[dropcap]S[/dropcap]ince the past several years there has been a spate of jubilees some silver, golden, diamond, platinum and in a few cases even centennial. These jubilees were in connection with the church, educational institutions, students associations, sporting events, even marriages and so on. And it has been for sure that the celebrations were carried out with gaiety with VVIPS and VIPS being the chief guests and guests of honour.The time has also come that many discerning citizens have come to realize that such occasions also tax the Ministers, Parliamentary Secretaries, MLAs and other VIPs not only financially and physically (because of the long journeys) but also encroaching on precious time which could have been devoted to urgent as well as ongoing matters of State. In fact, in this connection, austerity measures by the government have also been envisaged.
All urban, semi-urban and rural areas now need to also dwell on other equally pressing important aspects of daily life. One is the continuing migration particularly of the youth from rural to urban areas primarily in search of employment in some way or the other. A large proportion of such youth do not make it but are reluctant to go back to their respective villages and go back to the grind of agricultural activities because the lure and comfort in urban areas can be enticing.
It is also true that while the villages in the rural areas have gradually improved with regard to various aspects such as proper sanitation and regulated water supply and reasonable road connectivity plus the increasing number of TV sets and light vehicles, but they still need to continue focusing on further modernization.
This phenomenon of migration from the village to urban areas is a concern for further study.
What do these youths who migrate do when in the urban towns?
Do they find a job? If yes, where and with what qualifications? Do they contribute to the family income by sending their earnings on a regular basis?
Any encounter with the non-locals who slog in our urban towns as carpenters, daily wage laborers, drivers, waiters, gardeners, cooks, technicians, shop keepers, cobblers, etc … all send back some portion of their earnings to families back home.
What do the migrants from the village to the town give back to the community in the city or village they come from?
Or are they simply taking money from their hard working parents who labour in the fields and spend it in the town? The increase in the number of crimes and thefts in the urban towns more often than not involves youth who are school drop-outs from interior villages.
These are all serious indicators that the human resource development in rural Nagaland needs urgent attention. To be smug in the figures and percentages of an ‘educated’ population is dangerous if this does not translate into an equal and balanced growth across the state.
There are hundreds of thousands of families who still require the basic needs in their homes in all our villages. Why are the youth in the village even the school drop-outs incapacitated to be employed in some of these areas?
Laying pipe lines, building water tanks, repairing school buildings and offices, running eateries, managing nurseries, growing vegetables and fruits and flowers, poultry, piggery etc.
Almost every week the government departments are holding training camps one after the other. These camps are also attended by villagers.
True, not everyone is born to be an entrepreneur but with so much of assistance and aid being handed out by the government we should by now be having several hundred young businessmen managing and operating the resources of the village.
Something, somewhere is not meeting. And perhaps it is time to own up to the hard but ugly truth that success needs perseverance and hard work.
An ingredient that is grossly lacking in the majority of Naga youth.
Ask any successful Naga businessman or woman why they hesitate to employ Naga youth …the reply is a standard one. “They lack passion”.
Those who have found their passion have a duty to infuse their Naga brothers and sisters within their circle, village and community to reach out.
Some youth have simply taken advantage of their parents who have not been fortunate as them to be schooled or attend colleges.
There are gaps of communication in families in households between parents and children especially those who are wired for IT enabled communication modes and not ‘speech’.
Maybe time for some such children to rewind and get the basics right or life could prove doubly challenging.
The objective of modernization is for a better and more comfortable way of life and increasing options for livelihood even in the remote areas. No village is further from the furthest urban township over two days by road. Plus the surplus availability of mobile/cell phones even to the simplest villager simplifies matters.
One healthy way to keep the youth from waywardness is sports.
A healthy sign in this area is the number of sporting events taking place this season. Sports and athletic prowess have always been given prominence in the Naga society , particularly wrestling for the Tenyimia tribes.
However, football, badminton, volleyball, table tennis and athletics (plus even cricket in some places) are the new sporting entrants. Oddly, even with an Olympain in the form of Chokrivolu Swuro, Archery is yet to draw the crowd.
Our Naga youth have the aptitude for sports both in field and track events. Perhaps here the department of Youth Resources and Sports (YRS) can fully pursue the inherent talents that are right in its backyard in more imaginative and competitive ways than previously followed for decades.
It had to take private organisations to sponsor sporting events like football, badminton, table tennis, various martial arts like Kung Fu, Taekwondo and the like with attractive cash prizes—to cite a few instances. The private industry would further benefit our potential sportspersons if they could also support viable sports in whatever manner it can so that the number of our sportspersons will flourish with fame and fortune will abound.
It is, therefore, imperative that the YRS tighten its laces and give potential champions a run for its money. Since its budget is limited as compared with other departments does not mean that it is less important. Perhaps the powers that be need to introspect, revamp and get into faster action. Its action would be supplemented and complemented by the private industry—all for the greater glory of the sports arena in Nagaland and from where they can climb to the national level and eventually catapult to the international stage.
Perhaps more than ever the importance to uphold tradition and values of our heritage is being called upon. The village in many ways continues to be this repository of knowledge.
We must look after our villages by providing structures to strengthen its economy without changing values. This may birth the face of youth with passion.
