Jakhama becomes Nagaland’s first sustainable village

KOHIMA— Jakhama became the first village in Nagaland to be declared a sustainable village after the formal declaration was made by the minister for Tourism, Higher and Technical Education, Temjen Imna Along on Monday.

Speaking during the declaration programme of ‘Jakhama sustainable village-cum-World Environment Day’ organised by Jakhama Youth Organisation (JYO) at Campion ground, Imna Along said on a lighter note: ‘Now, we need to grow together not in size but in sustainability’.

He added that the monolith erected to symbolize Jakhama as a sustainable village should stand as a reminder to the villagers for the need to make concerted efforts to achieve their desired goals.

The minister informed that the central government had laid down 17-point programme to declare a village as sustainable after examining all necessary parameters.

He lamented the state being ranked the lowest among the states in India in terms of Sustainable Development Goals.

Imna Along also expressed dismay over the accusations being hurled at the chief minister and state government on social media platforms by people in regard to the poor performance by the state of Nagaland towards sustainable development, saying that “our way of life and thought process are going down” because of such attitude.

He said the state government is giving all-out effort to uplift the state and towards achieving their aspirations.

Host of the event and MLA Kevipodi Sophie, who is also from the village, said Jakhama has been declared a sustainable village on an auspicious occasion coinciding with the World Environment Day.

Declaring a sustainable village has to be viewed from many aspects like preserving of biodiversity, promoting human resources, skill development, poverty reduction, and self reliance in agri and allied sectors, he said.

However, he said agriculture yield (in the village) has decreased over the years and the people could not produce enough even their needs with many paddy fields being abandoned.

Sophie went on to say that the rivers are drying up and the weather is becoming hotter year by year, even as the virgin forest is being destroyed. Citing this, he called upon the villagers to continue planting trees for ecological balance and focus more on agriculture with the available scientific machineries for higher production.

Hundreds of tree saplings were planted in and around the village with participant from Mima Youth Organisation, students and others. The JYO was said to have distributed about 4500 saplings to eight khels of Jakhama.

The event was also attended by political leaders, village council members, government officials, army officers and representatives from Indian Institute of Management-Shillong.