The announcement of Viksit Nagaland@2047, a roadmap for the state’s progress over the next two decades, arrives with familiar optimism. It highlights key focus areas such as green energy, health, education, employment, and entrepreneurship – mostly anchored in central government schemes. But before embracing the promise, we must ask: what does “developed” really mean for Nagaland?
Development cannot be reduced to metrics, dashboards, or subsidies. A truly developed Nagaland must reflect change at the grassroots, where real people live real lives. That means functioning schools and clinics in villages, job opportunities in towns, and access to clean water, electricity, and roads in every community.
Skill development is another area where numbers often overshadow outcomes. Training 5,000 youth in emerging sectors may look good on paper, but without a parallel ecosystem of jobs and industries, they face the same outcome: outmigration or unemployment. Development must not push young Nagas to seek work elsewhere; it must empower them to build dignified lives at home.
Promoting startups and improving ease of doing business may sound progressive, but such efforts ring hollow in places where even basic infrastructure like internet access and roads is lacking. These efforts must be grounded in Nagaland’s realities, not borrowed. Pushing entrepreneurship without fixing the basics risks widening the gap between districts and leaving rural areas behind.
Above all, development must be contextual. Aligning with national frameworks is not inherently wrong, but Nagaland’s path must reflect its own history, geography, cultures, and governance dynamics. A vision imposed from above or borrowed from elsewhere is bound to miss the mark.
Viksit Nagaland@2047 must not become another glossy document that fades into irrelevance. It should be a people-first commitment to transformative governance grounded in transparency, grassroots empowerment, and measurable progress, where citizens experience tangible improvements in quality of life.
A “developed” Nagaland is not one defined by slogans or statistics, but by real improvements in daily life. No village left behind. Livelihoods built locally. Progress shaped by the people, not merely managed from above. Anything less would be a lost opportunity.