Tag: Articles-Opinions

By Garga Chatterjee
Hindi in Devanagari script is the official language of the Indian Union government and some state governments. Hindi derives its primacy from numbers. According to the 2001 census, 41.03% of the population was Hindi speakers. However, the census definition of Hindi is extremely wide and people are counted as Hindi speakers even if they don`™t call their language `Hindi`. Census Hindi includes Western Hindi (but not Urdu), Eastern Hindi, non-Maithili Bihari languages (including Bhojpuri), Pahari languages and Rajasthani languages `“ even if the speakers did not report their language as `Hindi`. These numbers don`™t do justice to the real diversity of the languages that are counted as `Hindi`. I have often experienced this first-hand. Let me recount an example.

As I researcher in human vision, I am associated with a project that brings congenitally blind children from the interior villages of the Hindustan region of the Indian Union to Delhi. Many of them come from the Gonda district of Uttar Pradesh. As these children are blind from birth, they remain almost exclusively at home, are so poor that they don`™t have access to radio or television and are hence exposed mostly to their mother-tongue and not the Hindi that operates in larger towns, schools and government offices. When Delhi natives asked these children questions in Delhi-area Hindi, they vaguely understood. The reverse, that is, understanding the spoken language of the children by the Delhi natives, was even worse. Communication became smooth through interpreters who in this case were relatives of the children. They had visited big towns at long distances from their village homes and had some exposure to Bollywood films. The blind children spoke Awadhi. Awadhi speakers are at least 38 million strong, according to 2001 data and are by themselves the 29th largest linguistic community in the world. According to the census, these blind children and the Delhi natives, both speak the same language `“ Hindi.

Given the resources available to the linguistic form that passes off as standard Hindi and the wide name recognition it receives officially through primary education infrastructure, the tendency of self-identify as a `Hindi` speaker has increased over the decades. This has meant, younger generations in families that used to self-identify as Awadhi speakers now claim themselves to be Hindi speakers. Among the top 10 census languages of the Indian Union, Hindi is the only one whose proportion of speakers in population has increased every decade, for the last 4 decades. For all the other 9 languages, the proportion of speakers has gone down between 1971 and 2001. While this may signal the success of `Hindi`, the biggest casualties have been those languages which are now classified as `Hindi` but were not called `Hindi` even 150 years ago. While speakers of non-Hindi languages like Tamil, Bangla, Kannada, etc. have official language status in various states with strong and widespread education infrastructure in those languages, Awadhi, probably the single-largest linguistic sub-group within census `Hindi`, has no such distinction. This is especially unfortunate for a language that had for centuries produced some of the most widely read and cherished works of literature that remain alive in the popular culture of a wide tract of the Hindustan region of the Indian Union. Ironically, Awadhi comes closest to official recognition in the form of Fiji Hindi, being the language of the indentured labourers from the Awadhi heartland who were shipped to Fiji before Awadhi and Hindi were conflated. Bhojpuri, also classified as `Hindi`, has fared slightly better than Awadhi in garnering infrastructure like textbooks and TV channels for its charcha among its speakers. Even then, that is miniscule compared to its size (about 40 million) and does not do justice to its rich long tradition of producing literary works of the highest grade. In Delhi-centric `Indian` imagination, speaking Bhojpuri has become associated with being comical, rustic and backward. Outside its native speakers, contemporary Bhojpuri music is largely known for being the medium for sexually explicit songs for male consumption. With rural to urban migrations being on the rise and schools being the primary sources of literacy, these two forces in synergy serve as the great transformers of the diverse world of Hindustani languages into a more homogenous form of Hindi that combines elements from Khariboli (the language around Delhi), Bollywood and the highly Sanskritized official `Hindi` `“ a transformation that may be happening slowly but is happening surely. In the face of continuous official Hindi imposition, the continued survival of Awadhi, Bhojpuri and other people`™s languages are a testament to their immense resilience and the depth of their roots in their speaker`™s lives and dreams. There is a method to the assault on these languages and their slow destruction follows a well-known pattern. At first, it starts with people`™s languages being replaced by imposed languages in education, official work and big money commerce. Then it starts affecting all other aspects of life outside one`™s home. And then it invades homes and communities. The assaulted languages survive in domestic space and then go on to become the language of older people and of very intimate emotions. And then one day they are gone. And with that an alternative way of living and dreaming disappears. Destruction of a language is a crime against the whole of humanity.

The politics of jacking up the number of Hindi speakers started in the colonial period when the Hindu-Hindustani was in contest with Muslim-Hindustani. The call for distinctiveness between these two variants reflected the political fissures of the time. The need to recruit Bhojpuri speakers and Awadhi speakers and many others like speakers of Pahari resulted in the steamrolling of real distinctions at the grassroots. Hindu high-caste domination of `Hindi` language politics ensured lower-caste rural voices being shut out when language enumeration rules were set-up. Simultaneously, there was a conscious process of Sanskritizing Khariboli by expunging it of Persian influences and then imposing it on the large mass of passive recruits. The resulting Hindi is what one reads in Government of India circulars and its official state radio. That `Hindi` was so alien to Balraj Sahani, the legendary Hindi-film actor, that he had once commented that radio newsreaders typically said, `Ab Hindi mein khabar suneih` (Now hear the news in Hindi) but what he heard was `Ab khabar mein `Hindi` suneih` (Now hear Hindi in the news).

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/09/hindi-fattened-by-swallowing-other-languages/

By Laifungbam Debabrata Roy

In the context of the present heated ILPS campaign for an appropriate law, a sort of “legal barrier”, to control migrants entering Manipur, we need to consider some sobering thoughts. Migrants and migration has always been a human and social behavioural characteristic all over the world. Would we be here today if our ancestors did not migrate?

Just yesterday, on 25 August 2015, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, François Crepeau, called on the European Union to establish a human rights-based, coherent and comprehensive migration policy* which makes mobility its central asset. `It is the only way in which the EU can reclaim its border, effectively combat smuggling and empower migrants,` he said.

Migration is here to stay. Building fences, using tear gas and other forms of violence against migrants and campaign supporters, detention, withholding access to basics such as shelter, food or water and using threatening language or hateful speech will not stop migrants from coming or trying to come.

Territorial sovereignty is about controlling the border, knowing who comes in and who leaves. It has never been about sealing the border to migration. Democratic borders are porous by nature. Providing migrants with legal and safe mobility solutions will ensure such a control. This message is not understood by those outside who have a stake in migration into Manipur, with the resultant hostility and resistance – such as we have seen in the nascent efforts by the so-called NEPO with a call for another “economic blockade” of Manipur from the Cachar District of Assam.

It is necessary to develop a strong public discourse on diversity and mobility as cornerstones for contemporary societies in Manipur. This seems to be sadly absent in present day Manipur! Opening up the regular labour markets through smart visas allowing people to come to look for work and incentivise them to return if they don`™t find the job in question would allow for a much better regulated and controlled official labour market. This requires that our government must pull up its socks, start acting and not put its foot into its mouth every time. It is our duty to clearly enunciate the reasons and methods being sought to be applied, so that the common person across our borders can also understand.

There is need to exercise great caution that such measures as are being sought must be supported with sanctions against employers who exploit irregular migrants in underground labour markets (in agriculture, construction, care or hospitality). This would considerably reduce the pull factor they exercise on irregular migrants and further reduce the market for recruiters, smugglers and exploitative employers.

Safeguarding the mobility of migrants saves lives. We cannot turn a blind eye to the fact that in many areas of India today, there are deeply exploitative and abusive structures and practices that discriminate againts people. They are vulknerable to human rights violations, and we, in Manipur, should not be party to this trend or practice.

Our land is an integral part of a gateway between three great sub-regions of the world – South, South-East and Far East Asia. It has been so from ancient times. This has become even more relevant today with the coming of the Asian Highway and Trans-Asian Railway, both of which will transit Manipur. This is already an established fact. Yet, we hear repeated comments and calls to get ready for this great transition that is imminent.

Talking about `flows`™, `foreigners`, `marauders`™, and `swarms`™ is an unsubtle way of dismissing the legitimacy of the migrants`™ claim to human rights, by creating images linking them to toxic pollution or cultural disasters. We are talking about men, women, children and even babies, who have faced traumatic and extremely harrowing experiences. These are people just like us, and none of us have the moral high ground to say that we would never do the same if we were in their shoes.

The political and popular discourse in Manipur concerning the ILPS campaign has seen a race to the bottom in the anti-migrant sentiments and use of inappropriate language which is often linked to criminalising migrants. Migrants are human beings with rights. When we dehumanise others, we dehumanise ourselves.

Manipur`s leaders must show moral and political leadership in fighting much more vigorously racism, xenophobia and hate crime, in consolidating the common human rights culture that is now framing the evolution of all traditions, in strengthening the free movement of persons throughout the region while developing regulated mobility solutions at its external borders, and in celebrating the diversity of cultures and religions as enrichment for everyone, citizens and foreigners alike.

(#) The opinions expressed in this note are not of CORE but of the author`s.
(*) Check the Special Rapporteur`™s June 2015 report on the EU, `Banking on mobility over a generation`, (A/HRC/29/36): http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/RegularSessions/Session29/Pages/ListReports.aspx

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/08/a-note-on-the-question-of-migrants-and-migration/

By Garga Chatterjee

While the Indian Union and Pakistan celebrated the transfer of power from London to New Delhi and Karachi (something that goes by the name independence in these parts of the world), a twitter hashtag made news on 15th of August 2015. #StopHindiImposition was trending among the all India top 5. This was a well-coordinated campaign from citizens who wanted to bring their demands for linguistic equality to be brought into public notice. Such an act, `especially`™ on 15th August was termed by some as being `anti-national`™. From when did asking for linguistic equality and fighting against non-consensual imposition of something become an anti-national act `“ unless being patriotic and being for Hindi imposition are the same? It is precisely this right to protest unilateral impositions, among other things, that were supposed to have been achieved on 15th August 1947, or so we were made to believe.

