Manipur News

By Malsawm Kipgen

The beautiful game of football is very popular among the denizens of the multi ethnic mini-India like State of Manipur. No other sports dare to penetrate as much as football does in the sports loving people of this troubled torn yet nature bounty State. In terms of Nature Beauty, Manipur is well described as “Switzerland of the East”. Likewise, if we are to describe the greatness of Manipur in the field of football, then sure enough, Manipur can be rightly described as the “Brazil of India”. The kind of gifted players and fans and football lovers sprouted naturally in Manipur has no match in any parts of India. It seems football runs in ours veins just as football is in the blood of every Brazilians or Argentines.

Despite petite in geography and not many in population, Manipur is rightly called the India’s power house of football. To be precise, Manipur as a State has a population less than that of the city of Guwahati but Assam State as a whole is far behind Manipur in producing one of the finest footballers for country India. The kind of support the Manipur clubs and footballers receive from their fans and football lovers is immense. This has no doubt pumps up and helps the local talented footballers to go for higher platform.

Thanks to the introduction of ISL 1st Edition last year, we could see the result of the Manipur people’s unfailing support and love for football. Last year, many footballers from our State played for different clubs including our own Northeast United FC. This year too, 12 or so players from Manipur play for 8 different clubs in this ongoing ISL 2nd Edition. The names are: Raju Singh, Seityasen, and Reagan Singh for Northeast United FC; Dhanachandra and Thoi Singh for Chennaiyin FC; Jacky Chand Singh and Gouramangi Singh for Pune FC; Subhash Singh for Mumbai FC; Seiminlen @Len Doungel for Delhi Dynamos; Thokhosiem @Semboi Haokip for FC Goa; and Boithang Haokip (nicked name Beckham of North East) and Siam Hanghal for Northeast United FC. Athletico Kolkata and Kerala Blasters are only the two clubs our footballer did not set foot. Mizoram came second in North East States in terms of the number of footballers playing for different clubs in ISL. Nagaland, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh have none playing in ISL.

Mizoram is on the verge of overtaking the crown of Manipur in the field of football. Mizoram Premier League (MPL) 1st edition was kicked off in 2012. It was a great success in promoting football in Mizoram. The prize money of Mizoram Premier League is a whooping Rs 25 lakh. It has attracted talented young players and orchestrated a lifeline for dreamed footballers. The immediate result one could see from MPL was the winning of Santosh trophy (the highest national football event in India) in 2014 and thus becoming the second States from North East to lift the trophy, the first being Manipur in 2002. Mizoram government is paying sincere attention and doing all it can in promoting football in its State. Not just in Aizawl, it has its eyes on other district such as Lunglei to promote football from grassroots’ level. Laying of world-class artificial grass in Thuamluai, the largest public ground in Lunglei of Southern Mizoram apart from Assam Rifles Ground, Aizawl and providing other required facilities for budding young footballers is the signature mark of good job by Mizoram government.  Mizoram Premier League has made inroad for Aizawl FC to qualify for India League.

Is our (Manipur) government in par with its counterpart Mizoram in promoting football? Can we be fortunate to see a quality playing ground coming up in the near future? We are fortunate enough to have a Main Staduim in Khuman Lampak but when can we see the development in the playing field of Main Stadium? Can the tribals of Manipur who have reservation of Manipur government style of development, dream for a future high standard quality playing ground for their talented and football addict players? Can these players who mostly come from a poor background have an opportunity of financial and technical aid from government?

The entry of FC Zalen from Sapermeina in the final of Manipur State League this year has enliven the morale of other hill based clubs that they can too enter final and win it if they show sincerity to football and work very hard despite troubles. FC Zalen has created history by becoming the first tribal or hill based club to enter final of MSL as well the first 1st debutant to reach final. However though, FC Zalen is not the only club from Sadar who play in State League. Before it, there were clubs such as FC Khanglai and JSYC from this not yet full fledged district. FC Tuff of Sadar Hills had also entered semi-final of CC Meet. Thongkhosiem Haokip, Boithang Haokip, Len Doungel, and once upon a time I league player Kiran Khongsai are all from Sadar Hills. Government of Manipur, keeping in mind the potential Sadar Hills has in football are called upon to do the needful before it is wasted and set an example for other hill districts that whoever works hard will be rewarded.

