Defeating Drugs 

Soccer is NCC’s answer to drug menace in NE.

Often we have heard about the need of bringing back the misguided youths to mainstream. But rarely those words were translated in to action. That is why today’s youth have become easy prey for those who want to destroy mankind.

Along with rest of the country, North-Eastern region is also under threat from the enemies of mankind. As a matter of fact, the region is more vulnerable to the threat than other parts of the country. Chronic unrest, porous international border, lack of development all combined together have made the region a happy haunting ground for the forces against civilization.

The destructive forces have adopted a two-pronged strategy to spoil the youths of North-East. They supply arms to those states which are reeling under unrest. And the states which are enjoying relative calm, they supply narcotics.

Mizoram is one such State in the North-East where peace has made a come back after the historic Mizo Accord. In fact, the State is described as an oasis of peace in the North-East. Blessed with peace and stability, the State is now making all round progress.

But the prevailing situation in the State does not suit those who need unrest and turmoil to implement their own agenda. Thus they are generous enough to distribute narcotics among the youths of the State. Easy availability of drugs have lured away many youths to the path of destruction. The situation is alarming to say the least. The Government, along with various NGOs is trying to salvage the situation. But the efforts are yet to achieve desired results. How alarming the situation is can be judged from the fact one top politician of the State has recent lost his son because of drug menace.

Recently the police seized ganja valued nearly Rs. 50 million in the international market along with Kalashinkov rifles from the North-East. The seizure points out to the fact that illegal arms business, along with narcotics, has been thriving in the North-East. It is believed that the consignment was part of an international drugs and arms racket.

North-Eastern sates have been used for long as a major conduit for smuggling of banned narcotics due to region’s proximity to the notorious ‘golden triangle.’ It is a well-established fact that much of the smuggled narcotics to the North-East and other parts of India originate in Myanmar. Drug-addiction among the youths has also been a major problem in the North-Eastern states, especially Mizoram, Manipur and Nagaland.

Moreh (Manipur), Dimapur (Nagaland) and Changfai (Mizoram) along the Indo-Myanmar border have emerged as three major centres for transportation of drugs.

In such a situation, silently but quite significantly National Cadet Crops (NCC) have come to the rescue of the North-Eastern region. In a well thought out strategy, NCC is aiming at striking at the root cause of drug menace. It has been found that youths fall prey to drugs mainly because of frustrations as they do not get much opportunity after finishing their studies. With no major private investment and not much of government jobs, youths of the region are virtually sitting ducks.

To prevent the youths from being misguided, NCC has now launched an ambitious plan. As per the plan, NCC has selected soccer (or football as popularly known in this part of the world) as its weapon against drug menace. NCC bosses are hopeful once the boys get the taste of excitement on the soccer field, there will be no need of any artificial high.

Thus NCC talent spotters went all over Mizoram to select boys for its dream project. After picking nearly 20 boys from all over the State, NCC coaches have started grooming them as footballers for three months. And the effort put by NCC paid rich dividends as the NCC; Mizoram team has reached to the semifinals of Subroto Cup.

Col. R. S. Chauhan, who is looking after the team on behalf of NCC, is optimistic that the trend of youths being misguided can be arrested by this strategy. Referring the support, NCC got from the Mizo people while forming the team, Col. Chauhan stressed that Mizos love football and take pride in their footballers. “If some of the boys can make it big, definitely Mizos will be encouraged to send more and more boys to football. It will make our strategy a success.”

What is more important about the NCC project, is the fact that the boys will not be freed after attaining  18 years of age unlike couple of other football academies in the country. NCC is planning to keep for at least three more years to ensure that they get proper training, food and opportunities in future.

NCC project will not only provide the country good citizens, at the same time it may also present us with Baichung, Renedy and Manitombas of the future.  

Kingpin of SAIL attack

SAIL Football Academy is Bokaro has adopted many budding North-Eastern footballers since its inception. What is interesting Mizos wanting to make football as a career have preferences to the Bokaro-based academy than Tata Football Academy (TFA) in Jamshedpur. Thus Mizos in Bokaro team are a regular feature.

This year too was no exception. Danny Laldhusaka from Mizoram was the kingpin of SAIL attack. Playing little deep, Danny was the schemer for the SAIL team. With his deft touches, acrobatic volleys and positional play, Danny was an instant hit with the knowledgeable Delhi crowd.

Coaches of the Bokaro team are also very optimistic about Danny. They feel that the Mizo boy may be an asset of Indian football if he remains devoted to soccer. They expressed hope that within the next two years Danny will be able to play in big league.

One thing that goes against Danny is that he is not a hard worker in the field. Many experts felt that with little bit of hard work on the field, Danny would me more dangerous to the opponents. They advised that Danny should take more work load.

But his coaches are not interested in such criticisms. According to them, Danny is talented player and like all the talented players he should be handled carefully. “On his day, Danny can single handedly destroy the opponent. But like all talented players, he is little moody.”

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