Tag: Editorial

It has been more than a month since the government banned vehicular traffic in the busy Imphal city area on an experimental basis, but it still has no ideas to ease traffic congestion. We are still facing traffic jams in the roads surrounding the Bazar area. We must appreciate Trinamool leaders of the state for raising this important issue of traffic congestion in the floor of the Manipur Legislative Assembly. Yet, nothing has been achieved and the government has still not made up its mind to the problem. The Chief Minister in his reply to the Calling Attention raised by opposition MLAs only said that the government is open to ideas. And the Chief Minister cited rise in population and unchecked growth of vehicles. For the record, we at IFP had supported the recent state decision to implement ‘pedestrian only’ regulations in the busy Imphal market, even if it was on experimental basis. And we are still supporting it. As we said, mature and sensible city managers around the world have implemented pedestrian friendly regulations in long time back. A market is meant mainly for the common people and ordinary shoppers. We need to take into account the elite and neo-rich while framing policies also, but the main emphasis should be on the welfare of the common people. It is mainly people from other towns and villages that are flocking the city. That is exactly where, the importance of promoting pedestrianism comes in. Pedestrian cities are growing in popularity in many top regions around the world. Being able to walk to a mix of shops, restaurants, newsstands, coffeehouses and open-air markets within car-free neighborhoods and work centers delivers the highest quality of life, and adds great variety and vitality to an area. Venice is considered the greatest pedestrian city in the world because it contains the largest pedestrian street network completely free of cars. The city is quite dense, yet the most relaxing and pleasant city in the world. Copenhagen is another pedestrian city. City planners have taken numerous small steps to transform the city from a car-oriented place to a people-friendly one. Here in Manipur, we could start by making the main streets of Paona Bazar and Thangal Bazar a completely pedestrian zone while allowing vehicles to pass through the other streets of Bazar area. But the entire Bazar area should be completely free of parking lots or spaces.

Another important issue is the problems faced by people having homes or residential quarters in the Bazar area. The issue was raised by the Thangmeiband MLA Joykishan in the assembly. He had said, people living in the Bazar area are suffering. Yes, their business is suffering and also there is dislocation in their personal lives. Their grievances also need to be addressed. But, the state has to first decide on whether Thangal Bazar and Paona Bazar should be declared as a ‘commercial zone’ or not. If it decides on the affirmative, the Bazar area would free from residential quarters.

The interest of the general people is of utmost importance and it should come first while framing policies. The Chief Minister had said that he is open to ideas on traffic regulation. Is he also ready to absorb ideas and opinions floated by the poor people who do not have vehicles of their own, and who travel by public transport? The neo-rich and intellectuals who have cars or two-wheelers would have many ideas. But, whether they will also speak in the interests of the vehicle-less poor could not be guaranteed. So, we suggest that the state should conduct an opinion poll in this regard, so that all interests are protected.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2012/03/walking-the-streets/

Manipur government’s recent decision to bank with only those banks which increases credit flow in the state is commendable, in the light of the fact that it has long been a neglected sector by not only the centralised banks but also by the government itself. The Chief Minister had announced in the state assembly that only banks which have a good credit delivery record will be eligible for government deposits on Tuesday. Last year in December, Union Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee had asked banks and institutions to step up credit flow to the north-eastern states. The Union Minister was speaking to the Chief Ministers and Finance Ministers of East and Northeast states. He particularly mentioned Manipur as having lower credit record while Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and Tripura have shown an impressive growth in credit flow. With regard to the Credit Deposit (CD) Ratio, he has said that all East Zone States are having lower CD Ratio in comparison to 60 per cent benchmark set by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
The Union Finance Minister had asked the Chief Ministers of these states to use the forum of SLBC meetings effectively and take pro-active action to ensure that the CD Ratio in their States is improved. Be it in the agriculture sector or employment generation or Micro and Small Enterprises (MSE) , credit flow has been minimal in these states. RBI had even set separate targets for flow of credit to MSE Sector and for micro enterprises within this overall target for MSE Sector. In the Housing sector, while NE states like Arunachal Pradesh and Tripura had shown a remarkable growth of 62 per cent and 45 per cent the growth has been less than 20 percent in the states of Manipur, Assam, Meghalaya, Sikkim and Jharkhand. Credit flow covering all sectors in Manipur in the year 2010 was 46 percent only. The performance of many centralized banks with regard to credit flow was simply disappointing. The credit flow of Allahabad Bank, Bank of Baroda, Central Bank, Overseas Bank and Punjab & Sind Bank hovered around 22-25 percent, while it was 38 percent for Punjab National Bank. New entrants in the state like Axis Bank scored 2 percent and ICICI 14 percent. The most disappointing score comes from Vijaya Bank at a dismal 10 percent, despite its 3 decade old existence in the state. The wide gap between deposits and credit flow in Manipur had been an important issue which remained neglected until recently. In such a backdrop, Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh’s recent move should be appreciated. This perhaps is his most important gift to the state in his third term as the Chief Minister. Such a move will not only facilitate the increase of credit flow in the state, but it will also lead to increase in private investment.

