Nagaland officials train village leaders on government scheme delivery

Kohima: Nagaland officials and village leaders gathered in Kohima on August 28. They met at the Administrative Training Institute for the first consultative session on capacity building for Village Level Functionaries. Nearly 50 people attended. These included Village Council Chairmen and VDB Secretaries from seven districts: Tuensang, Peren, Phek, Wokha, Tseminyu, Chümoukedima, and Kohima.

Resource members arrived from 26 different state departments. These ranged from the Home and Police departments to Power, Health, and Rural Development. V. Shashank Shekhar, the Additional Chief Secretary and Director General of ATI, kicked off the event. He noted that most Nagaland residents live in villages. He stated, "Government schemes and programmes were introduced for the welfare of the people."

Shekhar tasked the leaders with bridging the gap between state services and the rural public. He pushed the participants to swap ideas and flag real-world problems. The session also covered transparency and ethics led by Dr. Hovithal Sothu. Asalie Lese from the P&AR Department chaired the morning while Bendanglila provided an overview of the training goals. Attendees spent the day dissecting departmental presentations. They used panel discussions to troubleshoot how services reach the ground.