Tag: Editorial

It seems the Election Commission of India has finally succumbed to political pressure. As the Commission choose to sidestep the issue of repoll, Manipur’s public have been denied of a free and fair election. The entire exercise of photographing voters by polling officials and photo comparison and the vivid photographic evidence of proxy voting in 523 polling stations have been wasted. The question is, why has the Commission shied away from its avowed objectives. In the beginning, Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi’s team looked tough and utterly committed to the cause of electoral reforms. And the general public was expecting a good election. We, at IFP, had chosen to congratulate Quraishi and his team a few days ago for their bold and ambitious measures, particularly the act of photographing voters with the inked finger, SVEEP campaign and of Media Certification & Monitoring. We had even appealed to political parties to cooperate with the Commission so as to ensure a free and fair election. Officials at the State Election Department burned midnight oil to complete the task of photo comparison in time. People have been eagerly waiting for the plot to unfold and the exposure of corrupt electoral practices. Yet, the Commission chose to close its eyes to telltale signs of proxy voting.

We understand, the act of conducting repoll in more than 100 polling stations is an onerous task which will involve huge logistical problems like security arrangement. But, it is not at all fair to sacrifice the necessity of a transparent election process for the sake of logistics. The Commission has at its disposal government officials and the huge security apparatus of the state. A huge expenditure has been incurred in purchasing mobile phones equipped with camera, more polling personnel were involved, and officials of the state election department had been harassed with the task of photo comparison. And it has all gone down the drain.

We must also mention the tremendous pressure given to the state media in the name of checking the practice of paid news by the Media Certification & Monitoring Cell. The pressure was such that, the state media developed a fear psychosis, and the essence of press freedom became blurred with the looming threat of ‘paid news.’ That perhaps explains the lack of complaints on ‘paid news’ were received from Manipur, while complaints were plenty in states like Uttar Pradesh and Punjab. The electorate was deprived the opportunity of critically assessing the various candidates including the sitting MLAs. In the United States, the state machinery seldom intervenes when the media discusses a candidate. If we are to elect a good leader, we should given the freedom of discussing the background details including the ideology and policy stance, character and moral of each candidate. The All Manipur Working Journalists Union put up a demand for representation in the State Level Media Certification & Monitoring Cell to the Chief Electoral Officer, a file was processed by the CEO’s office alongwith the approval of the ECI for inducting a senior member of the state media in the State Level Media Certification & Monitoring Cell. However, the file could not find its way out bureaucratic Chakrabhyu of SLMCMC.

Having said this, we would like to ask the Election Commission once again to review its decision not to conduct repoll in polling stations where cases of proxy voting has been detected, in public interest and for the cause of a free and fair election. If not, the Election must spell out its reasons for taking such a decision, publicly.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2012/02/the-repoll-that-never-came/

Leader Writer: Paojel Chaoba
“Public enlightenment is the forerunner of justice and the foundation of democracy.The duty of the journalist is to further those ends by seeking truth and providing a fair and comprehensive account of events and issues. Conscientious journalist from all media and specialties strive to serve the public with thoroughness and honesty. Professional integrity is the cornerstone of a journalist’s credibility” ,the Society of Professional Journalists, one of the leading voices in the United States mentions in its preamble on the subject of journalism standards and ethics.

The state media has experienced its fair share of troubles and confronted powerful elements in its objective to remain unbiased and maintain freedom of the press. The principles of journalistic codes or ‘canons of journalism’ are designed as to guide one through numerous difficulties which might arise due to conflict of interest, to assist journalist in dealing with ethical dilemmas. The codes and canons provide journalists a framework for self monitoring and self criticism. There may be different codes in different places but most share common elements including principles of truthfulness, accuracy, objectivity, impartiality, fairness and public accountability.

In spite of the norms laid down, it will be an honest opinion that not all in the journalistic fraternity follow the principles and some succumb to temptation. There may be our fair share of black sheep’s as evidently as there are numerous in the other sections of society. Manipur, a state reeling under the draconian AFSPA has seen its fair share of wanton killings and the media has clearly not run out of crime reports.The reportage of the July 23 Khwairamband Bazar incident in which Rabina and Sanjit were killed and the latter being shown in photographic witness by the Tehelka magazine as killed in a fake encounter clearly indicates the ‘bravado’ of the state media. Though, as the saying goes that one must dance to the tune of the drums, subsequently the state media might be doing the same. The fear of reprisals by either state or non state cannot merely be ruled out and it is indeed a fine thin red line that is drawn in front of the scribes. It may be safe to assume ours may be the only state in which editors and senior journalists have to meet consistently to chalk out the collective decision from a seemingly impossible ‘devil and the deep blue sea’ situations.

In spite of the perils so taken in the stride by the state media, the amount of risk and work involved in working under such hazardous conditions is certainly not reflected in the wages, especially those of the field reporters. As compared with other state counterparts, there is much left wanting in the lifestyle of one working in a local media house and certainly deserves due conference of a BPL card. It would not be asking too much of the well established media houses to give adequate wages to its ‘skilled’ workers.

Given the scenario where one is not able to maintain a family with the loose change handed by the nouveau riche proprietors, therein lies the predicament where one is faced to compromise on ethics and accept ‘gifts’ or worse, ask for one. A gift in its true sense may be the transfer of something without the expectation of payment. Although, gift giving may also involve a sense of reciprocity and mutual exchange of goods or money may lead to social cohesion. But,if a journalist becomes a gift taker, then the stance of maintain neutrality becomes highly debatable.

There are those who belonged to the media and at present living in ivory towers enjoying equal power and status.There may be also some at present with one hand in the media and the other in contract works ,which begs the question if what they are doing is justified? Their hobnobbing with politicians and officials by being a journalist have given them opportunities but is it with without compromising their ethics? Some questions sometimes best remain unanswered, but the soul needs to ask!It is felt that to foster self criticism is not waywardness but rather a means towards self development.