Following in the steps of the Union government, the Ibobi government has in its radar financial inclusion of unbanked blocks. Out of 69 unbanked blocks in NE region, 27 blocks were covered with banking services by 30th November, 2011. The remaining 42 unbanked blocks are in the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland. In his maiden budget speech at the first session of the 10th Manipur Assembly Chief Minister Okram Ibobi, he said plans are on the anvil to established 10 Hub-Banks in hill areas to cover 19 unbanked blocks. The Hub-Banks will be located at Tuibong, Singhat and Thanlon in Churachandpur district, Somsai and Kamjong in Ukhrul District, Tamenglong HQ and Noney in Tamenglong district, Tadubi and Saikul in Senapati District, and Tengnoupal in Chandel District. This is all good. But, the issue of lack of basic collateral in the hill areas of Manipur and individual property rights has also to be addressed for a meaningful banking in the hill areas.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2012/03/a-laudable-move/

The government didn’t say it or couldn’t say that law and order has improved in the state. It only said, all security forces have acknowledged improvement in the law and order situation in the hills following signing of agreement with Kuki militant outfits in 2009. The question is why. Does it mean that the government is not really satisfied with the law and order situation in the hills even though the security forces say it has improved or it hasn’t improved at all? When we talk about law and order in the hill areas we should be thinking in terms of the entire hill region, and certainly not in terms of either Kuki or Naga dominated regions. There is an attitudinal problem in the way the state operates be it in the case of law and order or in other areas of governance. Such attitudes will end up in enhancing the divide between the different communities living in the state. The hill-valley divide in the state spurred by the British colonialists and continued by the Indian state has reached to such a state that it has begun to assume the face of an impossible task. The various governments which have ruled the state has also done almost nothing to bridge the gap, which many a times have threatened the territorial integrity of the state and people to people relations. From NSCN-IM’s ceaseless efforts to break up the state to the entry of Nagaland based party in the state legislature, the state has shown little imagination in dealing with the problem except for flexing its security muscle and sentimental rhetoric. The Mao standoff during NSCN-IM General Secretary Thuingaleng Muivah’s visit was one such action. Even though the state was successful in stopping Muivah, it could not do so in the case of Nagaland CM Neiphiu Rio. Yes, successful conduct of Autonomous District Councils in the hills was no mean feat. But, the state government could not take the ADCs to the district headquarters for meaningful governance at the district level. Why is it so? The state cannot function properly in the hill areas or for that matter the law is non-existent in the hills. Look at all the district level government offices functioning from the state capital. How long can this type of functioning or distant governance continue? Something has to be done or a system has to be put in place for the offices to function in its proper place. After clearing off Chandel District of insurgents, the security forces made tall claims of creating a secure environment for government officials to function properly from district or sub-divisional offices. Does the condition still exist? Now, the government is saying that all security forces have acknowledged improvement in the law and order situation in the hills following signing of agreement with Kuki militant outfits in 2009. It also said, the Suspension of Operations (SoO) Agreement with Kuki UG groups under KNO and UPF was also renewed for one year at New Delhi on 16-08-2011 and approximately 1500 cadres have shifted to eleven designated camps.  The government further claimed that, meetings of the Joint
Monitoring Group are held frequently to ensure that the SoO Groups abide by the Agreed Ground Rules.  Do they really abide by the Ground Rules; say in the case of recent elections? Ask anybody, and they will reply otherwise. Numerous cases of violation of the agreed Ground Rules were reported, and the Joint Monitoring Group is doing nothing except for some threats of action which do not follow. Here again, the attitudinal problem rises its head. The state has immobilized the Kuki groups to some extent. But what is it doing with regard to the Nagas. They always seem to forget that besides the NSCNs and Naga bodies there is an independent entity called the common people. In the recent assembly elections, the common people in the Naga areas have spoken clearly, whatever be the aspirations of certain groups. Isn’t the time ripe for reaching out to the common people in the Naga areas and to address the varied problems of basic amenities?

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2012/03/governance-and-attitudes/

 Leader Writer: Wangkheimayum Bhupendra Singh

The stage is all set for Okram Ibobi Singh to start his third innings in power and at the helm of state affairs. Amidst speculations of a hung assembly and criticisms of bad governance in their previous tenures, the Congress returned with a thumping victory in the 10th Manipur Legislative Assembly election, thereby silencing its critics and supporters alike for the time being. Nonetheless, it should not take for granted the mandate given by the Manipur electorate. The public it seems is yearning for someone to lead them against odds and adversaries, and what better timing is there for the new government than the present to establish the much needed rapport between the government and the public. The thumping victory it has managed to achieve must have healed any harm or damage inflicted upon the party before the polls and the public seem to be rejoicing with the idea of a new government, and this must have boosted its morale and confidence to a new high. This is when the proverbial expression “strike when the iron is hot” comes in. Everything is set for the new government; its confidence is high, and it has the people’s support if we look at the huge victory and the Centre’s support. It is time for the elected members to commit themselves to the public and earn a place in their hearts. Speculations doing rounds among the general public about the new government are rife with new faces being inducted as ministers by abandoning old faces. And if this indeed becomes the reality, than the government could certainly earn more brownie points by choosing characters, who are educated, friendly, warm, lovable and sympathetic to the cause of the general public, as ministers. 

Maintaining such attitude while choosing the ministers would certainly lessen the divide between the elected representatives and the electorate. The general perception has been that, once elections are over the elected representatives would go into hibernation and that they would certainly come out once again only when the next election comes around. The people as such are left out on their own in between the elections. The elected representatives for once and all should erase all such negative perceptions from the public memory and act out to help the public construe a more proper and appropriate image of them. The new government and its elected representatives could certainly change this with some minute detailing before the MLAs are inducted into the cabinet. The state needs good governance and for that a hero and a leader is needed. The elected representatives must be ever ready to respond at the beck and call of the people. And if we expect the government to maintain decorum in their interaction with the public, we, as the general public, should also maintain certain decorum so that the relation between the two is not disturbed. The ministers inducted should be wary of public wrath and carefully monitor how the public form ideas about them. They should be responsible for the development in all aspects of the state and its people.

