\u201cVision 2020 for North East will only remain a vision and would never come to reality unless its principle and policy and implementing guidelines are clearly made to the villages,\u201d Zeliang said addressing the public during the inauguration programme of Tsiepama village gate on Saturday.
Asserting that self-sufficiency could be achieved only through proper planning at the village level, the minister called upon the village councils and VDBs to adopt proper planning process for their own respective villages for economic upliftment and other developmental activities.
Reminding that Nagas were still far behind others since almost seventy percent of the food and other essentials produces were imported from other states and abroad. \u201cUnless we are self sufficient and able to export surplus from our own land, we can not claim to be at par with other people,\u201d he said.
Zeliang said villages should make use of their land for economic upliftment through proper planning.
Calling upon the villagers to come up with proper planning and work hard for self-sufficiency, he said unless there was proper planning at the village and tally it with the government programmes and policies it would be very difficult for any developmental works to take off and achieve its objective.
He also called upon the villages to maintain distinct Naga village way of living. \u201cNagas cannot be proud of their town or cities because it is too small to compare with others, but the pride of the Nagas lie in their unique village life which have come since time immemorial,\u201d he said. Lose of village culture and traditions will mean lose of Nagas identity, he added.
Zeliang also said that in place like Nagaland where population was very less and infrastructure very poor, the only tourist destination would be the villages. He, however, emphasized on the need to improve village way of life keeping in line with the present world.
\u201cTourist will not come to see big concrete buildings, but our way of unique life would be the only attraction,\u201d he said. \u201cFor Nagas, Village is very important and historical. I wish to let this gate be a gate of peace, prosperity and victory,\u201d he added.
Village men, women and youth presented cultural songs. Parliamentary secretary for social welfare, Chotisuh, Advisor cooperation, Azheto and NBDA chairman Temjen also attended the programme.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"