Too little option

Those who were teenagers in Nagaland during 1964-65 would remember the yearning for change when the first cease fire came into effect and will also remember a song that used to be played quite often at the All India Radio Kohima. The song “The Times They Are A-Changin’ was written and sung by Bob Dylan in 1964, reputed as one of the world’s greatest folk singers. The song became an international anthem and about the bloodless revolution that arrived with the paradigm shift in the west in the post-world war two era. The call was to change not only America and the west but also the mindscape of the entire globe. It was the ‘wake up call’ to the nations and peoples of the world. It was a kind of ballad laden with the message to either swim or sink in the ocean of changes taking place. A lot of things have changed in Nagaland since the nearly six decades. Literacy has shot up from 17.90% in 1961 to 79.55% in 2021. Even population wise, Nagaland In 1961, recorded 3,69,200 people and by 2021 it recorded 21,89,297 people. The state was borne as a political necessity and everything was government-oriented due to the situation. The government is the biggest employee and that itself has also shot up from around 8,300 during 1964 to around 1.3 lakh in 2021 while other sources put the figure at 1.4 lakh. In the fifties and sixties, the people used to pride themselves with the fact that there was not a single beggar in Nagaland. There was no such economic gap among the people and terms such as –haves and haves not was not heard of. Much has also changed in Nagaland during the few decades since the turbulent fifties. Today , economic disparity has widened to the extent that the state has a new breed of ever increasing number of Nouveau riche. This phenomenon has also led to growth of gun culture among those who suffer from the might is right syndrome. The widening economic status is a must issue which political parties need to debate and bring up realistic programmes with a long term and not political gain. There are many unaddressed issues that have resulted in inequitable distribution of purchasing power among the politicians and bureaucrats. Social problems continue to mount as society is confronted by extortions, lawlessness, rise in crimes and HIV etc. Unemployment and anti-social crimes are on the ascend while morality is on a descend. The ground reality is, that the majority do not have any economy worth mentioning. Much of the money in circulation comes through release of government payments. For the low income groups, prices of essential items have shot up, making it difficult to make both ends meet. The worse lot are those without any known or stable source of income. We live in a small world but cannot ignore the changing global environment around us. The minority well to-do cannot represent society where there are too many without means or hopes. Even leaders of the church organizations by a lack of discernible action against poverty, seem by their silence, to suggest that poverty is piety. Conscious leaders in Nagaland need to come to realisation that the people and their state need not merely remain adrift but swim over the changes taking place otherwise all would sink.