Ongpangkong Kaketshir Mongdang conference underway at Aliba village

The 35th Ongpangkong Kaketshir Mongdang (OKM) conference started here at Aliba village under the theme, ‘Upholding values’ with nearly 500 delegates attending the three-day conference from 17 villages under Ongpangkong range.

Gracing the conference as the guest of honour, minister for Home Imkong L. Imchen, expressed happiness to be attending the conference at Aliba village which is considered one of the cleanliest and well planned village amongst Ao villages.

He also stressed upon the gathering to introspect about the future of the Ongpangkongians after retrospecting about the past history. He also said that introspection must begin from oneself and further correct and acknowledge one’s limitation so that one can become acceptable and contribute to the society.

“We are second to none when it comes to Naga Nationalism” he further asserted that Ongpangkong was one of the oldest range as considered amongst the six range of Ao tribe, “Ongpangkong people must not be caught sleeping at this crucial stage, ” Imchen said.

Speaking on the theme, ‘upholding moral values’, Rev. Dr . Mar Atsongchanger said, that “even before the advent of Christianity during the time of our fore fathers, the Ao people were very religious people and that if an individual wanteds to uphold some values in one’s life, one must be more devoted to worship one’s God with utmost devotion.”

He also added that Naga people have outlived an era where more emphasize was given to agriculture and when the general mind set of the people was only on working hard in the fields and to have a bountiful harvest at the end.

He also said that a new era replaced the latter when the American Missionaries started to set foot inside the Naga Hills and started to start schools and impart education to the Nagas.

Lastly, he termed the present era as the ‘service era’, which is more imp ortant than the latter two eras. He also stressed about the importance of discipline in this service era and strongly opined that every person should make discipline as the bedrock of one’s life.