Tag: Editorial

By John K. Kaping
UKHRUL August 13: Ukhrul district has completely run out of petroleum fuels since the last 4-5 days as the two main oil depots in Ukhrul which are located at Hundung junction and Kharasom junction have closed their counters following the depots have exhausted their stock owing to the on-going agitation of the Sadar Hills Districthood Demand Committee demanding creation of a full fledged Sadar Hills district.

Even though there have been reports of goods laden trucks being escorted through the Jessami highway under full-proof security arrangement, there has been no supply of fuel to the Ukhrul oil depots. There are reports that even though diesel can be found at the rate of Rs 60 if one is lucky enough from the black marketers, it is almost impossible to find petrol in Ukhrul at the moment even if one is willing to pay more money. Petrol is reportedly unavailable even with the black marketers.

Meanwhile, the acute shortage of diesel and the almost nil stock of petrol in Ukhrul have affected vehicular traffic in the district, especially the taxis operating in the district. The shortage has also affected various private businesses, NGOs, institutes and offices.

Meanwhile, even though the blockade along the National Highways has yet to affect the prices of essential commodities in the district, another problem arising out of it is the shortage of LPG gas with numerous households reporting emptiness of their cylinders.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2011/08/ukhrul-reels-under-acute-fuel-shortage/

September 9 is already going down in history as one of the darkest day of human civilisation. This the day many paradigms of basic humanity changed so dramatically and drastically. Not the least important of these is the paradigm of human conflict. Regardless of what has been said of America or the Capitalist ideology which drives the country, basic humanity was compromised in a big way on this day when fundamentalist Islamists hijacked four planes in the USA and attacked and destroyed some of America’s most important symbols killing close to 3000 innocent civilians in the process. Of the four plane hijacked, two destroyed the famous World Trade Centre buildings in New York city, one rammed into the Pentagon building near Washington DC and the third crashed somewhere in Maryland, but according to experts, was probably headed for the White House. Apparently some passengers in the last plane got into action fighting the hijackers, in the process crashed the plane. Although they did not manage to save themselves, they prevented further damage to the American morale, thereby died heroes’ deaths in their own ways. The event on the day shook not just America, but also the rest of the world and indeed it was to have grave consequence on everybody else in the world, in particular two countries, Afghanistan and Iraq, which bore the brunt of the ire of the richest and the most powerful country in the world. National regimes in these two countries were dismantled in the most brutal and violent ways by invading Americans. What was a black day for America was soon to become the black era for many other nations. Pakistan and Indonesia to name just a few were also to soon feel the heat in big ways.

While there can be no dispute about the attackers of America on September 11, 2001 were making Afghanistan their stronghold, America’s retaliation against Iraq and the ultimate hanging of the President of the country, Saddam Hussein, remains a big controversy. The excuse for that attack was that Saddam’s regime was stockpiling weapons of mass destruction meant ultimately to be used to create terror in the world and that the country was in league with the Al Qaeda the organisation behind the attack on America. Nearly a decade after the invasion of Iraq, there are still no traces of any weapons of mass destruction found in the country. In the end, Iraq is turning out to be a country, the centre of the ancient Mesopotamian civilisation, a mistaken victim of the America’s and those of its Western allies’ unfounded suspicion. Can history ever excuse this mistake or highhandedness as the case may be?

But the event which has today come to be simply known as 9/11 has had other profound influences on the way the world conducts its business. It cannot be all by coincidence that while America remains extremely sensitive and as well as unable to come out of extremely expensive wars that it waged in the wake of 9/11, other thus far sleeping economic and military giants have not just begun stirring but also to wake up to prepare to change the power and economic equations in the world forever. China is leading the way, so are India, Brazil and Russia among others, making big headways. Once moribund economies of South East Asia too have begun making their presence felt, and Vietnam in particular is growing at a rate that would in another decade put it above many much larger nations of the world in terms of economic strength. At the end of the Cold War in the last decade of the 20th Century, marked most dramatically by the fall of the Berlin Wall and then the crumbling of the Communist bastions in Eastern Europe, most political analysts around the world had come to be convinced and some to lament, that the world was headed to become a uni-polar one with the USA as the only power centre. In just a matter of a decade into the 21st Century, this popular prediction is proving to be nothing but too far from what the picture ultimately would be. It is not even a bi-polar world as during the Cold War, but a multi-polar one we are looking at now. Indeed 9/11 is proving to have much more significance than apparent. To indulge in a bit of counterfactual speculation then, the interesting question now is, if the cataclysmic event had not occurred, would the world today have been the same? Would what Newsweek Magazine often described as “the rise of the others” been as pronounced as it is today. Again, the concept of war and conflict has been rewritten. Except for the USA which is in the thick of it, wars of nations are increasingly becoming a thing of the past. The new wars are against terrorism most visibly, but perhaps more importantly, though not acknowledged so readily by many of the richest nations, issues like global warming and shortfall of food to feed the ever increasing human population etc.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2011/09/black-september/

var addthis_product=’wpp-252′;var addthis_options=”Google+1″The blast yesterday at Sangakpham in Imphal at a crowded market which killed four, including two children, and injured seven, was dastardly…

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Read more / Original news source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Kanglaonline/~3/JVYtPGJUm0o/

By John K. Kaping
UKHRUL August 13: Ukhrul district has completely run out of petroleum fuels since the last 4-5 days as the two main oil depots in Ukhrul which are located at Hundung junction and Kharasom junction have closed their counters following the depots have exhausted their stock owing to the on-going agitation of the Sadar Hills Districthood Demand Committee demanding creation of a full fledged Sadar Hills district.

Even though there have been reports of goods laden trucks being escorted through the Jessami highway under full-proof security arrangement, there has been no supply of fuel to the Ukhrul oil depots. There are reports that even though diesel can be found at the rate of Rs 60 if one is lucky enough from the black marketers, it is almost impossible to find petrol in Ukhrul at the moment even if one is willing to pay more money. Petrol is reportedly unavailable even with the black marketers.

Meanwhile, the acute shortage of diesel and the almost nil stock of petrol in Ukhrul have affected vehicular traffic in the district, especially the taxis operating in the district. The shortage has also affected various private businesses, NGOs, institutes and offices.