The fact that Chief Minister O Ibobi has managed to complete two terms in office and starting on with the third in such a politically volatile state as Manipur is no mean feat as such. However, it is very much clear that the state also needs a hero to lead the way. The public has by electing their representatives done their bit, it is now for the elected lawmakers to make them heard and create their own image. With the formation of a new government in the state, the general public has high hopes and lots of expectations and it is up to the newly elected representatives to fulfill all of them. Let’s hope the new government could walk hand in hand with the public and bring peace, development and unity to the state in the coming years.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2012/03/the-house-needs-a-hero/

In the 9th Manipur assembly, we had at least some veteran politicians in the Opposition bench. It is still too early to predict the performance of the opposition in the 10th Manipur Assembly. But one thing is clear, most of the newly elected non-Congress MLAs are first-timers and most of them would be lost in the procedural maze of the parliamentary norms and practices. It takes years and much more than a term to learn the parliamentary practices and the intricacies of floor management. There would be few to help, but many to bully or mock their ignorance. Even the Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh in the run-up to the recently concluded elections mocked at the lacklustre performance of the Opposition MLAs. So it would be too cruel for the people to expect much from the opposition inside the assembly. So, where do we look to for raising the important issues and how do we bring to the public notice the woes and grievances of the people?

Dr M Nara, State Secretary of the Communist Party of India, had a point when he said, they will fight for the cause of the people outside the assembly and in the streets. Except for some sit-in-protests and antics, opposition parties have not been taking the lead or initiative in major issues confronting the state. Serious political rallies by political parties had become a very rare commodity in the recent past. Street politics could no longer influence electoral politics. Refusal of opposition to take the political leadership is one of the major factors of such a pitiable situation in our politics today. For instance, we may recall the stance and attitude of the opposition with regard to the July 23 incident at Khwairamband Bazar. The opposition simply could not take advantage of the ongoing session of the assembly then to highlight the issue of fake encounters. They could have brought the O Ibobi government to its knees. They instead choose to congratulate O Ibobi and the SPF government.  Outside the assembly, they remained spectators of the civil society movement. The people had not forgotten that, and they are still forgiving the opposition.  The opposition has to first accept that and draw lessons from past mistakes, before it takes its fight to the streets. They must apologise and seek forgiveness from the people for the July 23 fiasco. They must also have the courage to admit mistakes. One needs courage and conviction to become a serious player in today’s politics and for a better political culture. They must have the qualities of imagination, integrity, independence and incorruptibility. This is of course a rare combination of qualities. They must possess vision and understanding to tackle the immense problems facing the people and must, after objective analysis, be able to highlight worthwhile and long-lasting solutions. For instance, they must develop a Vision for the state and prepare a roadmap for ushering in prosperity instead of populism and tall promises. They must have a critical mind to analyse government policies with sound logic. The Communist Party of India is a cadre based party, even though small in numbers. Still, its cadres are useful in the dissemination of its basic policies and political stances among the general public. However, the party needs to adapt better to the Manipur situation. Other opposition parties should follow suit and start developing a dedicated base among the people. The Manipur Peoples Party had a base in the past, but it vanished due to infighting among party leaders. Regionalism could be a useful tool for developing a base once again. But first they have to prove their sincerity to the people. By now they must have realised, anti-Congressism and emotive politics does not work anymore.  If by chance they are still caught in that illusion, forget the fight and retire from politics. If not, it is time to begin preparations for the streetfight.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2012/03/in-search-of-a-opposition/

All is not well in the Congress party, even though Okram Ibobi Singh was sworn in as the Chief Minister for a third term. CM Ibobi loyalists including some party heavyweights are opposed to the idea of elevating state Congress chief Gaikhangam to the post of Deputy Chief Minister, while it appears Gaikhangam refuses to be sworn in as a mere Cabinet Minister under O Ibobi Singh. With memos flying in from both the camps to the AICC High Command, the Chief Minister rushed to New Delhi with Gaikhangam and the AICC Manipur incharge Luzinho Falerio a few hours after the swearing in ceremony.

The newly elected Congress MLAs had earlier surrendered their right to choose a leader from among themselves, to the party high command. There are enough speculations on the decision of party President Sonia Gandhi or for that matter the formula worked out by the party high command in the Manipur leadership issue. Has the high command decided in favor of Gaikhangam as the Deputy CM? If that is so, why are they objecting to the decision now? Whatever be the tradition in the Congress party, we are not enamored with the top-down approach in deciding state leadership issues. Look at the recent Uttarkhand example, wherein majority of the newly elected Congress MLAs are objecting to the high command’s decision to usher in Vijay Bahuguna as the new Chief Minister. Of the 32 Congress MLAs in the 70-member Uttarkhand Legislative Assembly, 24 Congress MLAs boycotted the swearing-in ceremony of Vijay Bahuguna. The crisis is boiling over with another CM aspirant Harish Rawat resigning from the Union Cabinet.