Freedom also means equality. This means no one should have more or less advantage in any sphere of life, just because of his or her mother-tongue. I will give two sets of examples. There are a million things that a non-Hindi mother-tongue person cannot do in mother-tongue in the Indian Union and this becomes especially stark when one goes down the socio-economic ladder. One cant write to parliamentary committees in their mother-tongue (thus cutting out a majority of the people from the legislative process), cant expect public sector banks to provide forms, documents and ATM choices in their mother-tongue even in their own states and areas, cant expect air-plane safety announcements to be in the major languages of the origin and destination even when both are in non-Hindi regions (ironically, foreign airlines have announcements in Tamil, Malayalam, Bengali, etc for flights to Indian destinations where these languages dominate), can`™t expect that their Prime Minister will go abroad and open their own language centre in a foreign country as part of PR and `soft-power`™ projection, can`™t have passports and other documents in their own language (Canada does, Switzerland does in 5 languages, even a neighbouring repressor of minority ethnicity like Sri Lanka mentions both Sinhalese and Tamil, many others do), can`™t argue in their courts in their mother-tongue in non-Hindi states, can`™t take competitive exams like IIT, IAS and a host of other `national`™ exams in their mother-tongue, can`™t expect in an age of increasing digitization of information that `national`™ websites will also be in their mother-tongue, can`™t expect that `national`™ institutions do essay competitions for children who are non-Hindi, can`™t expect that Income Tax website and forms are intelligible in the mother-tongues of the majority of tax-payers, can`™t expect signsboards in Lok Sabha in their own language (Singapore parliament house, ironically again, has signs in Tamil and 3 other languages), has to put up with disrespectful things like reservation chart of train between Chennai and Coimbatore being in Hindi but not in Tamil, can`™t expect that central government and PSU bank employees will be paid cash incentives to learn some Indian language other than Hindi (hence non-Hindi speakers fund the cash-incentive based promotion and learning of Hindi – clearly a Bengali learning Tamil won`™t link anyone in any way that `matters`™ or result in `national integration`™!), can`™t expect their own mother-tongue signage in trains and metros in areas where they are linguistic minorities (Hindi signs exist everywhere in Bengaluru`™s Namma Metro, a city where Hindi doesn`™t figure in the 3 most spoken languages in the city), can`™t expect Central government schemes and missiles to have names that mean nothing in Hindi but are meaningful in other Indian languages (while the reverse seems to be the rule) can`™t expect that CISF-CRPF-RPF-Army-BSF will speak and understand language of non-Hindi locals (but you can`™t find a government paid Khaki in UP who doesn`™t understand Hindi), can`™t expect government adverts about cleaning India, greening India, making India and what not in non-Hindi Indian languages to be in newspapers and bill-boards of Hindi regions (while the reverse is true), can`™t expect that their population proportion will atleast hold somewhat constant if not grow (no points for guessing whether population proportion of major non-Hindi language speakers have decreased or increased since 1947 – and the decrease closely parallels the increase in proportion of Hindi speakers), can`™t expect Central government to fund World Kannada Conference or Tamil Language Day, can`™t expect a Bangla film to have a CBFC certificate in Bangla, can`™t expect someone to `break into`™ their non-Hindi mother-tongue in English language TV channels, can`™t expect government websites that cater to the poorest (like MNREGA information) or government TV channels that cater to farmers (like Kisan TV) to have anything in their non-Hindi mother tongue (as Mohammed Shafi points out `farmers of non-Hindi states have real challenges to overcome. Let`™s not include `learning Hindi` and ridicule them`™. The list goes on and on. When a nation-state treats huge sections of its citizens as second class, do those citizens have the same obligation of loyalty to that system as the first class citizens? Only a twisted and hypocritical supremacist can claim to believe in `diversity`™ and then unilaterally dictate which specific kind of `common`™ interface that needs to be developed. Who are these `non-Hindis`™ anyways? They are peoples with individual populations as large as Canada, Mexico, Italy, Egypt, etc depending on which state we are talking about. 5 of their languages figure among the top 20 languages with the largest number of native speakers.

If you are discriminated on the basis of your mother-tongue, are you independent or free? The answer is no. Who rules over you then? Well, those who oppose linguistic equality and hence want to continue the discrimination against your mother-tongue, that is, against your mother, you and your coming generations till your kind gives in to this discrimination as `normal` and considers New Delhi sponsored promotion of a particular language also as `normal`. If you learn to speak, think, write and feel in that imposed language, can sing Bollywood tunes to be included in `national` antaksharis on TV and feel included in informal settings among `cosmopolitan`™ friends in Mumbai, Delhi and increasing Bengaluru, you will become the kind of citizen New Delhi wants you to be. This is not accidental and is by design. This is not some new design either. Macaulay had something similar in mind but he is now dead. His ghost now speaks official Hindi and writes that in Devanagari script. Any imposition works best using the resources of the people on whom the imposition takes place. Curzon knew that then. The power-that-be know that now.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/08/opposing-hindi-imposition-is-not-antinational/

A translation by Dr. Amarjit Moirangthem

When he returned back from Manipur to Kanto in Kabow Valley, his birth place, everything had changed. His home was nowhere seen. The Burmese people had occupied the place and made their home. On enquiry he learnt that 2 years after he left his home, the British who then tooked over and ruled Burma, they had killed his father and brothers. They burned down their homes into ashes. His mother and sisters ran away and were neither found nor returned back again. The British army knew all about him, joining the INA troops and helping the Japanese who came to conquest Burma during the war in 1943. So his family was persecuted. And those families in the village who didn`™t flee during the war had got assimilated with the then Burmese society. And thereafter the new Burmese Government banned speeking of Meiteilon, not allowing the natives to speak and communicate using their mother-tongue in public. Only they spoke in their homes quitely. The restrictions could be accounted for one of the main reasons for the diminishing population of native Meiteis in Burma.
In those years he has been staying with San-U, a Burmese orphan.

Nongsaba Ningthouja, the 80 years old bluffing to Shan Yu, ` Last year, I went to Mandalay Bamon Leikai for the Pakhangba Haraoba celebration, there met some fellow meiteis from Manipur. They asked about me, and I told them all about me and my life. After listening my story , they asked me to come to Manipur. They gave assurance for welcoming me with pomp and ceremony. They would request the government for a freedom fighter pension too. I am very much eager to go to Manipur, my Motherland. I have been just waiting for your arrival.`

“Yes uncle, but what if those Indian sepoys shoot you ? “

“When I could lay my feet on my motherland, let them shoot me through my chest. My blood drench will into the soil and enrich those green floras, and my lifeless flesh will feed the hungry stomachs of the wild beasts making them healtheir . Does it matter?`

After a momentry silence, feeling remorsed over his own promise of 45 years , never to return again to his mother-land , the old Nongshaba laments,“ I feel so insolent. Let me go to Manipur.`

At the old man`s insistent tantrums, the next day San-U went and arranged a cart and then they started their journey towards Moreh. Laying down in supine, gazing his eyes over the sky full of stars twinkling around, he rememembered his past moments one after another.

“Even though I am not trained, please teach me how to trigger a gun, then after I will take care myself. Let me join the war too“, Nongshaba Mangang begging to a Captain of Major General Md Zaman Kiani , the commandent of 1st division of INA (Gandhi Brigade) who came through the Kabow valley, along with the Japanese forces.

Thinking awhile for a moment, the captain asked,“ Being a Manipuri, would you be able lead the troops from Kabow valley towards Manipur ?
`Definitely , why not? `

“Thank you, that`™s all, Jai Hind`™`™

On the Commandent Kiyani`s recommendation, he became a soldier of INA. A brief training for few days, then he led the troops and invaded through the hills, villages one after another, then finally reached Moirang in 1944.

The Indian National Tricolor Flag was hoisted at Moirang, 14 April 1944 . The INA jawans gave salute, they sang together the national song of India, Vande Matarum. Then the jawans gave the guard of honour. The moment enthralled his heart, and tears rolled out of his eyes . And the tear droplets sparkled a spectrum of colours around, hallucinating him the 7 coloured Pakhangba emblamed flag of Manipur, remined him of the past how the British bloodsheded those brave sons of Manipur. The British gave away his birth-place, Kabow Valley, which had been a territory of Manipur for more than 360 years to Burma, by forcibly signing the Treaty Of Yandaboo in 1826 . After the event Gambhir Singh, the king of Manipur died a broken heart in depression . Nongshaba thought himself , if the cat is driven out, then Manipur could regain kabow valley after 100 years. He yearns for killing a thousands of enemy British at the pull of a trigger. His heart pounding over his chest, he itched for rushing towards Imphal breaking from the parade.

The Jawans marching towards Imphal, reached Maibam Lotpa Ching (Red Hill) at Nambol. The seasonal rainfall too came much earlier before the monsoon. The Battle continued for 4 months, and necessary artillaries, ammunitions and rations didn`t arrive , the soldiers suffered great s et backs. Dbesides, the Japanese air support were lacking, the British army took more upperhand and pushed on, at last the INA troops had to retreat back.

Returning back to Moirang, after receiving Netaji`s special order of the day, he requested to the Commandent Kiyani “ Sir , I am not pulling my feet back from here. Allow me to plant the saplings of freedom, so I could help the INA when they come back here again .`™`™

The INA troops had went back in despair. But Nongsaba became a runaway. As he know was not safe in Moirang, he ran towards Mayang Imphal Konchak through the Loktak lake by a boat, and took refuged in a home of his Grand-father`s brother Lourembam Tonsana, telling them that he had come from Cachar, Assam. There he learned a secret about his family, that was when he was about 3 months old, the people came to know that his father has married a woman of the same clan from a far off place, the news reaches the King`s ear. They were outcasted and pushed off to Kwatha. But his stubborn parent decided not to stay in Manipur at all and went to settle at Kanto village in Kabow Valley. There were other Meitei villages too including Tashikhong, Sayachan, Homlin, Mwidi, Tanalan which they didn`™t choose. The Meitei people nearby the bank of Ningthi River were the descendents of those who had settled during King Kyamba`s conquest of Kabow valley in 1471, they came as soldiers to guard the valley. Some of them includes the captives of the Burmese taken during seven years devastation of Manipur. But only a few people among them were able who speak clearly native Meiteilon.

