Tag: Articles-Opinions

By Dr Omila Thounaojam

 

Sethe “could not feel” the skin on her back around the tree of scars “because her skin had been dead for years” (21) and such an absence of physical sensation also suggest on the possibility of the emotional dissociation Sethe experiences.  In a way, Morrison signals that Sethe’s trauma is in the body (Henderson) and her commitment to warding off the feeling and choosing not to tell or to “tell things halfway” only about the traumatic past are ways to cope with the sense of emotional dissociation she lives in. When Paul D arrives at 124 Bluestone, she wonders whether she can “feel the hurt her back ought to. Trust things and remember things because the last of the Sweet Home men was there to catch her if she sank?” (21)  Sethe’s memory of her mother’s mouth, misshapen from the bit comes back to her when Paul D describes her of the chain-gang. The body’s traumatic responses to torture and pain is distinctly underscored in the novel by another emphatic choric account by Beloved highlighting the image of the destruction of slave bodies on a slave ship. Through Beloved’s fractured monologue, the reader gains fleeting access to the “untold stories” of those slaves who were killed and abused by the “men without skin” (249). Rachel Lister states: “Multiple voices overlap clamoring to tell their stories. Horrifying images of drowning, abandonment, rape, and murder struggle to assert themselves”. Most significantly, Baby Suggs’s preaching in the clearing offers us an antidotal belief emphasizing on love of one’s own flesh for a much needed healing and self-possession: Here … in this place, we flesh; flesh that weeps, laughs; flesh that dances on bare feet in grass. Love it. Love it hard. Yonder they do not love your flesh. They despise it. They don’t love your eyes; they’d just as soon pick em out. No more do they love the skin on your back. Yonder they flay it. And O my people they do not love your hands. Those they only use, tie, bind, chop off and leave empty. Love your hands! Love them. Raise them up and kiss them. …. You got to love it, you! (104) We observe other sensual and sensory deprivations through which the novelist highlights Sethe’s response to the trauma of motherhood under slavery, in particular, Beloved’s death.

One of the most explicit instances of such an aspect will be Sethe’s failure to apprehend color and unlike Baby Suggs, who dies “starved for color,” (46) she does not see its absence in her life: Sethe looked at her hands, her bottle-green sleeves, and thought how little color there was in the house and how strange that she had not missed it the way Baby did. Deliberate she thought, it must be deliberate, because the last color she remembered was the pink chip in the headstone of her baby girl …. Every dawn she saw the dawn, but never acknowledged or remarked its color. There was something wrong with that. It was as though one day she saw red baby blood, another day the pink gravestone chips, and that was the last of it (46). Jill Matus claims that Sethe’s refusal to see colour is a “traumatic commemoration – as the blood drains from Sethe’s subsequent world”. Such a claim makes sense when in the text, perceptions of the world are forcefully marked by the central traumatic event. The past is made more vivid to the reader by allowing Sethe overwhelmingly recall of the past and at the same time, revealing that she feels haunted by the sense of profound sensory deprivations. By considering here Elizabeth A. Waites’s take on trauma and survival, one could say in Sethe’s case that her body memorializes trauma in specific somatic symptoms and it functions to emphasize her dissociation from feeling and affect. One also observes that the traumatic consequence of Beloved’s death to her sister, Denver is her temporary deafness.

A chain of repressed memories in Sethe’s life gets unleashed after Beloved’s arrival and her presence in the house brings back Sethe’s painful memories about material loss. It could be said that Morrison’s indictment of slavery as an institution that distorted and truncated maternal subjectivity develops by Sethe’s confrontation with her feelings of “mother-lack” and abandonment. One observes that, Beloved’s question “Your mother she never fix up your hair?” (72,) stirs up Sethe’s memories of her mother and she explains how she rarely saw her mother. While recalling her mother, Sethe revisits sites of memory and says when they “cut her down nobody could tell whether she had a circle and a cross or nor, least of all me and I did look” (73). Frantically, she begins to fold laundry: “She had to do something with her hands because she was remembering something she had forgotten she knew. Something privately shameful that had seeped into a slit in her mind right behind the slap on her face and the circled cross” (73). The reader initially finds it hard to understand Sethe’s anger about the memory she recovers and it is only later that we realize that her anger stems at her memory of an account of her origins. The one-armed woman, Nan, who nurses her, tells her that she was the only child her mother conceived in love. Sethe, as a small girl was “unimpressed” by this account and as a grown-up woman “she was angry, but not certain at what” (74). Sethe recalls Nan’s words and at first, is experienced as something “shameful” and then it provoked inexplicable anger in her. In Section Three of the novel, in Sethe’s “monologue,” the reader understands Sethe’s shame and anger on remembering her mother. She explains that her plan was to take herself and her children to the other side where her mother is: “You came right on back like a good girl, like a daughter which is what I wanted to be and would have been if my ma’am had been able to get out of the rice long enough before they hanged her and let me be one” (240). Further, she continues: “I wonder what they was doing when they was caught. Running, you think? No. Not that. Because she was my ma’am and nobody’s ma’am would run off and leave her daughter, would she? Would she, now?” (240) Denver’s earlier question “Why they hang your ma’am?” (73), receives an answer now when it is revealed that Sethe’s mother was running away , and somehow this is something that Sethe wants to avoid recognizing, but such an act of abandonment makes her feel angry and shamed.  Even though Sethe fails to feel any better, Nan tells her that she did mean more to her mother than any child she had borne:
She threw them all away, but you. The one from the crew she threw away on the island. The others from more whites she also threw away. Without names, she threw them. You she gave the name of the black man. she put her arms around him. The others she did not put her arms around. Never. Never. Telling you. I am telling you, small girl Sethe (74). Nan’s words confirm that Sethe was conceived and named willingly, but it also emphasizes the fact that she was left behind and was deprived of her mother when her mother attempted to escape. In a moving way, she says “mark the mark on me too” (72) clearly expressing her desire for her mother and her identification with her. One can infer that Sethe regards her children as extensions of herself and sees that their protection as the best part of herself. Abandoned by her mother and raised up by one-armed Nan, who has never quite enough milk for her, she is determined that she will bring her milk to her hungry babies. Sethe replays her longing for a mother who would protect and stay with her children through her memories of her mother. Therefore, it is evident that a genealogy of mothering under slavery that would rationally produce the extreme forms of Sethe’s maternal subjectivity is highlighted convincingly by the author. The narrative itself in the first half of the novel, through its fragmentation and discontinuity conveys the nature of the traumatic past. It is built up of memories, and as a result, the process disrupts linear time and blurs the boundaries between the present experience and the past. If trauma is considered a “disease of time”, the narrative texture in the novel represents it through “chronological disruption and the visitation of the past as a concrete, material reality” (Matus). Sethe lives in the past as if it is her present and she finds it outpouring in her daily life as if it is happening again and the narrator states part of the “serious work” of her day entails “beating back the past” (86). One could claim that the trauma of slavery has disrupted linearity and chronology so much so that, time itself is haunted thereby making the narrative denies history which is a systematic  ordering of time. It is only through a second reading that the reader could assimilate the details of the text in the light of the various incidents revealed only later. The reader finds an enhanced sense of continuity and coherence when the narrative is replayed and such a second reading offers the reader to share more fully the testimony to the trauma that the account offers. One sees that the phrase “passed on” is repeatedly used in the novel hinting at the way the notion of repetition and transmission through revisiting sites of trauma is emphasized in the text in order to understand the presentness of the past. Iyunolu Osagie feels Beloved as the materialized ghost is a repetition of the past, so that Sethe can confront her pain and guilt and interestingly, one observes that the novel itself is a repetition of Margaret Garner’s story.

