Manipur News

By Dr Khushboo Shah Sawant

Stroke is a medical emergency, which occurs when the blood supply to the brain is stopped or interrupted or severely reduced thus depriving the cells of the brain with its basic food- oxygen and glucose. Within minutes of a stroke, the brain cells begin to die thus causing brain damage. Immediate treatment is of vital importance in order to minimize the damage and probable complications. This condition is treatable to a great extent if medical attention is received on time.

There are some specific symptoms to watch out, to judge if you, or your near and dear one is having a stroke. The duration for how long the symptoms have been persisting will guide possible treatment options. Having trouble walking or maintaining balance, stumbling, dizziness, or loss of coordination etc symptoms along with trouble while speaking or understanding, words slurring with the tongue feeling thick and not moving smoothly to utter words. Paralysis or numbness of the face, arm or leg, sudden numbness or loss of sensation in the face area, arm or leg especially in one side of the body are cause for alarm. While raising both hands together above the head and one arm falls or if one side of the mouth droops on trying to smile, a stroke would have led to them. Trouble with seeing or blurred vision in one or both eyes or seeing double means one must seek immediate medical help. Another indication is a sudden severe headache, which may come along with vomiting, dizziness or loss of consciousness.

A simple acronym that can be kept in mind to mean a state of emergency for immediate medical help is `FAST`™ whose full form means:

Face: which shows signs of stroke, when the person tries to smile but the part of the mouth of the affected side tends to droop.

Arms: When you try to raise both your arms above your head, does one arm fall backwards?

Speech: Does your speech slur when you attempt to talk? Does the tongue feel thick and not move smoothly?

Time: Do not waste time if you see any of these symptoms in yourself or your near and dear ones. Call for emergency medical help. Time is very crucial in such cases and can decide the fate of recovery. The longer the person takes to reach a doctor, the more the damage progresses as further brain cells will get damaged, and may cause irreversible changes in the body.

A stroke may be caused if some blood vessel which supplies the vital nutrients to the brain is blocked partially or completely by plaques of fat etc which is known as an `ischaemic stroke`™. This is most commonly seen, when the blood vessels become narrow or completely blocked thus severely reducing the blood flow partially or completely. It may be caused due to leaking or bursting of blood vessels, which causes a haemorrhage that may have been caused due to an extremely high and uncontrolled blood pressure. This is known as a `haemorrhagic stroke`™.

There is also another variant called as a `mini stroke`™ in which the same symptoms occur but clear out within in a few minutes. But this should always be brought to the notice of the doctors, as it can lead to a certain amount of brain damage.

Many factors increase a person`™s risk to strokes, including being overweight or obese, leading a sedentary life involving minimal physical activity, excessive alcoholism or binge drinking, usage of illegal or non prescribed medications. High blood pressure is one of the commonest causes of a stroke; the risk factor begins when the blood pressure rises above the normal of 120/80mmHg and it is important to keep a check on blood pressure. Cigarette smoking can also cause the narrowing of blood vessels. High cholesterol level can add to the risk factors as it may cause the formation of plaques. Other heart problems can also lead to the increase in the risk of a stroke.

Risk factors not in the control of a person include- a family history of strokes, heart attacks etc, progressing age above 55 years. Also, men have a higher risk of stroke as compared to women.

A stroke may sometimes lead to complications like partial or complete paralysis, memory loss, thinking difficulties, etc. A stroke can be confirmed by a simple physical examination, blood tests, CT scans, MRIs, etc. Treatment options include emergency care by medications, clot removals or surgery. Again, prevention is better than cure, and even more so in conditions like stroke which are very much preventable. Even if the inevitable does occur, correct knowledge and careful assessment of symptoms and immediate medical care may reduce the progress of damage.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/10/strike-out-the-stroke/

By M.C. Linthoingambee

The internet is like the existence of another world that has millions of citizens with no distinction on boundaries. When Facebook CEO Mark Zukerberg arrived in India recently, he proclaimed that everyone should have the freedom of access. This generation has lived in world where technology connects people far away and to the remotest corner of the world. It works wonder, yes! But everything has its positive and negative side effects.

Among internet users, E-commerce is one of the most profitable business ventures these days. Its present growth is good and its future and projected growth is tremendous. However, e-commerce in India is required to be conducted in a legally permissible manner. There are also effects brought by the steady growth of technology. In this distinction, online marketing is taking a heavier toll while Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is a threat to the domestic markets now. The big names in the game like Flipkart, Amazon, E-bay, etc have finally concurred boundaries that far exceeds thier limits. The recent fiasco conducted for a discount sale on Flipkart is an example of how normal domestic retailers will be face huge losses in the years to come. In keeping up with this online sector, a local initiative from Manipur with mykeithel.com, an online portal site to provide services to the constant number of Manipuris that travel and live out of the state and abroad comes to mind.

