The Unheard Naga Youth!
Every year in Nagaland, another young graduate steps out into the world; degree in hand, hope in their heart, only to collide with the same wall that confronted the batch before them:
No jobs! No industries! No clear roadmap! Only promises!
Every family has felt it. Every village has witnessed it. Across tea stalls, market corners, classrooms, and office corridors, one sentence has echoed for decades:
“Solution is coming… very soon.”
But soon has stretched across generations. The Indo–Naga political dialogue has lasted so long that an entire crop of Naga youth has grown up, graduated, and aged inside a vacuum of uncertainty. The historic Framework Agreement of 2015 and the Agreed Position of 2017; hailed as “concluded”, Yet, the final Political Solution remains elusive.
Meanwhile, something far more fragile than politics has started to break: The patience of the Naga youth.
A NEW NAGA AWAKENING
The recent rallies in Mokokchung and Zünheboto under the Forum for Naga Reconciliation (FNR), and the massive demonstration at Agri Expo organised by the NGBF Common Platform, were not just public gatherings. They were a collective awakening. They were declarations from a people who have waited with unmatched dignity, discipline, and faith in peace. They reminded every Naga Political Groups (NPGs) and the Government of India that: “The public has spoken. The mandate is unity. The demand is clarity. The time is now.”
The rallies showed a truth that had been buried under years of factional divides and political fatigue: The Naga political future belongs to the Naga people; not to factions, not to negotiators, not to power brokers.
For the first time in many years, the loudest voice was not about which faction holds greater legitimacy or historical weight. Instead, the people asserted three non-negotiable demands:
1. One Common Platform
2. Full Transparency
3. An Early, Honourable, Inclusive Solution
These are not cries of rebellion. These are cries of responsibility. The people are asking simple, rational, nation-building questions:
1. Why are the contents of the agreements still hidden?
2. Why can’t all Naga Political Groups sit across a single table?
3. How long must the youth survive on reassurances instead of opportunities?
These are not anti-government questions. These are Pro-Naga, Pro-youth, Pro-future questions.
A GENERATION AT THE EDGE
The statistics reveal an unacceptable reality.
1. 27.4% of youth aged 15–29 are unemployed; among the highest in India.
2. Over 71,000 registered unemployed, with vast numbers unregistered.
3. Over 90% lack vocational or technical training.
4. Unemployment among graduates is 19%, among postgraduates 27%, and the real ground situation is far worse.
The Chief Minister himself has acknowledged what every household already knows: The government sector is saturated and cannot absorb the rising tide of educated youth.
Every year, Nagaland sends out a new batch of young graduates; hopeful, ambitious, determined into a shrinking job market, while the political process remains stuck in an endless holding pattern.
Meanwhile, our neighbours; Assam, Mizoram, Tripura are converting the Act East Policy into roads, airports, trade zones, logistics hubs, and investment corridors. Nagaland should have been the crown jewel of India’s gateway to Southeast Asia. Instead, we risk being seen as a zone of political wait-and-watch.
How long can a young society stay on pause?
HISTORY’S WARNING
Across the world, unresolved grievances and youth unemployment have rewritten destinies.
1. Nepal saw its youth rise when politics delayed reform.
2. Sri Lanka’s leadership was overturned by frustrated young citizens.
Nagaland is fortunate; its churches, tribal bodies, and civil society remain strong moral anchors. But even the most peace-loving society cannot shoulder endless ambiguity, especially when an entire generation feels excluded from both opportunity and decision-making.
That is why the current civil society-led push for unity and transparency is not a threat. It is a lifeline; a peaceful release valve. Their message is simple, firm, and righteous:
“Do not mistake our silence for acceptance.
We want peace; but we also want clarity.”
WHAT A PRACTICAL NAGA
SOLUTION MUST DELIVER
A lasting, credible, honourable, people-centric inclusive solution for the Naga people must rest on three foundational pillars.
1. Unite the Political Mandate
No solution can stand if the political mandate remains divided. Whether under the Framework Agreement, the Agreed Position, or any other political formation, every Naga Political Group must come to a single inclusive platform; not through forced merger but through respectful consensus.
Unity must mean:
a. Integrating all agreed points from both Framework Agreement and Agreed Position.
b. Incorporating perspectives of all other Naga political groups, ensuring no voice is excluded.
c. Identifying areas of convergence and resolving areas of divergence through transparent dialogue.
d. Creating one final document, one roadmap, one future.
Only when all political groups stand on one platform; sharing one understanding, one document, and one final roadmap; can the agreement carry full legitimacy, durability, and acceptance among the Naga people. A divided mandate threatens the stability of any settlement; a united mandate strengthens its foundation for generations to come.
2. Make All Contents Public
No more sealed clauses, no more hidden competencies. The future of a people cannot be negotiated as a secret document. A political solution that defines the destiny of a people must be owned, understood, and supported by the people. Transparency is not a threat; it is the backbone of legitimacy.
3. Place Youth at the Centre
A political solution is not merely about administrative frameworks, competencies, or boundary lines.
It must unlock:
1. Employment
2. Technical training
3. Start-ups and innovation
4. Tourism, logistics, agro-economy growth
5. Connectivity and infrastructure
6. Investor confidence
7. Regional integration under Act East Policy
The youth must not stand at the margins of this process; they must be its beating heart.
A TEST FOR DELHI. A TEST FOR US.
For the Government of India, this is a moment of statesmanship. A time to rise above tactical management and deliver a time-bound, honourable, transparent settlement; reflecting decades of dialogue and sacrifice.
For the NPGs, this is a moment of introspection; to dismantle internal walls, to prioritise the people over organisational pride, and to recognize that unity is not a compromise but a responsibility.
The truth is undeniable:
a. A delayed solution does not pause reality; it decays it.
b. Every delayed year creates another batch of hopeless graduates.
c. Every unfulfilled promise erodes faith in peaceful politics.
Nagaland is not choosing between sovereignty and surrender. Nagaland is choosing between:
A negotiated, united, youth-driven peace now, or an uncertain future shaped by frustration later.
And history does not wait.
A CAUTIONARY NOTE TO
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
Delhi must recognise a simple but urgent truth: Delay is no longer neutral. Delay is becoming destabilising.
For decades, the Naga people have demonstrated extraordinary patience; far more than most movements anywhere in the world. A generation grew up believing in dialogue instead of violence, in peace instead of hostility. But no society can absorb endless uncertainty without consequence.
If the Government of India continues with delay tactics, prolonged silence, and tactical ambiguity, it risks alienating the very generation that grew up believing in dialogue instead of violence. Frustrated youth do not seek conflict; they seek answers. But unanswered frustrations have historically birthed movements that no nation can control.
The Government of India must act with statesmanship, not bureaucracy; with sincerity, not strategy.
A timely, just, honourable, transparent and inclusive solution is not a favour to the Nagas; it is an obligation to the history India has walked with us.
THE TIME IS NOW
Nagaland stands at a decisive crossroads. The question today is not whether we desire peace; The question is whether we will seize peace before frustration overtakes hope.
The youth have spoken!
Civil society has spoken!
The people have spoken!
Now Delhi and the NPGs must listen. Because when a generation begins to lose patience, it is not a warning; it is the beginning of a new chapter.
Nagaland deserves clarity!
Nagaland deserves unity!
Nagaland deserves a solution!
Now!
Kuknalim!
