Nagaland Governor P B Acharya on Monday lamented that there is no cooperative system in the State nor did it witness any cooperative movement for the farmers to sell their produce.
The Governor said this while recalling his visit to a remote village in Mon district bordering Myanmar. He pointed out that though the villagers in the remote village, without any basic amenities such water, electricity, roads, etc, produce high-quality organic produce such as cardamom, ginger etc, they have to sell their stuff at throwaway price due to absence of any marketing facility.
“Everybody is hungry for money. We have done so much damage to ourselves because of our greed,” Acharya said.
He was speaking at a conference on ‘Startups and Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises in Food Processing’ held at Indian Council of Agricultural Research – National Research Centre on Mithun – at Mediziphema, 23 kms from Dimapur.
Asking the Naga youths to turn into entrepreneurs, the Governor reiterated that the State does not have sufficient avenues to employ the educated unemployed.
He rued that though Nagaland is richest in terms of natural resources in the north-eastern region and academically on top, the State does not have any revenue of its own.
He also rued that no university in the State has taken any project seriously.
“Everyone is creating fraud, everyone wants to loot Central government’s money,” he stated.
“Giving education is not the end but only a beginning. Education is no education if the people do not have social responsibility,” he said.
He added that imparting knowledge is not the end but that knowledge should be able to make the youth successful entrepreneurs.
In this regard, the Governor also blamed the existing system in the government departments which, he said, failed on their part to encourage the youths to take entrepreneurship.
“If you want to strengthen the society, strengthen the weakest,” he stressed.
Urging the Naga people to change their mindset, the Governor said if Nagaland has to become golden Nagaland, it is the Naga people who can do it.
Acharya further pointed out that when he took over as the Governor of Nagaland, he did not find a single bird in Raj Bhavan, which is a legacy of the British era.
“We have created this situation by eating every animal,” he stated.
He pointed out though there are 15 nationalized banks operating in the State, they do not have any branch in the districts, except for in Dimapur and Kohima.
He urged the bankers to open branches in the remote areas so as to help the villagers to grow.
According to the Governor, ICAR and Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) can be a large pillar of development for the State.
The day-long conference was jointly organized by ICAR, Small Industries Development Bank of India, Ministry of Food Processing and ASSOCHAM.