Manipur’s case is different. The leadership issue has been settled with the swearing-in of Okram Ibobi Singh as the Chief Minister for the third consecutive term. The dispute, it appears, is over the compromise formula worked out by the party High Command. Going by the track record of High Command decisions with regard to Manipur, it is always wary of Okram Ibobi Singh becoming too powerful. We have seen enough examples of that in the selection of party nominees to the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha, when the High Command rejected CM Ibobi proposal to nominate his own men by nominating veteran leader and former CM Rishang Keishing in the Rajya Sabha and Dr T Meinya Singh in the Lok Sabha, and again in rejecting Ibobi’s candidate for the post of MPCC President, which went in favour of Gaikhangam. Further, CM Ibobi Singh could not act against dissident Minister Yumkham Erabot, despite his open criticism of CM Ibobi Singh. Erabot was Gaikhangam’s man in the Ibobi Cabinet. Gaikhangam had been a Cabinet Minister in the first Ibobi led SPF government. But he had resigned following differences with the Chief Minister. He refrained from joining the SPF II citing the ‘One Man One Post’ principle. Besides this tussle, the selection of 11 MLAs from among the 42 elected MLAs is going to be a headache for the Chief Minister, this time. CM Ibobi Singh would certainly have his preferences for inclusion in the government. But, he has also to think of the remaining 30 MLAs who would not be ministers and who would be ever ready to jump the gun. So, he might also be thinking that it is best left to the party High Command even for the composition of his own ministry. But, things are not that easy in politics. Okram Ibobi is not a person who would easily surrender his prerogative or command of the government that he is heading. Despite his past mistakes and indifference to basic issues, ten years at the helm of state affairs has given him enough rope or strings to pull in politics whether in New Delhi or in the state. Yet, he must also understand that the time has come to mend fences with his rivals in the party in the interest of the state.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2012/03/time-to-mend-fences/

All is not well in the Congress party, even though Okram Ibobi Singh was sworn in as the Chief Minister for a third term. CM Ibobi loyalists including some party heavyweights are opposed to the idea of elevating state Congress chief Gaikhangam to the post of Deputy Chief Minister, while it appears Gaikhangam refuses to be sworn in as a mere Cabinet Minister under O Ibobi Singh. With memos flying in from both the camps to the AICC High Command, the Chief Minister rushed to New Delhi with Gaikhangam and the AICC Manipur incharge Luzinho Falerio a few hours after the swearing in ceremony.

The newly elected Congress MLAs had earlier surrendered their right to choose a leader from among themselves, to the party high command. There are enough speculations on the decision of party President Sonia Gandhi or for that matter the formula worked out by the party high command in the Manipur leadership issue. Has the high command decided in favor of Gaikhangam as the Deputy CM? If that is so, why are they objecting to the decision now? Whatever be the tradition in the Congress party, we are not enamored with the top-down approach in deciding state leadership issues. Look at the recent Uttarkhand example, wherein majority of the newly elected Congress MLAs are objecting to the high command’s decision to usher in Vijay Bahuguna as the new Chief Minister. Of the 32 Congress MLAs in the 70-member Uttarkhand Legislative Assembly, 24 Congress MLAs boycotted the swearing-in ceremony of Vijay Bahuguna. The crisis is boiling over with another CM aspirant Harish Rawat resigning from the Union Cabinet.

Manipur’s case is different. The leadership issue has been settled with the swearing-in of Okram Ibobi Singh as the Chief Minister for the third consecutive term. The dispute, it appears, is over the compromise formula worked out by the party High Command. Going by the track record of High Command decisions with regard to Manipur, it is always wary of Okram Ibobi Singh becoming too powerful. We have seen enough examples of that in the selection of party nominees to the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha, when the High Command rejected CM Ibobi proposal to nominate his own men by nominating veteran leader and former CM Rishang Keishing in the Rajya Sabha and Dr T Meinya Singh in the Lok Sabha, and again in rejecting Ibobi’s candidate for the post of MPCC President, which went in favour of Gaikhangam. Further, CM Ibobi Singh could not act against dissident Minister Yumkham Erabot, despite his open criticism of CM Ibobi Singh. Erabot was Gaikhangam’s man in the Ibobi Cabinet. Gaikhangam had been a Cabinet Minister in the first Ibobi led SPF government. But he had resigned following differences with the Chief Minister. He refrained from joining the SPF II citing the ‘One Man One Post’ principle. Besides this tussle, the selection of 11 MLAs from among the 42 elected MLAs is going to be a headache for the Chief Minister, this time. CM Ibobi Singh would certainly have his preferences for inclusion in the government. But, he has also to think of the remaining 30 MLAs who would not be ministers and who would be ever ready to jump the gun. So, he might also be thinking that it is best left to the party High Command even for the composition of his own ministry. But, things are not that easy in politics. Okram Ibobi is not a person who would easily surrender his prerogative or command of the government that he is heading. Despite his past mistakes and indifference to basic issues, ten years at the helm of state affairs has given him enough rope or strings to pull in politics whether in New Delhi or in the state. Yet, he must also understand that the time has come to mend fences with his rivals in the party in the interest of the state.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2012/03/time-to-mend-fences/

The stage is set for Okram Ibobi Singh to be sworn in as the Chief Minister for a third consecutive term. It is still too early to predict, whether he is going to be same leader that the people of Manipur knew or is he going to make a fresh beginning with lessons drawn from past mistakes. Yet, there is no harm in making a wish list from the new government. We think a beginning can be made this same month by presenting a full budget in the first session of the 10th Manipur Assembly and by not seeking a Vote on Account for three or four months. It has sadly become a precedent in the last many years for governments to rush in a Vote on Account in the eleventh hour and go for a full budget session in June. It was somewhat understandable during those times when State Plans are finalised by the Planning Commission in the third or last quarter of a financial year. For states like Manipur where the gap between resources and expenses are wide, it was very difficult to set an agenda for the state without the finalisation of the State Plan.

Gone are those days. Now, the drill for formulation begins early and State Plans are being finalised before the commencement of a financial year. We understand the time constraints as the new financial year begins on April 1. We also understand, a budget has to go through a rigorous process before it is passed by the legislative assembly. The budget goes through five stages which are, presentation of budget with the Finance Minister`s speech, general discussion, voting on demand for grants, passing of appropriation bills and passing of the finance bill. Yet, a beginning has to be made somewhere somehow. If there is a will, it could be achieved however difficult be the circumstances.

