The Beginning and End of Development Is Human Resource — A Hao Tangkhul Naga Perspective

For the Naga people, and the Hao Tangkhul Nagas in particular, the idea of development has long been a contested and misunderstood word. Too often, we are told that development means the construction of roads, bridges, airports, or big buildings. Governments, agencies, and even our own local leaders proudly point to concrete structures as signs of progress. But beneath these surfaces, the question remains: who truly develops when the people remain stagnant?

For the Nagas, development has always been people-centered. Our ancestors built communities not with cement and machines but with cooperation, wisdom, and shared responsibility. A village was measured not by how wide its roads were but by how united its people stood, how self-sufficient they were, and how they upheld justice and dignity. That was the original form of development which is the development of the human spirit, the human mind, and the collective will.

Today, however, in the name of “modernization,” we have started to believe that development must come from outside i.e. from projects, contractors, and politicians. We forget that the foundation of every society is its human resource: the farmers who feed us, the teachers who shape our children, the craftsmen who sustain our traditions, and the youth whose strength and creativity hold our future. When these people are neglected or corrupted, no amount of physical infrastructure can make a nation prosper.

Among the Hao Tangkhul Nagas, we see this contradiction clearly. Roads are being built, but the people who walk on them remain unemployed or disillusioned. Schools exist, but education is losing its soul. Leaders speak of progress, but the spirit of unity and hard work is fading. True development is not about bringing machines to our hills but it is about nurturing minds, reviving values, and empowering every individual to contribute meaningfully.

Development begins when our people are equipped , when every youth finds purpose, every elder is respected, and every family can live with dignity. It ends when our people are forgotten, when corruption replaces community, and when dependency replaces creativity.

The Naga struggle, at its heart, has always been about dignity and self-reliance. The same spirit must guide our understanding of development today. Roads and airports may connect us to the world, but if our people remain divided, uneducated, and dependent, those roads will lead us nowhere.

Let us, therefore, return to the wisdom of our ancestors which is to believe that the greatest wealth of a nation is not its land or its buildings, but its people. The beginning and end of development is human resource – for without the people, there is no nation to develop.