Celebrating 25 years of the crown and the Naga women, the Beauty and Aesthetics Society of Nagaland (BASN) will honor its past Beauty Queens on November 7 during its annual Miss Nagaland beauty pageant which will be held at the Regional Academy of Performing Arts and Music (RAPAM), Jotsoma. The event is expected to be a memorable evening of beauty, fashion, music and the reunion of past beauty queens.
According to a press note issued by the BASN, the event on November 7 will witness the past and the present, spanning 25 years of Miss Nagaland.
Started as an activity during a summer break by a young college going girl, Asenla Longkumer, the Miss Nagaland Pageant has taken to full bloom. The 1st Miss Nagaland contest was held in the year 1989 and since then it has become an annual calendar event of the State.
The BASN President Asenla said, the Miss Nagaland contest over the last 25 years was not just about beautiful girls or the glitterati surrounding the event. “The BASN was founded to promote conscious appreciation of beauty, to expound and propagate the Aesthetic values of mankind, to develop and promote arts, to enrich consciousness of cultural heritage, to promote upcoming talents and support Humanitarian causes”, says the President.
“True Beauty is not about having a beautiful face alone but it is a combination of qualities like love, compassion. It is the spirit that extends to others in love and that is what makes a Beauty Queen. She is a role model for the youth”.
Presently Miss Nagaland is the brand ambassador for Adolescent Health under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM). The BASN in the press note thanked NRHM for the opportunity given.
As recognition of its long years of service, the Nagaland government awarded the Governor’s Gold Medal to the BASN during the recently held Independence Day 2014.
Keeping in mind the ideal ‘Beauty with a purpose’ and the various humanitarian objectives, the BASN has over the years worked and contributed towards orphanage and handicapped institutions of Nagaland; Leprosy, TB and AIDS patients; Mount Gilead Drug Rehabilitation Centre, Zubza; Poor Patients Funds, Naga Hospital, Kohima; Blind School, Dimapur; Old Age Home, Kohima, the Disabled and Mothers Hope, Dimapur. In 1996 the BASN constructed a hall at the Mental Hospital Aradura hill Kohima.
Besides these, the society also within its capacity has donated in cash and kind to handicapped individuals, various charitable institutions and causes. Also, since 1989 it has provided platform to many talents in the field of music and fashion.
With the head office in Kohima, the jurisdiction of the organization extends to all the district units of Nagaland and to wherever the activities of the organization extend. BASN has been the past patrons including former Governor of Nagaland O.N Srivastava, Actor and MP the late Sunil Dutt, Editor of Femina Ms Satya Saran and recently retired Chief Secretary Banuo Z.Jamir IAS to name a few.
Some of the past winners have gone on to bring laurels to the State by winning prestigious events like Miss East India 1995 – Rachel Imchen; Miss North East 1998 – Vesakolu Mero; Miss Luit 2001 – Esther Jamir; Miss Luit 2002 – Akhuonuo Khezie; Sony My Miss India 2007 – Akhuonuo Khezie and Miss North East 2006 – Tiarenla Jamir.
