Tag: Human rights

By Chitra Ahanthem
The heading of this piece borrows from “Portraits in Sepia” a book by Isabel Allende, which uses the metaphor of photography as memory. The title of the book has been something that has always stayed on in my consciousness partly because the book was very captivating in its scope and narrative. Another reason that the book title has been used today (with a slight change though) is the fact that I love browsing through old photographs and imagining the stories behind the picture.

Growing up, it was very common to see large framed images of Gods and Goddesses in the house. It would take me years to realize that these were often calendar prints, which were framed. But till this realization came about, I often wondered as a child why images of the same God with the same name would look all different: was it because these God pictures were in different houses I often thought. A distinct memory is of a black and white photo print of a young Indira Gandhi giving a glass of juice to Mahatma Gandhi who was reclined on a bed as Jawaharlal Nehru looked on. Another accompanying picture to this one in most houses then was that of a laughing Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi. Either or both of these two pictures graced most households during the early 80’s. Was it the sway of the Congress (I) party then? I have no precise answer to that.

The oldest photograph is our family is sepia tainted or rather, a fading black and white photograph of my great grand father. The photo shows him in a impeccable two piece suit and a long turban on his head. His right hand touches a wooden chair and his legs are firmly but subtly parted and he throws a confident look at the camera though his left eye looks slightly hidden by a portion of his turban. There is something regal and disciplined about his stance and even as a child I realized that this man would not have been just a family patriarch. And though he wasn’t around when I was born, this picture that remains of him tells me so much in his stance. In later years, I found that he was a Royal official in the court of Maharaj Churachand.

On my mother’s side, there are a few pictures of my maternal grand father: a giant of a man (who unfortunately did not pass on his height related genes to me) dressed in a huge overcoat and with a riffle in hand. He passed away when I was about 7 year old and if it were not for the few photographs, which are with me now; he would have only remained a grandfatherly memory. But the photographs prompted me to ask my mother about what her father was all about. What my mother told me was totally fascinating: my maternal grand father had been a ‘been there, done that’ person who started by running errands and then becoming a driver at a young age (when the British were still around) who later went on to have his own goods carriers (my mother gave me a very confusing vehicle name called “Bedfour” or some such). The irony was that there were no remains of the women in both sides of the family. On my father’s side, there is no photograph of my great-grand mother though there is one of my grand mother surrounded by 6 of her 9 children looking beautiful but a bit harried (9 children can do that very effectively I guess) but this picture was taken much later. Once I asked my maternal grand mother why there wasn’t any photograph taken of her early years and she told me matter of fact, “they said that when the light went off and the sparks flew, it would shorten your life!” (she was clearly talking of the earlier box cameras)

The later pictures belonging to my parents’ time (late 60’s and 70’s) speak of a better comfort level that one doesn’t see in the pictures of the generation before them. It was common then to take posed pictures in a studio with huge cut outs of the Taj Mahal or some such monument as backdrop. The men often sported fashionable mustaches and really huge spectacles while the women had really elaborate hairstyles and sported flowers. There was a visible effort to dress up and pose in their early years that slowly gave away to more normal captures like a picnic scene or a wedding or some family event. Slowly of course, the black and white photographs gave way to colour and taking photographs became easier and more common.

End-point:
Now, photographs have become the order of the day and within the reach of even young children, thanks to mobile handsets that come in with camera on one hand and digital cameras getting cheaper by the day. At one stage, a camera reel was all planned out and executed while the photograph subjects would have to wait for the results to be developed. Today, there is no such thing as a bad moment on camera (closed eyes, a not so good profile shot etc) as any, or all unwanted pictures can be deleted. A look at the picture(s) on display and pressing delete is all it takes with no extra cost. Some people even go to the extent of saying that social networking sites have led to excessive photography with everyone making a rush to upload photos of their self, their family, their pets and what not!

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2011/11/photographs-in-sepia/

By Subir Ghosh
Once the early film makers got over the fact that a film could be made of more than one shot, the multi-shot film became the norm of the day. Films of the 1902/3-07 period were no longer treating the individual shot as a self-contained unit of meaning. One shot was now linked to another. It was like putting words together to form a meaningful sentence. The grammar, in any, of course, was far from evolving.

Filmmakers used succession of shots to capture ane emphasise the highpoints of the action rather than construct either a linear narrative causality or even try to establish temporal-spatial relations. The editing of the film was solely intended to enhance visual pleasure for the audience rather than to refine narrative developments as a filmmaker.

Many editing devices evolved, one of them being the overlapping action. This was a result of the filmmakers’ desire both to preserve the pro-filmic space and tp emphasise the important action by showing it twice. Georges Méliès’s A Trip to the Moon (1902) covered the landing of a space capsule on the moon in two shots. In the first, taken from space, the capsule hits the man in the moon on the eye, and he grimaces. In the second, taken from the moon’s surface, the capsule once again lands. To a viewer today, it would mean nothing. And in the film, while a later-day filmmaker would have cut directly from shot to shot, Méliès dissolved from one to another, and worked on it as a transitional device.

Soon, the dissolve was not unusual to see in films. But the direct cuts which continued action from one shot to another became a popular device after English filmmaker James Williamson made Stop Thief! in 1901. The film showed a crowd chasing a tramp who had stolen a joint from a butcher, motivating connections by the diagonal movement of characters through each of the individual shots; the thief and then his pursures entering the frame at the back and exiting the frame past the camera. The fact that the camera remained with the scene until the last character had exited revealed how character movement motivates the editing. Williamson’s venture gave birth to chase films, the most famous of them being Personal (Biograph, 1904).

Edwin S Porter, considerably influenced by another of Williamson’s films, Fire!, employed overlapping action in Life of an American Fireman (1902), and showed a rescue in its entirety, first from the interior and then from the exterior perspective. The cuts were not perfect yet, and the ‘imperfect’ match cut of GA Smith’s The Sick Kitten (1903) took it further. The cut in question was that from a long view of two children administering medicine to a kitten to a closer view of the kitten licking the spoon. Films, as you can see, were still jarring to look at.

It was Porter, formerly a camerman with Edison Studios, who took the narrative element of cinema further with The Great Train Robbery (1903), a convetional Western film. It was twelve minutes long, and built upon his earlier work Life of an American Fireman. The film used a number of innovative techniques, including cross cutting, double exposure, composite editing, camera movement, and on location shooting. Cross-cuts were a new, sophisticated editing technique. Some prints were also hand coloured in certain scenes. None of the techniques were original, and the film is today considered to have been heavily influenced by Frank Mottershaw’s earlier British film A Daring Daylight Burglary.

Among the narrative techniques employed by Porter was a medium shot of the bandit leader firing his revolver directly at the camera. The film was originally distributed with a note saying this shot could be placed either at the beginning or at the end of the film, or both. Most modern prints put it at the end. It is believed that the sequence with bandit Justus D Barnes was the inspiration for the gun barrel sequence in James Bond movies.

Porter (born 1870) started his career doing odd jobs, but showed his knack for gadgets relatively early – he shared a patent at age 21 for a lamp regulator. Porter entered the film industry in 1896. He was briefly employed in New York City by Raff & Gammon, agents for the films and viewing equipment made by Thomas Edison, and then became a touring projectionist with a competing machine, Kuhn & Webster’s Projectorscope. He travelled to the West Indies and South America, and returned to become a projectionist.

In 1899, he joined the Edison Manufacturing Company, and subsequently took charge of motion picture production, operating the camera, directing the actors, and assembling the final print. As a touring projectionist he knew what pleased crowds; he later used this info to the hilt.

In The Great Train Robbery, Porter took the Western, already familiar to audiences from novels and stage, and made it an entirely new visual experience. It used as many as ten different indoor and outdoor locations and was groundbreaking in its use of “cross-cutting” in editing to show simultaneous action in different places. The film added pace to cinema.

He presented two parallel stories in The Kleptomaniac (1905), and used side lighting, close-ups, and changed shots within a scene in The Seven Ages (1905). He paved the way for DW Griffith’s contributions in editing and screen storytelling, but himself could not keep pacec with motion picture art. . Yet he seemed to regard them only as separate experiments and never brought them together in a unified filmmaking style. Porter rarely repeated an innovation after he had used it successfully, and even protested when others rediscovered his techniques and claimed them as their own. He was never comofrtable with stars, and as the star concept became a phenomenon in the United States, Porter faded away.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2011/11/cutting-to-the-chase/

By Subir Ghosh
Once the early film makers got over the fact that a film could be made of more than one shot, the multi-shot film became the norm of the day. Films of the 1902/3-07 period were no longer treating the individual shot as a self-contained unit of meaning. One shot was now linked to another. It was like putting words together to form a meaningful sentence. The grammar, in any, of course, was far from evolving.

Filmmakers used succession of shots to capture ane emphasise the highpoints of the action rather than construct either a linear narrative causality or even try to establish temporal-spatial relations. The editing of the film was solely intended to enhance visual pleasure for the audience rather than to refine narrative developments as a filmmaker.

Many editing devices evolved, one of them being the overlapping action. This was a result of the filmmakers’ desire both to preserve the pro-filmic space and tp emphasise the important action by showing it twice. Georges Méliès’s A Trip to the Moon (1902) covered the landing of a space capsule on the moon in two shots. In the first, taken from space, the capsule hits the man in the moon on the eye, and he grimaces. In the second, taken from the moon’s surface, the capsule once again lands. To a viewer today, it would mean nothing. And in the film, while a later-day filmmaker would have cut directly from shot to shot, Méliès dissolved from one to another, and worked on it as a transitional device.

Soon, the dissolve was not unusual to see in films. But the direct cuts which continued action from one shot to another became a popular device after English filmmaker James Williamson made Stop Thief! in 1901. The film showed a crowd chasing a tramp who had stolen a joint from a butcher, motivating connections by the diagonal movement of characters through each of the individual shots; the thief and then his pursures entering the frame at the back and exiting the frame past the camera. The fact that the camera remained with the scene until the last character had exited revealed how character movement motivates the editing. Williamson’s venture gave birth to chase films, the most famous of them being Personal (Biograph, 1904).

Edwin S Porter, considerably influenced by another of Williamson’s films, Fire!, employed overlapping action in Life of an American Fireman (1902), and showed a rescue in its entirety, first from the interior and then from the exterior perspective. The cuts were not perfect yet, and the ‘imperfect’ match cut of GA Smith’s The Sick Kitten (1903) took it further. The cut in question was that from a long view of two children administering medicine to a kitten to a closer view of the kitten licking the spoon. Films, as you can see, were still jarring to look at.

It was Porter, formerly a camerman with Edison Studios, who took the narrative element of cinema further with The Great Train Robbery (1903), a convetional Western film. It was twelve minutes long, and built upon his earlier work Life of an American Fireman. The film used a number of innovative techniques, including cross cutting, double exposure, composite editing, camera movement, and on location shooting. Cross-cuts were a new, sophisticated editing technique. Some prints were also hand coloured in certain scenes. None of the techniques were original, and the film is today considered to have been heavily influenced by Frank Mottershaw’s earlier British film A Daring Daylight Burglary.

Among the narrative techniques employed by Porter was a medium shot of the bandit leader firing his revolver directly at the camera. The film was originally distributed with a note saying this shot could be placed either at the beginning or at the end of the film, or both. Most modern prints put it at the end. It is believed that the sequence with bandit Justus D Barnes was the inspiration for the gun barrel sequence in James Bond movies.

Porter (born 1870) started his career doing odd jobs, but showed his knack for gadgets relatively early – he shared a patent at age 21 for a lamp regulator. Porter entered the film industry in 1896. He was briefly employed in New York City by Raff & Gammon, agents for the films and viewing equipment made by Thomas Edison, and then became a touring projectionist with a competing machine, Kuhn & Webster’s Projectorscope. He travelled to the West Indies and South America, and returned to become a projectionist.

In 1899, he joined the Edison Manufacturing Company, and subsequently took charge of motion picture production, operating the camera, directing the actors, and assembling the final print. As a touring projectionist he knew what pleased crowds; he later used this info to the hilt.

In The Great Train Robbery, Porter took the Western, already familiar to audiences from novels and stage, and made it an entirely new visual experience. It used as many as ten different indoor and outdoor locations and was groundbreaking in its use of “cross-cutting” in editing to show simultaneous action in different places. The film added pace to cinema.

He presented two parallel stories in The Kleptomaniac (1905), and used side lighting, close-ups, and changed shots within a scene in The Seven Ages (1905). He paved the way for DW Griffith’s contributions in editing and screen storytelling, but himself could not keep pacec with motion picture art. . Yet he seemed to regard them only as separate experiments and never brought them together in a unified filmmaking style. Porter rarely repeated an innovation after he had used it successfully, and even protested when others rediscovered his techniques and claimed them as their own. He was never comofrtable with stars, and as the star concept became a phenomenon in the United States, Porter faded away.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2011/11/cutting-to-the-chase/

By Amar Yumnam
On the second Saturday of this month, I entered with a friend a high-end cookies and sweetmeat store in Imphal; being high-end, the customers usually visiting this shop are also high-enders who have cultivated a taste for quality in goods over years of exposure outside the State. I had to enter the city business district (Thangal Bazaar in this instance) due to some unavoidable personal reasons and a friend accompanied me on my request. Since we do not usually enter the marketing areas often, we wanted to allow ourselves some indulgence by purchasing some exquisite items. But we were absolutely shocked. The display cases were mostly empty, and the salesman just related the impossible costs of preparing the items for which we entered the shop at all. It was a very pitiable look; the shop is there, the salesman too but very little to sell with the display cases mostly empty.  The more than century old (in terms of days) blockade along the highways have really eaten into the economic flesh of the polity.

German Unification: In the afternoon, I was reading a research report just sent by a colleague from Italy. The research was evaluating the economic impact of the unification of two Germanys by breaking down the Berlin Wall. The results are absolutely interesting. These testify the positive economic impacts of relationships maintained for non-economic reasons. In the particular case of the German unification, it has been found that West German families who had social ties to East Germany in 1989 experienced a persistent rise in their personal incomes after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Moreover, the existence of such households impacted positively on the regional economic performance through higher entrepreneurial activity and higher returns on these. Thus West Germany regions with stronger ties with the East have consistently outperformed other regions.  In a more technical language, it has been found that one standard deviation rise in the share of households with social ties to East Germany in 1989 is associated with a 4.6 percentage point rise in income per capita over six years. This is a very powerful testimony to the strong relationship between social ties and regional economic performance.

Look At Us: Now let us go back to the story of empty display cases in the high end sweetmeat shop in Imphal consequent upon the blockades. Besides the expected rise in prices under the impact of the blockades, many other important socio-economic implications are coming to the forth. The mountains catching fire in Manipur is absolutely understandable. We must accept that we have not developed the mountains for more than six decades while the major development outcomes have been visible in Imphal only where the majority population are Meetei. Given the differential geographical structures and the more or less clear demarcated settlement of the different ethnic groups, the heightened articulation along ethnic lines is easily understandable. Further, since there has been very little development in their areas of settlement the people naturally have to feel the protection of whatever perceived ethnically owned boundary of territory as the proverbial last straw. Still further, there is the usual adding fuel to the fire scenario when the road medians in the Kangla Park area are improved more than seven times a year while the mountains suffer from absolute absence of roads, schools and health facilities. This is where we say that accounting of development expenditure now needs to be done with the accountability component inherent in it. For instance, all the annual audit and accounting reports on road construction works should specify the road sections where the expenses have been incurred rather than the present one of just tallying the vouchers. This is the only way to evolve accounting with accountability.

The issues of widening distance among the different ethnic groups have been with us for quite some time and with particularly heightened temperature for the larger part since the start of this new century. The results are visible now. Unlike the unification and resultant economic expansion Germany have experienced, what we have experienced during the last decade of this century is but the relative decline in per capita income of Manipur from the more than 83 percent of the national average in the beginning of this century to about 50 percent of the national average today. This has happened despite the more than four-fold increase in plan expenses during this period. Something somewhere has terribly gone wrong. 

Search Governance: Since we have been witnessing the build-up for the contemporary unsavoury scenario and are now facing crises in multiples of dimensions, we naturally need to identify the root cause for all these. Without mincing many words, we must say that the blame for the crises we are facing today should squarely fall on the nature and quality of governance we have been unblessed with. The absence of governance at both the provincial and the national levels have never been so wonderfully established than by the ongoing blockades. Imagining the long term effects of these disturbances makes our hearts shudder. There definitely is going to take a long time to reverse the rising tide of ethnicity meaning necessarily against one another. In the meantime, the negative economic impact of worsening social ties would get reflected in slower growth of Manipur, particularly in the mountains. Further, even if genuine developmental interventions are attempted today, these would not easily convince the mountains. In other words, establishing the credibility of governance in the mountains would now be a very costly affair.

It is in such times that the elections are coming round the corner. The governments one after another have ensured over the years that there be utter disconnect with the people. This does serve the purpose of the now powerful, wealthy and majority politicians. Since the people feel no connection with the government and expect nothing from any government, the elections are reduced to plain one day stand alone shots. The wealthy, powerful and corrupt politicians can never think of a more congenial atmosphere to pave their way into the political power. Spend heavily and resort to muscles as much as possible and more effectively than others, then the remaining five years are cool for personal aggrandisement. But now the million dollar question with our future at stake is: how prepared and committed the people of the land are to work and vote for a better Manipur?  

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2011/11/economy-wounded-but-who-cares-vote-governance-and-slippery-population/

By B.G. Verghese
First the bad news. The just released South Asian Human Development Report for South Asia in relation to Food Security in 2010-11 produced by the Mahbubul Haq Development Centre in Lahore makes dismal reading. The global food crisis since 2008 has hit this region hard. The striking feature is that it is not lack of availability but lack of access to what is available among the under-mass of the population that is the cause of a continuing and growing crisis for the poor.

