Vikali Shikhu
Dimapur
In this fast changing and competitive world, thousands of Naga youngsters instead of changing for the best and joining the rest of the world in the competitive race have changed for the worst. The topic of unemployment never fails to draw the attention of both online and offline debates. People grumble upto the heavens but never question themselves as to why they are still unemployed. State politicians and Bureaucrats are placed on their altar every single day for their big time sacrifices. These youngsters would crucify all the NGOs and leading Pressure Groups in Nagaland without understanding an iota of how activists are struggling to improve the system. They dominate social media with the world's mightiest vocabularies. People use social media responsibly but these legends are 24/7 on Facebook. Who are they? They are the Naga educated unemployed youths.
Digital era is indeed a huge blessing to the world at large but massive transformation took its turn faster than we thought. We live in the IT Age today (Information Technology) but how were we till the Age of Science? Let us be honest, head hunting was just yesterday, semi-nakedness and bare footed was our existence and this custom is still to die down in some pockets of our State. We lack basic etiquettes because we have taken the shortest route possible to the so called ‘Civilization’.
Educated people should know only few households could afford a landline connection only few years back. That too for just local calls and we had to visit PCOs to make STD/ISD calls either at night or early in the morning in order to avoid the full charge. I was in Vellore for health check-up way back in October 2003 when the then Prime Minister of India visited Nagaland and lifted the ban of mobile phone that was earlier prohibited due to insurgency problem. I brought home Nokia handset but had to wait for months since the first group of post paid BSNL SIM cards were issued to Legislators and higher ups only. Some even submitted application with VIP’s recommended letters. I mean the use of cell phone uniformly by all walks of life isn't yet a full decade in Nagaland.
Today even the houseflies can afford net pack, all thanks to various telecom companies for providing us the lowest affordable cost and unbelievable offers. What a great change in youngsters getting access to Facebook lately! It appears even Neil Armstrong was not as excited as them being the first human to land on the moon. Findings reveal most of our Naga lads are more engaged in Facebook than even its founder Mark Zuckerberg. To feel ashamed of one's odd behavior has become too luxurious. Facebook has become a vomiting station. We must be having the world's most hopeless, jobless and shameless netizens. If we have sold our right during election, what right do we have to talk about non-transparent politicians? If 'clean election' doesn't exist in our book, why complain about development? If everyone has an intense dislike for corruption but still didn't vote for the right candidate, why shout for change? Some youngsters should be satisfied with the cash they collected-extorted from the candidates during election but they are still hopeful of backdoor appointment from their representatives. Isn't this a dual standard? They still have the audacity to curse politicians on Facebook.
Meanwhile, we also witnessed some people's all-out campaign against their constituency candidates on Facebook. Your vengeance speaks volume, people resort to such acts when their expectation rises higher than who they are. Nagaland is such a State with no industries of her own nor are the potential companies investing in Nagaland to accommodate the backlog of unemployment. In the Government sector too, there is over staffing pattern in the State. The 13th Finance Commission had recommended the State should spend only 35% within revenue expenditure on salary of Government employees. However the expenditure on account of salary to the total of revenue expenditure during the period was to the tune of 60%. According to the 13th Finance Commission, the state was supposed to reduce about 46,000 employees. Jesus is Jesus, being the Lord He could feed the multitudes with 2 fishes and 5 loaves of bread. Nagaland cannot rain down Government jobs without post creation. Unless someone dies or attains superannuation, there is no vacancy in all the Departments.
You grow a year older each birthday and the peak of your ability decreases. Can you visualise that it is another inflation taking toll on your age? You definitely feel the pinch when younger batches overtake you in the job interviews. Has the education failed you or you failed the education? If you think you are not a competitive material for open battle, ever thought of employing yourself with humble earnings? Your Facebook posts and comments will not bring any solution or salvation. You really think you won a debate when someone gives up on you? They abandon the debate because you made them understand that you are jobless and nobody in the real world. Just remember, they have better life beyond Facebook and got better things to do than to continue the nonsensical debate.
Our local entrepreneurs have a good reason to prefer recruitment of non-Nagas over Nagas and the reason is "not employable". They can never be punctual nor sincere and have no job commitment as well. They are not good in what they do, that is why their employers axe them after a short stint.
A roaring lion in the wild scares the shit out of animals in the jungle but nobody cares when the caged one roars. Lazy bees swarm the blogs with Oxford fever. But why care about Facebook worms and virtual vocalists? Sometimes do your Maths, you could be cursing your future while cursing others because there is power in the words we speak. You got to minimize venting out your anger in social media. If you are frustrated because you are not successful in life, empower yourself one more time and don't stop believing in your ability. If you are a drop-out and you foresee your bleak future, just remember a quote "when a caterpillar thought its life was over, it turned into a beautiful butterfly". If you think you have lost all hopes, search deep within yourself, you will discover a raw diamond. Bill Gates said "I failed in some subjects in exam, but my friend passed in all subjects. Now he is an engineer in Microsoft and I am the owner of Microsoft"
Work culture has been altered by abuse of social media. The world grows smaller each day due to technological accessibility which is considered the Windows of the World. Why should someone whine without shaping one’s own destiny? Look up, the world has space station, you got to occupy the space and create your world. No investment, no returns only Hard work pays. We know you find solace on Facebook but if you understand you are not a stakeholder with CEO, time to realize you are one potential candidate for online slavery. Enough of Facebook crucification. Time to question yourself, why do you remain "unemployed yet not employable".