The need is felt for the apex body of the scribes, the AMWJU to frame an ombudsman to prevent misusing of the occupation privileges and further work to raise the living standard of the scribes.To try and fail is acceptable but the effort if wholehearted will be worthwhile as one feels that it would not be as difficult as landing a man on the moon, which was done by Yuri Gagarin way back in 1969. Otherwise, those of the majority who have held on to their principles and worked with love of the profession may be viewed in the wrong perspective by equally judging ‘others’. If we, the so called fourth pillar exposing the reality of society cannot address our own misgivings while highlighting those of others. Then, there be no bigger hypocrites than we. The motto is ‘Achumbana Yaifarae’ (Truth Prevails).

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2012/02/of-media-and-ethics/

The news of a criminal gang on a recent abduction spree is disturbing. The gang has since been busted by the police, killing a member and capturing another, but not before an innocent businessman was brutally murdered, even though, as the murdered man’s family claims, a ransom amount of Rs. 10 lakh had already been paid. The crime is beastly to say the least and deserves universal condemnation in the strongest words. The criminals need also be given the severest penalty under the law to ensure jurisprudence is not dead and gone altogether from this land. The despicable crime is also an indicator that things have gone too far and the Manipur society is on a rapid descent into complete insanity. Such crimes once upon a time were simply unheard of, and indeed unthinkable anywhere in the state. But the depressing fact is, this wakeup call would likely go unheeded as did so many others in the past, partly because of a dreadful state of moral numbness brought about by the unremitting violence the state has been witness to for half a century now, and partly because the people are too hapless and terrified to protest atrocities not just against them but humanity as such.

Come to think of it, in many ways the much talked about state terrorism embodied and exemplified by draconian laws such as the AFSPA, untenable as it is, still have some degree of accountability comparatively. At least the people are still unafraid to come out and make their anger known and demand legal retribution. Whatever it is, even savage legislations like the AFSPA are still subject to some degree of civilized control, therefore in a roundabout way, a vent still exists to purge public anger. There are also adequate also room for intellectuals in their ivory towers to ruminate and pen down beautifully coined protest phrases and adroitly argued cerebral disapprovals. Not in the violence of the kind that killed the businessman, which is now threatening the mental and physical wellbeing of the entire population indiscriminately. If allowed to go unchecked, nobody will be safe anymore. It needs however be mentioned here that this is not the first case of kidnapping for ransom. The crime has been widespread in the past one or two decades. There have been other fatalities too. The victims most of the time belong to the government contractor classes, and officials of the various engineering departments who award and monitor these contracts. But sometimes they have also been impoverished government employees, such as the caretaker of a Public Health Engineering Department, PHED, water pump, who was killed along with his son in the custody of their kidnappers who wanted the government department to pay them a huge ransom. In most cases, unless there have been fatalities, these crimes go unreported, as the victims fear for their lives.

It is time for the government to evolve a strategy to tackle this growing cancer in our society. There is some academic justification, though not approval, in calling systematic and rationalized extortion by various underground organisations as a tax mechanism to run their movements. However kidnap and murder for ransom can remotely be clubbed in the same crime category. Yet, it must be said the underground extortion tradition, sometimes using extremely brutal and coercive methods, must bear a great degree of the responsibility for the current state of madness. The violent methods they have all along been seeking to sanctify in the name of their revolutionary movements, continually raised the threshold of concern of the general public to violence. They also left rooms in the shadow of their violent ways, for the emergence of mutant criminals like the ones who kidnapped and killed an innocent businessman even after they were paid a huge sum of money, probably because they did not get the amount they demanded.
The underground groups too must ensure that they cleanse those who commit these murderous felonies in the grey areas of law keeping which they helped institutionalise. The bigger responsibility must however rest with the government. Even if insurgency is too vast an issue to be tackled by a single strategy, controlling this kind of crimes should need much less effort and resource. Let the government go about the job immediately.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2012/02/gangs-on-the-prowl/

Manipuri Language, the mother tongue of the Meiteis, is one of the most dynamic languages, ever evolving with the passage of time and change. Like its speakers, the language also went through the rigorous process of ethnic amalgamation and cultural assimilation which continued till late 18th century. According to the ancient records, seven major clans with established principalities struggled for power and supremacy in the fertile Manipur valley, for many centuries. The Mangangs otherwise known as Ningthoujas emerged victorious in the first century A.D. And they began forging a larger and composite Meitei identity through a long and complex historical process. Many tribal elements from the hills and many streams of migrating people naturally became a part of the cultural melting pot. Non-Mongoloid peoples from the Indian subcontinent, mainly Brahmins and Muslims, also started migrating in the 16th century to Manipur. They were subsequently assimilated into a larger Manipuri society. Under the impact of these migrations, a pluralistic society and polity emerged. A closer look into Manipuri language will reveal the essence of a pluralistic society and of an accommodative language, able to absorb foreign words in its vocabulary. In its effort to integrate newer groups into the larger Meitei identity, necessary changes were also incorporated into the Manipuri language. This perhaps explains the vibrancy of Manipuri language. A living and dynamic language has to be necessarily accommodative. English language is one such language. It had been able to withstand the test of time and change, while having the ability to absorb external influences or adhering to requirements of furthering its interests worldwide. As the saying goes, the sun never sets in the British Empire. Despite the entry of many foreign words, it has been able to maintain its distinct identity. This is because of the resilience and accommodative capability of the language.

Manipuri language has also some of these basic traits and characteristics of a dynamic language. Some extremist elements or revivalists object to the inclusion of foreign words in the Manipuri vocabulary. They shout from the rooftops the negative impact of sanskritization of Manipuri culture and language. They seek revival of ancient vocabulary or venture into word coinage, while refusing to understand the dynamics of a living language. On the other hand, there are conservative scholars who were nurtured in ‘sanskritized’ traditions and culture. They are obsessed with the sanskritized words or words of Bengali origin incorporated into the Manipuri language. A stark example of that is the Manipuri Sahitya Parishad. The Parishad, supposed to be the principal stakeholder in the development of Manipuri language, refuses to extricate itself from its cocoon.

