‘History of Nagas irremovable from their identity and culture’

Mmhonlumo Kikon, Advisor delivering the speech during the 57th general session of CCSU at Tuensang on February 3. 
 

57th general session of the Confederation of Chang Students’ Union commences 

 

Tuensang, February 3 (MExN): The 57th general session of the Confederation of Chang Students’ Union (CCSU) under the theme ‘Propelling educational values’ commenced at Tuensang on February 3. The session will culminate on February 5.

More than 800 registered students from 53 federating units attended accompanied by their village council members and student leaders attended the inaugural programme. The second session of the day was the federal assembly.
Special guest Mmhonlumo Kikon, Advisor, IT & C, Science & Technology, NRE, Government of Nagaland

In his speech acknowledged the efforts of the CCSU in Tuensang district and shared that his understanding and interest of Tuensang started years back when he visited to do a study on the presence of migrants from Myanmar.

Taking note of the idea of ‘Sochum’, which is a proactive community participation in improving the quality of education in schools, under the initiative of CCSU, he remarked, “what impressed me most and what actually the Changs and Tuensang district has contributed but not yet fully acknowledged is the adaptation of the Communitization Act and community participation in ensuring that the Communitization Act is actually implemented in letter and spirit.”

Speaking of the Naga political issue, he stated that the history of Nagas cannot be detached from the discourses of identity and culture and commented, “I always say that any people who have no knowledge or respect of their own history will not understand their present. Not only that, they will not be able to lead their own people to the future.”
He reminded the gathering about contributions of the Changs in the Naga history citing about the story of the then Commander-in Chief, Thungti Chang, who once led the Nagas under the unified banner of the NNC.

While mentioning that Nagaland is the only state in India to be created out of a political agreement he stated, “We are enjoying all the facilities today because of the sacrifices made by our elders. Though, out present generation is different, because of their sacrifices we are where we are today. However, he clearly pointed out that the issues and the problems of today may be different but the conflict remains.”

“We want good governance; we want policies which will enable good governance. We want all the services that are there for the welfare of the people to be delivered to the intended beneficiary”, stated by the Advisor on the Nagaland Communitization Act passed in 2002. He also critically reflected that the state government has to learn a lot from the Changs regarding the sincere implementation of this Act. The government decided that it will share responsibility of governance and in that spirit the Communitization Act was passed. However, in the implementation of the Act they realized that there was a disconnect between policy and implementation, for which the problem is not with the government alone. “When the government was actually using this policy to tap the social capital of the Naga society, we realized that in its implementation many village authorities had not been able to implement it in accordance to the spirit of the act,” he added. He pointed out that the problem lies at the grass root level.

He congratulated ECS and CCSU for developing the model of ‘Sochum’ through which a lot of problems of implementation are addressed ensuring that Communitization is actually practiced and implemented in spirit and letter.

He concluded by sharing success stories of few entrepreneurs to encourage the students while reminding the civil service aspirants to work hard.

Others present in the audience were Dr Riku Khutso, EAC Bhandari, Tiameren Chang, ADC Bhandari, GBs Union, DBs Union, CTS members, CKS members, CBLT, CGOA, TTAWU, TCCI member and tribal unions of the district.

Welcome address was delivered by speaker, CCSU along with the presentation of the dignitaries. Followed by a special number from TTBL choir and re-amendment of the constitution of CCSU was read out by Drafting Committee.

Earlier, the reception of the guests was done by the Chingmei Sochum village guards followed by flag hoisting and opening by Haühyang Choba Bagpipe Band, Tuensang.

In the short speech delivered by President, CKS, he exhorted the students present to emulate the past glories of their ancestors who brought glory to the land through ‘dao’. However, he encouraged them to imbibe the same spirit with the use of ‘pen’ emphasising on the importance of education.

Deputy Commissioner, Tuensang while delivering a short speech highlighting on the theme of the event he stated that, “The CCSU in the right direction.”

He also spoke about the gap in the generation which is creating a huge crack in the society and the older wiser people and younger hi tech people need to give each other spaces in order to balance the differences. Highlighting the importance of educational values he stated that it helps in developing character, a well balanced personality which transforms into moral and spiritual values.

“We as a community can preserve our cultural values and moral values through our educational values only,” he added.

The programme was compered by S. Nyimang Senti Chang meanwhile; the opening prayer was spoken by Changlimba APY, Yungkϋk Baptist Church and closing prayer by Bin, APY, Mopung Baptist Church. 

On the second day of the morning session there will be volleyball competition among the 53 federating units and in the evening session there will be the Achievers’ Night where awards will be conferred for different fields of achievement by the Chang.