Tsanchingla Imlong
Nagaland is a growing tourist destination and every year there is growth in the inflow of tourists. It is indeed agreeable that tourism can boost our economy and provide employment for our many uneducated unemployed. But a nagging question arises, are we ready to face the consequences of what tourism has to usher in? This is not to say that tourism should be banned or curbed, but we need to be aware of the negatives of tourism and promote positive tourism. People are becoming more aware about Nagaland through multimedia that is: the Internet, printings, publishing, visual and audio. We cannot expect to stay hidden forever. Tourism is certainly going to grow but we need to know how we intent to promote tourism here in Nagaland.
Tourism has had a positive effect in Nagaland. Cultures and traditions have been revived, there is a growing effort in preservation of forest, banning of hunting etc; these are some of the positive effects of tourism. RAP or the Restricted Area Permit in Nagaland has been a boon over the years. If RAP were to be removed totally, tourists can go wherever they wished in Nagaland, encroaching on the privacy of the villagers, credulous activities, etc.
Nagaland with its fragile bio-system, are we ready to tamper with that? Mass tourism has been the cause of many tourist destinations losing their natural beauty and appeal. Initially, everything was good, business was booming, tourists were flocking by the dozens, but they were not ready for the consequences that followed and no remedy for what they had lost: Nature. RAP acts as a check against mass tourism. It deters backpackers who have nothing substantial to offer to the income generation.
Further RAP enhances genuine travelers. The RAP will not deter genuine travelers; instead it will enhance their desire to visit a protected area. Mass tourism leads to imbalance in the bio-system and the eco-system. It leads to devastation of our towns and villages and making them into concrete jungles, over population and pollution. We have to look at ‘low volume: high income’ type of tourism. RAP can become a brand of its own. Tourists are intrigued by it and instigate desire to visit this protected area. They are not dissatisfied either because they realize that Nagaland is where nature is at its best.
RAP should not be removed but should be more relaxed. If a single tourist wants to visit Nagaland, they have to go through many formalities. Their RAPers are sent to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and at times they are approved after a length of time but at times they are rejected.
To cite an example, I had applied for a RAP for an elderly lady that wished to visit Nagaland. Normally for a group of 4 or married couple, RAP formalities takes 1 week at the maximum. But for this particular RAP, it was submitted at least a month before her date of arrival and send to MHA. The RAP was nowhere in sight till the date of her arrival so I had to call her and stop her from entering Nagaland. She had applied for a 10 days permit and finally when the permit arrived she had only 5 days left to tour Nagaland.
Thus, she left not having visited the places she initially wanted to. This proves that there are genuine travelers that want to visit Nagaland and at the same time it also shows that RAP should be more relaxed whereby, single paying person or couples whether married or not and groups of three should be given permit by the Home Department, Government of Nagaland.
Visiting all over Nagaland takes time and the 10 days permit given at one time is not enough for a traveler to explore Nagaland. Although the permit is extendable by another 10 days, it causes a lot of inconvenience to the tourist as well as to the tour operators who have to travel all the way back to collect the extensions. Hence, RAP should be relaxed for at least 20 days at a stretch.
Many opinions have been given regarding RAP on its removal and retaining it. We have to study carefully and take into account all the shortcomings and the advantages of the RAP and then only can we say that tourism is growing positively in Nagaland. We must keep in mind that Nagaland, with all of its nature’s blessings can be wiped out if we are not cautious in our endeavor to make tourism a sustainable means of income generation.
