In Nagaland, almost 90% of vegetable farmers, small farm workers as well as vegetable sellers are women—but what does Nagaland actually produce to help its import?
Throughout the human being’s existence on earth, the general belief is that each person aspires to lead a happy life. Living consists of engaging in daily activities or the lack thereof. Activity and inactivity both produce outputs. For example, the main output of farming is food, with the desired outcome being that enough food is produced to adequately nourish the body in order to carry out other activities, such as thinking, working and maintaining well being. Consequently, human beings want to be engaged in some activity that will enhance their quality of life.
Understanding what activities people are engaged in is important to understanding output, and its subsequent outcomes. This brings us to the question of what the current output of people living in Nagaland is. Are we able produce to meet our basic needs? Or, what do we exchange for things we need but do not produce?
What do we produce? Rice? Pork? Salt? Electricity? Mineral water? Gold? IT professionals?
A majority of Nagas live in villages. The 2011 Census Report indicates that 70-80% of the people of Nagaland live in villages and rural areas. In order to have an accurate understanding of Naga people’s real economic and social status, we have to know what activities the majority is engaged in that supports their livelihoods. We need to know what the skills and capabilities of the majority are. This includes examining variables such as the political and social environment—have our government’s policies been encouraging or restrictive in the last 50 years? Have equal opportunities been made available allowing each person to exercise their capabilities and reach their potential?
In an ideal world, I will make bread, you make the butter and we will exchange these items for mutual benefit. We are equally dependent or interdependent on each other, acknowledging our valuable individual capabilities with mutual respect and trust. Taking this into consideration and with adequate resources each will produce a surplus of what the other cannot produce. In the process we exchange knowledge about how you tend for your cow and the joy of turning milk into butter while I tell you about how I grow rice, and how beautiful the ripened rice fields look that inspire the patterns in the shawls I weave. Our interdependence and exchange of ideas is intrinsic to our existence.
In Nagaland, almost every item we consume is imported from outside the State as reflected in our GDP which is one of the lowest in the country. We can question the validity of some statistical data and measurements being true economic indicators, but in our case, using our common sense we can assess how many services and items, including our everyday basic necessities, are produced in Nagaland.
One assumption can be that the geographic distribution of natural resources limits people from being self-reliant, and, therefore they have become dependent on others. However, this is not true in the Naga context because we live in one of the world’s hotspots of biodiversity. Also, hundred years ago, we were a self-reliant people that managed without having to buy rice and pork or house construction material from other States. This does not mean that we return to the past, living in seclusion and with minimal contact with the outside. The issue is why we have become a totally dependent economy, relying solely on imports, without any substantial production from within Nagaland.
When it is challenging to produce for our basic needs, it seems unrealistic to think about producing surplus to exchange with others. This scenario prompts us to question why we cannot produce.
Every Naga person consumes pork almost every day; who raises these pigs? Rice is our staple food; who cultivates, processes and sells rice to us? We need vegetables and fruits all year round. We need essential commodities. Where does all this come from, through whom? A morning jog to Marwari Patti market in Dimapur might give us some insight.
Just 0.05% producing pineapple juice, selling cars and fashion garments in Dimapur and Kohima, or 90 thousand of the 20 lakh population holding government jobs cannot be the true and complete picture of Nagaland.
What constitutes Nagaland’s real economic output and where is the money coming from to buy the imported items?
