The present Chief Minister of Nagaland, Shri Neiphiu Rio, has been the right choice of the people at the right time. He is an active, intelligent, capable man who lead as a visionary leader of the present age. He became the chief minister at a prime age therefore he could manage to bridge over the gap between the old timer politicians and the promising young politicians to be netted in the power for the second term.Some of the remarkable achievements during the period of the 9 years ruled under his leadership which are worth mentioning are as follows:-
1. To fulfill the aspirations of the backward people, he created 3 new districts viz. Peren, kiphire and Longleng
2. He initiated cleanliness drive in Nagaland beginning from the capital town, Kohima and it has become a very successful one
3. To uplift the Economic backwardness in the state, he created a new Department, DUDA and provided fund regularly for the development activities of the backward areas
4. To enhance the status of women and to look after the affairs of women, a separate Women’s Development Department was created
5. To promote and to explore the talents of our youths in the field of sports and music he created National and International level standard sports infrastructure and set up the Music Task Force in the state and also hosted several national and international events in the state
6. To enhance the power of the Town Committee he upgraded some Town Committees to Municipal Councils and Town Councils in the Districts and Sub-Divisional Headquarters
7. To promote our rich cultural heritage to the outside worlds and to develop Tourism, the State Hornbill festival was upgraded to national and international festival and organized Road-show in every District Headquarters
8. To solve educated unemployment problem in the state, he made an enactment of the Second Amendment of the Govt. Employees’ Retirement Act/ 2009 by fixing the retirement age from the public service to 35 years of service or 60 years of age, whichever is earliest
9. To make Govt. offices more standard and decorum, most of the departments have been granted the construction of new buildings with modern design and facilities
10. To facilitate more quick services to the travelers and to cater to the emergency nature of duties, he introduced Helicopter Service in the date.
However, being a human being, he is also inevitable to shortcomings with the social limitations and weakness. Therefore, some of the areas noticed where he could not concentrate much are as mentioned below:
1. He could not give due attention to the protection and welfare of the minority tribes/communities
2. He could not send appropriate candidates to represent the Naga people in the Parliament i.e, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha during his tenure as the top leader of the state
3. The Government has miserably failed to implement total dry-state in Nagaland. Rather, it has become a mockery
4. Not much income-generation schemes and productive programmes could be made for the upcoming generation
5. Comparatively, not much innovative and attractive budget could be presented in the House nor effective Financial Administration could be enforced
6. So much emphasis on basic amenities like safe drinking water, power supply, health care, quality education and good road connectivity but in reality not much improvement could be seen
7. Politicians syndicate Contractors are depriving the contract chances of the backward and minority communities all over Nagaland
8. Imbalanced economy within the Naga society would become a great threat to the Nagas as the rich are becoming richer and the poor poorer
9. Unceremonious exit of senior employees from the government jobs has displaced so many bread earners in the families thereby disturbing familial stability and has effected children’s education
10. More festivity but comparatively lesser positive outcome.
Abraham K. Woch
Concerned Citizen
Bayavu Hill, Kohima
