Tag: Articles-Opinions

By B.G. Verghese

MadhuKishwar’s impassioned eulogy of the man in “Modi, Muslims and Media”,just released,portrays a man greatly sinned against. His values and vision are extolled to portray a secularist most grievously arraigned for his alleged anti-Muslim bias and role in theGodhra-Gujarat holocaust of 2002. Inexperience in governance is repeatedly cited in extenuation of lacking a firm grip over the administration and the policeboth as chief minister and home minister.

Written after an extended six-month Modi-oriented tour of Gujarat,capped by 15 hours of taped interviews with him, the treatise is an authorised defence of Modi’srecord as he bids to become prime minister. MadhuKishwar argues that his initial success as CM lay in winning Muslim approbation in a hitherto communally-polarised state through his equal-opportunity approach towards all irrespective of creed. He converted the Bhujearthquake tragedy (January 2001) that had crippled Muslim businesses and livelihoods in Kutch into anessay in reconstruction and hope, heralding the vision of a new Gujarat for all. In consequence he received considerable Muslim backing in winning the Rajkot by-election towards the end of February 2002.

The loss of its Muslim vote bankhad alarmed the Congress which planned to stop Modi in his tracks. Hence a “pre-planned conspiracy” to discredit him amid post-9/11 fears of a Pakistan-backed terror offensive against India during the Operation Parakaram military stand-off between the two countries.Alongside, the Parivar felt that it had lost political ground, especially in U.P, by slackening its drive to build a Ram Janmabhoomi temple on the site of the Babri Masjid that it had brought down in 1992, under NDA’s coalitional compulsions. Hence a campaign to commence construction of the mandir in Ayodhya on March 15, to which end thousands of Ram sevaks had travelled to Ayodhya from January 2002 onwards from all parts of the country to take the pledge. It was the return of some 2000 Gujarati Ram sevaks from Faizabad that triggered the destruction of coaches S-6 and S-7 of the Sabarmati Express at Godhra station on the morning of February 27.

What Justice Bannerjee, the Railway Inquiry Commissioner later concluded was an “accident” was however immediately termed by the BJP as a diabolicalplotto set Gujarat communally aflame in conjunction with Pakistani-trained jihadis, a verdict confirmed in 2008 by Justice Nanavati.  

The Bannerjee report was dubbed “illegal” and suppressed as this commission was appointed even as the Nanavati Commission was already seized of the matter from March 2002. But why Nanavati should have taken six years to deliver his preliminary report and has yet to submit his final report after 21 extensions merits examination.  In any event, the main Godhraaccused were ultimately released and the Hyderabad Forensic Science Institute’s report proving why carriage S-6/7 could not have been set afire from outside, was junked without explanation.

MadhuKishwar cites Muslims and others like ZafarSareshwala, an Ahmedabad-based businessman, who found Modi’s conduct obnoxious in 2002 but saw in him a changed man who dealt even-handedly with all in 2008 and thereafter. One need not doubt ZafarSareshwala’s motives but Modi’s good conduct later clearly cannot obviate earlier wrong conduct about which he was in no doubt. Having fought in vain for justice with Modi for years, Sareshwala decided to see if he could come to terms with the man, tactically born-again after having accomplished his design.

And what was that design?In a broadcast over Doordarshan, Ahmedabad, on February 28, the CM said “I want to assure the people, that Gujarat shall not tolerate any such incident (Godhra).The culprits will get full punishment for their sins. Not only this. We will set an example that nobody, not even his dreams thinks of committing a heinous crime like this”. No hint whatsoever of due process here but the menacing threat of setting a hideous example. Due process was wilfully obstructed and delayed – with a stubborn intent to delay or deny the filing of FIRs in many cases – while a terrifying example was set of barbaric mob fury.

In a subsequent news item broadcast by DD thereafter, Modi observed “If raising issues of justice or injustice adds fuel to the fire, we will have to observe restraint and invoke peace”. (See Editor’s Guild Report, May 3, 2002). What an absolutely chilling statement, never contradicted. So justice is a provocation. Abjure it- or else! And that has been the story of Gujarat post-2002: seeking an elusive justice, which alone can bring closure and reconciliation. The Centre was supine though Vajpayee temporarily agonised and called on Modi to observe Raj Dharma and quit. Advani and other hard-core elements saved him.

Modi not only prevented justice, but expressed no remorse for the many innocents slaughtered or burned alive. MadhuKishwar repeatedly glosses over the brutal vivisection of EhsanJafri, a good and respected figure and former M.P. His residence, Gulberg Society, had drawn hundreds of terrified Muslims seeking a safe haven. It was besieged by howling mobs for hours while Jafri repeatedly appealed for help by phone and word of mouth. Nothing availed. The mob set on him as he came out to make a last appeal for calm and was butchered because he allegedly opened “private fire”, an unproven charge. But is self-defence against a murderous mob a grave provocation?

Maya Kodani, later a BJP MLA and Minister, and BabuBajrangi of the Bajrang Dal, sentenced for life for leading roles in the NarodaPatiya massacre, find no mention in the book. There is no reference to the massive looting and destruction of Muslim shops and establishments, economic boycott of Muslims, the attack on the Waqf Board and the Minorities Finance and Development Corporation located in the Old Secretariat in Gandhinagar, the fact that Muslim judges had to flee their homes after being threatened by rampaging mobs and much else. The residence of Prof J.SBandukwala, a respected pillar of communal harmony, was ravaged. The calculated destruction and desecration of Muslimdargahs and shrines with impunity went unpunished. Modi astonishingly pleaded lack of knowledge about the fate ofWaliGujarati. This historic monument structure was demolished, the rubble cleared and a paved road built over it overnight. MadhuKishwarclaims that the Mayor of Ahmedabad was a Congressman and so this must have been a Congress plot and not something for Modi to answer!

Modijustified the presence of two ministers in the police control rooms in Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar as this was the best place from which to interact with the public! Neither minister was concerned with law and order. The CM pleaded shortage of officers. Yet five good and true police officials who held their ground against marauding mobs were transferred on promotion soon thereafter! No relief camps were set up by the State. Private relief camps were given delayed “recognition” which deprived them of essential rations, kerosene and other supplies. “Borders” and “frontiers”, beyond which lay “Pakistan”, were shamefully marked out, walls and fencing erected. Muslims were ghettoised. These illegalities went unpunished.

The official press notes of the Information Department showed distinct anti-Muslim bias with stories eulogisingModi (“chhoteSardar”) and Advani and solicitude for rehabilitating Hindu businesses .The riots attracted little notice. The Kishwar apologia does not wash away the stains of the Gujarat pogrom, 2002.

www.bgverghese.com

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/04/she-stoops-but-fails-to-conquer/

By Deben Bachaspatimayum

Theoretical and practical problems of ‘free and fair election’ and connotations of ‘informed and ethical voting’ with reference to Manipur

Election Commission of India is a self-regulating constitutional body entrusted with holding elections for the president, members of parliament and state assemblies at regular intervals to ensure democracy in the country. ECI is committed to ensure free and fair, and informed and ethical voting to advance democracy in the country. However, ECI’s roles remains limited to conducting of routine election exercise without any control on or influence to legislative processes and politically contested situations that affect or negate the very principles of free, fair, informed and ethical voting of the people. Since informed and ethical voting is critical to promotion of substantial democracy ensuring an enabling judicial, political and economic environment may be more critical site of intervention to develop a sense of freedom from fear and apprehensions in exercising fairness in choosing the right representatives. ECI may have to do more than just conducting periodic elections to ensure legislations are also directed towards advancing democracy at grassroots level.

Since 1990s ECI has evolved innovative systems and mechanisms to ensure free and fair election in the country known as the largest democracy in the world. Issuing voter’s ID, use of EVM and simplifying access and process to electoral rolls, checking non-adherence to rule of law by political parties, voters’ education campaigns, etc. However, during the same time some of the legislations and policy changes relating to security, economy and politics in the country seem to seriously challenging advancement of democracy and socialism in the country while on the other side promotion and advancement of emergence of an elite political class and private companies observed. To mention few, the persistent use of military under the Armed Forces Special Power Act since 1958 (AFSPA) in aid to civil administration directly compromising the fundamental rights including right to life of the people, the denial of existence of internal armed conflicts in the state, the fundamental shift from socialist economy to capitalist economy from 1990, corporate funding of political parties and the use of unaccounted money during election to promote mutual interests of corporate/private companies as the engines for advancing neoliberal economy. Moreover, the existing electoral practices based on multiparty system promoting rule by a minority powerful elite political class elected by a minority of population party loyalists and favoured/paid voters. All of these seriously compromise ‘free and fair election’.

The multiparty electoral system in India has seriously undermined advancement of democracy in the society by allowing unscrupulous people to get away with people’s mandates for their personal/party gains. Data available from the 1ast Lok Sabha election 2009 speaks this loudly. There were 7 candidates in the Inner and 9 in the Outer Manipur contesting the election. Ideally, one candidate would have an average of 11,8,077 of votes in the Inner and 1,01,037 (based on Census 2001) in the Outer constituency representing a marginal population of electors; 14% and 11%, respectively. According to ECI only 70.51% of Inner and 83.41% of Outer constituencies voted in the last election out of the total electors’ populations. The total population of electors (Census 2001) were 8,26,755 in the Inner and 9,09,496 in the Outer. This further reduces the representativeness of elected MPs. The 2 MPs were elected by only 39.5% and 45.4% of the total who voted in their respective constituencies representing only 27.9% of the total electors’ population in the Inner and 37.8% in the Outer constituencies. A study by ADR in 5 states where assembly elections were held in 2008 showed the maximum people’s representativeness was 33% of the total electors in those states.

Statistics show that becoming a law maker and running the State where maximum power and resources are concentrated for use requires only mandate from only a minority voting population. This fact may not seriously bother any elected representative to be concerned about satisfying the majority voters who voted against him and remained divided along several political parties contesting the election. Representing the interests of only a minority also allows opportunities for accumulation of personal wealth, royalties to the party, meeting the needs of his/her loyal voters/cronies to sustain in power running terms to terms. Only the rich and powerful fight election. The situation seriously compromises the democratic principles of equal opportunities and form of government: Government by the people, of the people and for the people. It is also revealing a fundamental flaw in the concept of Decision by Majority in the Parliament/Governance when the MPs are elected by only a minority of section of the population in their respective constituencies. It is now increasing becoming clearer in whose interests and favours the elected Government both at the Centre and State function.

RTI filed by Delhi based CSO, Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR)/National Election Watch (NEW) during the last few years has proved beyond doubts that political parties are heavily funded by Multinational Companies by violating the rules of the laws. Use of huge amount of accounted money much above the ceiling allowed by ECI is an open fact today. The shifts in India’s economic policies in line with global trends has made the State distance itself from its bounden duties of social welfare services while allowing the corporate companies take over those services as profit making activities. Private companies are already lead providers of health, road and communication, education services and also providing maximum contractual employments. The relation between the political parties and private companies are increasingly strengthened serving mutual interests of sustaining in power for the former and increasing profits of the latter to support the former in their favours. This nexus between political parties and private companies supported by minority voters shows the hollowness of the principles of Indian democracy and governance. While this is a common problem for people in India there is also a serious national lie that a state like Manipur has been subjected to in this democratic country.  