The verdict on India is grim. “The path of economic reform that has resulted in high economic growth in some regions and sectors in India has been accompanied by failure on food security in all aspects – production, availability, distribution, affordability, absorption and nutrition – which makes India one of the most undernourished countries in the world”, well below the  standards prevailing in South Saharan Africa.

As much as 76 per cent of Indians consume inadequate food; three-fourths of its women and children are anaemic; foodgrain production declined from 208 to 196 kg per annum per capita between 1997 and 2010 while unemployment among agricultural labourers rose correspondingly. Farm productivity has declined and food prices have spiralled upwards; only one in four households has access to safe drinking water and sanitation facilities. National investment in agriculture and health has been consistently low. Following economic liberalisation, the emphasis has been on reducing food subsidies rather than on ensuring greater food security. Climate change now poses further uncertainties. Farmer suicides are rising and now total over a quarter of a million since 1995 with almost 16,000 deaths in 2010.

None of this was exactly unknown, but to be told it upfront on the basis of international comparisons is shocking. At the same time, India is growing more billionaires than most. This is an unacceptable and unviable situation, with huge regional and gender disparities as well, that contrasts ill with boastful talk of being an emerging great power that merits a seat at the high table. The latter claims are not without merit and cannot be discounted but there is a greater underlying truth that must be urgently addressed.

Greater investment in agriculture and the whole gamut of farm production and management practices, especially post-harvest technologies that include storage, cold chains, marketing and processing, are overdue. There has to be a new evergreen revolution with much more attention being given to dry land farming and tapping the immense potential of the eastern alluvial plain with its still inimical land relations that remain what Daniel Thorner long back called an agrarian depressor.

Contract farming, with safeguards, homestead farming (as a valuable nutritional supplement), and the licensing of multiple-brand retail trading could give a huge boost to farm production, productivity, processing and incomes. Bhoodan lands are still being distributed and settled tardily, years after the original land-gift. Unorganised small farmers suffer considerable storage and distribution losses and are exploited by middlemen. This results in their receiving a smaller share of the consumer’s rupee while the consumer pays more for poorer quality produce. Appropriate backward and forward linkages could make a significant difference to both productivity and prices to the benefit of both the famer and the consumer. 

Yet, change is resisted and often two or more problems are cited to every reform solutions. Reforms must certainly be undertaken with due care and positioning of safety nets for those who might lose out or require time to adjust in the transition. The country is now ripe for the next round of reforms which should not be held back for fear of electoral loss but, instead, made the platform for winning electoral rewards.

Speaking at the recent National Development Council meeting to approve the 12th Plan, the Prime Minister called on the nation to eschew negativism and not subject growth to short term considerations. The NDC endorsed a target of nine per cent growth during 2012-17 and heard a call to shun populism and not allow party election victories to overshadow India’s victory. The introduction and passage of the Goods and Services Tax and the new Direct Taxes Code will test the willingness to hew a new path away from negativism. Inflation has been a universal worry. But the GST, once adopted, should also help bring down prices.

The good news is that there appears to be a new drive towards reform and measures to curb corruption. A practical slew of “Lok Pal” measures – rather than a single, cumbersome enactment – will hopefully be in place over the next few months. India’s latest HDI Report shows heartening signs of inclusive growth with all disadvantaged categories like Dalits, tribals, women and Muslims registering improvements and narrowing differentials with the rest in terms of literacy, health and employment parameters. This still merits only one cheer, as there is much leeway to make up to gain parity with the rest, and more so, to match international standards.  Poverty is being rolled back – slowly. The latest series of baby deaths in West Bengal and the heavy toll taken by Japanese encephalitis in eastern Uttar Pradesh show how far we need to go, especially as these fatalities are caused by maternal malnutrition and lack of primary health care.

Census figures also show a continuing exodus to the cities from the countryside. These Malthusian refugees, mostly landless labourers, exploited sharecroppers and tiny peasants, find that the land is no longer a fond “mother” or them and simply cannot provide the income and opportunity they seek with a growingly unfavourable land-man ratio. NAREGA has helped but needs now to be better planned and professionally backstopped to create more and better farm capital assets and rural infrastructure, with less leakage. Yet no one has yet calculated to what extent the annual distress migration of 30-40 million “nowhere” persons (including family) has been arrested. 

The challenge is to create an additional net 10-12 million jobs per annum to match the growth in the labour force on account of population increase. Unimaginative land acquisition and environmental restraints have thus far been impediments to infrastructure development and manufacturing growth. These policies are fortunately now being reviewed. Meanwhile, two major industrial-cum-employment initiatives have been taken with the announcement of a new manufacturing policy to generate 100 million jobs in 10 years by facilitating national manufacturing investment zones and industrial corridors, and an additional 400,000 new jobs in 21 integrated textile parks.

These are bold new initiatives that must be supported and pushed through. But they need to be underpinned by a parallel process of incubating tiny, mini and small industries partly by upgrading the khadi and village industries, handloom and handicrafts sector as well as off-land farm processing and servicing industries though micro-finance, skill formation and cooperative development and facilitation.

The entrepreneurship is there. Imagination has been lacking.
www.bgverghese .com

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2011/11/falling-hdi-but-silver-linings/

By B.G. Verghese
First the bad news. The just released South Asian Human Development Report for South Asia in relation to Food Security in 2010-11 produced by the Mahbubul Haq Development Centre in Lahore makes dismal reading. The global food crisis since 2008 has hit this region hard. The striking feature is that it is not lack of availability but lack of access to what is available among the under-mass of the population that is the cause of a continuing and growing crisis for the poor.

The verdict on India is grim. “The path of economic reform that has resulted in high economic growth in some regions and sectors in India has been accompanied by failure on food security in all aspects – production, availability, distribution, affordability, absorption and nutrition – which makes India one of the most undernourished countries in the world”, well below the  standards prevailing in South Saharan Africa.

As much as 76 per cent of Indians consume inadequate food; three-fourths of its women and children are anaemic; foodgrain production declined from 208 to 196 kg per annum per capita between 1997 and 2010 while unemployment among agricultural labourers rose correspondingly. Farm productivity has declined and food prices have spiralled upwards; only one in four households has access to safe drinking water and sanitation facilities. National investment in agriculture and health has been consistently low. Following economic liberalisation, the emphasis has been on reducing food subsidies rather than on ensuring greater food security. Climate change now poses further uncertainties. Farmer suicides are rising and now total over a quarter of a million since 1995 with almost 16,000 deaths in 2010.

None of this was exactly unknown, but to be told it upfront on the basis of international comparisons is shocking. At the same time, India is growing more billionaires than most. This is an unacceptable and unviable situation, with huge regional and gender disparities as well, that contrasts ill with boastful talk of being an emerging great power that merits a seat at the high table. The latter claims are not without merit and cannot be discounted but there is a greater underlying truth that must be urgently addressed.

Greater investment in agriculture and the whole gamut of farm production and management practices, especially post-harvest technologies that include storage, cold chains, marketing and processing, are overdue. There has to be a new evergreen revolution with much more attention being given to dry land farming and tapping the immense potential of the eastern alluvial plain with its still inimical land relations that remain what Daniel Thorner long back called an agrarian depressor.

Contract farming, with safeguards, homestead farming (as a valuable nutritional supplement), and the licensing of multiple-brand retail trading could give a huge boost to farm production, productivity, processing and incomes. Bhoodan lands are still being distributed and settled tardily, years after the original land-gift. Unorganised small farmers suffer considerable storage and distribution losses and are exploited by middlemen. This results in their receiving a smaller share of the consumer’s rupee while the consumer pays more for poorer quality produce. Appropriate backward and forward linkages could make a significant difference to both productivity and prices to the benefit of both the famer and the consumer. 

Yet, change is resisted and often two or more problems are cited to every reform solutions. Reforms must certainly be undertaken with due care and positioning of safety nets for those who might lose out or require time to adjust in the transition. The country is now ripe for the next round of reforms which should not be held back for fear of electoral loss but, instead, made the platform for winning electoral rewards.

Speaking at the recent National Development Council meeting to approve the 12th Plan, the Prime Minister called on the nation to eschew negativism and not subject growth to short term considerations. The NDC endorsed a target of nine per cent growth during 2012-17 and heard a call to shun populism and not allow party election victories to overshadow India’s victory. The introduction and passage of the Goods and Services Tax and the new Direct Taxes Code will test the willingness to hew a new path away from negativism. Inflation has been a universal worry. But the GST, once adopted, should also help bring down prices.

The good news is that there appears to be a new drive towards reform and measures to curb corruption. A practical slew of “Lok Pal” measures – rather than a single, cumbersome enactment – will hopefully be in place over the next few months. India’s latest HDI Report shows heartening signs of inclusive growth with all disadvantaged categories like Dalits, tribals, women and Muslims registering improvements and narrowing differentials with the rest in terms of literacy, health and employment parameters. This still merits only one cheer, as there is much leeway to make up to gain parity with the rest, and more so, to match international standards.  Poverty is being rolled back – slowly. The latest series of baby deaths in West Bengal and the heavy toll taken by Japanese encephalitis in eastern Uttar Pradesh show how far we need to go, especially as these fatalities are caused by maternal malnutrition and lack of primary health care.

Census figures also show a continuing exodus to the cities from the countryside. These Malthusian refugees, mostly landless labourers, exploited sharecroppers and tiny peasants, find that the land is no longer a fond “mother” or them and simply cannot provide the income and opportunity they seek with a growingly unfavourable land-man ratio. NAREGA has helped but needs now to be better planned and professionally backstopped to create more and better farm capital assets and rural infrastructure, with less leakage. Yet no one has yet calculated to what extent the annual distress migration of 30-40 million “nowhere” persons (including family) has been arrested. 

The challenge is to create an additional net 10-12 million jobs per annum to match the growth in the labour force on account of population increase. Unimaginative land acquisition and environmental restraints have thus far been impediments to infrastructure development and manufacturing growth. These policies are fortunately now being reviewed. Meanwhile, two major industrial-cum-employment initiatives have been taken with the announcement of a new manufacturing policy to generate 100 million jobs in 10 years by facilitating national manufacturing investment zones and industrial corridors, and an additional 400,000 new jobs in 21 integrated textile parks.

These are bold new initiatives that must be supported and pushed through. But they need to be underpinned by a parallel process of incubating tiny, mini and small industries partly by upgrading the khadi and village industries, handloom and handicrafts sector as well as off-land farm processing and servicing industries though micro-finance, skill formation and cooperative development and facilitation.

The entrepreneurship is there. Imagination has been lacking.
www.bgverghese .com

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2011/11/falling-hdi-but-silver-linings/

By Joshy Joseph

Instead of a prologue:

The hunter and his bow are done
The chasing arrow almost there
I run knowing
The certain futility of why I run
Encircling the night lantern
Are many, shadows
Starving for a feast
Awaiting the arrow’s piercing
Greedy for my taste, salivating

Here, there is no sanctuary
Not one tree for his shielding
You would not shelter me
Open the door of your rock
Allow my scream in at least

(On a road near Thiruvananthapuram railway station, he was found unconscious. The penury, the societal amnesia and alcohol-all consumed him.  At 61, trailblazing A. Ayyapan became a poem in the scaffolding of history. This last poem, quoted above, was found in the pocket of his shirt and was later translated by Madhavankutty Pillai)
But why? And why Manipur
See, we used to get a lot of films from Manipur made by reputed filmmakers. But all these films were showing the exotica of the nine hills and one valley, continuously, that same story about the orchids or about the dance forms. So there was this general feel that nobody can enjoy this idyll…and the reason being the underground and insurgent groups…but the reality is neither hyper real nor surreal. It is simply a nuanced reality.

So, when Lokendra Arambam’s Soldiers in Sarong exploded in the scene it was one of the first political documentary about north-east which I felt debated the nuance. It revolves around Irom Sharmila’s fast (especially the first three years) and talks about the politics of the legitimate violence of the State. He never tried to obtain a censorship certificate and it was shown in intimate circles. He knew that it would not be passed.

Then later, Haobam Pawan Kumar’s film happened, which is not a film by a single filmmaker. Pawan, when he was studying in SRFTI (Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute), kept on tracking the developments against AFSPA. …So, it was a collection of the footages of all the news -reel cameramen from Manipur which Pawan put into a film. The name of the film is AFSPA 1958. So that is a major visual exposition of the political violence by State and non-State actors, seen by this part of India. That film was also not submitted for censoring. The film was not censored for the Mumbai international Film Festival… and won an important award at the MIFF.

Later….
…..when Films Division was showing MIFF award winning films in Kolkata, this film was also there. But it could not been shown because the authorities in Nandan insisted that the film can only be shown if there is a censor certificate for the same. Later, the film was censored with certain cuts. The film did not lose its impact although there were certain cuts. It did not take away the politics of the film. Now this film was submitted for the national awards next year because although the film was made some ten years back… may be seven years back, it was censored only two years ago and it won the highest award in India, the national award from the President of India.

The dichotomy, the dilemma and the dissent….
Ironically, that is the same year when the armed forces gallantry award list included a number of personnel posted in Manipur for the Assam Rifles. A rigorous training in army also includes the fact that there is learning about how to shoot.  But you really don’t get a laboratory to shoot down people unless there are flashpoint (not that any shooting is justified) and until you are posted either in Jammu & Kashmir or in the north-east where you are authorized by the State to shoot and kill on doubt or suspicion.

What this Armed Forces Special Powers Act does is that it actually knocks out the judiciary. A person in uniform, not necessarily an officer, but an ordinary jawan or an army personnel can shoot anybody down if he suspects that other person as a militant. So, you are authorized to kill on suspicion. With AFSPA, it’s not the track record, not the past that matters; but it is the future which is foreseen by the army man who is shooting you down.

The so called encounter killing means that someone is shot dead and beside the body you find a 9mm pistol… this story continues for so many years by now, as if the so called militant is taking over the might of the military, on a daily basis, with a 9mm pistol!

So, this film by Pawan was awarded the topmost prize on the same year in which an army officer from Kerala (who took a deputation to Assam Riffles), won the highest gallantry award. And the highest number of gallantry awards was from the state of Manipur that year. So my point is that a filmmaker who recorded all those State killings… is awarded by the President of India who also awards the perpetrators of killing at the same time.

The AFSPA film was awarded,  but the act was never repealed, AFSPA continues… this film is now being shown in various festivals.

I am torn by this dilemma. By the commodification of dissent. For example, Manorama was raped and killed. I am only talking about one person because this was a very controversial case known to rest of India. First, the army denied that the rape took place and said it was encounter killing and later, the forensic report in Kolkata proved that she was raped and killed. Rape is a civil crime. Forget about AFSPA, even if it happens in any other place, we know the taboo, the social crisis and trauma the victim has to undergo even if she has to approach a civil court. Now, here she is, bound by an act, where a civil crime is disallowed to be tried in civil court. She has to go to a military court.

People, places and placards…
My identity card allows me to go into places which is otherwise not easily accessible. And when I access the difficult terrain of Manipur, I am convinced about this draconian act going beyond an act and becoming a culture. Even if you repeal AFSPA, the act has become a culture… for example, only the para-military forces are coming under the purview of AFSPA. But when, two years back, the boy who was dragged into a medical shop and shot down by the Manipuri commandoes… the Manipuri commandoes are not coming under the purview of AFSPA, but AFSPA has become a culture. Even if you are going to repeal AFSPA, the cycle of violence is not going to end so fast. Because it has filtered down to the minds of police of Manipur.

So, even after the two committees recommendations (the Jeevan Reddy Committee and the Veerappa Moily Committee) to repeal AFSPA, nothing has been done, not even the process of compiling a white paper involving the rank and file in Manipur.

Look at the delicious irony. Manipur is a dry State… so we have to go to the Army PRO, the Assam Riffles PRO to get our stock of liquor (as and when needed while we are at Imphal).

Catharsis, confrontative, contextual…
I happened to be in Manipur shooting a film for Films Division on these Rickshawallahs who hide their face with a piece of cloth and the glasses, when the Malom incident broke out (November, 1999). The rickshawallahs, felt a sense of unease as the society looked down on the their profession as a result the act of hiding the faces. I was making a film on the subject. It was then the Malom incident broke out. A bomb explosion that was planted by the underground while a military truck was passing. The military truck was damaged, some personnel were hurt.

And then the usual story of the heavily armed personnel coming back and then letting loose a volley of bullets on all those people who were waiting for the bus and some who were in a nearby market.  Irom Sharmila started her fasting from that day. Because, in a land where you have no right to life, there is no meaning in living. If suspicion is enough to shoot you then the state does not respect your right to life.

I was shooting the rickshawallahs with a 35mm camera for Films Division and I knew that I cannot bring in these things in a very direct manner. I asked my unit members to bring some Diwali cracker-bombs from Kolkata. My idea was to plant these crackers(as a part of shot).. and I asked the mothers and children to play…of course to study their reaction when they hear the explosion.

We planted the bomb, the camera rolled, explosion happened. There was a confusion for a moment and then they burst into laughter. They said “…no gimmicks please, we Manipuri women know what is a bomb blast and what is a cracker-bomb.”

Politics, polemics and the camera looking inward…
So the film Making the Face (for PSBT on a Manipuri transgender make-up artist, Tom Sharma) we included a still of Sharmila in hunger strike and also one still by Suvendu Chatterjee on the wall graffiti of UNLF. And also towards the end of the film there was a interview of the Naga folk singer, Reuben Mashangwa… and he said that the sex starved commandoes did not even spare these transgender people. The transgender people in Imphal are known as Nightingales as they come out at night. At times when these commandoes do not have condoms, they used plastic bags as a protection.

Now, Ruben also was having a plastic bag with him in which we had brought our liqour. He put his middle finger inside the bag and gesticulated to the camera. I kept about six seconds of that shot in the film and although there were other objections from PSBT, this was not objected to.

