July 2015 – Page 80 – Manipur News

Only three Opposition MLAs in attendance as House passes six demands

IMPHAL, June 30: On the third day of the ongoing 11th session of the 10th Manipur Legislative Assembly today, the House passed six demands amounting to Rs 11,92,38,15,000 during Discussion

IMPHAL, June 30: On the third day of the ongoing 11th session of the 10th Manipur Legislative Assembly today, the House passed six demands amounting to Rs 11,92,38,15,000 during Discussion and Voting on Demands for Grants, 2015-16 with just three Opposition MLAs in attendance.

The demands passed by the House today are Demand no 1 State Legislature amounting to Rs 48,05,16,000; demand no 2 Council of Minister Rs 6,71,66,00; Demand no 3 – Secretariate & GAD Rs 75,62,99,000; Demand no 5 Finance Rs 1016,23,65,000 and Demand no 41 Arts & Culture Rs 29,66,44,000 and Demand no 49 Economics and Statistics Rs 16,08,25,000.

The demands were tabled for discussion by Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh who is also the leader of the House.

During discussion of the demand for Council of Ministers, Opposition MLAs L Ibomcha and K Shyam raised motion of Disapproval of Policy Cut on `Lack of supervision and control of bureaucrats, failure to streamline functioning of their duties in the interest of the State and lack of co-operation from the ministers.`™

MLA Ibomcha also raised a motion of Disapproval of Policy Cut during discussion of Demand no 3-Secretariate & GAD on `Failure to control and supervise slow movement of files in Manipur Secretariate, non introduction of system of self attestation of documents for use in the official purpose like- school admission, recruitment etc and failure to supply standard food, fit for human consumption in the two canteens of Manipur Bhawans, New Delhi.`™

The Opposition MLA also raised motion of Disapproval of Policy Cut during discussion of Demand no 5- Finance on `Failure to introduce effective economy measures, inadequate fund has been provided in the State budget for augmentation of potable water supply in urban areas and thereby causing scarcity of drinking water in the urban areas for the last several years, failure of the department to adopt a policy on strengthening of the State Finance Commission, failure to strengthen the policy on resource mobilization and inability to collect sufficient revenue from the border trade at Moreh (Indo-Myanmar Border Trade).`™

MLAs K Shyam and Dr I Ibohalbi Singh raised motion of Disapproval of Policy Cut during discussion of Demand no 41 `“ Arts & Culture on `Non-implementation of Manipur Public Library Act, 1988 and Failure to adopt a cultural policy even though `Cultural University`™ is about to be established.`™

During discussion of the Demand no 49 `“ Economics & Statistics Dr Ibohalbi raised motion of Disapproval of Policy Cut on `failure to restore the publication of the Pre-Budget Economic Review and failure to prepare district handbooks.`™

However, after the leader of the House Ibobi who also holds the Finance portfolio provided clarifications on the policy cuts, the Opposition MLAs withdrew their motions and the demands were passed by the House.

Back to 6th Schedule

The news today that the centre is willing to have the 6th Schedule extended to the hill districts of Manipur quite obviously would become the new agenda in the coming

The news today that the centre is willing to have the 6th Schedule extended to the hill districts of Manipur quite obviously would become the new agenda in the coming days for Manipur`™s issue starved politics. The discussions are unlikely have new substance but it is certain to bring out the painful polarity in Manipur politics again, and in our opinion quite meaninglessly. The state has heard these debates on the schedule before and it is unlikely to have become any more enlightened now precisely because political debates in Manipur have become a matter of posturing, and blinding opposing dissenting voices, with the least interest in creating creative dialectics which can throw new light on the state`™s many entangled issues. Like so many other issues, the question of introduction of the 6th Schedule in the state too has come to be appropriated by the other hotter issue of the state`™s territorial integrity, therefore all the heat and dust that this debate always manages to kick up.

The fact is, the 6th Schedule is nothing new. It has been in existence since the time India`™s republican Constitution came into force on January 26, 1950. It was meant for territories within the former undivided Assam and is aimed at giving a level of autonomy to the areas inhabited by hill tribals, in particular the Naga Hills District, which was already showing signs of unrest. Quite ironically, Naga leadership at the time under the charismatic A.Z. Phizo rejected the proposal and opted instead to demand total sovereignty for the Nagas. So the 6th Schedule came to be applied in the Khasi Hills, Jantia Hills, Garo Hills, which together became Megalaya in later years; the Lushai Hills which later became Mizoram; the Mikir Hills (Karbi Anglong); and North Cachar Hills. After Meghalaya became a state in 1972 by clubbing Khasi, Jantia and Garo hills, the Autonomous District Councils which each of them formed was retained, and even today, the entire state of Meghalaya is still covered by these three ADCs, except in the capital Shillong district which had been de-scheduled and de-reserved. When the Lushai Hills (by then known as the Mizo Hills) was elevated to a Union territory in 1972, the Mizo ADC was abolished but the area then known as Pawi-Lakher was split into three ADCs of Pawi, Lakher and Chakma. To go a little further into history, the area which came under these ADCs initially, were what the British called `Backward Tracts` by the Government of India Act 1919, and were generally territories beyond the Inner Line. These tracts later came to constitute two different categories of administrative zones called `Excluded Area` and `Partially Excluded Area` by the Government of India Act 1935. The `Excluded Areas` were not given any representation in the elected provincial government and were instead administered directly by the Governor. The `Partially Excluded Areas` had some representations but not by popular election, but nomination by the Governor. At the time the Constituent Assembly was thrashing out the shape of the Indian Constitution, the government appointed a Sub-Committee of the Constituent Assembly called the North-East Frontier (Assam) Tribal and Excluded Areas Committee, under the chairmanship of Gopinath Bardoloi, the then Chief Minister of Assam. It was this committee which came up with the 6th Schedule as an administrative mechanism for the formerly `Excluded` and `Partially Excluded` areas of Assam. As always happens, the 6th Schedule, as indeed the Inner Line, have been given totally different connotations and today Tripura too has adopted the schedule for its now greatly shrunken tribal areas and in Manipur there are demands for it in place of the state`™s own ADCs created by the Manipur (Hill Areas) District Councils Act, 1971.