E-commerce websites operating in India are required to follow many laws of India including the Information Technology Act, 2000 (IT Act 2000). As per the IT Act 2000, e-commerce websites operating in India are Internet intermediaries and are required to comply with cyber laws and their requirements. With the active use of electronic commerce in India, the electronic commerce dispute resolution in India is also required to be strengthened. The present litigation system of India is not conducive for the growth of e-commerce in India and online dispute resolution in India is more appropriate for such purposes.

When there are several market spheres in question, the physical retail system would soon lose out when everything from normal household appliances to the most recent gadgets are available simply at the click of a button right when we are sitting at home at a cheaper cost. So, what happens when the trans-boundary culture becomes minimal? The role of E `“ Governance is seen as a measure to safeguard a safety net around the growing culture of cyber hacking and so forth. While the entrepreneurs focus mostly on the motive of profit, there are series of ground rules that goes unchecked – online hackers are liable to gain excess to the customers`™ credit cards, debit cards and other security details. The constant outbreak of cyber security is a major issue that calls for strict procedure of registration and compliance. Domain name protection strategy is a great place to begin with considering registration is a huge issue for identifying the distinct nature of a particular business.

E `“ Book purchases guarantees cheaper cost of books that are hard to get delivered to customers in the medium of a soft copy. This practice if left unchecked, can kill the publishing industry of production of books, novels. The sharing of computer software is also killing most of the genuine producers, when they are made available from person to person simply from home through various sites and through peer to peer (P2P) transfer.

A new online market medium is born each day with even local retails funding and looking for ways to keep their product in the sphere of social media since it is well reached by a wide audience. We need to look further and think 50 years ahead of time if we are conduct regulations for the online medium where there is nothing but limited control. Beyond the commercial intent of the internet, there are also huge bugs that travel in the ideal of piracy in subject matters of copyright.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/10/techno-spread-like-never-before/

(A poem for my only brother
Stephen who expired on 02-08-2014.)

By Adelina Jones N

A brother you are.
Born with a silver spoon
blessed with a beautiful childhood,
getting all your wishes.
You could have been grateful,
but you were not.
If you were, you could have turn the silver you had into gold.

Life was beautiful.
But you went ahead with artificial bliss.
Why was it so hard to give up the things you have to?
Why not try it harder? Try, try, try.
A question erupts!
Was it your destiny? Or you chose it.

Unimaginable pain I had.
You were gone too soon.
My heart is torn into pieces, pieces and pieces.
Thinking of the little good deeds you do.
The sound of your footsteps still in my ears.
My mind is running wild no answers.
Oh! How I wish it was just a dream.

Irreplaceable you are.
I will not envy another`s brother.
Gone from the Earth you are.
But you will be fondly remember forever.
Unacceptable demise.
Oh God, bless and rest his soul in peace, I pray.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/10/the-departed-soul/

`Protest is when I say I don`™t like this. Resistance is when I put an end to what I don`™t like. Protest is when I say I refuse to go along with this anymore. Resistance is when I make sure everybody else stops going alone too`.
`“ Ulrike Meinhof

At a time when the worshippers of neo-liberalism flex its muscle of high growth, at a time when mission to the moon is being envisaged at a future not so far away, it is prudent not to sweep aside the vast army of unemployed and ever increasing rate of farmers committing suicide out of distress. This is the state of Indian democracy after its sixty years of independence. Its triumphalist placard of being the world`™s largest democracy has been put to test, relentlessly, by these voices of dissent. These voices are dealt with an iron fist by the Indian State with heavy repression in pure Chanakian fashion. Is there a right time per se to register protest against atrocities? Or is there a way to interrogate the system which employs violence as a means to curb any uprising or protest?

In a lecture at the Sydney Film Festival in 1991, Dennis O`™ Rourke pondered on the `The Ethics of Non-Fiction Film Making`™. He contested the conventional narrative representation of documentaries. The conventional understanding is that documentaries primarily serve to make the audience feel `good`™, feel part of an enlightened elite, as though they have achieved some cachet or absolution for themselves by the simple act of watching a film. He went on, `I travel on a journey of discovery, on an unmarked road to see where it leads. And I travel not in order to return. One cannot return to the point of departure because, in the meantime, one changes, so, I don`™t make film, the film makes me`. He further maintained that the magic of documentary film is that one can start to create with no idea of narrative and concentrate all thinking on the present moment and thing. In this fashion, Sanjay Kak`™s Red Ants Dream does not serve to make us feel `good`™. And one does not feel to be part of the enlightened elite. However, the film definitely is a journey of discovery of the social and political distress and unrest, which are innate with the Indian State.

