State Govt brings out ‘Nagaland Vision 2030’

[caption id="attachment_87910" align="alignnone" width="499"] Governor PB Acharya unveiling the Nagaland Vision 2030 document with the Chief Minister TR Zeliang at Kisama on Saturday.[/caption] Kohima, Dec. 10: The State Government has brought out an ambitious vision document envisioning Nagaland in the next 15 years. The document, titled ‘Nagaland Vision 2030’, was unveiled by Governor PB Acharya at Kisama Thursday evening, coinciding with the culmination programme of the annual 10-day Hornbill Festival. The Vision 2030 document is a roadmap, charting a course to guide the development and planning processes of the State in a 15 years perspective so that a dynamic economy can emerge. “A well governed, peaceful, inclusive and prosperous State with a sustainable and diverse economy, where a skilled and healthy population with equitable opportunities for growth, success and happiness live, work and play without fear in a safe, clean and green environment,” states the opening lines of the vision statement in the 111-paged document. Retired chief secretary & convener of Nagaland Vision 2030 expert group Alemtemshi Jamir told Eastern Mirror that the vision document was drawn mainly from experiences of the past, and with inputs from “lots of people and departments”. He explained briefly that three core issues - agriculture, employment and financing the vision - were taken into account among others, concentrating on growth of the State’s economy. The vision document envisages a transformation of the State’s economy from one that is largely subsistence agriculture oriented to a market oriented economy by introducing Integrated, Intensive, Inclusive Agriculture Clusters (IIIACs) approach. By clustering the production, departments other than the agriculture and allied sector would have to work together closely, focus will be needed on processing, entrepreneurship and then trade, which would eventually mean potential employment generation. Jamir is said to have worked with a 20-member team including Dr. Manoj Pant of JNU, an economic consultant who was instrumental in the framing of NE Vision 2020 in constructing the Nagaland Vision 2030 document over a period of two months. On the response to the call for public participation in the process of evolving a viable vision document for the State made earlier in June by launching several open IT platforms, Jamir said many organisations, departments and individuals have cooperated. The real challenge was the time constraint, he remarked. “If we go by the policy, the vision is achievable,” the retired bureaucrat added. Speaking to this correspondent on the sidelines of the closing ceremony of the Hornbill Festival at Kisama, Principal Secretary & Finance Commissioner Temjen Toy, who was also a member of the Expert Team of the Nagaland Vision 2030 document, said the vision document can be implemented if all the stakeholders are committed to fulfilling what is charted out in the document and also with the support of the government of India. Then only Nagaland will be able to stand on its own and thrive like other advanced states, he maintained. While acknowledging ‘valuable inputs’ from a cross-section of people in putting together Nagaland Vision 2030 document, Toy said all the basic work credit goes to Expert Team convener Alemtemshi Jamir, economic consultant Dr. Manoj Pant and the core team. With peace being a necessary precondition for any development, the formulation of the vision document was said to have been envisaged on the premise that the negotiated settlement would soon be in place- on the assumption that the peace initiative in the form of the “framework agreement” signed between the NSCN-IM and the government of India last year will be successfully implemented.