Day: October 18, 2014

By Chitra Ahanthem

The reports of students of the region being beaten up in Bangalore and Gurgaon this week is unfortunately becoming just another statistics with comments on the incidents also questioning whether attacks on non locals in the state are creating this reaction far away. India as we know do not have an anti racism law which would obviously start with a definition of what is racist behavior/attitude/practice. As of now, there are many who say that attacks on people from the region in the rest of the country is racist in nature while attacks on non locals in the region is a manifestation of political ethnocentrism. Sociologists and political commentators can delve more into this area but the core area is that yes, there are attacks in the rest of the country on people who look different from them and look different from them and there are attacks in this part of the country because they look different and are in the minority. Before this two cases in Bangalore and Gurgaon, there have been many other cases, some high profile like that of the Tania case and many that faded away. In each of these cases, what differs is only the amount of media coverage and how people respond on social media. In real terms, nothing has changed in terms of ensuring security for minority populations in the country. There is that much amount of intolerance about people who look different and that much amount of ignorance though of course whenever a sportsperson from the region makes a name for the country, there are fulsome praise and pride over that area.

Sports reminds me about the ongoing India Super League (ISL) where football is being pitched on a scale that has not been visible when it comes to the sport. With all things Indian, the involvement of Hindi film actors in the ISL is being talked about but really where stakes are high, the idea would be to bring in as many eyeballs as possible, which will then translate into advertisements and corporate backings. The turn out of people to watch the matches so far is an encouraging sign though the audience was thin in the match played out at Delhi. Apart from the presence of celebrities, what the current ISL is bringing on board to the Indian football scene is more investments in technical support, infrastructure support and other support systems. The best part of this football exercise is that there is not just a large presence of players and technical and other support staff from the region in the league but an actual team with the name `Northeast`™ mentioned, that is made up of players from the region. Will folks see the irony of cheering for this team even as people from the region continue to be attacked? That will be difficult to say for the majority miss out on such subtlety.

While continuing with the matter of attacks on people from the region in the `mainland`™, the few efforts that are being taken up follow the popular route of organizing film festivals and cultural festivals showcasing culture from this side of the country. However, many are missing out on the point that such dos are organized amongst a particular group of intellectuals, students etc who in any case are atleast aware of the region and its people, if not its issues. The majority of people who have the maximum contact with people from the region: people on the streets, in public transport and others are still without much awareness about the region. And when they do hear about people from the region, it would be about attacks on `their`™ people- a vicious cycle alright.

End-point:

When someone gets injured in a road accident, what is the first thing that strikes the one injured, those who are onlookers at the site and the one (s) who has caused or contributed to the said accident? Let us talk of this last bit from my own experience last Sunday that involved me pillion riding on a two wheeler, a car and a boy on a bile who braked right on the road when he saw someone he knew leading to a series of brakes being applied left, right and center. I was coming from my physiotherapy session and then the next minute I had fallen on to the road, banging the back of my head against the side door. If it were not for the brakes, there would have been an IFP condolence note for sure (incidentally, this was the 5th road accident where I have been injured: does that make me lucky to scrape through with only injuries or just accident prone?) And what did the couple in the car do? They had a shouting match with the choicest of slangs trying to analyze who was wrong while I stood by, getting more dizzy and wobbly by the minute. Their concern was only one thing: would I ask for money? Sigh!

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/10/remains-of-a-week/

By Bobo kh

Leipaklei bloomed at an evening in Jeonju, a birthplace of Korean cinema. As per the schedule it was eight o`™ clock (Korean Standard Time). A mixed crowd of cinephiles cutting across continents gathered to watch the Manipuri feature film Leipaklei at the fourteenth addition of Jeonju International Film Festival (JIFF), 2013, South Korea. A total of 190 films (46 world premieres) from 46 countries were screened in the nine-day long festival. The festival opened on April 25 and culminated on May 3. An initiative of the Korean film council and Ministry of Culture Sports and Tourism, the festival is becoming one of the favorite destinations in international festival circuit. It is noteworthy that cinema is under the umbrella of Ministry of Culture in this country, very much different from India where cinema is literally an appendage of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry. Korea is comparatively younger to India in cinema. India just completed hundred years of its journey. Wholesome state patronage for independent film makers is very much evident in Korea. Ironically, the hundredth years of Indian cinema saw protest by independent film makers seeking support from the government.