Few days later, he heard the news of the Indian Tricolor Flag being replaced by the Union Jack of British at Moirang. One after another he heard, Netaji got killed in a plane crash in Taipei , two atom bombs were exploded in Hiroshima and Nagashaki , finally Japan surrendered. The first one, broke his heart, latter torn him apart and all his hopes were crushed into dust.

Years of toil and hardship dashes into thin air. And 3 years later India got independence in 1947, Manipur too. While the people in Kabow were campaigning to request the king of Manipur to proclaim the Kabow valley as a juristion of Manipur, a sudden bolt from blue fell upon their hopes, the news of Merger Agreement came . Sardar Vallah Bhai Patel had asked the then Governor of Assam to invite Maharaja Budhachandra for a durbar at Shillong. There, at gunpoint the king was made to sign the agreement October 15, 1949 and and the authority of Manipur went to the hands of the Indian Government. The bulletin blew out in a strong wind extinguishing the flames over the evening lamps in everyone`s home across Manipur ,and ignited a volcano into their hearts.

A broken while Nongsaba making an effort to meet Hijam Irabot , the news of the two Prime Ministers Nehru of India and U Nu of Burma reaching Imphal for a meeting came acrossed. The people of Kabow were delighted again alike the beetles hovering around when the monsoon rain arrives, they were urging their desire of incorporation of Kabow valley into Manipur. Some political experts had spread that, the Indian Government would certainly acknowlege the sentiments of people of Manipur, and the two leaders of both countries will countersigned an agreement annulling the old treaty between the British and Burma, ragarding the kabow valley. then Kabow Valley will again be reincluded in Manipur.` Nongshaba`s happiness was splell no bound. He went to Imphal for acertaining the news along with some of his followers, riding in a bullockart. As no person was allowed inside the meeting premise, they were standing aside the road in Babupara under the shade of a tree, waiting for the good news.

The news then came “ the two neighbour countries settle for peace in between and the desputed valley of Kabow finally belongs to Burma .` Dated 15/10/1953.
Nongsaba punched his hand onto the trunk of tree exasperating in despair and blood spilled over the hand into the ground. The people around had tried to stop him. The discontended many people who couldn`t consoled their broken hearts, began to protest shouting, grudging resentment ,and to prevent the raising riot, the police beat the people, disbursing them.

The dispirited youths then gathered to mend their discontended hearts, raising imbroglios to a horizon of insurgency. The Indian government percieved Nongsaba Mangang as one of those who gave impetus to the raising movement and put a reward for any information related to his whereabout and a severe penalty to those who helped or give refuged to him, alike the British put rewards over Yuvraj Koireng and Thangal general. With many informers who were envious of the reward, and many who feared the penalty , the armies and the police left no place for him to hide, finally he had to turn back .
“Uncle`™`™, San U awakening Nongshaba.

Shaken up, he opened his eyes, it was getting dawn.

(A Burmese militant addressed one another as“ Thakin`™`™ meaning master.)

“Thakin, we are reaching Namphalong Market. The land across the gate is Moreh .`™`™

“ Thakin, would you like to go to Manipur along me ? Havn`t you heard about many of your comrades at Chandel Leikul refugee camp ?`
In Burmese tradition, the grown up boys have to spend in a bhuddhist monastry for some time and then on an auspicious day for novitiation, they celebrate Shinbyu- a special rite of passage . Just 5 days left before his ceremony, the military junta came to arrest San-U for standing against their military leader Ney Win. San-U escaped and ranaway . He has been underground hiding and fighting as a supporter of pro-Democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi. On the occasion of Burmese new year festival Thingyan , he had come to see his good old guardian attiring in a traditional Gawbhaung shirt and a lungyi.

“Thakin, that`™s impossible. I` ll never leave my country.`™`™

Caressing his hand over his long white bears around his chin, Nongshaba says, “ It is not wise to give your life for the motherland. If you die, who will free the country ? To attain freedom, you have to run and hide. “™.

After taking a deep breath ,“ Today , my people will recieve and embrace me as a patriot. At this last moment, I am disclosing my true identity. Being borned at Kabow valley, you are struggling for a democratic Burma nation . And I have been fighting for uniting of Kabow Valley to Manipur.`™`™
Without any word, San-U just starred at him like a prey. And his eyes are filled with tears.

Nongshaba continues,“ Thakin, my brothers in Imphal will be welcoming me with granduer. And they will acknowledge me a freedom fighter with garlands around my neck. I will be getting a pension too. Bless you have a great future, may you sing your national ANTHEM aloud with pride .. Kaba Ma Kyei ( till the rnd of world, Burma`¦).`

“Thakin,`¦..!`™`™ with a heavy voice.

“When you succeed in your struggle and free your country, you must convinced your fellow Thakins , to save the remaining few Kathes in the 50 odd Kathey juwas (Meitei villages) and not let them extinct. Allow them to speak Manipuris not only at their homes, but also in public, schools, colleges, markets. I trust you will allow them to name and address themselves in their own mother tongue . Allow the Kabiyas (siblings of a meitei and other community) to enter the temples of the kathes Poonas and unite them to save their identity. Do promise me.`™`™

The guy whom they sent for the gate pass and Indian exchange came back with the Indian currency notes. Together they cried awhile and parted.
“ O mother, my beloved Mother Manipur, there is no place alike you, elsewhere in the world.`™`™ Nongshaba passed across the gate and reach Manipur. Laughing his heart, he waved his hand towards San-U , his final bade.

“Hold ! `™`™shouted some Indian sepoys.

Then they arrested him. They took all his moneys, his earnings for many years.
3 days after, the daily newspapers published “ a suspected Taliban terrorist was shot dead while trying to cross the border. One 9mm pistol, one hand grenade recovered .`™`™

His decaying corpse after remaining many days at RIMS morgue, the Imphal Municipality declared unclaimed and disposed by buring according to the islamic rituals.

( The story written by Nabakumar Nongmeikapam has won the Pacha Meetei Literary Award ,2009 , first price in the of patroitic short-story competition organised by Patriotic Writers Forum, Imphal . The story was published in the book Train Amagi Khonchat by the auther.)

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/08/an-unsung-nationalist/

By Urmila Chanam

It was so clear to me what my ageing parents needed when I took out some time for them.Until that moment, my eyes wore a dark glass that got more fogged the busier I got. They only needed love and an assurance that I cared for them. Everything else they had in abundance and could easily buy or organize. The world over, this is the only thing that parents in their ageing years cannot trade it for any amount of money. The world over, this is the only thing that their children are finding it increasingly difficult to give- their time and their love.

When I landed in Imphal, I was disheartened by my short holiday of just a week that I would spend at home, a bungalow built by father after his retirement. The few days of holiday I was entitled to in a year either went in sick leave or accumulating them to go to Imphal for a longer stay. This resulted most often in not taking the trip home when I wanted to. A lot of waiting sometimes deprives you of the real pleasure of surprise visits and spontaneous re-unions.

Our home in my father`™s leikai is a home which stands on a foundation of several loving memories. Leaving our ancestral home where my grandparents lived with their army of grandchildren, their several sons and their wives was an end to one era and witnessing the transition of our new home from one room to the several rooms was the beginning of another. The walls that were yet to be plastered and unpainted windows that did not open completely owing to the concrete sediments at the window sill to the time we had beautiful windows and lace curtains to adorn them, my parent`™s home and a visit to see that home remains my favorite holiday destination till today.

My work remains unpacked in my suitcase along with my clothes that ordinarily go to hang in the wardrobe the moment I get home. `I don`™t want to waste any time,`™ I told myself. Mother and father asked me if I had any meetings during my stay. Oh, I cannot tell you the joy I felt when I could say, `I have no work this time. I will be home all the days with you.`™

I could sense another personality take over my parents. It is almost like they chose to share a whole new set of things now that they knew I had time. This also troubled me to recollect how my own preoccupation could have blocked such precious communication in previous accounts.

I learnt that mother had some help available with her house chores and she was no more burdened with them, we had electricity almost throughout the day, that Impact TV agent in our locality never quite responded to her request for taking subscription and she wanted me to lodge a complaint. I also noticed father was not going for golf as often as he used to before.

I also found myself put on an altogether different personality in response. I switched over to different kind of accomplishments I wanted to achieve- simpler and more meaningful and it all revolved around my home.

It did not take any thinking to decide what I would be doing in the next few days-spring cleaning! I summed up the paraphernalia of buckets, mugs, wipers, Colin spray, detergent powder, wood polish, brush and broom as I set to wipetable tops, huge wooden cupboards that you find only in Manipur in Meitei households(I wonder why cupboards are so big, heavy and immovable in my community), paintings, lamps, bed posts and other pieces of furniture. The curtains and upholstery went for a wash, the carpets for drying in the sun and a lot of stuff needed to be just thrown away.

The wooden cabinets containing old books were the best break in my cleaning project as I would peep into a book every now and then and end up reading paragraphs all the while standing with a broom leaning on my knee. I also came across a very tempting product pamphlet from Oriflamewhich made me make mental notes of what I could order only to find that it was a brochure from the year 2008!

Father on seeing the commotion in the house offered to change the batteries in the wall clock that stood in the living room. Mother served rounds of tea with freshly made pakodas. My daughter`™s contribution was running around happily and putting on music for us. It was like how it used to be when I was growing up. None of us had forgotten how it had been those days.

Both my parents appear so happy and jubilant. So much information is coming forth from them about themselves. I know so much more about them in these few days than I have known in the last few years I was chasing deadlines. I have drawn so much closer to my parents.

The cleaning is all done now. My parent`™s home might have not needed it much for the onlooker`™s eye but to a daughter, the corners that need young hands to reach to clean were so visible.

As the day for me to return to my city is drawing closer, I let out a deep sigh of contentment. How wrong I was to think that seven days is too short to do anything worthwhile! In this little time, I could express to my parents, who live all by themselves,that I care for them and I would chose coming home to going anywhere else for a holiday.

(Urmila Chanam is a consultant of knowledge management in HIV/AIDS working for a multilateral organization, FHI 360, managing a USAID project for Orphaned and Vulnerable Children. She also heads a global campaign `Breaking the Silence`™ which is about menstrual hygiene management and banishing taboos around menstruation.Arecipient of the National Laadli Award on Gender Sensitivity in 2015, she has been working with agencies like World Pulse (USA), WSSCC (Geneva), Voices of Human Rights (USA), Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS),World Bank and the National AIDS Control Organization (NACO). Her singular effort in all her work is to connect with the grass-root and take forward real issues to a platform from where she can influence policy decisions.)

