A society is the aggregate of people living together in an ordered community. More broadly, a society may be illustrated as an economic, social, industrial or cultural infrastructure made up a varied collection of individuals. The state on the other hand is responsible to those that have elected them to provide conditions that foster and facilitate security, prosperity, happiness and development of the people.
In the context of my Nagaland, an exceedingly dismal picture emerges. The two way symbiotic relationship between the people and the state has been affected due to the greed of few and no development. Our land is blessed and offers wonderful opportunities. Instead what we have today is a state riddled with numbing corruption, apathy by the powers, a strange system of money collection by various factions, non existent infrastructure and lack of opportunities of employment for the youth. There are no industries to speak and our revenue is amongst the lowest. A journey along the pothole riddled National Highway linking the two major towns of Dimapur and Kohima is an exercise in acute agony. The roads in the interiors are even worse and in the current monsoons are not only acutely uncomfortable but pose a major safety hazard for travellers. The cartel of timber smugglers aided and abetted are steadily reducing the rich eco system of our Reserve Forests to barren wastelands. One should not be surprised if, within the next decade or so, our land will start witnessing droughts, landslides and other natural calamities.
If one talks of reasonable civic amenities then water supply and electricity are both, at the best of times erratic. In fact, large portions of our urban areas do not have access to piped potable water and people resort to randomly sink borewells which will have its own adverse impact on the ground water levels in a few years time. The sewage system in our towns is mostly non- existent. Take Dimapur for instance- we are happy to divert the filth and muck from our homes, shops and commercial establishments to flow into the Dhansiri River polluting it beyond redemption.
The over riding question is - who is responsible. The answer is not difficult to find – ‘US’. We need to raise these issues and the unholy nexus needs to be exposed. We cannot continue to talk about pride, self determination and oppression while we continue to languish without any development as others march ahead. People cannot be permitted to play power musical chairs to serve their narrow and selfish ends. Those who pretend to represent us while lining their pockets need to be exposed. It must be remembered that we have the power to seek a better future for our progeny.
Akhato Zimomi
akhatozimomi00123@gmail.com
