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The Sadar Hills District Demand Committee, SHDDC’s agitation for the creation of new district Sadar Hills, remains unrelenting and the blockade imposed by it is beginning to have a serious impact on life in the state. Essential commodities and other consumables imported from other parts of India are beginning to become scarce in the markets in Imphal, and consequently in the other towns and villages of the state as well. Very soon, if the inflow of petrol remains disrupted, the familiar and depressing sight of long queues outside petrol pumps would reappear. Public transport fares would soon begin climbing steeply and likewise cooking gas prices too would head for the ceiling. The question is, why has this become Manipur’s reality? How have many issues in the state become intractable and close ended, showing no promise for an amicable end?

The Sadar Hills issue is now more than 20 years old. Yet there is no indication that it will be resolved immediately. The inability of the government, not just the present one, but each one in power during the last two decades and more, to put the problem to rest is, to be fair, not solely the government’s alone. It is on the other hand a characteristic of most issues related to ethnic identity. Although there are not many acknowledging it, and instead plenty insisting on calling it essentially an issue of administrative lethargy, the fact is, the biggest stumbling block before the issue has been one posed by ethnic contestations over territory informed by archaic notions of ethnic homelands. The problem with these homelands is there are too many different notions of it depending on the vantage of different ethnic groups. The territories thought to be part of these homelands also invariably overlap. This precisely is the problem preventing any easy resolution to the Sadar Hills district issue. The proposed new district is to be created by severing this sub-division of the Senapati district from the Senapati district. Doing this is not an easy proposition for the area under the Sadar Hills, and largely Kuki dominated, is seen by the Nagas as part of their traditional homeland. Kukis and other communities in the area who are in physical occupation of it interpret this differently. As of now the SHDDC has taken the extreme step of blockading the National Highway-39, to press for their demands, but should their demands be granted, it can be certain the Nagas would resort to similar coercive measures on the stretch of the same highway they are in physical majority. Indications of intents of such recourses have already come from civil organisations amongst the Nagas in messages published in the local media.

So where do the state go from here? It is difficult to imagine this is a state which cannot even redraw its district boundaries without causing social unrests. This would have had some logic if the state’s two regions, the reserved hills and the non-reserved valley were to overlap after such demarcations. For in such circumstances, the new administration structure rather than becoming easier would become even more complicated. However, if the divisions were to be strictly within each of the two separate regions, there ought not to have been any problem. The valley was once upon a time just one district. It is now four. The hills could also have been similarly divided for administrative convenience, but homeland politics has other visions and insecurities, therefore nobody is willing to listen to this argument. Perhaps the government should factor these insecurities in its strategies and approach the problem from this standpoint. As for instance, it could experiment with things like naming the proposed Sadar Hills district as Senapati (South) and the old Senapati as Senapati (North). The point is to send out the message to those demanding as well as opposing the formation of this new district that the new district has no other intent than administrative convenience. This would be in the manner Imphal district was divided into Imphal East and West. Then there is the question of Jiribam. This small patch of plains inhabited predominantly by non Schedule Tribe population could have been merged with adjacent Tamenglong, but this, as pointed out earlier in this editorial, would create obvious problems as there would have to be substantial reworking of the administration mechanism in the district so as to accommodate general category population in a district reserved for schedule tribes. Not to be forgotten are the echoes of similar demands for new district status at Phungyar in Ukhrul district and Tengnoupal in Chandel district. While the voices of the latter two are still faint, as to whether they become threatening will depend on how the government handles the Sadar Hills district issue.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2011/08/senapati-south/

It is frustrating to know this will be just another voice in the wilderness. The media is supposed to be the eye and ear of the society as well as those in power, unfortunately this is a truism which relates only to civilized societies. Manipur has long ceased to be this long ago. The days when unwritten codes of civilisation determined the ways of the society are today a very distant memory. The state and its people are indeed at a very precarious crossroads. They have given up the moorings provided by tradition but are still groping to find a footing in the modern. This twilight hour, there can be no argument, is dangerous for any given society and Manipur is in the thick of it currently. What are called for are also the vital beacons to be provided by leaders. Unfortunately, this latter breed, at least those formal leaders in the country’s adopted democratic model, are abjectly incapable of leading either from the front or by example. They have on the other hand, with little exception, surrendered their moral authority to lead by the very act of their institutionalising corruption in public life. It should be no consolation that Manipur is not an exception and that corruption in public life is an Indian malaise by and large. In any case, the other states are much more entrenched in the modern economy already which has resulted in the birth of many modern institutions capable of moderating quality of life, both material and spiritual.

It would certainly be difficult to decide where the clean up process should begin. The easiest thing to recommend at this juncture then is to begin from the beginning. Helpful in this regard would be to take the cue from the timeless understanding of physiognomy (or perhaps also psychology) that the face is the index of the mind. The simplest beginning is then to do a physical clean up of the tangible mess all around. As for instance, the authorities could decree for all the best heads in the government to come together and devise a way to dispose of the wastes of Imphal and other major habitation pockets of the state. In Imphal, they are littered everywhere. The sight is oppressive, the smell is sickening, thought of it is depressing… and yet, nobody in the government ever makes a serious enough move to resolve this matter. The ordinary men and women are expected to get used to these repulsive sights and smells and accept them as part of life. Quite alarmingly, such a desensitising process has been continually happening all around and indeed, the sight of garbage and filth is no longer a day spoiler as it used to be once. As for instance, amongst the Meiteis, the sight of faeces on the road as they embark on the day’s work was once thought to be a bad omen, and may even prompt the unfortunate soul to return home, wash, freshen up and re-emerge. Not any more – his inner world has been mediated successfully to accommodate what once would have been unthinkable. The loss of that sense of inner harmony is showing up everywhere and this microcosmic turmoil is reflected faithfully in the chaotic macrocosm Manipur is today known for.

There are many other simple matters where this beginning to a cleanup process can begin. The current monsoon has washed away many roads in the state, and even in the capital Imphal. If the face is the index of the mind, this face must be made to look good. Repair them at the soonest. Let it not be said anymore that these are hard times and everybody must learn to tolerate hardship. Such compromises are what have sold the state’s morale in all these years. Moreover, these are not unavoidable hardships,  all of them being by products of corruption in the system which our leaders have allowed to stay and relished enthusiastically. It must not be presumed anymore that the ordinary people are beyond understanding of this truth. They know, this is why they are angry, maybe not overtly, but this anger shows up in the manner in which they too have begun disregarding the law in every conceivable way they can think of. Why is it that there is so much power theft by consumers? Why do ordinary people default taxes for tap municipal water? Why is there so little respect for public property in our society today? The truth is, our leaders themselves have cut huge highways through the law to have their ways and under the circumstance why would not the ordinary citizenry also begin thinking of taking the easy route of using these same highways instead of navigating the barriers of the law?

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2011/08/microcosm-in-macrocosm/