The demand for establishing a separate Directorate of Manipuri Language on International Mother Language Day is justified. However, the development and evolution of a language cannot be left alone to a government department or directorate. Different stakeholders like the Parishad and Manipur University has to be involved in the process. Their commitment and openness is necessary.  A lamentation of a Manipuri scholar is that, since the inclusion of Manipuri Language in the Eight Schedule of the Indian Constitution only two things has been implemented by the state. One is the establishment of Language Cell in the Education Directorate and another is the institution of a literary award which carries rupees one lakh. Yet, the question is, what has Manipuri Sahitya Parishad contributed towards development of Manipuri language? It has been consistently receiving yearly grants from the state. What has it done to promote Manipuri language despite instituting literary awards every year? Is it turning into some kind of mutual admiration society instead of pursuing its avowed objectives?

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2012/02/language-and-speakers/

We are not surprised with the angry reactions among politicians cutting across party lines regarding repoll. Their magical world has been turned upside down. That is why they are afraid. Today’s politicians are the product of a corrupt political culture and they are also status-quoists. So, they will oppose anything new. It is their nature. That is why they are vehemently opposing the idea of repoll after repoll as floated by the Election Commission of India. They are not ready to listen to what the general people is saying in this regard. Because they only want votes, not public opinion.

People are waiting for the plot to unfold, as instances of proxy voting continue to pile up. And how can one be satisfied with the trailer of good show? For the last sixty years or so, corrupt politicians had been duping and shortchanging the general public. So far, they have been side-stepping the roadblocks and hurdles put up by the Commission. They have made a mockery of the electoral system and democratic process and as a result we have even witnessed the entry of ‘Thikadar’ Social Workers in Manipur politics in the recent past. But this time, their game has been exposed. State election officials have finished photo comparison work in 523 polling stations against which complaints were received. A report has already been submitted to the Election Commission and a team of special observers is arriving Wednesday to directly examine the findings of the office of the Chief Electoral Officer. Hotline between the ECI and CEO is in place and a decision is expected by February 23.

Amidst these developments, political parties including the Congress have voiced their concerns about the possible repoll decision. Non-Congress parties have cited waste of time and money from the public exchequer while objecting to repeated repoll. The state Congress chief Gaikhangam, while admitting that identification of bogus voters would be difficult, has expressed his reservations with regard to repeated repoll. Our question is why he has not come up with an alternative idea to overcome the malpractices. The non-Congress parties had at least come up with the idea of invalidation even though it is not practically possible, as pointed out by the Joint CEO. This illustrates the lack of imagination among the political class in Manipur.

The process of overhauling the electoral system is a time consuming task, no doubt. But one will be able to speed up the process if election managers are committed and when the political parties cooperate with the Election Commission instead of opposing its new measures. We must congratulate SY Quraishi and his team for the bold and new measures they have introduced in 2012 state elections with Manipur as the experimental base. Many lessons have been learnt from Manipur elections 2012, and they are still learning from the experiences gained. One must understand the commitment and sincerity of the Quraishi team. More particularly, the political parties must help the Commission in electoral reforms instead of trying to undermine the role of the Commission. Once again, we would like to remind the Commission that the Manipur public is ready for repoll after repoll so that we may teach a lesson to erring and corrupt political leaders.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2012/02/let-the-plot-unfold/

The recent decision of Omar Abdullah government in Jammu & Kashmir to take over three hydro power projects from the centrally owned NHPC is noteworthy in the backdrop of the long-standing demand in Manipur for taking such a step in the case of the Loktak Hydro-electric Power project.  What is more interesting is the suggestion that such takeover policy should also apply to other hydel projects where there are no existing agreements. This is how state leaders should take policy decisions in state interests in a federal set-up whatever be the form. India practices federalism with a strong centre and as a result, regionalism had come of age in the recent past. We are seeing stark examples of the growth of regionalism in Tamil Nadu, Orissa, Punjab, Jammu & Kashmir and the north-east, and more recently in West Bengal. And regional leaders are increasingly asserting regional stances on different issues. The recent protest of non-Congress chief ministers in relation to the National Counter-Terrorism Centre is a case in point. This should perhaps be an eye opener for the leaders of Manipur, and the incoming government after March 6.

Jammu & Kashmir’s case is of taking over three centrally owned hydro-electric projects in Salal, Uri and Dulhasti on the recommendations of a Cabinet sub-committee. The sub-committee hasd also recommended effective monitoring of all agreements and terms and conditions which have been made with NHPC keeping in view the benefits and rights of the state. The J & K government also signed MOUs with the Central government with regard to seven other hydel projects in 2000. As per the agreement, these seven projects are required to be handed over back to the state government after their final execution. The sub-committee also suggested that the same formula be made applicable to all projects including Salal, Uri and Dulhasti and other such projects where no prior agreements are existing with regard to such projects.

Manipur’s relation with NHPC with regard to power is in a pitiable condition. In a reply to a recent RTI query, the Power Department replied that it could not locate the MOU signed between the state government and the NHPC regarding Loktak project. Again a case is pending in a lower court regarding the payment of tax for use of water from Loktak Lake for power generation between the state government and NHPC. This speaks volumes on the way NHPC regards Manipur government. Manipur is getting meagre only 12 percent free power from NHPC, while the devastation caused for upkeep of the project is tremendous. More than 80 thousand hectares of cultivable land had gone under water in the periphery of the lake, which in turn led to thousands of traditional farmers losing work and extreme poverty. Later on, they resorted to fish farming. While on the other hand, the traditional methods of fishing in Loktak Lake became obsolete and fishermen began using insecticides thereby causing health hazards. In such a scenario, it is pitiable that Manipur cannot assert its rights and remain subservient to NHPC. Please for the sake of Manipur, follow J & K‘s example.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2012/02/hail-omar/