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/08/holding-hands-till-the-last/

By Ravi Nitesh

Despite being in the ranking of `world`™s largest`™, democracy in India, unfortunately, has not brought uniformly distributed feeling of democratic independence, in all regions of present Indian territory. It is the same country where , it seems that state failed itself on the scale of democratic values, when it comes on `special states`™ of `North East Region in India`™ and of `Jammu and Kashmir`™. These states are under continuous monitoring and filled with heavy deployment of armed forces and facing a kind of `military rule`™ where no one can complaint against soldiers, despite the acts of `murders, rapes and other kind of such crimes`™ committed by them. It seems that a democratic state surrenders itself even in vocabulary, where it sees `crimes`™ as acts done by civil population, while it does not categories acts of `killings`™, `rapes`™ `torture`™ etc under `crimes`™, if it is being done by state functionaries like armed forces.

It seems that `killing`™ is not a crime in these states; instead it depends on who did it. Though the same practice has been adopted at many parts around globe, but there is a difference that in other parts (non AFSPA imposed regions), killing is not a crime, as it depends on who killed, and `to whom, how and for what`™. Unfortunately, world`™s largest democratic state feels shame to ask these questions of `whom, how and what`™ in AFSPA imposed states. Not asking such question is carelessness and loophole on one side and on other, state denies its citizens to ask such questions or to raise voice against such acts through providing special provisions under Armed Forces Special Powers Act Section 6 where no inquiry, or criminal proceedings can be done against any armed force personals without pre sanction of central government. It is like developing a culture of being illogical, being unaccountable , being unquestionable, being opaque for armed forces and being under continuous oppression and fear for common citizens. It is discrimination of common civilians by state. It is something that not only violates human rights, but even denies the right to ask question, legality and fair inquiry against any act done by armed force personals.

Now, recently when AFSPA was repealed from Tripura, there was much happiness and celebration among people. While now, Ministry of Home Affairs extended AFSPA in Nagaland for another term by declaring that the whole state is disturbed area. Also on Arunachal Pradesh, government denied to provide information about AFSPA when it was asked by a RTI activist. Moreover, recent launch of Amnesty International India report named Justice Denied on Jammu and Kashmir, reported many such stories of victims where people faced extra ordinary powers granted to soldiers. By all such acts and reports, it is a clear message that state is incapable to deal the situation in these areas through civil police, and through ordinary rules of law and order that is applicable over whole country. Instead, state adopted a rigorous strategy to deal with, provided extra ordinary powers to `armed forces`™ called and deployed in these areas.

When it comes to show what it achieved, it can be seen that it achieved so much discontent and dissatisfaction of common people in these areas, it made their lives uneasy and in continuous suspicion, fear and threats. State is happy (?) that it is continuously working on the same strategy since last many years, more than a decade in J&K and more than two decades in North East states and still , it is not providing impeccable service to citizens.

In this way, state is developing a contradiction on its own existence, where democracy and its meaning for people, comes under scanner. It is normalizing violence through adopting it as a tool, instead of adopting a long term non violent solution. Making such temporary measures of violence for such a long period in a region has made the whole region a land of conflict and affected with a disorder where violence is everyday story. It is something that no democracy ever wish to achieve, and it provides evidence that how understanding the value of democracy , speaking about democracy and being a democracy are different and still require a sense to be achieved , at least for India.

(The writer is Petroleum Engineer, Freelance writer, Convener- Save Sharmila Solidarity Campaign)

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/08/sustained-violence-of-state-through-afspa/

By Bobby Sorokhaibam

For the past few months, Manipur has been rocked by the demand for an effective law against the unregulated inflow of migrants who are generally referred to as `outsiders`™ to mean both foreigners and other migrants from outside the state, though from within India. The intensity of the movement has been matched by a maze of writings mostly in support of the ongoing movement. Voices of self-introspection and critiques have been missing by large. This absence may be attributed to a general societal agreement over the detrimental consequences that uncontrolled migration poses to the indigenous populations of the state. Census figures based on 2001 count, frequently cited in these writings, put the migrant population to 7.04 lakhs outnumbering the combined population of all tribes put together that stands at 6.71 lakhs. The details of the 2011 census are not yet in public knowledge. The size of the migrant population is second only to that of the Meeteis, the majority community of the state only by a few thousands. Understandably in this scenario, concerns have been raised regarding the continued survival and identity of indigenous communities. These concerns range from the cultural to economic spheres most prominently, the pressure on land and labour. The tiny area of the valley that hosts most of the population of the state despite accounting for only about one-tenth of total area but does not enjoy any protection against transfers of land ownership that the hills enjoy, is one major point of reference too. While as concerns, all these have existed for some years now, the dormant anxieties have blown into full fire in recent months, resulting in the process to the death of a young school student at the hands of the police. This piece intends to raise certain questions on, and thus point to the urgency of reflecting upon, the mode and methods of this movement that has not shown any signs of let-up even amidst a most devastating flood in recent memory.

A Misplaced Shibboleth

First, when a cause is launched in the form of a people`™s movement, it is imperative that the leadership spells out clearly the objectives of the movement. The clarity of the objective is not necessary for the purposes of garnering support only but equally importantly in case of mass movements, to ensure that supporters display the right attitude both to the protest as well as to those with differing opinions and arguments. While the present movement is for regulating or controlling migration, the shibboleth accompanying it is Inner Line Permit (ILP). Placards demand ILP, while the demand and protest are co-ordinated by the Joint Committee on Inner Line Permit System (JCILPS). However, given that what has come to be known as ILP owes its origin to a colonial law, the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation Act, 1873, ILP cannot easily relieve itself of the colonial spatial and cultural imageries. The questions then naturally arise in relation to each of the three words that form ILP. To take just one- Inner Line from whom, Inner of what, or Inner from where?

While these questions may sound irrelevant, it is important to remember that a savagery/civilization distinction was at play in the history of these lines. The protective function of these lines as was envisioned later can come to limelight only through a display of the right spirit by the mass of participants. If mysteries mask the shibboleths, clarities do not dawn on the participants.

Question of Ethicality

Secondly, protests in a democracy are rooted in questions of justice. And questions of justice by their very nature often draw legitimacy from a deeper, albeit often invisible, source of morality and ethics. The demand for ILP in as much as it is propelled by the fear of indigenous communities being annihilated appeals to a moral core. Even if this demand is framed in the language of a political right, drawing from the UN Declaration on Rights of Indigenous Peoples, 2007, it is not a right like any other. Invoking such a right does not mean advocating reciprocity of exclusivism. Rather, it founds itself on a political desirability of differentiation. In other words, a political demand of such kind necessarily carries within itself a universal moral stance since it assumes that any group or community in similar set of circumstances should be entitled to claim such a right.

Critics who are eager to dismiss any reference to morality also easily forget that any such dismissals tend to spill over to the mode and methods of protests.

It may safely be concluded that there is wide social consensus over the need for an effective law against uncontrolled immigration which is visible both in the spatial reach of the movement as well as in its participation by people across ethnic or religious lines, which is rather rare in recent Manipur. It must however be remembered that a consensus does not legitimate itself, or legitimacy does not exhaust itself in consensus. On the other hand, it is undermined by any real or perceived lack of moral core. Mention may be made of the death of a student in police firing, the news of a lady having to deliver her baby in a vehicle because she was not allowed to proceed further to a hospital, and many other unreported cases vehicles on emergency health services being stoned.

Recent debates about whether Robinhood really knew what ILP was all about is not the issue. The polemics of the question only invites rhetorical counter-questions such as `“did all revolutionaries, men and women, who participated in the Russian revolution, know the real import of Das Capital or the immense commentaries by philosophers on the texts by Marx, Engels and Lenin, etc.?

However, when school going children in their uniforms are either `pressurised`™ or `compelled`™ to be on the streets, it does raise a question of political morality. It is for a reason that in democracies, there is a certain age of eligibility for exercising the right to franchise. Further, there is the question of the wisdom and political morality of exposing school children to police brutalities, which is almost always guaranteed in a highly militarised state like Manipur, where the police and military alike have enjoyed impunity comparable to feudalistic sadism. Few days after the death of Robinhood, when the shock and condemnation was still high, pictures were published in papers of a girl in her school uniform being dragged by the hair from behind by a policeman in such visible antipathy that the splits in the muscles of his forearm and face were prominent.It isan extremely disturbing scene, but one that elaborately paints the brutal reality that the society in Manipur has been for a long time now.

Questions of political morality are not merely concerns of the `petty bourgeoisie`™, as many self-proclaimed radicals may be in a hurry to declare. Many of the political and social issues that the people are facing are not easily classed into neat Marxist binaries of `haves`™ and `have-nots`™. For evidence, one need only to reflect on the slogan of Immigrant Workers`™ Freedom Ride, 2003- No human is illegal.

The fact that there is increasing support on the left horizon with the 2003 slogan should be a pointer to the need for a deeper reflection. Such a position is not seen to be conflicting with the principles of the UN Declaration on Indigenous rights. On the other hand, there is indeed ground to argue that capitalism would readily identify with and in fact, promote the above slogan. The question then is -how have such traditionally opposing camps come to occupy a common position; or is it really a common ground? If the answer is a definite `No`™ as it should be, it is imperative on the leaders of the movement to articulate a clear political position. Such clarity is required to save that thin line that separates xenophobia from a political movement to protect indigenous peoples. The failure of which risks producing a generation of inward looking, xenophobic people intolerant of difference. And, a society of xenophobic minds does not need migrants to annihilate it; it will do it itself, automatically!

