Month: February 2012

By Bobo Khuraijam
We thought we would sleep over the cacophony of the noise of democracy looming large over the Manipur horizon. Honestly, we intended to use the opportunity to take a break from the muse. Those who nurture the habit of overlooking things would claim that the democratic holler has dwindled down this time. Let them swallow their word, without chewing it, and let them suffer from indigestion. And who says that the participation of women is very less comparing with the opposite gender. We are ready to admit that their participation as candidate is low in every sense. But we shall not buy the aphorism, however cheap it may be that there is low participation of the female gender in election. Who carries the athenpot with the marching band? Not to mention that the band plays the “Sana Leibak Manipur, Manipur…” which is not less than an anthem in Manipur, keeping aside the debate whether it is sana or not! The band gives you a false euphoric feeling that the candidate has all of a sudden become patriotic. Fit enough to decorate the house walls with their framed pictures along with other celebrated ones. Offer them JCBs full of garlands and burn incense sticks with fumes heavier than the fume of the ‘Eighteen June Assembly’. Or for that matter, darker than the fumes of the funeral pyre: of the un-named and un-known souls who got sprayed by the bullets of the belts and boots.

ANEMIC REVIVAL: of the Commission has created seismic ripples this time. This is what everybody seems to be saying. We know, the candidates and their armies are not happy. In fact, now, they must be praying not for their victory. They must be praying for Commission members to be roasted in hell (if there is any) when they stop breathing forever. They have become the unsympathetic demolition man, of the dreams that the candidates nurture. Some of them dream to continue with their sojourn to the Cheiraoching foothill, some, to sit on the new chairs with the fresh smell of rubber paints. Besides, there are so many dreams they dream, which others do not dare to dream. For us, in the Leipung, the Commission is not less than a supernatural being, who can perform task, where everyone seems to have failed.

Was not there a time, a time when people screamed for the transfer of the police chief? Look, now it is done. Was not there a time, a time when nobody could not touch the don, Chandu, a sweet name to every boozer? Did you not smelled the ‘eight lakhs’ aroma that was destroyed by the dysfunctional department? They were kicked out from their slumber by the Commission. Was not there a time, a time when people used to stand on serpentine queues for a few drops of petrol or diesel near the oil pumps? Tell us, did you fill your tank from the ‘grey’ vendors, or from the stations? It is only after the godly intervention of the Commission that fuel was made available for the electioneering exercise. As far as fuel is concerned, we pray, there be election for the whole year round. It is unfortunate that cooking gas does not come under the purview of the Commission. To give a hint to them, they should sneak in to the residence of the candidates and find out the price of the LPG they use and more importantly: where from it is procured. But, here, flexing every single muscle that we have; we would throw a challenge. We bet, the Commission would be a loser in this regard. The challenge is that they should be able to collect just five hundred voter identity cards, which exactly corresponds with the authentic NAMES, ADDRESS and AGE of the voters. If they ever succeed, read carefully, we would stop musing for once and for all. We do not mean to obliterate the integrity of the Commission and its functioning by throwing this challenge. We feel that it is our rightful duty to pronounce, how hurt we are. Who on earth would not be hurt, to be given an identifying ‘appendage of democracy’ which is filled with errors? We agree that there were drives of rectifying the errors. No wonder, it ended with the same errors, hurting us even more. One would say that ours is an untimely complain. Sorry: we do not carry any baggage of regret.

RIGHT CANDIDATE: is the one we have been looking for. We easily found it. They are available and visible in abundance. Uncountable numbers of them are already here, and some of them are on the way to be here. They take out all kinds of works that the self-proclaimed social workers do. They take out school children to excursions. Digging community ponds is their unwritten duty. Distributing sewing machines is their effeminate hobby. Encouraging the youths by keeping them healthy with games and sports gear is their adventurous obligation. Distributing DTH gadgets to clubs and organisations is their televised ceremony. And lest we forget to mention one (no other social worker could match them), administering antidotes to snake bitten victims. You got it right. They are our men in olive green uniforms. We would certainly vote for them if they stand for an election. Is it high time for us to shout on the top of our voice, that there should be a re-thinking of amending the rules; of who should contest for election within the murky premise of electoral democracy?