Of the many qualities of a leader, one of the most important is the commitment with which ideals are held and valued. This needs no confirmation from any social scientists, for very often it is common sense that provides the most penetrating insights into issues that have direct and profound bearings into everyday life. And what other thing can have as much impact on everyday life as the quality of leadership any society gets. Ask any man or woman on the streets, literate or otherwise, and they will have the same answer – a leader without ideals, or a clear notion of a social goal, is no leader. The other important quality of a leader is, he must have the ability to draw up a clear roadmap as to how his ideals can be actualized. This again is street wisdom as much as it would be an absorbing agenda for highbrow academic seminar rooms (and we must add, the classrooms of management schools). Do our leaders have these qualities, is an intriguing question. Many of them do, there can be no question about it, but the nagging doubt that arguably all of us would have expressed sometime or the other is, many of them do not seem to possess them. Why then do our voters allow those who lack this quality to return, is a question that not many have asked themselves seriously or honestly, hence the recurrence of the phenomenon. The result is, we have many leaders in form only, but not in substance. This leadership vacuum is, in our opinion, is at the core of some of the most vexed problems of Manipur, most pertinently, the question of insurgency. For ultimately, ideals are nobody’s monopoly, and so also leadership, and if one set of leaders are unable to provide it, there will be others who would claim the role. Insurgency in this sense is very much a challenge and contest for this leadership space. Resolving the problem will in the end have also to be about resolving this issue.

But if there is a lack of ideal in the formal political leadership, the contenders lack the form. There can be no argument that all insurrections, including the ones we are witnessed to, are fired by ideals, hence their popular appeals. But the danger here is, when there are no definite forms to the leadership they provide, the ideals themselves come to replace the form. That is to say, the ideals become the system itself, resulting in a mix that have led to the most oppressive dictatorships in history. Stalin, Pol Pot, Trosky, Mao were all idealists, and people still admire their ideals. Their only failure was, they allowed their ideals, and ultimately themselves, to not only substitute the system, but to become the system itself. History bears testimony as to how oppressive ideals un-moderated and un-tampered by a formal and objectified roadmap can get. In the modern context, this moderation must have to be looked for in a belief in constitutionalism. This  would understandably limit the definition of leadership, for then a leader would have to be how the consensual constitution defines what a leader is, how he is to be selected and how deposed etc. In mature Western democracies, such as for instance England, we do hear of such stories as how even former Prime Minister Tony Blair have had to visit police station to face questioning by the officer-in-charge, (OC as we know them more popularly) and complete mandatory calls of the law for the drunken behaviour of his son etc. Nobody in this part of the world would not be amused or wonderstruck by such accounts of the law, and the clear perimeters it draws around this definition of leadership, but on second thought, we are left convinced that such respect for constitutionalism is the only path that can keep men entrusted with power from becoming despotic dictators. If the form can dilute and destroy ideals, as is happening in our formal politics of today, an overflow of ideals can subsume the form, if the ideals are not drawn within the guidelines of a definite and institutionalized constitutionalism. The latter, it must be admitted, is one of the bane of the leadership of the non-official kind, in fact the insurgency movements in our region. The challenge of leadership then is, to have the ideals as well as the system – but separate from each other and one moderating the other.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2012/02/danger-of-ideal-as-system/

Winter in Manipur has been severe this year. It would have been a lot harsher for the poor, for indeed, as it is, winter months are cruel even for temperate climes as ours, when much of life hibernate, expending the least energy so as to last out till the nourishing showers of spring herald nature its wake-up call. Imagine how miserable life would be if winter temperature were to drop a few more degrees Celsius, and extended a few more months. But the disturbing fact is, such projections of a changed climate scenario are no longer remote or restricted to science fiction writing. Seeing what has been happening even in the past few years, climate change seems now almost an inevitable future the world is heading into. There are scientific evidences that there have been radical shifts in climates in the history of the earth, almost at regular intervals. The Ice Age for instance is supposed to follow a cyclic pattern, the last minor one having retreated 12,000 years or so ago, but in between these cycles, there have also been many sudden freak shifts, as scientist now claim there had been an unexplained cooling of the globe 5,200 years ago, not because of anything anybody did, but out of changes in solar activities. In 1991, hikers found the preserved body of a man trapped in an Alpine glacier and freed as it retreated. Later tests showed that the human – dubbed Oetzi – became trapped and died around 5,200 years ago. Scientific evidences elsewhere in the world corroborate the theory of a sudden chill wave at about the same period. In prehistoric times, 245 million years ago, the collision of continents to form a single land mass known as Pangaea caused one of the biggest extinction of life from earth, with 96 percent of marine life going extinct in about 3 million years span.

The point is, earth’s climate has changed in the past and probably will change again in the future. While there is nothing very much we possibly can do to alter the meta-narratives of the cosmos, what is also certain is, man can hasten these changes locally on earth, all to his own detriment. To look at it more positively, this also means man can delay or even avert some of these climate shifts by controlling the factors that disturb the earth’s climate system. At this moment, man seems to be doing very little to this effect. Hence, if this year’s winter has been harsh, scientist are now predicting a hotter than usual summer to follow. Being warm-blooded creatures, all mammals, to which category of living things humans belong, can tolerate a wide range of temperature conditions. But the danger is not so much about how weather resilient the human body is, but of how life would cope with a radically changed living environment. If winters get harsher, summers more scorching, monsoons unpredictable, the first casualties would be crops. We all know the kind of human misery a year of crop failure can cause, but imagine a scenario in which this happens in a stretch for a couple, or even many years. Life would be put at great peril then. It is such thoughts that make one realize, inspite of all its strengths and resilience, life is extremely vulnerable. Human life is no exception. It is also not a surprise that in life’s history of over 500 million years (so says scientists), whole species have routinely gone extinct for unfathomable reasons.

