Alemtemshi and others addressing a press conference at Hotel Japfu Kohima in connection with the release of district human development report for six districts on January 26. (Morung Photo)
Kohima, January 27: After Phek, Kohima and Mon, the District Human Development Report (DHDR) for Dimapur, Kiphire, Mokokchung, Longleng, Tuensang and Wokha district has been formally released here Sunday during the 65th Republic Day celebration by Nagaland’s governor Dr. Ashwani Kumar and Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio.
Similar reports for two more districts Zunheboto and Peren will soon be completed and with that Nagaland would land as the first state to complete the process of the DHDR of all the districts in the country.
These reports will act as policy documents for the state.
Addressing a press conference here at Hotel Japfu last evening, chief secretary Alemtemshi Jamir IAS said Nagaland will be the first state in the country to complete HRDR of all the districts, with the completion of the remaining HDRs for Zunheboto and Peren districts within a month’s time.
Informing that Millennium Development goals adopted by the United Nations was to bring out the HDR of all the countries, Jamir proclaimed that Nagaland was the first State to bring out a book, the sub national level HDR.
Alemtemshi expressed pride that the entire HDRs was written in-house, by involving the grassroots with the DCs of respective district as team leaders, thereby making the entire process inclusive and participatory.
Dr. Manoj Pant observed that an important innovative feature of Nagaland HDR was the addition of a section “Voices of the People”, where all the writers of the Reports were sent to all the districts to interact with the stakeholders.
OSD planning Kevileno said the previous HDRs released in 2004 and 2010 were funded by UNDP and Government of India whereas the recent DHDRs was funded by the state government.
Stating that the reports also draw attention to issues that require district specific policy intervention, Nagaland’s governor Dr. Ashwani Kumar penned “I am confident that the government would take note of the suggestions made in the reports to bring about developmental changes in the districts at the grass-root level.”
Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio stated that the reports are based on the visions of the local population as well as the inputs furnished by them, “which will greatly enhance the relevance of these reports for perspective human development planning.”
Rio stated that in its efforts to make the people central to the planning and development processes, the state government has come out with the DHDR, which will serve as vision documents for the planners, right from the grass-root to the state levels, for improving the quality of life in the districts.
“I am sure the reports will revitalize and give substance to our efforts to decentralize our planning process, and reorient our development strategy towards a more inclusive growth,” Rio penned in his message.
“I hope the reports will provide practical insight to policy makers and planners in meeting the development needs of people in the districts,” penned minister for planning & coordination, evaluation and geology & mining T.R. Zeliang.
Chief Secretary Alemtemshi Jamir penned that the central message in these DHDR is to enable people to live quality lives with access to education, health care and with sustainable source of livelihood in a secure environment.
He also stated that the district human development report wherein stakeholders have been involved in mapping the way forward for the district, “ I am sure participatory and inclusive planning will become a reality soon.”
H.K. Khulu, additional chief secretary and development commissioner stated that with the support of the United Nations Development Programme, and Planning Commission, Government of India, the state government brought out three DHDR for Kohima, Phek and Mon in 2010. As a follow you of this project, to provide a comprehensive perspective of the district specific needs according to the diverse socio-economic settings, the report for the remain eight district human resource development reports of Peren, Mokokchung, Tuensang, Wokha, Longleng, Kiphire, Dimapur and Zunheboto was taken up, fully funded by the state government.
“It is my firm believe that these Reports will become a vision documents for planners/policy makers to draw references for bottom-up planning in the days to come,” penned Khulu.
The mentor and propelling force behind this project was chief secretary Alemtemshi Jamir who was also the principal co-ordinator for the project and Prof. Manoj Pant of School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi as the lead co-ordinator was the architect of the report.
