Month: May 2012

Imphal, May 4 NNN: Manipur People’s Party (MPP) has ridiculed the Manipur government decision to have Parliamentary Secretaries. The regional party said the decision of the Manipur cabinet to have Parliamentary Secretaries will serve nothing good except to burden on the state government exchequer.
Speaking to the media today, W Hemanta who is the general secretary of MPP said that his party strongly opposes to have Parliamentary Secretaries in Manipur.
“The posts of Parliamentary Secretaries are created with the sole objective of appeasing those MLAs who did not get the cabinet ministerial berths,” said the MPP general secretary. The MPP leader also said that creating the Parliamentary Secretaries will neither bring good governance nor can it change the farce state of affairs. “If it is the case of a coalition government then one can understand that creating the Parliamentary Secretary posts is to save the government from falling, but look at, the ruling Congress party ha 42 MLAs in the 60-member house,” reasons W Hemanta.
It can be noted that few days ago, the cabinet meeting under the chairmanship of chief minister O Ibobi Singh had agreed to pass an Act for Manipur Parliamentary Secretaries (salary allowance and the matureness) cordinance 2012. 
 In that cabinet meeting it had resolved to give its approval for Manipur Parliamentary Secretary (salary allowance and matureness) Cordinance Act 2012, at the earliest taking into consideration the urgency of the Act.

Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/mpp-opposes-parliamentary-secretaries-ordinance/

Mail News Service
Imphal, May 4 : Governor Gurbhachan Jagat today inaugurated Lions eye hospital at Sangaiprou. Addressing the gathering he said the Lions Club is one of the internationally known organizations devoted mainly to philanthropic and humanitarian services. It has also been endeavouring over the years with the objective to create and foster a spirit of understanding among the people of the world, to promote the principles of good governance and good citizenship and also to take an active interest in the civic, cultural, social and moral welfare activities for the promotion of welfare activities of the people and specially of those who belong to less fortunate group of people, viz. blind and the needy. No service is as great and valuable as the service of the poor, needy and less fortunate persons. Indeed, their service for the poor, needy and less fortunate groups of people is commendable. At the time of natural calamities they have been rendering valuable service to the victims and other affected persons.
He said, “Today we are very happy that the Lions Eye Hospital and Services Trust has successfully set up a hospital for the treatment of the eye which is considered to be one of the most important human organs.
According to Helen Keller who was once a celebrity Lion and popularly known as “Angel of the Blind”, most people who can see simply do not realize the blessing of eye sight. Helen Keller showed the world that “sight is light and light is life”. She was born on June 27, 1880, at Tuscumbia, Ala, as a normal beautiful baby and died on June 1,1968. She became blind and deaf at the age of 19 months through a damaging brain fever and communicated only through hysterical laughter and violent tantrums. However, with the help of her teacher Anne Sullivan, Keller graduated with Honours in English from Cambridge University in 1904. Later, she took up a life of writing, lecturing and fund-raising on behalf of the handicapped. It was Helen Keller who inspired and influenced Lions to take up several activities to help the visually impaired ones to restore their sight. The whole world is greatly indebted to her miraculous activities during her life time.
It is a matter of satisfaction that free eye care camps are regularly organized at different places of Manipur under the sponsorship of the Lions Club of Imphal. Over and above this, a new hospital wholly dedicated for eye care and prevention of blindness has been inaugurated here at Sangaiprou today. It is hoped that not only the local people but also the people from far off places will surely be benefitted from the services provided by the hospital. I am sure that all sections of the people should feel a sense of belonging to the hospital and extend every possible cooperation in its smooth functioning.

Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/governor-inaugurates-lions-eye-hospital/

