Chizokho Vero
Kohima | March 3
The days may not be far for the Naga youth to access yet another mat of opportunities in terms of employment, backing and exposure in tune with the assurance made in the manifesto of the Naga People’s Front (NPF). NPF won 38 seats in the just concluded State Assembly elections, and is set to form the new government with its alliance under the banner DAN III.
The NPF’s manifesto categorically stated that youth empowerment does not only mean employment generation, but it means access to quality education and realization of a healthy and wholesome physical body, with good nutrition and social security through economic independence.
Among the others, the NPF manifesto promise to pursue empowerment of youth include thrust on capacity building exercise in IT and its enabled services, formulate partnerships with foreign universities to make the Naga youth think and study beyond the country’s borders, conduct educational exchange programme with foreign universities and institutions, extend scholarships for vocational courses in foreign institutions and colleges for deserving students, create employment generation avenues for rural youth through agriculture and allied sector.
It also promised to aggressively promote and inculcate work culture among all sections of the youth, promote sports culture in the state for good health, and make sports and games a career option. It also promised to encourage more youth to pursue science education and introduce study of languages to equip the youth to face international requirements.
In sports, NPF promised to make constant review and modification of the Nagaland Sports Policy in order to keep in tune with changing trends, conduct inter state championships to create exposure and experience for sportspersons, upgrade and expand the scope of sports academy in Kohima, encourage adventure sports among youth and also to promote tourism, formulate policy for coaches and trainers, promote and support traditional sports and games, introduce centres for sports medicine and nutrition, ensure that reservation for sportspersons in government service is followed in letter and spirit, establish sports recreation centers to spread sports culture among young and old, organize Nagaland Olympics, which will become the launching pad for sportspersons of the state to strive towards national and international success and establish a regional centre of sporting excellence within a time frame.
The manifesto also included steps to propagate music. It plans to make the National Rock Contest an international celebration of music, create partnership with major recording companies to facilitate promotion of local bands, use music to make youth occupied and be actively involved in creativity and artistic activities, ensure that the music academy is equipped with state -of- the-art infrastructure, promote and preserve traditional music and dance using modern methods, increase capacity building scholarships for musicians and music related technicians, conduct Naga music festivals outside the state to create opportunities and platforms for Naga musicians and artists to display their talents and capabilities at the national and international levels and make music as a medium to promote a positive image of Nagaland to the outside world.
