Dimapur, July 22 (MExN): After having heard and seen of the growing impatience and brutality and the fast increase in the number of substance abuse of young people in the society, concerned citizens has turned its eyes to the ‘freedom, a child enjoys in the Naga society.’ The June 15, 2007 indictment wherein two teenagers were involved in two separate gory and hard-to-believe murder cases has put teachers, social workers and parents and the society into greater dilemma forcing them to find an urgent solution/answer to the problem.
Many of the people has held the ‘freedom to the extreme extend’ responsible for such outcome. A teacher while reminding that ‘freedom should not drive them into wrong’ pointed out that there is no society in India where a kid enjoys maximum freedom than in Naga society. A Naga girl can hang around at 7-8 pm in the night without being looked down by the society but in other places, the society in very conservative and narrow minded, he added.
The ‘lack of financial control’ has also been held as one of the major factor responsible for the degenerating Naga youths. Naga youths, who are believed to receive the highest pocket money in the whole of India, ‘blackmails their parents to go to school’, said the teacher who doesn’t want to be identified. It may be mentioned that the average pocket money a student receive per day is Rs.50 to Rs.100.
He added, having had the taste of money, the students are caught up in unwanted elements such as alcohol, drugs, tobacco etc. The availability of liquor, though Nagaland was declared a ‘Dry State’ and the growing alcoholism among the Naga youths pose the greatest risk, said the teacher.
The growing materialism among the Naga youths, especially the students is also a matter of great concern. Most of the school students are seen owning a mobile with unwanted movie clippings which said the teacher ‘technology is used in negative sense. Watching of violent movies and playing violent video and computer games also affects the mind of the students psychologically. The children are easily influenced by violent movies and games in one way or the other said the teacher.
Though there has been controversy on the effects of violent video games and movies on children, most of the people pointed out that violent video games influence the mind of the people, especially the young ones. Some parents have said that there are children who benefit from the proficiency and coordination of playing video games while others disagree.
Studies have shown that everything that children see or hear in the media early on in their lives affects them in some way. Unfortunately, violence is one of the most popular forms of entertainment with an average of over sixty percent of television shows being shown contain some form of violence
The government has also its own share of blame in the deteriorating behaviour of the children and youths. Despite the various developmental schemes sanctioned and peace bonuses received, the government has failed to provide any healthy recreational place where the people can go and relax and enjoy during free times. The lack of recreational place leads the young people into the bar or a booze joint…. “And as everybody knows, Nagas are not good drinkers” said a concerned citizen, “They always end up fighting, quarrelling or doing some mischievous things.”
It is interesting to note that Dimapur, one of the fastest growing cities in India has no parks, except the Green Park in 5th Mile, where people could gather for healthy recreation.
.jpg)