Year 2013 edition of JIFF has four broad sections; Cinemascape, Stranger Than Cinema, Cinemafest and Focus On. There is a sub-section in Focus On; Special: Beyond Bollywood. According to the organizers, `Beyond Bollywood presents authentic Indian films that are like precious gems hidden in various parts of India, the festival is a rare opportunity to experience different culture of India that has been neglected all this time`. Including Leipaklei, eight other Indian films were screened: `B.A Pass`™, `When Hari Got Married`™, `Shahid`™, `Miss Lovely`™, `Untitled`™, `Azhagarsamy`™s Horse`™, `Waterbirds`™ and `Color of Sky`™. Leipaklei started its tour from the Kolkata International Film Festival last year. Korean film finder noticed it in that festival. Leipaklei was also the opening film of the Guwahati International Film Festival. It went on to win the national award for the best Manipuri Feature film. Indu Shrikent, Festival Director of Osian`™s Cinefan Film Festival, who also represented India at JIFF, congratulating the team of Leipaklei added, `what a charming film, well-acted and so refreshing. The story is told so well`. Korean audience wanted to know more about Manipur and its culture after watching the film. Set in a village, Leipaklei traverse the mysteries of a woman`™s heart, and the conviction of a lone woman in the backdrop of a close-knitted Manipuri social milieu; symbolic of the flower Leipaklei which can grow on harsh terrain. The lead role is played by Tonthoi with Kalpana, Olen, Pritam and Priyogopal as the main cast. Written by a well – known playwright of Manipur, Arambam Samarendra, who was also a close friend of the director, Aribam Syam Sharma; Leipaklei has also been a popular radio play. It has come to international limelight when made into a film. The director and the writer had ventured into prolific collaborative work in the past with acclaimed theatre plays.

Indeed, it was a joy to be in Jeonju with Leipaklei. The city is also a wonderful destination for the tourist. Almost four hour drive from Seoul is Jeonju. As the capital of post-Baekje the dynasty that Gyeonhwon established and the birthplace of the 500 years long Joseon dynasty, Jeonju is a hub enshrining Korean traditional culture. Hanok, the traditional Korean village is preserved with seven hundred houses. UNESCO has declared it as the world cultural asset. One can relish the traditional life of Korea in this village with food, music, dance, art & craft etc. No wonder that the organisers have aptly chosen the right place for an International Film Festival. Lest I forget to mention the hospitality of the Korean people, they are unbelievably warm and polite. Little did they know that their satellite television channel `Arirang`™ has been making wave in Manipur? K-Pop, TV serials, movies and fashion have captivated the youth within a very short span of time. The real Korea is a different experience with memories to be cherished.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/10/a-trip-to-jeonju-with-leipaklei/

By Pradip Phanjoubam

Practically every university in India today has a full-fledged School of Journalism faculty, or variously named as Mass Communication Department, Media Study Department etc. The objective is self evident from the names these departments. Mass media is acknowledged universally important, and indeed, it has been termed as the fourth estate of democracy, therefore it must be developed to its optimum.

Without a free media, democracy can never be complete, and as Economics Nobel winner Amartya Sen in `Development as Freedom` puts it rather provocatively, a free media even prevents famines, or at least mitigates their impacts. In a comparison between two famine conditions which occurred at about the same time in India and China, not long after India attained independence and chose to be a democracy, he noted how the number of people who died in these famines differed radically between India, where a free media exposed every act of omission and commission of the government, and authoritarian China of that period where only the government`™s words held sway.

No doubt about it that a free media is important and no democracy can be complete without it. However the question that arises in the midst of the new trend of introducing media studies in Indian universities is dubious at best. Has the trend strengthened journalism in any way? The answer most of those of us in the media business would give may surprise many, for it is in the negative. The reasons too are obvious. Few or no students who decide to join these university faculties have a career in journalism in mind. What most of these students are after are the degrees that would come after these courses which would then qualify them to enter the academia or else land a cosy job in the government`™s media related departments, such as the DIPR in the case of Manipur.

As a matter of fact, in poor economies like Manipur, the movement of talent is in the reverse direction. Young journalists who are already in the field are entering these courses not to hone their skills, but for the degrees. This is quite understandable, considering the ever widening disparity in salaries and perks between jobs in the independent media and government. Ironically, though not for the same reasons, many journalists in senior positions in rich metropolitan media, who can pay as much or even more than the government, are also moving away from journalism to join the public relations departments of the corporate houses. Their unstated logic seems to be, these big media houses too are turning into corporations, and senior journalists are more often than not given managerial positions and not treated as independent editors much to their disillusionment, so why not as well join as media managers in the truly corporate sector and earn bigger money. I have been in the profession long enough and know of many contemporaries who have taken this route.

To return to the discussion on journalism schools then, quite unfortunately, these media study departments in Indian universities are not serving the purpose they were conceived for in the first place. In most cases, the chief cause these new university faculties serve is laying the conditions to self-perpetuate in a Kafkaesque way. Why just journalism departments only, the same Kafkaesque alienated reality is true of the way most of Indian academia perpetuate themselves, therefore their continuance as exalted professions. Let me elaborate more on this thought in the following paragraphs.

