Pele George
When Supongmeren Jamir, our lone Lok Sabha MP, raised the issue of Nagaland’s youth during Zero Hour in Parliament, he did more than speak statistics he spoke the unspoken pain of an entire generation.
Nagaland Post reports that while our literacy rate stands proudly at 95%, only 29% of that literate population belongs to the crucial 15–29 age group. This is not just a demographic concern. This is a national alarm. It tells us that we are slowly losing our most powerful strength not to lack of intelligence, but to lack of opportunity.
Let me say this clearly and without fear: Nagaland is NOT a backward state. Nagaland does NOT lack resources.
What Nagaland lacks is institutional faith in its own youth. We Compete Everywhere Except at Home. Our youths compete across India and they win.
In universities, in companies, in civil services, in creative spaces Naga youths prove their worth every single day. So why is it that the same youth cannot compete in Nagaland?
Because we have built a system where talent must leave home to survive.
As highlighted in the article, Nagaland has: 9 polytechnic colleges, 3 private law colleges, Yet not a single government-run engineering or law college. This is not a small gap. This is a structural injustice.
Forced Migration Is Not Development
When a young Naga student leaves the state for education, it is called “exposure.” When thousands leave because there is no choice, it is called failure of policy. Families sell land. Parents take loans. Youth leave behind culture, language, mental health, and community just to earn a degree that should have been possible at home. And when they return, there is no ecosystem to absorb them. This is how a state bleeds silently.
Our Greatest Natural Resource Walks on Two Legs
Nagaland’s greatest resource is not underground. It does not need mining. It is our youth.
Youth are our oil. Youth are our gold. Youth are our renewable energy. Yet we continue to invest more in events, optics, and slogans than in institutions that secure the future. As Supong rightly said, professional institutions are not just buildings they are foundations of empowerment, innovation, and equitable growth. Without them, Viksit Bharat 2047 will remain a distant dream for Nagaland.
Stop Calling Us Backward
A state with 95% literacy is not backward. A people with global exposure are not backward. A youth population hungry to build is not backward.
What is backward is a system that educates its children and then abandons them at the threshold of professional life. Calling Nagaland backward becomes convenient when responsibility must be avoided.
Why MLA Supong’s Stand Matters
Supongmeren Jamir did not begged in Parliament. He demanded justice the right of Naga youth to be architects of their own land. A central law college and a government engineering college are not favours from Delhi.
They are long-overdue investments in national integration, regional equity, and human dignity. Give Nagaland the institutions and watch the narrative change. My Vision for Nagaland’s Youth
My vision is simple but fierce: Youth should not leave home to dream. Education should not come at the cost of identity. Talent should build the land that raised it
I envision a Nagaland where: Engineers design our roads, not outsiders alone. Lawyers defend Naga rights with Naga understanding. Youth stay not because they are stuck, but because they are needed.
Final Word
Nagaland does not need sympathy. Nagaland does not need labels. Nagaland needs opportunity, trust, and institutional courage. We are not backward. We are blocked. Remove the barriers. Build the institutions. Trust the youth. And Nagaland will not compete with the rest of India. Nagaland will stand shoulder to shoulder with it.