FOOTNOTE: there has been too many Villagers’ Defence Force working in the town. Young and energetic, many of them are seen in the mean streets of Imphal. At times, they are right over the face, pampering us with their learning. Leipung Ningthou calls it, “chinggaroida hi honbagi para tambiba loinana leipak ngaakhanba”.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2012/02/vote-shall-we/

By Chitra Ahanthem
Every single time Manipur gets a mention in the tourism sector, one cannot help but feel serious concern about the state of unpreparedness in terms of tourist services and infrastructure. Apart from Imphal with its choice of hotels, other districts do not have any decent accommodation to write home about. Other states in the country have a whole range of home stays which are cheaper and which also aid in showcasing local cuisines and culture. But given the state of electricity in Manipur, home stays are not really a practical option.

It is not just the issue of accommodation that is the major cause of concern but a long list of gaps within the support services that should assist tourists during their stay: services that will bring in more foot fall. Services like pre paid vehicle services from the airport. Services like metered vehicle hiring: the existing system in Manipur is for a few private vehicle hiring service to dictate rates without any proper meter system. For instance, vehicle hiring in other parts of the country depends on the nature of the vehicle (AC/non AC), vehicle size and fuel kind, total distance traveled and number of hours for the hire. Compare it to Imphal where travel within Imphal main town will cost Rs 1500/- when the distance traveled and cost involved will not even amount to this grand total. But because the tourism department does not consider it within their duty to regulate for vehicles to register with their department and fix rates of hiring etc, vehicle owners laugh all the way to their banks.

Imagine you are a tourist getting into the state for the first time. What are your options for a great stay in the state? The answers are a bit depressing: apart from Imphal and day trips to places like Moirang and Andro , both places that one can visit and head back to Imphal again, there are no other options. People in the NGO sector or traveling on account of work may well take the option of travel and stay in a few districts but a bit of quick browsing on the internet will eventually show that there are no places to stay if a tourist per se is interested in places beyond Imphal.

Yes, the exotic photos of locations in the state, the dash of colour, the festivals and texture of food can get a mention of the state’s tourism potential. But scratch the surface and one can very well see what lies underneath. One very critical mention regarding tourism related publicity using photographs is needed here. Very often various departments end up using photographs without giving due credit to both professional and amateur photographers. FOOTNOTES has earlier mentioned about how the photography contest held during the Sangai Tourism Festival organized by the Tourism Department did not mention anything about copyright issues and how many times the photograph submissions would be used. It has been mentioned in this column earlier about how photographs end up being used multiple number of times and being used by various government departments, thereby exploiting photographers who submit their pictures. The Tourism Department needs to make sure that copyright issues are sorted out before organizing photography contests and using the photographs submitted therein.

To come back to how first time tourists must be seeing in the state, once they land: imagine reaching the airport and then taking overpriced autos or other vehicles to their places of stay in their hotel of choice. From the airport to the hotels, he/she will see two distinct entities: one is definitely the mounds of garbage especially starting from Keishampat area and on the river sides of market areas (Paona Bazaar, Thangal Bazaar, Naga Mapal) while the second would be the presence of various uniform colours of security personnel. The later cannot be wished away and has no direct bearing on whether tourists will come to the state or not. After all, Jammu and Kashmir still attracts many more tourists as does many middle-east countries where law and order situation is a major issue. The cinch comes in over the matter of whether the presence of security personnel aids tourists or hinder their movements: whether they can be reliable support systems. Do the police or other security forces in the state have a nodal officer or point person who can be contacted if tourists fall into a bit of a spot? The matter of garbage in Imphal is disconcerting. An NGO involved in collecting garbage from households in Imphal was recently awarded a UN level distinction for being environment friendly. If only the award panel knew about what happens to the garbage that does get collected, they may well end up penalizing the NGO. The Tourism Department must also make sure that they do not put out anything about Langol being a possible tourism destination for nature walks or hiking or taking a drive: the sight of garbage and the stink is what would greet tourists! In between, a random survey of households in Imphal will also throw open the story of how the garbage collection has almost stopped in most places while the rest will complain of irregular pick ups, resulting in throwing off of garbage on the river banks all over again.

