Challenges Faced By The Zomis In The 21st Century

Last Updated on Wednesday, 09 June 2010 02:12 Wednesday, 09 June 2010 01:55

Written by Vungtheiching

Zogam, a home to numerous tribes has not seen as much development as seen in the other parts of the country. As a result, the 21st century civilization and progress has not  influenced us in a big way or should I say..a major way. When it comes to expressing my views on the  challenges faced by Zomis in the 21st century, I have  lots of things in my mind to pen down and  I guess an essay of 1500 words will not be enough for me as we have lot more years to become fully developed…when every child born in this land will find everything so satisfying that he will not even think about complaining anything.

Coming to the main concern,  the literacy level of our society is not at all satisfying. Due to lack of good educational  institutions, students ,on passing out of school have no other choice but to migrate to other states . So, everyone including the poor, invest all they have in their children’s education so that their children  could also  come at par with others  and stand a chance in this competitive world. In my rough estimate, the minimum amount spent on every student studying outside the state is Rs.3000/-. In Delhi alone, there must be at least 1000 Zomi students pursuing various courses.  The monthly expenditure on these 1000 odd students is Rs.3,00,000/- with the annual expenses of Rs. 3,60,00,000. Can you imagine how many students are studying in various cities in the country and how much resources of our state are spent on this front alone!! Anyhow, l really appreciate these parents who sent their children to other states for further studies and truly  are concerned about their children’s future.

But think about the others…there are still lots of them who have to depend on the schools and colleges in Manipur as they don’t have enough resource to send their children to other states. As we all know, education is the backbone of all round development, we need proper education to develop our Zoland.

Alright, even the students who come to other states have that ‘ inferiority complexion’ and don’t usually mix with other students and thus remain very private and reserved…somehow they  get lost in the crowd. The main challenge lie here-usually, our schools in  Manipur don’t  emphasis much on communicative skill like English speaking classes, etc. So, when our students come out of their homeland, they are not able to communicate freely with others and thus, they are not able to grab the opportunities that are available to them.

What I want to say is that in no way am I against students sent to other states for higher education. In fact, my prayer would be  more and more students  going for  better quality education and coming out with flying colors. The point I want to focus on here is that if world-class educational system  were available in our land, why would the students have to  take the trouble of going somewhere else? Think about this. Take the example of Shillong - they have good schools and colleges,  as a result of which students pursue their education in their own state and land up in good jobs there itself, thus, serving their homeland. If the educational systems are improved in our own land, it is guaranteed that we would see our land develop at a much faster pace. However, our present system of governance, where there is deep- rooted corruption in every level, my assertion may not find a place in our state.

The youths are our future, the assets of a society. They are the ones who will rule the society. The death rate  below 30 yrs of age is increasing at an alarming rate due to, HIV-AIDS, Drugs overdose, etc., this is where we lack behind..The demerit of our society is that we’ve developed a ‘herd-mentality.  Take the case of students running for Science stream just because a neighbor’s son took Science and successfully cracked the MBBS entrance exam or buying a mobile phone just because everyone have it. People may say we stay united because of this, that everyone have the same things., but I’d say this is mere stupidity.  It reflects how uncivilised we are and how even the adults have that ‘child-like’ mentality. We should  develop an individualistic attitude towards everything, with this, our perspective will change which will in turn, change our way of looking at things and rooting out evils in our society.

Corruption is the root cause of all problems. Those middlemen  are like a curse for our motherland.  The money sanctioned by the government never  reach the right person at the right time, roads newly constructed last only for a few months, underground have disturbed the normal life of people making it hard for them to even breathe in peace,….how  will development ever happen?  We all blame the Central government for not paying  any heed to our difficulties and  problems, but shouldn’t we sit down and look at ourselves before putting the blame on anyone else? Even though the government may not give us that support that we deserve, but we should try to stay united and  take initiative to solve the problem. As the saying goes-God helps those who help themselves, instead of just sitting down and grumbling, lets take the first step.

The problem of  insurgency and undergrounds activities has disrupted the normal life of people. The people are harassed due to the never ending demands made by the undergrounds. In  fact, this is the main reason why tourists are not willing to visit this beautiful land of ours. Whenever I call my cousins who studies in Lamka, they would always be sitting at home as their school is closed due to curfews and bandh. Curfews, bandhs, etc are so common that a 3 year- old child can explain the meaning of these words so perfectly. On a flight to imphal, on seeing the beautiful view of the mountains and hills, a Bengali man exclaimed “Oh! what a beautiful land but spoiled by the people themselves”

A developed society contains all the ingredients required to built a harmonious and perfect society.. there should never raise any issues regarding  electricity, water, education,  transport, health and so on. As seen in the current scenario, our society just stands below the status of a perfect society.  Electricity supply is next to worst. Power cuts are so frequent that it would be considered a miracle if the electricity supply don’t fail at least once in a day. Whenever I go to Lamka  on a vacation, I’d be the first one to grumble about the power cuts, lack of clean water for washing and bathing and the worst one-the quality of medical services provided by the government. Then, my grandmother would calmly say “this is Manipur, dear. Don’t expect everything to be so perfect as in the cities where you live. Learn to accept things as they are”.

We have always been a backward tribe, our forefathers lived in jungles and  fed on wild hunts. When  I think about all these, it somehow makes me nostalgic. Still, there are lots of people  in our hills living life like our forefathers, who have not even seen a glimpse of the modern world, forget about  modern world, they’ve not even seen  the nearest town. It is our challenge at this point, our duty as the educated ones to bring up our own people, our land.  When  asked about “Zomi” to people from other states, the only thing they can say is that… “Your  tribe is too reserved, people don’t even know that there’s something called ‘Zomi’. You must all try to make your culture and tradition known to others”. And I surely, with no doubt, agree with this. We may not be that much in terms of number as compared to others but  we should  try to make our culture known to others., our customs and traditions should be adapted by we, ourselves in such a way that people around us will identify us instantly and thus, show interest in knowing more about us.

Our language, culture and traditions are our heritage. Becoming civilized doesn’t mean  adapting all the latest fashion, technology and  ignoring our heritage behind us, but, rather its all about adjusting with the changing environment while  maintaining our culture and tradition alongside. Each society in the world have unique customs that forms the sole of  development and achievements.

It surprises me as to how the people have  learnt to live amidst of all difficulties that prevails in our land as if they’ve accepted things as they are.  They’ve learnt to see the brighter side of life, a ray of hope, which signifies the power our society possess. We are still developing, step by step, accepting modernization bit by bit. We still have a long way to go, when our dreamland-Zogam would stand as one of the asset of the country and every individual in this land would proudly   proclaim with a sense of patriotism-“ YES, I AM A ZOMI”.

Vungtheiching d/o Upa Khamgoupau, Class-XII (Commerce) Holy Child Auxilium Sr. School, Delhi, Second Runner-up of the Dr T.Ginkam Zogam.com English Writing competition (Courtesy:zogam.com)