The censor officer said: “… you have made a beautiful film but that one shot spoils the entire beauty of it… it was almost like a slap on my face.” So, I said that’s precisely the point, if you don’t allow me at least those 6 seconds of ugliness, I won’t be doing justice to the reality of Manipur. Then he said that you will have problems with Doordarshan for the telecast. But I reiterated that we were not going to cut it. Subsequently, it  was passed and broadcat as it is.

Not that we have to be tactical all the time. In the film While Gods took to Dancing which we did on Sharmila the tone was direct. See, if you are really cornered and suffocated by the system and the artist in you is alert… you explore the other means and ways of expression and still somehow reflect the truth.

Look at these Iranian films which are a craze of the film festivals… I have followed them very closely and also, I happened to be associated with an Iranian film shooting unit in the capacity of a liaison officer from Government of India some seventeen years back, where I found that even to be a producer of film, you have to be some sort of a licensed businessman.

Like an industrialist gets a license, in the same manner you can be a producer if the Ministry of Culture approves and you fulfill all the stipulations. Only, then can you be a producer. Now, before the coming of the digital age, you had to get the film raw-stock through the Ministry of Culture(for which you had to submit the script).

The question is not about what access you have or how high voltage the footage is. But, the moment you take this footage for granted as your film, it becomes another reportage.  Because the reality is so hard-hitting you are no more challenged and hence you tend to ignore the larger picture. So, a typical problem in Manipur is an explosion of footage without really laying out a cinematic palette.

The crux, the dialetic and the umbrage…
Aribam Syam Sharma’s old films reflected the real Manipur. But when it comes to the documentaries, they were all commissioned by some government agency or the other and does not reflect any socio-political realities.

All the films of Guwahati Doordarshan are commissioned because they don’t have an in-house set-up. So all the filmmakers in north-east earn their bread & butter from these commissioned programmes. As a result the safety net is taken for granted.

When Manipur started burning after the Manorama incident, people started asking these filmmakers as to why don’t you return this award to the Government of India…the silence of most of the filmmakers were deafening

I went to Manipur for the first time some twelve years back. Then the bamboo was flowering in Manipur after some forty-five years. Earlier, I read in paper about this bamboo getting flowers in north-east after forty-five years and with every cycle of bamboo flowering there was scarcity of food, famine and plague.

The road journey in itself was very interesting, because we traversed through Bengal, Bihar, Assam and on the sixth day we reached Manipur. From there it took us two days to reach Kunghphung  village where bamboo was flowering on the river bank of Barak… the  village where we had to reach.

My unit members were scared when they heard from the locals..the law and order situation in the village. The production coordinator was a Naga person from Imphal. He said we cannot straight away go to this village because we have to pass through some Kuki villages. If we passed through the Kuki villages we would reach faster, in a day. But then he would be killed because there was a series Naga – Kuki clash, happening at that time.

I remember the name of a person called John(who I stumbled upon in the State Guest House in Kohima). He asked me: What is your mission? I told him we are making an environmental film about the bamboo flowering story. So he said that it is not an environmental film, this is political cinema. I insisted that it is an environmental film.

He said ‘Do you know how Mizo National Front came in to power in Mizoram?’ John elucidated: when the bamboo flowered some fifty years back, overnight the crops were destroyed by the rats. Because the rat population increases. The grain within the bamboo flower, rather the fruit is eaten by the rats and their fertility shoots up. The number of nipples increase. So the number of litter in a single birth goes up to fourteen or fifteen and over just a month and the rat population explodes. It destroys all the standing crops and all the crops in the go-downs. So in Mizoram when this thin bamboo… Thingtam, blooms, there was no food to eat.

Laldenga came into the social scene to collect rice and feed people. Basically, MNF, which, over the years became the most dreaded underground organisation in the north-east, came into being when the bamboo flowering happened. This is the lesson which I got there in the Nagaland guest house over a glass of rice beer! I discovered an absolutely different India.

Epilogue, epicenter and an attempted end to this conversation with myself:
Political cinema, is not what you set out to make. But what comes to you as political reality unfolds and demands to creep into your narrative. Look at Mohsin Makhmalbaf and the vox-pop structure of The Cyclist. The overt political undercurrent in the deceptively simple narratives of Jafar Panahi –Abbas Kirostami-Majid Majijdi.

Or my friend Razzak’s unblinking still camera capturing Kamala Das. They, all look for beauty, subversion and the politics of the subject. How? Because Razzak grapples with his loneliness and transfers that to the lens whether he is shooting a still or doing camera for my film. Does he need sympathy for his loneliness? No, a political understanding to document him and yes, being brutal about his loneliness and yet celebrate the humaneness of his creations. Maybe a film as an ode to his stills…do I have a cinematic vocabulary to do that…

One of my forthcoming films set in Manipur…has three co-ordinates, eighty year old Tomba who goes for a morning walk with his swan Anaguaba, a photographer Ratan Luwangcha who told me the story and the celebration of simple aesthetics in a complex times. Or is the quest of simple aesthetics in multi-layered frame itself a complex exercise.

FCP or Premier can edit…what can it edit…maybe some NG shots and then piece a reality or a hyper reality. It is the mind’s eye that edits our vision of politics or the lack of it.

My friend Rupachandra, from ISTV in Imphal, told me once, that he gave a one line advice to anyone who went to Manipur and contacted him.

It was:  that while being in search of a story, please don’t become a story!

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2011/11/jumpcuts-from-the-margins-in-search-of-political-cinema-in-manipur-and-some-addendums/

By Joshy Joseph

Instead of a prologue:

The hunter and his bow are done
The chasing arrow almost there
I run knowing
The certain futility of why I run
Encircling the night lantern
Are many, shadows
Starving for a feast
Awaiting the arrow’s piercing
Greedy for my taste, salivating

Here, there is no sanctuary
Not one tree for his shielding
You would not shelter me
Open the door of your rock
Allow my scream in at least

(On a road near Thiruvananthapuram railway station, he was found unconscious. The penury, the societal amnesia and alcohol-all consumed him.  At 61, trailblazing A. Ayyapan became a poem in the scaffolding of history. This last poem, quoted above, was found in the pocket of his shirt and was later translated by Madhavankutty Pillai)
But why? And why Manipur
See, we used to get a lot of films from Manipur made by reputed filmmakers. But all these films were showing the exotica of the nine hills and one valley, continuously, that same story about the orchids or about the dance forms. So there was this general feel that nobody can enjoy this idyll…and the reason being the underground and insurgent groups…but the reality is neither hyper real nor surreal. It is simply a nuanced reality.

So, when Lokendra Arambam’s Soldiers in Sarong exploded in the scene it was one of the first political documentary about north-east which I felt debated the nuance. It revolves around Irom Sharmila’s fast (especially the first three years) and talks about the politics of the legitimate violence of the State. He never tried to obtain a censorship certificate and it was shown in intimate circles. He knew that it would not be passed.

Then later, Haobam Pawan Kumar’s film happened, which is not a film by a single filmmaker. Pawan, when he was studying in SRFTI (Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute), kept on tracking the developments against AFSPA. …So, it was a collection of the footages of all the news -reel cameramen from Manipur which Pawan put into a film. The name of the film is AFSPA 1958. So that is a major visual exposition of the political violence by State and non-State actors, seen by this part of India. That film was also not submitted for censoring. The film was not censored for the Mumbai international Film Festival… and won an important award at the MIFF.

Later….
…..when Films Division was showing MIFF award winning films in Kolkata, this film was also there. But it could not been shown because the authorities in Nandan insisted that the film can only be shown if there is a censor certificate for the same. Later, the film was censored with certain cuts. The film did not lose its impact although there were certain cuts. It did not take away the politics of the film. Now this film was submitted for the national awards next year because although the film was made some ten years back… may be seven years back, it was censored only two years ago and it won the highest award in India, the national award from the President of India.

The dichotomy, the dilemma and the dissent….
Ironically, that is the same year when the armed forces gallantry award list included a number of personnel posted in Manipur for the Assam Rifles. A rigorous training in army also includes the fact that there is learning about how to shoot.  But you really don’t get a laboratory to shoot down people unless there are flashpoint (not that any shooting is justified) and until you are posted either in Jammu & Kashmir or in the north-east where you are authorized by the State to shoot and kill on doubt or suspicion.

What this Armed Forces Special Powers Act does is that it actually knocks out the judiciary. A person in uniform, not necessarily an officer, but an ordinary jawan or an army personnel can shoot anybody down if he suspects that other person as a militant. So, you are authorized to kill on suspicion. With AFSPA, it’s not the track record, not the past that matters; but it is the future which is foreseen by the army man who is shooting you down.

The so called encounter killing means that someone is shot dead and beside the body you find a 9mm pistol… this story continues for so many years by now, as if the so called militant is taking over the might of the military, on a daily basis, with a 9mm pistol!

So, this film by Pawan was awarded the topmost prize on the same year in which an army officer from Kerala (who took a deputation to Assam Riffles), won the highest gallantry award. And the highest number of gallantry awards was from the state of Manipur that year. So my point is that a filmmaker who recorded all those State killings… is awarded by the President of India who also awards the perpetrators of killing at the same time.

The AFSPA film was awarded,  but the act was never repealed, AFSPA continues… this film is now being shown in various festivals.

I am torn by this dilemma. By the commodification of dissent. For example, Manorama was raped and killed. I am only talking about one person because this was a very controversial case known to rest of India. First, the army denied that the rape took place and said it was encounter killing and later, the forensic report in Kolkata proved that she was raped and killed. Rape is a civil crime. Forget about AFSPA, even if it happens in any other place, we know the taboo, the social crisis and trauma the victim has to undergo even if she has to approach a civil court. Now, here she is, bound by an act, where a civil crime is disallowed to be tried in civil court. She has to go to a military court.

People, places and placards…
My identity card allows me to go into places which is otherwise not easily accessible. And when I access the difficult terrain of Manipur, I am convinced about this draconian act going beyond an act and becoming a culture. Even if you repeal AFSPA, the act has become a culture… for example, only the para-military forces are coming under the purview of AFSPA. But when, two years back, the boy who was dragged into a medical shop and shot down by the Manipuri commandoes… the Manipuri commandoes are not coming under the purview of AFSPA, but AFSPA has become a culture. Even if you are going to repeal AFSPA, the cycle of violence is not going to end so fast. Because it has filtered down to the minds of police of Manipur.

So, even after the two committees recommendations (the Jeevan Reddy Committee and the Veerappa Moily Committee) to repeal AFSPA, nothing has been done, not even the process of compiling a white paper involving the rank and file in Manipur.

Look at the delicious irony. Manipur is a dry State… so we have to go to the Army PRO, the Assam Riffles PRO to get our stock of liquor (as and when needed while we are at Imphal).

Catharsis, confrontative, contextual…
I happened to be in Manipur shooting a film for Films Division on these Rickshawallahs who hide their face with a piece of cloth and the glasses, when the Malom incident broke out (November, 1999). The rickshawallahs, felt a sense of unease as the society looked down on the their profession as a result the act of hiding the faces. I was making a film on the subject. It was then the Malom incident broke out. A bomb explosion that was planted by the underground while a military truck was passing. The military truck was damaged, some personnel were hurt.

And then the usual story of the heavily armed personnel coming back and then letting loose a volley of bullets on all those people who were waiting for the bus and some who were in a nearby market.  Irom Sharmila started her fasting from that day. Because, in a land where you have no right to life, there is no meaning in living. If suspicion is enough to shoot you then the state does not respect your right to life.

I was shooting the rickshawallahs with a 35mm camera for Films Division and I knew that I cannot bring in these things in a very direct manner. I asked my unit members to bring some Diwali cracker-bombs from Kolkata. My idea was to plant these crackers(as a part of shot).. and I asked the mothers and children to play…of course to study their reaction when they hear the explosion.

We planted the bomb, the camera rolled, explosion happened. There was a confusion for a moment and then they burst into laughter. They said “…no gimmicks please, we Manipuri women know what is a bomb blast and what is a cracker-bomb.”

Politics, polemics and the camera looking inward…
So the film Making the Face (for PSBT on a Manipuri transgender make-up artist, Tom Sharma) we included a still of Sharmila in hunger strike and also one still by Suvendu Chatterjee on the wall graffiti of UNLF. And also towards the end of the film there was a interview of the Naga folk singer, Reuben Mashangwa… and he said that the sex starved commandoes did not even spare these transgender people. The transgender people in Imphal are known as Nightingales as they come out at night. At times when these commandoes do not have condoms, they used plastic bags as a protection.

Now, Ruben also was having a plastic bag with him in which we had brought our liqour. He put his middle finger inside the bag and gesticulated to the camera. I kept about six seconds of that shot in the film and although there were other objections from PSBT, this was not objected to.

The censor officer said: “… you have made a beautiful film but that one shot spoils the entire beauty of it… it was almost like a slap on my face.” So, I said that’s precisely the point, if you don’t allow me at least those 6 seconds of ugliness, I won’t be doing justice to the reality of Manipur. Then he said that you will have problems with Doordarshan for the telecast. But I reiterated that we were not going to cut it. Subsequently, it  was passed and broadcat as it is.

Not that we have to be tactical all the time. In the film While Gods took to Dancing which we did on Sharmila the tone was direct. See, if you are really cornered and suffocated by the system and the artist in you is alert… you explore the other means and ways of expression and still somehow reflect the truth.

Look at these Iranian films which are a craze of the film festivals… I have followed them very closely and also, I happened to be associated with an Iranian film shooting unit in the capacity of a liaison officer from Government of India some seventeen years back, where I found that even to be a producer of film, you have to be some sort of a licensed businessman.

Like an industrialist gets a license, in the same manner you can be a producer if the Ministry of Culture approves and you fulfill all the stipulations. Only, then can you be a producer. Now, before the coming of the digital age, you had to get the film raw-stock through the Ministry of Culture(for which you had to submit the script).

The question is not about what access you have or how high voltage the footage is. But, the moment you take this footage for granted as your film, it becomes another reportage.  Because the reality is so hard-hitting you are no more challenged and hence you tend to ignore the larger picture. So, a typical problem in Manipur is an explosion of footage without really laying out a cinematic palette.

The crux, the dialetic and the umbrage…
Aribam Syam Sharma’s old films reflected the real Manipur. But when it comes to the documentaries, they were all commissioned by some government agency or the other and does not reflect any socio-political realities.

All the films of Guwahati Doordarshan are commissioned because they don’t have an in-house set-up. So all the filmmakers in north-east earn their bread & butter from these commissioned programmes. As a result the safety net is taken for granted.

When Manipur started burning after the Manorama incident, people started asking these filmmakers as to why don’t you return this award to the Government of India…the silence of most of the filmmakers were deafening

I went to Manipur for the first time some twelve years back. Then the bamboo was flowering in Manipur after some forty-five years. Earlier, I read in paper about this bamboo getting flowers in north-east after forty-five years and with every cycle of bamboo flowering there was scarcity of food, famine and plague.

The road journey in itself was very interesting, because we traversed through Bengal, Bihar, Assam and on the sixth day we reached Manipur. From there it took us two days to reach Kunghphung  village where bamboo was flowering on the river bank of Barak… the  village where we had to reach.

My unit members were scared when they heard from the locals..the law and order situation in the village. The production coordinator was a Naga person from Imphal. He said we cannot straight away go to this village because we have to pass through some Kuki villages. If we passed through the Kuki villages we would reach faster, in a day. But then he would be killed because there was a series Naga – Kuki clash, happening at that time.

I remember the name of a person called John(who I stumbled upon in the State Guest House in Kohima). He asked me: What is your mission? I told him we are making an environmental film about the bamboo flowering story. So he said that it is not an environmental film, this is political cinema. I insisted that it is an environmental film.

He said ‘Do you know how Mizo National Front came in to power in Mizoram?’ John elucidated: when the bamboo flowered some fifty years back, overnight the crops were destroyed by the rats. Because the rat population increases. The grain within the bamboo flower, rather the fruit is eaten by the rats and their fertility shoots up. The number of nipples increase. So the number of litter in a single birth goes up to fourteen or fifteen and over just a month and the rat population explodes. It destroys all the standing crops and all the crops in the go-downs. So in Mizoram when this thin bamboo… Thingtam, blooms, there was no food to eat.

Laldenga came into the social scene to collect rice and feed people. Basically, MNF, which, over the years became the most dreaded underground organisation in the north-east, came into being when the bamboo flowering happened. This is the lesson which I got there in the Nagaland guest house over a glass of rice beer! I discovered an absolutely different India.

Epilogue, epicenter and an attempted end to this conversation with myself:
Political cinema, is not what you set out to make. But what comes to you as political reality unfolds and demands to creep into your narrative. Look at Mohsin Makhmalbaf and the vox-pop structure of The Cyclist. The overt political undercurrent in the deceptively simple narratives of Jafar Panahi –Abbas Kirostami-Majid Majijdi.

Or my friend Razzak’s unblinking still camera capturing Kamala Das. They, all look for beauty, subversion and the politics of the subject. How? Because Razzak grapples with his loneliness and transfers that to the lens whether he is shooting a still or doing camera for my film. Does he need sympathy for his loneliness? No, a political understanding to document him and yes, being brutal about his loneliness and yet celebrate the humaneness of his creations. Maybe a film as an ode to his stills…do I have a cinematic vocabulary to do that…

One of my forthcoming films set in Manipur…has three co-ordinates, eighty year old Tomba who goes for a morning walk with his swan Anaguaba, a photographer Ratan Luwangcha who told me the story and the celebration of simple aesthetics in a complex times. Or is the quest of simple aesthetics in multi-layered frame itself a complex exercise.

FCP or Premier can edit…what can it edit…maybe some NG shots and then piece a reality or a hyper reality. It is the mind’s eye that edits our vision of politics or the lack of it.

My friend Rupachandra, from ISTV in Imphal, told me once, that he gave a one line advice to anyone who went to Manipur and contacted him.

It was:  that while being in search of a story, please don’t become a story!

