Lack of ‘good Samaritans’ to care for well-being of Nagaland: SC Jamir

NLSF organise seminar in Dimapur 

Morung Express News 
Dimapur | July 29

Analogizing that Nagaland is like a severely wounded person, groaning under the weight of severe pain that requires treatment pain, Dr SC Jamir, former Chief Minister and Governor, regretted the absence of “good Samaritans,” either in the political or religious realm to care for the well-being of the State. 

Speaking on the topic, “The Role of Apex Student Bodies: Then and Now,” Jamir made these remarks as one of the guest speakers during the opening day of a 2-day seminar, organised by the Nagaland Law Students Federation (NLSF) themed as, ‘Issues Confronting the State of Nagaland,’ at Hotel Saramati, Dimapur on July 28. 

“My generation was much different in the sense that leaders were always in a mood to seek for opportunity in spotting talent and help them grow. But today, there has been a great cultural as well as social shift that has marked our behaviour,” he said.  

This he mentioned, was because of the way the previous generation of people fostered and nurtured creativity but today’s stiff competitive world encourages the self-seeking concept of “First I, never others.” 

He propounded on the idea of personal growth but allowing the space and opportunity for others to grow as well. “Rise and let others rise as well…compete and let others also compete on fair ground,” he said. 

Mission to build Nagaland    
Jamir also said that the undertaking of building up the state requires a sound edifice on which the pillars of ideals, morals, ethics and values should rest upon. “The challenge before us is cleansing and total overhauling of all systems of governance that are in total shambles,” he remarked. 

He called for personal cleansing of the soul, replacing negativism with positivism, pessimism with optimism, hatred with love, indifference with compassion, corruption with transparency, laziness with hard-work and intolerance with truth and honesty. 

Call for peace
At the same time, Jamir regretted that people of the State are now living in perpetual fear under “gun culture.” He urged present leaders to “stop flogging a dead horse,” and “not waste time for something which is impossible to achieve.” 

“The saddest episode in the life of the people of Nagaland is that the dreadful Sword of Damocles has been hanging over their heads for decades and thereby creating fear psychosis in their minds,” he observed. 

He opined that the youths with their enthusiasm, new ideas and new energy can contribute towards peace development. He called upon them to follow the ideals of non-violence propagated by Mahatma Gandhi and translate the same into action and work for peace and harmony in the land. 

Above all, he urged the youths to live by ‘MasterPeace,’ an international peace initiative’s principles of, “Music above fighting; dialogue over judgment, bread above bombs and creation above destruction.” 

What worked yesterday will not work today
Recognizing the current globalised world of interconnected people, Jamir quoted a passage from the book, ‘Empires of the mind,’ that states, “what worked yesterday, will not work today. The global economy has moved from the state where natural resources defined power to the present state where knowledge is power.” 

Therefore, he reminded the youths to utilize technology, skills and knowledge and tackle the challenges of the modern world. 

Jamir summarised that the need of the hour is for identification of the problems that people of Nagaland are confronted with and making concrete planning in solving them. “Self-centric approach will have to give way to an inclusive approach and short-term perspective will have to be replaced with long-term perspective.” 

Meanwhile, Kezhokhoto Savi, Asst professor, Kohima Law College and President of Nagaland Voluntary Consumers’ Organisation (NVCO), speaking on the topic, ‘the legal status, powers and functions of civil society organisations,’ explained that the role of a civil society is multi-dimensional. He said that civil society monitor government policies and actions and hold governments accountable while engaging in advocacy and offering alternative policies. 

However, as Nagaland has a great number of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), Savi pondered as to whether CSOs were truly functioning in their true sense of character. “Or whether our CSOs remain just a mere mouth piece of the government and politicians so as to benefit in contract works or businesses or just working for our own interests to acquire wealth or build political career, or misguide the public by promoting  tribalism, promoting corruption and the like,” he posed. 

Savi also reflected on the existing problems of corruption, trust deficit, backdoor appointments, misappropriation and diversion of funds etc. He maintained that instead of many CSOs, there needs to be stronger and trusted CSOs. 

Savi also raised the issue of utilisation of the Right to Information (RIT) act. He stressed on the need to create awareness at the grassroots levels where, “various village councils’ resolutions are in contrary to the RTI act.” He said that such resolutions declare that no citizen would be able to apply RTI application to any authority without permission of the village/council authority and there are cases where even RTI applicants were fined by village councils.  

Source: https://morungexpress.com/lack-of-good-samaritans-to-care-for-well-being-of-nagaland-sc-jamir