POLITICAL ATTITUDES AND POLITICAL PARTICIPATION OF STUDENTS IN NAGALAND

College and university students constitute one of the most knowledgeable dynamic and progressive components of all societies. They have played a significant role as agents of social change and contributed to political development in many countries. In 1960s a number of university campuses in the west were rocked by student unrest. The series of unrest that began in Berkeley in America in 1964 with the Free Speech Movement reached zenith in the May Movement of 1968 in France which debilitated the Gaullist administration. The students have exercised an important influence on national movements in Asia and Africa and have toppled the government in countries like Korea and Turkey. In Russia the ‗Communist Youth International‘ actively participated in the Bolshevik Revolution. In Cultural Revolution in China the Communist youth played prominent role as the ―Red Guard‖. The East and West Pakistan also experienced a series of student revolts leading to the resignation of Ayub Khan in 1969. In India the students‘ role in the Freedom Movement forms a glorious chapter of modern Indian history. In recent decades NorthEast India has witnessed effective student participation in both ‗on-campus‘ and the ‗off-campus‘ politics. Students of this region have been launching massive movements on issues of cultural identity and economic backwardness at times with secessionist overtones. Student and youth organization in North-East India have been raising issues which concern ethnic communities to which the members of these student organizations belong. Political development and movements in the north-east have been influencing the political attitudes and participation of the students in the region.