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2011/11/jumpcuts-from-the-margins-in-search-of-political-cinema-in-manipur-and-some-addendums/

By N. Haokip
GAIL, Agartala.
God created man in his own image (Gen. 1:27), which means, the mortal man is undoubtedly the most powerful of all His creations. Man has been gifted with unequal measure of intelligence, abilities, qualities, etc adequate enough to do anything and everything he wants on this earth. Except God no creation on this earth has the power to challenge man’s abilities and his authority. Therefore, it is a great privilege to be a member of the human race who is nothing but the god himself. Each individual of mankind is gifted with all the abilities of varying capacities needed for taking care of all God’s creations. If that is so, no human being can be expected to be forgiven for not doing his duty when all the abilities with authority have been given to him. With all these abilities and power man has the primary duty to take good care of God’s creations on this earth.

But, power and greed have corrupted the very man whom God created like His own image and now man is responsible for causing many of the avoidable tragedy on this earth.  History has taught us many lessons why we should shun violence and embrace good if we have to prosper on this earth. Man by virtue of being a social animal, it is normal for him to fight for his space and rights if any injustice is being subjected to him. However, when the fight is due to sheer greediness and without application of one’s conscience the outcome is only misery. There are no winners but only losers. As Gandhiji said, “The world has enough for everyone’s needs, but not for everyone’s greed”, it is indeed our greed that creates problem and more so when we want every damn thing without knowing how to take care of it.

In the context of the spiralling unrest in the remotest corner of an Indian state, Manipur, it is nothing but due to sheer greediness and let me have it all syndrome hiding behind the misplaced ideology of nationhood which are largely based on exclusivity and lacking rationale application of the human intelligence. As I said, it is alright to fight for one’s legitimate rights as long as it is for the common good, but when it comes at the cost of many innocent lives due to greed and senseless acts the move become illegal and unacceptable. Today, our biggest enemy in Manipur is poverty, corruption, unemployment, extortions, killings, AIDS, etc. It is the collective responsibility of every community and individual to fight these menaces. Tragically, we are more focus on our differences based on man-made ethnic divides rather than solving our common problems. If we have to trace history holistically then only we can realised how foolish and shallow we are.

The ongoing blockades and counter blockades in Manipur have caused so much misery and hardship for the common people while the government of the day has failed to come up with any solution. At this juncture, the crisis in Manipur remains unabated due to the uncompromising posture adopted by the contending parties trying to negate over each other on the issue of Sadar Hills District demand. The common people irrespective of the community they belong suffer for no direct fault of theirs whatsoever, but I do feel that everyone who is affected including the majority Meetei brothers have a great role to play in diffusing the tension instead of blaming and name calling the bandh supporters. Again the govt at the centre and the state is almost silent on the issue and the crisis is allowed to do further damage by pitching one community against another. There is sheer lack of strategy and insight into the future of Manipur. There is clearly lack of visionaries among the people who are looking after the affairs of the state in Manipur. The short-sightedness and the inability to resolve any crisis at hand is the hallmark of Manipur govt and the so call civil organisations. Therefore, I see this is the time for us for action.

Now my friends, we have great opportunities because of the challenges thrown right at our nose. We are called out to lead from the front from now onwards. Our past and present leadership had failed us, our future has been imposed on us let us not sit idle by doing nothing. Some past leaders have gain popularity through their exclusive politics by creating distrust and enmity between Christian brothers like Nagas and Kukis. I see no reasons why Nagas and Kukis including the Meeteis, Nepalese, etc cannot progress together under one roof, for they are victims of past history for one reason or another due to the presence of external dominant forces. We share the same history and we need each other for our collective survival more than anything else. It is pointless as well as stupid to call ourselves Christians while our action do not suggest remotely of the teachings of Christ. Let us raise the standard of leadership which is meaningful and inclusive.

Countless words and sermons have been written and lectured on UNITY and PEACE, but each of us expects someone else to practice it while we remain mute spectators. If we look at the story of Esther in the Bible, we see that she was chosen by King Ahasuerus as his Queen as a replacement of queen Vasti who disobeyed the king’s dictate. When the situation came where the King had to passed a decree to destroy all the Jews, the reaction and action of Esther can be found in in the Bible (Esther  4:16) which reads, “Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish.” Esther, using her status as queen with great courage and conviction found favour in the King’s sight that saved the Jews from the jaws of death. Esther was placed by God with a purpose which is to save the Jews. Likewise, you are also destined to save the people you love. The job you got, the education you got, the place you are in, the name you got are not for nothing, God wants to use it for His purpose let’s not miss it. You have a unique position and responsibility in the society that no one else can take. Therefore, let us unleash our gifts and talents to the benefit of mankind as well as the environment we live including fauna and flora.

Now, if we are call for action, it is also imperative to identify and know what shall be the desired action based on our abilities and talents. Say, if you are a good orator with good listening capacity you could be the future leader in waiting. If you have good writing skills you could be the journalist in waiting, etc so on and so forth. Therefore, our collective action based on each one’s unique talent is what God wants us to use at this point. We have seen more than enough of the mistakes of the past, if we don’t correct it now our future survival is at stake. Let us take this pledge right now, “God give me every privilege I needed to be successful and make myself and my people proud, and let me not waste it.” Let us begin the process more vigorously. Let us start to look for solutions to our problems. There is no time to be wasted; let us not wait for free food to eat; let us have self respect and dignity to create what we need; we shall not allow self serving leaders to prosper; we shall not allow our people to be gullible. Let us be the people with principles, ethics, hard working, courageous, etc to withstand the storm coming to destabilised us. Let us start today right at our Hearts. Right now!

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2011/11/let-us-share-our-gifts/

By N. Haokip
GAIL, Agartala.
God created man in his own image (Gen. 1:27), which means, the mortal man is undoubtedly the most powerful of all His creations. Man has been gifted with unequal measure of intelligence, abilities, qualities, etc adequate enough to do anything and everything he wants on this earth. Except God no creation on this earth has the power to challenge man’s abilities and his authority. Therefore, it is a great privilege to be a member of the human race who is nothing but the god himself. Each individual of mankind is gifted with all the abilities of varying capacities needed for taking care of all God’s creations. If that is so, no human being can be expected to be forgiven for not doing his duty when all the abilities with authority have been given to him. With all these abilities and power man has the primary duty to take good care of God’s creations on this earth.

But, power and greed have corrupted the very man whom God created like His own image and now man is responsible for causing many of the avoidable tragedy on this earth.  History has taught us many lessons why we should shun violence and embrace good if we have to prosper on this earth. Man by virtue of being a social animal, it is normal for him to fight for his space and rights if any injustice is being subjected to him. However, when the fight is due to sheer greediness and without application of one’s conscience the outcome is only misery. There are no winners but only losers. As Gandhiji said, “The world has enough for everyone’s needs, but not for everyone’s greed”, it is indeed our greed that creates problem and more so when we want every damn thing without knowing how to take care of it.

In the context of the spiralling unrest in the remotest corner of an Indian state, Manipur, it is nothing but due to sheer greediness and let me have it all syndrome hiding behind the misplaced ideology of nationhood which are largely based on exclusivity and lacking rationale application of the human intelligence. As I said, it is alright to fight for one’s legitimate rights as long as it is for the common good, but when it comes at the cost of many innocent lives due to greed and senseless acts the move become illegal and unacceptable. Today, our biggest enemy in Manipur is poverty, corruption, unemployment, extortions, killings, AIDS, etc. It is the collective responsibility of every community and individual to fight these menaces. Tragically, we are more focus on our differences based on man-made ethnic divides rather than solving our common problems. If we have to trace history holistically then only we can realised how foolish and shallow we are.

The ongoing blockades and counter blockades in Manipur have caused so much misery and hardship for the common people while the government of the day has failed to come up with any solution. At this juncture, the crisis in Manipur remains unabated due to the uncompromising posture adopted by the contending parties trying to negate over each other on the issue of Sadar Hills District demand. The common people irrespective of the community they belong suffer for no direct fault of theirs whatsoever, but I do feel that everyone who is affected including the majority Meetei brothers have a great role to play in diffusing the tension instead of blaming and name calling the bandh supporters. Again the govt at the centre and the state is almost silent on the issue and the crisis is allowed to do further damage by pitching one community against another. There is sheer lack of strategy and insight into the future of Manipur. There is clearly lack of visionaries among the people who are looking after the affairs of the state in Manipur. The short-sightedness and the inability to resolve any crisis at hand is the hallmark of Manipur govt and the so call civil organisations. Therefore, I see this is the time for us for action.

Now my friends, we have great opportunities because of the challenges thrown right at our nose. We are called out to lead from the front from now onwards. Our past and present leadership had failed us, our future has been imposed on us let us not sit idle by doing nothing. Some past leaders have gain popularity through their exclusive politics by creating distrust and enmity between Christian brothers like Nagas and Kukis. I see no reasons why Nagas and Kukis including the Meeteis, Nepalese, etc cannot progress together under one roof, for they are victims of past history for one reason or another due to the presence of external dominant forces. We share the same history and we need each other for our collective survival more than anything else. It is pointless as well as stupid to call ourselves Christians while our action do not suggest remotely of the teachings of Christ. Let us raise the standard of leadership which is meaningful and inclusive.

Countless words and sermons have been written and lectured on UNITY and PEACE, but each of us expects someone else to practice it while we remain mute spectators. If we look at the story of Esther in the Bible, we see that she was chosen by King Ahasuerus as his Queen as a replacement of queen Vasti who disobeyed the king’s dictate. When the situation came where the King had to passed a decree to destroy all the Jews, the reaction and action of Esther can be found in in the Bible (Esther  4:16) which reads, “Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish.” Esther, using her status as queen with great courage and conviction found favour in the King’s sight that saved the Jews from the jaws of death. Esther was placed by God with a purpose which is to save the Jews. Likewise, you are also destined to save the people you love. The job you got, the education you got, the place you are in, the name you got are not for nothing, God wants to use it for His purpose let’s not miss it. You have a unique position and responsibility in the society that no one else can take. Therefore, let us unleash our gifts and talents to the benefit of mankind as well as the environment we live including fauna and flora.

Now, if we are call for action, it is also imperative to identify and know what shall be the desired action based on our abilities and talents. Say, if you are a good orator with good listening capacity you could be the future leader in waiting. If you have good writing skills you could be the journalist in waiting, etc so on and so forth. Therefore, our collective action based on each one’s unique talent is what God wants us to use at this point. We have seen more than enough of the mistakes of the past, if we don’t correct it now our future survival is at stake. Let us take this pledge right now, “God give me every privilege I needed to be successful and make myself and my people proud, and let me not waste it.” Let us begin the process more vigorously. Let us start to look for solutions to our problems. There is no time to be wasted; let us not wait for free food to eat; let us have self respect and dignity to create what we need; we shall not allow self serving leaders to prosper; we shall not allow our people to be gullible. Let us be the people with principles, ethics, hard working, courageous, etc to withstand the storm coming to destabilised us. Let us start today right at our Hearts. Right now!

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2011/11/let-us-share-our-gifts/

By: Tanveer Jafri
Extremism, corruption, anarchy and communalism have brought Pakistan on the verge of bankruptcy. People seem to have lost faith in the two major political parties- Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz). Apart from the above factors, another major reason of disillusionment of people from these parties is their subservient behaviour towards the US. In this political scenario, people are looking for a viable third alternative which could pull the country out of this quagmire. Perhaps this is the reason they are looking up to the former cricketer Imran Khan as a troubleshooter.

Imran Khan is considered a hero by the masses since 1992 when Pakistan Cricket team won the World cup under his captaincy. After his retirement from cricket, Khan started participating in social activities. Fifteen years ago, he constituted his political party- Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) – in the hope that his popularity as a cricketer will help him gain political ground. But it was not so easy. Wherever his party fought elections, it had to face rout. But now things seem to be changing. All of a sudden, people of Pakistan seem to be getting attracted towards Imran Khan. There are many factors behind increasing popularity of the PTI. Major reason is the economic collapse of Pakistan due to corrupt politics and policies at work since last six decades. Recently, the run of 106 major trains had to be stopped due to lack of funds with the Railways. Many power producing stations have stopped working owing to the same reason. American funding has also been circumscribed since the new tensions between Islamabad and Washington arose on Operation Abbottabad and Pak Army’s “inaction” against insurgent groups on Af-Pak border. Added to this, Pakistan had to face nature’s fury in the form of floods, which rendered millions of people homeless and lead to a loss of billions of rupees.

Pakistani people are also unhappy with the negative global image of Pakistan. Repeated coup d’états have put a question mark on the validity and viability of Pakistan’s traditional democratic system and political parties. It has become necessary for the people to look for a political alternative. Cashing in on this alienation of people, Imran Khan has managed to attract people, though it remains unclear whether Imran Khan will be able to deliver. For instance, there are more than a hundred thousand foreign soldiers in neighbouring Afghanistan combating the Taliban. People are against the repeated American drone strikes on Pakistan border territories. Pakistani government or Army have done nothing but paid lip service in the name of opposing this American practice. Those affected from drone strikes claim that innocents are being killed in these strikes. Imran Khan has bluntly echoed the people’s sentiments.

Another factor contributing to increase in popularity of Imran Khan is the issue of Kashmir. In his gigantic rally at Minar-e-Pakistan in Lahore, where he condemned the US drone attacks, Khan also termed as “unjustified” the presence of Indian troops on Indian side of Kashmir, though he stopped short of using the “Occupied” word. Sounding somewhat like Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief and mastermind of 26/11 Mumbai terrorist attack Hafiz Saeed, Khan said, “I want to tell India that it will get nothing by deploying seven hundred thousand troops in Kashmir valley.” He said that never ever any army could provide solutions to a country’s woes. He asked if the US succeeded in Afghanistan. Is Indian Army more powerful than Americans? When the Americans couldn’t succeed in Afghanistan, how can India think of controlling Kashmir? Imran also said that his party is with Kashmiris and will continue to support their cause of freedom. From such provocative statements, it is evident that Imran Khan is also trying to exploit extremist and anti-Indian sentiment among the Pakistani people to broaden his mass appeal.

General elections in Pakistan are likely to be held in 2013. PTI will try its best in these two years to establish itself as a third alternative. The ground of Minar-e-Pakistan, where Imran has managed to pull such a huge crowd, holds special significance. This is the spot where the Muslim League passed the resolution for creation of Pakistan in 1940. It is being said that this is the second time since then that such a huge crowd has gathered on this ground. Middle classes, who usually stay away from political activities, formed a major part of this mass.

While the success of this rally will boost the prospects of the PTI, overall positive coverage by the media will also help Imran Khan in his image makeover. But the main problem is that there is no other big leader in his party than Imran himself. It cannot be said how much it would benefit the PTI even if some leaders from the PPP and the PML (N) cross over to it. Only the elections in 2013 will tell whether and to what extent this huge crowd turns into votes. If Imran manages to do so, it would certainly establish a solid third pole in the politics of Pakistan.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2011/11/emergence-of-third-alternative-in-pakistan/

By: Tanveer Jafri
Extremism, corruption, anarchy and communalism have brought Pakistan on the verge of bankruptcy. People seem to have lost faith in the two major political parties- Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz). Apart from the above factors, another major reason of disillusionment of people from these parties is their subservient behaviour towards the US. In this political scenario, people are looking for a viable third alternative which could pull the country out of this quagmire. Perhaps this is the reason they are looking up to the former cricketer Imran Khan as a troubleshooter.

Imran Khan is considered a hero by the masses since 1992 when Pakistan Cricket team won the World cup under his captaincy. After his retirement from cricket, Khan started participating in social activities. Fifteen years ago, he constituted his political party- Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) – in the hope that his popularity as a cricketer will help him gain political ground. But it was not so easy. Wherever his party fought elections, it had to face rout. But now things seem to be changing. All of a sudden, people of Pakistan seem to be getting attracted towards Imran Khan. There are many factors behind increasing popularity of the PTI. Major reason is the economic collapse of Pakistan due to corrupt politics and policies at work since last six decades. Recently, the run of 106 major trains had to be stopped due to lack of funds with the Railways. Many power producing stations have stopped working owing to the same reason. American funding has also been circumscribed since the new tensions between Islamabad and Washington arose on Operation Abbottabad and Pak Army’s “inaction” against insurgent groups on Af-Pak border. Added to this, Pakistan had to face nature’s fury in the form of floods, which rendered millions of people homeless and lead to a loss of billions of rupees.

Pakistani people are also unhappy with the negative global image of Pakistan. Repeated coup d’états have put a question mark on the validity and viability of Pakistan’s traditional democratic system and political parties. It has become necessary for the people to look for a political alternative. Cashing in on this alienation of people, Imran Khan has managed to attract people, though it remains unclear whether Imran Khan will be able to deliver. For instance, there are more than a hundred thousand foreign soldiers in neighbouring Afghanistan combating the Taliban. People are against the repeated American drone strikes on Pakistan border territories. Pakistani government or Army have done nothing but paid lip service in the name of opposing this American practice. Those affected from drone strikes claim that innocents are being killed in these strikes. Imran Khan has bluntly echoed the people’s sentiments.

Another factor contributing to increase in popularity of Imran Khan is the issue of Kashmir. In his gigantic rally at Minar-e-Pakistan in Lahore, where he condemned the US drone attacks, Khan also termed as “unjustified” the presence of Indian troops on Indian side of Kashmir, though he stopped short of using the “Occupied” word. Sounding somewhat like Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief and mastermind of 26/11 Mumbai terrorist attack Hafiz Saeed, Khan said, “I want to tell India that it will get nothing by deploying seven hundred thousand troops in Kashmir valley.” He said that never ever any army could provide solutions to a country’s woes. He asked if the US succeeded in Afghanistan. Is Indian Army more powerful than Americans? When the Americans couldn’t succeed in Afghanistan, how can India think of controlling Kashmir? Imran also said that his party is with Kashmiris and will continue to support their cause of freedom. From such provocative statements, it is evident that Imran Khan is also trying to exploit extremist and anti-Indian sentiment among the Pakistani people to broaden his mass appeal.