There are many cosmic factors behind climate changes that we can do nothing about and only God can explain why. But there are also an equal number of factors that we can do a lot about. Likewise there are a number of overwhelming environmental issues that must have to be tackled at the global level. But there are also again localized ones that all individuals, regardless of where they are, must put in their mite in tackling. Hence, while those of us in the developing world can contribute little towards controlling automobile fume emissions that induce greenhouse effect in the earth’s atmosphere, precisely because the number of automobiles we own is minuscule, we can help in the global effort by retaining green covers of our forests etc. Let us not ever forget the slogan of the global environmental campaign “Think Globally, Act Locally.” After all it is also our own lives, together with that of the rest of the world that we are called upon to protect.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2012/02/climate-change-awe/

We must indeed welcome the recent state decision to implement ‘pedestrian only’ regulations in the busy Imphal market, even if it is on experimental basis. City managers around the world have implemented pedestrian friendly regulations in long time back, reflecting their sensibility and maturity in dealing with difficult situations. It is not only in relation to city management or traffic regulation, but it is an essential requirement for good governance and development of people friendly policies. On the surface, by this decision we might think that at last our city managers have also come to their senses. However, the temporary nature of the ‘pedestrian only’ regulations again brings to the fore, indecision and adhocism on the part of the state officials. One thing is crystal clear, it is not the result of a well thought out plan. The mayhem created on the first day of implementation in the roads surrounding the main market is a glaring example. Traffic jam is not a recent phenomenon in our city; it has indeed become a permanent feature for the last ten years or more. Traffic officials have been juggling with different methods of traffic control and management.  Methods keep changing even on daily basis sometimes. People have become tired of such experimentation and jugglery. We believe, our traffic regulators must have gained lots of experience by now. Why is that ‘experience’ not put to use for development of a long term traffic regulation system in the city. Besides the ‘experience’, we have seen a number of surveys conducted by MAHUD and Town Planning in the recent past. Meanwhile, the state Transport department seem to think, they only a minor role to play in traffic management. While they are busy with identification and award of parking zones outside the market, they had forgotten the expected increase in traffic volume on the rods. They must be made to understand that, it is the job of the Transport Department to develop an effective traffic regulation system along with concerned urban authorities and that traffic officials are only implementers of the system so developed.

We are of the opinion that, this ‘pedestrian only’ regulation in the market area should be regularized for all times sake. And there should not be any exceptions, even for VVIPs and security vehicles. While developing the said system, we should also begin thinking in terms of transforming Thangal Bazar and Paona Bazar as a ‘commercial zone’ free from residential quarters. With that, other pedestrian friendly systems like pedestrian over bridges or subways should be introduced in other areas of the city. But, please be firm about the ‘pedestrian only’ regulation in Thangal Bazar and Paona Bazar.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2012/02/of-pedestrians-and-experiments/

Not as opposed to a free media, but in addition to being a free media, what is also extremely important is giving substance to the idea of an honest media. Of course we are aware we skate on very thin ice, by necessity, when we even place a foot in the realm of the abstract. “Honesty” for instance is heavily nuanced, as the stage explorations of Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen touchingly and convincingly bring out. To take a very obvious example, can a white lie be a show of lack of honesty. So very often, we find people confusing a white lie to mean a blatant and deliberate lie. It is indeed blatant, so is it deliberate as well, but the question is, is it really a lie in the sense that we know a lie to be? Consider this perfect example of a white lie. Suppose a doctor were to tell her terminally ill patient that there is nothing seriously wrong with him and he can recover, can the doctor be called a liar? By definition yes, for she did not tell the truth, but the reason that she shielded her patient from the cruelty of the truth is obviously for the cause of a deeper truth – the wellbeing of the patient even in his last hours. The untruth of the white lie may in this sense be actually noble, and in a spiritual way, show a fidelity not to hard facts but to a realm beyond. So very often, honesty and dishonesty are not so obvious, but are deeply buried below multiple nuances of a complex subject. Sincere introspections and indeed discourses must have to be about digging out these nuances and then reassessing our situations with them as the backdrop. It is also against this backdrop that our sense of right and wrong, or call it conscience if you will, must be placed.
But the problem is, when your house is on fire, there is hardly any likelihood that you will have time to think of anything else but the fire. And so, the chief concern of the Manipur media today is media freedom from external pressures. There is hardly the leisure as yet to think beyond this and to begin touching the nuances of abstract but essential subjects as honesty etc. Much like what Prof. Charles Douglas Lummis, in his lectures in Imphal last year, and some of his writings and lectures available on the internet, implied of the question of rule of law. Things are so chaotically bad in Manipur today that just the return of the rule of law can do it wonders as a first step. But this first step can hardly be the last, for the rule of law too can become extremely oppressive. As for instance, to take an example which nobody in Manipur would miss, the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, AFSPA, is an instrument of the rule of law. Hence, in any consideration of rightness and wrongness, there is the need ultimately to realize there is something beyond even the rule of law. The rule of law ultimately has to be built on the foundation of certain innate and universal qualities of the individual, such as “the innate resistance in a man to kill another man”, in Prof. Lummis’ own words. “Radical citizenship” and “radical democracy” would then be for the civil society to provide the foil to ensure the rule of law does not stray from these universal qualities.
The Manipur media too must then first ensure that its basic editorial freedoms are guaranteed. It must continue to resist and challenge all oppressive pressures to control its editorial discretions, be it from the underground establishment or from the government authorities. It must also be brave enough to acknowledge that while there is a tendency over the years for the government to relax its controls, sometimes to the extent of promoting anarchy, it is the diktats from underground organizations and their fronts, which have been the source of most media fetters. This too, we must add, is easing up. Once these overt threats are overcome, it must begin the soul search for the nuances of the qualities that concern us most, and which we have always taken so much for granted. These would include, as we have briefly touched upon earlier, honesty, but also freedom for instance. For beyond freedom from physical threats to personal wellbeing, this concept too is extremely nuanced. As a footnote it must be said, in digging out these nuances, there can be no medium better than the arts, as men like Ibsen have demonstrated. Who says the arts have ceased to be relevant to modern life no more than their ornamental value?

