From the Margins to the Mainstream
By Dr Asangba Tzudir
The vision of Viksit Bharat@2047 which aims for a developed, inclusive, and self-reliant India by the centenary of Independence cannot be realised without a meaningful participation from its borderlands or at the margins. Nagaland, for so long has been viewed through a narrow lens of conflict, for its remoteness, and its dependency, and which today stands at a critical juncture. The recent inauguration of the Nagaland Drone School and Centre for Excellence is not merely a technological milestone. This indeed symbolizes a statement that the state is ready to position itself as a contributor to India’s innovation-driven future.
For decades till now, development discourse in Nagaland revolved around roads, peace talks, and basic infrastructure. While these remain important, Viksit Bharat demands a shift in imagination from survival to innovation, from subsidy to skilling, from being isolated to being integrated. The latest drone school represents precisely this shift. Drones are no longer luxury gadgets. They are tools for agriculture, disaster management, healthcare delivery, surveillance, disaster mapping, filmmaking, and other logistics. For a hilly, sensitive, and geographically complex state like Nagaland, drone technology offers solutions tailored to local realities rather than imported models of development.
The most immediate contribution of such initiatives lies in youth empowerment. Nagaland’s demographic dividend has often turned into one of distress because of its limited employment opportunities. Skill-based institutions like the drone centre can convert educated but unemployed youth into data analysts, technicians, entrepreneurs, etc. This will in turn build an ecosystem where Naga youths become service providers rather than job seekers. This aligns smoothly with the Viksit Bharat emphasis on skilling, start-ups, and local innovation.
Agriculture, which sustains a large section of Nagaland’s population, also stands to benefit. Drone technology can enable precision in agriculture and farming technology like crop health monitoring, pest control, and yield estimation. It will also help modernise jhum and terrace farming practices without erasing Naga indigenous knowledge systems. A developed India must also be a culturally rooted India, where technology enhances tradition.
However, institutions alone cannot transform Nagaland unless accompanied by structural and policy reforms. It also calls for social responsibility. Connectivity encompassing, digital, physical and institutional are important aspects that must improve. It also should not be concentrated but reach interior districts and villages. Equally important is transparency in governance for Innovation to grow and flourish.
Nagaland’s strategic location also gives it a role in India’s Act East vision. Drone technology can lend support in border management, environmental survey, and disaster mapping and preparedness in a region prone to landslides and earthquakes. Beyond the Hornbill scape, Nagaland can become a hub for specialised skills that is relevant to mountainous and border regions, and thereby offer expertise to the rest of India and beyond.
Ultimately, Viksit Bharat@2047 should not look at uniform development across India but should view from its differentiated contribution. Nagaland need not imitate metropolitan cities as a model for development. The strength of Nagaland lies in its youths, ecology, cultural resilience, and the natural instinctive ability towards skills. The drone school and Centre for Excellence mark a promising beginning. If nurtured and sustained properly with vision and accountability, such initiatives can help Nagaland shift from the margins to the mainstream in India’s Viksit Bharat@2047 journey.
(Dr Asangba Tzudir contributes a weekly guest editorial for The Morung Express. Comments can be emailed to asangtz@gmail.com).