The exercise is different in the case of the Union Budget. It combines top down approach with the Ministry of Finance and the Planning Commission issuing guidelines or communicating instructions to spending Ministries, and a bottom-up approach wherein the spending Ministries present requests for budget allocation. Although some changes could be seen in the preparation of the state budget in recent years, attitudinal change is yet to emerge in the political leadership and also in the state bureaucracy. Many of them are still looking at it as a mere balance sheet or a simple financial statement. Of course, it is an annual financial statement, but with an agenda for the ensuing financial year. It is a sort of Vision Document for the year. For the incoming Okram Ibobi led Congress government, it could be a Vision Document for the term. It will set the agenda for the coming years, now that they have achieved the much needed stability with more two-third majority in the 60 member assembly. Last year in March while presenting the State Budget Chief Minister Okram Ibobi said, ‘after almost 10 years at the helm of state affairs we are happy to note that the state is slowly reaping the fruits of various development measures that we undertook during those years. Now, we have to further consolidate these developmental gains so that the aspirations and expectations of every single Manipuri are fulfilled.’ Beautiful words, indeed. But, deeds must follow. Begin the good work with the appointment of a dedicated Finance Minister in the new government. Institute a think tank and an economic advisory team to advise the new government, as Manipur has take full advantage of India’s Look East Policy. Next, tackle the basics like safe drinking water, proper health care facilities in rural and far-flung areas and power supply.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2012/03/full-budget-please/

In recent times, it has become a regular feature for self-righteous groups to issue diktats limiting Thabal Chongba within the 5-day Yaoshang festival. One of the main reasons given for such limitation is Class X or XII examinations which usually fall in the beginning of spring season. We have suggested in the past that this could be done away by taking into consideration the issues of adolescence and teenage youth associated with Thabal Chongba while scheduling Class X and XII examinations. Whenever diktats on Thabal Chongba are issued, we always wonder how one can encapsulate adolescent energy within a limited timeframe. Adolescence is a transitional stage of physical sex and mental human development generally occurring between puberty and adulthood. In plain language, it is a transitional period whose chief purpose is the preparation of children for adult roles. Romantic relationships tend to develop during adolescence. It marks a time of sexual maturation, which manifests in social interactions as well. The expression of sexual desire among adolescents is influenced by family values and the culture and religion they have grown up in. An adolescent’s sexual socialization is highly dependent upon the society they live in and how restrictive or permissive that society is when it comes to sexual activity.

One may pose a question as to why we are dragging in the issue of adolescence with regard to Thabal Chongba. We may trace the origin of Thabal Chongba in the ancient Ke-Kre Chongba, which forms part of the Lai Haraoba ritual. The ancient scriptures say, the Meiteis have been performing this folk dance since the pre-Hindu days in the form of Kei-Yen (dance encircling Pakhangba. Lai Haraoba is being regarded by experts as a fertility rite. The Meiteis believe the ritual will lead to fertility in the life of man, a good harvest and a healthy communal life. Thabal Chongba is a folk dance wherein young girls and boys dance in circles holding each other’s hand. The dance heralds the onset of spring season and invokes fertility, prosperity and better harvest. Later, it also became a socially sanctioned space where young boys and girls get to know each other and for romantic relationships to develop.

Although the Meiteis were conservative, they also created spaces for youth relationships. We have in our lore, young boys courting girls in the latter’s home with parental sanction. We have Likkon Saanaba where young boys and girls get to know each other through a local game of dice. Sadly, these socially sanctioned spaces have vanished in recent times with self-righteous groups throwing in more and more restrictions. And these had a negative impact on adolescent behavior which led to increase in date rape and pre-marital sex and other forms of sexual behavior. Every now and then, we are witnessing raids in semi-lit restaurants by pressure groups and even public shaming or punishment of young people found in unsavory conditions. We are of the opinion that, such type of campaign will only aggravate the problem, whatever that be. The real task in hand is the creation of socially sanctioned spaces for adolescent interaction and positive relationships taking into consideration the changing dynamics of our society and the transformations taking place elsewhere. It has become more with the advent of information technology and its vast number of mediums such as computers, cell phones, stereos and televisions, adolescents’ use of media has skyrocketed in the past decade. But, for the sake of our youth, let us do away with restrictions on Thabal Chongba.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2012/03/yaoshang-thabal/

The 10th Manipur Assembly elections have brought back the Indian National Congress with a thumping majority despite exit poll predictions of a hung assembly and of party expectations. The results have proved otherwise and it will remain one of the most memorable elections in recent times. For the first time in Manipur’s electoral history since statehood in 1972, Congress crossed the magic figure of 30 and achieved absolute majority in the 60-member Manipur Legislative Assembly. It was only in the 1984 and 2007 assembly elections that the party had been able to reach the figure 30. In 2002, Congress party was able to return only 20, but it formed the first SPF government with CPI and some other parties. In the process, it gobbled up smaller parties like the MSCP and DRPP, and it was able to perform better in 2007. Perhaps, this is one of the main reasons for projection of a minus 30 figure in the 2012 assembly elections by exit polls and poll pundits. Internal dissension within the party was also one of the factors for the projection.

Dissension reached newer heights with senior minister Yumkham Erabot openly speaking out against the policies of the Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh. The main challenge against sitting MLA Yumkham Erabot came from Okram Henry of Manipur State Congress Party (MSCP), a nephew of the CM. In fact, MSCP was considered the B-Team of Chief Minister Okram Ibobi, a fallback in case he loses some crucial support in the incoming Congress Legislature Party (CLP). In the pre-poll scenario, this internal dissension was linked to Congress party’s prospects in the 2012 elections and not on a resurgent opposition.

