificates to help illegal immigrants to cross the inner line.
2. Check gates here in Nagaland unlike Arunachal Pradesh are very loose when it comes to ILP that even without the requisite documents, Indian citizens can pass through the gates many a times.
3. Even if a fake ILP is issued, there is no existing e-Governance mechanism which enables these check gates to validate the authenticity of the ILP number or document because only physical copies are signed and issued which can be easily forged.
4. Tourists and businessmen face a lot of inconveniences because they have to visit Government offices physically to apply ILP which is a huge disadvantage when it comes to attracting companies, business and investors to visit our State.
5. How many ILP’s are rejected annually? If all ILP applications are accepted, then what purpose is the ILP even serving?
Today, even if I apply using a fake ID proof, how is the DC office or the check post validating my ID with the Government database to check whether my driver’s license number, Aadhaar, Voter’s ID, Driver’s license number is actually authentic and exist in the database?
The solution to address these loop-holes would be to ensure that the Government at the highest decision making levels make sure that the online ILP application just like Arunachal but an improved version be implemented at the earliest. How will it work?
From the visitor’s end: A visitor simply needs to apply online without having to visit the Government offices by filling a simple online form and provide their ID proof numbers such as Voter’s ID number, Aadhaar number, PAN etc. without having to even scan and upload their ID proof documents.
From the verification/authenticating Government perspective such as Police and DC Office: The verifying officer can check the details which the visitor has filled up in the online form. The visitor’s ID proof such as the PAN, Voter’s ID number or Aadhaar can be authenticated by directly entering the ID number in the official Government database such as http://electoralsearch.in/ (To check whether the applicant’s ID is genuine) and other official Government database search engines to validate the authenticity of the applicant’s ID proof. We don’t need to upload or even carry Xerox copies of ID proofs because they can be easily photoshopped or forged. These databases are stored in highly secured data centers which are hack proof behind layers of firewall, allowing only VPN access with Host based IPS, Data privacy etc. At present, how is our Nagaland Government records stored? In paper files, inside offices with no proper Government data protection or security protocols which can even be misplaced or can even be lost forever if fire incidents or thefts occur. There is a need to immediately migrate from century old colonial system into cost effective e-Government systems. These systems need to be enforced in the Police check gates and DC offices so that the problem of fake/forged documents are eliminated and even the problems of corruption and bribery in check-gates can be addressed. When government application and file processing goes online, it also reduces corruption to a great extent because people no longer have to pay bribes to get their jobs done. The power and internet problem is only an excuse by certain Government officials because of several reasons such as reduction in unaccounted revenue at lower levels, bribery, ‘Chai Pani’ income etc The challenge of insufficient power and internet is a manageable problem with enough power backup and Government offices can leverage on the State Wide Area Network(SWAN) and also opt for LAN/WAN or even opt for offline IT solutions.
We need easy, effective, logical, cheap and practical solutions in Government systems because the world is progressing fast and if we are still stuck with century old mechanisms and laws which may be irrelevant in today’s context and even if they are slightly relevant, if they are not even implemented effectively, then we are only hampering our own progress and development. It is also high time for our politicians and top bureaucrats to start analysing existing Government laws and protocols to make it more simple, effective, easy, corruption-free and people friendly by even amending laws and re-engineering existing Government and Administration processes through simple and cheap solutions without sticking to the system which the British had introduced hundred years ago, a system which was only built on mistrust and mechanisms which were slow, time consuming and a major hindrance to development and progress. The time has come for our Government to step up modernization, e-Governance initiatives and revamp our entire system starting from the ILP so that we not only save unaccounted Government revenue and expenditure but also become a productive, developed, progressive, corruption free and of course a happy State which has the potential to become a shining example for the rest of the country and the world.

Yanpvuo Kikon is a IT and e-Governance Consultant under the National e-Governance Division(NeGD) and also the founder of The Naga Blog, indihut and Native Station.