(The writer teaches Political Science at Zakir Husain Delhi College, University of Delhi)

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/08/indigeneity-migrants-and-justice-on-the-ilps-movement/

By Garga Chatterjee

Yakub Memon was hung at the early hours 30th July 2015, after being convicted for his role in the 2003 Mumbai bomb attacks that killed hundreds of innocent people. His conviction strongly rested on his `confession`™ to the police, that used to be admissible under TADA, an infamous black-law that was widely denounced for being in violation of basic human rights and protection from false framing. This hanging in Maharashtra was preceded by live-telecast hectic activity in Lutyens Delhi. Let`s leave aside for now those who were for or against Yakub`s hanging. The amount of self-congratulation and nation-congratulation among the `unaffiliated` must have made the 68-year old Bharatmata blush. Her eyes must have widened with excitement and moistened with pride as she saw Attorney General and others doing their duty far past the midnight hour. “Grandmother, what big eyes you have!” cried today`™s child who still believes that grand-mothers are necessarily loving creatures. We know how that one ends.

I was late to return home on the night of the 29th of July. Yakub Memon would hang in a few hours. On the streets of Kolkata, very late at night, there were men at work. Human beings, like you and me, were toiling very hard in Kolkata`s streets. This road work, the product of their labour, is something whose fruits I enjoy on a daily basis. From my years of conversation with many of them, I know that their shift often goes on past sunrise, after which they do not necessarily get to rest. That some human beings may work at night when many others are sleeping is nothing exceptional. It is quite common-place. It is another matter that the essential service they provide is grossly under-compensated. It is only when those who never work this hard at any hour of the day, let alone at 3 am or 4 am, deign to do something like that, it acquires the elements of a spectacle. Words like duty and conscience do the rounds. Such selective adulation is an insult to road-makers, truck-drivers, sex-workers and millions of others who spend their nights under oppressive and life-threatening conditions, not for any greater glory to `nation`, not to stealthily `encounter` or `disappear` others, but for mere survival. I remember what my rough-living friend Janam Mukherjee once commented after witnessing an altercation between a Bhadralok in Kolkata (a tribe I belong to) and an auto-driver -`That man (the bhadralok) has not worked a single day in his life`. By work, he meant the kind of toil that an auto-driver and his tribe has to go through `“ hourly, daily, monthly, yearly, generationally. It is no wonder that the heart-warming spectacle of `rarest of the rare` 3 am work has been a runaway hit with people like us here, there and everywhere. Like when gods almost smell the armpit of humans in Dalit villages between exotic vacations. Like when gods embrace and bow to some old woman with high-power spectacles in the crowd between approving the sell-off of entire coastlines to friends-in-need. We rock.

Barring the few men and women who were part of the hectic late-night Lutyens saga not as part of job-description but as part of ethico-moral duty, the rest agreed that justice was done. The Indian Union stands in a minority among UN member nations in having death-penalty. A majority of the countries that have practised death penalty in the last 10 years call themselves `Islamic Republics` of some form. The Indian Union is the sole nation-state in South Asia that does not have Islam as the state religion but also practise the death penalty in law and practice. It is the only one that seriously considered bringing children under the ambit of death-penalty. We must have reasons to be very proud.

But not all citizens of the Indian Union share this kind of `collective conscience`™. Parties with huge support-bases like the DMK, AIADMK, Akali Dal, etc have opposed the death penalty publicly and have led strong movements against it in specific cases. If anything, they were responding to public sentiments against hanging. So not all collectives in the Indian Union have the same kind of conscience. In this nation-state of routine `encounter` killings, unmarked mass-graves, death in custody by torture, `disappearances` and other examples of Khaki manliness that have never been given the death-sentence by any court of the land, the late-night events in Lutyens Delhi will `go down in history` as the `dance of democracy`. We pay for the upkeep of this and we will continue to pay for this. And then we will go to our gods and expect them to be on our side.

Actually, there is already an unsaid ban on death penalty in the Indian Union for certain kinds of perpetrators – something that is barely concealed. While death penalty is the most visible form of murder by the state, `encounter`™ is the commonest form and `disappearance`™ is probably the most brutal form. I am nearly 100% confident that there wont ever be death penalty for `disappearances` in Kashmir, Punjab, Assam, Manipur and elsewhere, for any serving policeman for crimes done during performance of duty, for targeted massacres of Dalits by forward-castes, for cases involving crimes by BSF, CRPF and Army personnel, for murder of `Indians`™ who don`™t consider themselves Indians, for a single encounter killing, for `secret killings`™ by the SULFA and the Ikhwan, for air-bombing Indian citizens in the Indian city of Aizawl, for the killers of Thangjam Manorama, for any of the massacres of civilians in Kashmir, for rioter of Mumbai 1992-93, Bhagalpur 1989, Delhi 1984, Hashimpura 1987, Kashipur-Baranagar 1972 and many many other crimes done at the sacrificial altar of Bharatmata. As a Bengali Shakto and a worshipper of Ma Durga, blood-sacrifices in the name of false goddesses sicken me to the core.

The list of innocents whose killers will never get justice and the list of those who are regularly framed in false cases for crimes they didn`™t commit is reason enough not to leave something like death penalty in the hands of the powers-that-be. It`™s not about criminals, it is about the amount of power over people`™s lives that a state that is not worthy to be trusted should have. In such circumstances, the death penalty becomes one more tool of naked power, enforced with supreme confidence by those who are the most powerful in the Indian Union, and best-protected from the consequence of their actions and hence believe that they will never hang.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/08/not-all-citizens-of-india-share-the-vengeful-collective-conscience-which-endorses-capital-punishment/

By Garga Chatterjee

The most successful tyranny is not the one that uses force to assure uniformity, but the one that removes awareness of other possibilities, that makes it seem inconceivable that other ways are viable, that removes the sense that there is an outside. `”Allan Bloom

When there is a festival, it may create an illusion as if the `whole world`™ is happy at this moment. Or so we like to think. Solitary wails cannot be heard above the sea of laughter. For a certain segment of inhabitants of the Indian Union, the US elections are a `must-follow`. The drama this year will end sometime in November. November will also mark hopelessness in a part of this subcontinent. Irom Sharmila Chanu, the Gandhi that Gandhi never was, has already been continuing 15 years of her epic fast, protesting the torture perpetrated by the armed wing of the Indian state in Manipur, especially in the cover of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA). And she is not finished, yet. She may get 12 more years. I sincerely hope not.

A major part of the reason why the cries of Manipuri women, as exemplified by Irom Sharmila Chanu, can be ignored is the purported `insignificance`™ of Manipur in the `national`™ scene. This `national scene`™ effectively came into being in the Indian Union after the Republic was proclaimed in 1950. Even before the Indian Union was a Republic, it had managed to dismiss the democratically elected government of Manipur led by the Praja Shanti party. The Congress had fought the elections of Manipur and lost. Manipur, with an elected government and at that point not an integral part of the Union, was annexed by the Union of India, which was still not a Republic. Original sins often create particularly bad ulcers. Excision is not an option for a `modern nation state`™. Hence `insignificant`™ ulcers bleed on as the rest of the body is on pain-killers, reading history and civics dutifully from official textbooks.

The focus on the US presidential election also focused the minds of some desis on to the two other elections happening in the USA at the same time `“ those to the US Congress and the US Senate. Let us understand a few things carefully. The US Congress is analogous to the Lok Sabha of the Indian Union. But the USA is a nation constituted by a more real commitment to federalism rather than a semantic charade in the name of federalism. Hence its upper house, the US Senate is not analogous to the Rajya Sabha of the Indian Union. In the lower house in both USA and the Indian Union, the numbers of seats are meant to be proportional to the population. This represents that strand of the nation-state that gives precedence to the whole. This whole is ahistorical and is a legal instrument, though much time and money is spent in the Indian Union to create a fictional past of this legal form. The upper house in the USA represents that strand where past compacts and differing trajectories and identities are represented in the form of states. The states form the `United`™ States of America `“ hence in the Senate the unit is the state, not the individual citizen. That is why in the US Senate, each state, irrespective of population, has 2 members. This respects diversity of states and acts as a protection against the domination of more populous states and ensures that smaller states are respected and are equal stake-holders of the Union. In the Indian Union, the so-called `Rajya Sabha`™ is simply a copy of the Lok Sabha, with multiple staggered time offsets. Even in the Rajya Sabha, the seats allotted to each state are roughly proportional to its population `“ and hence at its core does not represent any different take on the Indian Union. In the Sabha of the Rajyas, the Rajyas are not the unit, making a mockery of the name itself. Manipur has 1 representative in a Rajya Sabha of 245 members. Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura altogether have 7 members in that Rajya Sabha. No group thinks of themselves as `lesser people`™ for being fewer in number. A federal democratic union is not only for the children of Bharatmata. It is a way of having a joint family with many mothers, for no one`™s mata is less important than my mata.

This pattern is replicated all across the subcontinent. When one looks to the west, one sees the autonomy of the Khanate of Kalat being usurped unilaterally as part of the `One Unit`™ scheme, again by a fresh Pakistan state that itself did not possess a republican constitution. And there too, one sees a festering ulcer that bleeds intermittently. Sweeping powers given to the Frontier Corps do not help. Nor do the extra-judicial killings and torture of young Baloch activists help. Piercing an ulcer with a dirty knife risks a general blood poisoning. Every missing person, every body-less head, every tortured torso that `appears`™ by the highway in Balochistan makes the lofty pronouncements about human rights made from Islamabad that much more hollow. And even if the Baloch decided to try to democratic path, what can they do in a system where they count for less than a tenth of the seats, in the national assembly. In November, the extra-ordinary powers of the Frontier Corps were extended in Balochistan again. Maintaining `law and order`™ is the universal answer to all protestations `“ that same cover that the British used to beat brown people into pulp. If the brutal actions of the Frontier Corps as well as the impunity enjoyed by themselves sounds familiar across the border, it is because their colonial cousins in Khaki also have a similar record of glory. It is this impunity that has broader implications. Live footages of Sarfaraz Shah`™s killing or Chongkham Sanjit`™s murder will not lead to anyone`™s pension being withheld. Behind the scenes, there might well be pats on the backs for the `lions`™.

