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Nagaland has basically an agricultural
economy. A great ambition of the villager is to have a
bumper harvest. One of the important motivation behind the practice
of head-hunting in the past, was the belief that it would ensure a good
harvest.
A remarkable
feature of economy, is that there are no absentee landlords and there is no
class of landless peasants. The village society is so organised that the basic
requirement of food, clothing and shelter are guaranteed to all the members. The
population as a whole, remain gainfully employed in productive activities and
there is no surplus labour. During the Kheti season, it becomes difficult to get
hired labour and if at all they are available, very high wages have to be paid.
There is, however, a system of providing communal labour by forming what are
called 'field companies' of men and women of the same age group. Every member of
the company gets the benefits of company's labour by turn.
The major source of revenue for the government until
recently has been the house-tax. Now it is supplemented by the sale proceeds of
forest products and tax of urban commodities.
In tribal area like
Nagaland, the obstacles to economic
development generally arise out of the prevailing physical, social and
economic conditions. The physical condition relate to
the hilly terrain, dense forests and difficult communications. The social
obstacles are the people's initial apathy to any kind of innovation, lack of
education and primitive methods of production. The economic difficulties are
the dearth of capital, absence of marketing centres, and similar other factors.
To these we may also add the political condition arising out of the
subversive activities of the underground Nagas. A planned
effort in nevertheless being made to circumvent these bottlenecks
and develop the area. Preliminary investigation were carried out by the National
Council of Applied Economic Research, and this was followed by a
detailed examination of the techno-economic data.
In education and road building, the progress has been
phenomenal. The urge for education has today replaced the old craving for
heads. A girl may refuse to marry an uneducated man in the same
manner as, in the earlier days, she refused to accept a partner who had
not taken a single head. In the field of education Nagaland is not so developed. Even
though there are educated people, they prefer white-collar
employment. They hesitate to take agriculture as occupation. Hence,
government has to take steps to find suitable employment opportunities for
them.
There were hardly any motorable roads in the Naga hills (except
the highway from Dimapur to Morch in Manipur) till Independence. Now, the
total road length is about 9,315 km. Dimapur is the only place where rail
and air services are available. In road-building, the efforts of the
state government have been adequately supplemented by the border
roads task force. The roads cut by the border roads, between Kohima and
Meluri, Mokokchung and Tuensang and Akhegwo and Tuensang are feats
of engineering skill.
There has been a substantial expansion of medical and public
health facilities. To overcome the shortage of doctors, the State
Government has been granting liberal stipends to students studying medicine.
Water supply schemes have also been undertaken so that the women folk
do not have to walk long distances for this basic necessity of life.
Forests being an important source of revenue, measures have been initiated
to develop them. Forests area is divided into three categories : Reserved
forests, Protected forests and Private forests. The percentage of forest area to the
total land area is about 33%. The forest department has established wild
life sanctuaries, zoological park, botanical garden, forest
training schools and a seasoning and treatment plant.
Electricity has now reached the interior villages from where darkness has been
displaced. Nagaland was the first state in the North-east to achieve 100% rural electrification by 1988.
A department of geology and mining was set up. Extensive and
intensive mineral survey and investigation show an encouraging picture of
the mineral potential of the state. The important minerals include
high-grade limestone, coal, copper, chromium, slate, oil and natural gas etc.
Social welfare has not been neglected. Schemes for the care of
the mentally and physically handicapped are being implemented. A few vocational
training centres have been started.
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