Meanwhile, even though the blockade along the National Highways has yet to affect the prices of essential commodities in the district, another problem arising out of it is the shortage of LPG gas with numerous households reporting emptiness of their cylinders.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2011/08/ukhrul-reels-under-acute-fuel-shortage/

The thaw of the deadlock over the proposed upgrade of the SADAR Hills subdivision of Senapati district into a full-fledged district at this moment seems unlikely with those demanding it as well as those opposing it remaining stubbornly fixed in their respective confrontational stances. While the difference is understandable though not desirable, probably under normal circumstance everybody would have given the two parties all the time and space they need to settle their differences. However, what is also a fact is that the circumstance is far from normal, for either of the two parties has imposed a blockade of the state’s lifelines as a way of announcing the seriousness of their intents. So, even as this standoff is happening, essential commodities in the state are not only sky rocketing but beginning to disappear from the markets. Quite predictably, if this continues for much longer, this state which has just recovered from another prolonged blockade just last year may lose its sanity, and in the worst case scenario, even street rioting may be the result. The government therefore cannot afford to treat the matter lightly or without a sense of urgency.

It does however seem the government is inclined to consider creating the SADAR Hills district, and so also some others. The chief minister, Okram Ibobi, has announced on the floor of the Assembly that a committee headed by the chief secretary D.S. Poonia has been set up to study possible demarcations of the districts to see the feasibility of the proposed districts, but also added the sole criterion in this onerous project would be administrative convenience. Presuming the SADAR Hills district comes to be created after making the necessary boundary demarcations and adjustments, as well as seeking the demanded consensus of the people, we can foresee some hiccups still. Today the tussle seems to be between two hill communities, the Nagas and Kukis, but the district can also throw up potential frictions between its proponents and farmers in the valley districts, for SADAR Hills touches valley area as well. Ordinarily this would not have been a problem, for there is nothing that says a farmer or for that matter any citizen cannot have landed properties in more than one district but as we had earlier pointed out, there is an extraordinary dimension to land issues in Manipur. This is because the state has revenue districts, which are the valley districts, and the non-revenue districts, which are by and large the hill districts. Under this dispensation, non tribals cannot own land in the non-revenue districts. So if in the demarcation of the SADAR Hills district, land owned by Meitei farmers becomes incorporated, the dispossessed farmers will definitely not agree. Imagine if Langol hills, parts of Lamphel, Andro village foothills, Nongmaijing hill etc, are suddenly made non-revenue area, there would be sparks flying everywhere again. Moreover, as we had argued before in these columns, serious constitutional crisis can result in the future in matters of citizens losing their franchise rights. To take the Moreh example again, supposing tomorrow a Meitei or for that matter a Tamil domicile holding Indian passport decides to file nomination for the Outer Manipur Parliamentary Constituency, we can imagine what uproar this would result in. Constitutionally however, we cannot think how this hypothetical candidature could be dismissed. But if administrative convenience is the key consideration, it would make no sense for Langol Hills or Lamphel or the Nongmaijing Hills to be administered from the SADAR Hills headquarters at Kangpokpi. Perhaps the commission working on the demarcation of district boundaries would be seeking to address such problems as well, and if so the possible bad scenario we sketched above would be redundant.

There is another way out. If at all SADAR Hills district becomes a reality, the government must consider the possibility of making it a revenue district, or some similar arrangement so that nobody ends up dispossessed. Imphal becoming split into Imphal East and West had no problem, because nobody ended up dispossessed even if some farmers ended up with their paddy fields split between the two districts. Ideally, the creation of any new district or the splitting of existing ones into more parts should have been as was the case of Imphal becoming two revenue districts. Although it may still not be time for equal land laws for the hills and valley, the problem the state is faced with now should serve as an indicator some sort of parity is long overdue.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2011/08/more-sadar-spectre/

On the eve of the India’s Independence Day, Imphal is acquiring the look of a war front. The scenario is not too different in other townships in Manipur as indeed in much of the Northeast. It has almost become a ritual every year. Various militant organisations would call for a boycott of the celebration of what is arguably the biggest and most important day in the country’s history and in response the provincial governments would virtually stage flag marches to demonstrate the power of the establishment and push its way without being deterred by any threat whatsoever. Uniformed gun totting security personnel are on every corner of the streets frisking people, stopping motorists, checking their vehicles, questioning them etc. As expected, even a week before the big day approached, Imphal already began wearing a deserted look, especially after sunset. People return home early so as not to be accosted by security men and go through the humiliation of being made to stand on the side of the roads to be frisked and questioned like potential trouble makers. The ordinary people are supposed to be mere bystanders in this war game, but every time tensions escalate in moments like this, they have no choice than to be prepared to be the undeserved casualties, and sometimes become statistics of “collateral damage”, the well known sugar-coating aimed at making civilian killing and harassment seem like necessary and pardonable fallout of a conflict.

Independence Day, as also all other celebrations of the Indian State and its glory, such as Republic Day on January 26, the day in 1950 that the nation gave itself a republican constitution to replace the British colonial laws which bound it for 200 years, are today not really celebrations in the true sense of the words in much of the Northeast region. Instead, they have been steadily warped and disfigured into shows of power between the Indian State and those fighting it. Even three decades ago, this was not so in Imphal. These occasions then wore the look of carnivals, with ordinary men, women and children thronging the streets and the official celebration site to not only witness the grandeur and pomp of the official functions but to participate in the funs and frolics on the streets. Those days, unfortunately have become a distant memory, and it is receding further and further away. By the turn of another generation, this memory of a more innocent, and by that virtue, happier days, would probably have vanished altogether, unless something happens to alter the situation radically.

We hope this alteration happens and the complex conflict situation in the region gets transformed for the better sooner than later. It must however be underscored that this transformation is a vital precondition to lasting peace. The conflicts we are witnessing are not mindless. They spawned from certain inconsistencies of visions of identity and dignified living. It goes without saying that these conditions are not easily defined anywhere, and are so much a factor of collective experiences of peoples in the struggle for existence through ages. Nobody can be with justice asked to change course of these outlooks to life shaped through the eons, overnight. The rush with which the modern republican Indian nationhood was forged made it inevitable to resort to just this means literally in many cases. The Northeast region unfortunately became one of those at the receiving end of this nation building juggernaut. That insurrections sprang up in the region almost at the time of Indian Independence should be an indicator of this. The Nagas were the first to say no to be part of the Indian Union, but seeds for future unrests were also embedded in many other societies at the time. Many of these societies waited and watched to see if peaceful resolution of their insecurities as well as realisation of their aspirations were visible in the new dispensation. Unfortunately, for various reasons, this was not to be, therefore one after the other, they too began their own resistance to assimilation into the Indian Union. But so much water has flowed down the many rivers of this great country, and as they say, like in the case of the river, there is no way anybody can step into the same time frame more than once, for everything is in a constant flux. What was six decades cannot be what is today. Things have changed and it is in this changed circumstance that the negotiation for the transformation has to begin. This transformation however has to be a reciprocal process. Both sides, or all sides as is more likely to be the case, have to be willing to accommodate the principle of give and take so as to reach a median point where every stake holder’s comfort level is optimal.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2011/08/state-of-independence/