AFSPA was passed by the parliament as temporary security measures in 1958 to suppress the Naga hostiles but it not only continued to be imposed upon the people who have been consistently voting to elect popular state governments for over the last 50-60 years it also expanded its coverage areas in the entire North-eastern region following the military doctrine of population domination. According to a reliable source, in Manipur alone, there are already 1,00,000 security personnel deployed over a population of 27,00,000 in the state over the years while during the same time the state Govt is also run by a strength of all time record mandate of 42/60 elected representatives from a national political party! The irony of Indian state is not the distrusts of the elected government but also the lies committed by the highest court of justice. In the Supreme Court judgment in 1997 on AFSPA 1958 in response to a case filed by NPMHR the existence of a political issue between India and Manipur and internal armed conflict, thereof, was not only denied but justified the constitutionality of the Act. Despite huge public protests over the years, several recommendations by Govt instituted review committees and the longest and continuing hunger strike by Iron Sharmila the Act continue to be in place in the state. Since the Act, as a stand-alone law in the hands of the Governor /Central Govt consistently continue to be enforced in the state the entire territory under section 2 & 3 declared as ‘disturbed condition’ allowing use of force to the extent of killing on suspicion how can this be normal situation where election be held. How can there ever be ‘free and fair’ election in the state. What would ‘informed and ethical voting’ option for sensible people in the state mean?

Future hopes

Future seems to highly challenging and also hopeful for change at the same time. The growing population of educated and sensible Indian citizenry will not allow demolition of Indian democracy and socialist ideology in the hands of vested interests political class and corporate companies. As results of active advocacy campaigns and litigation activities by ADR/NEW the ECI has finally accepted to provide NOTA option this election to electors following a Supreme judgment. But given the context of Manipur where justice has been consistently denied, violence and corruptions institutionalized in practice as national security strategies NOTA is definitely an opportunity for the people to seek a change in the system. Though it is difficult to say how the electors in Manipur who are used to ‘vote for money/relatives/my lord/personal interest’ would at all use NOTA votes and if at all they do, how would that mean differently from the NOTA voters in the rest of India? While this is still a matter of conjectures, number of votes on NOTA in the context of Manipur, for all the above reasons, could have several meanings, including;

1.      All the candidates not being trust worthy

2.      Protest against the denial of political issue and existence of internal (non-international) armed conflict in state

3.      Protest against consistent use of AFSPA 1958

4.      Distrust in the state Government run by contractors under High Commands and for their corruptions

5.      Distrust on Indian democracy

6.      Protest against neoliberal economic policy and practices of the Govt of India

7.      Distrust in the existing multiparty electoral system, etc.

How could any sensible and responsible youth in Manipur feel proud about their becoming a voter on attaining the age of 18 years without addressing underling issues of the problems that affect their day to day lives and thought processes? How many more years the Govt of India will continue to deny justice to the people of Manipur and restore to them their dignity as equally respectable right bearing human persons or citizens? Holding election routine election at the end of 5 years terms in a militarized condition shaped by AFSPA 1958 without even temporarily removing it does not make any sense for democracy and internal security of the country and the people. Multiparty electoral system with neoliberal policy promotes only elite political and wealthy class at the cost of the social welfare for majority population. Hence, it does not promote grassroots democracy. For all these reasons, if India has to prove as truly democratic country in the world’ ECI along with other Constitutional autonomous bodies like AIR/DDK must do more than routine election exercises and singing praises of the ruling Govt in terms of educating and empowering the mass for promotion of grass root democracy, changing the electoral system and monitoring the performance of elected representatives and Govt in terms of delivery of justice. ECI must also, based on its principle of promoting ‘informed and ethical voting’ and ‘free and fair election’ must also intervene internal armed conflict situations where AFSPA has been enforced in the country.

(People’s Campaign for Resurgent Manipur)

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/04/holes-in-the-poll/

By Dr. R.K. Ranjan Singh

Mountains have been described as islands of biodiversity surrounded by an ocean of monocultures and human-altered landscapes. Indeed, varieties of flora and fauna species found in mountain habitat have disappeared from plains and lowland regions, crowd out by human activities. Today, mountain covers only about 25% of the Earth’s surface and are home to about 12% of the human population. They host a significant component of the world’s biodiversity and many of the food staples on which humans depend originated in mountain ecosystem. Slope and ruggedness of the terrain, together with absolute altitude, determine many of the fundamental characteristics of mountain environments. Position on the Earth’s surface imposes further diversity on these basic features, primarily through the effects of latitude and continentally on climate and local weather patterns, so that some mountains are almost permanently wet, other dry and other highly seasonal. Geological substrate adds a further dimension on diversity by influencing the soil type and the potential erosion.

About 10% of the world’s population depends directly on the use of mountain resources for their livelihoods and well-being, and an estimated 40% depends indirectly on them for water, hydroelectricity, timber, mineral resources, recreation and flood control. Mountains are the earth’s unique freshwater reservoirs. They store immense amounts of water and hold them to gradually release to support the lives downstream. Despite their critical importance for the well-being of humanity, mountains receive little attention in the international development agenda.

The mountain landscapes of Manipur have fashioned an equally fascinating array of human cultures, sensitively interplay with the intrinsic rhythms of nature: the inexorable pulsations of the earth below, tempered by the elements above. The mountain ranges of Manipur occupy 80% of the total surface area of the state and are home of the 29 sub-tribes of the Tibeto-Mongoloid group. In a sense, the state of Manipur may be described as a mountainous state. These mountains have significant ecological, aesthetic and socioeconomic importance not only for those highlanders but also for the people living beyond. Till today the mountains of Manipur are the home to indigenous highlanders with varied culture, values, dialects and indigenous knowledge systems. This remarkable socioeconomic and cultural diversity is matched by a high degree of environmental diversity with huge variations in climate, soil, vegetation and wildlife within the region. Isolation a relatively inaccessible in the recent past has helped in protecting and preserving the endemic species in the mountain ranges of Manipur. There are more than hundreds of rice cultivars, medicinal plants and herbs are still productively cultivated and use by the highlanders. These precious reserves of genetic diversity are our insurance for the future, particularly as the global economy continues to turn lowland habitats into fields of high-yielding food crops – monocultures that feed the ever-increasing demands of the growing population of the state but are vulnerable to evolving pest and pathogens.

Because of their shape and size, the mountains of Manipur support a wide range of micro-climate zones. Climbing just 50 m up on the mountain slope of Manipur will be able to experience of as much as climatic variety as traveling of 50 km across flat terrain. The micro-climate zones of the Manipur mountains are like narrow bands, each stacked on top of the other. Every rise in altitude generates different conditions, supporting unique and often isolated ecosystems with some of the world’s greatest variety of plant and animal life. Much of the North East’s remaining native biological diversity especially of species and ecosystems is in the mountains of Manipur. Great diversity of endemism is largely due to the extreme heterogeneity of environment (micro-climate and soils) because of the rapid altitudinal changes (altitudinal vegetation belts) and abundant micro-habitats.

The mountains of Manipur are located in the heaviest rainfall region of the world and belong to the catchment areas of two major drainage systems of Asia’s nine giant river systems, i.e. the Brahmaputra-Barak and the Irrawaddy-Chindwin. These catchment areas provide the natural flow to the rivers and the gravity helps them to flow into the valley of Manipur forming the cradle of diversified cultural heritage. They supply water for domestic consumption , hydropower, forming lakes and wetlands allowing agricultural practices and also regulate the hydrological regime of the state. During the rain mountain and its forest cover allow to be absorbed the rain water and percolate down to the aquifer layers for enriching the ground water table. In a sense, the mountains of Manipur are outflow areas, where not only physical mountains products, soil, fuel wood, timber, minerals, agricultural products, non-wood forest products move down slope to the valley, even young an educated people were migrated downwards to the valley as a flow out.

The earth’s climate has been changing after being warm through much of history over the last 130 million years. Increasing carbon emissions in the atmosphere generated by human activities since the Industrial Revolution, and particularly since 1960s has thus led to increase in the earth’s mean global temperature. The present phenomenon of global climate change, the conditions within each of these narrow bands of micro-climatic zones are also changing. Already scientists have witnessed examples of species moving uphill in search of more suitable habitat. Further, climatologists also believe that a predicted rise in global temperatures of three half degree centigrade would be equivalent to an ecological shift upwards of about 500m in altitude. Those confined to the tops of mountains or below impassable barriers may face extinction as their habitat grows smaller. These similar kinds of syndromes are visible at the peaks of Mt. Koubru, Mt. Esso, Mt. Khongho, Mt. Godai and Mt. Sirui, etc. the rarest species are most at risk of extinction.  Among those species, high-altitude butterflies may be mentioned herewith.

Healthy mountain forests are crucial to the ecological health of the state of Manipur. they protected watersheds and supply fresh water to all over the state and more particularly to the valley of Manipur. They also harbor untold number of wildlife, provide food and fodder for the inhabitants. In the past decade, mountain forests have been disappearing at an astounding rate. Deforestation, while a complex phenomenon is generally driven by population growth, unstable urbanization and its unplanned extension of infrastructural development. After centuries of population growth and intensive land use, mountain forests have been reduced to small patch of green. Ongoing agricultural practices are unsuitable, contribute to deforestation, and accelerate hillside erosion, threatening mountain biodiversity and impairing the natural processes of forest ecosystems.

Human activities like endless abuse and misuse of mountain slopes and forests clubbed with the current trend of global climate change are profoundly degrading the mountain biodiversity of Manipur. As the slopes of the mountains were endlessly and recklessly deforested by different anthropogenic activities causing mass soil wash on the slopes of the mountains while the river beds and wetlands in the valley were silted with the debris brought down from the mountain. At the same time mountains of Manipur will become more dangerous as the surface runoff accelerate soil erosion as well as mudflows in places like Gopibung, landslides along the national Highways and frequent flash floods in the valley. As a result, the state of Manipur will be affected, first by frequent flash floods and then by drought making harder and harder economic activities both in the mountain regions and the valley of Manipur. Natural resources, accompanying environmental, and ecosystem services and increasingly degraded. The natural processes of change always mercifully slow enough in the recent past to enable a creative reordering of human activities have, over the past decades of radically new techno-economic structures, acquired a speed that threatens to destabilize many critical subsystems of biodiversity in the state mountain. The most serious result is an almost irreversible erosion of the regenerate capacity of vital ecological niches crucial for the sustenance of the mountain areas accessible and profitable for logging, fuel-wood, charcoal and mining. These activities may bring large benefits to the mountain communities, but it can also be devastating to fragile mountain ecosystems, mountain cultures and environments.

Secondly, mountain-dwellers cultivate thousands of varieties of crops and plants, many of which thrive only at specific elevations and micro-climatic zones. However, with the pressure of market economy and urbanization processes, they encourage cross-fertilization between wild and cultivated varieties. Varieties of vegetables, fruits, other HYV crops and flowers were introduced and cultivated popularly in Senapati and Ukhrul districts. Sometimes mountain ecosystems have no naturally evolved defenses against invading species. Often, these alien invaders are introduced by human visitors or as a consequence of planting non-native crops or ornamental plants. Under such circumstances varieties of native flora and fauna were completely extinct and some are on the verge of extinction from the mountains of Manipur. To save the situation, mountain friendly policies and laws are vital to protect mountain ecosystem and support mountain people.

Lastly, mountains of Manipur are the barometer of climate change in the region. these fragile ecosystems are highly sensitive to changes in temperature and variation on precipitations. Indeed, many climatologists believe mountains provide an early glimpse of what may come to pass in lowland or valley environment. For this region, it is vital that the biological and physical components of the mountains of Manipur are strictly monitored and studied and also to establish a department of Mountain Science in the University to study and for monitoring the biodiversity and the physical component of the mountains of Manipur.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/04/mountain-biodiversity-of-manipur-2/

By Amar Yumnam

A few things have become matters for constant deliberation and deeply disturbing to the minds among some close professional colleagues where I earn my bread. One is the absolute decline in the quality, capability, preparedness and commitment to learn the higher things and allow ideas to flourish among the new crop of students entering the designated space for higher learning in Manipur. Second, we observe in every direction we move that poverty does not seem to be declining whether in the region or in India as a whole; this is happening in an environment where inequality, absolute as well as relative, is on the rise. Third, the creative society which we all should aspire does not show signs of emergence in this part of the world, which supposedly should be the most dynamic zone as the space for South East, East and South Asia meeting each other.