The narrative enacts a circling around the traumatic unspeakable event and this aspect allows us to look at the ways in which we could bring in psychoanalytical accounts of traumatic repetitions “unavailable to the consciousness but intruding repeatedly on sight”. Two main aspects of trauma namely, “belatedness and incomprehensibility” (Caruth) could be used to describe the reader’s initial experiences of the novel and this feature fulfills the author’s intention to let her reader be pitched into the narrative without warning, in a similar manner in which the slaves found themselves confused aboard ships during the first great migration called as the transatlantic passage. Many felt that Morrison allows Sethe to remember too much and too well, but one should not forget that Sethe suffers from a repression of memory evident in the manner in which the narrative performs in a discontinuous and fragmented manner. Sethe represents the figure of the traumatized subject and is in a position in which she remembers and yet is numb to the effect of the experience. Just like parts of her body is numb and her memory is represented as bodily in order that the arrest of effect is outlined as sensory deprivation.

It could be argued that until Paul D arrives, Sethe seems to be living feeling enslaved as it were by her memories and the narrator states: “Her brain was not interested in the future. Loaded with the past and hungry for more, it left her no room to imagine, let alone plan for, the next day” (83). In an exchange between Paul D and Sethe, one observes that there is a possibility that he could be the catalyst that could facilitate Sethe with an exploration and confrontation of what is “inside”.

The narrator suggests of the possibility of a joint future when he, Denver and Sethe return from the carnival “on the way home, although leading them now, the shadows of three people still held hands” (59). Sethe, all the while muses over his invitation that they make a life together and it is at this point when she begins to desire, imagine a future that the ghost materializes. Most often, victims of trauma are possessed by their history and in Sethe’s case, her possession is made real and literal in the form of Beloved.

Elsewhere it is observed that “victims of trauma may experience not only ‘guilt’ about surviving, but intense anxiety about rebuilding a life and beginning again. One basis of anxiety is the feeling that building a new life is a betrayal of loved ones who died or were overwhelmed in a past that will not pass away” (LaCapra).  Considering this, it can be said that it is not only the possessiveness of the past that Beloved’s materialization is suggestive of but also Sethe’s need to confront her own guilt at having survived and also to work through that past if she is to move forward.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/11/the-emotional-dissociation-in-beloved/

By Pradip Phanjoubam

(This article first appeared in www.thewire.in)

There is an uncanny familiarity the media fraternity in Manipur sense in the predicament their colleagues in Nagaland are facing today. When you live in an insurgency situation for over half a century, with no conclusion in sight, people adapt to the situation and life carries on. The media is no exception. An apt analogy would be corruption. When it is so widespread, a person does not any longer feel tipping a petty clerk in a government office to get a file moving is any longer corruption, but just an accepted way to get things done.

Following a circular from the Inspector General, Assam Rifles addressed to five of the most prominent editors in the state, reminding them that the faction of the NSCN led by S.S. Khaplang had been banned by the Government of India vide an order dated September 28, and that carrying statements of the organisation can attract penalty under the provisions of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. The NSCN(K), it may be recalled had walked out of its ceasefire with the Government of India when it felt ignored by the latter which was busy working out a peace agreement with its rival the NSCN(IM). It was also responsible for the devastating June ambush in Manipur’s Chandel district, killing 18 soldiers.

The immediate provocation for the reminder, it seems, were three articles published on October 17, 18 and 21. In these, the newspapers reportedly “have published articles issued by MIP of NSCN (K) threatening senior law makers of the Nagaland Government and encouraging collection of funds by representative of NSCN (K).” The Assam Rifles circular also said “the intention of declaring the NSCN(K) an Unlawful Association under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967 is to curb and prevent fresh recruitments, violent, terrorist & secessionist activities, collection of funds, etc.” The patronising presumption that the editors would not be in the know of this, is itself an insult.

As expected, the Nagaland editors responded with a polite but firm reply that they were never partisans to any party in the prolonged conflict situation in the state and that at no point did they cross the limits of the freedom of speech and expression guaranteed to the media by the Indian constitution. They also reminded the Assam Rifles that by publishing news of any given militant organisation, they were not abetting or assisting putative crimes the organisation may commit, but only informing the public of the reality of the political environment they all live in, however oppressive, and this was done as per the mandate given to any news organisation.

They also claimed that it was their honest assessments of the situation, which actually shaped the strong public opinion in Nagaland opposing unwarranted “taxation” by militant organisations. To press home their opposition to the Assam Rifles intrusion into their affairs and the aspersion cast on their integrity as law abiding citizens, they also left their editorial spaces blank on National Press Day, November 16.