Opposition politics has been on the wane since Okram Ibobi Singh came to power in 2002. In this election, we have seen the demise of veteran politicians like former Chief Minister Radhabinod Koijam of NCP, veteran Opposition leader Okram Joy and former Union Minister Th Chaoba Singh of the Manipur Peoples Party (MPP). This is primarily the fault of the opposition parties themselves. The changing dynamics of power politics in the state has reduced members of the opposition to mere spectators, unable to assert its existence. Over and above its failure to play the role of a responsible opposition in and outside the Manipur Legislative Assembly, it could not set an agenda or pose a viable alternative to the Congress in the just concluded assembly elections. The once powerful regional party MPP simply vanished, with some of its MLAs leaving the party and joining the Congress bandwagon and others. The Communist Party of India (CPI), a major partner in the two SPF governments drew blank in 2012. The BJP has not been able make a re-entry in Manipur since its exit in 2007 elections. Whatever be their ideologies both regional and national, we lament their exit of these once powerful parties and veterans from Manipur politics. Veteran leaders were there in the past two assemblies, albeit their lackluster performance in and outside the assembly. The last minute efforts of MPP and CPI to botch up a post-poll alliance and an alternative to the Congress turned out to be a damp squib with both parties failing to open an account. Their attempt to build bridges with the Naga Peoples Front will remain a blot in the coming years. In the 10th Manipur Assembly, we will certainly be missing a spirited opposition. This is indeed the beginning of a sad chapter in Manipur politics. Another tragedy in the recent elections is the entry of Thekedars in the guise of social workers cum politicians. This reflects the absence of a political culture and the influence of money in Manipur politics.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2012/03/record-victory-for-congress/

UN Special Rapporteur Margaret Sekaggya’s report to the UN Human Rights Council regarding India’s human rights situation is indeed a landmark step towards the movement for repeal of draconian laws specially the dreaded Armed Forces Special Powers Act 1958. The Armed Forces Special Powers Act 1958 was enacted specifically for Manipur and the other six States in the region. It negates every constitutional and legal provision concerning human rights when a State or a part of it has been declared a ‘disturbed area’ under the Act. With its prolonged imposition, the cycle of violence had only increased both in geographical spread and intensity. Enforced disappearances, arbitrary executions, torture, rape & molestation, house breaking, looting, arbitrary detention, etc., have became a part of everyday life in Manipur. And yet, few perpetrators of these gross violations of human rights ever got indicted or prosecuted. For all practical purposes, the armed forces enjoy complete immunity under the Act. Under the AFSPA, the armed forces are protected with immunity from their overt acts. However, this sense of not having to answer for their actions have percolated down to the state forces to such an extent that the Manipur Police Commandos are running amok killing people on their own without any thought to the impending consequences. This infectious air of impunity has filtered down to the state security forces thereby creating a new state sponsored terrorist group in the form of the commandos. Instituted for the purpose of containing insurgency in the state, the Manipur Police Commandos have tangentially digressed from their objectives and embarked upon the path of self-gain policy and fulfillment of personal agendas. The futile protests by the civilian population of the state to repeal the draconian laws, the ignored concerns and recommendations by the international bodies including the UN Human Rights Committee to review and repeal AFSPA as well as the failure of the Indian government to take any action on the recommendations of the committee led by Justice B.P. Jeevan Reddy, constituted in the wake of the killing of Thangjam Manorama in the year 2004, for the repeal of AFSPA prompted Human Rights Watch to comment that “The Indian government has not only ignored the pleas of ordinary Manipuris and UN human rights bodies to repeal the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, but has even ignored the findings of its own committee. This reflects the sort of callousness that breeds anger, hate and further violence.” The recent report in The Hindu daily regarding denial of prosecution sanctions sought against Army officers against whom serious charges of heinous crimes committed under cover of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, by the Union home ministry is worth mentioning here. The Hindu report had said that in the past four years alone, the Union home ministry rejected at least 42 requests to sanction the prosecution of military personnel found by the police to have engaged in crimes such as murder, homicide and rape in Kashmir. This report quite ironically comes in the wake of a Supreme Court judgement by a two-judge bench a week earlier that the AFSPA, ought not to cover cases in which crimes such as murder or rape were committed.

In such a background, the recent recommendation of the UN Special Rapporteur calling for repeal of special laws like the AFSPA, National Security Act, Unlawful Activities Prevention Act and others cannot be easily ignored. This once again confirms that, the AFSPA has outlived its days. It is an Act to handle an emergency situation. As we said earlier, if this emergency has lasted over half a century, the prognosis cannot be still called an emergency much less tackled as an emergency. It is a much more sustained ailment and the therapy would have to be something radically different from how it is being treated currently.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2012/03/afspa-has-to-go/

Leader Writer: Hrishikesh Angom
The new recruitment norm of Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan as introduced by the state education department is a welcome step towards building confidence amongst the educated unemployed youths. Thousands of undergraduates and graduates have recently been recruited based on their academic performance and an eligibility test, but without viva-voce or interview. Many candidates and the general people have raised doubts regarding transparency in the recent recruitment process.