Something is just not right in the manner the blockades on the highways have been allowed to carry on with the government doing precious little. By indicating in the manner that it is helpless in dealing with the situation, the government is sending out very wrong messages to the people by and large. To the docile the message is they should resign and hope and pray for the best to come on its own. This is hardly the kind of attitude to be encouraged by any forward thinking government or for matter anybody in the position of guardianship, be it at the family level or else the larger society. To the aggressive, the message would be radically different. It would almost be a license for them to take the law into their own hands at any time they wish and arm-twist the government into submission and thereby concede to whatever they wish to have. This latter reading of the message is a sure recipe for a never ending chain of street politics aimed at coercing the public and by a relayed delivery system the same coercive message would also reach the government.

As a matter of fact, this grotesque cycle of subversion is what has already taken roots in Manipur. By its very inaction, the government has been encouraging practically everybody, including students’ bodies, to develop an unhealthy sense of controlling and possessing State power, disproportionate to what civilised norms envisaged by the democratic polity, as legitimate. Hence, insurgent groups are de facto parallel government, issuing their own decrees, levying their own taxes, raising their own military etc, but even if this phenomenon needs a far more sophisticated response, what is beyond understanding is, what is keeping the government from controlling what it is mandated to control and what is very much within its power to do so? Why cannot it take the law in its own hands and not leave it up to the whim of every so called civil society organisation to dictate terms of how and by what norms the people should be governed. We are not talking about civil society bodies which lobby or resist government policies in the positive belief that the government’s will is not rigid, and provided it is made to see reason to the contrary of how it sees policy matters at any given time it can be made to alter or even drop these policies. We instead have in mind the mutant versions of civil society bodies which have come to believe they are the government and can not only make laws but also enforce them with violence. Should not civil society bodies be actually civil in nature and limit themselves to just challenging the government in civilised norms. What we get to see when this unwritten norm is crossed is what we are seeing today – virtual lawlessness.

The current blockade scenario is increasingly turning out to be another case of this state of lawlessness and the worst part of it is the government is apparently not taking any positive step to resolve the matter. It seems to be saying that indecision is also a conscious decision. Such an interrogation of set ideas would have made fine material for absorbing postmodern coffee house academic discussions, but in matters of the hard and brutal politics of the state, such an attitude is threatening to leave everybody, especially children belonging to below poverty line families, suffer from malnutrition. In the worst case scenario, it could end up accentuating or fomenting communal hostilities. So why is the government not swinging into action. True the situation is not easy and indeed would be akin to a Hobson’s choice as a decision either way would earn the ire of one or the other group advocating or opposing the idea of the creation of a separate SADAR Hills district. But although it is a truism that uneasy lies the head that wears the crown, the chief minister has no other choice but to exercise his own judgment on what the right decision should be and take it. At this moment, the most immediate need is to secure free, open and safe passage on all the national highways that connect the state to the rest of the country. One is reminded of a junior school textbook parable of a farmer and his son who went to the market riding their donkey and in trying to please everybody by doing what they presumed would please each of them, ultimately ended up carrying their donkey instead of riding it. The moot point is, the government must do whatever it needs to do to have the highways opened up totally, be it by reaching a settlement with the agitators or else using the power in the state’s command. If it is abjectly unable to accomplish this legitimate function of the state, it must voluntarily abdicate its position and make way for a spell of President’s Rule in the state to tackle the situation.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2011/09/indecision-as-decision/

For one or two nights in and around the celebration of Independence Day, Imphal city put on the appearance of a city with some night life and colours. The street lights, in what must have been ages, were on through the nights, the trees lining the main streets of the city were also lit with strings of flowery, multifarious, colourful little light bulbs giving the appearance that the monsoon clouds magically brought a hailstorm of jewels on the night of the eve of the day of the celebration. Everything was just fairytale fine, except for the fact that there were no people on the streets at night if you overlook nocturnal beasts like journalists and policemen. The picture in the end was surreal. It was as if the colourful preparations were meant for some phantom citizenry. A day after the awaited day, the empty streets are still as colourfully lit. The ghosts are still on an extended revelry, and many perhaps are too enfeebled by hangovers of the previous day’s celebratory bingeing to begin the cleaning up exercise. Jokes aside, it is time for the authorities and indeed all concerned, to brainstorm on re-peopling Imphal, and indeed Manipur. As of today, Imphal’s residents have come too used to living in petrifaction, startled even by their own shadows, retreating into their rabbit holes before sunset in the hope this would give them some sense of security. Sad to say this, but all their efforts are in vain, as it naturally would be, for nobody can run away from themselves.

A study of the architectural trends in the state would demonstrate this pitiable insecurity which is just short of mass hysteria. The rich live virtually in jails they construct for themselves, with collapsible steel barriers forming the first fortification to their homes, followed by solid wooden doors with no glass panes. By rich we mean people who can afford a brick and mortar house, and generally belonging to the top echelon government salaried job holders, government contractors, petty and not so petty businessmen, although all of the latter, if their income tax return forms were to be any indicator, would qualify to be declared bankrupt. We are also here not talking about entrance gates to estate homes, but doorways to living quarters. The abject insecurity and naked fear the society is given to is evident everywhere. There is one more thing equally evident in all this. The general instinct everywhere seems to be to run and hide rather confront, or as they say take the bull by the horns.
The truth also is, those responsible for this state of being are not interested in rectifying the situation. Both the government establishment as well as the parallel underground governments run by a multiplying number of militant organisations are not interested in banishing this condition. Both thrive on the insecurity of the ordinary people, for the moment the latter gains the courage to begin questioning them and their ways, their own legitimacy would erode away, threatening even their very existence. Both must hence have an intimidated public which only listen and do not answer back. Both prosper from a public too willing to be coerced into doing all their bidding. Both get perverted kicks out of the fear of death, injury or extreme humiliation they command that they can see reflected on the faces of the ordinary people.

