Thomas Paine once said: “Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it”. The essence of this powerful message lends credence to widely accepted dictum that economic freedom or self-reliance is regarded as a necessary concomitant of political freedom. Without one, the other is incomplete and meaningless and people who rely on their own strength and know how to help themselves cannot be held in bondage for long. Conversely, a nation which, though free, depends on other nations for anything it needs, whether it is food, weapons or machinery, must always be subject to pressures, and so, stands perpetually in danger of losing its freedom.
It may be difficult to swallow this truth but it is a fact that good laden heavy vehicles enter Nagaland carrying most of the essential commodities required for their daily consumption which we are procuring and buying from other States. Sadly, our State has nothing much to sell in return and most of the trucks go back empty. Our local economy is today solely dependent on imports, which is not a positive sign. Even food grains, meat products and other agro products are being imported. In economic parlance we are living beyond our means and this reflects poorly on our poor management of resources. On top of this our people have a serious problem of attitude when it comes to work ethics. We yearn only to be masters, of hankering after easy schemes and eating up the seed money under various welfare programmes meant for self employment. This speaks volumes about the problem we face.
This dependency syndrome needs to be addressed and overcome. This attitude is clearly manifested by the fact that we are unable to solve our own problems without outside help and this weakness is made worse by charity. One example we can cite is with regard to State or Central schemes such as creating assets—roads, electricity, health centers or other basic infrastructure. Once the assistance stops, we are unable to maintain the facility, or to sustain the service. In order for the facility to be maintained and sustained, the community members must have a sense of responsibility or ownership for the facility. It is therefore important to achieve a sense of self reliance and ownership. By achieving this we will be able to promote grass roots participation, self development and human dignity. If we as a community cannot become more self reliant and empowered, we will simply not develop and so poverty and apathy will eventually come to us.
However, judging by the extent to which we have allowed ourselves to become dependent, we have a long way before we can become self reliant. We need to lift ourselves up virtually by our boot-straps. The attainment of self-reliance calls for ridding ourselves of the dangerous attitude of dependence and towards a more well sustained, self-realised society.