It is very shameful that the prize money of Manipur State League and CC Meet is way lesser than Tamchon Trophy, an annual football tournament sponsored by Delhi government at Ambedkar Stadium, Delhi for North Eastern students studying in Delhi. Despite having good clubs like AIM, NEROCA (a club playing in 2nd Div I league), NISA and TRAU, and despite the jam packed stadium, the prize money for such events is not making any meaning. This is sheer injustice to clubs as well as the spectators who came in large numbers. Some online media has made estimation that the number of spectators in the final clash between FC Zalen and AIM in this year MSL is 30000+ and the revenue generated from it is Rs 25 lakhs. How much would the organizers get as revenue from the tickets of CC Meet and State League? In this trend of price rise of all essential commodities, will prize money of 2 or 3 lakhs do any good for the tired players as well the managing teams? Wake up and learn! Mizoram Premier League is giving away Rs 25 lakhs to the winner.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/11/lets-talk-about-football/

By Nehginpao Kipjen

The National League for Democracy (NLD) chairperson Aung San Suu Kyi on November 19 met representatives of more than 50 countries, including Australia, Canada, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Israel, Japan, Norway, Russia, the United States, and the United Kingdom.  After waiting for 25 years since her party’s electoral victory in the 1990 general election was annulled by the military government, Suu Kyi is convinced that her time has come to lead Myanmar.  In conjunction with her political ambition, Suu Kyi took steps not to antagonise the majority voters of the country, who are predominantly Buddhists. She not only maintained silence on human rights violations against the country’s minority Muslims, but her party avoided fielding Muslim candidates.  As a politician, Suu Kyi’s electoral strategy worked well in her favour, much better than many analysts had predicted before the election.

As the NLD prepares to form the next government, there are some concerns. One major concern is the possible confrontation between NLD and the military, which still remains a powerful force and essential element in the country’s polity.  Before the election, Suu Kyi said “If we win, and the NLD forms a government, I will be above the president.the constitution says nothing about somebody being above the president.”   In response, Zaw Htay, a senior official at the President’s office, said Suu Kyi’s comments were “against the constitutional provision” which states that the president takes precedence over all other persons.  After the election on November 10, the NLD leader continued to say that the president “will have no authority, and will act in accordance with the decisions of the party…because in any democratic country, it’s the leader of the winning party that becomes the leader of the government.”

Suu Kyi’s pre and post election remarks unequivocally show that she is keen and ambitious to lead not only her party but also the next government. Since NLD now has majority seats in both houses of the parliament, the party is in a position to elect the president and one of the two vice-presidents. The participation of NLD in the 2015 general election means that the party has agreed to respect the 2008 constitution, which protects the inherent role of military in politics. There is no doubt that Suu Kyi would act with due diligence not to provoke the military leaders. And at the same time, she will play more or less the role of Sonia Gandhi during the Congress-led government in India.

However, there is a danger that the military may find it difficult to tolerate should the country president becomes a puppet of Suu Kyi. If such situation arises, the military will target the president for being incompetent.  There are two main concerns that can provoke the military to intervene or disrupt the civilian government – the peace process with ethnic armed groups and the question of constitutional amendment. If the military sees that the NLD government is incapable of resolving the decades-old ethnic minority problems and feels that there is an imminent threat to the country’s national and territorial integrity, it will find a reason to intervene.  Similarly, if the military thinks the NLD government uses its power to try to amend or replace the 2008 constitution with the objective of reducing or eliminating the role of military in politics, it will act.  The people of Myanmar and the international community should understand that the democratisation process in Myanmar is a kind consensual transition in which the authoritarian leaders actively participate in the process of change by controlling or limiting the change. This transition entails some degree of political continuity between authoritarianism and the elected government. To avoid confrontation with the military and the country’s ethnic minorities, Suu Kyi must ensure that both these groups are either consulted or included in all major decisions the NLD government takes.  It would be a wise move on her part if Suu Kyi can allocate some important portfolios to ethnic minorities. Even if she acts as the architect or above the president, she must act diligently not to provoke the military leadership and not to betray the trust of ethnic minorities.