There is a film by Warner Herzog with a slightly similar title, Where the Green Ants Dream. Herzog`™s film focuses on a tussle between the Aborigines and a mining company in Australia. The continental country`™s history is chequered with tragic discordance between the Aborigines and the White settlers. Generally speaking, history is witness to bloodsheds and hostilities between the early settlers and the expansionists. Their world views are not only diametrically opposite but also differ on the priority of interest. While the sole interest of the expansionists is to plunder any available resources, the Aborigines, on the other hand, believe the earth and the human body to be one. Any assault on the earth is regarded as an assault on their own body. The Green Ants Dreams captures the Aborigines`™ vehement fight against the mining company. The film was featured in the Cannes, 1994.

Red Ants Dream treads on the similar theme of Herzog`™s film. In both the films, the central thrust is on people`™s struggle against any force, which threatens to annihilate lives for profit. Sanjay Kak is a film maker who has made films such as Jashn-e-Azadi (about Kashmir), One Weapon, Words on Water (about the movement of the Narmada Bachao Andolan) and others. All his films are about the resistance of the people. Needless to say, he is in his element in Red Ants Dream, too. Amidst the darkness of a dusty highway HGVs hurl its headlight directly to the camera. The intimidating image sets a thematic premise of the film from its very opening visual. Guerrillas in battle-green outfit gearing up for an observation in a jungle, voice from the All India Radio (news in English), reads out that the government is going to continue its operation against the Naxals unless they abdicate violence. The voice reports, Home Minister, P. Chidambaram`™s statement that the operation is carried out not to kill anybody but to re-establish administration in areas where the Naxal has its control. It then jump-cuts to a juxtaposing visual of the anti-Naxal commandoes carrying out their daily work out. The next location is at a village in Punjab. Poet Avtar Singh, popularly known as Pash, was killed by religious fanatics, killed on the same date of another great revolutionary, Bhagat Singh. Punjab has a history of violent resurrections. According to the narrator, the recent-most resurrection was `Violently snuffed out and the bloodshed was masked by what was called Green revolution`. Villagers bearing flags and banners took to the streets, sloganeering the glory of Pash`™s and Bhagat Singh`™s ideals. A group of young school girls sing:

The fruit of their labour they will get

A Heaven on earth they will make
Equal shares of happiness for all to live by
No tyrant there`™ll be to drink our blood
The red flag will fly on high- O comrade
The sky will dance
The earth will sing `¦

Red Ants Dream intersperses on varied geographical locations ranging from the Niyamgiri Forest in Odissa to Bhagat Singh`™s birth place in Punjab and Dandakarnya jungle in Baster. These diverse locations, however, share a single umbilical cord `“ of resistance, of love and conviction of an ideal.

At Kamker, deep in the jungle of Chatisgarh, there is a retired army brigadier who trains hundreds of state armed forces. He looks after the Counter Terrorism & Jungle Warfare College. Here hundreds of young men are tailored to fight the Naxals with advanced methods of warfare and weapons. In the Retd. Brigadier`™s own words, `It is a politico-military-socioeconomic-psychological counter Naxals campaign`. However, one often hears about the state commandoes suffering more casualty than their counterparts who are ill-equipped and perhaps not even half-trained in modern warfare and weaponry. The reason could be perhaps, the guerrillas are familiar with the terrain like the backs of their hands. In fact, the jungle is their home.

The guerrillas have two tasks in hand `“ to defend themselves from the onslaught of the state apparatus and to educate the villagers. For the guerrillas their primary task is to overthrow the regime. Whether they will succeed or not is altogether a different proposition. It is beyond the scope/ambit of a film. Yet, if one is asked to point out the indexicality of the film, I would say, it is the power to question. A film that can spotlight a story, which has for long been swept aside by the Indian State, has acuity in itself.

It is worthwhile to recall that the Prime Minister of India, Mr. Manmohan Singh, declared the Naxal Movement to be the biggest internal security threat of the country. This declaration came at a time when the well-trained state commandoes suffered maximum casualties one after another. The rebels have a different take on the security of the land.

