Our Reporter
Dimapur, Oct. 26: The former chief minister of Nagaland, Dr. SC Jamir on Saturday said that dynamic economic forces will invade the Northeast region in the form of influx of population from other regions of Southeast Asia with the implementation of Act East Policy, which will lead to a “criss-cross” of civilisation.
Jamir was speaking at the launch of the Nagaland Indigenous People’s Forum (NIPF) at Don Bosco Higher Secondary School in Dimapur.
“It will be very difficult to counter those economic forces since the Northeast is a corridor and when that happens, the region has to come together which will lead to a period of economic discussion and economic debate,” said Jamir and cautioned that the floodgates are bound to open when economic activities merge.
In this connection, Jamir questioned the position of indigenous people during that time; and what will be the solution to avoid the invasion?
“Unless we make indigenous people indispensible and educate them and also work 10-20 times more than others, then maybe we can avoid this,” said Jamir.
Speaking about the rising population specifically in Nagaland, the former chief minister also said that people are living in a fast-changing world and what was relevant yesterday will not be relevant tomorrow.
“Nagaland population is set to reach 5 million by 2050 but space will remain the same; we have to think what Nagaland will be like after 20-30 years,” said Jamir and suggested that if any problem requires discussion, it should be done in a way that will have relevance years later.
Jamir said that the issue of indigenous is both emotive, sensitive and yet the deliberations should not be emotional or sensational. “It will be a fatal mistake if we approach problems merely based on the present settings,” said jamir.
“Nagas of Nagaland should not be confused nor intimidated by any elements on this vital issue; survival of the younger generation will be determined by the decisions of the present leadership of the Nagas,” believed Jamir.
In this connection, Jamir asserted that it will be politically expedient on the part of the parties engaged in the present political negotiation with the government of India to ‘refrain from interfering in the normal administrative measures undertaken by the Nagaland government for registration of indigenous inhabitants of Nagaland’.
Also speaking at the launch was Khekiye Sema, a retired bureaucrat. Sema compared the indigenous Nagas to that of the Native Americans and the way ‘they were taken over in their own land’.
He said that one must learn from history in order to know one’s roots; and to ‘know what is in the heart that our forefathers have passed on’.
Echoing Jamir’s words, Sema asserted that when other civilisation come, it will come like a tsunami without any warning where indigenous people would forget their own cultural practices.
“We are sitting in a complete world of destruction and corruption starting from the government to the churches and then the people,” said Sema.
The former bureaucrat also reminded that Nagas have yet to codify their customary laws, ‘which can lead to major issues in future’.
Anup Chetia, the convener of North East Indigenous People’s Forum (NEIPF), informed that the forum was formed in the month of February in 2017 with an intent to have an indigenous community not only for Assam but for the entire Northeast region.
According to him, non-indigenous people settled in the border areas will ‘infiltrate slowly into the main towns and cities’.
While informing the gathering that there is a new Northeast Forum for Indigenous as per media reports, he requested that both organisations should work together, and not be divided.
“We will move forward together; if divided, we will become weaker,” said Chetia.