On the face of it, we may see all these three issues as unrelated, but I feel these are symptoms of a single disease. The South East and East Asian countries are now the focus of international attention and are the ones responsible for the onset of the Asian Century. One of the factors responsible for this has been the emergence of “reverse innovation” wherein instead of the technology flowing from the advanced countries to the less developed countries it becomes the other way round. Unless a capability to innovate is evolved no society can become responsible and responsive one. This is what EarlDonald means when he writes in hisOn the Absence of the Railway Enginethus: “When in teasing mood I sometimes suggest to my students that the beginning of the endof the Ancient World is to be found not in Alaric`s capture of old Rome in AD 410, not inthe Turkish sack of new Rome in 1453 nor, indeed, at any of the much canvassed datesin between, but in an event which occurred in England in the early eighteenth century,
they tend to look blank, baffled or bored according to temperament. Yet the case can beargued that the division between Ancient and Modem was marked in 1709 when atCoalbrookdale in Shropshire, Abraham Darby first successfully smelted iron with coke,for it was this development which launched mankind, slowly at first, but withprogressively increasing rapidity, into the totally new world of an expanding andinnovatory technology and introduced into the human consciousness the wholly novelconcept of self-sustaining growth, both technical and financial.”  It is this realisation which the President of the European Union, Jose Manuel Barroso, emphasises in the State of the Union Address in September 2013 thus: “We must encourage…innovative dynamism at a European scale. This is why we must also invest more in innovation, in technology and the role of science. I have great faith in science, in the capacity of the human mind and a creative society to solve its problems. The world is changing dramatically and I believe
many of the solutions are going to come, in Europe and outside Europe…I would like Europe to be leading that effort globally.”  I am intentionally referring to this European effort as it relates to the determination of an advanced region to recapture the earlier global dominance. Contrast this with the contextual realities we had mentioned in the beginning and the absence of any effort to join the global race for advancement in this part of the world.

We know that we are good in sports and absolutely good at that. We are also good and absolutely at that when it comes to joining the world of knowledge. Here is a catch though. The commitment and effort to excel in the world of acquiring knowledge and creating knowledge are found among the youths who have left the place for institutes outside the region and outside the country. This quality of excellence charges our youths around the globe. But the very few youths who come back to the homeland are not as charged as the non-returnees, but instead possess orientations for cheating, bluff and join the social bandwagon of pushing ahead through means foul rather than otherwise. This unequal determination and capability has been rising at a very fast pace that the remaining youths do not even reach their counterparts a decade or so earlier by a big margin. The returning youths do not fire the imagination of the remaining youths here in so far as the knowledge world is concerned.

But we cannot leave it just like that. We need to collectively apply our mind as to why such a passé has come in the case of Manipur. Quite often it is said that the landlockedness of the place has been the destiny, and this constraint has stunted the people down. But how do explain the global experience of many countries and regions similar to ours having experienced wonderful development outcomes. A recent study points out that good governance, trade relationships and coordinated infrastructures development with the neighbours have been critical. These are exactly where Manipur is found absolutely wanting. To put it in a different way, absence of political will and absolute lack of managerial skill have been the undoing for Manipur.

Here it would be rewarding to reread Jeremy Bentham who said in 1830: “the proper end of governmentis the greatest happiness of all, or, in case ofcompetition, the greatest happiness of the greatestnumber, it seems to me that I have made a declarationof peace and good-will to all men.On the other hand, were I to say, the proper end ofgovernment is the greatest happiness of some one,naming him, or of some few, naming them, it seems tome that I should be making a declaration of waragainst all men, with the exception of that one, or ofthose few.Be the subject what it may, unless it be allowed tome to say, what, in relation to that subject, are myjudgment, my feelings, or my desires, I cannot sayanything in relation to it; and as to my judgment oneach occasion, giving it, as I do, for no more than it isworth, it seems to me that it is on my part nounreasonable desire to be allowed—free from everyimputation conveyed, or endeavoured to be conveyed,by the word dogmatism—to be allowed to give it…….This being the basis on which all legislation and allmorality rests, these few words written in hopes ofclearing away all obscurity and ambiguity, all doubtsand difficulties, will not, I hope, be regarded asmisapplied, or applied in waste………….in so far as between the happiness ofthe greatest number, and the happiness of any lessernumber, any incompatibility or successful competitionis allowed to have place, it may be styled a sinister end ofgovernment, or say, object of pursuit.”

The term to be marked is sinister. This is exactly what has happened in the governance in the land here where both political and bureaucratic corruptions are systemic.This prevalence has disconnected governance from performance. This has created a societal-wide relationship between informality and corruption. It is exactly this force which has dampened the commitment and capability levels of the youths. A bad scenario indeed!

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/04/missing-in-manipur-altruism-competitive-spirit-commitment-to-excel-2/

By Amar Yumnam

A few things have become matters for constant deliberation and deeply disturbing to the minds among some close professional colleagues where I earn my bread. One is the absolute decline in the quality, capability, preparedness and commitment to learn the higher things and allow ideas to flourish among the new crop of students entering the designated space for higher learning in Manipur. Second, we observe in every direction we move that poverty does not seem to be declining whether in the region or in India as a whole; this is happening in an environment where inequality, absolute as well as relative, is on the rise. Third, the creative society which we all should aspire does not show signs of emergence in this part of the world, which supposedly should be the most dynamic zone as the space for South East, East and South Asia meeting each other.

On the face of it, we may see all these three issues as unrelated, but I feel these are symptoms of a single disease. The South East and East Asian countries are now the focus of international attention and are the ones responsible for the onset of the Asian Century. One of the factors responsible for this has been the emergence of “reverse innovation” wherein instead of the technology flowing from the advanced countries to the less developed countries it becomes the other way round. Unless a capability to innovate is evolved no society can become responsible and responsive one. This is what EarlDonald means when he writes in hisOn the Absence of the Railway Enginethus: “When in teasing mood I sometimes suggest to my students that the beginning of the endof the Ancient World is to be found not in Alaric`s capture of old Rome in AD 410, not inthe Turkish sack of new Rome in 1453 nor, indeed, at any of the much canvassed datesin between, but in an event which occurred in England in the early eighteenth century,
they tend to look blank, baffled or bored according to temperament. Yet the case can beargued that the division between Ancient and Modem was marked in 1709 when atCoalbrookdale in Shropshire, Abraham Darby first successfully smelted iron with coke,for it was this development which launched mankind, slowly at first, but withprogressively increasing rapidity, into the totally new world of an expanding andinnovatory technology and introduced into the human consciousness the wholly novelconcept of self-sustaining growth, both technical and financial.”  It is this realisation which the President of the European Union, Jose Manuel Barroso, emphasises in the State of the Union Address in September 2013 thus: “We must encourage…innovative dynamism at a European scale. This is why we must also invest more in innovation, in technology and the role of science. I have great faith in science, in the capacity of the human mind and a creative society to solve its problems. The world is changing dramatically and I believe
many of the solutions are going to come, in Europe and outside Europe…I would like Europe to be leading that effort globally.”  I am intentionally referring to this European effort as it relates to the determination of an advanced region to recapture the earlier global dominance. Contrast this with the contextual realities we had mentioned in the beginning and the absence of any effort to join the global race for advancement in this part of the world.

We know that we are good in sports and absolutely good at that. We are also good and absolutely at that when it comes to joining the world of knowledge. Here is a catch though. The commitment and effort to excel in the world of acquiring knowledge and creating knowledge are found among the youths who have left the place for institutes outside the region and outside the country. This quality of excellence charges our youths around the globe. But the very few youths who come back to the homeland are not as charged as the non-returnees, but instead possess orientations for cheating, bluff and join the social bandwagon of pushing ahead through means foul rather than otherwise. This unequal determination and capability has been rising at a very fast pace that the remaining youths do not even reach their counterparts a decade or so earlier by a big margin. The returning youths do not fire the imagination of the remaining youths here in so far as the knowledge world is concerned.

But we cannot leave it just like that. We need to collectively apply our mind as to why such a passé has come in the case of Manipur. Quite often it is said that the landlockedness of the place has been the destiny, and this constraint has stunted the people down. But how do explain the global experience of many countries and regions similar to ours having experienced wonderful development outcomes. A recent study points out that good governance, trade relationships and coordinated infrastructures development with the neighbours have been critical. These are exactly where Manipur is found absolutely wanting. To put it in a different way, absence of political will and absolute lack of managerial skill have been the undoing for Manipur.

Here it would be rewarding to reread Jeremy Bentham who said in 1830: “the proper end of governmentis the greatest happiness of all, or, in case ofcompetition, the greatest happiness of the greatestnumber, it seems to me that I have made a declarationof peace and good-will to all men.On the other hand, were I to say, the proper end ofgovernment is the greatest happiness of some one,naming him, or of some few, naming them, it seems tome that I should be making a declaration of waragainst all men, with the exception of that one, or ofthose few.Be the subject what it may, unless it be allowed tome to say, what, in relation to that subject, are myjudgment, my feelings, or my desires, I cannot sayanything in relation to it; and as to my judgment oneach occasion, giving it, as I do, for no more than it isworth, it seems to me that it is on my part nounreasonable desire to be allowed—free from everyimputation conveyed, or endeavoured to be conveyed,by the word dogmatism—to be allowed to give it…….This being the basis on which all legislation and allmorality rests, these few words written in hopes ofclearing away all obscurity and ambiguity, all doubtsand difficulties, will not, I hope, be regarded asmisapplied, or applied in waste………….in so far as between the happiness ofthe greatest number, and the happiness of any lessernumber, any incompatibility or successful competitionis allowed to have place, it may be styled a sinister end ofgovernment, or say, object of pursuit.”

The term to be marked is sinister. This is exactly what has happened in the governance in the land here where both political and bureaucratic corruptions are systemic.This prevalence has disconnected governance from performance. This has created a societal-wide relationship between informality and corruption. It is exactly this force which has dampened the commitment and capability levels of the youths. A bad scenario indeed!

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/04/missing-in-manipur-altruism-competitive-spirit-commitment-to-excel/

By Pradip Phanjoubam

This is an extract from another chapter of the book I am currently writing as a fellow of the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, IIAS, Shimla, and on the verge of completion. As earlier, the footnotes and references have been removed, and paragraphs broken up into smaller ones to suit newspaper publishing.

Indeed, the conceptualisation of nation as a cultural container becomes extremely problematic when dealing with peripheral provinces such as the Northeast, an approximate 98 per cent of which physical boundary is international. There therefore can be no other way of studying the place, its histories and peoples without doing so in consonance with the territories beyond these international borders.

In any case, these boundaries are mid twentieth century phenomena, and stories earlier than the period will not have them at all. In many ways, whatever their biases catering to their own views of the world, colonial historian who worked on maps bigger than the confines of national boundaries provide a clearer pictures of the pasts of these peripheral regions. Chroniclers of imperial history such as Alexander Mackenzie, Edward Gait and Robert Reid therefore remain indispensable in any serious study of the Northeast region.

In the earlier chapters we have seen how the history of the Northeast cannot be dissociated from the history of Burma or Bangladesh. In this chapter, we shall see how this is equally true of Tibet and beyond. It should be interesting therefore, to explore and discover for instance how Imperial Russia’s interest in Mongolia would have had an impact on the evolution of the idea of the Northeast. How Britain’s zealous and over protective outlook towards its empire’s frontiers in Afghanistan and Persia too would have had similar influences in the shaping of the Northeast. How the clash of interest between Russia and Britain in Tibet and their decision to agree to a treaty-bound mutual exclusion of each other from the region would ultimately leave the field clear for China’s entry thereby again profoundly impacting the security environment as well as the certainty of boundary of the Northeast.