Ideally, there ought to be an organic relationship between the knowledge being pursued in the universities and the needs of life on the ground. In many ways this is still the case, especially so in many advanced institutes of higher learnings specialised in training professionals. For instance medical colleges train and produce doctors, the IITs engineers, IIMs business managers… In this light, it is curious to think of what life skills or knowledge our universities impart to the millions of students who go them each year in order to make them fit to meet the challenges of the real mean life outside? Are students being taught merely to deserve degrees which would make them qualified to be academics in turn, who would then go about seeking the same jobs to produce more academics and perpetuate the cycle endlessly. While obviously the academia is vitally important and must have a logic for continuance and self improvement, should not the trainings it imparts also make students fit for, and willing to, move out of the academia and add to the level of knowledge and skills available in the larger reality of life outside.

In Frantz Kafka`™s `The Castle` this alienation process is depicted with disturbing force. A land surveyor arrives outside The Castle responding to a summon by someone in The Castle but those inside The Castle, lost in their own self acclaimed exalted occupations, are unable to trace the source or purpose of that summon. In the effort to locate the relevant file, certain staffs are set aside to negotiate the complex bureaucratic labyrinths inside. It would soon be discovered that at every section of The Castle where the file had to pass, new specific problems always surface, and to settle them more staffs had to be detailed. Soon, a whole gamut of engaging bureaucratic and non-bureaucratic activities develops around the issue of the arrival of the surveyor and the work order served to him. Occasionally the surveyor was sent a message on the progress of the work inside, but slowly but surely these activities inside The Castle overtake every other consideration, and the very project of determining the original purpose of the summon becomes a self sustaining and self justifying reality of its own, and even the surveyor waiting outside The Castle becomes progressively irrelevant. Ultimately even the surveyor`™s existence come to be forgotten, but the activities inside The Castle his arrival triggered off continues on, driven now by an independent engine of its own making and logic. The Castle thus becomes a self perpetuating reality of its own, totally alienated from the world outside, but nonetheless deeming itself superior to the blue collared world beyond it. Reality thus becomes warped, and the onlooker is left unsure which represented it more, The Castle or the world outside.

Kafka`™s Castle is obviously a dark and unparalleled parody of the modern State and its bureaucracy. It is therefore a strong expression of the postmodern disillusionment with the modern age, its call for absolute faith in science and scientific regimentation of the modern State, and the manner all this has succeeded in alienating the individual from the State itself, almost absolutely. The clarion call then, although not explicitly state in the novel, is also for re-establishing the bond between the reality of the Castle and the reality outside. The Castle needs an umbilical cord to the reality outside to morally validate its existence, and it is only by a grotesque and fascistic twist of reasoning that the Castle can ever come to cite itself as the justification of its own existence.

It is unlikely Kafka had the academia specifically in mind when he wrote the Castle. Nonetheless, any institution of importance, including the academia, can become absorbed in its own perception of self-importance and become Kafka`™s Castle in its own way. As a career journalist, and as someone who could also have opted to be in the academia at the time of choosing a career, and as someone who mid career did have a foot in the academia, having been during the last two years a fellow of a premiere post-doctoral research institute, the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, IIAS, Shimla, on a book writing project, Kafka`™s Castle was one of my biggest scares. During those two years when everybody had the tendency of prefixing my name with the honorific, Dr. or Prof. despite my earnest pleas that I held no Ph.D. degree to qualify to these titles, and when my week days were marked by endless hours of seminars and library, I had come to the conclusion that the only way any academic pursuit can earn itself a moral legitimacy is through committed researches into the predicaments of the reality outside the Castle, and therefore making contributions to the body of knowledge about the understanding of this world outside. The Castle coming to believe itself as a self-contained reality is a supreme parody of its own conceited falsehood.

In a recent seminar on media and conflict resolution in the Rajiv Gandhi University, in Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh, I again encountered this uneasy issue of intelligent and bright students of journalism from all over the Northeast pursuing a course in journalism, but professing no love for journalism as a profession. Missing are the passions traditionally associated with journalism, such as those of watching events of social import from close quarters as they unfold, the adrenaline of investigating into and covering conflict, the thrill at suddenly seeing illusive reasons behind vexed issues, the joy of visiting new places and meeting new people with new ideas…

Counterweighing all these are discussions in the rooms of `What is news?` the rule of the thumb of the five `W` that make an event newsworthy, the history of journalism in particular communities… These are interesting information and knowledge, but mastering them is hardly any guarantee of success in actual newsrooms. There will however continue to emerge firebrand journalists, and in the same way that Kafka told his story, most of these will probably be made in the newsrooms and not the university classrooms. What an irony again if this prediction does hold good, and a clear dichotomy between those who study journalism as an academic subject and those who practice it as a profession becomes an everyday reality.