History aside, the moot point is, has the 6th Schedule been a success? The answer generally is no, and this will be confirmed by voices from the states where this schedule is in vogue. There is another question, and very relevant to Manipur. Is the 6th Schedule a threat to Manipur`™s integrity? The answer again would be no, and again this will be confirmed by voices from these states. Meghalaya is almost entirely covered by three ADCs under the schedule, but this has not meant its disintegration. Mizoram and Tripura offer the same answer. The new proposal for introducing the 6th Schedule in Manipur probably is part of a compromise formula for the Nagas who have been holding peace talks with the Government of India for the last 18 years. This would probably in lieu of Naga sovereignty or integration. If a lasting settlement can be thus brought about with such a concession, it needs to be applauded and accepted.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/06/back-to-6th-schedule/

Deteriorating discipline among State police a concern: CORE

IMPHAL, June 30: The Centre for Organisation Research and Education has expressed extreme concern against the `deteriorating discipline and performance`™ of the Manipur Police as reflected in the consistently frequent reports in the local medias of uniformed personnel belonging to the Police department involved in all sorts of misdemeanors, serious crimes and rights abuses.

A statement of the CORE said in the month of June 2015 alone, there were reports of at least seven separate instances where Manipur Police personnel were involved in violations of the law; four reports of robbery or attempted robbery, one traffic law violation, one assault and manslaughter and another report of unprovoked firing during vehicle checking in the capital city of Imphal.

In May 2015, there were five separate reported cases of Manipur Police personnel involved several different violations including one assault and attempted robbery for refusing bribe demand, one assault, one terrorist activity, and two drug use, it continued.

The reported incidents and events are too numerous to detail, it continued.

The statement continued, particular forces within the Police Department such as the Traffic Police, Indian Reserve Battalion (IRB) and Manipur Village Defence Force (VDF) have been reported as regularly involved in crimes such as extortion, robbery, kidnapping, cyber-crime, murder and militant activities, petty corruption in public, disproportionate use of power, indiscipline, undermining of authority, public arrogance, use of abusive language and open disrespect to the citizens and abuses of human rights including torture, cruel and inhuman or degrading treatment and sexual abuse.

It said there are absolutely no excuses for this form of behaviour by the police of Manipur, and the minister concerned has yet to make a public statement regarding these reports.

Further according to the statement, the association of the police with drug use, drug trafficking and alcoholism, according to frequent reports in the media, is one of the foremost concerns of the public in Manipur today. Such aberrations among the police personnel have profound and negative consequences for society and the force, it said.

The statement further said that providing a secure environment and taking up confidence building measures requires two priorities, first and foremost being the issue of making the police a disciplined force.

`A disciplined police officer is a friendly police officer. After more than three years under the stewardship of the minister, there are still many serious and unaddressed shortcomings in the police recruitment model, training, deployment and supervision of the force by competent, honest and dedicated senior police officers that are to be seriously reviewed and corrected.`

`Secondly, there is widespread and regular interference in the work of police while conducting their duties from politicians and other authorities. Such interference not only hampers police work, but also discourages and undermines their morale, status and role in society,` it said.

Further according to the statement, the third priority is for the government to establish an independent Police Complaints Mechanism.

The government is yet to comply with the orders of the Supreme Court of India for wide police reforms. The VDF recently resorted to strikes and bandhs, disrupting services, to raise their demands for equitable remuneration, it said.

It continued a police force, such as the VDF, which has very poor quality training, and suffers from low morale and self respect, is bound to be undisciplined and vulnerable to influences that pull them towards criminal activities, dereliction of duty and pitiable performance. This has been found to be the case with the VDF.

As a modern police force today, the Manipur police department has begun to recruit women among its police officials of all ranks, it said adding that the women police personnel must be given adequate exposure and training to conduct their challenging duty in the service of the people with the highest discipline.

`Recently, a ranking woman police officer in charge of traffic duties was implicated in a widely reported and condemned incident that reflected misconduct and acting beyond the call of her duties. This sort of reported misconduct has inflicted the department a great and demoralizing blow,` the CORE statement said.

`It has become a regular practice for the police to get involved in mediation exercises between disputing parties, including domestic disputes. Laws specifically preclude police from offering mediation or assisted alternative dispute resolution services to parties. Police should not attempt to improve relations in the family by offering these services or by mediating a dispute. Involvement of the police in mediation opens up many opportunities for corrupt practices and the miscarriage of justice.`

`The minister is responsible for establishing and maintaining a people-friendly police force that is dignified. That was the respected minister`™s commitment. The public does not expect and tolerate a police force that has no dignity or discipline,`™ it said.