How in summary, the Great Game, the name given to the undeclared territorial rivalry towards the end of the 19th Century and the beginning of the 20th Century between Britain and Russia, two great powers of the era, was a big factor in the making of the physical map as well as the psychological makeup of the Northeast. We shall then see how the McMahon Line, with all its flaws and blemishes, is very much a product of this Great Game.

Not many have tried to explore these connections. But of these few, at least one has gone even beyond to suggest the Great Game has a sequel and is still continuing to impact the Northeast in a profound way. In Bertil Lintner’s 2012 book “Great Game East”, the author argues that after the Great Game in Central Asia concluded in the early 20th century with the changes in power alliances in Europe post WWI, another one began unfolding in the South and South East Asia. This time the rivalry was for the control of Asia’s most volatile frontier – the Indo-Burma region. This Great Game East is an extension of the Cold War between the Western and Eastern Blocs in the post WWII period, and is informed by the Western Bloc’s mission of combating the spread of Communism in the world.

The chief protagonist here understandably is the US which through its undercover agency, the CIA, allegedly ran operations supporting Tibetan resistance fighters after the Chinese occupation of Tibet in 1950 to undermine Communist China’s control of the region. Prior to the 1962 India-China war, when hostilities between India and China was still not open, this was done without the knowledge of India, and with the assistance of Sikkimese and Nepali sleuths. The operation headquarters were in East Pakistan and Nepal. After the 1962 war, India too became party to this game.

In reciprocation, China too in the 1970s and 80s, openly extended help to Northeast insurgents, beginning with the Nagas. But here too, the power alignments would shift in the years after the 1962 war. China would fall out with the USSR, the archrival of the US, even as India finds itself drifting closer to the USSR. Consequently, the US would warm up to China.

Apart from these realignment of power equations, it is also said the controversial 1970 book by British Australian journalist reporting for a British newspaper from India during the 1960s, Neville Maxwell, “India’s China War”, which the then American Secretary of State Henry Kissinger openly praised, was also a catalyst in this thaw in relation between the US and China. It is significant that Kissinger in 1970 and the then US President, Richard Nixon in 1971, made their historic visits to China flagging off a new era of power alliance, paving the way for China opening up to the Capitalist world.

Maxwell’s book, based almost solely on Indian sources, in particular the still classified Henderson Brooks-Bhagat report 1963 on India’s disastrous 1962 war with China which apparently was leaked to him, is generally considered as brilliantly written and researched book. Reviewers however have noted that he is too enthusiastic to agree with the Chinese views and equally enthusiastic to disagree with the Indian views. The book damns India as the aggressor and portrays China as the aggrieved in the 1962 war.

There were also other seemingly remote developments and turns of events in the diplomacy of the British Imperial Government, sometimes a consequence of the Great Game, and at other times related to other political pressures of the time, which too had a telling effect on the Northeast.

The most important of these is what I call a clash of maps of concerns between the British Empire and its various colonies. In this case, the difference in security perception scenarios as seen from London and Simla and as we shall see, the interest of the Empire almost always prevailed over that of British India. However, quite tragically, when the Empire ultimately dissolves, as it must, burdens of the sacrifices the colonies were made to make in the name of the Empire remains to be borne only by the liberated former colonies. The McMahon Line is one such legacies India is left to bear long after the British Empire has ceased to exist.

This conflict of the large and small maps of concerns in the case of India had very definite dramatis personae. The pitch of this conflict also changed with regime changes in London. As it turned out, in the heat of the Big Game, the Liberals generally were the most hurtful to British India’s interest. There also emerged a broad pattern. Regardless of coming from a Liberal or Conservative background, executives who were posted in India turned to a stance closer to the vantage of the Conservatives on India’s security while those who functioned from London tended to take a more detached and academic assessments of these same security scenarios, much to the frustration of those on the ground.

At one end of this spectrum of political outlooks was Lord John Morley, ‘Secretary of State for India between 1905 and 1910 and again in 1911 and Lord President of the Council between 1910 and 1914. Morley was a distinguished political commentator, and biographer of his hero, William Gladstone. He is best known for his writings and for his “reputation as the last of the great nineteenth-century Liberals”. He opposed imperialism and the Boer War, and his opposition to British entry into the First World War led him to leave government in 1914.’ At the other end was the hardnosed ‘George Nathaniel Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston, KG, GCSI, GCIE, PC (11 January 1859 – 20 March 1925), known as The Lord Curzon of Kedleston between 1898 and 1911 and as The Earl Curzon of Kedleston between 1911 and 1921’, a British Conservative statesman who was Viceroy of India and Foreign Secretary. Morley remained in office long after Curzon retired and the tussle between these two vantages expectedly became unequal.

Relevant to this discussion are the circumstances that ultimately shaped British India’s policy to towards Tibet. Curzon, who was deeply suspicious of Russian interest in Tibet was certain Tibet either had to be under Indian control or else be made a Protectorate State like Bhutan and Sikkim for India’s future security. Towards the close of the 19th Century, the British India administration from the time of Viceroy Lord Dufferin had come to be of the opinion that the Chinese control of Tibet was a fiction.

This growing opinion was catalysed further by the abject inability of the Chinese  government to have the Tibetans honour two treaties the British signed in 1890 and 1893 with China, the first fixing the boundary of the British protectorate State of Sikkim and Tibet, and the second on regulating trade between Tibet and India. After Curzon took charge as Viceroy, the urgency to deal with the Tibetans became even more urgent, as Curzon believed the 13th Dalai Lama incarnate, the spiritual and temporal leader of the Tibetans, was leaning towards Russia. Curzon then decided Tibetan affairs had to be dealt directly with the Tibetan and not through Chinese mediation.

The Younghusband Mission of 1904, or invasion of Tibet to force the 1904 Lhasa Convention by which Tibet became virtually a Protectorate State of the British, is the first major outcome of this aggressive policy he adopted. If this atrocious invasion can be described as landmark, the drama that followed revealed even more the innards of the British administration, and the various contrary pulls within it. In the years ahead, the India Office in London, with Morley at the helm as Secretary of State, would undo all of what the Lhasa Convention 1904 is supposed to have achieved in securing India’s northern boundary. All this on the plea that foreign policy interests of the Empire are not the same as those of the colonies and that the former is primary.

The logic always is, the concession India seeks in Tibet would encourage other rival European Powers to seek similar concessions in other areas of interest of the British Empire, such as in Persia, Afghanistan, Mongolia, China, Indo-China etc. Continuing the duel after Curzon had departed, Morley wrote to Curzon’s successor, Lord Minto in October 1906 that these ‘frontier men’, forget ‘the complex intrigues, rival interests and, if you like, diabolical machinations which make up international politics for a vast sprawling Empire like ours, exposing more vulnerable surface than any Empire the world ever saw.’ Ironically, Minto once in India would also begin to see India’s security from similar lens as Curzon saw it.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/04/book-extract-the-great-game-and-its-impact-on-the-ne/

By M.C. Linthoingambee

The valuation of good parking space is considered a major component of development in various countries including India, especially when car production figures have touched 15 million in 2010 with more increase happening in the corresponding coming years.  However the ever increasing demand for automobiles is not correlated by a corresponding increase in road infrastructure. This has the effect of increased strain on roads leading to traffic jams and accidents. There is also the matter of the vehicles need a space to park somewhere. Who will give this space? Urbanization has led to a greater part of open spaces going under construction with little area left plant even a single green plant.

As per Indian Road Congress (IRC) Standards, a vehicle takes 25 sq. m of space on an average. Whether it’s going for shopping or for any other purpose or for just going home or in his office, a car owner needs a parking space to make room for his luxury ride. All this amounts to the use of heavy volume of land just for parking. There are also various plans tackling this issue with more and more buildings and basement lot used for the drive of this purpose to make living space bigger than parking areas. Parking is a major concern when it is not able to accommodate the ever increasing traffic volume, keeping in mind that parking space are public spaces. The State being the custodian of public spaces is faced with the challenging task of providing facilities to people, while making sure the same is not wasted away.

In matters of policy, India does not have a comprehensive law relating to parking other than a nation-wide general policy. Generally, laws related to parking address parking regulation and enforcement. Considering the need to regulate and transform the event of hindrance in parking space, the National Urban Transport Policy of India devised by the Ministry of Urban Development in 2006 sets the tone for parking in India thereby mentioning that land is a valuable commodity and that parking fees shall reflect the market value of the land utilized for parking. Now, do we know the reason why we have to keep on paying someone or an agency for a parking space? At the same time, it directs the State governments to make suitable amendments to building rules to provide adequate parking spaces. Determination of parking space is a state subject and divested to urban local bodies through the process of decentralization.  The Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, the flagship scheme for city development envisages formulation of parking policies for every city. The Ministry vide its Notification dated 28th March, 2007 directed all states to incorporate specific provisions on parking in various cities and towns in tune with local conditions.

The common issue of transportation is becoming a heavily guarded question. If you have a car, then you have an easier mode of travelling but even if you do, where is the parking space? If you are lucky, then you would have beaten the several others vehicle to a parking spot, otherwise you have to find an empty spot elsewhere, drive around until you find one or simply return home. The rule is to park in the right way and right place so not to cause hindrance to the general public. We know about the rush hours on the office clock, school clock and as such many others that ascertain a certain attention to curve out the issue of using of public transport and walking to a place of destination. And weekends are always a speed breaker with the number of cars travelling on Saturdays and Sundays for a leisure day increasing manifold.

The Municipal Corporation or the concerned City Development Authorities is given the mandate to govern both on-street and off-street parking. The Municipal law of a state addresses the manner in which parking lots shall be determined and assigned. Nothing works without a guide. In this context, laws relating to parking are loosely set based on guidelines and conviction of the local bodies. This assumes significance as states have given less importance to parking while devising plans for urban or local development. All across the world, countries have realized the need to have a strict parking regime ie.   parking policies which are aimed at better utilization of public space and restricting ownership and ridership of vehicles to curtail traffic and pollution.   Enforcement of parking rules is the mandate given to Traffic Police who has the power to fine, lock and even tow a vehicle found violating the traffic rules.  Section 177 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 empowers the traffic police to levy a fine of Rs 100 for a single offence and Rs 200 for repeated offence relating to parking. The laws and rules relating to traffic needs to incorporate provisions relating to parking which helps in better utilization of parking space and monitoring of parking. The persons managing the parking need to be empowered and given the right to penalize for parking violations. This shall include fining, locking and towing.

It is a common factum that in our country and in our states, the idea of parking is still a unconquered mountain hill with many terrains and winds to block out the surface but it could be said that we have try and are keen on trying further to make safe parking space. The parking space in Manipur is still not drafted or constructed still which is why we need effective implementation.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/04/parking-a-question-of-luck/

By Pr. Kungsong Wanbe

A balanced diet include both dietic and physical control living. Many people are sick because they have not learned how to care for their bodies properly and what should they eat. Some have learned how to live healthfully but they have neglected to do anything about it, so they suffer as the result of their negligence. To take balanced diet for healthy and to live longer it is best to start early in life teaching children how to be strong and healthy. For building healthy people there are seven foundation stones. They are as follow:

1. Exercise, 2. Rest, 3. Fresh air, 4. Good diet, 5. Water, 6. Sunshine, 7. Good and calm thinking. These factors should be in proper balance.

That, the so called balanced diet is not hard to maintain. Once we understand the basic principles of nutrition we must follow the under given seven groups of dietic. They are as follow:

1. Protein, 2. Fat, 3. Carbohydrates, 4. Vitamins, 5. Minerals, 6. Bulk-quantities, 7. Water. These seven constituents can be broken down into three groups. They are as follow:

1. Growth and repair foods: Foods that produce growth and repair are the protein foods such as dairy products, legumes, some grains, nuts and even some green leafy vegetables which should constitute about ten percent of our daily diet.