But there is another reason why the rich, or should we say the middle class, retreat into the prison of their own making. In addition they have also become extremely narcissistic, so much so that they see nothing beyond their immediate families. The seemingly universal outlook here seems to be, keep everything and don’t bother giving back anything to society. This kind of avarice is impossible to quench, and therefore to keep everything is invariably predicated by a need to loot public coffer to all extent possible. The poorly build public infrastructures are a testimony of how much of the developmental funds have not been used for the purpose they were meant to be, and have instead ended up lining individual pockets. This coterie builds roads that get washed away every monsoon and are not even bothered to repair these damages to save the general public of all the hardship. The current monsoon has left many roads in the Imphal city in shambles, and once the rains have receded, the roads thus exposed of their bitumen cover will kick up thick cloud of dusts perpetually causing not just traffic dangers, but also health hazards. Their conscience thus soiled, they would naturally prefer the security of their private prisons to live in. To return to the original proposition, this coterie would also obviously dread an articulate and vocal people who would raise banners of protests at their misdeeds that have landed the entire state in the hell we have all come to be so familiar with.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2011/08/damning-quality-of-life/

Now is perhaps the time for the government to begin thinking in terms of a special administrative arrangement not just in keeping with the demand of the United Naga Council, UNC, for the Naga areas, but for the entire state. We had made a similar suggestion before but the matter is becoming even more urgent. Manipur as it is has been described in various quarters as a failed state, and indeed this is beginning to look to be what it really is. It does seem nothing can function and no substantive progress can result. The chief reason for this is that Manipur is today a hopelessly divided house. Every horse in it is pulling the wagon in different directions with the result that nothing ever moves or is allowed to move, even those who are willing and are capable of doing so. Each of the major communities in the state are acutely suspicious of each other and are quick to attribute sinister motives behind every one of their moves without even a thought on the possibility that these moves may actually be perfectly innocent ones. This is a state which cannot even think of creating a new district for administrative convenience without kicking up ugly and quixotic uproars that even threaten to explode into ethnic violence. The current unseemly tussle over the proposed creation of SADAR hills district is just the most immediate and prominent example of this hopeless situation.

It is long overdue that each of the communities be liberated from each other. There is at this moment no single oppressor and no single victim. Each has come to be an oppressor and tormentor of the other and equally each has come to be the victim of the other. This being so, let the special arrangement asked for be expanded to mean special arrangements for all the communities so that each can be themselves for once. At this moment, everybody’s creative energy is being sapped so senselessly, and each has to be always cautious of offending the other even by being honest to their own instincts to be themselves. The way things are heading, anything that one community does is beginning to be interpreted as an attack on the interest of the other. Partly, this has to do with the government’s indifference in clarifying serious allegations resulting out of what are quite possibly misconceptions. The government employment scenario for instance is a sore point, with those in the reserved category always believing they have been short-changed. We had been recommending the government to clarify conclusively and officially what the exact situation is on the matter. Let there be a white paper on it with the objective of not just laying bare the facts of the matter, but also to see how any discrepancy, if any, has happened: whether those in the general category have been responsible for these as always alleged, or if it is the result of corruption, not necessarily of officials in the general category alone.

In the area of private enterprises, this blame game should not be there at all. This is an open field and only individual enterprise, perseverance and a willingness to work and sweat it out with dedication in whatever profession one is in, is the key to success. Thus, a tailor, a carpenter, a motor mechanic, a cycle repairman, a journalist and so on, must, as suggested in the Bhagavat Gita, make their given professions their worship. The near total collapse of work culture of the government is on account of a lack of this attitude, and equally the rise of individuals and communities in any of these fields of work is also precisely because of this dedication and belief in their work and nothing else. Of course, there are other factors like availability of seed capital to launch commercial enterprises. In this regard, it is also a fact that those with landed property for obvious reasons will always have more of it. A farmer in any of the revenue districts of the valley, if his son wants to start a new business venture, can always sell off a part of his land holding and raise the necessary money, or else mortgage it to get a loan from the bank. No bank extends loan, especially entrepreneurial loan for this involves recover risks, without collaterals. In many ways, the ease with which an economy moves forward in the modern context, depends on the shape and quality of superstructures within which the economy operates. These superstructures, of which the pattern of land ownership is a very important one, are radically different from one community to another. The upward mobility of the non-government, therefore unsponsored economy of the private market therefore is destined to be unequal too. Unfortunately, a very vicious circle has today come about form this and this inequality in turn is breeding the contempt of the kind we are witnessing today. No community trusts the other. The state cannot carry on like this. Let the government then work out a consensus on bringing about some parity of superstructures, or else give a serious thought to the idea of “separate arrangements” for everybody.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2011/08/parity-and-equality/

It is depressing that today freight truck managing to reach the state capital has once again become material for front page news. A decade years ago, when the state government chose to implement the 5th Pay Commission recommendations for its employees without first getting the concurrence of the Central government, in the process going totally broke, it was the status of the state government’s bank balance with the Reserved Bank of India, RBI, which made headline news. RBI releasing funds for the state at the time had then come to be awaited eagerly by everybody in the state for it meant payment of government salaries. It is now unimaginable that at the time salaries for government employees were paid at intervals anywhere between three to six months. Anybody older than 15 years would remember what difficult times those were, with the markets acquiring a cadaveric hue, considering the biggest source for its liquidity was and still is the purchase power of salaried government employees. As always, the poor who had little or no credit worth were the hardest hit. Such things can only happen in Manipur. Here events and things which ought to be drearily normal and routine have become abnormal and conversely what would be considered abnormal anywhere in the world have become normal and everyday reality.

Now that the state is managing to maintain a healthier bank balance with the RBI and at least salaries for government employees are no longer the unbearable burden that it once was, there are other ordinary things which have taken their turns to acquire a grotesque visage, haranguing the ordinary citizenry once again. Essential commodities are beginning to disappear from the shop shelves, so have the petrol pumps dripped dry, prices are skyrocketing, and amidst all this government heads are either playing their fiddles unabashed, or else frantically and quixotically shadow boxing as if it believes this is enough to convince the people it means action. The twin economic blockade along the state’s lifelines by those demanding as well as opposing the proposed creation of SADAR hill district has come to rudely upset life in the state, bringing back the unfortunate reality of routine events turning into nightmares. And so, trucks movement along the highways have been transformed into headlines material. How much more pathetic can the situation get, and more importantly, how much longer is the government simply going to wait and watch this mounting misery unfold in the life of the state?

