Nagaland Statehood Day: Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio highlights progress of state

Our Correspondent

Kohima, Dec. 1 (EMN): Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio on Thursday called upon the people of the state to not let differences overwhelm the common identity of Nagas, and be united in the pursuit of greater goals and achievements.

He was addressing the 60th Statehood Day programme at Nagaland Civil Secretariat Plaza in Kohima.

 “We have come a long way since statehood. We have persistently progressed on the path of development and for achieving an improved standard of living for our people. We are happy that we have made many achievements in our journey of progress and we are justly proud of them. A lot, however, still remains to be done,” he said.

‘We also remain mindful of the Naga political issue, the final settlement of which we continue to wait for. It is an issue that predates statehood, and has seen efforts by generations of our people for its resolution. We are however happy that encouraging progress has been made in the last few years. Each one of us is now more hopeful than ever of a solution,’ Rio stated.

In this regard, he appealed to all the Naga political groups, government of India, and all others concerned to seize the moment, walk the extra mile, reach out to everyone in the spirit of understanding and ‘make the long-cherished dream of our people in the truest sense a reality by bringing the solution without any further delay’.

Hornbill Festival

Pointing out the beginning of the 23rd edition of the Hornbill Festival, the chief minister said it is a time to warmly welcome everyone from across the country and abroad, who are coming to the state to be a part of the festival and get glimpses of Naga culture.

 “The Hornbill Festival, showcasing the beautiful cultural heritage of ours, is a collaborative celebration of all Naga tribes at one venue. With each passing year, it is becoming more vibrant, larger in size, and richer in texture, showcasing newer ideas, and gaining greater recognition. This is an asset owned by all the tribes of Nagaland, and a success story we should continue to make it bigger, better and more valuable,” he said.

Human Resource Development

Rio also pointed out that since the attainment of statehood, Nagaland has made significant achievements on all parameters of development, while the people are the greatest strength and resource being naturally talented and skilful.

He asserted that the people of the state are not only involved in agriculture but also in trade, construction, service industry, and are entrepreneurs providing employment to thousands, while many are also pursuing careers not only outside Nagaland but outside India.

He added that development of human resources has been an area of focus for the government in the last six decades, adding that the state has taken giant strides for the creation of educational and technical institutions for the development of human resources.

Starting from 593 schools and two colleges in the early years of statehood, Nagaland now has 2,718 schools, and 69 colleges while a World Bank project has been launched from April 2021 with the objective to transform school education, improve education system and school management, and enhance teaching learning environment, he shared.

In terms of technical institutes, the state now has three engineering colleges and nine government polytechnics in the state. He informed that the state has already filed the application for obtaining permission from the Medical Commission to start admission of students in the medical college at Kohima from the next academic year 2023-24.

‘In the near future, we are going to have one more engineering college and my government is actively pursuing a premier research institute of national importance in the state (IISER). We remain mindful of the utmost need to continue providing the best and latest educational facilities to our youth so that they are equipped in every way to successfully compete in the fast-changing world,’ said Rio.

Health sector

Underlining that health is the greatest asset of an individual, he said the delivery of health services also remains a focus area of the state government. He said Nagaland has 1235 doctors registered with Nagaland Medical Council; 775 health facilities in the government sector and 99 private healthcare establishments catering to the health needs of the people.

He maintained that the launch of Chief Minister’s Health Insurance Scheme (CMHIS) on October 14, it takes advantage of the insurance platform developed under the ongoing Ayushman Bharat- Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM —JAY), to provide coverage of free and cashless treatment to the remaining population including government servants and pensioners.

He asserted that the coverage provided to government servants is much more superior than was available under the earlier medical reimbursement — medical allowance scheme as it also covers all pensioners, who were earlier not getting any benefits.

He informed that enrolment drive for issuing the CMHIS card is going on throughout the state while registration centers have been opened in all directorates and districts. He said teams are also visiting all villages, for which programmes have been published and called upon every citizen of the state to avail the same.

Road Connectivity

Asserting that roads are the most important enabler of development, ‘enabling producers from farmers to entrepreneurs to get connected with markets, have always remained at the top of the government’s priority list’, he said.

He pointed out that six decades back, there were only 2000 kilometres of road network, but the state now boasts a network of over 14,000 kilometres, with 1630.88 kilometres as national highway.

He also acknowledged the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways for their assistance as well for taking up road construction work on some important routes in the state.

‘We have started work on one of the most ambitious road projects of our state — the Foothill Road– and considering the enormous benefits that it is likely to bring to our people, we have also been pursuing with the government of India for its funding,’ said Rio.

Electricity

Electricity and its supply to each part of the state is another very crucial element for the overall economic development, he said.

 “We could get cent percent villages covered with electricity supply in the next two and a half decades, the first state in the northeast to achieve such a feat,” he said, adding that in recent years, construction of more sub-stations, transmission and distribution lines, reliability, stability and distribution to all consumers both in urban and rural areas, are being continuously upgraded and improved while steps are also being taken to enhance the generation capacity.