2. Heat and Energy food: Foods that produce heat and energy are the carbohydrates such as cereals, bread, legumes, sugar, vegetables, fruits and also fats are olives, vegetable oils, margarine, dairy products, avocados, and nuts. They should constitute about ninety percent of our daily food intake.

3. Body Regulators: Water, Minerals, vitamins and cellulose such as vegetables, fruits, grains and nuts. These keep the body running smoothly. Water especially is a good regulator. It helps every organ of the body toward efficient operation. It helps to unclog the machinery.

In planning a daily menu, take care to see that the following are included:

1. Two to four glasses of milk or substitute, including what is used in cooking.

2. One green and one yellow vegetable in one raw.

3. Two servings of fresh fruit.

4. Citrus fruit or tomato.

5. Two servings of legumes, nuts or soya products.

6. Four servings of whole grain cereals or bread.

7. Two tablespoonfuls of wholesome fats, oil, olives, avocado.

Lastly but not the least, here is a group of seven hints to help us improve our family`s nutrition. They are as follow:

1. Eat a wide variety of foods such as fruits, vegetable, grains and nuts although not at one meal. Eat vegetables and fruit at separate meal. Eat unrefined foods, those that have not been altered in manufacture and those to which chemicals and additives have not been introduced.

2. Eat foods that contain mostly unsaturated fats liquid or soft rather than saturated hard fats. Vegetable and grain oils are preferable. Animal products rank high in saturated fat.

3. Eat at regular hours two or three meals a day and nothing between or late at night. Allow five hours between meals to avoid overcooking our digestive organs.

4. Eat a hearty breakfast rich in protein.

5. Do not overeat. Eat the quantity of food that will keep your weight at the desirable range for your height and build.

6. Drink plenty of water but not during meals. Chew your food thoroughly and do not wash it down. Drink water on awakening and between meals.

7. Relax and enjoy your food. Do not rush but think about pleasant things. If your eating habits have not been good, start now to remedy the situation. Be healthy and happy.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/04/what-substances-are-known-as-a-balanced-diet/

By B.G. Verghese

WHO’s certification of India as “polio free” last week is truly something to cheer. The country’s health workers and Rotary International that helped fund the campaign deserve grateful thanks. But we have not merely to remain polio-free but fight and overcome many other killer and debilitating diseases, malnutrition and insanitation. The Supreme Court has once again “ordered” that manual scavenging be abolished under the 2013 law and scavengers be swiftly and satisfactorily rehabilitated.  But who cares? Gross failure must be recorded across parties whose priorities are very different, pieties apart. Which party has made eradication of manual scavenging a poll priority in what is turning out to be an increasingly dirty, slanderous and indecorous general election being largely fought by casteists, communalists, criminals, footloose party-hoppers and self-serving “leaders”.As well said by the poet, “if every man got his deserts, then who should escape whipping!

The other major accompaniment to electoral dirt is mounting violence: Maoist, cross-border inspired, and slander. Manifestoes have been put out but these are for the most part pro forma essays for the record, devoid of true purpose.

Another positive development has been the Supreme Court’s order, following a report by a panel headed by Justice MukulMudgal on alleged spot-fixing and betting scandals in the BCCI-sponsored Indian Cricket Premier League. The man in the eye of the storm is N. Srinivasan, President of BCCI and Chairman of India Cements Ltd which sponsors the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and several of its players, including the Indian captain, M.S.Dhoni who is one of its vice-presidents. Srinivasan had stubbornly refused to recuse himself until such time as the charges against the BCCI and his son-in-law, GurunathMeiyappan of India Cements have been independently investigated and cleared. The Court has now ordered that Srinivasan shall relinquish charge of BCCI and Mieyappanbe precluded from any association with CSK until further notice. It has transferred charge of the BCCI to Sunil Gavaskar under whose guidance the 2014 IPL tournament will be played from April 16 onwards.

The Mudgal Committee has also disbelieved Dhoni’s testimony that Meiyappan was only a “cricket enthusiast” and not a team official who indulged in betting. The Court has not questioned Dhoni’s captaincy on this account nor disqualified CSK and the Rajasthan Royals for the corruption charges levelled against them. These matters will be decided after due deliberation.  These are wise decisions intended to maintain the integrity of Indian cricket, cut out the sleaze and restore the sport to Indian cricket fans from corrupt elements.India finances a large part of international cricket, such being the size of its market. It must therefore play straight bat. Unfortunately there has been a tendency to convert cricket, like much else, to commerce. IPL has come to be controlled by a cabal of politicians, moneybags and other influentials who have used sport to sell their own privatepolitical or business agendas. The Supreme Court’s bold intervention will hopefully surgically excise the cancer.

For the rest, the news remains grim. That Maoists are out to disrupt the poll is no surprise. What continues to surprise is continuing policy ham-handedness.  Naxalism is more than a law and order problem. The legal, administrative, developmental and human rights framework in which it must be tackled is decrepit and confused. Few have the time or the inclination to do what is needed. Strong presidential intervention could help give momentum to the reforms that are necessary. Political illiteracy on the subject is gross as is seen by the banal electoral rhetoric on the subject if it is mentioned at all.

Perhaps more worrying is the stepped-up cross-border intervention from Pakistan not only in the form of jihadi attacks in J&K as in more dangerous efforts by ISI-sponsored sleeper cells operating through the Indian Muhajideen to stage terrorist  attacks in sensitive areas, stoke communal polarisation and communal violence, disrupt orderly elections and the polity more generally. The IM’s local leadership is now fully in the net after its current operational head, Waqas orTehseenAkhtar alias Monu was recently arrested at Naxalbari.

Unfortunately, the communal undertones of the poll campaign by the major parties are singularly perverse. The RSS Parivarhas called for a consolidation of the “Hindu” vote. Western UP, especially the area surrounding is yet emotionally-smouldering as is Muzaffarnagarand various temple towns. If the BJP nominated a communal thug like PramodMuthalik of the Ram Sene and then expelled him under pressure, it did the same with Sabir Ali, just expelled from the JD(U), who BJP vice-president, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi termed an associate of the IM terrorist, YasinBhatkaland then asked if Dawood Ibrahim would be admitted next? The Party quickly expelled Sabir Ali. But who admitted him in the first place and why?

Modi also crudely derided India’s three “AKs”, namely, AK-47’s,AK Anthony and AK-49 or ArvindKejriwal (referring to his tenure of 49 days as a chief minister)for providing “unique strength to Pakistan”. Not to be outdone, the Congress nominated Imran Masood as its candidate from Saharanpur but expelled him a day later after he commented that in Gujarat there were only four per cent Muslims. But were he to stage a riot in Saharanpur, the 42 per cent Muslim population here would “chop him into tiny pieces”

Elsewhere Jaswant Singh has been expelled from the BJP for insisting on fighting the Barmer seat against the official party candidate, while in Amritsar, NavjotSidhu, who formerly contested from there, has refused to campaign for the new party incumbent, ArunJailtey.

Further afield, India wisely abstained in the UNHRC vote on Lanka as it found the rather wide-ranging UN probe recommended by the US too intrusive. The vote was 23 in favour, with 12 against and 12 abstaining. While human rights are vital, they cannot be made an instrument of western coercive diplomacy.

In this grim scenario, SharadPawar’s jokes are improving by the day. Some time back he boasted of spending far in excess of the CES’s poll ceiling. He has now advised mathadi workers (head loaders) to avail of the differingpolling dates at their place of residence and pace of work (Navi Mumbai) to vote twice by erasing the indelible ink mark on their left index finger in the intervening period. Asked to explain this ardent advocacy of bogus voting, the NCP President and Agriculture Minister cheerfully described his remark as a joke. India’s population must be full of dullards who did not catch his brilliant humour unaided. The CEC would be advised to bar this senior leader from holding any elective or public office for six years. Harsh? No. The electorate will surely applaud the superior joke!  Ashok Chavan is also showing a rising humour graph. Modi, of course, remains in a class by himself.

www. bgverghese. com

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/03/only-shrill-abuse-now/

By Amar Yumnam

In a recent tribute to one of the best souls in contemporary India, Khuswant Singh, Vikram Seth has written: “At 7 o’clock this evening, though thinking of Khushwant’s death, feeling sad, and sitting in a library writing this, what came to my face was a smile — and I almost reached out for a scotch and soda. This was the hour when one rang his doorbell and was welcomed in — for an hour precisely — before being ‘welcomed out’ again.” I read this piece of Seth while I was pondering on a recent lost of contact with a best friend of mine. The best friend may be in contact or out of contact with us, but he/she would never be and can never be out of our mind.

Policy making in a big and highly heterogeneous, both in demography and geography, country like India should also be characterised by this kind of continuous feeling for the others like us. This should be more so a character for the larger and dominant groups, and for the federal government while generating policies and programmes for the units in the federation. This is paramount in a country where the state formation is still incomplete after seven decades of freedom from the colonial rule. The recent evanescent approach to opening of a Passport Office in Imphal made me more painfully ponder on this issue.

In Imphal we recently had a Passport Mela instead of a Passport Office. A few months back there was a piece in the New York Times, which I read everyday, about a fair in Chicago 183 years ago. It reads; “Museums are monumental; fairs are evanescent. Museums are substantial; fairs are amusements.” Thanks Goodness, Manipuris have not been made items in museums but only attractions in fairs in Passport Mela. But the fact is that the Chicago fair of 183 years ago is now a permanent museum. Hope there is no plan for such. Having nearly exhausted all the pages in my own Passport, I need to approach the Passport Office for additional pages, but I did not visit the recent Passport Mela in Imphal for I consider myself not to be an amusement item.

It is at such a moment of questioning and introspection induced by what happens around the country and within the province that the forthcoming elections to the Indian Parliament have arrived. Except in two instances, I have never had the opportunity to fully participate in the electioneering process in India as they manifest on the soil of Manipur. In most instances, I was always far away from the home soil. In fact, the forthcoming elections for the Indian parliament happens to be the one I am present continuously for the longest period on the eve of it. So I take it as an opportunity to meticulously observe the Indian attitude to Manipur and her people. The recent approach to treating the Manipuris as an amusement item, as exemplified by the two days Passport Mela in the campus of the oldest paramilitary force with historical roots to the reign of the Britishers, is a latest testimony of the Indian government’s approach to the land and people of the region. The forthcoming elections to the Indian Parliament are an opportunity to record the disapproval to such an outlook of the Indian government towards the people and land of Manipur. For Manipur, the earlier elections had been more like a case of having no alternatives but fundamentally toe the traditional line of just follow what the power that be at the provincial level at that point of tie happens to be. But this time the consciousness of the people is definitely more robust than ever, and the widespread awareness of the regional issues and the recognition of the overriding significance of the country-level legislature are higher.

The treatment of the people and land of Manipur as amusement items has been a path dependent phenomenon of the governance of the country. As we all know, one political party has been in power both in the centre and the province except very short interruptions. It has been the ingrained attitude of this political party that the land and people of Manipur are nothing more than amusement items. We need to teach a lesson to this party for various reasons. First, if we allow this principle and the accompanying outlook to continue for long, the continuance of the country as a unified one would not be for long. Second, India needs to nurture the nation-building process sooner than later. Third, there is the compulsion to foster the unique strengths of the country. Manipuris should now exercise the power of democracy to tell the world that the prevailing approach to dealing with the land and people is just not acceptable; the people are looking for an alternative approach to trust building has to be made known. This would be good for both the province and the country.