General elections in Pakistan are likely to be held in 2013. PTI will try its best in these two years to establish itself as a third alternative. The ground of Minar-e-Pakistan, where Imran has managed to pull such a huge crowd, holds special significance. This is the spot where the Muslim League passed the resolution for creation of Pakistan in 1940. It is being said that this is the second time since then that such a huge crowd has gathered on this ground. Middle classes, who usually stay away from political activities, formed a major part of this mass.

While the success of this rally will boost the prospects of the PTI, overall positive coverage by the media will also help Imran Khan in his image makeover. But the main problem is that there is no other big leader in his party than Imran himself. It cannot be said how much it would benefit the PTI even if some leaders from the PPP and the PML (N) cross over to it. Only the elections in 2013 will tell whether and to what extent this huge crowd turns into votes. If Imran manages to do so, it would certainly establish a solid third pole in the politics of Pakistan.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2011/11/emergence-of-third-alternative-in-pakistan/

By A. S. Shimreiwung
The current political imbroglio over Sadar Hills issue can be positively considered as an eye-opener for bringing a new paradigm in the modes of inter-ethnic relationships and governance in Manipur. Much has been lamented about the hardship being faced by common people due to prolong road blockades by ethnic-based civil societies in Manipur. The unending series of agitations which Manipur has come to experienced in recent times indicates that political issues have been dealt and mitigated on an ad hoc basis by the State government, rather than looking for long-term solutions and going deeper into the roots of the crisis. It is further unnerving to learn that the very policies being advocated by the ruling government in Manipur has not brought respite to the problems, but accentuated the paranoia that common people have already been overfed. Though Sadar Hills issue is an old problem, it has been given a new impetus by Manipur Chief Minister’s ambitious proclamation of creating new districts in the month of July, 2011. It is a clear indication that the so-called reformative policy being advocated by Manipur government has opened another Pandora’s Box for the people living in Manipur. 

As a solution to the politics crisis that has came to perpetually besieged Manipur, specifically the hill-valley divide, the government of Manipur has declared to re-structure the administrations by creating new district for bringing developments. The reason being given for restructuring the existing districts is that large administrative set ups have hampered developmental works. On the hindsight the remedial measures being adopted by State government appear appropriate for troubled torn states like Manipur, which comprises of multi-ethnic communities residing side by side. However, can the blame for under-development of rural areas in Manipur be directed only towards the administrative set up?  Are legislative members and Ministers not an integral part of administrative set-up, heading every state department and ministries? Perhaps, the problems in Manipur are becoming too insurmountable that politicians have decided to take a topsy-turvy ride for all the right thinking people in Manipur.

As analysis after analysis in various Manipur local dailies have highlighted, the problems in Manipur are political in nature and primarily concern with inter-ethnic relations. Even the state government and politicians are also well aware of the nature of problem in Manipur. However, the administrative reform being touted as ultimate solution is incongruous to the root of problems in Manipur, and it is definitely directed towards the goals other than development. The political problems in Manipur have nothing to do with administration, thought the state’s administrative systems are not devoid of inefficiency and problems. Further, the official declaration that major districts in Manipur inhabited by vocal ethnic groups like Ukhrul, Churachandpur, Senapati  etc. is indicative of the design that the ruling government has in mind. It is a clear indication of ‘divide and rule policy’, which has strong colonial and monarchical legacy, dubious for creating communal disharmony where ever implemented. In modern political terms, such subversive policies that aims to put one section of the community against another and directed towards demographic changes has came to be known as ‘social engineering’. The administrative reform that Manipur government is advocating is in no way different from acts of social engineering that has been carried out in South Asian countries like Sri Lanka. The only saving grace is that the actual implementation has just been initiated, but not fully implemented. However, the consequences of such dubious policy have already been felt by the common people in Manipur. Experiences in other countries have shown that such policies are perilous path that will leave no community and individuals unscathed. The big question now is will the people in Manipur support the partisan politicians and their subversive policies that are directed towards dividing every tribe and ethnic groups from within?

For fragmented inter-ethnic relations, social engineering to change the demographic and administrative structure is not the ultimate solution. Can the much quoted Hill-Valley divide be transformed for the better through administrative reforms and by dividing the affinity of one community or tribe? The idea of linking Hill and Valley through administrative set-up as umbilical cord may prove to be too silly and dangerous in situation where ethnic temperaments are always on the boiling point. Further, the problems of one community cannot simply be construed as other’s problem, because different communities in Manipur happen to live as neighbors and within a state. As the cries and wailings of protestors on National Highways are indicating, people are demanding devolution of power and change in governance mechanism, although administrative reforms may bring temporal relief to certain sections, it can create another problems for other sections. However, in all its glory, administrative reforms are nothing more than cosmetic changes and if attached with subversive interest it is nothing less than a sinister design. If the state government is really concern about Hill people, they may start the genuine reformative process by implementing the Sixth Schedule in Manipur, instead of playing with emotions of the people by dividing their affinities through administrative demarcations. Why has it taken so many years for Manipur government even to seriously debate and discuss about the implementation of Sixth Schedule in Manipur, while states like Assam which has substantial tribal population has already implemented it in so many areas. It is a clear indication that most of the politicians and political parties in Manipur have paranoia over decentralization of power to minority communities, apparently due to the apprehension that it will disturb their own vested interest and powers that they hold. It is also quite illogical to presume that decentralization would further the communal divide in Manipur.  Meanwhile, the excessive
centralization of power within certain political circles and community is only accentuating the fragmentation of inter-ethnic relations. 

Administrative reform is different from decentralization, as it is merely a restructuring of administrative set-up and not delegation of power and governance through legislations or amendments of existing Laws and Acts. If one’s definition of development is restricted to the opening of DC, SDO, SP offices and having its own share of funds flowing from state government, perhaps administrative changes is good gamble. However, devolution of power through Sixth Schedule and Communitisation Acts are different level of governance policies that have proved successful in various other states in India for bringing positive changes in people’s livelihood. The devolution of power to the minorities and local level administration is something that Manipur government has never thought of or implemented seriously since its inception as a state under Union of India. Perhaps, it is high time for those who are helms of power in Manipur to take cue from current crisis and look for avenues where real decentralization of administrative power can be implemented, instead of making mere cosmetic changes in administrations and dividing the people on the basis of tribe and region. 

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2011/11/is-restructuring-of-administration-the-ultimate-solution-for-political-problems-in-manipur/

By Dr. Thamsing Lamkang
For any sportspersons next play is the most important and difficult games. The more you win the tougher opponent you’ll face and that makes sports very interesting. The only place where problem didn’t exist is only in cemetery. As long as you breathe problem is very much parts of life. Life itself is the problem. God made you and watch over you the way how you deal with your problems. How you overcome problems in your life that makes you, the real you! Every individual has problems, the rich has a problem according to their status, and so is the poor man. The problems you’re going through maybe a minor problem for others, while you may laugh at others problem compared to your situation. No matter how big the problem, there is every solution for every problem.

Problems bring complaints! On any conversation in the street, home or market, most of what you’ll hear is complaints-complaint about the family, the circumstances, the government works, studies, grumblings about what so-and-so did or didn’t do… a stream of grumblings and complaints! Complaint became a subjective part of our society today. Even a small school going children has a complaint on returning from school. If you need a ‘friend’, just open your mouth to complaint about something; you’ll soon be in familiar company! Seems everyone enjoys a good gripe. But always remember this, grumble and complaint produces downers, and leads to defeat. The more you grumble and gripe, the sadder you’ll be!

The Bible (God) says that grumbling produces discouragement. If there’s a complainer on your team (maybe in sports, music or choir etc.) remember he’ll spoil everyone’s performance, and it’s just the same in our daily life. There are times when we need to get away from certain folks because we know they’ve got a gripe. How these people can sniff out what’s wrong about everyone and everything! Many are experts in observing; so not everything in the world is quite hunky dory; but grumbling is going to get us nowhere fast. Well, try this out for yourself; grumble about what someone does and you’ll find you’ll always be in a bad mood about them. Thank the person instead, for what they do well, and you’ve got someone who’ll come to appreciate you too!

Our world can never be improved by bitter, griping people. They’ll just make it a sadder place. Grumbling and groaning don’t tire us out; they just discolor everything and we even lose sight of God’s blessings. We feel like giving up and going home-failures. As believers we have to overcome this tendency to feel sorry for ourselves. Come on! Sharpen up! Get back on track and get on with the game of life. We’re supposed to give thanks to God for everything, and not to forget to have grateful spirit in order to focus and see the future, what next!

In life, all the big achievements are made step by step. Nobody arrives at the summit by magic, but by overcoming all obstacles and problems after having learnt how to persevere. Everyone has a plan in life, goals that we should reach, and they are only reached by advancing slowly without giving-up. This is exactly the same in our spiritual life; the most difficult game is the next play.

We are not accustomed to thinking in real terms. It seems that we walk with our heads in the clouds that we only pay attention to momentous events when, in fact, growth in the Christian life depends on our knowing the will of God and obeying it, day by day. Look for that which God expects from us, in all things and do it, without fuss and noise, but peacefully. Many people fixed their eyes on their problems, and made problems as the god of their life. But as Christians ‘we must fix our eyes on Jesus, our goal and our destination’.

We must concentrate on what we can do; remember that just as in sports there are good and bad pitches and we must win on them all. We must always keep in mind; maybe the next effort is the most important. Maybe the next temptation is the most difficult. Maybe soon we will have difficulties in our studies or work; maybe emotional problems or stress. But we can know that we are going to conquer them. We are used to winning on any field. We are used to knowing that the most difficult game is the next!

We don’t worry so much knowing what is far ahead in the future. It is not our problem to know what will happen in two years, or three years, or four. Leave that matters to God. We simply concentrate on our next step. And that is not a fatalist approach. God knows our future, and it is a glorious future. The Bible tells us of the beautiful inheritance that He has given us. Nobody is happier than we are, because nobody can feel true security about their future life, if they are far from God. What God has prepared for each one of us is something unique. He tells us, simply to play the next game with our best… and nothing more.

Every trip of thousands of miles begins in a very simple way: with the first step!

Author is a Pastor LFD & Sports Resource Center.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2011/11/be-prepared-for-next-play/

By Amar Yumnam
Attending the Indo-Global Education Summit in Delhi during 4 and 5 of November of 2011 has been an enhancing experience personally as well as a depressing one socially; similar summits are being organised for Bangalore and Mumbai as well. We all know that the world is now going through one of the most difficult times in history with economic recoveries in the United States of America being slower than expected and fears of Europe getting plunged into a whirlpool of economic crises. But the silver lining is that the worlds of academics as exemplified by the various universities, particularly the ones in Europe and North America, are sustaining their academic spirits and refusing to be bogged down by the economic downturns. In this process, the universities in China are doing better than the universities in any of the emerging economies. It is rather that they are capitalising on the prevailing crises and consolidating their existence with stronger footholds on the emerging and yet to emerge demands of a fast changing socio-eco-technological world.  

Evolution to the Next Stage: Whereas I have been to quite a few universities around the globe witnessing their facilities, coverage, atmosphere for faculty and students and the overall contextualisation of their approaches to both global demands and regional needs and thus help in shaping the world, the recently held summit has added further insight and updated information on the ways the various universities in the world, right from Nigeria to Wyoming in the United States of America through the universities in the Philippines, Spain, etc., are evolving. In India in general and particularly in our part of the world, we are so much submerged into the conventional and conservative approaches into the approaches and boundaries of disciplines that anything new is considered to be criminal and we are so prompt in attacking new proposals without application of mind and without proposing anything new alternatives either. We are yet to realise that there can be multiples of marriages across traditionally unthought of lines. It is reassuring from the global perspective to see that university in Nigeria has programmes on Development Practice. The universities in Europe and the United States of America have programmes combining Engineering and Fine Arts. Combining music courses with architecture are not unthinkable. Further, with the increasing complexity of our world, there is the rising need to widen the intellectual base of our gradutes. But if one proposes something like this in our part of the world, it would be as if the sky has fallen and the scientific academics would hammer out as if the whole education system has been murdered. This is happening in a world where the very status and level of elevation of the conventional disciplines and the social contextualisation by the very scientific members of the community would be questionable.

Diversification, Multiplication and New Marriages: Here it would be necessary on our part to ponder why the universities in Europe and America are diversifying into newer areas of studies, multiplying the fields of specialisation and affecting altogether new marriages across disciplines. In order to respond to these issues, it would be necessary to recall the fact that the only static virtue is the virtue of change; change is the fundamental rule of existence which has refused to be altered and will forever refuse to be altered. The onus for living up to the challenges thrown up and around by the continuous changes falls us. We have to continually subject to revisions our way of perceiving the things, understanding the events and reorient our disciplines of studies in order to rise to the changing nature of occasion.

It is in keeping with this principle that almost all the competitive universities in the world have evolved newer and newer disciplines over the years. With the changes occurring continually, the traditional disciplines become increasingly wanting in their ability to address the issues, provide relevant answers and guide the society to a higher order. In other words, the traditional disciplines have to reorient themselves and have to show acceptance of approaches from other disciplines, and thereby work towards evolution of newer approaches to research. Further, the system of specialisation prevailing at any period of time has a tendency to hit a dead-end with little scope for additions to the existing stock of knowledge through research. In order to escape from the stagnating scenario and provide applicable responses to the problems of further disciplinary and social progression, there is the necessity for us to get over the limitations of conventional disciplinary boundaries and for encouraging unconventional disciplinary marriages for research. The resulting research output and outcomes are absolutely unpredictable and the academics already waist-deep in the conventional disciplines should be ready to take the plunge of encouraging at the least such research endeavours moving beyond traditional boundaries. I say so because, given the static and as such retrograde perspective of what constitutes a discipline and her boundaries the conventional academics in our part of the world hold, there is very little likelihood that new perspectives would emerge from the own research of the existing academics. Further, since it would be time wasting to wait for maturity in the conventional disciplines, it would be a more fruitful strategy to endeavour to join in the global evolution of newer disciplines and contextualise them in our realities. Still further, if one cannot and does not have the orientation for new approaches to studies and research, stunting, taunting and trying to stall the proposals of others would be nothing more than disservice to the nation. Unfortunately we have a large component of such scientific academics amongst our midst, particularly at levels influencing the decision-making process. Well, we expect the world to wait for us and in the process create circumstances to invariably find ourselves always left behind.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2011/11/higher-education-worldwide-the-diversifying-and-multiplying-scenario/

By Anil Bhat
Shortly after media reports about China trying to unite North East terrorist groups and the entry of one in Assam to launch attacks around Independence Day, terrorists struck in Imphal.

On August 01, 2011, five persons including two girl students were killed and many were injured as a powerful bomb exploded at about 1.40 pm in front of a grocery shop and a barber`s shop, opposite Sangakpham Keithel (bazaar).

The two girls studying in Class III together at Chingmeirong Primary School  were returning home when the bomb exploded, flinging their  bodies, one of which was found inside the grocery store and the other’s in the barber shop, where the barber and his son were also killed. Another man’s body was found in front of the shop. The impact of the blast was so powerful that it ripped and charred human flesh, pulverised some vehicles and reduced the place to scattered debris.

While there are reports of this being a failed attempt by National Socialist Council of Nagaland/Nagalim-Issac – Muivah group (NSCN-IM) at targeting members of the Autonomous District Council (ADC) who are housed in a nearby guest house complex, Chief Minister Okram  Ibobi Singh and Union Home Minister P Chidambaram are reported to have endorsed the same.

A press note from the state Home Department said, “Government of Manipur has received concrete and convincing evidence which establishes the direct involvement of NSCN-IM in the series of recent violent incidents which left several innocent civilians dead and many seriously injured in various parts.” According to the Home Department one Anthony, son of Bonkulung of Sadu Koireng killed in this blast was an active NSCN-IM cadre.

Apparently, the explosion occurred moments after some vehicles of ADC members went past the blast site. The government stated that these acts of terror are quite clearly designed to thwart the democratic process taken up be the government of Manipur to introduce democratic decentralization by successfully conducting elections to the six district councils which had remained dormant for over two decades.

It may be recalled that last year the, it was on the this issue that All Manipur Naga Students Union had caused a blockade of National Highway 39, Manipur’s main artery, which had extended to three months by Thuingaleng Muivah timing his visit his home town in Manipur after almost forty years.

Almost all the schools located in the valley districts of Manipur staged protest demonstrations and rallies decrying the Sangakpham bomb attack. On Tidim Road, thousands of school students took out a joint protest rally.

One group which has been most vocal is the All Manipur United Clubs’ Organisation (AMUCO), which, while listing a number of violent incidents allegedly involving the NSCN -IM, including the recent bomb blast, accused both the Central and State Governments of being soft towards this rebel group. Contending that inaction against the NSCN (IM), inspite of its involvement in various incidents of violence clearly suggests indirect support of both the Governments to the NSCN-IM, AMUCO president KT Rahman demanded that effective measures be initiated to curb activities of the outfit in Manipur. Speaking to media he is reported to have stated that as the ongoing ceasefire between the Government of India and the NSCN-IM does not cover Manipur, not only should the illegal activities of the NSCN (IM) need to be dealt with according to law but also all that its camps in the State should be shut-down.

He further  stated that the ongoing peace parleys between the NSCN (IM) and Govt of India have been reduced to a mockery as the NSCN-IM is still involved in acts of terrorism, highway extortion, destruction of public properties and intimidation. Mentioning the Sangakpham blast, killing of a couple in Lungphu village of Phungyar sub-division (Ukhrul) and slaying of security personnel of Phungyar AC MLA’s escort party as recent cases involving the terrorist group, he blamed the Govt of Manipur by recounting a particular incident when weapons seized by State security forces near Pallel were returned to the outfit along with its apprehended cadres.