Although the recruitment process of RMSA and SSA is not that proficient, the results could be written in golden letters in the history of Manipur. It has been a notion that government jobs in the state are purchasable at a certain specific rate, say ten lakh rupees for some grade-I post or five lakh for grade-II. Majority of our youths remain dejected while only some fortunate could procure jobs by paying the requisite amount. This has been in vogue for quite a long time. However, the new recruitment norm could be regarded as a “revolutionary” step taken up by the state government towards establishing confidence among the educated unemployed youths. Many proficient youths have been selected as graduate teachers without spending even a single paise. People have much faith in them that they will work with dedication to bring a radical change in the education scenario of the state unlike the previous years. Among those successful candidates, many possess master’s degree with consistent good academic records besides the prerequisite qualification of B.Ed. Notably some candidates are also PhD degree holders who are well-qualified to teach at the university level. This new recruitment policy has indeed rejuvenated hope and aspiration among the youths. Many might have languished if they were not given such opportunity this time.

The dark side of this new recruitment policy is that malpractices are still going on in some examination centres in far-flung areas. Mass copying, impersonation etc. are very much prevalent in these centres. Quite often, students from urban areas migrate to these centres and turned up with flying colours in examinations. In the midst of such practices, those successful candidates cannot be judged exactly as “qualified teachers”. There may possibly be many candidates who have scored high marks using all sorts of unfair means. Nevertheless, such recruitment policy is a step towards curtailing “corruption” in the most controversial department of education (schools).

It will be more appropriate if the authorities concerned formulate more proficient recruitment policy free from corruption and nepotism. The youths are the backbone of the society and hence healthy competition must be encouraged among them. Corruption has really disturbed the minds of our youths. Our society may perish soon if the youths are made to go in the wrong direction. The government cannot alone fulfill all needful things for the youths, but then things like corruption free job recruitment will at least give a ray of hope to them. Only RMSA or SSA will not work. There should be transparency in every competitive and job recruitment examination. RMSA and SSA recruitment should be an exemplary approach. The youths have much greater expectation than this.

The government should better keep up the aspiration of the youths by ensuring corruption free competitive examinations. The RMSA and SSA results are just a trailer. The full picture is yet to be presented by the government. This trailer has lit up the faces of many youths who have nearly lost faith in the present system. The government should think seriously on this matter. Corruption can be rooted out if the government employees are recruited in a more transparent manner. The newly recruited teachers will think twice before moving away from their responsibilities. The buyer-seller type of relationship between the government and the employees will eventually come to an end if the recruitment is made purely on merit basis. The youths will surely welcome the change with great expectations from the new government.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2012/03/great-expectations/

Union Home Minister P Chidambaram’s statement on Tuesday at a meeting of the parliamentary consultative committee of the home ministry in New Delhi, regarding trifurcation of police in the states by creating separate cadres for investigation and prosecution, besides one for the law and order handling is noteworthy in respect of conflict ridden states of the Northeast and Jammu & Kashmir. In these states, the police force have been concentrating most of its energy towards handling law and order and counter-insurgency, while neglecting the area of crime investigation and criminal prosecution. As a direct result of which, pending cases have been piling up every month every year reaching unmanageable heights. One stark example can be the huge number of undertrial prisoners in the state jails and the long periods they had to wait for their charge-sheets to come up in the courts. Indirectly, the abnormal situation has created room for more corruption in the police force. On the other hand, public confidence in the police force has been diminishing day by day. Consequently, a vigilante culture has developed to fill in the vacuum created by the police inaction.

In the last few years in Manipur, we have been witnessing several instances of angry mobs ransacking the houses of alleged perpetrators of crimes, while the police role have been reduced to that of rescuing the alleged perpetrators from the mob. In their rescue attempt, they also have not been able to impress upon the general public that they are trying to drive home the dictum of ‘innocence until proven guilty.’ In fact, they are viewed as the protectors of criminals and not as upholders of law. This necessarily indicates that, the police force cannot extricate itself from the imagined maze of law and order and insurgency problem.

The police in Manipur have long forgotten it has an essential role to play in crime investigation and prosecution also. The strength of the state police force was substantially increased during the two consecutive terms of the O Ibobi led SPF government. The need for increasing the number of police personnel or of opening more MR/IRB battalions was emphasized by Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh and top security officials of the state, every time they meet the Union Home Minister P Chidambaram or top officials of the Home Ministry. Most of the time, the Home Ministry agreed and the strength of state police force including the Manipur Rifles and IRB, increased in leaps and bounds. In fact, the O Ibobi Singh government had a gala time in the recruitment spree and massive gains were made in their respective support bases. Sadly, the increase was more in the law and order front like Police Commando or IRB battalions. The crucial branches of crime investigation and prosecution were simply ignored. The recent bifurcation in the District Police set-up by creating two posts of Additional SPs each in the districts, one for handling operations and another for supervising crime investigation, could not do justice towards strengthening investigation. These days, nobody wants a posting in the police stations. The lure of the Commando Branch and its advantages in promotion and other sops is such that, anyone who has enough political backing or lakhs to spare will strive for a posting in the Commando Branch.

If the Home ministry is really serious about police reforms or revamping the investigation and prosecution branches, it should also take into account the above factors. Although law and order is a state subject, the home ministry must impress upon the states the need for strengthening the two branches while discouraging opening of more battalions for counter-insurgency operations. Enough is enough. A line has to be drawn somewhere. 

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2012/02/heed-the-word/

The issue of textbook availability haunts Manipur at the beginning of academic session. It will still continue to haunt us in the years to come, if we refuse to learn lessons from the past. If we are to seek a solution to this chronic problem, a proper diagnosis is needed. At the very outset, we need to question the attitude and commitment of our education planners and managers towards the problem. Which state agency is executing school textbook policy right from planning to production stage? For the present, the Board of Secondary Education, Manipur (BOSEM) is being charged with the task. Previously, it was the State Council of Educational Research & Training (SCERT).