To add salt to the wound, the Governor or Assam and Nagaland, P.B. Acharya, a long time BJP worker who proudly flaunts his RSS background, came out with a statement amidst the controversy that the Assam Rifles have every right to direct the media to not give publicity to a banned organisation and doing so would amount to transgression of the law.

This statement, which angered the Nagaland journalists, came close on the heels of another controversial statement Acharya made in Assam, that Indian Muslims were free to go to Pakistan or Bangladesh. He later clarified he was misquoted and what he meant was that unlike Hindus, Indian Muslims when persecuted in other countries had the option of either returning to India or else go to Pakistan or Bangladesh.

Earlier in July this year, Acharya courted controversy when he appointed four RSS-VHP members as Dibrugarh University Court members. When questioned, he explained since the RSS was not a banned organization, there was no harm in appointing RSS persons who were interested in improving education.

But leaving aside the utterances of the maverick Governor, and returning to the Assam Rifles’ and the directive it issued to the Nagaland media, it must be said this is reflective of the unit’s very character, and the history behind its formation 180 years ago. It is the oldest paramilitary force in India, and by definition, neither police nor military, but a bit of both. It is treated as a police constabulary and comes under the Ministry of Home Affairs, but officered by officers of the Indian army on short deputations, and under the operational command of the Indian Army while doing military duties. The fallout of this ambiguity surfaces practically at every announcement of the country’s decadal Pay Commission report, in the form of quickly suppressed unrests within its ranks.

The history of the Assam Rifles is curious. It came into existence as a civil militia, much like the controversial and now disbanded Salwa Judum. After the British took over Assam at the end of the First Anglo-Burmese War and subsequent signing of the Treaty of Yandaboo in 1826, and a possible future threat to its province of Bengal eliminated comprehensively, the British began to feel that it was not cost effective to maintain a regular army in the backward region and began withdrawing its forces to be employed in more engaging frontiers. The British did fight two more wars with Burma, but these were mere wars waged on a reluctant enemy on some pretext or other to annex territory. Scholar Alastair Lamb puts it thus: “the British swallowed Burma in three gulps”.

This however was also the time tea was discovered in the Assam hills, and tea gardens began spreading in the province. A need began therefore to be felt for a certain level of security presence again, in particular to keep off raiding hill tribes on these tea estates. A civil officer, Mr. Grant came up with the brilliant idea of a civil militia, and the Cachar Levy was formed in 1835. The same year the Jorhat Militia was also formed and this soon merged into the Cachar Levy.

The levy expanded in the years ahead, transformed both in structure and nomenclature, till it became the Assam Military Police. This militia, as the first official chronicler of the Assam Rifles L.W. Shakespear wrote in History of the Assam Rifles, was “better armed than the police but less paid than the military.”

One of the incentives given to the militiamen was that if they performed well, they would be absorbed into the then expanding Gurkha Rifles. Indeed, the militia in the years ahead became a very important nursery for Gurkha Rifles and during the First World War, it was literally bled white with most of its experienced soldiers transferred to the army to fight in Europe. This, Shakespear says, is the reason why it took the unit so long to suppress the Kuki Rebellion which broke out when Kuki tribesmen refused to be enlisted in the Labour Corps for deployment in Europe.

After the war, in recognition of its service and soldiering calibre, the militia was rechristened the Assam Rifles and formally recognised as a paramilitary force. This notwithstanding, the initial five battalions of the Assam Rifles were kept affiliated to a unit each of the Gurkha Rifles. Today, the Assam Rifles has 46 battalions, and officered not just by officers of the Gurkha Rifles, but of all the Army units on short deputations.

This mix of civil police and military characters may be what was manifest in the decision of the Assam Rifles Inspector General’s office to take it upon itself to interpret and remind the Nagaland editors of the provisions for penalty under a civil law. This mix civil-military identity of the Assam Rifles is again evident in the fact that it is given the responsibility of implementing the Government of India, Military-Civic Programme in the Northeast which has an annual budget of approximately Rs. 3000 crores, meant to develop civic infrastructure such as building village playgrounds, roads, community halls etc., aimed at winning over hearts and minds of people in insurgency prone areas.

It is ironic, or symptomatic, that it is its civil duties which have landed the Assam Rifles in serious charges of corruption in recent years. A Tehelka Magazine sting operation, with the help of an Assam Rifles accredited contractor in September 2014, exposed how army officers on deputation to the unit have been siphoning off 30 percent of this Rs. 3000 crore budget into their individual pockets. Perpetuating insurgency does seem to have become the vested interest of even those supposed to be fighting it.

I have not seen the three articles published in Nagaland newspapers, which according to the Assam Rifles amounted to threats issued to “senior law makers of the Nagaland Government and encouraging collection of funds by representative of the NSCN(K)”, however going by its own experience, the Manipur media can well imagine how thin and dangerous the line the Nagaland editors would be walking on.

The moot question is, how do free media handle press releases from increasingly faction ridden underground organisations which often amount to threats issued to individuals, or else are veiled monetary demands made under the shadow of the gun on individuals and business establishments. Especially in a conflict situation deeply embedded in the social fabric itself, this is a difficult question to negotiate.

On several occasions, the Manipur media too has had to resort to not just blank editorials but go off the stands for days to send out the message that the media should be allowed to exercise its own judgments on what is news and what is not without anybody, the government or its challengers, breathing down its neck. The resolution that the journalist fraternity here have adopted is to drop all press releases from any party which amount to threats to individuals or else are disguised extortion demands. It goes without saying this has not always been an easy resolution to keep.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/11/assam-rifles-genesis-is-manifest-in-its-attempt-to-breathe-down-nagaland-medias-neck/

By Sh Nilica Devi

 

The nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) are a grouping of all Mycobacterium species other than Mycobacterium tuberculosis (which causes tuberculosis) and Mycobacterium leprae (which causes leprosy). Also referred to as “mycobacteria other than tuberculosis” (MOTT), atypical mycobacteria, and/or environmental bacteria, NTM are typically environmental organisms residing in soil and natural as well as treated water. They are protected by their waxy lipid-rich cell wall which makes these mycobacteria resistant to common disinfectants and water treatment measures. Although generally of low pathogenicity to humans, some NTM species are associated with opportunistic infections in humans and animals while some have caused sporadic outbreaks.