If the security of the land means
That every strike crushed
Makes that peace stronger.
Martyrdom is no more
Than death at the borders.
Art blooms only at the Palace window,
Intellect only drives the water wheel
That irrigates the ruler`™s crop.
Labour is little more than a broom
At the palace door.
Than the security of the land
Is a threat to us `¦

One cannot speculate on Sanjay Kak`™s next venture. Perhaps, he might pan his camera at another movement, which has been termed by the Indian State as `Low Intensity Conflict`™. Insurgency in the Northeast India has also been a long drawn one. There has been news that some major groups of the Northeast have made alliances with the Naxals in Central India. They have even carried out joint military exercises. These outfits in the Northeast also swear by the word `revolution`™.

One can say that film maker like Kak perhaps draws inspiration from `Third Cinema`, a movement that started in the 1960s civil rights and human rights movement; struggle against colonialism, nuclear weapons, which all marked a time of political ferment. Many of the film makers of `Third Cinema` see themselves as cultural vanguards for change. The movement along with the technological breakthroughs heralded the birth of cinema verite and the video age. Kak`™s sprinkling of words from names like Marx, Clausewitz, Pattanayak and Bhagat Singh in the frame within the narrative invite interrogation as well as interpretation.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/10/red-ants-dream-of-stories-untold/

By Chitra Ahanthem

It`™s been about a year and a half since I was diagnosed with having a neck prolapse (two slipped disc). This means it`™s been the same time frame since I have stepped on to drive any two wheeler vehicle. Do I miss the independence that comes from my mobility? I do totally, but I would step in to say that it hasn`™t been such a bad thing altogether. Yes, not being able to drive myself to where I want and need to go is not much fun but I am one who believe in giving in to a situation that I cannot control and then looking at the better part of it. Having my movements curtailed means I get a valid reason to not turn up for certain events or happenings that I would have otherwise been obliged to attend. And when I do attend a few events or go out for personal interactions, it is to do with people whom I want to meet up and things that I want to do. The horrible shared auto service around town comes in handy when I do go out. Horrible because just to go to North AOC area from my locality in Keishamthong area, I have to take two autos and the take a long walk for just one leg of the travel. If I have to go to Bapupara area, I can take an auto till Keishamthong and then walk till the petrol pump and then have the remaining stretch too short to take an auto and too long to walk. And no, I love walking but that is for the evenings and I prefer not to walk to keep an appointment or when going out for work. This bit about shared autos around Imphal is rather strange for there are quite a lot of them: enough to clog the traffic on the streets but the routes are so very badly planned out that it leaves passengers very inconvenienced.

One of the side-effects of not having mobility is the dependency on the poor auto service and a few good people who go out of their way literally to come and pick me up. This Saturday took me a film screening at the Manipur Film Development Corporation where every second Saturday of the month sees a film screening followed by discussions. Organized by the Television and Cine Foundation, these monthly screenings have been happening for quite some time now but it was rather strange to see less than 20 people turning up. The more interesting highlights of the film outing was along the road that took me from my home to MFDC. Heading from Keishamthong towards the way to Thumbuthong, we saw a `road closed`™ sign with some police personnel waving people away. We took a few lanes that would take us to the road that would pass by lane where a private hospital is located right in the middle of a residential area but there again, there were police personnel, a lot of dust and a lot of work happening on the roads. The penny fell: of course! This was all part of the great dressing up exercise for the Sangai Festival (they have dropped the word `tourism`™). The Government and its agencies would not definitely want to postpone the event till the Sanjenthong bridge gets completed, or dress it down and shift it elsewhere for if they did take either of this route, the allocated funding would not be around for the loot and plunder.

In between, this matter of the bridge has dragged on long enough. All it has done is caused traffic horrors on the most congested areas of Imphal. The ones who are suffering the most are residents around the Tumbuthong area and the lane from the bridge till BOAT side as it is this route that people are taking with Sanjenthong out of service. The amount of dust caked on the houses and property of people living in this stretch is unimaginable and one begins to wonder if it gets into their food and their body systems. Thinking about young children living in the area breathing in dust daily is enough to make me worried.

End-point:

One other sighting along the road were police personnel of all colours and hues doing what they do best: detain young people to check their papers, not with the intent of doing a proper check but to throw their weight around. All of us can see the manner in which they insist on young people to keep their hands raised even as four to five security personnel keep them surrounded. With an intent on harassing people on the street rather than focusing on ground intelligence while they carry out their duties, is it any surprise that blasts keep happening at regular intervals around Imphal?

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/10/the-bridge-on-imphal-river/