Over the last few decades, what has been the general rhetoric concerning the youths of our society? That the youths are the future of the Naga society: That we should aspire to become the torchbearers of a bright and just society. Our parents, teachers and leaders (past and present) keep preaching the same thing over and over. That we were convinced if we only work hard, don’t give up hope and remain faithful in our trust upon the leaders who professed to be working for our future, a time will come when we can also put all our skills, talents into use and pursue our dreams of living a good life and contribute towards the growth of our society.
What was and is the reality we faced and continue to face? Any business initiative we take, we encounter the syndicate of monopoly controlled by unseen powers beyond our reach. Fear of unexplained taxation our profit margins cannot cover, lack of capital, inability to penetrate the market syndicate etc to name some of the major problems. When we turn to the job market, the options are limited in the state. The Government is the only employer paying decent salary, but how many can the Government take in out of the many thousands of educated unemployed in the state?. Beside the limited intake capacity of the Government, the play of nepotism by people in power is an open practice. At the end, apart from a few privileged, the general mass particularly those coming from lower middle class and the underprivileged and rural background stand nowhere. We don’t have a strong private sector who can absorb the rest however talented and skilled they maybe.
So, where do we go from here? The only option left is to look elsewhere beyond our own borders. But many cannot make it. Many of us who go out gets abused and discriminated upon, living in unpleasant living conditions and environments which is alien to our Naga culture and ethics.
Where will the youths go? To whom should we turn to? Why is it that we don’t feel safe and fulfilled in our own home state? What went wrong and why is it that there is no end to the false promises and assurances with no concrete evidences of peace? The present situation is not created by the youths, but we continue to be the unwilling and unsuspecting victims of the entire process. If this politics of factionalism, gun culture and intimidation coated in sugary words of assurances of peace and solution is removed, if our leaders be it overground, underground and civil society organization realise the damage that is being inflicted upon the Naga youths, perhaps the youths have a fighting chance of living a good meaningful life.
The youth platform created by the Fed-Up Nagas with the demand to the GOI to take concrete sincere steps to bring about the political solution based on what they have agreed with the Nagas gives a glimmer of hope to the young Naga generation. Negotiations have been done; agreements have been signed. Why not take the next step of implementing it? The youths are waiting but we cannot remain as silent spectators only when our own future is being decided.
Only then can we truly become the proud and confident torchbearers and future of our state.
