Dimapur, September 6: It is not everyday that the head of state’s government gets opportunity to speak about the qualities of Naga people and the state at any global forum and this time round, state’s chief minister, TR Zeliang, did not let the opportunity slip through his fingers when he was given the opportunity to address the 4th edition of the Pangkor Dialogue at Ipoh city in the Malaysian state of Perak on September 6.
Waxing eloquent on the qualities of the Naga people and the state which could lure global players to enter the State in a big way, Zeliang shared his experiences and knowledge about the State which he said some could find beneficial. He had the attention of the hundreds of leaders from various parts of the World from the beginning when he mentioned about the Battle of Kohima, considered as the greatest battle fought by the Allied forces during the WW II, and the monolith erected in honour of the valiant dead which has the inscription: “When you go home tell them of us, and say for your tomorrow we gave our today.”
Zeliang said although this epitaph was made in honour of the soldiers, who laid down their lives in the battle, it is equally pertinent as ‘we talk of a sustainable world.’ He said the general principles of sustainable development, as understood by us, is the importance of maintaining and improving the quality of life and at the same time ensuring that decisions made today by taking into consideration social, economic, and environmental consequences for the future. It fundamentally entails sacrifices on the part of the present generation so that the future societies can continue to live and survive, he said.Sustainable development, according to him, also means containing our needs that very often turns into greed. He went on to say that greed is indeed at the root of our threatened environment as also of the eroding governance systems.
“This understanding is vital, especially for the underdeveloped and the developing world as we try to catch up with the highly advanced technological societies of the west. Compared to them, there can be no end to our perceived needs. There is, therefore, a need to design our entire lives - our social, economic and political structures and our governance systems that will be suitable for us and which will help to redefine our needs, as also the sacrifices that we have to make so that human existence is made sustainable,” he added.
Sharing with the leaders on the political realities in Nagaland, Zeliang pointed out that the traditional Naga way of life, like many societies of the South East Asian nations, did not quite get along well with Western concept of Parliamentary democracy adding the concept of Universal Adult franchise was something new to the Naga people resulting in glaring material corruption and faulty electoral practices in the State.
He, however, lauded the Clean Election Campaign launched by the church in its attempt to cleanse the malpractice in the electioneering process. Zeliang went on to share the positive and novel developments in the State such as communitisation of public services such as education, health services, electricity etc, which are being managed by the villagers themselves.
“We are grateful that The United Nations had given an award to our State in recognition for instituting such a reform,” he said. He also narrated on the environmental degradation in which drastic climate change has affected the State in recent years.
Stating that such phenomena cannot be resolved overnight and by acting alone, he appealed to the world leaders “to think together, to share the solutions and to further help each other in reducing the risks through adaptation as well as mitigation strategies in the better interests of our survival.”
On the issues of conservation of nature, Zeliang boasted of the rich “Social Capital” of the Naga people and how communities, which once hunted migratory Amur Falcons in hundreds of thousands, now the hunters have become protectors and have made Nagaland a safe haven for the birds earning the distinction of being called in conservation circles as “Amur Falcon Capital of the World”!
Zeliang expressed his envy of the Malaysian people for so successfully preserving the famed Hornbill birds, which is also Malaysia’s National Bird, and which Nagas associate with valour and honour, and for which Nagaland has instituted the Hornbill Festival which is held in the first week of December every year.
In conclusion, Zeliang sounded the need to help each other through the sharing, not only of knowledge but also of pooling the limited resources, as the people of South East and the South Asia grapple with the new concepts of governance, sustainable development and at the same time find answers to the challenges of the environment and climate change.