It is useful to understand why it is in the best interest of a democratic Union that the Rajya Sabha be constituted on a fundamentally different paradigm than the Lok Sabha, rather than replicating it. In contrast to the `whole`™ viewpoint, the regions of the Indian Union and Pakistan have diverse pasts, some of which have hardly ever been intertwined with the `centre`™, however defined. This also means that concerns, aspirations and visions of the future also differ based on a region`™s perceived attitude towards a monolithic `whole`™. A federal democratic union is one that does not discriminate between aspirations and is rather flexible enough to accommodate differing aspirations. Rather than using `unity in diversity`™ as an anxious mantra of a paranoid monolith, one might want to creatively forge a unity whose first step is the honest assessment of diversity by admitting that the Indian Union or Pakistan are really multi-national nation-states.

Irom Sharmila`™s struggle is failing partly because in this fight for dignity of the Manipuri people, the subcontinental constitutions drowns the voice of the victim in the crowd of the apathetic and the indifferent, inside and outside the legislative chambers of Delhi and Islamabad. Violence then becomes a way to be heard above the high decibel ritual chants of the `idea of India`™ or `fortress of Islam`™ or `Jinnah`™s Pakistan`™. Ideologically vitiated `national`™ school syllabi and impunity of military forces do not produce unity `“ it produces a polarization between unity and diverse dignities. There is no unity without the constitutive parts`™ dignity. Hindi majoritarianism or Punjabi-Urdu majoritarianism may not appear so to its practitioners but from the vantage of the step-children of the majoritarian nation-state, the world looks very different. When such questions are raised in the subcontinent, one may see tacit agreement or opposition. As far as the opposition goes, it is important to make a few mental notes. Is the person who opposes the idea for whatever reason, from Delhi/Islamabad/Lahore or broadly from North India / West Punjab? Also, has the concerned person lived most of their adult life in a province different from where his/her grandfather lived. If the answer to either if this is yes, there is a high likelihood that the pattern of response to questions raised in this piece will be of a certain kind. Inherent majorities with the noblest of democratic pretensions end up forming imperious centres in the name of a union. A democratic union of states takes into cognizance the subcontinent as it is, not the subcontinent that delhiwallas and isloo/lahorewallas would want it to be like.

A point often made by legal honchos of the subcontinent is that neither Pakistan nor the Union of India is a union of states in the same way the United States of America is. What they mean is that these nation-states did not come into being due to some agreement or treaty between states. Rather they maintain that the states/provinces are arbitrary legal entities/ instruments created by the respective constitutions for administrative ease. What such a reading aims to do is to delegitimize any expression of aspiration of the states/provinces that may not be in line with the centre. How can an arbitrary legal entity created by central fiat and also alterable by fiat have autonomous will? This legalese collapses in the face of sub-continental reality where states/provinces as they exist today are broadly along ethno-linguistic lines. These entities are along ethno-linguistic lines (and more are in the pipeline in Seraiki province or Telegana) because `administrative`™ units can only be arbitrary to a point, irrespective of the total arbitrariness that constitutions permit. The ethno-linguistic ground-swells are real, aspirations to homeland are real, and since the capital cities do not have enough experimental chambers to convert all inhabitants into `nothing but Indian`™ or `nothing but Pakistani`™, these are here to stay and do not seem to have any immediate plans of committing suicide. While the specific drawing of the lines may be arbitrary (something that applies to the whole nation-state too), that in no way makes the reality of ethno-linguistic community habitats vanish. A legal stranglehold that denies this reality also ends up denying that the subcontinent existed before the constitutions were drawn up. If the BritIsh didn`™t happen to the subcontinent, and if one or more large nation-states had to happen in the subcontinent, such entities would have been due to agreements between different near-sovereign entities. That states/provinces did not have such agency to make such a compact in 1947 is a legacy of British rule. Ironically, such a scenario bequeathed from the British is the bedrock of the post-colonial nation-states of Pakistan and the Indian Union. Both like to call themselves federal, for no one else calls them so.

A creative re-conceptualization of the distribution of representation and power in the Indian Union as well as Pakistan may show that one does not necessarily need to choose between the unity and diversity. Accounting for more than a sixth of humanity and a serious breadth of non-domesticated diversity, that subcontinental experiment is worth doing, irrespective of its outcome. A people`™s democratic union is not only feasible but also humane. For far too long, bedtime stories commissioned by the state have been read out in schools and in media outlets, so that our deep metropolitan slumber is not interrupted by real nightmares in rougher parts. But there are just too many truths to spoil the myth.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/08/from-the-vantage-of-the-stepchildren-of-the-majoritarian-nationstate-the-world-looks-very-different/

By Dr. Th Ranjit

The Meeteis settling in the central valley districts of the state and elsewhere are the aborigines or originals settlers of the state, like the Tankhuls, Kabuis, Maram, Mao, Kom, Vaiphei, etc., the recognized Scheduled Tribes of India, among the Mongoloids (Kirats) race of the North East India. This fact is proven by the Anthropologists and Historians `“ present and past, Indians and non-Indians, literates and illiterates alike, since a long time till date. There is no doubt about the Meeteis belonging to a tribe or indigenous people of the state. None can challenge the veracity of it. After the historical tragic incident of forced conversion of Meeteis into Hinduism during the reign of king Pamheiba/Garibniwaz (1709-1748), they have been treated as Hindus/Aryans instead of Mongoloids, because of the fact that only the Aryans can embrace Hinduism according to Swami Vivekananda.

In fact, Meeteis continued to be a major tribe in the official British records till Manipur merged into Indian Union in 1949. In 1891 census, Manipuris (Meeteis) were recorded as forest tribe; 1901 census, main tribe and 1931 census, Hindu Tribe but retaining their distinctive language and culture. But after the merger of Manipur into Indian Union and subsequent to the formation of new Republic of India on 26th January, 1950, the tribal status of the Meeteis was abruptly dropped and enlisted in the general caste/category without giving valid reasons to the Govt. of Manipur, owing to the unholy influence of some Manipuri Hindu fanatics and some political leaders having vested interests in the persons of Shri Lalita Madhav Sharma, Banka Bihari Sharma and Sinam Khrishnamohon, the so called scholars of that time. Consequently, the social chasm between valley people and hill people that was created in 18th century, when the former was converted to Hinduism ,was further deepened due to the categorization of the people of the State as general, ST and SC by the constitution of India, in addition to the British policy of divide and rule between hills and plains.

As the valley of Manipur was formed from a big lake in the geologic past ,due to the siltation of organic matters and sediments from the surrounding hill ranges, is very fertile and very suitable for agricultural activities for a long time. In fact, agricultural products of this small fertile valley districts are largely contributing to the livelihood of the people of the state, both hill and plain, poor and rich, indigenous and non -indigenous and so on. But, this small portion of arable land, occupying 5% (approx.) of the total geographical area of the state, is giving shelters and foods to about 70% of the total population of the state. Unfortunately, this so important plain area of the state, peopled mostly by the Meeteis, is not protected by the Indian Constitution, that is, anybody in India can purchase or own land in this so precious land of the people of the state. In the hill districts, on the contrary, no people belonging to the general category/caste, (say,Meeteis, Biharis, Marwaris, Bengalis,etc.) can buy land and settle there as the lands are protected under Scheduled V of the Indian Constitution.

As we all know, the fertile land of the valley districts, very good for agricultural pursuits, are gradually dwindling due to the faulty policy of the government, procurement of lands by rich people and businessmen in the name of urbanization for construction of buildings, hotels, educational institutions, industrial establishments, stone crushing centres, brickfields, expansion of roads, airport, railway lines by the Govt. etc. If this trend is not checked, there will be hardly any land left for agricultural activities to meet the growing food grains demands, employment avenues of our people in the fields in rural areas of the state and the like in near future. The situation will be grimmer when Indian railway reaches Imphal and Trans Asia Highway passes through the State in the next few years and that the land owned by poverty-stricken and money-poor majority Meetei populace will fall prey to the land hungry business sharks and multimillionaires when they wanted to establish their business centres. In this way, constitutionally unprotected lands of the state, peopled by Meeteis mostly, but producing the maximum agricultural yields of the state will be in the hands of the outsiders or non-indigenous people and as a result of which Meeteis, in particular and other indigenous people in general, will face unprecedented problems in terms of food availability, employment avenues, business opportunities, demographic patterns, social harmony, etc. If the government and people are sensible and sincere enough to utilize our small fertile lands in the valley areas of the state judiciously and purposely, we can save our land, identity, culture, and future generations from being exploited by various greedy, rich, hard working, skilled and organised non-indigenous people coming from outside the state in large measures.

Therefore, in order to save the Meeteis and other indigenous people of the state or sons of the soil from possible food crisis or mass starvation for want of agricultural produces or from possible exploitation by ever increasing influx of people coming from outside the state , the fertile and productive areas of valley districts should be protected under the Indian Constitution, as is done in the hill districts of the State. Restoration of ST status to Meeteis will save our fertile valley, which is producing foods for the total population of state, on one hand and the Meetei tribe from gradual extinction in the next 3-4 decades in his natural habitat, on the other. Not only this, Meeteis can live on generation after generation in his ancestral land with his brethren in the hills and valley in harmony, ethnic equality and peace once again as one tribal society or tribal state as before in the past. Over and above this, Meetei can compete well with the rest of the country in central sectors-educations, jobs, etc. in proper platforms for its rights and opportunities as guaranteed by the Indian Constitution and bring more laurels for the people of the state.

