For the first time, Nagaland, the North Easter region state has come out with a perspective plan for 2020. Some of the key achievements are: The “social capital” and resilience of the Naga village communities have remained intact and are beginning to help overcome several difficulties.
“The village councils, village development boards and the recently introduced Communitisation of Public Institutions and Services Act, 2002, in areas such as education, health, power which has already been acknowledged as successful, are a case in point,” says the recently-launched first Nagaland State Human Development Report(NSHDR).
An attempt has been made to provide a perspective for a developed state by 2020 and the report tries to identify the core strategies and programmes that will creare a developed Nagaland.
Communitisation : A major strength that contemporary Naga society has inherited is the “Social capital” that has stemmed out of traditional institutions and practices. There is a strong social bonding and community spirit and absence of caste and social discrimination. The Nagaland experience of communitisation is the first in the world.
“With the introduction of village council, the village development boards and communitisation of essential services in health, education, power, rural tourism, water supply, the government is gradually reserving for itself the role of facilitator and enabler. With this, the “trickling down” concept of development had been effectievely abondoned and it is hoped that there will be a “bubbling up” of development from the grassroots, which is equitable and suitable to the “unique concept of Nagaland,” the report says.
Challenges : The development experience of Nagaland has been full of challenges. Apart from its last start, geological remoteness and inaccessibility, hilly terrain, lack of infrastructure, population composition and scarce resourse base, the state also has to face continuous insurgency, spending much of its resources on administration and related costs at the expence of development and denying itself the dividents of peace. The report expresses concern over the increasing number of educated unemployed youth which, if not tackled effectievely, could lead to vitiating the development environment.In recent years, there has also been a noticeable rice in under-employment and disguised unemployment.