EPIDEMIOLOGY

NTM diseases are seen worldwide. The incidence rate among industrialised nations is 1 to 2 cases per 1,00,000 persons. However, surveillance data are limited and NTM infections are non-communicable and therefore, not reportable. Regardless, NTM infections have increased by 8% to 9% per year. Clinical disease is more common among those who are immunocompromised.

HOW ARE NTM ACQUIRED?

NTM are acquired through environmental exposure to water, aerosols, soil and dust – through inhalation, ingestion, and through breaks in the skin due to injuries, surgical procedures, or IV catheters. They are usually not passed from person to person. NTM can cause lung infections, bronchiectasis, lymph node infections, bone infections, abscesses, and skin and soft tissue infections, which may be localised or disseminated throughout the body. Most NTM reproduce slowly, which allows the infection to emerge weeks, months, or even years after the initial exposure.

COMMON SPECIES

Some common NTM species are M. avium, M. kansasii, M. abscessus, M. fortuitum, M. scrofulaceum, M. marinum, M. ulcerans, etc.

NTM DISEASES IN HUMANS

Pulmonary manifestations account for 94% of all NTM cases. However, infections involving the skin, bones and lymph nodes do occur. Disseminated disease may occur and, without treatment, is frequently fatal.

Chronic pulmonary disease is the most common clinical manifestation of NTM. The risk for infection increases in immunosuppressed patients or those with structural lung disease, particularly, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and bronchiectasis.

NTM lung disease is always associated with symptoms such as chronic or recurring cough with sputum production. Constitutional symptoms such as fever, fatigue, malaise, night sweats, and weight loss may occur. Hemoptysis, although uncommon, can occur. Clinically, NTM may be similar to active pulmonary tuberculosis.

There are two main pulmonary manifestations of NTM: fibronodular disease and nodular bronchiectatic lung disease, each with a unique epidemiology and clinical course.

CLINICAL DIAGNOSIS OF NTM DISEASE

The diagnosis of NTM diseases poses challenges to the clinician. As NTM are found everywhere in the environment, they may represent contamination rather than actual isolates. Additionally, NTM may colonise the airways of individuals with structural lung abnormalities. Recovery of these organisms may represent airways colonisation rather than true infection. The diagnosis must be based on a high clinical suspicion that is compatible with symptoms and features found on x-ray.

DIAGNOSTIC TESTS

The goal of testing are to detect NTM infections and to distinguish between mycobacteria species. It is almost impossible to distinguish between TB and NTM infections without testing.

LABORATORY TESTS

AFB smears and cultures: AFB cultures are performed on samples that have been treated to liquefy mucous and reduce contaminating bacteria. From the culture, the detection, differentiation and identification of the mycobacteria are done.

Susceptibility testing: They may be performed to determine which antimicrobial drugs will be most effective in treating the infection.

Molecular tests: Other more rapid methods, such as the molecular detection of the organism’s genetic material (DNA/RNA) may be performed on the primary specimen and also as a means to identify the species of mycobacteria once the bacteria are grown in culture.

RADIOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS

X-rays may be ordered to look for changes caused by a mycobacteria infection. NTM infections (and TB infections) can cause a number of characteristic findings on x-rays, including cavities and calcification in organs such as the lungs and kidneys. Chest CT imaging may be ordered and has been found to have greater sensitivity for detecting bronchiectasis and cavities than chest x-ray. Further evaluation can include bronchoscopy.

CHALLENGES

The diagnosis of NTM infections can pose challenges to the clinician because isolation of these organisms is often difficult. In addition, both active diseases and airway colonisation occur in individuals with structural defects, adding further confusion for clinicians. The treatment of NTM infection is as difficult as establishing a correct diagnosis because therapy is often prolonged and difficult to tolerate.

 

The writer is Junior Microbiologist, BABINA Diagnostics, Imphal.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/11/detecting-nontuberculous-mycobacteria-ntm-infection/

By Dr Omila Thounaojam

 

A peaceful mind is the beginning of a meaningful tour to life’s passages. Whatever the reasons may be, a human mind is the abode of priceless wisdoms. To live a life filled with endless endeavor to strive and succeed, having a determined mind is a must. The question here is “how” to achieve such a state of mind. The most earthly and reachable way of leading a life that is worth a living, our mind must never be allowed to stay homeless. Just like a beautiful house turns into a heavenly home with loving members residing in it, one’s mind must be occupied with senses bright. Until and unless our mind is not fueled with resourceful thoughts and logics, it is a waste to even think of a beautiful day. When a home is deserted heartlessly by its members on the pretext of hatred, jealousy, greed, etc – it is evident that the concrete structure gets reduced to a deserted village. Human life is surrounded by living thoughts that keeps on feeding upon new concepts and ways of living life. In fact, many find it challengingly hard to learn the “Art” of living. To the most it could be said that we are wandering directionless in quest for a better existence if our mind is not sound enough. What to do then in order to be touch with our own self and our own mind? Like building a bridge for an efficient level of connectivity, one must ambition to bring our minds closer to better and fruitful action. As the saying goes, “we reap what we sow” – so let’s gear up to entertain our mind with thought processes that envision a healthy and busy life.