Finally, the realization of Meeteis that they were in higher social status because of their being in general category was nothing but a false pride will be paving a great step forward in fostering peace, development and unity among the indigenous people of the state. The historic comeback of Meeteis`™ to tribal status or old fold, as guaranteed by Indian Constitution, should be seen as `home-coming`™ and should be given warm welcome by other indigenous people of the state and prove to the world that `blood is thicker than water.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/08/lately-meeteis-realise-blood-is-thicker-than-water/

By Dinesh Sharma

Before you even start reading the article, let me be clear that I am a 4th generation Gorkha settled in Manipur. And I will accept criticism if you at any point feel that the article is a little biased. I am a confused person right now. Suddenly, after having lived for 31 good years of my life, my belongingness and loyalty towards my motherland is being questioned.
I do not write this article with pride. In fact, it is shameful that despite having been born and brought up as a Manipuri Gorkha, today I am having to publish an appeal to clarify that I too belong to Manipur. From time immemorial, it is always the majority who create history. We have never read or heard about the story of the minority. Today, I will narrate the story of the minority, the voiceless and the helpless.
Recently, there was a video circulating on social media it showed a lady who was being delivered a mob justice. She was being slapped, hit by a shaft, and ever had her hair chopped in public. Whatever be the reason, that was not the right way to vent dissatisfaction in the wake of such political crisis. Tomorrow, some other crowd might just want to do the same thing on another individual. Who is going to take the blame then? As a civilized society with such rich history and culture, a more matured approach would have given a dignity to the agitation.
We are accused of encroaching the land. We are accused of being a threat to the social fabric of the state. We are asked to pack up and leave the state. How is it even possible? We are not here staying in a rent house that we pack our belongings and move to another house. My family has not grabbed any land or encroached upon anyone else`™s territory. We have papers for our land as per the law of the land. We also grew up listening to our grandmother narrating us stories of the Japanese drones flying above the roof. We have heard stories of our grandfathers fighting to protect the land alongside the British and the maharaja`™s army. Are our stories any different from the stories of a Meitei, Naga, or a Kuki kid?
They say that our contribution to the land is zero. Turn any pages of history of this land and you will find a Gorkha, Major Subedar Niranjan Singh Chhetry amongst the earliest martyrs of the land. He was hanged to death alongside Bir Tikendrajit and General Thangal by the British on 13th of August 1891.
They must have also conveniently forgotten that we are the most peaceful community in the state. We live happily with all other communities, be it the Meiteis, Nagas or the Kukis. I have studied Meiteilon throughout my childhood, I can speak a bit of Kuki, and I have lived with a Naga friend for about 7 years of my life. Like you all, we have recited Ougri Sheireng, listened to Khamba-thoibi with awe, enjoyed the colours of Yaoshang, celebrated Lai Haraoba with equal enthusiasm, and cannot live without Ironba, Nga-Thongba and Ooti as our daily staple. What makes me less Manipuri than anybody else from my state? Perhaps we are the only community in Manipur which never had any law and order problem with the state.

Despite all this, we are time and again asked to cite history of our existence in the state. Below are some historical records of the settlement of Gorkhas in Manipur to put across the point that we are not just land grabbers and that we have taken equal part in the nation building process in Manipur:
1. On recorded history, the first batch of Gorkhas came to Manipur during the time of Raja Gambhir Singh. In 1824, the Gorkhas of the 16th Sylhet Local Battalion, later to become the 8th Gorkha Rifles, were included in the Police Levy of Gambhir Singh. During the first quarter of the 19th Century, Manipur was much troubled by Burmese intruders and troops. To secure Manipur, Gambhir Singh raised an army in 1825 and recruited Gorkhas from Sylhet for it. The militia was named the `Victoria Paltan`™. (Source: The Role of Gorkhas in Making of Modern India)

2. Before the beginning of the 20th century, the Gorkha/Nepali Gwalla (cowherd community) was confined in the Manipur valley. And since the Meitei community were not a great consumer of milk and ghee and land was becoming scarce in the valley, the Govt of Manipur decided to shift the Gorkhali/Nepali Gwalla to the northern part of the Manipur Valley creating a Gorkha/Nepali reserve (18 miles long) in between Sekmai and Kangpokpi in 1915 and later on partially extended up to Maram, Siddim Pukhri and lrang Part-I & II (Source: Manipur State Administrative Report 1915-16 Chapter `“ V, No. 2 Para V. Durbar Resolution 1 dated 17th February 1915).

3. That, the creation of the Sekmai Kangpokpi Gorkha Grazing Reserve the Nepali graziers began to settle within the reserve areas of Kurapokpi, Sapermeina, Shriwani, Keithelmanbi, Paspati, Kalapahar, Santolabari, Chandraman, Kangpokpi, Irang, Maram Siddim Pukhri. In 1918, a survey of the Gorkha/Nepali Reserve area was done wef. 19th June 1918 to 7th January 1920 and Patta was issued for the Gorkha/Nepali graziers who applied for agricultural land.

4. The 4th Assam Rifles was raised in Manipur in 1915, and had over 80% Gorkha personnel.

5. First Manipur Rifles, raised in 1946 also inducted huge number of Gorkhas. Still today, the family quarters of the battalion has several Gorkha families living there.

6. Even eminent scholars like MK Binodini, the royal family of Manipur confirms that the Gorkhalis have long been a part of Manipur`™s cultural milieu. She says “¦in fact I do not know at what time so called Nepali community actually came to Manipur. Since my childhood beginning from Mantripukhri to Kangpokpi, I have seen their settlement to be in existence long before many years. At the time of my father Maharaja Churachand, when he was in drive on the Dimapur road, I still remember the joyous welcome and applause accorded by the Nepalese children near by the road and I saw many Nepali personnel in the post of high rank and files of the Manipur State Police` (Source: `A Yaipha Paojel`™ in a journal called `Netee`™; published by Manipur Nepali Sahitya Parishad in 2006)

7. When the World War II reached till Kanglatongbi-Kangpokpi, the Gorkha community was evicted by the Govt. Many of them left their land temporarily and got back when the war was over. However, the government had by then ceased the Nepali grazing reserve (26th August 1946), giving effect from 1st December 1946. Many who failed to comply with the government order or returned late to their land lost their land and had to seek shelter with their neighboring tribal brothers for their livelihood.

The Gorkha community is settled for nearly 2 centuries and have lived in an area of 140 sq. miles till 1915. Besides the army settlers, we could rear more than 10,000 cattle and buffaloes. An entire stretch of road named in Jiribam was named as Man Bahadur Limbu`™s Road. Today, after almost 2 centuries, our population is not even 1 lakh. How could we possibly disturb the social fabric of the Manipuri society or even snatch away opportunities from the locals?
Today, we are as much a victim of historical circumstances, miscalculation and manipulation as all of you. We too would want to be part of the decision making process which will segregate the outsiders from the insiders. Sadly, despite being a part of the greater Manipuri society for nearly 200 years, we have been pre-leveled as `outsiders`. Look into your hearts and think for once, how would you react, if you and your community were labeled as such?
Most of the Gorkha youths from Manipur today are working in the defence or in the metro cities. This also brings in revenue to the state. How can we possibly exploiting the wealth of Manipur? I would love to know if you have seen anything unjust being committed by any Gorkha in Manipur.
Today, we live outside the state in metro cities. Ask one of your own `inside Manipuris`™ about how does it feel to be humiliated. If you have no idea of how humiliated your brothers and sisters feel when faced with racism outside the home state, maybe you should go and speak to them. I have also felt the outrage over `racism `against our Manipuri people in Delhi and other cities, but I cannot turn a blind eye and deaf ear to numerous instances of racism here in my motherland itself.
In this city, we only have people; there is no Meitei, Naga, Kuki, Gorkha, Bengali, Bihari or Marwari. If someone asks me, I proudly call myself Manipuri Gorkha. Here no one accuses anyone of stealing opportunities or ancestral land. No Bihari cries of innocent people being killed, no Meitei accuses a Bihari of depleting his economy. We share rooms to save money, lend and borrow money when we are broke, we share pizzas and drinks together, we contribute for the electricity bills, we wait for each other to walk back home after office, We cook together, we laugh at each other`™s jokes, we fall in love, we get married. We live happily here, but we never talk of our problems back home. Why?? Because it divides us.
We are happy out here, but why this indifference back in our own homeland?? I leave this for you to ponder upon.

Dinesh Sharma can be contacted at: dineshcold@gmail.com

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/08/introspection-a-blog-on-ilp/

By Dr Amarjit Moirangthem

Last year I made a visit to Pabung K. Nilakanta of Mynarbond along my two twin sisters, I was checking his book self at his work-room , I found this, a novel name MEERA MEM-SAHED, written by a writer named Subram. The name slightly bears resemblance with another popular novel BOR SAHEB ONGBI SANATOMBI by Padmashri MK Binodini. Pabung saw my interest and asked me to take whatever I liked from his self. I happily grasped it along with other few books mostly by writers of Barak valley. But way back I didn`™t getenough time to read those while I was at Jiribam.

After a long time while rearranging my books and files , my eyes fall upon the book again, I took out and started to turn the first few pages, then I got lost in the story until I find there was no more pages left to read. Though book has got only 92 pages , it left me spellbound , touches my heart and my I was imagning the period myself. A thought struck my mind , I should do something or write about this novel for sure.

The back of the cover page clear mentions the name of the writer, Shri Moirenjam Dev singh, borned at Jaribond Laishramkhul, hailakandi district, Assam. A primary teacher by profession, but popularly known as Subram , had published many short stories, poetry books. I remember Pabung Nilakanta telling me that both are very fast friends, sharing similar interest in the book world. While googling , I found the writer has been already awarded with Leima Memorial Gold Medal for this particular novel by the Assam Sahitya Parishad. And a review has been done for AIR by ND Hodamba. Still I am convinced to write my views regardless of my little or no knowledge about Manipuri literature.

The Storyline: The novel is about the life of a poor Meitei lady named MEERA and her destiny against the strict Gaudiya Meitei society of Cachar in the period of 1850-70. Being borned to a poor Meitei family of cachar, she was only the begotten child of Mera and Angoubi at Tarapur , Silcher town. But During childhood, her father left the family to join the battle for young prince Chandrikriti , who had taken sheltered at Cachar along with his mother Heishnam Kumudini. The news of the demise of Maharaja Narsing reached Cachar, the moment was perfect for Prince Chandrakirti to regain his rightful throne and so to fight against the new King Devendra, his uncle, he started to assamble an army and began his expedition. Mera lost his life being injured at a battle near Gwai River and never returned. The mother and the daughter began had to start their struggle for their life, they began selling Kabok Muris- a traditional puffed rice. Day after days, she reaches maidenhood , grew to be a lovely beautiful lady
whom man of all ages envies.

