Yoruba village in Phek district has won the distinction as Nagaland’s first smart village. It was inaugurated by director of Census Operation and Citizen Registration Nagaland Anoop Khinchi during a programme held at the village ground on Thursday.
The programme began with a “Transform Thought, Transform Village” march that was undertaken from Lakeview till local ground, followed by planting of saplings by guests, who were welcomed by villagers.
Speaking on the occasion, Khinchi congratulated the villagers and expressed his happiness for their resolve to develop the village. He acknowledged the team led by Dr Priyanand Agale, founder president of Eco Revolution Movement and Eco Needs Foundation, for coming forward to develop the village.
Eco Needs Foundation adopted the village to transform it into a smart village.
According to Khinchi, smart village meant making the lives of citizens comfortable and easy with amenities made available at their doorsteps in coordination with various departments. He stressed venturing into rubber, tea and coffee plantations, and rejuvenating and manage spring-shed for water supply for human consumption. He requested the villagers to take the guardianship.
Noting that ecotourism had a huge potential, he urged the villagers to think of the biodiversity and come out with sustainable plans to conserve the environment and be in sync with nature while focusing on economy and livelihood.
In his speech, Agale remarked that history was created with Yoruba becoming the first smart village of Nagaland. He disclosed that there were over 50 schemes for development of rural areas. He said smart village initiative was a continuous effort to ease the living of people at the village with futuristic approach for development.
He said smart village was the collective responsibility of villagers, administration, corporate, public representatives, including MLAs and MPs, to develop it with all basic amenities to ease the lives of people. He said the smart village initiative meant making effective utilisation of all available resources in smart way by considering present and future requirements.
He said stated that smart village was the model for sustainable development, making the best use of technology, natural resources and care of the environment.
Agale informed the gathering that under the smart village programme, no household would be left behind in development. He highlighted the five elements of smart village – retrofitting, redevelopment, greenfield, e-Pan and livelihood. He also shared various activities carried out under each element of smart village.
According to him, retrofitting was aimed at enhancing the beauty of the village, while new infrastructure would be created under redevelopment with new village approach road work having been already started. He explained greenfield as caring for environment and carrying out environment-related activities like water conversation, plantation, solid and liquid waste management, use of renewable energy. He said e-Pan stood for technology, focusing on communication and e-learning to provide learning and skills to enable people to earn.
He called for efforts from all residents of the village to bring about change and underscored the important role of women and youth. He said Yoruba would serve as a role model for villages across the State and help in boosting the tourism sector.
Earlier, the welcome address was delivered by Yoruba Village Council chairman Vethisa Lohe, while the introductory speech was delivered by retired joint director Dr Cisoi Khusoh.
The programme was chaired by Vetsokho Lohe, Smart Village team, prayer was offered by Christian Revival Church pastor Rev Zaseyi Veswuh and songs were presented by Yorubami Women Welfare and Cisanyi Lohe and friends. Many paintings were displayed across the villages on the occasion. This was stated in a DIPR press release.