Dr. Nehginpao Kipgen is a US-based political scientist.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/11/has-power-gone-to-suu-kyis-head/

By Henna Vaiphei

The constitution of India upholds the cultural and religious rights of all its citizens equally without showing any bias with a vision of attaining equal growth in all aspects of life. It neither empowered nor authorised the larger communities to enforce their traditional ethics and religion against the interests of the ethnic minorities. If the Centre or State fails to discharge its responsibility, citizens should not be asked to suffer. Article 15 of the Constitution is more specific instance of the right to equality which prohibits an individual being subjected to discrimination in matters of rights, privileges and immunities.

Against the constitutional provision, with the BJP regaining power at the centre, once again banning or eating beef turned out to be a boiling issue all over India which subjected many innocent citizens suffering untold misery causing regrettable lost of life to many unnecessarily. Many presumed banning or eating beef is an issue between the Hindus and the Muslims minority, indeed it is a common issue which affected all ethnic communities residing in India. However the issue is worsening in parts of Maharashtra, Haryana, Jammu &Kashmir and Delhi etc where both the Hindus and Muslims are living together in large number. But banning beef or slaughtering cow is not viable in the north-eastern region as most of the states are dominated by tribals who had been practising beef eating culture since time immemorial.

Some Hindu fundamentalists commented, protecting cow is relevant to the ethic of non-violence forgetting their act of violence to other animals butchering for food. Buddhism which is known to be the messenger of non-violence restricted only its followers to abstain from any form of violence even against the smallest insects as they can feel pain and suffer like human being, but never encourage banning or prohibiting meat for those who consumed it. Even, Gandhi, the father of the nation, who was known for his philosophy of non-violence world-wide did not forced his Hindu or Muslim brethren to stop eating meat in spite of his strict adherence to the ethic of non-violence.

Distinction in diet may be blamed the epicentre of the issue as majority Hindus is vegetarian, whereas the Muslim and Christian tribal minorities with some sections of the Hindus are non-vegetarian by birth or tradition. But all the Hindus in common avoid eating beef and show reverence to cow as mother with the exception of other animals butchering for diet. There are some sections in the society who eat only fowls, hen, goat etc. and still certain sections eat only fish and not other animals. Dog meat the most favourite meat of all animals by the tribals of the north-eastern region is extremely detested by the people of the mainland India, even feel vomiting by seeing it. This justified that food habit is exclusively accredited to the decision of the individual concerned and no one has the right to dictate or interfere in this regard.

The building of misconceptions has also extended to the dietary habits of the ‘Muslim’ community. The profession of a section of Muslims, who are Kasais (butchers), those in the trade of beef selling, has been brought in to add to the ‘Hate other’, ‘social common sense’ aspect of the Indian culture in particular. The result being that it is perceived, at the broader layers of the society, as beef eating being compulsory for Muslims. The notion which has been popularised is that the Cow is Holy for Hindus: Muslims kill her! With a strong view that Muslim invaders brought beef eating into India. These misconceptions have by now; become a part of the ‘social common sense’ of a large number of people in the Indian society. In fact it is BJP members who have been at the centre of accusations ranging from fanning communal tensions in the area, having links to the main suspects in the attack and making inflammatory comments in the aftermath of the killing.

Many alleged BJP and its alliance parties is the mentor of this issue as many BJP and RSS Hindu fundamentalist leaders are openly campaigning for banning slaughtering cow nationwide. Since the installation Mr Modi’s government, the rhetoric surrounding protection of cows has stepped up. A BJP coalition government in Maharashtra state imposed a total beef ban earlier this year. And Mr Rashid was recently assaulted in the state assembly after he allegedly hosted a beef party in Srinagar. Adding more fuel to the fire, Bharatiya Janata Party MP Sakshi Maharaj said that they are ready to kill in order to protect cows from slaughter. He also backed Haryana Chief Minister Manoharlal Khattar’s controversial “Muslims should quit eating beef” statement, saying there was nothing wrong in it. Further, “We won’t remain silent if somebody tries to kill our mother,” said the BJP hardcore Sakshi Maharaj in comments broadcast on the CNN-IBN news channel. “We are ready to kill and get killed,” he said.