When one cares to look at the source point of every social problem in existence, it is surprisingly interesting enough to locate that it’s the increasing number of idle minds that had caused such a situation at the first instance. People are educated just for the sake of attaining degree and the knowledge that is received is wasted just like that. The rate of literate young men and women finding suitable job placements are low. What turns out then is another bigger topic to wrestle with. Hardly many think of indulging into creative habits of utilizing the knowledge that they possessed in abundance. Hardly many attempt at churning out the best in them. This has led to a growth of idle minds in town and as such a wide array of idle space generously invites evil thoughts to preside and take over their life bound decisions. It is a common scenario today to witness crimes and news related to it on a daily basis whose life source is none other than an idle mind that needed attention. Believe it or not, our time today calls for a competitive based struggle that call for youths with strong and determined minds. The power ultimately lies in the mind of an individual and this fundamental truth must not be negated on any pretext. The mind should not fear and it should have the will to dream for a wholesome world structure. The source of every beautiful living lies in our will to imagine ceaselessly. We must sharpen up our level of imagining our schemes of life and only then a pattern of hoping for a better tomorrow will begin. We today have unknowingly cut off that part of ourselves that love to be innocent and carefree. Out of our conscious hesitation to take up fearful transits of life’s passages, we have converted ourselves into a laughing stock. It’s now or never. So better we reach out for that lifestyle that allows maximum space ground for a fertile mind to bloom and blossom. We must infiltrate into those avenues of life that will guarantee a high flying flowering of our mental potential. Our real growth and development depends on our accessibility to a mind that facilitates a continuous supply of positive mindsets. The more we neglect this fact, the more we go backward in generating a better self. When one becomes weak physically, it is the psyche – the mind that sustains the strength of an individual. That’s why philosophers often stress upon the combination of the mind and the body for a fuller sustenance. Let us accept the reality of the powerful dimensions of human mind. Let us connect by empowering our mental venues. Let us get better at a collective level by individually enriching ourselves at the basic level. Let us nurture our mental home to extend such a habit to a greater level. Let us not leave it vacant for evil strangers to infiltrate and cause harm. The more we promote such a truth the more we will become rich in the real sense of the term. Let’s not forget this at all cost.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/11/an-idle-mind-a-perfect-home-for-devil-to-settle/

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/

By Akham Bonbirdhwaja Singh

 

Last month I attended a workshop on the law curriculum for the business schools held at IIE, Guwahati. It was organised by IIM, Kashipur and sponsored by World Bank. It was quite hearty to know that the IIMs are trying to produce green MBAs, who will be eco-unfriendly and not be too unscrupulous. This was a good programme as these green MBAs will check the ecologically unfriendly and unsustainable approaches of the corporate world. Of course we need the corporate world to develop our cities but we also need them to maintain their social responsibilities. We all expressed a lot of expectations from these green MBAs.

Talking of green,now we all agree that another name of green is eco-friendly. So when we discuss cities and development, certainly and automatically the question of greenness comes, because we have had experiences of Indian cities, large, congested, dirty and polluted, almost completely devoid of greens. Both beauty and ugliness are of giant size. Our cities are sick cities, ailing urban system, where commuting is so hazardous, there are ques for any facility miles long, you have to make rounds and rounds in search of parking slot, crimes are so numerous, they are hunting grounds of frauds. People coming and encroaching the vacant and public spaces, ultimately, there is no space for the greens and free air. Later, some philanthropic regime would regularise such encroachments leaving no scope for further environmental improvement. So, when the talk of smart cities are doing rounds, naturally the question comes, can our Smart Cities be Green Cities?If we have talk of Green Cities now, the developers and politicians may not be too conscious, so citizens have to be conscious, our electronics and IT cities cannot be smart without being green and shall not a healthy place to live, ultimately the Smart City shall not be sustainable, so it has to be Green Smart City.

The prefix smart in smart city is an euphemism for intelligent and extensive application of IT in all aspects of public utility and management. A Wikipedia definition says that smart city uses digital technology to enhance the quality and performance of urban services. So, smart cities are also called digital cities, intelligent city etc. But, now the definition is expanded to include the sustainability, environment and health concerns. In that line, solutions for economic and environmental sustainability, e-governance, security, energy, waste and water management and healthcare will be at the core of India’s smart cities.IT shall be used for online governance, to make it citizen friendly, to save time and money, being online, the system becomes transparent with more accountability. The government offices are now developing steps for ease of business, where there shall online and mobile application for intimating the customers and clients on time bound basis and following standard operating practices. The smart cities shall also have IT application for crime control by having digitised facial recognition and DNA profiling database, digital parking by digital parking metres by auto informing the car driver through mobile application about space availability. The unique identity of cities on its economic and cultural activity will be digital and online so that interested people can locate city of their interests precisely.You know, the IT connectivity need to be really good, the frequent breakdown in link we experience in India (Manipur is notorious for that) will not be in the spirit of smart cities. In Seoul and other South Korean cities, free wi-fi connection is found everywhere, so e governance is not a tough proposition.

As we can see from the primary concept, the digital application is the mainstay of smart city. The concept had to be expanded to include other considerations. Though it appears that green concerns are supplementary,I can tell that, the non IT segment is also equally important. So, let me come to non IT section of smart cities. In smart cities, the solid waste is to be disposed not by municipal trucks, but by a network of underground pneumatic pipes. There shall be special transport facility run by fuel cells and solar cells and last mile Para transport connectivity is to be good so that more of CTF (common transport facility) are used without any inconvenience. But more interesting part is the green section, the smart cities shall be preserving and developing more open spaces around cities with parks, playgrounds and recreational centres to reduce urban heat, green areas with walkable localities for pedestrians with reduced pollution and congestion and enhanced security. There shall also be pedestrian network in addition to a good network of roads to be used by pedestrians and cyclists (Stockholm have parallel cycle track all along the vehicular road). It also shall be desirable to locate supermarkets and other retailers away from city hearts to reduce the pressure of space with dedicated CTF. This is already done in many European cities.

The green concerns of the concept of smart city seems to be still a shade inadequate, how much land is to be dedicated for environmental concerns is to be scientifically modelled and worked out. I would like to suggest a rule of thumb that a third of city should be dedicated for the greenery and such facilities. Thousands of Indian towns and urban conglomerates, are under severe pressure and none of the smart city concerns have been addressed, under Indian condition it could be too much to expect also except in some planned cities like Chandigarh (and adjoining Panchkula) and Gandhinagar, where there are some elements, but not up to a reasonable semblance. So when we plan smart cities (smart cities have to be very precisely planned), the green component should be taken as important as the power or drainage requirement, the extent and distribution of green lung are to be well planned so that green concerns are addresses. It is a noble concept, hats off to the PM for the bold initiative, because only one or two cities in the world have made reasonable attempts. But, it is going to be a big challenge considering the present condition of nominated cities, some of which are already heavily congested and populous like New Delhi, Chennai, Lucknow, Kanpur, Kolkata, Jaipur, Vishakhapatnam etc. Imphal is also a city selected for that.At national level, it is in mission mode, Smart City Mission, with a target of 100 cities for the first phase. Can these cities release extra land required for tree line between the vehicular and pedestrian paths, shall the residents agree to give enough setback between the roads and houseline to accommodate more tree rows. Some states like Maharashtra and Haryana are already committed to acquire adequate land. A smart city without smart greenery would not be citizen friendly; cities not citizen friendly can never be smart. The PM said, people have to be at the centre of any development initiative, the green initiatives are real concern for the people, the endeavour have to be to make our smart cities Green Cities, Green Smart Cities.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/11/green-concerns-of-smart-cities/

