Morung Express News
Dimapur | May 22
Nagaland State has developed at a rapid pace since its formation in 1963—but development activities were accelerated in the past two decades due to politically favourable conditions as well as a slew of central policies facilitating economic growth.
To make a development process inclusive, as well as save Nagaland’s environment in its wake, needs two essential attitudes induced into the process: strategies to sustain the mountain ecology and moral grounding.
These were extrapolated at a discussion on ‘Sustainable Development—the future we want to see’ organized by the North East Network, Nagaland, at Kerünyü Ki in Sechu, Zubza on Saturday, May 20.
Sustaining mountain ecology & people
What does sustainability in a mountain region mean? Nalini Nayak raised this question by way of ‘observations and response to Nagaland’s concerns’ which were brought by sustainable development practitioners from various districts of Nagaland State. Nalini is a feminist activist who has done extensive work organizing coastal fish workers and communities, and founded the Kerala chapter of the Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA).
If all development is based on using up (buying/selling) natural resources, it is not possible for the process to be sustainable over generations. “How can we regenerate what has been destroyed?” is the mantra to be applied when using resources, explained Nalini.
She acknowledged that Naga elders already have the knowledge required to preserve and replenish natural resources. But “they have no voice” which, she observed, has created a gap in designing a contextual development process.
Citing the example of bamboo, she said, “In Kerala, we pay to buy bamboo where many structures are made with bamboo and mud. Why does the Nagaland State Government not build its offices with bamboo? It is easily available in Nagaland and grows back quickly. Why not make church buildings with bamboo instead of concrete?”
Nalini felt that many central policies that have resulted in destroying natural resources elsewhere in the Union are now being applied to Nagaland. Rubber, for instance, was planted large scale in Kerala once upon a time which resulted in drying up water resources in the region. In Nagaland State, or even the North East region, rubber, teak or gamari are promoted. Their long term effects on the environment are neither studied nor publicized.
“We need norms to preserve and maintain natural resources,” said the rights’ activist who has been visiting Nagaland for two decades now. This requires Nagaland State’s homegrown policies such as ‘communitisation’ to be strengthened—institutional norms need to be created that highlight what can or cannot be done, how resources can be used or not, or what actions to take when something goes wrong. This will guide communities through the process as well as create an accountability mechanism. It will further strengthen local civil society.
Nagaland’s Vision 2030, she noted, must be based on “conserving mountain ecology.”
To develop the State’s human resources, Nalini reminded that we must look beyond hotels and spas for young Naga people to work in. “Naga people are good at sports. You can train sports coaches who can coach all over the Indian Union. Nursing, geriatric care, paramedical services are also fields in which young people can be skilled to get gainful employment,” she suggested.
To complement this, Prof. Gabriele Dietrich wondered who it is that international linking of states really serves. She was referring to the Nagaland’s development process depending heavily on the centre’s Act East Policy. Wide international highways steal access from locals, like cultivators who sell small produce on highways. Huge transnational highways also lead to increase in sex trafficking along highways and proliferation of HIV/AIDS. Prof. Gabriele teaches at the Tamil Nadu Theological Seminary in Madurai and has allied with several peoples’ movements across the Indian Union, most prominently the National Alliance of People’s Movements.
She highlighted how state policies today are being designed more to suit the centre’s desires to “Make in India”. Inadvertently the development model creates economic disparity giving rise to a host of socio-political problems. Such policies “do not stand to uplift local populace,” she asserted.
Moral Grounding
Niketu Iralu, Naga elder and Trustee, Initiatives of Change, was hosting the discussion.
“The health of a tree determines the quality of its fruit,” said Iralu while exposing the theme. He was referring to a process of moral grounding—to keep the process clean and outcome will be alright. He narrated two stories. One highlighted how slave trade across the Atlantic flourished due to the “British rejection of moral values” but finally embracing a moral value system led to the abolition of slavery in Britain in the early 19th century. The other story took the example of how Niger’s desertification was reversed through an initiative that used the country’s internal roots system to grow 200 million trees in 500 hectares of land in 10 years.
“Can this be applied to Intangki?” wondered Iralu. Perhaps. But to do this, Nagas need to identify and resolve the most “destructive sin” by acknowledging everyone’s role in it. “If all Nagas say that I will reduce my selfishness by 10% this year, it can dramatically change the Naga reality,” the elder emphasized.
He also called for bridging the theological gap—what is, where is, when is the Kingdom of God? Is it here on earth or an unseen life in heaven? “A shallow defective theology has become our Christianity. We need to know ourselves better in order to do the right thing,” he observed, concluding his remarks with Philip Stanhope’s “Whatever is worth doing at all is worth doing well.”