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2012/02/honest-media/

The trouble with elections in Manipur today is, it lacks a soul. Hence, elections here have always been dominated by the arithmetic of a headcount. The true spirit of electoral politics, in this way has never really internalized adequately in either the politicians or the hoi polloi so to speak, making these exercises superficial, and more in the nature of a five yearly fanfares, than a collective expression of the will of the people as to how they want their affairs to be governed. Election campaigns reflect this mood very much, resembling as they do, one extended picnic for party workers. Feasting, overnight camping, traffic-disrupting rallies that have no other meaning than to blow own trumpets, house to house visits by workers to demonstrate the campaign for their candidate is alive and kicking, and also to attempt to buy loyalty. Public meetings by candidates are also predominantly about mudslinging against opponents. Conspicuous by their absence are talks of any coherent and sincerely drawn blueprints of the future of the state. The absolute poverty of political vision can be gauged from the fact that almost all of the manifestos of the various political parties in the fray are virtually replicas of each others. Transparent in all of them is an avaricious motive to latch on to the raw sentiments from the streets, and since the sentiments on the streets speak virtually the same language, each election manifesto carries virtually the same message in virtually the same language.
Not that the street issues are not important, but political vision must necessarily be laid on a bigger canvas where these issues are placed in perspective. You cannot for instance solve poverty by distributing money, as so many politicians, including the chief minister caught on camera by a newspaper today, seem to think. It needs no economist to tell us that it can only be done by uplifting the economy. Likewise, you cannot solve unemployment by artificially creating more government departments, but by ensuring that jobs are generated in the largely untapped non-government sectors of the economy. As to how these vital larger goals are to be achieved should have been the substance of election blueprints of the parties in the contest. However, no manifesto of any of the parties intelligibly tries to capture the larger pictures of the state of our state, or where and which direction they plan to take it next. It ought to be no consolation that things are not any better in so many other states.
Beyond the arithmetic of electoral politics then, there is also something as electoral chemistry. This is what comes across as extremely scarce. No doubt the number game is a salient feature of democracy as such, and cannot possibly be banished, or for that matter desirable to be banished. The primary strategy of the democratic polity is to establish who or which party has the majority support. But running alongside the number game must also be qualities that make democracy become a contest of social architects and their ideas. Politics against this backdrop would be about a love for the people and the ability to draw up road-maps to a future of greater common good: Visions such as that of a conflict free, equitable and just society; visions also of a society free of the curse of poverty, where every child is guaranteed good nutrition, health, quality education, etc so that they may grow tall and proud, to be able pillars of the edifice of the future of the society in whatever profession choose to go into. Politics under the circumstance would cease to be solely about personal ambitions, but of fashioning the future using the political powers consensually given to leaders at the time of elections. Unfortunately, politics today has still not been able to absolve itself of the number game curse. There is no gainsaying that the game is also a reciprocal process between the politicians and the people who elect them. It is hence up to both to lift the standard of the game and reap the benefits together. But this is always easier said than done, but nonetheless something which must have to be done.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2012/02/beyond-number-games/

Leader Writer: Hrishikesh Angom
Education once regarded as `sacred` has become a `commodity` in today`™s highly commercialized world. Many private firms take keen interests in establishing educational institutions not to enlighten the society but for profits. At the beginning of every new academic session, media houses are wadded with advertisements of numerous institutions featuring their buildings, classrooms, laboratories and so on to lure the students. The outcome of such commercials is abnormal hike in admission and monthly tuition fees.

As far as Manipur is concerned, people have almost lost faith in the government schools. Even those government schools which once pioneered education in the state are now on sharp decline. The government schools are almost defunct though crores of rupees are being spent for the implementation of schemes like SSA and RMSA. In such a scenario, students irrespective of their financial backgrounds are being enrolled in private schools spread all over the entire state. The performance of these private schools is quite commendable as it is evident from the results of Board examinations. However, there seems to be a division amongst students on the basis of school fees. Some private schools charge much higher school fees on the ground that they have well-developed infrastructures. This non-uniform fee structure in private schools has been a factor for discrimination amongst students.

The recent decision of AMSU with regard to maintaining uniform fee structure for all private schools in the state must be welcomed by all. This will help in ushering into a new era of education. Students would not mind the differences whether they study in schools with good infrastructures or not. After all sincerity and efficiency of teachers drive the schools forward and not simply because of the infrastructures. In one way, uniform fee structure will give equal opportunities to students to have quality education without any discrimination. The students`™ bodies along with the association of private schools should try to implement the proposed fee structure as early as possible.

Here, the government should also encourage the private schools by providing grant-in-aid and other assistances for development of the schools. The education department has wasted enough in the government schools and there is still no sign of revival. The state government should also take the initiative to fix uniform fee structure for the private schools in the state. The education department should not remain as a silent spectator in such crucial matters. The students`™ bodies are indeed the `beacon` of the society. They have done so much beyond their capacities just to bring up the society in so many aspects. Uniform fee structure is a revolutionary step towards ending the differences amongst students. Moreover, this will also be a good lesson to the businessmen who are trying to convert schools into profitable commercial institutions.

The time has come for the general public to realize the reality of the present society. People should be thankful to the almighty that there are still some persons to guide them to the right path. The society has been totally spoilt by the men in power. The future of youths in this state is blurred. The state authorities could not even conduct the civil services examination fairly. It is the students`™ bodies of the state who have raised voices against the corrupt government officials. The people of the state might have been easily misguided if they were no such watchdogs in the society. The future of the state lies in the future of the students. All students must be treated equally and they must be given equal opportunities. Uniform fee structure will somehow remove `division` amongst students. Whether rich or poor, students will get the same opportunity to study in any of the private schools of the state. Discrimination and division will be ultimately be shed off once this policy of uniform fee structure for private schools is implemented in the state.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2012/02/uniform-fee-structure/

he recent report in The Hindu daily that prosecution sanctions sought against Army officers against whom serious charges of heinous crimes committed under cover of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, AFSPA, including rape and murder, were shot down by the Union home ministry, exposes yet again the hollowness of the charge that the AFSPA is being unfairly defiled by activists with interests inimical to the Army as an organisation and the country as a whole. The contention has also been that the AFSPA is a tough but innocent piece of legislation meant to face an extraordinary situation, and that in the hands of a responsible and disciplined organisation like the Army, it can do no injustice. The argument further is that even if there are tendencies of the AFSPA being taken advantage of and used beyond expected norms, such tendencies would be checked in no time. The Hindu report has demonstrated that all the efforts to rescue the AFSPA from its demoniac image and give it a sanitised look are a deliberate cover up. It may be recalled, the AFSPA is well shielded from the country’s judicial system. Any allegation against soldiers acting where the Act is promulgated has to first have prosecution sanction from the Union home ministry before the soldiers can be taken to court.