By Peters Chongom

 

More often than not the state police forces have been in the news for all wrong reasons and it may not be too vague to articulate that the general public had shoddy and grim perception of the police forces. As such the public police relation is far from being cordial and benign it is rather is opposite of it. Besides, the police do not have high score with regard to the justice delivery aspect and a clear cursor to this fact may be cited of the public demand for CBI to investigate any sorts of matter surpassing the police as the latter is considered to be either ill equipped or less reliable or for that matter the reasons remains a recondite. This is a clear pointer to the fact that the police do not have good rapport with the common masses. Per se, there is a wide gap of trust deficit that breach the common masses and the police. Inter-alia it can be plainly put that there is lot of assignment to be done on the part of the khaki babus and personnel so that this trust deficit is gradually mend.

Notwithstanding it may be too erroneous to paint all the police personnel and officers with same brush of ennui and apathy. Per se, there are quite many faithful officers who are worthy of the badge and dress they wear. Recently I had an opportune time to come face to face with one such officer whom I feel deserve some word of appreciation and plaudits.  It all unfolds as one of my close acquaintances was caught up in the road traffic accident near Uripok oil pump some three weeks back. It was dark for the time was already late in the winter night. I got a call from one unknown person stating of the accident. Without any ado I haste up to the RIMS hospital. It is here that I met this gentle police officer. From the very first sentence he spoke to me I got an intuitive feeling that this man is true gentleman and my perception of him would turn out to be exactly as it is in the later part when we enter into negotiation with the other party of the fatal accident. As a matter of fact the said accident occurred between one FZ bike and a brand new i20 car and I am to represent the council of the bike victim.

Prima facie, it appears from all available sources and circumstantial evidence put forth from the accident spot points clearly that the guilty party of the two in this confrontation is the man riding the bike and whether I like it or not I am to represent the losing side in the contest. The next morning I was summoned at the Imphal Thana and as a law abiding citizen I made myself available in the stated time and spot. As both the party arrived, the intense wrangling and repartee began. To be fair I admit that to the corollary that the onus of guilt mostly befall on us, the bike representative. As such it was more or less expected that huge penalty would be imposed on us. To add to the existing woes, I was having some sort of apprehension that the police officer handling the case might entirely favour my opponent not to mention of the fact that I too have some inner conviction that I was fighting for a losing cause. To put plainly, without any iota of doubt I too have the certitude feeling that the fault belongs to us (the bike rider in this case) in toto. To my surprise, the officer at the adjudicator bench the sub inspector) gave the judgement in such a manner that it moved my conscience to the core. His judgment was fair and candidly acceptable to us, me in particular. It was composed of ethical wit and void of any prejudice and unfairness. There was not a feeling left in me to surmise that he have some sort of favouritism for one and abhorrence for the other. It was ethically fair and humanely acceptable. I still remember one line he said…

“We are human and not all matters needs to be seen in the prism of legality, but we need to also look at things from the humanitarian angle” The inner crux of this episode will be too long to explain in this article but I just  wanted to take a simple opportunity to express my indebtedness and gratitude to one such officer who uphold the duty of being in uniform and also having a heart that is just and condign. The officer in is none but sub-inspector Paonam of Imphal Thana. I cannot say anything more than a simple thank you. You are a great asset for the police and the common masses as well. This has in fact added a new gloss to the feathers of police forces. It is my prayer and wish that more and more officers follow your ethically sound judgemental path so that we can revamp our police system and restore the trust of the public. You are a gem for the department and this incident has certainly given me a new hope that not all is bad in the police system. There is always some good sheep in the folk. Jai ho Manipur police, plaudits and encomium to Imphal Thana.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/11/exalting-the-imphal-thana/

By Dr Omila Thounaojam

 

Morrison experiments with anti-conventionalism and most profoundly comes up with the creation of Sula, a woman whose personality in the novel totally diverts away from the conventional expectations of “how” an ideal woman should be like. She is a woman who will not mother, nurture, or take her place in the usual heterosexual social order that characterizes women like Helene Wright and her daughter Nel. Sula could be considered as an imaginative creation of Morrison’s experiment with feminist ideologies wherein, she tries to imagine a self-creation, rebelling from, and at odds with, all the preceding prescription. Morrison has asserted that she wanted to take a woman who is unlike Geraldine in The Bluest Eye or Helene Wright (Nel’s mother) and Nel in Sula who just folds away many parts of herself by just preparing oneself for marriage and home-making (Asinof “Fresh Ink”). Hortense Spillers notes that in Sula, the novelist imagines a woman, who, intends on opening up all parts of herself rather than folding them away, flouts convention and received morality (214).

Morrison cuts Sula free from the conventional responsibilities and definers of an ideal womanhood and provides her a kind of detachment and distance by cutting her loose from feeling and as well to make her in many ways surprisingly evil. In a series of events that unfold in the course of the narrative, one finds Sula coldheartedly disposing her grandmother Eva by placing her in a degraded old home meant for old people. A string of signs is linked to Sula based on the community’s mythology, thereby almost equating her with the devil figure. Morrison has noted in many of her interviews that she is fascinated with the way black communities tolerate evil, learning to live and survive in its presence rather than responding aggressively and anxiously to banish or exorcise it.

Nonetheless, the community in Sula, more than simply tolerating it, helps to add up in Sula the evil that it perceives and even needs. Sula’s presence is a need for the community for it challenges its members to explore their best selves and this facet is markedly evident in the novel when, after her death, the sense of relief, hope and order that the people of her community felt is short-lived: A falling away, a dislocation was taking place. … Without her mockery, affection for others sank into flaccid disrepair. Daughters who had complained bitterly about the responsibilities of taking care of their aged mother-in-law had altered when Sula locked Eva away, and they began cleaning those old women’s spittoons without a murmur. Now that Sula was dead and done with, they returned to a steeping resentment of the burdens of old people (153-54). Throughout the novel, there is a reiteration of “how” it is only Sula who can look upon pain and trauma with disinterest. Sula’s strength to live life on her own terms is best
expressed: “‘Yes. But my lonely is mine. Now your lonely is somebody else’s. Made by somebody else and handed to you. Ain’t that something?  A secondhand lonely’” (143).

