Around one hundred and fifty young rigid faces were what greeted the RTI team from YouthNet when we conducted an RTI seminar on April 19, 2011, only a few weeks ago. Being but students ourselves at one point of time the mistrust in the system in their minds, perhaps as a result of the power struggle they had been witness to, made the very purpose of our visit also take on an altogether different aspect. The original plan of merely raising awareness about the Right to Information Act 2005 was now supplemented by the need to make the student community realize that, like them, we were but a neutral body, and moreover that their grievances and opinions could be shared with us. Putting ourselves in their shoes it was easy to understand to a large degree that the long drawn debacle of issues upon issues that have plagued the NU have perhaps made them wary of visitors.
Thankfully though, the RTI seminar was everything we hoped for; by the end of the day the terse atmosphere that had nearly stifled all our positive expectations to death in the beginning thawed out and after the practical session on the use of the RTI Act, the students themselves identified more than 10 areas where they could actually apply the RTI. Eventually they decided on 3 areas as pilot projects, which YouthNet assisted in drafting.
Yet one could not help observe how the hate politics seem to have unconsciously seeped into the minds of the young across the state, not because they are party to it, but because it is all that they are shown. These are the hope of the future, the intellectuals who will define, in a matter of decades, the directions that Nagaland will take. Our society should be nurturing these promises of a better tomorrow with positive vision and not make them victims to the divisionism that is daily becoming the biggest challenge to the Naga blood because besides RTI, YouthNet as a youth organization also takes interest in issues confronting youths. So we are hopeful, after our interaction with the students, that they can be instrumental in bringing about trust and improvement of the relations between different layers at the university with their stand as the neutral body. It goes without saying that Nagas as a whole cannot afford to see the highest institution of our State fail to achieve the quintessential purpose of its existence, the education of the young; intellectually, socially and morally, for reasons selfish or otherwise.
Joshua Sheqi, Amihe Swu, www.youthnet.org.in
Thankfully though, the RTI seminar was everything we hoped for; by the end of the day the terse atmosphere that had nearly stifled all our positive expectations to death in the beginning thawed out and after the practical session on the use of the RTI Act, the students themselves identified more than 10 areas where they could actually apply the RTI. Eventually they decided on 3 areas as pilot projects, which YouthNet assisted in drafting.
Yet one could not help observe how the hate politics seem to have unconsciously seeped into the minds of the young across the state, not because they are party to it, but because it is all that they are shown. These are the hope of the future, the intellectuals who will define, in a matter of decades, the directions that Nagaland will take. Our society should be nurturing these promises of a better tomorrow with positive vision and not make them victims to the divisionism that is daily becoming the biggest challenge to the Naga blood because besides RTI, YouthNet as a youth organization also takes interest in issues confronting youths. So we are hopeful, after our interaction with the students, that they can be instrumental in bringing about trust and improvement of the relations between different layers at the university with their stand as the neutral body. It goes without saying that Nagas as a whole cannot afford to see the highest institution of our State fail to achieve the quintessential purpose of its existence, the education of the young; intellectually, socially and morally, for reasons selfish or otherwise.
Joshua Sheqi, Amihe Swu, www.youthnet.org.in
