Er. Yanpvuo Kikon
Founder of The Naga Blog
Thousands of Naga youths comprising of students, professionals from all walks of life came forward to join the fight against corruption which had been initiated by revolutionary activists such as ACAUT, ST Yapang and Odi Jamir. ACAUT today has become a historic movement taking up multiple corruption cases and similarly the two individuals ST Yapang and Odi Jamir who come from humble backgrounds with little money or power stepped up to sacrifice their time, money and even risking their lives by taking the entire burden on behalf of our generation and standing up to fight against the corrupted few government officials, politicians. The youths of Nagaland have no jobs, no voice and little hope to see a better tomorrow in a State which is in the hands of criminals starting from our UG’s who extort money from you and me in the name of national struggle to those corrupted politicians and bureaucrats who have siphoned off most of the public money meant for development. Nagaland is now famous for having the poorest public infrastructure yet boasts the richest private infrastructure in the country because of obvious CORRUPTION! The youths are suffering and depressed while most of our Government and our UG leaders are drunk and blinded by their love of money, while our land is getting swarmed by IBI's. During these dark ages, a silver lining in the clouds appeared when the public heard that two brave souls who had come forward to file PIL’s in multiple departments against all the corruption infesting our society. Thousands of youths came in support of them and the initiative to help the two activists went viral on social media. The public themselves started collecting money willingly, happily and voluntarily given to ST Yapang and Odi Jamir even if they did not want it. Even students who get meagre amount willingly sacrificed their pocket money to this noble cause. Why? Because unlike the corrupted leaders, the younger people are wise, they are investing in a brighter future! They see a ray of hope and believe strongly that if we are able to support a fight against corruption in this state, we will be able to live and witness a better, beautiful and progressive Nagaland in our lifetime.
While a few of those benefiting from corruption might try to discredit this movement, there is proof that this litigation is a legitimate and historic fight in the interest of the public. - Not just thousands but lakhs of PUBLIC are supporting this cause hence this is PIL is 100% in INTEREST OF THE PUBLIC! There is data and evidence to prove the number of people who reacted, commented, shared and participated in this support for ST Yapang and Odi Jamir starting from me - This involves PUBLIC Money, hence this is in the interest of the PUBLIC - This involves public servant, hence this is in the interest of the PUBLIC
Who is there to support ST YAPANG AND ODI JAMIR? THE ENTIRE PUBLIC AND THE YOUTH OF NAGALAND & beyond. Who is there to support the corrupted? Only a handful beneficiaries of corruption. These corrupted leaders may have guns, money and power but we the public have the heart and spirit.
The Naga Blog is one of the biggest social media network of people from Nagaland and beyond comprising of 112,473 members comprising of mostly young professionals, students, engineers, doctors, scientists, bureaucrats, musicians and entrepreneurs who network on this platform to discuss, share ideas on building better future not only for Nagaland but the entire region and the country.
This facebook group called The Naga Blog was founded in 2007 by me along with like-minded individuals who dreamed of building a better Nagaland. Ever since, the group has become one of the oldest, largest and most visited social network for the youths of Nagaland with 112,473 members as of today and an average of 24,945 people who are active in the group everyday. The Naga bloggers since 2008 have been organising numerous charitable initiatives, few of which are as mentioned below:
TNB Blood Donors initiative started on 07/07/2012. The Naga Blog Online Blood Bank has listed hundreds of names, blood group and phone numbers of blood doners who donate their blood for free to those who need it most. Through this Online Blood Bank many lives have been saved where Naga Bloggers have donated blood for free during emergency.
September 2011: TNB with NOOBS initiated the donation drive for Sikkim Earthquake Relief where bloggers from all over collected Rs. 1,59,455 with messages from contributors were handed over to India football star Bhaichung Bhutia and P. Renedy Singh by Peter Rutsa and Kevin Naga during the exhibition match on 2nd Oct 2011.
November 2011: Burma Camp Fire Relief – Bloggers collected cash and some bloggers also contributed two sacks of clothes.Volunteers from Dimapur led by Kevin Yepthomi purchased 55 blankets, 10 bags of rice, 7 bags of potatoes and 4 bags of dal. All the items were handed over to the Chairman of the East Colony, Burma Camp Dimapur. The joint online group has thanked all the bloggers for their support and participation in the venture.
December 2011: MON FIRE TRAGEDY- The Naga Blog and NOOBS (Nagaland open online barter or sell) collected relief materials, cash and led by the admins drove to the fire ravaged villages in Mon district to help the victims of the fire tragedy.
April 2012: TNB(The Naga Blog) members came together to clean and renovate the Dimapur Civil Hospital and gave out an example to not only complaint against the Government and 2012 saw the Historic MISSION POTHOLES where thousands of bloggers from all districts of Nagaland took to the streets to hold a humorous protest against the pathetic condition of the roads in Nagaland. TNB took part in the historic ACAUT rally which started the people’s movement against corruption and unabated taxation.
TNB Cycling Club, an offshoot of The Naga Blog started to encourage and motivate our youths to start riding cycles in Nagaland to build a greener, fitter and healthy Nagaland has contributed towards popularizing cycling in the state of Nagaland. The group members have organized multiple initiatives with orphanages and also actively been a part of the SVEEP campaign to drive Clean Elections across the state of Nagaland. TNB Lost and Found initiative is also another online offshoot of TNB where many people have found their lost wallets, phones and documents through the blog.
There are multiple initiatives which members of the group have taken where even recently raised funds for the brain surgery for late master Akumdong who was a bright young boy from poor family. Thousands of young people responded by donating to the noble cause and paid for his operation. Yan Murry along with likeminded peers started a Akumdong trust fund to help similar cases where poor families may be unable to afford expensive medical treatments.
The Naga Blog has been one of the first platforms where the youth have come together to speak out boldly against all the corruption and malpractices prevailing in our State. This little platform became a Digital Morung for all Nagas to come together and share their opinions, ideas and thoughts to build a better Nagaland. Over the years, the blog has seen hundreds of writeups and inspirational writers who have contributed towards shaping and igniting the conscience of the Naga youths.
The youths of Nagaland saw hope in the two activists ST Yapang and Odi Jamir who filed a PIL against what could possibly be one of the biggest corruption cases in the entire nation. We the young people dream in accountability, transparency and hope that justice is delivered. The hope and dreams of lakhs of youths is that one day justice to be delivered in Nagaland by holding those who have amassed massive private wealth by misusing public money accountable for corruption, so that a new era of progress, prosperity, development and happiness dawns upon the state, the region and the country.
With this belief, thousands of youths participated in the appeal which went viral on social media to help the two activists who have filed the PIL and started sharing the news of the two activists who took to themselves the burden to fight the corrupted system on behalf of the entire generation. Voluntarily even students with meagre pocket money, young professionals like me and several others collected money to help ST Yapang and Odi Jamir and raised an amount of Rs, 29,750 (Twenty nine thousand seven hundred fifty) only. The amount was transferred in the Account of Shri. S.T. Yapang for the purpose of meeting the stationary costs and Court fees for fling the PILs.
The youths voluntarily raised funds because in a land where our leaders instead of leading us, the younger generation has misled us to this present state of misery. If justice is not delivered, the dreams of thousands of youths will be shattered, many will go into depression and the youths of our region will lose hope in the system. The dreamers and believers of Nagaland will continue to support any individual whether he is from within or from outside the system who will stand up to fight against the most corrupted leaders who have accumulated massive personal wealth by holding public offices.