Many commentators have argued that Sula’s conscious disinterestedness provokes unease and this illustrated when she admits that she is thrilled and “interested” (78) to see her mother burn and also when Ajax has left her, she recognizes that she would have liked to tear “the flesh from his face” (136) to get to the secret of his blackness and beauty.  Barbara Johnson’s brilliant reading of the novel draws our attention to Sula’s puzzling disinterestedness particularly focusing on the moment when Nel discovers Jude and Sula together. All Nel does is looking at them in disbelief at the adulterous scene before her and waits for one of them to say something by way of explanation: “I waited for Sula to look up at me any minute and say one of those lovely college words like aesthetic or rapport, which I never understood but which I loved because they sounded so comfortable and firm” (105). Johnson argues that the novel functions as a test for the reader of readerly aesthetics or rapport, interest or disinterest in the succession of horrible images, painful truths and losses, that it articulates and interrogates the readerly response to the horrible images we see and hence, asks “What is the nature of our pleasure in contemplating trauma?” (171).

Sula’s determination to live one’s life in one’s own term certainly made her disregard the usual constraints that socialization involves, but such a disregard for convention made her pay a heavy price, especially in the last chapters, the novel is explicit about the pain and suffering that Sula, disinterested as she seems, has not managed to leave behind. The aspect of Sula that we see by the second part of the novel seems “to have become a repository of pain – personal, local and cosmic” (Matus). Such an assumption about her could be drawn on the basis of the fact that Sula perceives even the act of lovemaking surprisingly, as a way to find “misery and the ability to feel deep sorrow” (122) and seeking out the “eye of sorrow in the midst of all that hurricane rage of joy,” she locates at the center of “that silence … the death of time and a loneliness so profound the word itself had no meaning” (123). It is then that she wept: For loneliness assumed the absence of other people, and the solitude she found in that desperate terrain had never admitted the possibility of other people. She wept then. Tears for the death of the littlest things: the castaway shoes of children; broken stems of marsh grass battered and drown by the sea; prom photographs of dead women she never knew; wedding rings in pawnshop windows’ the tidy bodies of Cornish hens in a nest of rice” (123). Sula’s sense of cosmic grief as evident from the references above draws our attention towards an incident or rather an accident, a case of specific trauma of her past that involves the death of Chicken Little. One could ascertain that Chicken Little’s death is the central symbol of loss in the novel. As the narrator puts forth, with a “bubbly laughter,” he was there for one moment as Sula swings him, holding him by the wrists, but he is gone the next moment “The water darkened and closed quickly over the place where Chicken Little sank. The pressure of his hard and tight little fingers was still in Sula’s palms as she stood looking at the closed place in the water. They expected him to come back up, laughing” (61). The effect of Chicken Little’s death is as if “something” is “newly missing” and at the funeral, the women mourners connect to the event by identifying with the child as “innocent victim” and are also reminded of the “oldest and most devastating pain there is: not the pain of childhood but the remembrance of it” (65). The funeral foregrounds the notion that the boy’s death is a symbol of Sula’s own childhood hurt.

Chicken Little’s accidental death is one of the key moments in the novel and is an incident that introduces us with the notion of the pain of losing innocence and also through Shadrack’s promise to Sula, the permanence of childhood secured and captured by death. Realizing that Shadrack has seen the accident, Sula runs to his shack and all she gets to hear from him is the one consolidating word he utters, “always.” The notion of permanent peace in Chicken Little’s long sleep of water returns to Sula shortly before her own death. She dies with the dominating feeling of “being completely alone – where she had always wanted to be – free of the possibility of distraction” (149).

When Shadrack remembers of the exchange that he had with Sula, he promises her not ostensibly the sleep of water, but a stay against change and the “falling away of skin, the drip and slide of blood. He had said ‘always’ to convince her, assure her, of permanency” (157). When he sees Sula’s corpse, he realizes that yet another whose face, he knew has died and finally the hope preserved in his sense of “always” disappears. A heavy sense of despair propels him so much so to the point that he starts doubting whether his suicide day has helped to keep order in the universe. One could undoubtedly infer that Sula’s death sets off the chain of circumstances that leads to the deaths of many of the Bottom’s community members.

In her final conversations with Nel, she says “Being good to somebody is just like being mean to somebody. Risky. You don’t get nothing for it” (144-45). What becomes clear about Sula, having lived life on her own terms, is that she has not avoided pain, but simply objected to order or school her feelings to go with conventional practices. She finds the cult of womanhood that conditions, proscribes and prescribes emotions to be not worth following. In a most shocking declaration, Sula asserts that there will be a time when the world will actually love her: ‘Oh, they’ll love me all right. It will take time, but they’ll love me. … After all the old women have lain with the teen-agers; when all the younger girls have slept with their drunken old uncles; after all the black men fuck all the white ones; when all the white woman kiss all the black ones … then there’ll be a little love left over for me. And I know just what it will feel like’ (145).

Sula’s thought in the stated speech is distinctively about taboo breaking, iconoclasm and moreover, the shattering of social and sexual conventions. We find that Sula is comprised of voices echoing with delayed reactions, dissociations, repressed memories and above all, the “psychic discontinuity” of event and affect (Johnson). There are a series of moments in the text that contain incidents witnessing that discontinuity – Shadrack’s reaction to the experience of the battlefield, Nel’s response to discovering her husband Jude committing adultery with her best friend Sula, and Sula’s response to the drowning of Chicken Little – to mention a few examples. It could also be highlighted here that indeed many characters in the novel experience the disjunction between the immediate event and the registration of its psychic effects. Eva is the best example to point out, for the narrator describes how Eva feels when Boyboy leaves her and she doesn’t know what she feels and then suddenly it strikes her that she hates him: “It hit her like a sledge hammer and it was then that she knew what to feel. A liquid trail of hate flooded her chest” (36). There is a fascinating structural pattern that is formed by the accumulation of such delayed effects and Eva’s just one to be pointed out here. Barbara Johnson remarks: “While the chapter headings promise chronological linearity, the text demonstrates that lived time is anything but continuous, that things don’t happen when they happen, that neither intentionality nor reaction can naturalize trauma into consecutive narrative” (169). Robert Grant offers further input to such an observation by stating that the wrought, “quasipalindromic” structure of the novel is testimony to its concern with delayed effects: “Sula divides precisely into two equal parts and characters introduced and developed in ‘I’ are brought back in ‘II’ in inverse sequence. The novel begins in memory and concludes with Nel’s crucial remembrance of Sula” (95).

