Hekani Jakhalu

Some Lesser Known Facts About Hekani Jakhalu

• Hekani Jakhalu is an Indian social activist, advocate, and NDPP politician. She came to the limelight in March 2023 after she and Salhoutuonuo Kruse became the first women to enter the legislative assembly of Nagaland after winning the assembly elections.

• Hekani belongs to a middle-class Scheduled Tribe (ST) family in Nagaland.

• While studying in the United States of America (USA), Hekani did her internship with the United Nations (UN)-established Committee on the Status of Women.

• In San Francisco, she worked with Amnesty Internation from 2002 to 2003.

• Hekani worked as a lawyer in New Delhi, where she represented her clients in the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court.

• While practising law in Delhi, she became a partner in a law firm, which provided expertise in civil and corporate law to its clients. She left the partnership in 2005.

• After leaving her practice in Delhi, Hekani shifted back to her hometown in Dimapur, where she founded a Non-governmental Organisation (NGO) named YouthNet. In an interview, Hekani said that she founded the NGO after she realised that youngsters from Northeast India had to come to metro cities in search of jobs as they have no opportunities in their hometowns. Talking about it, she said,
  

  At every store in every mall, you could see young boys and girls from the northeast working there. I wondered what was driving young people from the northeast to the metros. Was it out of choice, or compulsion? Also, as most came from small villages, these cities were not safe, were expensive to live in and culturally different.”

• The organisation has established several employment centres, aiming to provide employment opportunities to people from the northeast depending on their qualifications. The NGO also imparts skill-based education at a very low price. While giving an interview, she talked about it and said,
  

  We give them an orientation for a week, and explain to them about the sector. Also, we keep in touch with them, especially the first-timers. We have a mechanism with which we track them and take care of the young peoples’ security and accommodation for a year.”

  

• Thereafter, the NGO signed several deals with JW Marriott Hotel and Pullman Hotels and Resorts to provide ample employment opportunities to the youth in the northeast.

• Hekani Jakhalu joined the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) after moving back to Nagaland.

• From September 2008 to September 2010, she served with an NGO named Young Indians as its chairperson.

• In 2013, YouthNet started an entrepreneur development program named “The Entrepreneur” to promote young and enthusiastic entrepreneurs from the northeastern parts of India. In the program, the participants pitch their ideas to Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.

• To promote and allow the merchants of locally produced goods to sell their produce, YouthNet founded a centre named Made In Nagaland in 2018.

• In 2023, the NDPP gave Hekani Jakhalu a ticket to contest the assembly elections in Nagaland against Azheto Zimomi of Lok Janshakti (Ram Vilas) from the Dimapur III constituency. Hekani emerged victorious in the elections by 1356 votes. After winning the election, during an interview, she said,
  

  I won because people wanted change. I have been into social service for the past more than 17 years. All along, I have worked with the youth. I will work for the minority communities (read non-tribal communities). They make up more than half of the population in the constituency.”

  

• Hekani Jakhalu passionately follows her hobby of travelling, and she has visited many countries.

• She once uploaded a photo on social media in which she could be seen smoking a cigarette.