Rahman, while asserting that terrorist attacks in Mumbai and Manipur should be measured by the same yardstick and  grimly noting failure of the Home Minister to visit Manipur and assess the overall situation following the Sangakpham blast, commented  that that such an attitude demonstrated the Govt of India’s step-motherly treatment to the people of Manipur.

Chronicling a number of attacks by NSCN-IM since at least April this year, the Home Department said that the state government is seriously considering taking up the matter with the Central government to revoke the ceasefire with NSCN-IM due to these continuous and open acts of terrorism being committed by it.

While violence by the number of Meitei terrorist groups in Manipur has been reported much since the arrest of United National Liberation Front’s boss-man, RK Meghen, many of its cadres earlier in Bangladesh and now in Burma/Myanmar are being rallied together by Chinese intelligence, there is no saying how and when they will strike again.

In Assam, as the pro talk faction of United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA)’s seven-member team of seasoned hit-men led by its ‘chairman’ Arabinda Rajkhowa submitted the charter of demands prepared by the Sanmilito Jatiya Abhivartan (SJA) under the leadership of noted intellectual Dr Hiren Gohain, to Ministry of Home Affairs, their anti-talks colleague Paresh Baruah is all set to keep Assam on the boil yet again.

ULFA’s bid to strike came to light when the Assam Rifles apprehended hardcore ULFA leader Rwittick Hazarika in Sonitpur district bordering Arunachal Pradesh recently. He confessed before police that a group of harcore ULFA cadres have come down to Assam to strike at the instance of Paresh Baruah. Hazarika ‘second lieutenant’ in the ULFA’s 27 battalion, was arrest was a day after the Union Home Ministry’s advisory to Assam to step up security in view of the ULFA’s martyrs’ day on July 27.

The seven-member ULFA team met Home Minister P Chidambaram in the presence of Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi, Home Secretary R K Singh and other senior officials and the as reported in media quoting a source, “The meetings will give fresh impetus to the peace process in Assam as the charter of demands will be the basis of dialogue with the ULFA.”.

Although the contents of the charter have not been disclosed, as earlier reported, the SJA charter demands Constitutional amendments to give Assam, and thereby its people greater control over their own future by strengthening the State`s power to control the revenues generated, the natural resources, and the planning process and ensure a secure demographic situation as well as accelerated and balanced development. Gohain had earlier said, “If the government of India and the ULFA honour the Charter in letter and spirit and do not undersell it, we may look forward to untroubled peace, true development, and vigorous growth of democracy in the region.” SJA noted that the present calm does not at all mean the return of peace.

One aspect of the charter about ensuring a secure demographic situation, ironically stands greatly compromised, thanks to the ULFA, who during the stay of its top honchos in Bangladesh for almost two decades had actually aided and speeded up the illegal migration from Bangladesh, contradicting the very basis of its rise following the bloody Assam agitation of 1983.

This writer’s book Assam Terrorism and the Demographic Challenge (Knowledge World and Centre for Land Warfare Studies) elaborates on how ULFA became an effective tool of Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence organisation’s set-up (based in Bangladesh during Kheleda Zia’s tenure), pursuing its aim of inducting and settling illegal Bangladeshi migrants in various parts of Assam; of raising new madrassas and controlling old ones; trying to convert ethnic Assamese Muslims to fundamentalism; creating communal tension; circulating fake Indian currency; trafficking arms and narcotics; sabotaging installations and generally spreading terror.

Talks with terrorists are fine but must meaningfully lead to permanent eradication of violence by the group and must be undertaken after securing all its weapons and ammunition.  In both the cases of NSCN-IM and ULFA that has not been done. Besides, both these groups have factions / leaders / members already guilty of anti-Indian activities and more expected, that too now with China’s support in addition to Pakistan military’s. Both these groups are also involved in supplying arms to Naxal-Maoists. In the case of talks with ULFA, if Anup Chetia is going to be handed over by Bangladesh as part of Sheikh Hasina and her Awami League government’s goodwill, then the Centre may consider waiting till Paresh Baruah is caught-he must be caught, interrogated and disarmed- and then hold talks purposefully.

Last but certainly not least, what about ULFA leaders/cadres guilty of heinous crimes against innocent people? If merely their ‘apologies’ are to be accepted and they overnight turn in good ‘mainstream’ citizens, then we might as well free all murderers in death-rows.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2011/11/what-do-talks-with-terrorists-mean-with-violence-on-and-arms-still-held/

By Prof. Gangmumei Kamei
Abstract
A colonial policy was the general principle followed by a colonizing power to regulate the relationship between her and her dependency. A colonial policy would have clear cut  objectives for the attainment of which administrative machinery was created to work in the colony. The British conquered Manipur in 1891 and ruled the state till 1947. The British imposed their paramountcy on Manipur state.  They imposed an Indirect Rule which was a mixture of colonialism and feudalism. Manipur was not annexed to British India but was restored to a young prince of a former ruling family. The British paramountcy was represented by the Political Agent. British retained the feudal rule of the king given a title of Raja who ruled over the valley of Manipur with the help of Manipur State Durbar under the Rule for the management of the state of Manipur to guide the Raja and his Durbar. The hill tribes were administered by the Political Agent assisted by a subordinate officer known as the President of the Manipur State Durbar.
There were several social movements during the colonial period directed against feudalism and colonialism. When India became independent in 1947 the British transferred power to the Maharaja of Manipur which marked the end of colonial rule.

The British Colonial Rule

The British conquered Manipur in 1891 and they ruled the state till 1947. The British imposed their supremacy and paramountcy on Manipur state. There were three aspects of British Colonial Rule; the first was that Manipur was not annexed to British India and was restored to a young prince of a former ruling family and a direct British rule for 16 years during which the British Indian pattern of administration was introduced. The second was that of a princely state over which was imposed the feudal rule of the Raja with the help of a Manipur State Durbar with its jurisdiction confined on the small valley of Manipur. The third was the administration of the hill tribes under the British Political Agents.

Colonialism or colonial rule was a historical phenomenon: conquest, emigration and subjugation happened in history. Colonialism is the establishment and maintenance for an extended term of rule over an alien people that is separate from and subordinate to the ruling power. Colonialism means domination of an alien minority, administrators, business men and soldiers asserting their racial and cultural superiority over the subjugated people. European colonialism had passed through three phases of historical development: Mercantilism, Laissez Faire and Protectionism. Mercantilism was the exploitation of the colonies for the benefit of mother countries; Laissez Faire or Free Trade meant free competition coupled with liberal ideas of utilitarianism and social Darwinism. Protectionism meant the policy of protection of the economic and commercial interest of a colonial power facing rivalry from similar powers. The colonial powers including the British gave up free trade policy and was inclined more towards protectionism. The British imperial expansion in India was completed in the end of the 19th century. Protectionism and liberalism were behind this imperial expansion. It coincided with the British conquest of north eastern India including Manipur.

Colonial Policy 

A colonial policy was the general principle followed by a colonizing power to regulate the colonial relationship between her and her dependency. A colonial policy would have political, economic, cultural, social and moral objectives for the attainment or maintenance of which administrative machinery was created to work in the colony. But a colonial relationship involved two social systems, two or more cultural patterns, two civilizations, two different levels of technology and economy, a colonial policy was designed with the deeper connotation and implications. Ideas, ideology, interest and social norms were built in to a colonial policy. Therefore, “a colonial policy means the framing of a social order that provides for an acceptable modus vivendi in an oriental society wherein, the westerners have penetrated, have settled and are carrying on business”.

Colonial objectives

The objectives of the colonial policy were implemented through the administrative machinery which was created to administer the colonies. The art and practice of colonial administration was a highly specialized part of the government. During the mercantilist era, the great chartered companies built up administrative cadres to administer the colonies and the administration was geared at the exploitation of colonies for the benefit of the mother countries. The primary concern of a colony, then, was to act as a source of raw materials and market for the finished products of the industries of the mother country. The functions of the colonial administration had become elaborate.

The scope of the colonial administration was related to the objectives of the colonial policy. Since a colony was to be, a source of raw material, a market and in some as a place of industrial enterprise especially plantation industry, the administration aimed at obtaining three main objectives; to maintain law and order, to collect revenues through a well formulated taxation system to meet the cost of administration and to adjudicate judicial matters. Therefore, the administration’s function covered the army and police for defence, conquest and to keep internal order to ensure stability in the colony; then an elaborate system of fiscal administration. The civil service was to administer both the law of the colonizing power and law of the indigenous people. A well conceived judicial system was the primary step in the administration of a settled civil government.

The colonial administration was influenced by the liberal ideas of utilitarianism. And it adopted welfare programmes. The colonial administration in Manipur also utilized the services of the Christian missionaries to legitimize their rule over the conquered people and to facilitate the westernization of the indigenous tribal society1.

The Policy of Indirect Rule

The British policy towards the native states of India during the rule of the British was described as a policy of indirect rule. India under the British was divided in to two forms of administration. One was British India, the other group was native states of India subordinate to British paramountcy. The term “Indirect Rule” was mentioned by F.S. Furnivall in describing the British rule over the Shan States of Burma. He developed the concept of indirect rule to explain the relation between the British Indian Empire and the native states of newly conquered province of Burma. This concept was further developed by John Hurd II2 to describe the nature of British rule and control over the kingdoms which were described as princely or native states.

According to John Hurd, in India a sizeable part of the country was governed under a system of indirect rule. The indirect rule was differentiated with British India which was ruled by the colonial government. The British India had a single ruler, the Viceroy and one bureaucracy named Indian Civil Service which was responsible to the Viceroy. The army controlled by the highest military command consisted of British officers and native soldiers.

The indirect rule was imposed on the native states. Some salient features are elaborated by John Hurd.

(i) The so called native states, having no control over their external affairs which were conducted by the British had considerable autonomy in the internal affairs.

(ii) They passed and administered their own laws, levied their own taxes and maintained their own bureaucracy and police

(iii) The civil servants of such a state served the particular princely state and were responsible to the ruler. The state officials were locally educated. Rulers, officials and subjects alike were linked by marriage, caste and religious bonds. The social and educational ties made the ruling members of the state locally oriented.

(iv) The laws were mostly local and extended only to the state’s boundaries.

(v) Public borrowing capacity of a state was limited to its own credit rating. Public borrowing in British India and in Great Britain for the states was discouraged.

John Hurd II further argued that the states were autonomous theoretically. The British sent representatives to the states. They were to observe scrupulously the tradition and customs of the state concerned. However, de facto, the position of a state was not so clear. He pointed out that

(i) The Government of India interfered in the internal affairs of the states in varying degrees of the particular state; its history, current condition and personality of the rulers.

(ii) British interference was carried out in many ways. When a prince abused his subjects, defaulted on his credit or violated the wishes of the government, the British could depose him 

(iii) The succession to the throne was subject to the approval of the British Government. If a ruler was deposed or a prince was a minor, the British took over the administration of the state

(iv) The native states undertook no major reforms. And they were allowed to retain their distinctive political character which was different from that of British India3.

The policy of indirect rule was introduced in the native state of Manipur with certain variation.

Churachand Singh as the Raja of Manipur

The British forces occupied Imphal on 27th April, 1891. The Government of India appointed Major H.P. Maxwell as the Political Officer during the expedition. He was also appointed as the Political Agent and Superintendent of the state of Manipur. Lord Lansdowne, the Viceroy and Governor General was deeply involved in the affairs of Manipur. He was concerned with the future of Manipur state. Her Majesty, Queen Victoria was concerned with the impact of the conquest of Manipur on princely states of India. She tried to intervene to rescue Prince Tikendrajit Bir Singh from death sentence. The press in India and England publicized Quinton’s expedition to Manipur and the trial of the princes.

The Amrita Bazar Patrika and other Bengali papers of Calcutta expressed sympathy with the Manipur king and his brothers. In England, the Times were critical of Government of India’s policy and action towards Manipur. Some of its editorials expressed the sane opinion of English public. The London Illustrated Weekly News published a number of paintings and photos of the officers, places and events of Manipur. The British Parliament also discussed the affairs of Manipur. The Government of United Kingdom particularly the Secretary of State was critical of action of Government of India, though they gave open support to the Viceroy on this affair. Queen Victoria, in her journal recorded her unhappiness towards the Indian Civil Service and impact of Manipur affairs on other princely states of India4. Therefore, the Government of India took a special care in arriving at a policy towards Manipur. The policy was put in practice during their rule of 56 years5.

The first policy decision made by the British Indian Government, after the conquest of Manipur was the future of the state of Manipur; annexation of the state in to British India as a punishment for Anglo-Manipur war or restoration of the kingdom to a prince belonging to the family of the ex-Maharaja or a collateral line of the ruling family. In an answer to a discussion in British Parliament, Lord Viscount Cross, the Secretary of State for India announced that the Government was not in favour of annexation of Manipur and the introduction of British rule in the state. Viceroy Lord Lansdowne was an imperialist par excellence. He was aware of the impact of such a policy of annexation on the princely states. He knew that Queen Victoria was not in favour of further annexation of a princely state to the Indian Empire. In a minute, Lord Lansdowne raised two pertinent questions, (i) whether the kingdom of Manipur revolted against the Queen, and if so the kingdom was liable to penalty which might be in form of payment of indemnity, payment of tribute or annexation of the territory, (ii) did the British Government have the moral right to annex such a conquered territory in the light of the Queen’s proclamation of 1858 in respect of recognition of the princely states in India? These issues were discussed by the Governor General in Council. Legal opinions were expressed that the government of a princely state did not have the right to revolt against the Government of India. If there was a revolt against the Queen, the British government had the right to punish the princely state. The Governor General in Council decided that Manipur had waged a war against the Queen and so she ought to be punished. The Governor General decided that the Government of India had the moral right to annex a conquered territory of the princely state that had revolted.

However, Lord Lansdowne was not in favour of annexation by way of punishment. The opinion among the Anglo-Indian Bureaucracy in India was in favour of annexation, which would lead to the obliteration of the state of Manipur as a political entity. Therefore, it was decided to elicit the opinion of the Chief Commissioner of Assam and the British Political Agent in Manipur with whom Lord Lansdowne was in communication. Sir William Ward, the new Chief Commissioner of Assam following him Major H.P. Maxwell the Political Agent of Manipur who represented the hard liner among the Indian Civil Service towards Manipur affairs, were asked to submit their comments for a policy decision by the Government of India. William Ward in consultation with Major Maxwell recommended that the Government of India were justified in annexing the state (for the maintenance of the British prestige) and to teach a lesson and warning to other native states of India. The hill people being one third of the total population of Manipur would welcome the annexation. The British were obliged to protect the hill people of the state against oppression by the king. It was a moral duty imposed upon the British to annex Manipur. From financial point of view also, there were no grounds for thinking that the annexation would result in to financial loss.

This proposal of the Chief Commissioner, Ward was turned down and he was directed to make another proposal who would be the ruler in case of the restoration of the state. Chief Commissioner Ward directed Political Agent Maxwell to prepare three genealogical tables of (i) descendents of King Garibniwaz (1709-1748), (ii) successors of Maharaja Gambhir Singh (1825-1834) and (iii) descendents of Maharaja Nara Singh (1844-1850). In consultation with the local scholars, Major Maxwell submitted the tables. He also suggested that if annexation were rejected and restoration was to be brought about, the son of ex-Maharaja Surchandra Singh might be considered for the post of the Raja. William Ward endorsed this opinion but Viceroy rejected it. It was further directed to indicate the living descendents of the family of Maharaja Nara Singh. Major Maxwell searched out the family of Raj Kumar Chaubi Yaima who had left behind two wives and six children. His first wife had four sons of whom Churachand Singh was a minor of 5 years. Chief Commissioner Ward suggested two names; the son of Surchandra Singh named Sur Singh, a twelve year prince who was not involved in the recent rebellion and Churachand Singh, a surviving descendent of the collateral line of Maharaja Nara Singh. Sur Singh or Churachand Singh was to be chosen for the rulership of Manipur. It was considered that Churachand, a minor boy would be free from the influence of descendents of the ex-Maharaja. Thus the final decision was made by the Governor General in Council

i. It was decided not to annex the state.

ii. It was decided to choose Churachand Singh, a great grandson of Maharaja Nara Singh to be the ruler of Manipur

iii. The British Government would directly manage the administration of Manipur during the minority of new Raja. Major Maxwell, the Political Agent and the Superintendent of the state would administer Manipur.

The case was eventually settled by the issue of the following Proclamation and Notification, the selected ruler Chura Chand was a child of five years of age, a distant collateral of the ex-Maharaja, and the youngest of several brothers”.

A proclamation was issued on 21st August 1891 which stated, “Whereas the State of Manipur has recently been in armed rebellion against the authority of Her majesty the Queen, Empress of India; and whereas, during such rebellion, Her Majesty’s Representative and other officers were murdered at Imphal on the 24th of March last: and whereas by a Proclamation dated the 19th April 1891 the authority of the Regent, Kula Chandra Singh, was declared to be at an end, and the administration of the State was assumed by the General Officer Commanding Her Majesty’s forces in Manipur territory:

“Manipur State has become liable to the penalty of annexation, and is now at the disposal of the Crown:
and that “Her Majesty the Queen, Empress of India has been pleased to forego Her right to annex to Her Indian Dominions the territories of the Manipur State; and has graciously assented to the re-establishment of Native”.

A notification was issued on 18th September, 1891 that “the Governor-general in Council has chosen Chura Chand son of Chowbi Yaima, and great grand son of Raja Nara Singh of Manipur to be Raja of Manipur”.

A sanad was issued by the Secretary to the Government of India with the following statement “The Governor-General in Council has been pleased to select you, Chura Chand, son of Chowbi Yaima, to be the Chief of the Manipur State; and you are hereby granted the title of Raja of Manipur, and a salute of eleven guns.

“The Chiefship of the Manipur State and the title and salute will be hereditary in your family; and will descend in the direct line by primogeniture, provided that in each case the succession is approved by the Government of India”.