Happy Cheiraoba to all. Let us start our New Year with a new music and new tone. We have both the rare opportunity and the instrument to be used. Rare things should not be wasted.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/03/development-and-democratic-process-the-choice-and-the-compulsions/

A profile by Jimmy Leivon

Octogenarian Khangembam Mangi Singh, popularly known as Guru Pena Mangi is a living legend of Manipur, an exponent of the Pena. As an artist, the guru has survived the toughest of times, through the ups and downs of life. Born in Lambal, Lamsang in Imphal West district, he started learning Pena from his father, late Khangembam Tomei, who was also a traditional Pena performer. Since the age of 11, Pena remains Mangi`s vital survival tool both for him and his family.

Born and brought up in a poor family, Guru Mangi never had the privilege to go to school. His struggle for survival began the moment his father left the family for another woman.

He grew up spending much of his childhood and teen years helping his mother to keep the kitchen fire burning and following his elders (Pena performers), on various occasions watching them perform. He mastered Pena at a very young age. His professional career as a Pena performer took a sudden turn when he accidentally had the opportunity to perform at the courtyard of the then King Budhachandra, the erstwhile King of Manipur.

“The king summoned ten Pena artists to perform at the royal courtyard, but at that very moment only nine elders could be assembled. Left with no other choice, the elders had to ready me to perform with them”, recalled Guru Mangi nostalgically.  

He noted that Pena performance in those days was a prerequisite item for any important occasion ranging from birth, death, marriage and other rituals. But today Pena`s role seems to be restricted to religious rituals only, Guru Mangi noted.

While elaborating the era of Pena and its compositions that he journeyed through, Guru Mangi revealed that, “Moirang Sai” Traditional folklore of “Khamba Thoibi” was one of the most popular performances but it was banned by King Budhachandra owing to cracks appearing on Thangjing Hills (considered to be a sacred hill in the folklore and as part of the Manipur Tradition). Then came the era of Umanglai, Sanamahi and Laiharaoba, he said.

After his marriage to Yengkhom Mema, Guru Mangi had to manage bullock cart carriages apart from his artistic pursuance of Pena to support his family. He remembers that 12 rupees was the maximum he would earn from bullock cart transportation and 3 rupees through Pena recitations. He had to support his 8 siblings too.

Khangembam Mangi Singh received a sigh of relief on his duty to support his family and also to his dream of keeping Pena culture alive when he joined the Dance College (presently known as JNMDA) Imphal as a Pena performer in 1975. He retired from the same institute as a Guru of Lai-haraoba in 1996.

He was one of the founder members of Laihui, established on 1985. He has toured and performed Pena in many venues around the world, including Mexico, Washington, London, Berlin, France and other places in Asia. He had also acted in Manipuri traditional plays of Moirang Parba and Sumang Leela during 1950 to1970.

Apart from his father, Khangembam Mangi learned Pena from Moirangthem Modu of Lairenkabi, Phamdom Sanajao of Tera Urak, Thangjam Toyai of Lamshang, Tokpam Papu of Sangaiprou, Khumukcham Kanhai of Iroisemba, Yumnam Kanhai of Thoubal, Thokchom Tolomu of Khurai and a few others whom the guru`s ageing mind was unable to recall.

He has presented papers and demonstrations of Pena and Lai-haraoba on various seminars and workshops. He had directed innovative forms of Pena performances of Laihui, namely “Ukai Kappa” (2002) and “Lamjel” (2003).

Many of Guru Khangembam Mangi`s students have achieved many prestigious awards and recognition like National Scholarship and Fellowship given by Ministry of Culture, and Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar given by Sangeet Natak Akademy. Many of his students are performing in many Lai-haraoba functions.

Guru Khangembam Mangi`s dedication and devotion in reviving and keeping alive Pena was given due recognition when the Pena Legend was selected for the Padmashree award 2011 by the Government of India.

The Guru’s other recognition includes the Manipuri Sahitya Parishad Shanman 2010, LEIKOL`s Basanta Bimala Award 2008, Sangeet Natak Akademy Award 2006, Manipur State Kala Akademy Award 2005, Manipuri Sahitya Parishad`s Sangeet Bhushan 2004, Sana Leikham Pena Shanglakpa 2002 of Manipur Pandit Loishang.

Khangembam Mangi Singh`s greatest desire is to establish a school of Pena. He wishes to draw the attention of the state towards this in an effort to revive and retain the Pena Tradition.

Despite his retirement he is holding the post of Sana Leikham Pena Shanglakpa of Manipur Pandit Loishang, Guru of Laihui and altogether 80 students are currently taking Pena lesson under him.

Presently Guru Khangembam Mangi Singh is living with his wife and two of his children at Thangmeiband Lourung Purel Leikai, Imphal West.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/03/pena-maestro-guru-mangi/

By Akshay Arambam

The whole scenario of news in the present world is completely different from what it used to be. Any incident or news comes with a political motive. Important news are politicized to a great level for mere political gain and to score brownie points against each other. The blame game of the political parties becomes  the main highlight and the real essence of the news takes the backseat. Today, no one knows the real story. The consumers are fed what the media wants them to know. We get different versions or opinions. Indian media is highly politicized. Taking sides, supporting the political agenda and not giving the real news have been the main aspects of Indian media in the present day.

We get different versions of a particular news depending upon which newspaper we subscribe to or which channels we watch. For instance, a pro-congress newspaper always highlights the positives of the party in front pages where the negatives are being hidden in the inside pages. One newspaper will go all the way to praise Congress with hidden motive and the other will fire all the cylinders against Congress to put forward BJP`s achievement. In the process, we fail to get the real news. Accordingly, our opinions are formed. More or less, we get highly influenced by media in every way in our decision making process. It is slightly off the topic but while talking about how the media influences the mass, the incident of “Panic Broadcast” comes into my mind. On the eve of Halloween in 1938, there was a broadcast of the radio edition of H.G. Wells` “War of the Worlds.” Radio programming was interrupted with a “news bulletin” for the first time. What the audience heard was that Martians had begun an invasion of Earth in a place called Grover`s Mill, New Jersey. About one million people in US actually believed it and there was a mass hysteria. This shows how much effect media has on people.

These days, turning on the news channels and watching the prime time programmes is no less than watching some drunkards shouting and howling at each other trying to take each other down. Each news channel already set its agenda and propagate the issue. There is never a fair discussion. You can always sense the favoritism towards one side. No one is given the chance to express their views or clarify their stand on certain issues. One who can outshout the other wins. No matter how baseless he or she can be. Even the anchor who is the moderator has his own views and projects them. This is actually not fair given the responsibilities of the media in this biggest democracy. The Aam Aadmi Party sensation which took the nation with storm caught the media radar quite early with its inception. It was all praise at the beginning. Then suddenly came the backlash after the media doubted Arvind Kejriwal`s governance. It was more when he stepped down as the CM of Delhi. I am not advertising my support for AAP here but the way media dealt with it was quite sad. Media indeed has the power to make one a hero and eventually create the downfall for him.

Indian media has become extremely politicized and it shows their irresponsibility. Media is considered the fourth estate. It should be neutral rather than taking sides. Media should not abuse its freedom and power by being biased. There should be a fair and free press. it is the biggest requirement in any democracy. Let us all pledge for a free, transparent and just media.

(Akshay Arambam is studying Mass Communication at Bangalore)

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/03/politicization-of-media/

By B.G. Verghese

Preoccupation with trivia over the forthcoming Indian elections, where tamasha has largely replaced serious and meaningful electoral debate, has deflected media attention from unfolding developments in Crimea.  The Crimean peninsulawas always culturally and demographically Russian and home to its strategic Black Sea Fleet. But it became part of Ukraine in 1991 on the basis of the then administrative boundaries when the Soviet Union broke up.

Latterly, with that country facing an economic crisis and the West encouraging Ukraine to join the European Union, the pro-Russian President of the Ukraine, Yunukovych, was overthrown by a Western-aided movement for regime change. Alarmed by this attempt further to unbalance Russia strategically and economically by extending NATOs tentacles deep into Russia’s Eurasian heartland, Putin struck. Crimea was militarily occupied and a referendum conducted that voted for reunion with Russia. The West has threatened sanctions and a new cold war looms on the horizon.

The West may huff and puff but its own policies in erstwhile Yugoslavia, Kosovo, Iraq, Libya, Syria and Afghanistan have been self-serving. Russia is seeking to build a Eurasian Economic Union to rebuild its strategic and economic clout as a counterpoise to the European Union.  The West sees this as restoring the Soviet Union in another guise and is out to prevent any such consummation. India understands Russia’s interest in Crimea and has pleaded for diplomatic rather than more muscular responses. This country has strong reason to want to have Russia as a strategic counterweight against US unilateralism, often dressed up as upholding democracy and righteousness.

This American tendency to press its own interests in the guise of some higher principle of freedom and fair competition is evident in its recent onslaught on Indian pharma competitors. US firms would like to make marginally incremental changes in molecules earlier developed bythem to claim new patents and thereby keep out competition, especially from developing counties like India that have been able to make similar formulations at a fraction of the monopoly price of the original vendor to the enormous benefit of poor patients in the Third World and among less affluent sections of society elsewhere. India is acting within the WTO parameters for TRIPS (Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights) and is not in violation of international norms.

The same unilateralism is to be seen in the Anglo-US led effort to discipline Sri Lanka in the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva on March 28 through a resolution calling for the establishment of what the British Foreign Secretary calls an “international mechanism” to address past violations of international law “and secure meaningful progress on a political settlement, accountability, human rights and reconciliation”.  

On the same day that the British Foreign Secretary wrote this article in the Hindu (March 17), the same newspaper carried an article by John Vidal from the Guardian. Vidal reported the setting up of a committee by HMG to see whether it is feasible to resettle 1000 (to 5000)Chagos Islanders who were expelled from the archipelago some half-century ago to lease the largest island, Diego Garcia, to the US as a strategic air, naval and submarine base from where the Americans have fought major illegal wars in an effort to bomb and bludgeon Indo-China, Iraq, Afghanistan and others to submission. The deceit and deception underpinning these wars make a disgraceful story.

The forced and crude expulsion of the Chagos Islanders was an illegal act of cultural genocide and found to be so but continues to be defended on the most callous, absurd and dishonest grounds. To prevent the right of return of the Chagossians, the Islands were declared a precious ecological and marine reserve in 2010 that would sink were the native population to return even as 5000 US military personnel live there and B-52 bombers thunder down runways.  If returning Chagossians fish in the archipelago’s clear waters this could endanger the species, but the US military is licenced to catch 50 tonnes of fish for sport! The utter hypocrisy and humbug of its all!  And these are the people preaching virtue to Sri Lanka and others. This is not to defend any wrongdoing by Sri Lanka or anybody else, but to argue for elementary standards of decency and integrity in international relations and in defending something as precious as human rights.  

Meanwhile at home, the nomination of candidates for the elections, across parties, has degenerated into the rounding up of criminals, thugs and dubious party hoppers on all sides. Small cabals are in charge of ticket distribution and old loyalties have ceased to matter. The BJP has treated Advani and Jaswant Singh badly through opaque selection procedures. It was strange to see NarendraModi’s nomination from Varanasi delayed until the last and then to find him nominated from a second seat in Vadodara. Contesting from two seats may be legal but is a questionable practice. What is the man seeking? Insurance? And should he win from both seats, he must sacrifice one. Advani too wanted to abandon his Gandhinagar seat in favour of Bhopal. What is he afraid of? Neither Modi nor Advani, like Mulayam,is interested in representing a constituency but wish only to ensure his own victory.  These are hollow men. The Congress eyeing the Ordinance route to announce anational women’s university to be set up in Rae Bareli, Sonia Gandhi’s constituency and to be named after Indira Gandhi,marks another new low in small time politics. Why now?