The contrast is rather uncanny. But if the routine can become abnormal in Manipur, so can many shockingly abnormal events also get reduced to the mundane. Visitors to the state would vouch this is so. They are bewildered at how ordinary citizens tolerate so many overwhelming but avoidable odds in daily life. Imagine this is a state where electric power for domestic consumption is available for only four hours a day; piped municipal water likewise is available to consumers for as little as an hour on alternate days; black toppings on city and country roads get washed away every monsoon. Broken roads mean mud during the wet seasons and dust during the dry. It is anybody’s guess what health implications this would have on the citizenry. Yet everybody seems to have come to accept all this as normal in a frustratingly fatalistic way. No accountability is ever fixed for all these failures and equally, no accountability is ever sought by the public for any of these either. The notion of citizen’s rights has been so badly skewed that today only the crassest violations seem to qualify to be called infringements. So while the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, AFSPA, is seen as the overbearing state breathing down neck of the ordinary men and women, health hazards posed by scarcity of safe drinking water or the omnipresent cloud of dust hanging above the roads in the state is seen as nothing to be so upset about. The threshold of concern has indeed been pushed up extremely high and only unnatural and violent deaths and injuries are seen as threat to life and dignity of the people. This raised threshold is dangerous, for it will end up a excusing a whole range of nuanced and not so nuanced atrocities by authorities given charge of the affairs of the state. It is time for the ordinary people to be sensitised on their rights that go beyond the loud and overt. In the end, it is coming to grip with all these rights, and not just the obvious, which is going to define the quality of life for everybody in the state.

 

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2011/09/topsy-turvy-manipur/

var addthis_product=’wpp-252′;var addthis_options=”Google+1″The protest over the bomb blast on August 1 is overwhelming and also cuts across communities and political parties, as it indeed should be….

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Read more / Original news source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Kanglaonline/~3/fSuXI_6vEEo/

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/

The ritual goes on. Irom Sharmila was produced before the court once again today. The outcome was a foregone conclusion and will remain so till at least the foreseeable future. She will have to remain in jail till such a time as she breaks her indefinite hunger strike demanding the repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, AFSPA, totally from the state. Since the latter consequence is hardly likely to happen in the immediate future, it is even more unlikely this hard-willed lady would break her fast, even if she is aware, and she probably is, that her fast will not be able to make the government change its mind on the matter. And so this tragic human drama must continue as it has been. If the court for some technical or other reason grants her bail, she would be rearrested on a new charge. This has been carrying on for the past nearly 11 years now and nobody is under any illusion anymore a court victory can settle Sharmila’s case. In any case, since she is not willing to give up her indefinite fast, if set free, she would die of starvation, and if that happens, the case would get even more complicated. The state’s response of keeping her in custody and forcibly feeding her through the nose therefore is not unreasonable. For the other option would virtually amount to culpable murder through wilfully inappropriate action.

The only way to save Sharmila then is to have the AFSPA repealed. We see all the reasons forwarded in defence of the AFSPA that the army can operate on civil duty only under the act’s present shape, rather convoluted. This is a clever subterfuge. The law is manmade and it can be reshaped as well. What can happen, and in fact what many demanded should be, and indeed what the Justice Jeevan Reddy commission which probed the relevance of the act recommended was in effect for a reshaping of the clauses of the act. The provision to bring in the army to assist civil administration cannot be done away, after all, the last defence to any serious challenge to the Nation State is its military, and the insurrections witnessed in the Northeast region, including importantly in Manipur, are indeed challenges to the Indian State. However, if the army needs an act to be able to take up civil duty, there is nothing which says it cannot be accountable to the country’s legal system. The AFSPA says precisely this. First are its draconian features which include the power to even kill on suspicion. But even more dangerous is the guarantee of impunity which makes army offenders where the AFSPA has been promulgated not directly accountable to the civil court of law. Why must this clause remain? Remove this clause, and the AFSPA would lose its terrifying visage and consequently a lot less draconian. If the government makes this gesture, it would be a reasonable concession with which to persuade Sharmila to end her fast, thus saving her. It would also be a victory for her without making the Indian State a loser. The army can still swing into action when called for but within reasonable, democratic and civilised restraints.

Just a year ago, the establishment thought allowing foreigners into Manipur and some of its neighbouring states, was not advisable, on the presumption that this would adversely influence the mindset of the people here. The government for whatever the reason decided one fine morning that this regulation could be lifted on an experimental basis. A year down the line, other than an end to haranguing the foreign visitors, nothing that the government initially feared has come true. Lifting of similar restrictions in Kashmir years ago also had effects that were directly the opposite of what the government feared or pretended to fear would happen. It is time now for the government to yet again invoke the inspirational voice within itself, or what Barak Obama described as the “spark of divinity” in formulating policies, to resolve the issue. Let it again go ahead and extend another unilateral show of trust to the people of the Northeast and reframe the AFSPA. Let the provision to bring in the army to assist the civil administration when the latter requests for such an intervention remain, but let it act within the reasonable restraints provided by the constitutional law of the country. It is true the police can be, and has been, known to be high-handed too, however, because they are accountable to the law, the sense of the general public that they have nothing to defend themselves from undeserved victimisation is much less. Such inquiries as the one instituted into the BT Road killing and the manner the law was demonstrated to be domineering above all else, including the police, putting the police in the dock for the alleged crime they committed, itself was a good enough message. The army operating under the AFSPA is made to be seen as above this, and this is unhealthy.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2011/08/save-sharmila/

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/

A question often is asked, sometimes with an air of mischievous rhetoric, whether Sharmila is being pushed into what she is doing by vested interests, and if not this, then by public expectations. The implication is, she is unable to exercise her free will to decide on how or whether her seemingly futile protest should proceed any further. Further, another implied allegation is also Sharmila has ceased to be of any great concern for the people of Manipur by and large, which is why her protest is all the more doomed to be in a limbo that it seems to be in at the moment. These are serious thoughts or charges if you like. The question is, what is the volitional element in Sharmila’s continued fast? Is she responding to public expectations only or is she driven by a faith in her own action? While there should be no doubt the latter is there predominantly, it is necessary to dispel some of the doubts raised. The answer could come in the form of a question. Is there anybody whose action is not in some ways or other a response to public expectations?