Although the home ministry expressed concern over the incident and the President has called for tolerance and plurality to be upheld, Mr Modi has maintained a conspicuous silence over the killing. But, “The blame for this has to fall entirely on Modi. Those who spread this poison enjoy his patronage,” wrote Pratap Bhanu Mehta, who heads the influential Centre for Policy Research, in The Indian Express newspaper.

The cited points revealed the facts that Mr Modi, honourable Prime Minister of India and his alliance partners with some Hindu hard cores deliberately voiced the issue of banning slaughtering cow or eating beef against the cultural and fundamental rights of the citizens for gaining more political power in various states. Instead of addressing the plight of the minorities, they are intensifying the issue from bad to worse by making inflammatory comments, infuriating the mobs leading to more tension between the Hindus and minority Muslims in parts of the mainland of India. The rumours or news of conflict or dispute in several places of the main land India over this issue banning beef is continuously explored in the national papers and Television and the issue still remained unabated. Who has to address the plight of the people over this issue? Or is it the policy of BJP government to make India one nation, one religion, one culture and one tradition in favour of the Hindu community, extremely against the constitution?

Mr Modi and his alliance partners with some Hindu hard-cores should know that there is no constitutional provision for rearing cow in such manners as to be revered cow as god and worship or slaughter for dietary, but it remains purely at the decision of the owners to be utilized to meet the needs purposefully. Also, they should keep in mind that India is a land of multi-ethnicities with diverse religious, cultural, traditional and identity backgrounds with a number of restrictions not to be done. For the Hindus culture cow may be a sacred animal to be worship, but beef may be a good diet component food items for the Muslim and other tribal minorities for over centuries in India. It is against the constitution and law of the land to impose ban on such food item much preferred by the people who consumed it without proper justification. Specifically, Mr Modi should always remember, the life of man is more valuable than cow and the life of man can never be made in exchange with the life of cow. Visiting foreign nations in rotation has no meaning while many citizens died by committing suicide due to job problem or fear of starvation death and banning food item. BJP should be very careful from any type of sentimental issue which can nurture misunderstanding, conflict or dispute among the different ethnic communities of India or they will fall in their own trap before fulfilling half of their dreams in power as in the past India shining Atal Bihari Vajpayee government ended. Let every rational citizen learn from Gandhi statement “where there is love there is life” so that unity in diversity, dream of the constitution framers can be attained successfully.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/11/cow-may-be-sacred-animal-but-not-valuable-than-man/

By Samarjit Kambam

A man is born to give. He has to give his love and affection to his wife and children. He has to provide care and protection to his parents. He has to help his friends and relatives in need, help them in times of crises and a lot more. It is his moral obligation to bring up his children, educate them and lead them all the way till they stand on their own and face the world by themselves. He has to be a responsible husband, father and son all rolled up in one. In fact, the greatness of a man lies in the way he takes responsibility. Most of all, he should remain prepared to dedicate even his life for his spouse or shall I say better half. He has to be tolerant, patient, compassionate and co-operative towards his spouse. Many may say they love their children more than their spouses. That’s hypocrisy. The better half comes first, children follows.