British Rule in Manipur

The policy of British Paramountcy in Manipur 1891-1947 had several aspects. The British declared their supremacy with the occupation of Manipur; British India became the paramount power. As a signal of British paramountcy, the British Indian Government declared that Manipur had committed a rebellion against Queen Empress so she had to pay penalty for this; the British disarmed the people, imposed a fine of Rs. 2,50,000/- payable in five years; and annual tribute of Rs. 50,000/-. She took the responsibility of the overall defence and security of the native state. As a first step, the Government of India converted the British Political Agency as the governing authority of Manipur. Earlier in the pre-colonial period, the Political Agent performed the ambassadorial functions with the authority to protect British interest in North Eastern Frontier including Manipur. Government of India retained the 44th Gurkha Rifles of the Indian Army to defend Manipur. As a condition for the selection of a minor prince Churachand Singh, the British Indian Government took over the administration of Manipur during his minority. The British Indian Government introduced the British Indian administrative system in Manipur. The Political Agent was also the Superintendent of the state. There were twelve Political Agents in the pre-Colonial period and fourteen Political Agents during the Colonial period 1891-19477. The Political Agent was entrusted the powers and function of a Judge-Magistrate, the Executive Head of administration and the Chief of the Police administration. He was overall in-charge of the administration of the hill tribes. The Political Agent was under the supervision of the Chief Commissioner of Assam. Moreover, the Political Agent was the representative of the British Crown.

Over and above the imposition of the fine and a tribute on the state, the British followed a policy of extracting resources of the state to meet the cost of the administration. They introduced a new taxation system under which they imposed house tax on the people: valley house tax and hill house tax. The rate of valley house tax was Rs. 2/- per house and the hill house tax was Rs. 3/- per house. The amount of tax was too heavy and people could not face the consequences of the monetization of their economy. The self sufficiency economy enjoyed by Manipur during the pre-colonial period had undergone a great change after 1891. British introduced a free trade system as a part of their colonial economic policy. They controlled the trade and industry in the state. They allowed the export of rice freely to Kohima and other military stations. They imported a large quantity of salt from outside; Liverpool salt was imported to Manipur through Burma as a result the salt industry in Manipur (manufacture of salt cakes from brine) was greatly affected. The import of Liverpool salt was to compete with the production of the brine wells of the state. The British also imported other commodities and ultimately led to the decline of the indigenous cottage industries.

Administration of justice

The British colonial administration aimed to keep law and order, collect taxes to maintain the cost of administration and adjudicate disputes among the people. Therefore, the administration went in for the establishment of a police system, a revenue system and judicial administration. This three pronged policy brought a marked change in the administration under the British. Thus Major Maxwell, the Political Agent introduced a new system of administration of justice and police in 1892. He proclaimed, “Rules for the Administration of Justice and Police in the Manipur state – 1892”6. A colonial policy implied the change in the judicial system. The rules envisaged three branches of judicial administration; the Panchayat court, the Chirap Court and the Political Agent court.

The Chief Commissioner of Assam exercised supervisory judicial power on the courts of Manipur. He had revisional powers in all cases. He had to confirm criminal cases of death and imprisonment beyond 7 years. He had the right to call for the records in any case tried by the courts in Manipur and reverse the sentence if he deemed it fit.

This judicial system consolidated the British rule in Manipur and was continued up to 1947 when the Maharaja of Manipur passed two laws to deal with judicial matters; Manipur Courts Act, 1947 and Manipur Hill People regulation, 1947.

Police Administration

The military force was a necessary condition for the consolidation of the Imperial power in a newly conquered territory. They needed a political security for the economic exploitation of the new territory for the development of colonial power. In Manipur, the question of political security was very crucial. The Government of India recognized the supreme strategic importance of the state. Manipur occupies a commanding position between Assam and Burma which required the location of a military base of the Indian Army. Manipur is also situated between the Naga Hills and Lushai Hills of Assam which were conquered by British recently. Therefore, it was decided to station a Military regiment in Manipur. Major Maxwell was reported to have commented, “Take away the British support, the country would be involved in a revolution tomorrow”7. The need of the internal security of the state was reflected in the establishment of two wings of the police: the civil police and the military police.

Civil Police

The British Political Agent provided for the Chowkidari system in Manipur. Chowkidar was a rural police who was appointed to every hundred houses. His duty was to keep himself cognizant of what went on in his circle of villages without of course interfering into the domestic or private life of the people. He was subordinate to the panchayat of the circle. The chowkidar was elected by the people of the area subject to the confirmation of the Political Agent8.

In course of time, a small civil police was started in January, 1893 for working in the urban areas. The British had created a territorial reserve known as the British Reserve Area within the town of Imphal consisting of the main Kangla Fort area and Khwairamband bazaar and nearby villages. The Briritish Reserve became centre of political and military power of the British rule in Manipur. The Political Agency and other branches of the administration including residences of the colonial officers and cantonment of the occupation army were located within the British Reserve.

Military Police

The Government established a military police of one battalion. One M.L.F. Crawford, the Assistant Political Agent was appointed the adjutant of Manipur State Police. The new military police force was armed with muzzle loading carbine and bayonet, and dhoti with brown leather accoutrement. They were trained by the instructors of Naga Hills military police. The number of sepoys in the military police consisted of many Manipuri local recruits and the number was reduced due to desertion in 1894. Later on Nepalese were recruited in place of the Manipuri. 

When the administration was handed over to Raja Churachand Singh, he became the commandant of the Manipur state police9. The administration of the police was looked after by the police member of the Manipur state Durbar since 1907. The police member became an important functionary of the administration under the Raja. During the World War I the strength of the Manipur state police was increased. He continued to hold the charge of the commandant of the state military police up to 31st May 1941. And on 1st June 1941 E.E. Hughes was appointed the first Superintendent of Police Manipur. The post of the Superintendent of Police and Commandant of the Manipur Rifle in the beginning were combined in one person. Before the World War II an attempt was made to reorganize the Manipur state police but there was not much success. Later on after the independence, the Manipur state Government converted the Manipur state police to Manipur Rifles10.

Revenue Administration:

Collection of taxes was a main function of a colonial government in order to finance the cost of administration. The British Government abolished the feudal system of Lallup and slavery in Manipur. These two steps were a great departure from the traditional system of administration.

Lallup was a feudal service rendered by the subjects of Manipur to the king in pre-colonial period. As a marked departure from the rule of the Meitei monarch, the British abolished the Lallup service. It was a sort of official abolition of the feudal service in Manipur.

Slavery existed in Manipur since the ancient times. But in the later part of the 19th century, in 1891 at the time of British conquest, the Manipur king had 1200 slaves maintained by the royal household. The nobles who were members of the bureaucracy had slaves in their households. The slavery system in Manipur was mild and human. The British policy was for the abolition of the slavery in England and in the colonies. So Major Maxwell, the Political Agent who did some exercise on the institution of Lallup and slavery announced the abolition of both Lallup and slavery on 29th April 1892. The abolition of Lallup was welcomed by the common people who suffered from this system. However, the abolition of slavery did not bring salvation to the slaves immediately. At the same time, it was not beneficial financially to the slaves.

In lieu of the Lallup service, every household in the valley of Manipur was to pay a house tax of Rs. 2/- per annum. A revenue of Rs. 5/- per hectare of land (locally known as pari) was to be paid. For the hill areas, a house tax of Rs.3/- per annum was imposed. The Government then decided to make a cadastral survey of the lands occupied in the valley of Manipur. The land was classified in to agricultural lands, homesteads and community lands used for grazing and other community purposes. It was a gigantic task for the new colonial administration to carry out survey of the land holdings and record the rights of the land owners in a document known as the patta. The revenue administration was carried out by the Political Agent with the help of his assistant Political Agents. Major Maxwell revived the pre-colonial divisions of the valley of Manipur in to four territorial districts known as Panna: Ahallup Panna, Naharup Panna, Khabam Panna and Laipham Panna. One official named Lakpa was appointed to each of the Panna. He was entrusted with the survey of the land which meant recording of the size, quality and type of land occupied by individuals. In actuality it was the adoption of the Indian pattern of revenue administration prevalent in Assam and Bengal. A Lakpa was assisted by petty official known as Amin, Konungo and peons. The Lakpa was not given salaries. He was to take 10% of the assessment of the revenue he made in his circle. The British Government expressed satisfaction at the initial success of the revenue administration.

This system increased the collection of revenues and it was continued till the year 1906. Major Maxwell sent out the Lakpas to different Pannas for the collection of revenue. The payment of 10% commission was abolished and salaries were paid to them. He also asked the village head men to collect arrear revenues from their respective villages. The new land revenue system was more or less successful.

Other sources of revenue were house tax, foreigner tax of Rs. 5/- per annum per family, fishery, salt, forest, tea seeds, fines from law and justice and jail etc. The foreign residents had to pay a tax of 4 annas for grazing of their cattle. With the introduction of the hill house tax many nomadic Kuki villages were brought under permanent settlement and they paid house tax to the state. Next to the land tax, fisheries and salt industries provided revenue to the state. Maxwell of course abolished the state monopoly of trade in tea seeds. The forest in the initial stage did not produce any revenue to the state. However, the regulation of forestry in western hills near Jiribam was entrusted to the divisional forest officer, Cachar and collection of revenue was quite plenty.

A reference may be made to the economic policy of the British Government. Manipur did not have raw materials for the development of industries. The Maharajas of Manipur were opposed to the establishment of tea plantation in Manipur. The British Government did not attempt to encourage tea plantation. Once they tried to develop silk industry by involving a company from Calcutta. This plan was thought to be profitless and the proposal was dropped. The British rulers encouraged free trade towards Manipur. They encouraged external trade to be conducted by foreigners mostly those who belonged to the Marwari community. This community got favour both from the colonial authorities and Raja of Manipur. They monopolized the export of rice and import of manufactured goods. The British did not encourage industrialization.

The colonial Indian Government was influenced by certain social philosophy of the mother country. They implemented the utilitarian measures of welfare to the conquered people. The British in Manipur started with the establishment of schools both in the hills and valley of Manipur to produce petty government servants to be teachers, peons, chowkidars, amin and vaccinators. They provided minimum medical facilities through the establishment of dispensaries and hospitals. They were confronted with several deadly diseases like malaria, cholera and small pox which visited the state in epidemic forms. The colonial government constructed state roads.

The British Policy towards the Hill Tribes

After the British conquest of Manipur in 1891, the hill areas came under the rule of British Political Agent. The British introduced system of Indirect Rule over the hill tribes who were divided in to two major ethnic groups of the Nagas and the Kukis. Lord Lansdowne used a significant term “The Manipur people” to mean both the people of the valley and the hills. However, the Political Agent used the term ‘Manipur’ to mean Meiteis who dwelt in the valley of Manipur.

Under the new system, the British did not rule the hill tribes directly. Like the pre-colonial rulers of Manipur they did not interfere in the affairs of the tribal villages. The Lallup system did not work in hill areas though the king imposed payment of tributes on the hill villages. Occasionally tribal villagers were sometimes used by the king for under taking public works; straightening of the course of rivers and digging of canals. Slavery existed among the tribes in a mild form. The British introduced the hill house tax of Rs. 3/- per household per year. The chiefs or head men of the tribal villages were entrusted with the administration of their villages. The head man or the chief was to collect the hill house tax and submit to the state for which they got certain commission. In the beginning of the British rule there was no proper regulation for the administration of the hill tribes but the British Govvernment introduced the Chin Hills Regulation of 1896 to administer the hill tribes. It was quite effective. Therefore, the spirit of this regulation was adopted in Manipur as the guiding principle of hill administration.

Under the colonial system, the chief or head of the village was to collect house tax, maintain law and order and administer justice according to their customary laws. They were also made to render forced labour to the colonial authority for the construction and maintenance of bridle paths, roads and bridges. They also provided local hospitality to the touring officers, army, police and patty colonial employees. In practice, the Lallup system was de facto reimposed on the hill tribes in a more stringent form. These taxes produced anti colonial agitations.

The British laid down a policy that they were to look after the interest of the hill tribes and protect them from the operation of the administrators of the valley or the Raja. They had to act as a saviour or the protector of the hill tribes. The administration of the hill tribes was separated from that of the valley. This separation of administration on ethnic lines was greatly resented by the Raja of Manipur who was not allowed any intervention in the hill areas. Though the Political Agent was a colonial officer, the direct contact with the hill people was made by petty officials recruited from the people of the valley. For administration of the hill areas, the whole area was divided into five divisions known as Lam. The five Lams were in “the north the Mao Lam, and the Tangkhul Lam includes the hills along the north east of the valley, south of the Tangkhul country was the Tammu Lam; the Moirang Lam was in the south west corners of the state and the Kapui (Kabui) Lam to the west of the valley”11. Five Lam
subedars for the five divisions. Under one Lam subedar, 7 Lambus were appointed for a division. The Lambu in the pre-colonial Meitei monarchy was an important petty official for the rural areas. Under the colonial system, the Lambu was an interpreter, a process server and a peon combined in one. Its counterpart in the Naga hills was the Dobashi or the interpreter. The Lambu was employed in all aspects of the colonial administration, keeping the law and order, administration of justice, supervision of public works. He was the ear and eye of the Government. During the period of British direct management of Manipur (1891-1906) the Lambus oppressed the people. The British rule ensured law and order; peace was maintained, taxes were collected, justice was administered. The hill people suffered greatly; they could not bear the financial burden of the house tax. The monetization of the economy by the introduction of the house tax was to the great hardship of the hill tribe who never experienced such suffering under the pre-colonial rule.

In 1907 when the administration was handed over to Raja Churachand Singh, The Political Agent continued to administer the hill tribes. The objective of the British policy was to prevent the traditional operation and exploitation of the hill tribes by the Raja and his government and to protect the hill tribe. They kept peace, prevented internal tribal feuds and warfare among the Nagas and Kukis and inter societal conflicts and imposed tax to meet the cost of administration. They maintained roads and bridges along the main roads from Imphal to neighbouring districts. The claim of the British which was to protect the tribal people was not translated in the ground level. In reality the British rule through the Lambus was oppressive.

In 1913, there was a reorganization of the State Durbar. The Raja ceased to be the President. One British ICS officer was appointed as the President. Not the Durbar but the President in his own discretion was entrusted to administer the hill area under the overall supervision of the Political Agent. In fact, the President of the Durbar popularly known as the PMSD, with his office at the capital town of Imphal was an overburdened officer of the state. He did not have officers to assist him. He could not go on tour in the hills. He depended on the Lambus and the Lamsubedars. The British imposed forced labour known as Potthang Begari and Potthang Senkhai. Very frequently, the tribal labour was subjected to physical torture. There were eighteen British PMSDs between 1913-1947. among them were distinguished names like J.C. Higgins, Christopher Gimson, C.S. Mullan, Captain C.W.L. Harvey, G.P. Stewart and F.F. Pearson.

There were loopholes in the administration of he hill tribes. A great mistake was the absence of any clear cut specific provision for the administration of hill areas under the Rules of management of state of Manipur which was introduced in 1907. This mistake was pointed out by Political Agent John Shakespeare himself. Between the hill men and the British officer, there intervened a most unsatisfactory intermediary in the form of Lambus who were responsible for dissatisfaction among the hill people. Sir Robert Reid, a Governor of Assam himself criticized the system when he observed, “there is no doubt that the administration had been seriously out of touch with heir hill subjects, that the latter were not always well treated, and that there were genuine grievances and genuine abuse”12.

The Kuki Rebellion (1917-1919), described by colonel writers as ‘the most serious incident in the history of Manipur and its relation with its hill subjects’, led to a serious discussion on the future administration of the hills. The Chief Commissioner of Assam made a new pronouncement in October 1919 for the administration of hill areas13. It declared, “the good government of the hill tracts is an object in which Government of India are directly interested, …and approve the measures for the proper administration of the hills i.e., the opening of roads and bridle paths; the extension of education among the tribes; and the bringing of medical relief within the reach of the people of the hills”.

The order also approved appointment of three sub divisional officers of Assam Commission in three hill areas, one at North West sub division (Tamenglong), the second in North East sub division (Ukhrul) and third at South West sub division (Churachandpur).  

The new Rules introduced in 1919 restated the relation between the Raja and the President of the Manipur State Durbar, “the hill tribes are administered on His Highness behalf by the President of the Durbar assisted by one or more Sub Divisional Officer”. The Rules laid down that His Highness, the Maharaja had a right to be consulted in all matters of importance concerning the hill tribes. The Manipur State Durbar exercised no direct control over the hills. But from time to time, it tried to claim some indirect control through its power over the budget. However, the officers who were to be appointed as SDOs were not easily available and the working of the sub divisions were not satisfactory due to the negligence and incompetence of the officers. The Government ultimately framed the rules for the management of hill tribes in 1935 in which the revised rules announced in 1919 were incorporated. On the status of the administration of the hill areas Secretary to the Governor of Assam made a pronouncement on 22nd April 1937. It said among others, “the most important sphere in which the Political Agent and the President of the Manipur State Durbar exercised control is over the hill tribes…from the installation of the present Maharaja, the hill tribes were treated as on a footing distinct from that of His Highness Manipuri subjects being only ‘dependent on’ the Manipur state. The phrase ‘dependent on’ exactly describes the position which has existed from time immemorial and still exist today…”

The pronouncement concluded “…History shows that the Manipuri cannot and will not give the hills an administration of the standard to which they are both entitled and accustomed and that it can only be maintained by the control now exercise. We are under an obligation to the hill tribes to maintain to them a decent administration. The consequences of unrest and rebellion among them might be disastrous for Manipur and would be most dangerous for those portions of British India and Burma which lie along Manipur boundaries”14.