End-point:
The Tourism department cannot take up the stand- alone responsibility of ensuring that support systems are in place for making Manipur a tourist spot. In fact, there is an ever- increasing need for various departments to work in partnership with one another with the Tourism Department taking a lead. There is also an increasing need to invest in travel writing: the brochures that one gets to see are sterile sentences that end up looking line banal descriptions. Another key area that has to be given importance is to make sure that government certifications be allotted to eating joints with special focus on traditional cuisines. What passes off as “Chinese” and “Continental” in Manipur will never ever match the range or taste that is available in the rest of the country. If Manipur has to be sold in the tourism market as exotica, the range of local cuisine is the best shot. It is certainly commendable that government departments and private agencies are coming together to make tourists take note of Manipur as a destination but more needs to be done: a lot of initiatives needs to be thought out well, planned out and implemented effectively. In today’s world of social networking sites, if tourist support systems are in place, tourists will come calling on their own: the real award actually!

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2012/02/manipur-tourism-missing-pieces/

By B.G. Verghese
February 27 will mark the tenth anniversary of the dreadful Gujarat riots.One needs to rewind to that date, not fast forward as the BJP has been strenuously attempting to do to crown NarendraModi as prime minister even though Advani has been patiently queuing for the job. Modi’s PR men talk of Gujarat’s “good governance”, rapid industrial growth and favourable investment climate and plead that healed wounds should not be reopened as Muslims have come to terms with 2002.This is facile and betrays a nervous and guilty mind as the net closes in on the man who presided over that genocide.

Due process has been unconscionably delayed. Victims have been hounded and jailed while the guilty walk free. Evidence has been destroyed, sometimes through fake encounters as dead men tell no tales. Attempts to frustrate or prematurely close cases have compelled the High Court and Supreme Court to intervene and order special investigations, monitoring committees and periodic progress reports. These orders are being foughtsystematically, and as honest officials and former collaborators turn approvers pressures are mounted on them.

It is in this situation that Modi has completed his so-called sadbhavana or “reconciliation” fasts in all district headquarters, flamboyant shows allegedly staged at state expense to muster political support. The fact is that Modi’s record constitutes a most flagrant defiance of Justice in keeping with his sinister warning broadcast to the people of Gujarat over Doordarshanwithin days of the holocaust.In sum, the distilled message was that those who want peace must not seek justice. (See “Rights and Wrongs: Ordeal by Fire in the Killing Fields of Gujarat”, the Editors Guild of India Fact-Finding Mission Report, May 3, 2002).

How can anybody pit Peace against Justice, least of all a chief minister bound by his oath of office to uphold the cherished values of the Constitution and human rights? What is this if not ambushing the Constitution in a fake encounter! And how can there be reconciliation without admission or establishment of the truth? Recall how the National Human Rights Commission under its then Chairman, former chief justice J.S. Verma, had furiously to battle the lies and subterfuges of the Gujarat administration against Modi’s stoic denials and his stubborn defence by the NDA Government, particularly through the Home Minister L.K. Advani whose utterances were replete with rich encomiums for the swift and firm manner in which Modi had controlled the riots. (See “Rights and Wrongs”).

