- Yudhajit Shankar Das
- TNNUpdated: Sep 19, 2019, 13:37 IST IST
After nine years of enforcing a hunting ban, locals began questioning the village’s conservation efforts
Gunshots pierced the misty air of Khonoma earlier this year, jolting villagers out of their reverie. They smelled disaster in the air.
The residents of Nagaland’s Khonoma — the first green village in India — had made a Herculean effort to ban logging and hunting in 1998. Twenty years on, the green warriors of this village are fighting a battle within and have taken fresh guard in June against the ecological challenges. But, then, Khonoma has always revelled in challenges; while the princely kingdoms of India were falling prostrate before the British, this Naga village stood up to the British empire for four decades.
The residents of Nagaland’s Khonoma — the first green village in India — had made a Herculean effort to ban logging and hunting in 1998. Twenty years on, the green warriors of this village are fighting a battle within and have taken fresh guard in June against the ecological challenges. But, then, Khonoma has always revelled in challenges; while the princely kingdoms of India were falling prostrate before the British, this Naga village stood up to the British empire for four decades.