First Women’s Movement of 1904:

The colonial economic policy brought financial difficulties on the inhabitants of the valley. It was thought that the abolition of Lallup would bring some relief in terms of freedom from forced labour. Political Agent Maxwell just after the war called up former members of the Manipur army and they were constituted in to a labour corps. They were engaged in carrying supplies to the British forces on the Kohima road. They were also engaged in the maintenance of Imphal-Mao cart road. There was great resentment towards the employment of forced labour. As noted in the previous paragraph there was disaffection among the Rajkumars of the state. They were also not happy over the selection of the new Raja. They were also against the policy of disarming the population of the country. This was regarded as a policy of blatant oppression. The British imposed a fine on the state. The people were not used to payment of house taxes both in the valley and hill. The British Government introduced a new policy of export and import. Outwardly the British encouraged free trade in the state, however in reality they gave the monopoly of external or export trade to the few merchants from Marwar who were known as Marwaris or Kanias. The frustration of the people after 14 years of direct British rule bursted out in a movement which is popularly known in history of Manipur as first women’s war. Some incidents preceded the outbreak. On 6th July 1904 the Khwairamband market known as the Sanakeithel was burnt down; 28 market sheds which could accommodate 3,000 women vendors were destroyed and on 15th July 1904 again the Bungalows of Captain Nuttal the tutor to the Raja Churachand Singh and Mr. Dunlop the Assistant Political Agent were destroyed by fire. There was also another fire in the night of 4th August 1904, the authorities discovered a stick with an oil rag attached to it. Colonel Maxwell attributed the burning of this bungalow to the acts of incendiarism on the part of the Manipuri inhabitants of the town instigated by the ‘Rajkumars’ or the descendents of the late ruling house as a symbol of their dislike for and a protest against the ruler who had been imposed on them. Maxwell as a Superintendent of the state issued an order to rebuild the bungalows of the British officials. He also asked the people of Imphal area to construct the bungalows with teak wood from the Kabaw valley of Burma. If the people declined he would threaten to impose punitive force on them. The order of Superintendent Maxwell created a great consternation among the people. It was a temporary ‘resuscitation’ of Lallup on the urban people of Imphal. In the beginning the people did not have the courage to confront the order as they were demoralized by the impact of the war. On behalf of the people of Imphal areas an application was submitted to the Political Agent and the application was signed by one Chingsabam Natek Singh of Sagolband. It was rejected by Political Agent Maxwell. Political Agent Maxwell entertained a prejudice against the Rajkumar families. He made derogatory remark on the Rajkumars. He wrote, “Rajkumar, very rarely works, his rank in most instances is sufficient inducement to the girls of the country to marry him and as he generally takes more wives than one and the women of Manipur are the bread winners of the family, he leads a life of indolence varied by grotesque acts of conceit in excess even of the attempt of the frog in the fable to expand herself in to the size of an ox…”15.

A protest meeting was convened for all the people of Imphal. The Superintendent imposed that assembly of more than five persons was unlawful and such a public meeting if held he would employ troops to disperse the meeting. Despite the strict warning of the authority a big meeting was organized on 30th September 1904 near the Cheirap Court. A big crowd of 5000 attended the meeting. The authorities disbursed the assembly and arrested six leaders who were presumed to be the leaders of the movement. They happened to be Rajkumars. A court of enquiry was constituted to try the arrested persons from 4th November 1904 onwards. Political Agent Maxwell on 10th November 1904 sentenced the culprits for expulsion from Manipur.

The women folk of the state were shocked at the punishment of the six Rajkumars. The market women came out spontaneously and organized a big demonstration. They marched to the Residency and protested against the Political Agent’s action. The movement continued for several days resulting in to the closure of the markets affecting day to day life of the people. The movement was led by the market women leaders.The movement was against the reintroduction of lallup which was already abolished by the government of India. It was a wrong step taken by Political Agent. The order for reconstruction was withdrawn. Chief Commissioner J.B. Fuller expressed unhappiness over this incident arising out of action of Political Agent. Political Agent Maxwell was transferred from the Political Agency16.

Christian Missions in Manipur

An objective of the British India was ‘civilizing the Asiatics’ meaning the backward Indians. This mission was well expressed in the famous phrase of Rudyard Kipling, ‘White men’s burden’ to civilize the conquered people. An instrument of the civilizing mission was Christian proselytism. There was a symbiotic relation between colonial rule and the Christian mission. The colonial ruler utilized the services of the missionaries in the field of education, medical and social reforms to spread the colonial rule among the Indian population. The first attempt to establish Christian mission in Manipur was under taken as early as 1836 by the American Baptist Mission in Burma17. The mission failed.

After 1891, a condition was laid down by the British authorities that they would not interfere in to the traditional polity system, religious belief and cultural practices of the people. Political Agent Major H. Maxwell wanted to follow this policy of non interference in to the social and religious life of the Hindu Meiteis of the Manipur valley and so discouraged Christian mission activities among the Hindu Meiteis who regarded Christianity as a religion of the conquering white men. The first initiative for a Christian mission work in Manipur was taken up by one Robert Arthington, a millionaire of Leeds in England. He established the Arthington Aboriginese Mission Society. His aim was of a mobile missionary movement. Even before the founding of the mission society, on 15th September 1885 he wrote to the Assam Baptist Mission stating his desire to open a mission among the tribes. Arthington’s interest towards Assam was aroused by one missionary named John Dalmas who was a missionary in Assam. The Arthington Mission Society appointed young William Pettigrew to start Christian evangelism in the state of Manipur among the Meiteis. Pettigrew came to India in 1891 but the political instability as a result of the Anglo-Manipur war of 1891; he had to wait four years for permission to enter Manipur. Meanwhile he started learning Bengali and Manipuri language. In 1894 William Pettigrew approached A. Porteous the acting Political Agent in Manipur for the permission. In the absence of Political Agent Maxwell the permission was granted by A. Porteous and William Pettigrew started work on 6th February 1894 at Imphal. Pettigrew started to preach the gospel among them. Meanwhile Major Maxwell the Political Agent returned from his furlough and took an alarming view of the mission work and expressed his fear that trouble might arise in a protest from the Hindu Meiteis. Political Agent Maxwell knew the injunction made by the British Government of non-interference and strict neutrality in matters of religion. So Maxwell decided to
maintain the status quo and serve the ultimatum that Pettigrew leave Imphal or stop his missionary work.

William Pettigrew was disappointed but Maxwell came to his rescue that he might work among the Tangkhul Nagas of north eastern hills of Manipur. Pettigrew established his mission at Ukhrul. He acted both as a missionary and unofficial state officer in the administration of the area. He kept close contact width the state officials at the capital. When Pettigrew was almost settled down he was recalled by the Arthington Society as he had completed three years. Pettigrew was not willing to return home and he applied to the American Baptist Missionary Union in Assam for help. In 1895 the Baptist Missionary Conference in Sibsagar seriously discussed the request of William Pettigrew. Accordingly Pettigrew was ordained as a missionary by the Sibsagar Baptist Church Assam which was endorsed by the executive committee of the American Baptist Mission in Boston in January, 1896.

William Pettigrew continued his work among the Tangkhul Nagas with great enthusiasm. The Government of Manipur did not allow the entry of more than one missionary in to the state. It appears from the report of William Pettigrew that the earlier years were dull and unpromising. However, he engaged himself in the construction of a mission bungalow, a school and study of local dialect i.e., Tangkhul and doing translation works. He hardly achieved anything substantial. He became quite conversant with the local dialects. He knew already Manipuri, he learned Tangkhul and Thadou. He asked his mission authorities to send another missionary to help him. But there was no response. During the visit of Viceroy, Lord Curzon to Manipur, he approached him to liberalize the policy on the number of missionary in Manipur. After the installation of Raja Churachand Singh and his Manipur State Durbar, Pettigrew renewed his request to the government.  But the Manipur State Durbar rejected his plea. However Raja Churachand Singh was not hostile towards the missionary and advised that there should be no obstacle to the missionary work among the hill people on the condition that they should not make an attempt to spread their work in the valley of Manipur.

Political Agent John Shakespeare supported William Pettigrew. He was appointed as Superintendent of the census of Manipur Hill Tribes in 1910 -11 because he was the only man who knew the dialects known to the hill tribes. Pettigrew did the census work successfully with the help of his school teachers and his senior students. Unfortunately it made him a suspect that he was a subordinate official of the state. Here we see the combination of the mission and colonial authority.

Another missionary U.M. Fox was sent to Ukhrul in 1911 and Pettigrew left for England on leave on 1912. Meanwhile the students of Pettigrew who were educated at the Ukhrul Mission School became of age. Both Naga and Kuki students were employed in mission work. We may mention the contribution of M.K. Miksha and T. Luikham among the Naga students. Through the efforts of Kuki converts particularly Lungkhovel Kom  and Teba Kilong. Christianity was spread among the western hills and Sadar hills. The local churches grew up in a large number. And the Manipur Christian Association was formed in 1917. The first convention of this association was held in Ukhrul in 1917. This period coincided with last two years of the World War I in which the Kukis revolted. The mission activities was greatly affected and suspended for some time. The mission station was shifted to Kohima and William Pettigrew moved to Gauhati.

During the Kuki Rebellion, J.H. Higgins President of the Manipur State Durbar organized a tribal labour corps for service in France. William Pettigrew was called out from Gauhati and helped organize the labour corps consisting of 2000 men of whom 1200 were from the Tangkhuls. After the war in recognition of the contribution made by the missionaries and Christian workers the government of Manipur granted a land for the new mission headquarters at Kangpokpi.

Watkin Roberts, the Welsh Missionary

History records that a missionary named Watkin Roberts from Mizo hills visited a Hmar village name Senvawn in response to the invitation of the chief of the village (Kamkholun). Watkin Roberts recruited native workers among the Christian converts and established Thadou-Kuki Pioneer Mission with head quarters at Senvawn. William Pettigrew was perhaps not happy with the establishment of new mission in South Manipur with head quarter at Senvawn. 

Now the rivalry between American Baptist and Welsh Presbyterian were indulging in the mission politics. William Pettigrew who was a class mate of Political Agent Higgins tried to restrain the Presbyterian mission workers to enter Manipur. H.J. Higgins banned the entry of Presbyterian into Manipur. Meanwhile, Watkin Roberts changed the name of mission to North East India General Mission (NEIGM) in 1919. Unluckily Watkin Roberts was ousted from the NEIGM. He started a new mission called Indo-Burma Pioneer Mission. Therefore the supporters of Roberts’s new mission formed the Independent Church in April 1930. Political Agent Higgins issued an order on 22nd November, 1930 that prohibiting the Independent Church from holding any assembly or conference. After eleven years, Sir Robert Reid the Governor of Assam intervened on behalf of supporters of Watkin Roberts and Political agent C. Gimson on 11th April 1931 permitted the Independent Church to work in South Manipur.

Though the Manipur State Durbar did not permit Christian missionary work, the individual Christian families lived in the urban areas. The first Meitei Christian convert was A. Porom Singh, a student of William Pettigrew. However S.N. Parratt claimed that a Manipuri lady named Kaboklei related to the royalty was the first convert in Sylhet. The missionaries converted some individual tribals who lived in British Reserve Area at Imphal. However, in the colonial period, Christian missionary activities were not wide spread however it grew up at large scale in the post colonial period.

The Christian missions devoted to the establishment of primary schools; they published books mostly the Bible and other Biblical tracts, extended medical facilities, established churches in the villages and organized Christian solidarity organizations for the respective denominations and area wise associations. A Christian fraternity among the hill tribe was created. With the spread of western education the world view of the tribal was widened. They participated in the administration of the state. The colonial administrator as indicated by their involvement of the Christian missionaries in the state activities unwittingly showed the collusion between Christian mission and colonialism.

Rule of Raja Churachand Singh (1907-1941): The Manipur State Durbar

Selection of Churachand Singh as the Raja of Manipur by the British authorities was not welcomed by the people of Manipur. Churachand Singh was the son of Rajkumar Chaubi Yaima Singh who was a victim of prosecution by the past ruling house and Chaubi Yaima’s family were almost forgotten. Prince Chaubi Yaima was involved in the rebellion of Prince Bora Chaoba. The rebellion failed; he fled to Cachar and died in 1887 at the village of Lalang. Churachand Singh, a minor of five years at the time of selection as the Raja of Manipur was born on 14th April, 1885. As mentioned above after several consultations in which Political Agent Major Maxwell played a decisive role Churachand Singh was selected as a Raja. The following genealogical tree prepared by Major Maxwell and other astrologers showed his claim to the throne of Manipur ruled by Ningthouja dynasty.

The genealogical tree of Raja Churachand Singh (1885-1941)
Garibniwaz (1709-1748)

Ngoubram Shai (Senapati) 11th Son

Bhadra Singh (1825 King of Manipur during 7 years devastation)

Nara Singh (Regent and Maharaja of Manipur) (1833-1850)

Bhogendra Singh alias Bhubon

Chaubi Yaima (Sanayaima)

Four sons: Dumbra Singh, Dimb Singh, Chandrahas Singh and Churachand Singh (selected as the Raja)

The family of Churachand Singh was very poor. His father did not leave behind anything for the family. Chaubi Yaima left behind two wives, Lalitamanjuri and Nitrapati.  Luckily his mother Lalitmanjuri was the daughter of a leading noble of Moirang. He acted as a guardian of the sons and daughters of the two wives of Chaubi Yaima Singh.

Raja Churachand Singh was a child of destiny. After his selection as the Raja, the Political Agent provided enough funds for the maintenance of the Raja and his family of two mothers and eight children. The maternal grand father of Churachand Singh, Moirangthem Ramananda Singh was appointed as the Moirang Ningthou, Chief of Moirang by the Political Agent. The investiture of Churachand as the Raja of Manipur was performed on 29th April, 1892 in a grand function at the Polo Ground of the

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2011/11/colonial-policy-and-practice-in-manipur/

By Madhu Chandra
Arm Forces Special Power Act 1958 (AFSPA) is termed a draconian and xenophobia law. Draconian because the Section 4 (a) of the AFSPA gives power to armed forces personnel to shoot at anyone suspicious; the Section 4 (b) to destroy the shelter of the armed rebels and the Section 4 (c) to search and arrest without warrant, which means any army personnel can shoot any one suspecting that she/he will have gun that may fire at him. Just a mere suspicious! The Section 6 of the AFSPA protects any armed forces personnel from prosecution, suit or legal proceeding except previous sanction by Central Government.

It is xenophobia law because it is selectively imposed upon seven North Eastern states; Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura, whose feature and ethnicity are different from rest of the country for first 40 years and now extended to the people of Jammu and Kashmir since 1990.

Need not to repeat that AFSPA has failed to suppress insurgencies rather caused increase. Less is debated on the ideology why the youngsters take up arms and can it be solved without using arm forces. It will be worth to focus on other alternative measurements to solve five decades old socio-political crisis in North East India region.

Today is 27th death anniversary of India’s first lady Prime Minister – Indira Gandhi’s assassination. The Ministry of Development for North East Region (DoNER) had an advertisement on Times of India, conveying a message of development initiated by India Gandhi in North East India!

Definitely, socio-political table negotiation was initiated in 1971 between Government of India with Mizoram’s separatist insurgents under the leadership of Indira Gandhi. Negotiation continued under Rajiv Gandhi.

The chapter of insurgency in Mizoram, begun from early 1961, finally came to a close with the signing of the Mizoram Peace Accord on June 30, 1986 between the underground government of the Mizo National Front and the Government of India. Under the terms of the peace accord, Mizoram was granted statehood in February 1987.

Dealing the challenges of insurgencies in North East India, could it be a means of solution by going the way of Mizoram, initiated by Indira Gandhi and concluded by Rajiv Gandhi? Perhaps, it will be a better option than utilization of arm forces.

Win People’s Confident is perhaps the need of hour!

The problem of insurgency came to the end after Mizoram Peace Accord in 1986, since then Mizoram is most peaceful state, not only in the region but for whole of India. Mizoram is highest literacy rate in whole of India; it would have never been possible without bringing the insurgency to the end.

Interesting, perhaps, not sure, whether there was any attempt to remove AFSPA from Mizoram after the state became an insurgency freed state! Wondering why, Central Government has not moved to remove the AFSPA from the state? Having done so, it might convey a message to whole of the region that AFSPA is not a permanent law and it goes when state returns to normal life. It is like a missile kept targeted upon the state though the state does not it any more.

Winning people confident is the need of hour perhaps best to begin could be by removing AFSPA from those states that have returned to normal life. Because it will convey a message to all states which are demanding the repeal of the act.

My Personal Observation
What does it matter for the people of Mizoram, who live in peace and normal life, yet they still have this draconian law? I have recently travelled from Aizwal, the state capital, to Champhai a small town at Indo-Burma boarder. Truly and honestly, I did not see single armed force personnel except one or two police personnel in uniform in check gates.

The shadow of draconian and xenophobia law of AFSPA covers whole state of Mizoram but its operation is almost absent because insurgency ended, peace and normal life returned for last 25 years.

Mizoram State Assembly must pass a resolution to recommend the Union Government of India to lift up the AFSPA from whole territory of Mizoram. It will give definitely a message to whole region that table negotiation following the footpath of Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, could be a step to begin in bringing permanent and long lasting solution.

Lastly, not the least, after the fake encounter killing at Imphal on July 23, 2009, Tehelka exposed diktat nature of police commandos in the state of Manipur. The state kept burning for months and the Central Government got attention and gave strict order to law enforcing agencies to stop any forms of human rights violence. Since then, the killing has reduced and AFSPA was partially removed from Great Imphal areas. Union Home ministry must monitor the changes of the situation and consider paying attention of people aspiration.

Madhu Chandra is research scholar and social activist base based at New Delhi . He works as Spokesperson of North East Support Centre & Helpline (www.nehelpline.net).

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2011/11/afspa-failed-mizoram-way-an-alternative/

By Laifungbam Debabrata Roy
Part I
“We are all mountain people”

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2011/11/manipurs-obsession-with-hills-and-valleys-missing-the-speck-and-the-log-at-the-frontiers/