He maintained that the state government has initiated development of two medium Hydro Electric Projects — 42 MW Lower Tizu HEP and 24 MW Zungki HEP — adding that the development of these two hydro generation projects will ease the financial burden of the state for power purchase and will also greatly contribute towards energy security for the state.

Further, he said the installation of a large number of smart prepaid electricity meters in Dimapur and Kohima is another significant step being taken for reduction of AT&C losses and improving revenue collection in the power sector.

Agriculture

Maintaining that a large proportion of the population is still engaged in agriculture and allied activities, he stated that farmers, through various interventions, have been harnessing the immense potential of Nagaland as a producer of quality organic agricultural and horticultural products.

He reiterated that the overall production of food grains in the last six decades has seen a jump by about 12 times to more than 7.5 lakh MT now. 

‘The key fact which stands out, and places the entire agriculture ecosystem on a different pedestal, is that 70% of the agricultural practice has continued to be traditional and organic,’ Rio said.

He also mentioned that three of the agro products have obtained GI Tag — Naga tree tomato, Naga cucumber and Naga Mircha — which is helping to reach out to high value, niche markets.

He said the state government is also encouraging local value addition, branding and logistics support, connecting more markets in the country with good results.

Law and order

The chief minister pointed out that the state has had a very difficult time owing to a long-running insurgency and unsettled political issue. Yet, he maintained that with the efforts of administration, police and all the security agencies, it has been an era of peace and tranquility.

‘In April this year, observing the continuous improvement in our law and order situation, the area of coverage of Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) saw a reduction for the first time in decades, with the Central Government lifting 15 police station areas out of the purview of AFSPA in Nagaland.

He stated that the state has geared up for taking full responsibility for all the areas which have been taken out of AFSPA, and exuded hope that with the situation becoming even better, the Central government will consider bringing out more areas from AFSPA in the near future.

‘We should also be proud that the state continues to be among those states whose crime rates are the lowest in the country,’ said Rio.

Sports, IT, NSSB and entrepreneurship

Highlighting the performance of the state in the recently concluded 2nd North East Olympic Games in Shillong, bringing home 79 medals,  Rio who is also the president of the Nagaland Olympic Association (NOA) said, “These are almost twice of what we won in the last games, a stupendous achievement by any yardstick. Our youth have always been second to none in talent, dedication, the zeal to succeed, and handle adversities. They only require the right mentoring, facilities, and the requisite infrastructure which we are providing and will continue to do with even more commitment.”

Meanwhile, he asserted that the state government continues to give full thrust to all the various public welfare schemes and programmes in operation in the state with the collaboration and assistance of the Central government. He added that various IT initiatives for e-governance are also helping in improving transparency and the delivery of services to the people.

‘A significant step towards streamlining the process of recruitment to government services and moving towards a completely merit and transparent based system was taken when we made the NSSB functional and it successfully conducted its first ever competitive examinations across the state for recruitment of 630 Group C posts under various departments in which more than 50,000 candidates appeared,’ he stated.

He also mentioned the recently concluded first CSR Investment and Banking Conclave in August, which was attended by the Union Finance Minister, and led to major collaborations and partnerships with the private sector. He pointed out that during the conclave, the Chief Minister’s Micro Finance Initiative was also launched to encourage credit for carrying out economic activities, for which an amount of INR 65 crore has been earmarked.

“We would like to encourage our young people to be successful entrepreneurs, and create unicorns out of startups towards which we have set up entrepreneur development centres in schools and colleges, and have five incubators which have 59 registered startups creating 300 plus employment,” Rio said.

Further, the chief minister also highlighted the visit of the President of India, and maintained that she acknowledged the significant progress made on various development parameters by the state. He conveyed that the President had further urged all people of the state to rededicate themselves towards the goal of a more prosperous and developed Nagaland.

While pointing out that India also assumed the G20 presidency, in which Nagaland will also be a partner in hosting foreign delegates, he echoed the words of the President by calling upon each and every person ‘to be united, not yield to any ‘isms’, put the interest of the state and the people above self and everything else, and continue with utmost dedication for the betterment of Nagaland and ensure that the fruits of development reach the last person in the line’.

CM launches various projects

On the occasion, the Chief Minister also launched Project Sahyog mobile application of Nagaland Police, booklet and smart cards for Indian Reserve (IR) units, and also flagged off the Nagaland Police Special Operation Group (SOG) vehicles.

Under the initiative of Business Association of Nagas (BAN) and the State Bank of India (SBI) to fund 1000 entrepreneurs across the state, Chief General Manager Northeast Circle, SBI, Vincent Menachery and the chief minister jointly handed over the sanction letter to the first 11 entrepreneurs through the President of BAN, L Mongkum Jamir. The total loan sanctioned was INR 4.57 crore.

The beneficiaries were from Tuensang, Longleng, Wokha and Dimapur districts encompassing various sectors. SBI also presented a cheque of INR 10 lakh to the state towards hosting the Hornbill Festival 2022.