Manipur News

The UNLF today stated that the PlB(Defence Wing) claimed that Sgt. Maj. Salam Kunjabihari of Khordok surrendered to Red Shield Division with arms. It is a fictitious story the UNLF said. The UNLF said it was claimed that the service no. of Kunjabhihari was 886 of 13th batch. There is no one at the address given as per records of the UNLF. Service no 886 is not of 13th batch and the said number belongs to Ahanthem Ngamthang who died on 16-07-02 . It was added all knows the surrender drama of the troops.

Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/unlf-refutes-story/

Mail News Service
Imphal, May 6 : Governor Gurbachan Jagat today inaugurated the 41st Shumang Leela Festival organized by Manipur State Kala Akademi at Iboyaima Shumang Leela Shanglen, Palace Compound here.
Addressing the opening ceremony of the festival, Governor Gurbachan distributed awards to 11 female group artistes . He congratulated the award winners of the last edition of the Festival . This year 20 groups are participating, including 8 of males and 12 of females.
This performing art form of Manipur loosely translated as courtyard theatre has provided entertainment to the general public for decades. Even though it started with comic genre to humour the kings and noblemen, it became a powerful tool for conveying social messages. The older generation still remember the leelas based on Khamba-Thoibi, episodes from Moirang parva, Mahabharata, Ramayana, etc. Later on the genre of Eshei Leela came which was popular among the youngsters as it was styled on modern Hindi films but its popularity did not last long.
Such a vibrant performing art is now finding it difficult to maintain its popularity because of the onslaught of modern entertainment forms like cinema, television, etc. Shumang Leela had stood strongly against proscenium theatre when the latter was in it’s hey day, but both art forms are facing serious crises against the modern technology.
It must be the responsibility of every citizen of the State to ensure that the rich tradition of Shumang Leela is preserved and propagated for posterity. Research needs to be done on it so that this rich and vibrant art form is understood in its totality. The tendency to absorb styles from cinema does not do much good to this art form and many experts believe that this has led to its stagnation and many believe that, without patronage, this art form may wither away like many other art forms of this State. During the time of the Maharajas, the number of art forms and its proponents were less and the State could provide very strong patronage for its growth. Similarly, in the field of games and sports also the State could provide patronage. But with increased population, and with the opening up of frontiers, many exotic art forms have become popular with numerous adherents and it is with these that the traditional art form has to compete. In many parts of the country, many indigenous art forms have vanished but in Manipur, because of its rich traditions, many of the art forms still survive in the 21st century and for this he congratulated the people of Manipur for their contribution, especially the promoters and artists of these rare art forms.

Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/shumang-leela-festival-begins-2/

DIMAPUR, May 6 NNN: The North East Students Organisation (NESO) is very much concerned on the report of the Parliamentary Panel for the abolition of the DoNER ministry.
The NESO team is likely to go to New Delhi in the next few days’ time to apprise the Central leaders not to abolish the DoNER ministry.
Sources from Guwahati informed Newmai News Network that the apex students’ body of the North East region will oppose the move of the Parliamentary Panel in this regard. NESO leaders are now in Guwahati and are preparing to go to the national capital.
It can be noted here that the Parliamentary Panel had made scathing attacks on performance of the DoNER Ministry saying that the ministry had failed to live up to the expectation.
The Parliamentary Panel further said the dismal performance of the DoNER ministry has been the reason that it had pointed out in its report to abolish the ministry.
The Parliamentary Panel had recently recommended that government should consider the handicaps and devise ways out either by placing the DoNER Ministry directly under the Prime Minister’s Office or evolve mechanism so that the Ministry could implement its decisions.

Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/neso-against-abolition-of-doner/