Students of psychology would tell us there is nobody. These expectations are not always overt. They have been ingrained into the social consciousness so deeply that much of them come naturally to all of us without the need for making conscious choices. A few very basic questions should be illuminating. Why do we fear not doing well in studies? Why do we not walk around naked in public? The answer is, because such behaviours would not be approved by the society. Much of our social behaviours are thus moderated by this ever present “Superego” in Freudian terms. In a crux, Freud’s personality dynamics becomes an interplay of three powerful forces within the human psyche: the infantile “Id”, the parental “superego” and the rational “ego”. “Id” is thus about inborn, primitive, animal desires, appetites and instincts. The “Superego” controls and moderates (or civilises) the “Id”, sometimes excessively and to the detriment of the health of the individual. It is thus the rational “Ego” which must negotiate between these two. This personality dynamic would be the fuel behind Sharmila’s decisions, conscious or subconscious, as it is for everybody else. The only difference is, Sharmila has stepped out of private life boldly and is in the public domain in a radical way, and hence, we would argue here is a case of an enviable success of the “Ego” to rein in the “Id” and the “Superego”. The “Superego” which normally should have determined her public behaviour and decisions, have been rationalise successfully by her powerful “Ego” to convert it into a magnanimous sense of public duty. This being the case, it is only natural the pressure of expectations, not just public expectations but her own as well, would be much more on her. It is a truism that people do expect much more from public figures than from the ordinary man or woman on the street, and in our opinion, nobody in the state is as much a selfless public figure as Sharmila has come to be.

The next question is, why do people expect another to accomplish what is also essentially their aspiration? Why hasn’t there been many more stepping forward to join Sharmila’s style of protest? These questions deserve another rhetorical answer as well. If everybody were to take care of their own problems, or were to be capable of taking care of all their own problems, and this ability in collective were to be the solution to social problems, why would there have been any need for leaders at all? Eric Fromm’s book “Escape from Freedom” is dedicated to answering this question. Freedom can get terrifying for many if not most, and so taking important decisions on which crucially hangs the fate of individuals and society, independently, is not easy. This is where the role of inspirational leadership comes in. These strong men and women would become the centres where the ordinary men and women surrender their freedoms to make important decisions. And who can deny Sharmila is an inspirational leader who has made sacrifices nobody can or has ever made. But Fromm’s caution is, although this has nothing remotely to do with Sharmila’s case, when the ordinary men and women get too insecure, they begin to surrender more and more of their freedom to tough leaders who they entrust to deliver them from the source of their insecurities. Such a condition he says is the ground on which the most brutal dictatorships have spawned. Hitler’s Germany, Stalin’s Russia, Mussolini’s Italy, all shared this social dynamics. Sharmila’s case is a radical departure from this but there is an interesting parallel. While there can be no argument she is an inspirational leader let those who love her not leave her to bear all the burdens alone. Nobody can emulate what she is doing, but let it not be forgotten everybody who would benefit from her cause has a duty to also contribute to take forward what she is fighting for.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2011/08/sharmilas-road-ahead/

This editorial is prompted by reprimands from readers and well wishers who pointed out the insensitivity shown by the IFP in publishing the vividly clear picture of a raped and murdered girl some days ago on its front page. We do apologise for the serious slip, and hope not to repeat the mistake again. Our excuse is the usual. In the late evening rush hours of newspaper production, sometimes it is difficult to keep out the printer’s devil from playing havoc. Everybody who has had a formal academic course in journalism would have been told of this in their classes and also shown glaring bloomers even in very reputed newspapers in the past. But as we said this is only an excuse of a mistake we have made but not by any means an indicator we will continue to be lax in guarding against such insensitivities slipping past our news and image vetting procedures. This brings to the fore one other concern. As in academics, journalists too need to be put through occasional refresher courses in new developments in the professions as well as standards of general ethics which undoubtedly have a profound bearing on the discharge of their duty. After all, although in a different way, much of the terms of conduct of this profession too are cerebral in nature.

The Department of Information and Public Relations, DIPR, government of Manipur has a fortnight long certificate journalism training course each year with the objective of grooming young men and women on the threshold of choosing a career to develop an interest in the profession by getting them to have a glimpse of its inner dynamics. Senior journalists in the state are the resource persons for these annual events and the trainees are taught the classical definitions as well as practical problems of the profession. While this is a good effort, the point to be noted is, not many of those who undergo these courses ever join the profession. At the local level, the working conditions of the profession cannot match government jobs, so the brighter ones normally opt for the latter. Indeed many of them enlist in the DIPR courses for the certificate in the hope this would enhance their chances of getting into “any government job”, even a grade three or four one. The quality of education in the state being such, not many of them would also be able to match their competitors from many other states for journalistic jobs in the open market in better paying environs of other Indian metropolises.

This being the scenario, we would like to suggest that it would be much more profitable for the DIPR course to be converted to a refresher course for working journalists. The lectures then would not necessarily have be about news gathering or newspaper production, but can have a much larger parameter. As for instance, the course could orient itself towards issues like gender sensitivity, child rights, human rights, law, or for that matter grassroots welfare programmes of the State as well as Central governments, all of which the profession has to deal with, and all of which undoubtedly would have a strong bearing on the quality as well as efficacy of journalism in the state. The government could also tie up with the Manipur University, which already has a journalism department, and conduct such refresher courses periodically. Such an arrangement would be ideal, for the resource persons, not just in journalism but also in the other subjects of relevance to the profession would be readily available. Besides the government, we wonder if it would not be possible for some of the well-funded NGOs to hold lesser versions of the courses by way of workshops and media seminars. While there is a profusion of NGOs in the state working in the areas of HIV/AIDS, environment, gender issues, conflict resolution, we wonder what is keeping a sound media NGO from materialising here. Nobody will doubt how important the media in a situation such as Manipur’s, and in fact, the media’s relevance is also profound in the success of the campaigns by NGOs working in the above named fields. So these media refresher courses could become part of their overall programmes. How for instance could an average reporter know the nuanced issues involved in HIV/AIDS, environment or gender reporting? What is not understood is, few if any journalists in any newspaper in the state, and indeed in most media organisations anywhere, get to specialise in any particular field and thus they all tend to be generalists. The pitfall of this predicament is what the IFP is also having to apologise in this editorial.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2011/09/to-refresh-journalism/

There are two ways of looking at the way things are developing in Manipur. One is that everybody is taking the law into their own hands. But this leads to the second conclusion, that the establishment in which hands the law should solely rest has lost its moral legitimacy and with it the authority to make the citizen trust it is there to do them good. And so here is Manipur again under a prolonged siege. Even the thought of the creation of a new district is threatening to turn the state upside down, with one group wanting it at any cost and another threatening to oppose it to any extent. Even as the siege is nearing a month, the government remains clueless as to how to proceed. The only thing it has said is that it would not be coerced into doing anything against its will and that it would execute this will on its own once a study by a high powered committee it has instituted to find out how feasible or desirable this proposed new district would be from the consideration of administrative convenience alone, is completed. But at this moment, neither those demanding nor those opposing are willing to step back an inch from where they were despite the government’s show of intent that it would proceed on the issue solely on its own will and not be dictated by any of the agitations.