I have come across men, men of good repute, useful and responsible members of society as well as good husbands. Such men lead a happy life with their spouses. But, it’s an irony that after certain point of time such good and compassionate men which are really hard to find, find themselves in a dilemma. Which dilemma? One that leads to heartache and makes one to land in a state of misery. The root cause of the dilemma is that their wives ran away to other men, an unimaginable status quo. But why? After all the care, love and affection heaped upon his better half, why do such a good man deserve such a deep mental pain and heartache? Well, every wife likes a good husband – healthy, wealthy, successful, compassionate, caring and affectionate, who stand for her through thick and thin and there are many women who get all those. Still, such unpalatable happenings take place. Why? What could be the secret behind the paramount reason? I have encountered many guys who lead their lives in misery after their wives leave them after leading a family life. I can still recall Dr Ibopihak (name changed) who is a college professor. He is really a gentle, soft spoken, patient, tolerant, highly educated guy who doesn’t involve in any vice and is quite healthy, a very responsible husband and dad who still takes great care of his kids. His wife ran away with another man many years back. During that transitional stage, he was so shocked he almost went nuts. He used to ask me “Tell me, son, what’s my fault? Have I done any bad or inhumane thing to deserve this?”. A very difficult question to answer. Even Einstein would stir in his grave unable to answer this question. Later on, it was found out that he became sterile after giving birth to two kids. But her wife required her biological needs and she deserves also, as a human being which the professor failed to provide. Such delicate cases don’t happen to all, but there are many such cases in the world.

It really shocked us when local women vendors at Sanakeithel or Ima Market get married to humus black Bihari vendors. But it has been found out after a thorough introspection by civil societies that only the local women are not to blame. Their husbands usually turned out to be loafers or drunkards who don’t care a hoot for their wives making their women very lonely and giving them a meaningless life. It is at this vulnerable phase of life where such outsiders take chance through emotional blackmail, giving false hopes, constant appreciation and attention, showing compassion and care thereby bringing the women to close proximity – first mentally by winning their hearts. Once that state has been reached, physical proximity becomes quite easy and naturally they get physical with each other with the women falling prey to such voracious, sex-starved outsiders.

An unwanted scenario in our male-dominated societal set-up is that if a couple doesn’t give birth to a child after one or two years of marriage, then the husband and family usually drives away the women for not bearing children even though the fault is the husband’s medically. It’s a mindset too old which doesn’t fall in the right place in our present society because of the loopholes. Its like the guilty going scot free with the innocent victim becoming the accused. The males of our society need to change our mindset in this regard.

I have also witnessed a guy who is a sportsman cum body builder. After having a beautiful baby boy from his wife, he too has also become sort of a member of this ‘dilemma club’. But the positive side about him is that he takes great care of his kid and instead of relying on intoxicants, garners more attention to pumping iron, sometimes voraciously. Now-a-days he not only pump iron with greater intensity but eat, drink and sleep iron. What a predicament, after all the efforts he carried out.

I have encountered filthy rich men with immense power whose wives eloped away with guys who lead a life of abject poverty. These men don their wives with jewellery from head to toe, buy them the costliest dresses, take them to the choicest restaurants and hotels for dinner and serve them their favourite recipe day on and day off. But there’s something they fail to provide and that’s something which money cannot boy – the biological need of a woman. In fact, however opulent and powerful they are, they aren’t able to feed their wives below the waist. That’s where a moth-hill issue or a non-issue becomes a mountain-big issue.

Course, unhealthy lifestyle and use of intoxicants are factors that act as impetus or catalyst to the rise of the unpalatable issue but that can be considered temporary. The main culprits are the sex hormones. Non secretion or low level secretion of these hormones inside the body of a man makes him sterile or have a weak libido. The irony is that these hormones have nothing to do whether the guy is rich or poor. It’s a matter of luck. When I was a kid, I can still recall a young lady who, after getting married for about a year returned to her ancestral home and COL(cried out loud) in front of everybody present expressing, “The marriage turned out to be only name-sake to me. I am still like a virgin, an un-married woman”. Being a kid I couldn’t make out head or tale to what she was saying but later on I realised that the guy he married turned out to be sterile turning her married life meaningless and sort of a living nightmare.

Wisdom doesn’t lie below the waist. But it is from below the waist of the female of the human species that we came out alive and kicking and are able to see and experience the world. And most of all ‘Hips don’t lie’. As for me, I am thin and feeble but so far God has been kind to me and in this regard I am still holding on, still grasping, still going strong. But for the not so fortunate guys out there who fail to err, rise to the occasion, hope that renewed vigour and drive takes a U-turn with non-drivability issue lost on the driveway. And last of all guys, God speed…..

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/11/feeding-below-the-waist/