Finally, much was sought to be made of the leaked First Part of the Henderson-Brooks Report on the 1962 fiasco. This is by now old hat though the Defence Ministry is pretending to defend some great strategic secret by keeping the rest of it under wraps! There is nothing to hide other than the shame of supreme political folly. When will we ever learn?

www.bgvrghese.com

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/03/double-talk-double-dealing/

By Amar Yumnam

“Das Gute, dieser Satz steht fest, ist stets das Bose, was man lasset”. This is what Wilhelm Busch said meaning that not doing the bad amounts to goodness. Busch was a powerful satirist in the later part of nineteenth century Germany. This is quoted in an article in the Ecological Economics, I have just read, of Manfred Max-Neef titled “The good is the bad that we don’t do. Economic crimes against humanity: A proposal”. Max-Neef is a former Vice Chancellor of Universidad Austral de Chile and now Director of the Economics Institute.

Max-Neef has been a powerful exponent of the need for a reorientation of Economics as well as the development policies in the developing countries. While in the latest article he emphasises the necessity for discontinuing doing the bad, something like this approach needs, I feel, to be done in the context of governance in this country. The issues of corruption and governance have been the biggest issues in recent years in this country. The forthcoming parliamentary elections too are being fought mainly on these issues. The talks of women-empowerment and caring for the downtrodden by Rahul Gandhi have failed to appeal to the electorate of the country. Rather the articulations on corruption and governance of the BJP and the Aam Aadmi Party have caught the imagination of the people in the country.

At this juncture, the country needs to doubly ponder why the talk of the important agenda of empowerment of women and improving the livelihood of the poor are not as appealing to the populace as those of corruption and governance. We have history of the development experience and the effectiveness or rather otherwise on the delivery of development programmes since the beginning of planning in this country. The continuous lapses on the delivery front of development programmes have been the unexpressed grudge of the people for long but with little opportunity for assertion of the feelings by the population. The big exposures on corruption scams in recent years and the large scale exposure on crony capitalism wherein a few closed to the government became strikingly rich within short periods have definitely played a role in the new articulations and new political winds blowing in this country. In the latest issue of The Economist, corruption in India is given as the cause of the decline in recent growth performance and worsening relationship between private sector and the state: “Corruption produces bad decisions; concern over corruption produces indecision. Graft does not function, as some claim that it does elsewhere, as an unseemly but expedient market solution to inert bureaucracy, greasing the seized-up wheels of industry. It has put grit in those wheels. Loans to industries with graft problems have infected the largely-state-run banking syste; at least a tenth of its loans are sour. Inept cronies have messed up vital road and power projects. Mines and other assets lie idle as courts dither over how crooked their owners are……Few senior people go to jail; but officials fear being accused of malfeasance, so many think the safest course of action is to make no decisions at all”.  

Now why crony capitalism became a characteristic of the Indian Polity? This is where we should be finding the cause of the disease. In order to dig into this, we need to define two things – one is cause and another is interest. In usual discussions, we usually treat the two as synonymous. We thought doing something in the national interest is the same as performing something for the cause of the nation. But we can no longer treat these two as synonymous. The synonymous treatment of the two over the decades has been exploited as convenient frame for the emergence of crony capitalism in this country. Further the imperative for serving the cause has been made subservient to serving the interests. Unfortunately the cause and the interest here belong to different entities. While everything of the development interventions has been meant to serve the cause of the nation and the cause of the people, the interests have been all for the powers that be and those who are close to them. The cause of the country and the people and the interests have parted ways to such an extent that the cause easily became a sacrificial component in functioning while the interests could in no case be compromised.  This has been allowed to continue far too long and has reached the limit.

The forthcoming parliamentary elections give the people of the country an opportunity to define in clear terms the two concepts of cause and interest in the Indian context. We have to decide as ultimate determinants of state power as to whether we stand for the cause of the land and people or we stand for personal interests. If we opt for the first the outcome of interventions would be widely shared. On the other hand, if we opt for the later, the result of the development interventions would be monopolised by a few as so far. While serving the interests cannot attend to the purposes of the cause, serving the cause can accommodate the interest of all. Now is the moment to decide which one we stand for collectively in this democracy.  

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/03/cause-vs-interests-cause-and-interests-and-only-interests-and-no-cause-the-issues-facing-the-country-today/

By Peter Bosshard

“We find that even before accounting for negative impacts on human society and environment, the actual construction costs of large dams are too high to yield a positive return”, a new report states. “Large dams also take inordinately long periods of time to get built, making them ineffective in resolving urgent energy crises.” Simply put, dams don`t just destroy the environment and impoverish local communities. They also don`t make economic sense.

The new report was prepared by researchers from Oxford University and is based on the most comprehensive economic analysis of large dams ever undertaken. The peer-reviewed scientific study offers a devastating verdict on the economics of large dams, and has important implications for future energy sector planning.

Over four years, the authors of the new study –  Atif Ansar, Bent Flyvbjerg, Alexander Budzier and Daniel Lunn – analyzed all large dams which were built between 1934 and 2007 and for which reliable costs and schedule figures are available. Their database includes 245 projects in 65 countries with a total cost of $353 billion (in 2010 prices). The findings of their analysis, which were published today, are stunning:

Large dams suffered average cost overruns of 96%. The degree of cost overruns tended to increase with the size of projects. Even without considering social and environmental costs, large dams on average don’t make economic sense.

Project implementation suffered an average delay of 44%. The implementation schedule does not include the lengthy lead time required to prepare projects.

Dam builders and financiers frequently acknowledge the problems of the past, but claim that they have learned from their mistakes. The study by the Oxford research team shows that this is not the case. Neither cost nor schedule overruns have improved over time. “There is little learning from past mistakes”, the authors say. “By the same token, forecasts of costs of dams being made today are likely to be as wrong as they were between 1934 and 2007.”

The World Bank and other development banks often argue that their involvement improves the quality of risky projects. Again, the empirical evidence does not confirm this. Atif Ansar told me in a personal conversation that projects supported by multilateral development banks “do not perform better in terms of cost overruns”.

Both cost and schedule overruns affect projects in all world regions. Poor countries tend to have higher delays, possibly because weak government structures and economies don’t support the construction of complex large dams. Interestingly, projects in democratic countries also tend to experience longer delays, possibly because elected politicians use rosy forecasts to sell their projects.

The Oxford researchers conclude their evaluation with a series of recommendations. They suggest that energy planners need to forecast costs and schedules more realistically by integrating the empirical evidence for similar projects. Based on their database, they suggest that dam planners need to increase their cost estimates by 99% and their construction schedules by 66% if they want to achieve an 80% certainty that their projects are completed within budget and time.

The new paper illustrates what this means for the Diamer-Bhasha Dam in Pakistan. With 80% certainty, the giant project on the Indus River can be expected to cost $25.4 billion rather than $12.7 billion, and to be completed in 2027 rather than 2021. Under these circumstances, the project will not make economic sense. “Diamer-Bhasha Dam is a non-starter in Pakistan”, the authors comment. The same can be said for the Inga dams on the Congo, the Belo Monte Dam in the Amazon, the proposed dams on the Mekong mainstream and many other mega-projects.

The new research shows that energy projects that don’t depend on complex factors such as geology and streamflow and can be built quickly are preferable to complex large dams. “Many smaller, more flexible projects that can be built and go online quicker, and are more easily adapted to social and environmental concerns, are preferable to high-risk dinosaur projects like conventional mega-dams”, concluded Bent Flyvbjerg, the principal investigator, as the new paper was published. “If leaders of emerging economies are truly interested in the welfare of their citizens, they are better off laying grand visions of mega-dams aside”, his co-author Atif Ansar concurred.

Many actors have vested interests in building dams and may try to disregard the findings of the new study. Disinterested government officials and investors should take the facts and figures of the Oxford study seriously. The empirical evidence demonstrates that even on economic terms, large dams are usually not the best energy solution.

(Peter Bosshard is the Policy Director of International Rivers).

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/03/large-dams-are-uneconomic-scientific-study-finds/

By R. Rungsung

The word `Justice` is derived from the Latin word `JUS` which means anything that is proper and reasonable. The concept of justice is as old as philosophy itself. The theory of justice is used as both law and as social reality – i.e. legal and moral justice, law and morality. We are morally obliged to the state therefore the state is a means to the fulfillment of moral ends. Our obligation to obey the laws of the state depends on the fact that these laws are intended to secure justice or moral rights of the INDIVIDUALS. Justice may be also regarded as a concept concerned with the order of society as a whole and as an expression of the rights of an individual i.e. the natural rights of an individual which maintains that men have certain absolute moral right such as the right to life, to liberty and to pursue happiness. Human view maintained that the state is designed to guarantee and to protect the Natural rights. Justice is the foundation of social morality and without it the rest would collapse, (we all know, our land today, is ruled by corruptions without any moral compunction and undesirable incident are rampant these days).

In Plato`s Republic the work `Justice` means what is commanded by some governing `Power` – the power that be. What is just depends on the interest of the strong i.e. those who happen to posses power of government. But does the interest of the strong promote the good of the whole? The Governing Power should command with a view in their minds so as to realize the GOOD of the citizens over whom they exercise control. The good governance for the well-being of all citizens of the land/state is the ultimate goal for end of justice.

CORRECTIVE JUSTICE

Even if Justice in distribution has been tolerably secured within a particular community, various circumstances may arise to disturb it. The right way of meeting such disturbances was referred by Aristotle as Corrective Justice.

The disturbance may take place here and there by accident i.e. without the choice of any individual by agreement between individual or by the interference of one group with another group. Accidents can be, to some extent, compensated by insurance and provision is sometimes made by the state. On the other hand, justice may consist of breach of contract, robbery or personal violence, which may be verbal or physical. The principle of `eye for an eye` and `tooth for a tooth` is not one of compensation but of revenge and two wrongs do not make a right. All that the governing body (the state government) can do is to try to present such action by some sort of protecting agency – Police and Army personnel (here in Manipur, we found sometimes opposite).

Justice is truth in action. A long time of cases shows that it is merely of some importance, but is of fundamental importance that justice should not only be done, but should manifestly and undoubtedly be seen to be done. Martin Luther King said “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Ruling power using suppressive measures coupled with self-gains do not correspond to corrective justice.

We alt want to have a just social order where justice should be there in every department of life. In order to establish justice in the society, we have to fight Racialism, Communalism, Castism and other kinds of injustices, tyrannies and oppressions. Today we are in the channel of `the rich become richer and the poor become poorer` which the governance of the state turned blind eyes to `JUSTICE`. The call for justice has become the CRY in the desert. The cry in the valley is echoing in the hills. Will the Red accept the cry of Sana Leipak? Is there justice in the voice for equality? Any land and state must ensure to have good governance to enjoy justice.

JUSTICE RELATION WITH EQUALITY

The concept of Justice and equality are so closely related that one can`t be separated from the other. It can be said that one is incomplete without the other. Unless there is some sort of equality in social and economic matter (I repeat Social and Economic), it can`t be said that is a JUST society. To understand the concept of Justice we should understand the concept of equality.

The term Equality has several facts in democratic ways. Such as, (1) Social Equality, (2) Civil Equality, (3) Economic Equality and (4) Political Equality before the law of the Land/state under the general heading of EQUALITY. The idea equality is fundamentally a leveling process where people demand the same treatments from the state to all and resented and abhorred any distinction between one individual or between communities regarding rewards and punishments. No equality no liberty and thus troubles gained and added more and more upheaval in the state governance. Religiously hill people have big eyes looking longingly with earnest heart to live in peace with valley people, In order to ensure Justice, one must know the principle of `Dignity of Labour` and completely shun to become a parasite on others.

