Kezungulo-U Krome
For YES Campaign
The YES Campaign Team was back on the road on the 25th of July, headed for Phek; the third District to hold the District Level Consultation of the Youth Employment Summit. The Consultation was jointly hosted by the Pochury Students Union(PSU) and the Chakhesang Students Union(CSU).
As we reached Phek around 4:30pm it was a ghost town, in the aftermath of the early morning firing between the warring factions at Phek town. In fact, the Consultation was almost postponed due to the situation of hostility. However, after careful thought and deliberation with the Deputy Commissioner, Phek Mr. Moangwati Aier, it was decided that the Consultation should be conducted as scheduled with the participants already at Phek. Also considering the genuine difficulties, another sitting of consultation, at another time, will be conducted for the remaining 30 delegates to ensure an inclusive consultation.
With commendable efforts from the local hosts and goodwill extended by the District Administration, emergency and last minute arrangements were made to get the best out of the given situation. And in deed quality consultation was held with the 45 youths of Phek District who came for the consultation.
The Inaugural function was held at the Town Hall of Phek with Government Officers and Dobashis, and school students in attendance, apart from the official delegates. To set the tone of the YES Campaign at Phek, Hekani Jakhalu, State Coordinator for YES Nagaland, enlightened the gathering on the relevance of the global YES Campaign and the objectives of YES Nagaland Chapter. She also highlighted on how the Campaign purports to bring out district specific reports, which should ultimately press upon the policy formation of the Government on Youth related issues.
The prospect of Phek District seems promising in the dynamic leadership of its new Deputy Commissioner Mr. Moangwati Aier who addressed his concerns on issues afflicting the youths of Naga society. Though acknowledging the huge potentials of the natural resources in Phek, he stressed that the wealth of a society is not determined by the existence of its natural wealth and resources, but gave a challenging and pragmatic approach to what determines the wealth of a society. He expressed his belief that attitude of honesty, integrity, transparency, work culture, respect for laws and rights of others will decide on how rich or poor a society is. Only when the human resource is equipped with the right attitude, the natural resources will translate into life sustaining sources.
After the Chair’s address, the house was opened for the audience to field questions, and an interactive question hour ensued with many vital issues addressed. The participants were keen to know about the challenges faced by the D.C. in Phek and his commitment to the people and youth in General. He candidly spoke about how the economic growth in the district is stranded due to the insurgency problem. It was also encouraging to learn that he had already pressed the State Planning Department about the pitiable road conditions of Phek, and that assurance for the development of roads of Phek District has been obtained for the 2008 State Plan.
The participants queried on the YES Campaign, and also raised concern about the non-stationed officers posted at Phek District which were answered by the State- Coordinator for YES, Dobashi and Students leaders present at the function. After the lively round of interaction, the formal program was concluded to proceed with the technical session.
Technical sessions were conducted for one and a half day, ie on the 26th and 27th, at the premises of the Deputy Commissioner’s Office. The first session on Natural Resources and Livelihood elicited a lot of interesting discussions as the groups deliberated on the immense potentials of natural resources available at Phek. Generating self-sufficient energy through water, wind and sunlight was seriously deliberated due to unreliable power supply, which hampers almost all developmental activity. Participants also realized the immense scope for eco-tourism in Kezhakeno, Pfutsero, wildlife sanctuary at Lephory Village, Orchid Park at Meluri, and also suggestion to further diversify the attraction of the famous Shilloi Lake by preserving the wilderness surrounding it.
The youths also recognized huge potential in the forest produce, medicinal plants, fruits, Brine and vegetables grown in Phek. At the same time they also lamented the dying skills of traditional arts and crafts practiced by our ancestors. This was a talking point as cane is found in plenty. Cane crafts and furniture are available but cannot compete with the price of goods being imported from neighboring States. This, the participants identified as a determining factor why local products fail to capture the market.
In the next session, discussion on how to market our rich products with more skills was a focal point in Building an Entrepreneurial Culture. Government schemes and funding was debated at length. Some felt that rural youths are deprived knowledge and accessibility even; some still depending on government funds; while a disenchanted lot of youths with scant regard for government funds came up with a novel idea that the government should convert the funds for developmental activities like road construction which will benefit everyone. It will also curb the rampant misuse of funds by beneficiaries and practice of favoritism by Government. Another interesting input was to communitize the CMCF.
In Phek District, participants felt that more awareness should be created on ICT. The session on Information & Communication Technology brought out complexities in existence. Though Phek Town is the District headquarter, it does not even have a cyber café, and even the NIC is unable to give quality assistance to the citizens as it is poorly equipped. However the youths are anticipating the installation of broadband by BSNL by July, as informed by the Phek DC. Where medium of communication is concerned, citizens are largely dependent on Radio for quick and easy access to information. This has been a common finding as already seen in Wokha and Zunheboto too. Interestingly in Phek, we also learnt about the grievances of the minority as there is no special dialect program for the Pochury Tribe, who have to content with few folk songs of their own. Even so the villagers are glued to dialect programs of other tribes with whom they share common knowledge of dialects. Due to the popularity of radio, the participants also discussed about setting up community radio.
Throughout the 2day Consultations the DC had delegated his officers Mr. Andrew Imti and Mr. Tongpang ( EACs on probation) to be observers, and in the concluding session they offered valuable remarks of their observations and guidance for employability. Er. Kashito from the Irrigation and Flood Control Department also outlined his department’s programs and schemes. He also expressed his encouragement to the YES Campaign.
The Consultation at Phek, despite hiccups, proved to be worth the risks taken. The participants showed a high degree of awareness of their rights and determination to preserve its resources. The Pochury Students are up in arms with the Government for their failure to fulfill agreements they made with the villagers at Wazeho for the Wazeho Cement Factory. They are adamant to protect the interest of the village, and that the lease will not be extended till the Government fulfills the terms of the agreement. The youths have also realized the need to document the natural resources and traditional knowledge to protect from exploitation. While tapping into our natural resources, the participants also expressed the need to protect our natural environment from degradation and encourage healthy practices like crop rotation to maximize gainful employment and land utility.
Though the youths have shown commitment to take initiatives on their own, it has been commonly observed in the three districts that they are genuinely disgruntled with the Government for failing to provide the basic infrastructural needs of the people. So much is the credibility deficiency of the Government that a young man opined, “ Why don’t we put forward the suggestion to the Government to withhold the C.M. Corpus Fund for a few years and use the money for development, like constructing roads and infrastructure etc.”
While acknowledging the difficulty in putting into action our deliberations and realizations, the team left Phek on a positive note by taking a breather at NEN (Northeast Network) at Chizami Village. At the NEN Resource Centre the team got to practically see the Natural Resource Management programs carried out like Bamboo Charcoal and extraction of medicine from the charcoal making source. Other programs of Vermiculture, Carpentry, low cost latrines, pig’s feed etc are being developed. It was an inspiring experience and source of encouragement that we can rise above any difficulty if we sincerely aspire to. With this the Campaign team looks forward to the new chapter of Peren District in its tour calendar.