Though the Kafkaesque alienation is still not there in any absolute sense in Manipur`™s academia, there is no mistaking the trend of the emergence of self justifying realities, the surest indications of which is the absence of any substantive body of research work that throw new insights into the world outside and are able to impress peers elsewhere in the country and the world.

One has heard and read of outstanding stories from universities which groomed spectacular success stories of individual entrepreneurs, inventors, intellectuals, scientist… All these universities never neglected the matter of keeping in touch with the needs of the world outside. The Google story and how this came out of a Ph.D, research paper of two college colleagues is just one. Facebook, Apple, Microsoft were all, in many ways not the achievement of single individuals, but the end product of university programmes, though in the end it was individual geniuses who scored the winning goals.

Manipur must rethink its higher education orientations too in anticipation and preparation for the future. Its education at every level must never lose sight of the world outside. In fact periodic reality check should be encouraged to ensure health in the sector. In the Manipur University for instance, it would be revealing to see how many alumni of the different departments have found professions befitting the knowledge they were pursuing as students.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/10/reality-checks-are-a-must-to-avoid-the-bitter-and-dark-irony-of-kafkas-castle/

By M.C. Linthoingambee

Before the idea of getting independence came into India, educational rights were not something that people were aware of. Education was considered a privilege rather than a right. India`™s obligation to provide education was recognized only with the inclusion of a directive principle to this effect under Article 45 in the Indian Constitution (directive principles, unlike fundamental Rights, are not legally enforceable). But in the year 2002, the Right to Education was converted into a Fundamental Right wherein, every child within the age limit of 14 years has the legal right to have a free and compulsory education.

The most common problem that vehemently drives out the provision of education is that of poverty. Poverty imposes an oppressive weight on India, especially in the rural areas where almost three out of four Indians and 77 percent of the Indian poor live. Although poverty has been reduced during the past four decades, it remains painfully high. Despite the country`s meteoric GDP growth rate (about 9%), poverty in India is still pervasive especially in rural areas where 70% of India`™s 1.2 billion populations live. India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world and yet its riches are hardly distributed across the population proportionately. A wide range of anti-poverty policies have been introduced since the 1950s by the Government from time to time. If the decline in poverty went from 60% to 35% between the 70s and the early 90s, globalization and liberalization policies have made this trend go backwards in the 90s

Poverty and illiteracy are endemic. Overall, the opening of Indian markets to the world over the years did contribute to reducing poverty in India by raising the income of a large number of people, and opening access to education to many. Liberalizing the system of exports, imports and trade, along with the development of higher education in larger cities has been the major factor leading to the rise of the middle class and reduction of urban poverty in India. However, considering the scale of the country, it means that trade reforms and education should penetrate all layers of society if poverty is to be tackled substantially.

In the space of a single primary school generation, out-of-school numbers have fallen from 25 million to 8 million. The primary school enrolment rate now stands at 95%, a level unthinkable 10 years ago. Even though many girls drop out after the age of 11, gender gaps have narrowed. So encouraging are the gains that an ambitious plan to achieve universal secondary education has been adopted. But there is still an urgent need to take appropriate steps for inclusive education of children with disabilities by providing teaching-learning materials, aids and appliances in accordance with nature and needs of each disability, suitable infrastructural modifications, and training of regular teachers and school-based appointment of special teacher. There is also a need for organizing programmes for community awareness and attitude change in order to make school for all children. Home-based education has to be given to children suffering from multi-disabilities, severe and profound disability conditions.

The idea of giving education is still unacceptable in some societies. In the wake of granting the Nobel Peace Prize for two people working mainly for child rights, education is seen a growing concern. Education is to be universalized with strong recommendation on the adoption of a `common school`™ system, which would help remove or minimize inequality of educational opportunities. The quality and standard of schools also needs strong adjudication. Inequalities in education are at the heart of a wider malaise `“ a failure to translate high growth into human development. The social and political goals include rising of the levels of education in order to improve public awareness of important issues, efforts to preserve existing social orders, desires to reduce inequalities of access, and concern to reduce population growth rates.

There are new roads to grant an action plan for developing it a bit further. Illiteracy sometimes puts us in a situation where we become inclined to witness the abuse of children. That is why we need to pace up further and make a healthy environment for providing a safety route to becoming great individuals that might become world leaders someday.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/10/education-a-hope-in-the-making/