Just to quickly recap The Hindu report, it said 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. Going into details, the report said 31 of the cases in which sanction was denied relate to rape, culpable homicide or murder. The others involve a wide variety of crimes, ranging from criminal trespass to illegal confinement. In not a single of these cases, had sanction been granted, it further said.

The report brings to the fore once again the glaring and blatant injustice brought about by a lack of accountability on one hand, and on the other the almost complete lack of transparency of the entire hierarchy involved in the execution and application of the AFSPA, from the ordinary soldier empowered beyond acceptable human norms by the Act to the Union home ministry which gives the soldier cover from scrutiny by the court of law for crimes the soldier commits under the Act. Thanks to the Right to Information, RTI Act, undoubtedly one of the most, if not the most progressive legislation the Indian Union has introduced since the day the country’s constitution came into being, not all filth of the officialdom can be swept under the carpet anymore.

There can be no doubt the AFSPA has outlived its days. It is indeed, as so many have argued, an Act to handle an emergency situation. But 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. True, form the statist viewpoint, there can be no argument there still exists an extraordinary situation and the state is called upon to deal with the situation. What is however pertinent is, the instruments conjured up for this mission as well as strategies employed must change. The AFSPA must be repealed and a suitable replacement found. Or else, the AFSPA must be radically overhauled. In particular, it must be made altogether accountable to the court of law. Even if it can be argued that the state governments would be swayed by local sentiments, the prosecution sanctions which now come from the Union home ministry, perhaps could be made the responsibility of the state Governor, who is the eye and ear of the Centre. Because Governors are stationed in the states concerned, they would have a much better pulse of the place than some joint secretary or secretary in charge of the Northeast sitting in the Union home ministry in New Delhi. The argument that floods of civil litigations would stymie the function of the troops is also spurious. It implies there are too many infringements of the law under the AFSPA so that there would be too many cases to handle. If on the other hand, the apprehension is, there would be too many false litigations, it betrays a lack of faith in the judicial system’s ability to admit or reject these litigations depending on their merits. Furthermore, if this is the fear, a provision that makes false litigations liable to penalty could be introduced so that only genuine complaints are encouraged to be lodged at the courts.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2012/02/afspa-under-fire/

Although nobody considers the Marxist economic model seriously anymore, it would still be simplistic to say its influences on current thinking, not just in economics, but in practically every field of the social sciences and philosophy, have died. Marxism failed not so much on any account of a shortfall in the richness of ideas it threw up, but arguably because of what Isaiah Berlin summarized as a too optimistic presumption of the predictability of human history and predicament. From the crooked timber of humanity, nothing perfectly straight was ever made and nothing perfectly straight can ever be made is the famous statement of this contemporary thinker who is considered as one of the greatest historian of the human mind. Marxism, like all other utopian philosophies, set about doing what essentially is impossible `“ evolving a doctored and presumably perfect architecture of the future of human history. Such things work on paper, and seminars of intellectuals only, but seldom ever in practice. This warning needs to be heeded by one and all, but especially by our ever growing number of self-righteous, self-appointed moral police forces, each spelling out their own versions of the Ten Commandments, enforced in manners and styles that would shame even marauding mobs.

But despite this irredeemably flawed presumption of Marxism, the thought process that it introduced, replete and pregnant as it is with humane thoughts of justice and equality, would have already been immortalized. Its underlying philosophy such as encapsulated in the often quoted line: `to each according to his needs and from each according to his ability` is still stuff for the finest poetry and certainly one of the most profound statements on the essence of fraternal bonds. The strain between the beautiful and the ugly is tremendous. It is for these strains between the ideal and substance embedded in the ideology that the college days jokes made half in jest and half in seriousness, such as: `if you are not a Marxist at 25, you have no heart, and if you remain a Marxist at 35 you have no head` have been so appealing and illuminating of an inherent dilemma. The idea may be beautiful, but if the shadow falls between it and its substance, its obituary would have been embedded in its very birth announcement. It is not just Marxism, but so many other ideas and ideologies marked by an arrogant presumption that human societies progress in rectilinear paths that are completely predictable, which have met with the same fate. Here too our idea makers and pushers, most of whom have assumed the mantle of these onerous missions without any democratic mandate of the population amongst which they function, must be wary. They must have to continuously draw up a balance sheet between the ideas they champion and the substance of it viewed against the backdrop of current reality, so that between the form and substance; between the idea and reality do not fall the notorious shadow.

This is no idle rumination. For very often, the unmistakable tendency amongst our midst has also been to give premium to certain consciousness created by persistent, hard-pushed and campaigned ideas, over what is substantive and material `“ a very subtle and gradual process of `brain washing` which ultimately results in the `consciousness` itself replacing the substance, and at some point subsuming the identity of the substance itself in the minds of the recipients of the message. But these games, more often than not heavily politicized, are destined ultimately to nowhere, and if at all they have destinations, it is in the shape of various states of frustrating stalemates, precisely because of the inconsistencies between the ideals and reality. Often such incongruencies ride on the shoulder of emotion and sentiment thus effectively camouflaging them from reason`™s eyes. But without these camouflages many of these campaigns would be exposed as lost and redundant causes. Painful as the case may be, the need has always been for the courage to see the issue after stripping them of such camouflages. Meitei revivalism, Naga homeland and many of our most burning issues need to be put through this test by fire.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2012/02/idea-ahead-of-substance/

We have said it before, but it is our opinion that it needs to be repeated every now and then still, considering Manipur continues to be hopelessly trapped in an unenviable blind alley. A seemingly simple suggestion in problem solving strategy runs like: “when a certain proposition does not seem to have an answer, or else the answer gets far too complicated to be answered to any reasonable degree of satisfaction, it is an indication that the time has arrived to change or reframe the question itself rather than the answer. The conflict situation tearing at the very fabric of the state, moral and temporal, is one such question. Come to think of it, half a century has gone by, and the original question that led to the conflict still remains unanswered and unresolved. Under the circumstance, should not it be considered time to reframe the question so that some hope of an answer can be visualised. What needs to be kept in mind is, even what is popularly deemed as a just cause, unless it is contextualised against the constantly shifting backdrop of reality, can prove tragically futile.