MNS, Imphal, May 4: Dr Dhanabir Laishram said that the process of colonization include accommodation of surplus population in the colonized area, exploitation of the natural resources of the area, making the economy dependant on the colonialists, creating a captive market, suppressing dissent, and bringing about biological change in the colonized population through forced assimilation.
The legacy of colonialism is evident in the Constitution of the country which is a compilation of borrowed rules and regulation from various colonial states of the world, Dr Dhanabir Laishram added.
He was speaking in a one-day seminar on the topic “The largest democracy of the world thrives on the legacy of colonialism in colonizing Manipur”.
The seminar was organised by The Freedom Research Foundation, Imphal with a theme, “The Predicament of the People of Manipur.”
The morning session of the seminar, moderated by Professor Dr. R.K.Ranjan, Director, CDC, Manipur University, started off with the presentation of a paper by Professor W. Nabakumar of Manipur University titled “Reading the mindsets of the people of Manipur after sixty-three years of Indianisation”.
The process of Indianisation can be stated to have started after the merger of the state of Manipur to India, when a new way of thinking began to over-shadow our previous established way of thinking through Hindunisation, Sanskritisation and globalization, said W Nabakumar.
“Our established way of thinking began to be considered anti-establishment by bureaucrats, technicians and other government employees of the Indian government and slowly and gradually our economy became a dependant economy, our society started to resemble a ragged cloth which was likely to fall off in shreds eaten away by corruption”, continued W. Nabakumar.
He said that the need of the hour is to re-examine the social security status of the people and the maintenance of status quo of the present system of governance supported by state actors and the demand of overhauling the whole established system by non-state actors.
In the third paper titled “Hoping against hope in the captive market of Manipur”, Dr. Chinglen Maisnam tried to show the dismal state of the economy of Manipur and the consequential manifestation of the captive market of Manipur.
Giving his opinion as the moderator of the morning session, Dr. R.K.Ranjan observed that people of the state have become extraordinarily individualistic while the community sense of mindset have disappeared leading to the process of Indianisation.
The afternoon session of the seminar moderated by R.K.Ranendrajit, CMD, Freedom Research Foundation, Imphal started with the presentation of the paper “Understanding the psyche of the oppressors and the oppressed of the existing colonial system in the context of Manipur” by Professor M. Akshaykumar, Regional Institute of Medical Sciences.
He elaborated on the process of stress management, anger management, trauma management resulting from discrimination faced by the people of the state of Manipur in particular and the North East in general due to diverse ways of thinking of the people of the Indian mainland and the people of Manipur and other North Eastern states.
Summing up the discussions in the seminar, R.K.Ranendrajit observed that racial discrimination is a fact of life in Manipur with even the state security forces taking the example of the army in harassing the people in the name of counterinsurgency operations. He said that psychological warfare techniques are used by state actors to suppress the insurgency movement and the issue of sovereignty by giving huge monetary sanctions.
Earlier in the morning, Manipur legislative assembly speaker Th. Lokeshore Singh said that he would not back down for the welfare of the motherland and will help in any way he can. He then called for sacrifices and selflessness from one and all to make the state peaceful and developed.
He was speaking as the chief guest in the one-day seminar on “The Predicament of the People of Manipur” on Friday at Lamyanba Shanglen, Konung Lampak, Imphal organized by Freedom Research Foundation, Imphal.
He stated that physical injuries inflicted by bullets and other physical ways alone do not make the people suffer from the conflict situation prevalent in Manipur; mental suffering and trauma faced by the people in their day-to-day activities also have far reaching consequences on the lives of the people.
He appealed to the people of the state to forgive and forget each other’s mistakes and try to exist together in peace and harmony so that all round development can be ushered in the state.
Giving the presidential speech, Dr. Kh. Ratan, minister of works and transport, appealed to the resource persons in particular to take into account the present and future context while discussing the three primary concerns – poverty, environment and violence – to attain an achievable objective in the Manipur context.

Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/colonisation-forced-assimilation-discussed-at-seminar/

Imphal. May 4 (NNN): In the midst of all the hue and cry, sit-in protests and condemnations regarding the alleged murder of Richard Loitam in Bangalore, another Manipuri engineering student studying at Bangalore was found dead hanging from a ceiling fan in his rented room on Thursday night.
The student identified as Heisnam Jakio (23), s/o H. Chaoba of Khoyathong Polem Leikai, Imphal who was a student of engineering studying at Bangalore was found dead hanging from a ceiling fan in his rented room at around 11:00 p.m.
He was reportedly rushed to Koromangla St. John hospital by Bangalore police, but was declared ‘brought dead’ by doctors at the hospital, and his dead body is being kept at the hospital morgue.
Details about the case is unavailable as the father and mother of the deceased student have already left Imphal for Bangalore and there was no one who could give a full report about the case, it is reported.
According to some people of the locality, the feet of the deceased student were reportedly touching the floor though he was found hanging from the ceiling fan in his room with a nylon rope.
The name of the engineering college in which the deceased was studying as well as the address of his rented room are unknown till the time of filing of this report.
Meanwhile, six students’ organizations of Manipur have started their first phase of agitation from today in connection with case of recruitment of child soldiers by banned armed outfits operating in the state, and the mysterious death of Richard Loitam in Bangalore.
The six students’ organizations of Manipur – AMSU, MSF, DESAM, KSA, SWAK and SUK held a meeting today at Johnstone Higher Secondary School, Imphal after which a sit-in protest was held in the heart of Imphal city at Shamu Makhong where the statue of Maharaja Bheighachandra taming a wild elephant is erected.
The sit-in protest was dispersed by the police after some time and the students continued their protest at Keishampat, Imphal, it is reported.
As announced earlier by the students’ organizations, students held sit-in protests near their schools today with reports of protests being held at K.L.Blooming School, Khangabok, Wangjing Royal Academy, Khangabok High School, Moirang Public School, Ngaikhong High School, Moirang Multipurpose Higher Secondary School, Loktak Compound Mission School, Diligent Public School, Abon High School and Ereima High School, all under Thoubal and Bishnupur districts, Manipur.
Students will make human chains on either side of the road near their respective schools tomorrow (May 5) as part of the second phase of agitation, and on May 7 a mass student rally will be organized in Imphal. Government offices will be locked up from May 8, if there is no suitable response from the government of Manipur in regard to the case of recruitment of child soldiers and the alleged murder of Loitam Richard in Bangalore.

Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/protest-held-against-killing-of-richard-yet-another-student-dies-at-bangalore/