How the ‘task’ changed hands will indeed be interesting for us to recall. It all started with a campaign by the All Manipur Students’ Union (AMSU) for systematic planning of textbooks through research and a deliberative process. Before the AMSU campaign, SCERT use to invite proposed textbooks from individual writers and publishing firms. The books will go through a selection process, as they said. Then, it becomes the sole responsibility of the selected publishers to publish the selected textbooks and ensure availability in time. But after the campaign, a complete overhauling of the system was done which led to the introduction of group discussions on regional content and group writing of textbooks. And then, top officials of the SCERT began to lose interest in textbook business. They were so powerful that, within a short period of time they lobbied with the government and succeeded in doing away with textbooks and assigning it to the BOSEM, whose main activity then was conducting HSLC examinations. Like the
National Council of Educational Research & Training (NCERT), the basic purpose of establishing SCERTs in the states was for educational research and development of textbooks with regional content including production. How did they manage to convince the government otherwise is still a mystery. Yet, we may deduce from that singular action that the SCERT officials are indeed powerful and that top ministers and officials have no interest in educational planning and research. This is what we call, an indifferent attitude on the part of the state towards education.

Having said this, we would like to discuss why state agencies always fail to avail school textbooks in time. Lack of commitment and sincerity on the part of government officials, once again, comes to the fore. They look at textbooks as an entirely commercial activity. First, they need to convince themselves that, textbook planning and development including production is purely an academic exercise. It is an exercise which will involve educationists, intellectuals and writers. Times have changed and gone are the days of individual writers. A multi-disciplinary approach has become a necessity in the development of textbooks. Be it in English language or Manipuri language or the sciences, multi-disciplinary deliberations is needed, given the changing dynamics of human thought processes and globalization. What kind of citizens do we need to take forward the country in the ever changing world? This must necessarily the guiding principle in the development of the curriculum and textbooks. For such an exercise, multi-disciplinary approach and group writing of textbooks is needed. Secondly, printing and publication of textbooks should be the sole responsibility of state agencies. Outsourcing the task to private parties is another matter. But, publishing responsibility and timely distribution should remain with the state agency handling textbooks. Once again, we are of the opinion that, SCERT should be entrusted with the planning and development including publication of school textbooks. If a change of guard in the top echelons of SCERT is necessary for realization of the same, let it be so. These are some of our thoughts. But for a deeper look, an in-depth study and examination of the problem is required. Perhaps, a high powered committee should be instituted. Frontline civil society organizations inclusive of student organizations should also start looking for solutions instead of starting a blame game.  

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2012/02/textbook-business/

The vacillation over whether to hold repoll or not in Manipur on allegation of proxy voting has brought out yet again a very serious but continually sidelined issue. Since photo identity cards are now available for all voters and instant photographs of all who turn up to vote on the day of voting were taken, it is obvious identity of those who transgressed the law and which polling station would be known exactly. This being the case, the question should not be just of repoll or no repoll, but of penalty for those who broke law as well as law keepers who allowed this transgression. It is heartening that a repoll is being planned after initial hesitation, but as we have said, the issue goes much beyond this. We suggest a committee be immediately formed so as to spot all those who committed the crime of impersonation and proxy voting, and once done, these men and women to be suitably punished as per law. We also suggest the government, immediately after the election process is concluded, institute an inquiry to track down where the official lapses have been and punish officials responsible for the lapses suitably, again as per law and the degree of neglect or compliance as the case may be. Failure to do this would lower the esteem of the law before the public. Unfortunately, such degradation has today become a practised norm rather than exception.

It is time to clean up the act. Everybody talks so much about the electoral process being rendered a farce every election year, yet nobody seems bothered thinking of remedial measures imaginatively. Few in the government or election planners have ever looked outside of the claustrophobic box they are trapped in to look for answers to the urgent woes the electoral process is suffering from currently. What is also often forgotten is, the loss is not just in term of one unfair election, but a conditioning of the public attitude that cheating in elections has no direct personal prices to be paid. This, nobody would dispute, is the ground for perpetuating the farce that everybody accuses elections in Manipur to be. It is time to pull the plug. This election more than any other is the right occasion to do it, for as we have said there would be overwhelming evidences to isolate those who wilfully cheated and thus degraded what is indeed the most important foundation of democracy in the state. As a demonstration the long arms of the law still exist in the state and country, and that the law would not turn the other way when electoral crimes are committed, the law must be invoked now to confront the cheats. If this were done, electoral cheating would no longer be treated so casually as it all along has been in the decades that have gone by. Conversely, if nothing is done this time, even when there are glaring photographic evidences of what seems to be rampant cheating, this malpractice would get even more brazen and widespread in future elections.

The fallout would go even farther. In fact the belittling of law by lawmakers and law keepers has been one of the chief reasons for the almost total decay in the law and order situation in the state. Take for instance a simple example of the traffic chaos that has become everybody’s daily nightmare in Imphal. Nearly everybody takes turn to break traffic norms, together contributing to the frustrating and time wasting traffic jams on practically all major roads during office going and returning hours. True there is an element of individual selfishness in the urge to jump queues and be ahead of others who deserve to be in front by virtue of being there first, but the law is also meant to regulate this selfishness. Nobody is ever pulled up for breaking these norms, and there is no way this can be done effectively for among those who break these norms most often are precisely law makers and keepers. A few months ago none other than the chief minister of the state Okram Ibobi had announced publicly that nobody except the Governor would be allowed to use the sacrosanct space of the Kangla as vehicular thoroughfare. Quite ironically, today, practically every government official who considers himself a VIP, except the Governor, and every uniformed personnel of the government, continues to use the Kangla as thoroughfare as if it were their birthright. Under the circumstance, how can anybody expect the law to command any awe amongst the public.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2012/02/penalty-forgotten/