What about the common man in the meantime? Does the government think that merely instituting a probe committee and arbitrating the deadlocked issue is enough remedy? For while it is doing this, there are people on the streets put to immense hardships. The poorer sections are the worst hit by the blockade consequent price rise, and if things get any worse, there is no saying they would remain calm as they have been. What then would the government do? Would it hold itself accountable for such an outcome? What it should be doing now is to firmly come clear and make the agitators on both sides understand that they cannot hold the entire state to ransom. This must be precisely by demonstrating the state can bring in provision for everybody and any form of prolonged blockades or strikes that indiscriminately make people, men and women, old and young alike suffer for no fault of theirs, would be broken up. In other words, ensure the highways are open although after convincing the agitators on both sides that justice as defined by the constitutional law of the country would be done. To give the devil its due however, we must also add that we give the benefit of the doubt to the committee looking into the matter that it would do what is just, but it must expedite its mission so that the agony of the state is not prolonged. In the meantime, let the government assure essential commodities do not run out from the markets.

If the government is unable to act on the matter then the available alternative of Presidents Rule must be resorted to. This is not altogether an indictment of the government for failing to act proactively on the matter. Nobody has any doubt in a state so badly fractured by ethnic divisions a decision on the SADAR hills will not be easy. Whichever way the decision goes, it will be cause for much bad blood and further challenges to the state’s authority. In other words the blockade is more than likely to stay inordinately. But this is just one dimension of the problem. The complex nature of the ethnic division in the state being such, darker ethnic motives, imaginary or otherwise, of the trouble being the caused by manipulation by the Valley dwellers would be attributed to whatever decision the government takes. Indications of this are already heard on many cacophonous discussion forums on the internet as well as delirious comments to web editions of newspapers from the state aimed at provoking anger, but more often than not inspire only laughter of ridicule. The limitation of the local government being such, it is not an altogether unreasonable conclusion that if at all it is unable bring an early end to the humanitarian crisis developing in the state, Central rule should fill in. Legitimate force used by the Central rule to ensure goods and passenger movements along the highway would not be interpreted as communally biased as so many would be waiting to jump to the conclusion if the state government did so. Likewise, a Central rule’s decision on whether the SADAR Hills district should be created and on what terms, would not be as prone to be smeared with communal colours by those for who have little other constructive things to do than read between the lines to discover non-existent, imaginary, sinister designs behind every political and economic development in the state. Our appeal is, let the government act immediately to ensure flow of goods into the state and in the longer term to settle the SADAR hills issue conclusively and in a manner satisfactory to all parties concerned.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2011/09/devise-a-way-out-fast/

This editorial is prompted by reprimands from readers and well wishers who pointed out the insensitivity shown by the IFP in publishing the vividly clear picture of a raped and murdered girl some days ago on its front page. We do apologise for the serious slip, and hope not to repeat the mistake again. Our excuse is the usual. In the late evening rush hours of newspaper production, sometimes it is difficult to keep out the printer’s devil from playing havoc. Everybody who has had a formal academic course in journalism would have been told of this in their classes and also shown glaring bloomers even in very reputed newspapers in the past. But as we said this is only an excuse of a mistake we have made but not by any means an indicator we will continue to be lax in guarding against such insensitivities slipping past our news and image vetting procedures. This brings to the fore one other concern. As in academics, journalists too need to be put through occasional refresher courses in new developments in the professions as well as standards of general ethics which undoubtedly have a profound bearing on the discharge of their duty. After all, although in a different way, much of the terms of conduct of this profession too are cerebral in nature.

The Department of Information and Public Relations, DIPR, government of Manipur has a fortnight long certificate journalism training course each year with the objective of grooming young men and women on the threshold of choosing a career to develop an interest in the profession by getting them to have a glimpse of its inner dynamics. Senior journalists in the state are the resource persons for these annual events and the trainees are taught the classical definitions as well as practical problems of the profession. While this is a good effort, the point to be noted is, not many of those who undergo these courses ever join the profession. At the local level, the working conditions of the profession cannot match government jobs, so the brighter ones normally opt for the latter. Indeed many of them enlist in the DIPR courses for the certificate in the hope this would enhance their chances of getting into “any government job”, even a grade three or four one. The quality of education in the state being such, not many of them would also be able to match their competitors from many other states for journalistic jobs in the open market in better paying environs of other Indian metropolises.

This being the scenario, we would like to suggest that it would be much more profitable for the DIPR course to be converted to a refresher course for working journalists. The lectures then would not necessarily have be about news gathering or newspaper production, but can have a much larger parameter. As for instance, the course could orient itself towards issues like gender sensitivity, child rights, human rights, law, or for that matter grassroots welfare programmes of the State as well as Central governments, all of which the profession has to deal with, and all of which undoubtedly would have a strong bearing on the quality as well as efficacy of journalism in the state. The government could also tie up with the Manipur University, which already has a journalism department, and conduct such refresher courses periodically. Such an arrangement would be ideal, for the resource persons, not just in journalism but also in the other subjects of relevance to the profession would be readily available. Besides the government, we wonder if it would not be possible for some of the well-funded NGOs to hold lesser versions of the courses by way of workshops and media seminars. While there is a profusion of NGOs in the state working in the areas of HIV/AIDS, environment, gender issues, conflict resolution, we wonder what is keeping a sound media NGO from materialising here. Nobody will doubt how important the media in a situation such as Manipur’s, and in fact, the media’s relevance is also profound in the success of the campaigns by NGOs working in the above named fields. So these media refresher courses could become part of their overall programmes. How for instance could an average reporter know the nuanced issues involved in HIV/AIDS, environment or gender reporting? What is not understood is, few if any journalists in any newspaper in the state, and indeed in most media organisations anywhere, get to specialise in any particular field and thus they all tend to be generalists. The pitfall of this predicament is what the IFP is also having to apologise in this editorial.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2011/09/to-refresh-journalism/

