Nagaland to scale down its government employees

Kohima: With 41.16% of the total budget being spent on salaries and wages of government employees, Nagaland chief minister Neiphiu Rio on Monday revealed the state government’s plan to gradually “scale down” the number of government employees. 

As per the budget estimate for 2023-24, a total of Rs 7,186.90 crore will be spent on salaries and wages, Rs 3,082.26 crore on pensions, while Rs 2,465.32 has been marked for development. 

“As we are all aware, we have the highest ratio of government employees to the total population in the country. As a result, the majority of our resources are spent on salaries and pensions, leaving very little for developmental activities,” Rio said while presenting the budget for 2023-24 on Monday.

Data provided by the Finance department shows that while the amount earmarked for development was only 24.27%, expenditure on pensions accounts for 17.54% of the total budget outlay.

Rio observed that the amount spent on developmental activities does not present a sustainable situation. He then revealed that the state government intends to gradually scale down the number of employees to make more funds for developmental activities.

While the Nagaland Staff Selection Board (NSSB) has been put in place and recruitment to posts notified by the Board has begun, he informed the house that the government has no intentions to fill up all the existing vacancies.

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