PEACE WITHOUT JUSTICE

Humanitarian aspect certainly demands justice that peace is the accepted end of all the nations. It requires a positive and constructive world order, where individual, groups and states eschew the desire to dominate and exploit each other, but live in co-operation and mutual give and take (aiding one another). This means – peace needs a new life-style based on justice. One can never say to an empty stomach person -“Go in … peace, have a good day”. The poor person has been sidelined, robbed, oppressed, discriminated and left empty handed and the robber is filled with stolen properties amassing wealth thinking high and telling within himself. “I don`t have to worry for tomorrow – eat, drink and satisfy yourselves”.

India today is in the channel of apathy, malfeasance and corruptions. Nothing is done without a bribe and the mouths of justice is stuffed with gold. The flood of money that gushed into politics today is a pollution of democracy. Without democracy, tolerance and human rights for all, no peace is truly safe, (to me and in my humble mind, I see many or more people go for heavy meals, shining clothes and luxurious travelling as the symbols of status discarding what justice demands).

PRESIDENT BECAME REFUGEE

What a beautiful house he lived in, what a glossy and shining clothes he wore. However, there were things he can`t discard and throw away which were haunting him day and night – sleepless nights, sudden awaking from deep sleep due to bad dreams, closed doors and windows and peeping through holes. Riding and travelling in luxurious cars (limousine) with throbbing heart beats and afraid to be seen where he/she is going or going to meet someone and somewhere. The powers he possessed blinded his minds and heart.

He was afraid to go alone without companions. Years ago, Idi Amin of Uganda travelled in five limousines fixing his EFFIGIES in other FOUR and he sat in other one to confuse who he really was, in order to evade attack. Strong and powerful, but fear ruled over him. Peace didn`t live in his heart. He fled his motherland and died as a refugee in other`s land.

Peace means without disturbance and a life of calm. Peace without justice is no peace. The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ-(Philipines). Justice is truth in action. Today, Manipur is boiling on many fronts and looking at New Delhi only. Some are acting like SAINTS at Delhi and living like DEVILS at home.

He is unworthy of life that causes not life in others. As such, he is unworthy to live who lives only for himself. And that person is wading unsafe in unknown water. Let us use good means and God will give us the blessings we need.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/03/justice-is-the-root-of-peace/

By B.G. Verghese

The latest opinion polls following announcement of the general elections have forecast major gains by the BJP-NDA alliance at the cost of a floundering Congress-UPA. One need not question the integrity of the major polls though lesser known pollsters have been exposed through a sting operation as willing to trade margins for a consideration, an offshoot of the entirely unethical paid news phenomenon. The 11-Party post-election front remains wrapped in uncertainty while certain players like the AIDMK, Trinamool and even the BJD remain open to post-election alliances, with Jayalalithaa and MamataBannerjee making no secret of their prime ministerial ambitions.

Polls are prone to go awry. Even if the party numbers turn out to be broadly right, there could be upsets in the indicated preference or assumption of who will be prime minister. Modi currently leads the packbut it is not axiomatic that he will be the final choice. He remains controversial and even divisive to some, even within the BJP, witness the inner-party tussle over whether MurliManohar Joshi should give up his Varanasi seat to accommodate Modi.  

Elements within the BJP worry that once elevated, the man may remain entrenched for two or more terms thus putting paid to their ambitions. But the greater concern will be the views of the NDA partners unless the BJP on its own is in such a dominating position that it can dictate any terms. This seems unlikely. So even if Modi is the BJP’s choice (whatever the inner reservations), the NDA will have a casting vote on who is to be prime minister. The constituent parties may well prefer someone less right-wing, tainted and divisive and, more importantly, less influenced by the RSS- Hindutva lobby which has been given or certainly assumed a central role in the forthcoming elections as a matter of “Hindu survival”.

The RSS, a so-called “cultural body”, has been increasingly steering BJP policy of late, wary of losing its operational status as head of the Parivar and keeper of “cultural nationalism”. It will not allowa BJP government to cut loose. In his latest VijayaDashmi speech following its Amravati conclave last year, Mohan Bhagwat has called on RSS cadres to take the field and deliver “100 per cent Hindu voters” to the polling booths. Ashok Singhal, VHP is in fear of Hindus becoming a minority and has urged Hindu mothers to bear five children! NarendraModi has told Northeasterners to welcome Hindu migrants from Bangladesh, Fiji, Mauritius and the US, where they face persecution, but throw out Muslim and Christian infiltrators. In Ayodhya, the repair and construction of mosques within a sacred radius has virtually been prohibited under VHP pressure. Numbers of ex-servicemen are meanwhile joining the BJP on account of its sturdy “nationalism”.

At its latest annual conclave in Bangalore the RSS determined not to compromise on “moral values, social systems and traditions in the name of individual freedom” on such issues as live-in relationships and homosexuality.  Wendy Donniger’s book “On Hinduism” has been pulped under pressure.Elsewhere moral policing continues. The BJP continues to demand passage of a uniform civil code; but what is utterly surprising that the Party does not legislate this in any of the States it rules as is constitutionally permissible and does no injury to personal law. A UCC, already partly extant in the form of the Special Marriage Act, would liberate women from male bondage, make for equal opportunity and cut at the root of the power of fundamentalist clerics of all faiths who now rule the roost. The indifference to such a basic reform across the board, largely born of legal illiteracy reinforced by gender insensitivity, is truly astonishing. The Supreme Court has however just moved to legalise Muslim adoption under civil law, a step towards the making of a uniform code.  

To get back to the polls, aware of the negative vibes caused by Modi’s record in 2002.Rajnath Singh, the BJP president, has said that the party is prepared to apologise to the Muslims in case any injusticewas done to them. Only a sense of inner guilt can explain this dubious apology. A more curious reference to 2002 came thereafter from Venkiah Naidu who sought to prove that the party is stronger than any individual (such as Modi).He argued that when Vajpayee  chastisedModi and called on him to resign, reminding him of his raj dharma as Gujarat’s chief minister, the party collectively vetoed the prime minister. Was Vajpayee then an ill-informed maverick talking out of turn or a liberal statesman deeply anguished by the holocaust?

So the jury is still out on who may be prime minister even if the 2014 electoral outcome indicates a BJPsurge under Modi’s leadership.One must wait to see how the chips fall. However, one does not see the Congress under Rahul Gandhi going anywhere. The Government was busy frantically handing out lollipops hours before the election code came into force. Governors were appointed at 3.20 a.m, the Defence Minister’s achievements were eulogised at 7.30 a.m and the Home Ministry announced that certain Wakf properties would not be acquired just 10 minutes before the election code deadline. Reservations for Jats from the OBC quota were also announced.

In another display of illiberalism, a group of women academics at Aligarh Muslim University celebrated International Women’s Day by extolling purdah. At a private Meerut college, a group of Kashmiri students that cheered Pakistan’s cricket victory over India caused some understandable annoyance.That was then followed by an over-the-top sedition charge against them by the UP police which was fortunately rescinded a day later after Omar Abdullah spoke to AkhileshYadav. We have to become more mature and avoid knee-jerk reactions.

The poll campaign is warming up but the AAP-BJP brawls in Delhi, Lucknow, and in Gujarat are a warning signal. The AAP was wrong to see the Gandhinagar police’s temporary detention of Kejriwal’s motorcade for moving without sanction after the coming into force of the election code, as an “arrest”. This sparked off a fractious Delhi rally by AAP supporters before the BJP office and a retaliatory strike by the BJP in Lucknow. This kind of rowdyism must be put down with a firm hand. Nor should the man who blackened YogendraYadav’s face with ink at Delhi’s JantarMatar be let off on Yadav’s say so. Unless such conduct is dealt with sternly, others will be encouraged to misbehave and plead immunity.

www.bgverghese.com

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/03/poll-surge-vs-pm-stakes/

By Amar Yumnam

Manipur is lovely, lovable and exciting. This is for various reasons. First, we love her for we were born and brought up here. Second, with such a romantic past in every phase of her history, she is lovable to the core. Personally too, this place has made me meet the person I love most and realise why I do so. Third, it is an exciting place for anyone interested in socio-economic issues because of the unique socio-economic lessons to be learnt from the dynamics of the evolving grammar of society in this place.

The global experience has been that the generalisation of trust is an important ingredient for development, or, to put it more emphatically, widespread trust has a causal positive impact on growth of a region. The failure to generalise trust has been a most significant undoing in the Islamic world in recent decades. This generalisation of trust requires an atmosphere and a means for heightened exchange and interaction among the population. This is more so in an ethnically heterogeneous society like Manipur’s because exchange and interaction facilitate the generalisation of trust. But heightened exchange and interaction do not happen in a vacuum; these happen when the development interventions, like roads, are put in place for these to happen.

This is where the emerging grammar of society and evolving picture of Manipur turn out to be very exciting, not from the angle of development of the region but from the perspective of a physician who speaks of a patient with rare ailment as interesting case. The emergence of highway blockades, general strikes and the like as generalised tools of presumably social responses to issues and media for pressuring the authorities for action in a particular way is something to be seriously thought of in contemporary Manipur. In the old days when the infrastructure was as undeveloped as it could be, and exchange and interactions were periodic, there was a kind of generalised trust in Manipur as oral history tells us. But the directions in which the changes have taken place in recent decades are such that the traditional generalised trust has been brutally replaced by individualised trust. In an atmosphere of generalised trust, the social advancement facilitated by it benefits the whole society without discrimination.
But this definitely has not been the case in Manipur.

The deterioration in the nature and strength of generalised trust is to be treated as the cost of the conflicts that has been affecting the region for the last quite a few decades. The governance response to addressing the problems associated with these conflicts has been rather one of satisficing a few individuals instead of addressing the underlying causes of the conflicts. This had the impact of enticing a few protagonists and their followers towards a satisficing approach to life and livelihood with the unfortunate outcome of compromising the generalised trust. This definitely eroded the historical roots of development. More unfortunately, the governance too had satisfied itself with the concentrated approach of satisficing a few individuals instead of addressing the generalised issues of development for the larger population.

Now what happens is that human beings behave in a path dependent way in the sense that they also follow the means which had paid off. In an otherwise negative case, there could be an atmosphere wherein the few individuals who had monopolised the satisfaction become the powerful and articulate groups in such a way that the general population become irrelevant in every socially meaningful arena of action. Something like this has happened in the case of Manipur. The model of the social grammar currently being practised in Manipur is such that one has to be a significant player of protagonists of conflict. Since all the population do not have the inclination for this, only a few specialise in this. The governance also has been following the practice of attending to the satisficing needs of these few individuals rather than adopting a society-wide development agenda. Now the relationship between this approach of the governance and the satisficing few individuals has reached such a level of social strength that the benefits of development interventions are monopolised by these few individuals. The worst part is that the convergence of interests between the individuals and the governance has been such that the general population do not have the courage to complain in the open even if their own privileges have been usurped by the connivance of the few and the persons in governance. Though it is supposedly a democracy in name, the actual practice has been one of exploitative autocracy with the voice of the larger majority finding no place in the grammar of functioning of the polity.

This is the reason why poverty removal schemes have not delivered at all, and these caused the opposite of concentration of benefits in a few hands. Now this requires certain things in place in Manipur sooner than later so that the desired generalised social outcomes are generated. First, we need a definitive governance with social-wide presence in Manipur. The absence of the reach of governance has only provided an opportunity to a select few with pseudo-reform articulations for extracting the maximum from the governance and without in any case allowing the common population to share the outcome of governance interventions. The generalised reach of governance should orient itself to addressing the development needs which could be shared by all without any hindrance. Secondly, it continually serves the interest of these people that governance remains as poor as ever for this sustains their individualised prosperity and limited social relevance. The time has come for the larger population to raise their shared voices instead of succumbing to the periodic noises of the few specialists in pseudo-conflicts. Third, the delivery mechanism of governance for any development intervention should be the primary plank of action.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/03/individualised-benefits-of-conflict-generalised-cost-of-conflict-and-governance-failure-the-long-term-dynamics-of-manipur-polity/