Appeals for peaceful coexistence have become commonplace today. That these appeals should at all become necessary is an indication that there are forces pulling the fabric of coexistence apart. There is another often heard appeal today and this has to do with tolerance. However, because of the multiplicity of connotations associated with the latter term, we are a little suspicious of this appeal. Although we are aware of the well intended spirit, there are other meanings, conscious or otherwise, inherent in the appeal itself. For one, tolerance presupposes that the object to be tolerated is offensive in nature. The equation sought hence is never one of equality, but of a superior entity putting up with an inferior counterpart even if this means having to make do with inconveniences, keeping in view longer term self-interests. The question becomes in this way reduced to making a choice for the lesser of two evils. Tolerance has another nasty connotation. It can portray a picture of passivity and inactivity. It can be taken to mean insensitivity and the lack of a natural sense of rights and justice, hence the failure to claim them. Some very often asked question will illustrate: How can the people of Manipur tolerate corruption or violence the way it has? How can Manipur tolerate non performance by its governments the way it has?

We prefer the word coexistence then. The term first of all is value-neutral and there is no implied meaning of inequality buried in it. It suggests an equal partnership, where the different communities exposed to each other by circumstances of geography, economy and politics, live in a free interplay of ideas and customs. In Manipur, as in any other multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, multi-religion societies, such a formula will have to be the only route to lasting peace. The foundation for peace must be laid in a salad bowl scenario, where each ingredient remains distinct, but in their totality give themselves a new collective identity and personality. Adjustments, not tolerance, will no doubt become necessary to make sure the vital agenda of governance is given smooth passage. There will have to be, for instance, laws and norms applicable to all, just as all must be deemed to be equals before these same laws. But while an integration process cannot be overt, there will come about unseen, unobtrusive forces that initiate a meltdown of the different ingredients: The compulsions and bonds of economics being the most powerful of these. The salad bowl will then begin giving way to the melting pot precisely at the marketplace which must have a lingua franca that no one can claim as their exclusive, a common currency, ethos, value system etc.

In contemplating coexistence and integration, we are impressed by the call for the return of a moral fabric to bind all into a common humanity. The sobering influence of religion on society cannot be undervalued or rejected as is increasingly the tendency. Of course, in modern times, religion has come to be divisive in nature, but this is only because religion has been put in political garbs. But a reverse of this same equation may not mean the same thing, and so instead of politicizing religion, maybe a better way of looking at things would be to introduce religiosity to politics. A religious State and a theocratic State are certainly not one and the same thing. In Manipuri, the term dharma leiba, does not imply the man possessing this quality as belonging to any particular religion. It just means a good-hearted, God-fearing, moral man. And after all, all religions at their core, preach all men to possess these qualities. Perhaps then we should also strive for a dharma leiba politics and society: A society and politics with a deep sense of belief in morality. It is a thought that needs introspection, but maybe the Western model of secularism, which defines the term absolutely as the separation of the Church from the State, is not complete.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2011/08/coexistence-or-tolerance/

For far too often we have been told, and indeed made to believe, there is no paucity of developmental funds for the Northeast. The North Eastern Council, NEC, with its headquarters in Shillong and the relatively recent Department of North East Region, DoNER ministry in New Delhi, are supposed to be the nodal instruments by which these development funds are to be disbursed for the purpose, and whatever funds not utilised is also supposed not to lapse but go into a separate coffer of non-lapsable pool of fund to be carried over to subsequent years and remain basically a Northeast developmental fund. Although we do not have the exact figure, understandably this non-lapsable pool of NE developmental fund would have built up quite sizeably in the years that have gone by. The question is, why is this fund not translating into any tangible and visible developmental projects? There are developmental activities no doubt, but hardly at the pace of magnitude that could or should have been.

A sense of urgency is what is primarily missing in any government activities in the regard. For the last five or six years, consumers in the state have been fed the excuse that electricity is scarce in the state because transmission lines available currently are outdated and not broad enough to bring in the state’s greatly increased requirement from the Northeast power grid and that these transmission lines were being upgraded to make them fit for the purpose. What is taking the government so long to do the needful? Why is it not taking up this matter on a war footing? The injuries this acute power shortage has caused and is still causing are immediate and desperate for it is stunting the growth of the state’s fledgling private sector, the health of which nobody will doubt will prove to be the ultimate solution to the employment problem above all else, the government’s direct employment capacity being limited and already super-saturated. This is a matter which cannot wait unlike say the rail line being constructed. The rail line is important but it is a long term need. Electricity is a daily necessity for any modern economy and indeed household.

In the midst of the monsoon, we also find treated municipal piped water is still scarce. One can only imagine what the situation would be even a month after the wet season is over. Why is this issue also not being taken up on a war footing? There are many more similar cases that need urgent government attention and with it remedial action. None however is forthcoming. There are also many ongoing projects, such as the Imphal sewerage project, which have been overshooting deadlines continually. What is worse, there are also no indications whatsoever so far that this project would come to a fitting closure in the near future. Meanwhile, the citizenry are expected to keep tolerating the fiasco created by these projects in perpetual states of incompleteness. It is atrocious that the old argument that it is insurgency which is keeping all these work at bay is still sought to be the balm to keep public outrage at bay. Development must happen despite all barriers. If the government acknowledges extortion cannot be curbed then let it factor in this extraordinary cost into its project estimates so that the projects themselves do not suffer.

What is also noticeable in recent times is that the military suddenly seems to have become flushed with developmental money. It is now thinking in terms of undertaking small and mid level developmental projects as part of its civic action programmes. Is this money coming from the non-lapsable pool with the DoNER ministry? The military can now donate community halls, sports complex etc to villages. Has there been a shift in the developmental funding pattern of the Government of India? The military adamantly refuses to be brought under civil law when it come to the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, AFSPA, which incidentally is 54 years old now, but would readily be given civil responsibilities in matters of implementing civil developmental projects. Is this an amplified version of what has often been referred to quite disparagingly as “donor agenda” (meaning donors would directly or indirectly dictate the terms and directions of development) when it came to funds availed to various Non Government Organisations, NGO, especially by foreign funding agencies? Is this a way of silently militarising civil space both literally and metaphorically? India is a thriving democracy. How then is it that in backwater states like Manipur, governance seems to tend towards conditions that resemble that of a military junta.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2011/08/fuzzy-development-logic/