`Meeragi sawong sada karigabu pandamnagani. Ahal laman faobana meerabu hairap ubada amuk onsinnaduna yengnarakley .`

`Pumbum taba pambom, chengtak taba kwang, tutak taba saji mitta, ngangtak taba khajai, nokfet taba chimbal nakta thungliba sambru, thagtpana mawatpa. Fajbana mahenba. Segaiba setley mapakpa, fajba setley mahenba, fajeiye. Thabagi loiba naidey.`(page 40)

One day, incidentally she ran in to the house of James Winchester a British tea-gardener in the nearby town, frightening from the gunshots across the Barak River. From the day she was looked down and jeered at as Unclean by the society. One day unable to bear all those, she thought of suicide, but took heart and decided to asked James to take her as his wife. James was in love with her already and agreed to marry her. A new life has has started for Meera, she became a Memsahed muck alike princess Chindrella. With time they begotten a daughter named her Mary. But fate has been always against Meera, during a raid by the Lushai tribes, she lost her beloved ones. James got killed trying to save Mary, and the chief of Lushai took the baby away and raised her in the hills .

The agony of losing both her beloved husband and the daughter, Meera suffered from mental illness. and became imbecile. She was then looked after by her mother again. But the society never took pity upon them and treated as Unclean. Later the baby was recovered when the british finally decided to settle with the war mongering hill tribes. She was sent back to London finally to her family. But the poor mother Meera was left to take her own life, drowning into the stream of Barak River in during the festival of Hiyangtannaba show (traditional boat race ) after the zilla durbar session.

The writer artfully co-related the story line with the historical events , what I would like to highlight about the novels through the following points

1. The Zilla Durbar: In 1874, the Maharaja of Manipur Shri Chandrakirti alias Naochinglen Nongdren Khomba was invited by the then Governor General Of India, Lord North Brook to have a session at Zilla ( Cachar was also known as Zilla by the Meiteis at the time). The king went to Cachar with his Royal durbar members and generals riding along the royal elephant and a number of around 1000 armed soldiers . The Durbar was held at a boat in the Barak , where both sides acknowledges each other, exchanged gifts. After the event they organized traditional polo matches, Hiyang Tannaba was shown to the people around at the Barak River.

2. The Sepoy Mutiny 1857 and Sana Chahi Ahum : Every Indian students have studed during the high schools classes about SepoY Mutiny also known as Siphai Lalhou. In Assam also Maniram Dewan and the Charing Raja are two prominent figures of the mutiny. But a Manipuri prince named Narendrajit Singh alias Sana Chahi Ahum, a son of ex-raja Chourajit Singh (1803-13), participated in this great uprising by joining the mutineers of the 34th Native Infantry, Chittagong, when the latter entered Cachar. He took a great role during the Battle of Binnakandhi which was an epoch making event in the history of North East India .But after being defeated , he entered to Manipur where he was captured by the Manipuri soldiers and handed over to the British where he was put into life imprisonment at the Cellular Jail, at Kalapani Andaman Island.

3. The History Of Tea Plantation In India: in 1823 that Robert Bruce, a merchant and soldier, first spotted tea plant in Assam and along with Alexander they did experimentation in tea plantation at Sadia, which succeded eventually. The lack of local cheap labourers was a problem then, they started to bring from other parts of India , mostly from the Santhal Parganas district of Bihar (now in Jharkhand state). In 1830k david scotch started plantation at the barak valley taking permission from the then king of Cachar Shri Govincandra ,with an annoual tax of 1000 rupees. Then the subsequent cultivation of tea flourished in the barak valley.

4. The Raid Of Lushais : the Lushai and other foot hill tribes were notorious for their heinous raids . The impact of the large scale expansion of tea cultivation during the colonial period in Cachar, affected the neighboring tribes, especially like the Kukis and Lushais, their social and economic conditions. This resulted in the constant raids of the neighboring tribes on the tea gardens of plains area of Cachar Valley. The nature of their raiding was burning villages, kidnapping and killing people. The name of the tea gardens of Cachar that the tribes were attacked, were `“ Rupcherra (1849), Adampore (1862), Chandraipur (1863), Loharbond (1868), Monierkhal (1869), Ainakhal (1871), Alexandrapur (1871), Katlicherra (1871), Dharmikhal (1871), Nagdirgram (1871), Jhallancherra (1871), Baruncherra (1892) and Baladan Tea Estate (1893). These raids executed by the Lushais ultimately led to the British Government to take severe measures with regards to them which ultimately brought the Lushai tribes under British regime on 27th January, 1898.

Not only novels depicts history, but describes about geography of Cachar and Barak valley. Further I find some interesting traditions of the then Meiteis , which has been depicted with clear convictions in the novel .

1. Swasti Puja Ceremony : the Swasti puja ceremony is an important birth ceremony of every Meitei . The writer tries to explain the ceremony vividly during the birth of Meera but explains according to Hindu Shastra. ( I find this part the most boring and uninteresting part of the novel)

2. The month of Mera : One of the auspicious months in the Meitei calendar, Mera Wayunba, Meera Houchongba, Mera Niyom Pali etc.

Mera, father of Meera was worried about the birth month of his daughter coz it fell in the month of Mera. He believed that the ill-fate of the King Gambhir singh was due to sharing of common birth month with his son Chandrakirti, MERA .

3. The Custom And Nature Of Uncleaness : the story mainly tries to convince the ill nature and evil face of gaudhiya vaishnavism in the book. The burning of the Mamang sanggoi for entering a British /white was a striking point of the writer, the way the society ill treated the Angoubi for giving shelter and giving support to Meera shows the unsavoury system of the Meitei society. The Caste system in that started in Meitei society has to be credited to Hinduism.

`Amangbisu lakliye. Angaobisu yaorakli. Thingu,thingu changhanganu, meeyam pumamak mangba tare.` (page 16)

The novel carries abundances of Bengali and sanskrits slokas, which the new generation of readers find hard to understand. And the writer could have added some more romantic moments and incidents between the two characters Meera and James.

Most disheartening is the how Meera`s soul departed her body and ended her life, drowning in the stream of the Barak River leaving their mother Angoubi`s with sorrowful tears and memories .

`Angaanba taibangda amang asenggi paalna khrabasu amamba ahimhda saramchat chenbada amang aseng yabidey. Meegi achengba ngairibab angam athou kayasu khudong chaba lourakhi. Tincharaba pumtharaba luchingbasingdagi chenfam maigei pumnak makhoigi huiroisingna chrak sidan pathaba nanthoknabagi pambei leikhidey. Kapla `“kapladuna macha aangaobi aduga siba ngainaba wana matam lelli.`( Page 76)

`Yengheidraba kummeidu unningdraduna meeyam mamit uisinnei. Upair touningai leitrabi Aangoubina torbanduda makhong makhut sit tingthoktuna famlaga leingoi hotladuna machabu kouduna tengthakhi.` (Page 92)

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/08/meera-memsaheb-a-review/

By Sanamani Yambem

With all the scholarship and exposure of Prof Kamei one was somewhat surprised to see that the Hinduisation of Manipur is still being termed a Sanskritisation. When Prof. M N Srinivas had coined the term in his Tagore Memorial Lecture at the Columbia University what was implied then is what was popularity known then as the`Yuppies` or the Young andUpwardly Mobile Professionals. Although the young part may had not been considered but the upwardly mobile aspect was definitely an issue.

When the Meities adopted Hinduism, it did not create a separate class of people except perhaps the Bramhins who were ,to use a popular term not `indigenous `. and who would readily accept what the King had accepted.

As prof Kamei himself would admit ,one essential reason why Islam could spread so easily in Eastern India as against the tardy spread of Islam in Northern India ,was essentially the rigidities of the Brahminical being more rigid in North India compared to the Eastern part of the country, which resulted in the large concentration of Muslims in Eastern India leading to the creation of the then East Pakisthan and subsequently Bangladesh.

What Islam offered was equality ,which implies liberty and the choice to worship alongside your king. Adoption of Hinduism did not provide this.To call Manipur`s adoption of Hinduism purely as Sankritisation would not be doing justice to the original meaning of the word. We need to wake up to that.

Despite having adopted Hinduism ,the Hinduism of Manipur is Manipuri Hinduism and not the Hinduism of Tanjavur or say Somnath. The Hinduism of Manipur is Manipuri Hinduism unique in its own way. For while the rituals may be Hindu the customs are definitely are of the pre Hindu era. If there is a death or a child birth even in a Bramhin family , that family is not permitted to enter the temple or perform any ritual. This is exactly the blending of the rituals with the customs.

Yet, having said that Hinduism did not provide any upward mobility , it is about time that a true explaination be looked for rather than simply putting it as Sanskritisation.

Social change follows economic transformation .What one would have expected would be to examine the impact of the introduction of land revenue system in the state. How this had created a new class of petty officials yet,they had exercised tremendous influence n society. The creation of a bureaucracy within a very feudalistic set up. The social implications of the British rule could provide a possible answer.

What needs to be looked into would be the creation of a contractor and trading class in the state . The end of the Second World War in Manipur created a new group of people who had benifitted from the war. Often the question was how to spend the money. Air travel was newly introduced to the state and Calcutta was linked by Kalinga Airlines to Calcutta. Apart from the officials who were the people who travelled by air and for what.

My first trip was in the year 1955 when I travelled to Calcutta when I accompanied my parents. The aircraft was a Dakota (the famous DC-3) and the first stop was at Silchar followed by Agartala. That was purely pleasure trip. But there were others who went to Cal to cut a disc at the studios of His Masters Voice.

There were the book stores such as the Students Store and Book land . They have to travel to Cal to print their books or buy paper and ink. The emergence of a new class of entrepreneur need to be examined if we are to study social change.

We need to read the lyrics of the songs recorded in the immediate post war Manipur. The dress code, the shoes they wore and the cigarettes they smoked all these are manifestations of social change.

None of these aspects have been touched upon.

I wish Prof Gangmumei had given some insight as to why Manipur was let as a princely state and not as a part of British India. For when we examine the pattern of investment, particularly the railway network we see that while British India Assam had a railway line from Lumding to Badarpur to Silchar laid in early 20th Century Manipur is yet to have a rail line in the21st century.

Social change as reflected in the dress code , in the music , the plays , and also other forms of expression should have been looked into for a better appreciation of social change. One must ,however admit that the article has been well documented ,but not well analyzed. The treatment of the arrival and spread of Christainity deserves praise.

As an old friend ,nevertheless it is always a pleasure to read Gangmumei.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/08/a-review-of-prof-gangmumeis-social-chance-in-manipur/