There was no expression of remorse either by Modi or Advani. Indeed, the only regret from anyone associated with the NDA, BJP or SanghParivar, came from AtalBihari Vajpayee. The then prime minister expressed his pain and shock and called on Modi to observe “raj dharma”. He wished Modi to resign, but was openly overruled, sidelined and shushed into silence by his Parivar colleagues. That episode in itself told a story of defiance, unrepentance and conspiracy.

As for Modi, his grim boast was telecast over Ahmedabad’s Doordarshan station on February 28, 2002: “I want to assure the people that Gujarat shall not tolerate any such incident (the Godhra train burning). The culprits will get full punishment for their sins. Not only this, we will set an example that nobody, not even in his dreams, thinks of committing a serious crime like this. The Gujarat Government …. shall not allow those who want to take law into their hands  to destroy the peace of innocent citizens. Such culprits cannot have any place in a civilised society”.  He did however call on the “innocents” to observe peace and restraint and promised that the government that would punish the culprits”. He was later to expound his “action-reaction” thesis”.

The “reaction” was inflamed by an official decision to take the bodies of those burnt to death in the Sabarmati Express at Godhra to Ahmedabad. The stops on the way attracted emotional crowds. There was a state-sponsored bandh on February 28. The verdict had been pronounced. Everybody knew who the “culprits” were and who must be taught a lesson. 

Five weeks later, this writer was part of the Editors Guild Fact Finding Mission to Gujarat.He was rudely interrupted while preparing to take evidence at the Circuit Hose in Ahmedabad. A mob of Parivar supporters burst into the room shouting “Hindu haiyaMussalman”? No surprise, when Modihad himself been openly spiting venom against Muslims in general and not at proven “culprits”. 

The Guild team met Modi in Gandhinagar. Present in his room at the Sachivalaya were all relevant senior civil and police officials. He was not batting alone. Yet he was virtually unable to provide a coherent answer to our questions.

Why were certain ministers and strangers present in the police control room during the riots; why were certain police officers who stood their ground and threatened to fire on rampaging mobs immediately “promoted” andtransferred; why was there no action following the daylight attack on the office of the State Wakf Board and State Minorities Commission in the Old Secretariat; why was no action was taken against Ahmedabad dailies that spread inflammatory canards; why was nothing done to save Gulberg  Society despite repeated calls by EhsanJafri spread over several hours; why was no action taken following an attack on two Muslim High Court Judges; how were a large number of Muslim shrines and graves razed without any action, including the Dargah of Wali Gujarati, a prominent landmark that was demolished and overnight paved over ostensibly to permit a better flow of traffic! The indifference and evasion was astonishing.

Relief and rehabilitation was largely left to private initiative, with the State at best playing a grudging or negative role. Certain areas were barred as relief camp sites on the ground that this would provoke trouble. The rehabilitation grants sent from the Centre were not speedily utilised. Compensation was discriminatory and tardy. In many cases FIRs were not registered and a boycott of Muslim economic activity was allowed to be mounted. Earlier, Muslim shops had been systematically looted. Muslims were openly scorned for producing babies. Modi’s own provocative phrase was “Hum panch, wohpachees”.

The State Information Directorate’s press releases (See “Rights and Wrongs”) were a travesty. Modi was hailed as ChhoteSardar and Hindu traders assured of every support to ensure their continued progress. Godhra was described as “inhuman genocide” and in one press note as “a pre-planned inhuman collective violent act of terrorism” (by whom and on what evidence or finding?).On the other hand, the ensuing pogrom incidentswereinvariably labelled as “disturbances” or, occasionally, as “violent disturbances”. The subsequent transcript of phone taps and the Tehelka sting tapes of boastful confessions by prominent killers make chilling reading.

And now, as Modi finds the truth closing in on him, the BJP points to the 1984 riots, another utterly disgraceful blot on India. But two wrongs do not make a right. The Truth about Gujarat must come out and Justice must be done.
www.bgverghese .com

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2012/02/rewind-to-2002-not-fast-forward/