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Members of the Dimapur Kangching Students' Union sing at the silver jubilee celebrations of the DPSU on Saturday, November 12, at the Dimapur Town Hall.[/caption]
Dimapur, November 12 : It is a peace-loving community that has maintained harmony among the six eastern communities in Nagaland. This statement, referring to the Phom tribe, was the chief agreement that echoed during the silver jubilee celebrations of the Dimapur Phom Students’ Union (DPSU) in Dimapur.
The 25th anniversary celebrations were conducted with the theme “Celebrating Unity” on Saturday, November 12, at the Dimapur Town Hall.
Longleng district has been reported ‘the safest place in Nagaland,’ according to crime states as was reported in a local newspaper. Phoms are indeed considered a peace-loving community, said the chief guest of the event, S Pangnyu Phom, legislator from Longleng.
However, the former minister reminded the students’ community that ‘defeating tradition and customs with the advancement of modernisation would be of no value.’
‘Any jubilee celebration should be with a purpose and resolution as the future of the society is in the hands of the younger generation,’ he said. Phom encouraged the community to ‘consider the past and also the present situation for a better future.’
The legislator also encouraged the community to be ‘humble in their daily activities in the pursuit of success.’
Also, drawing attention to unemployment in Nagaland, the chief guest reminded the youngsters that not all educated people are not entitled for a government job–it belongs only to the determined. He called upon them to focus on the development of the rural areas for the benefit of the community and the district.
Geoffrey Yaden, editor of local newspaper the Nagaland Post attended the occasion as the guest of honour. He remarked that the 25 years of the DPSU’s existence was a milestone. In his address to the gathering, Yaden reminded that one can sit still and do little but can achieve 50 years. However, they would be left behind without any progress.
Drawing comparison to the current condition of Nagaland to that of the state of 53 years ago, Yaden asserted that the Naga people were ‘the envy of other people despite the fact that we had problems; but our leaders were men of integrity.’
The current state of affairs is now different from what it used to be 53 years back, he said. ‘We have good leaders but we are not giving opportunities to the good ones to serve us.’
‘Those days we lived according to our needs independently but these days we are demanding and dependent and live in utter state of dependency,’ Yaden lamented. ‘Change can happen only if we adjust our dependency to being independent.’
Acknowledging that Naga students were not doing well by being dependent, he remarked that the 80% literacy rate for Nagaland would be of ‘no worth when students tend to be dependent and lose focus.’
Taking a jibe at yearlong entertainment events which has become a trend in the state, Yaden remarked that ‘Nagas are spending too much on pursuit of pleasure and have an unprofitable habit’. He has called upon the students’ organization to organise skill-building programmes so that the youths would be equipped with the skills required for employment.
NT Thamlong, the first general secretary of the DPSU, also exhorted the community to work toward doing away with the ‘backward’ tag that the community is categorized as. He remarked that combined effort was needed to move forward. He also opined that the community was not growing socially. He has called upon the tribe to ‘socialise to move forward.’