This is not a debate about whether the future is preordained and that destiny is given and not made, but it must be admitted that although there is no way of knowing the future totally, it definitely is possible to assess or else at least make intelligent guesses about what shape it might take. If this were not so, a lot of academics, especially in the humanities stream, would lose much of their relevance. Why even business speculation, an acumen which is a chief determinant in distinguishing good from bad businessmen, would disappear too. Indeed, subjects such as economics, life sciences, environmental studies etc, are at their core, about efforts to evolve models to visualise the possible predicament of man and society in the future, immediate as well distant. It is also because of the mystically uncertain element of the future that there has never been, and there probably never will be, a grand unified theory that can summarise absolutely and accurately, human nature or society’s destiny, regardless the rhetoric of “End of History and the Last Man” of the Francis Fukuyama kind. True Fukuyama was put on the back foot ever since he “awed and shocked” the world with his book at the end of the Cold War, including at the India Today Conclave some years ago, saying he did not mean a literal “end of history”, but a metaphoric one. After capitalism (which mischievously these authors often try to project as a synonym of liberal democracy), Fukuyama did concede that society would still progress, but only within the broad frame of liberal democracy. If not for the mischief of equating capitalism with democracy, Fukuyama’s point is interesting and indeed strong. This acknowledgement of the strength of Fukuyama’s central proposition, would also fall in line of the original argument of this article: that although there is always an unpredictable element about the future, there are also trends that make it possible to extrapolate and have a broad picture of what it might look like.

This being so, it is essential for all of us to sit back and ponder from time to time whether the future that we seek at any point in time is anywhere near the intelligent extrapolation of what the future might shape up to be from a study of current trends and thoughts. This is especially important so that we do not end up being drawn into the impossible and futile prospect of fighting the future itself and not for the future. Or in more familiar parlance – barking up the wrong tree. It is then in everybody’s self interest, and by extension of the same logic, in the self interest of the larger society as such, for us as a collectivity to be able to make honest probes and come up with honest answers, however painful, about what these intelligent guesses say of what our future would be and could be. For while the dictates of the heart are important, it needs to listen to and be moderated by the mind always. Unfortunately, maintaining this balance between the heart and the mind is where our society has been the
weakest. Hence, many of our conflict related issues, including the AFSPA, remain unresolved. Alas, so many of us remain unperturbed and unwilling even to acknowledge popular verdicts on these issues arrived at by the democratic norms of “one man one vote” cast through the secret ballot.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2012/02/balancing-heart-and-mind/

From all appearances, the peace talks between the Government of India and the Naga underground organisation NSCN(IM), is hopelessly stagnated. The confrontation recently between the underground group and the establishment when the two topmost leaders of the organisation, Thuingaleng Muivah and Isak Chishi Swu were prevented from visiting Zunheboto district of Nagaland, the home district of Swu by the Assam Rifles is just a case in point. The sorry episode was almost a repeat of the Mao incident in 2010 in which Muivah was prevented by the Manipur government to proceed to his home village Somtal. What then was the Naga peace talks about? Both the Government of India as well as NSCN(IM) leadership have been all the while been talking positive of an amicable solution sooner than later, but so far the reality has been something quite different. Perhaps, this stagnation was always embedded in the very nature of the conflict sought to be resolved. Indeed, there are too many contradictions within it – the definition of self-determination for instance. Depending on how one looks at the issue, this definition will inevitably change and radically too.

Consider this. There can be no doubt how the Nagas in their history of more than half a decade of nationalistic struggle would interpret the notion of self determination. For them the term would mean nothing less than absolute sovereignty that an independent nation-state is deemed to be entitled. Quite by contrast, from the Government of India’s standpoint, even its model of local self governance, popularly known as Panchayati Raj, is a guarantee of self-determination to the ultimate sovereign of a democracy – the individual citizen. At its roots the inability of the Naga peace talks to make any forward movement is this fundamentally different viewpoint. In other words, it is unlikely the Government of India would ever agree to dismantle itself to have a part of its present political map secede to form an independent nation. It is also evident it would be equally difficult for the Naga leadership to accept this definition of self-determination, after all so much blood has been shed in their half century chase for the illusive dream of a sovereign Nagaland already.

It must however be said, it is better to stagnate in peace than in conflict. If the Naga peace talk is stagnating, it is equally true the multi-dimensional conflict in neighbouring Manipur has not made any headway either. In fact, it has degenerated further, with many militant organisations splintering into numerous tiny factions, each becoming loose cannons in their turn, creating havoc in society and bringing misery to the ordinary men and women on the streets. Extortion has stunted all entrepreneurship, likewise except for the superhumanly resilient, schools and colleges are today under great strain because of bandhs and blockades, some of which can go on for months. Because of these conditions, there is today a flight of students away from the state. Expectedly, there is also a reciprocal exodus of young talents. Many of those who had been forced to seek education elsewhere are unlikely to return, for opportunities have shrunk in the state and the knowledge and skills they have acquired would find them better employment elsewhere. In the end, Manipur could be left with only those who either did not have the means to afford education outside or the right skills to find employment elsewhere. The only others other class than them left behind would be the old and infirmed. That would be when productivity in the state would have come to a grinding halt. This is already beginning to happen.

The fact also is, the stagnating peace talk in Nagaland and the stagnating conflict in Manipur are interrelated in many ways. The implication is, the key to solution to both must be hinged on the same issues. This being the case, what is called for then is a comprehensive and inclusive, rather than an exclusive solution. Genuine peace can only come about if and when this realisation dawns on all, from those in power to the ordinary citizenry. At this moment, such an approach is far from the minds of each of the parties involved in this sordid drama, beginning from the Government of India right down to the militant factions, some with no more than a dozen motley so called revolutionary fighters, whose idioms and ideologies of revolution no longer translate to more than the terror of a grenade hurled at individual homes for refusing extortion demands.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2012/02/peace-and-conflict-ennui/