The recently released Nagaland Staff Selection Board (NSSB) notification regarding the Combined Staff Recruitment Examination (CSRE) has triggered profound disillusionment and frustration among the youth of Nagaland. Announcing a staggering total of merely 11 vacancies, policymakers have approached manpower rationalization in a remarkably trivial and callous manner. This recruitment framework imposes a double jeopardy on young job seekers across the state. While dedicated candidates work tirelessly for years preparing for competitive examinations, others continue drawing double salaries within the system.
Offering a mere 11 vacancies is not an appreciation of youth potential, but a blatant mockery.For many young citizens, the fundamental right to employment has become a far-fetched dream. Where are we heading, how are we to lead, and do we even have the right to lead when our current state administration remains in shambles? This widespread frustration has not built up overnight, but through years of persistent policy failure. In a state with a population exceeding 23 lakhs (based on the projected data of 2011 census), where more than half of the total budget is consumed by emoluments, can it truly be that only 11 people retire every year?
A policy designed to benefit the public is doing far more harm than good, marking yet another failure by the government to provide viable employment. In a state where young people cannot even dream of a secure future, what remains for the upcoming generation?The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) audit report for 2024–25 highlights financial mismanagement amounting to Rs. 1,214.37crore. Is this fiscal deficit the responsibility of ordinary citizens, or of the concerned leaders who allowed it to happen?
As always, the burden of budget deficiency falls squarely on the upcoming generation. The Office Memorandum (OM) issued on June 6, 2016 by the Government of Nagaland’s Department of Personnel & Administrative Reforms (P&AR) is a landmark administrative directive that officially banned all contractual and ad-hoc appointments across state government departments.
The core tenets and long-term impacts of this specific OM. It mandated that any future vacancies or regular posts must strictly follow transparent, formal recruitment processes via the Nagaland Public Service Commission (NPSC) or other authorized recruitment boards. June 6, 2016, became the definitive cutoff date for the state’s regularization policies:One-Time Dispensation: The Nagaland Cabinet approved policies to regularize the jobs of contract or ad-hoc employees (across Groups A, B, C, and D) only if they were appointed prior to June 6, 2016, had completed 10 or more years of continuous service, and occupied sanctioned vacancies. Rather than tackling illegal appointments and the unauthorized regularization of contractual positions, open recruitment vacancies have been drastically reduced to a staggering number of 11 in a year. The stoic and unbending stance of the government offers little flexibility, even for departments that already have recruitment proposals in the pipeline.This haphazard approach to policy making has unleashed administrative havoc driven by revenue deficits, raising the urgent question of who will be held accountable.
Without providing alternative employment pathways or preventive measures, simply cutting off jobs seems to be treated as a fair choice—leaving the youth to suffer while political benefactors enjoy the fruits of their hard-earned harvest.
On the surface, our society claims to be governed by truth and integrity, yet we have remained in slumber for far too long. We have normalized corruption while boasting of moral principles—seeing no truth, speaking no truth, and staying silent on the truth.While many have historically remained unaffected by these systemic issues, the crisis has now reached our very doorstep, where a clear conscience demands that we despise it. See the writing on the wall, confront this filth and corruption, and begin cleaning up our system. It is not too late if we start now.
Can we be done with corruption, illegal appointments and regularization and let merit speak for itself? Let people rise because of what they can do, not who they know or what shortcut they took.
Let the honest and the hardworking find their place without having to fight a rigged system just to be seen. We demand a Nagaland where the future of its youth is secure and where citizen can genuinely take pride in Truth and Intergrity.
Weride Khape
Concerned citizen
Mehrulietsa, Kohima
Wednesday, September 23, 2026