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/11/anti-conventionalism-in-sula/

By Syed Mahmoud Nawaz

 

The 46th IFFI opened with the film ‘The Man Who Knew Infinity’, which is directed by Matthew Brown and is produced by Edward Pressman of the Pressman Films, Joe Thomas and others. The film which took almost ten years to make and had a budget of around 10 million dollars is based on a book by the same name written by Robert Kanigel on the life and times of Ramanujan. ‘My aunt presented me Robert’s book and I was fascinated by the depth with which Indian Mathematics Genius Ramanujan pursued his dream-his journey was so inspiring that I decided to make this film’ said Matthew Brown, the director. He added, ‘I found the personal relationships that Ramanujun had, to be amazing and I loved the idea that for the man, his mathematics was infused spirituality, at the same time I don’t mean to equate it with some far off mystic way that some westerners might perceive it to be’. In spite of having no formal training, Srinivasa Ramanujan proved to the world that he very well understood the nuances of the complexity of mathematics. He went on to become a Fellow of the Royal Society. Though he lived for only 32 years in this world, Ramanujanleft an indelible mark on the world of mathematics. The genius compiled nearly 4000 identities and equations. He was invited to the University of Cambridge by Professor G.H. Hardy after he saw the samples of his theorems. Hardy became his mentor and was instrumental in bringing his brilliance to the fore and in revealing his genius to the world. This was not easy for Hardy as he had to really work hard in convincing others about Ramanujanand convincing Ramanujan about the importance of coherent proofs to go along with his mathematical results. When asked what his greatest contribution to mathematics was, Hardy replied that it was the discovery of Ramanujan.

After staying in Cambridge, Ramanujan came back to India to be with his family but could only survive for around a year. Around 100 pages of notes from his last year made their way to England later and were added to the Ramanujan archives at the Wren Library at Trinity College, Cambridge. Today physicists and mathematicians are making use of them in their research on string theory, black holes and quantum gravity.

Robert Kanigel once said, “The Man Who Knew Infinity is not only about mathematics; it’s about the powerful bond between Ramanujan and Hardy and how it shaped their lives”. The director of the film Matthew Brown who himself is a writer said that he had no reservations about Kanigel’s book. In fact he praised Kanigel for being very supportive to the film project. “Robert opened up all his research for me and we became instant friends” added Brown. In the film the character of Ramanujan is played by the young and talented Dev Patel and that of his wife Janaki by the graceful Devika Bhise. The famous actor Jeremy Irons plays the role of Professor GH Hardy. Others in the cast include Kevin Mcnally, ArundhatiNag, Dhritman Chaterji, Shazad Latif, Anthony Calf, Roger Narayan, Jeremy Northman, Stephen Fry, Toby Jones and others.

Inputs from expert mathematicians also added authenticity to the whole project. Swati Bhise, a leading Bharatanatyam dancer, who is well acquainted with the Iyengar culture, also used all her talent in contributing creatively towards the making of the film apart from being one of its executive producers. Films like ‘The Man Who Knew Infinity’ make us cherish our legacy and remember the contributions made by great people like Ramanujun who in spite of facing difficult times in their lives never allowed the environment to stop them from achieving great heights and from showing light to the world. The work of Srinivasa Ramanujun will always keep inspiring people all across the world. (PIB Feature)

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/11/46th-iffis-opening-film-the-man-who-knew-infinity/

By Birkarnelzelzit Thiyam

 

Many scientists pray when their results are out of track. Why? Why these leaders admit the fact of being unable to tell why the dead breath? Over the ages, there have been mysteries that make all of us cry out for the exact result. Almost every religion speaks of the life after death. To neutralise the fact of being unable to control the naughty humans, people make up stories i.e. ghost stories. From the early life, we are with these stories which make us develop the feeling of getting scared of the dark. 70% of the world’s population propagates that there is nothing called ghost. I don’t mean to all go back to the drawing board. What about the case of Emily rose’s exorcism? Why the science cannot explain this? I don’t think the scientists were so busy that they cannot put their hands on this matter. Of the original team of archaeologists who were present when the ancient tomb of the boy king Tutankhamun was opened, only one lived to a ripe old age. Why is the dead of this little king so famous? Is this because of the curse? Mohammed Ibrahim, Egypt’;s director of antiquities, in 1966 argued with the government against letting the treasures from the tomb leave Egypt for an exhibition in Paris. He pleaded with the authorities to allow the relics to stay in Cairo because he had suffered terrible nightmares. The boy himself came up to him in his dream and told him to stop, if not he showed him how he will die. Ibrahim left a final meeting with the government officials, stepped out into what looked like a clear road on a bright sunny day, was hit by a car and died instantly. Is this just a story? In 1969, Richard Adamson lost his wife within 24 hours after speaking out against the curse. His own son also broke his back in a plane crash when he also spoke the same. Do you think its coincidence? What about the haunt in Eastern State Penitentiary, Pennsylvania, United States and Waverly Hills Sanatorium – Kentucky, United States? To believe this is a great challenge, I know. But if we know where do we go after we die or what happens after death then we are sure to believe all these things. To show the light that science somehow support life after death was projected by Einstein. As said by Einstein, “energy cannot be destroyed, energy cannot be created, it just changes from one form to another,” all the mysteries become realistic now. The electrical energy which creates our heart beat, where does this energy goes after we die? This is the question? Is ghost the new form of energy that is formed from those energies? Most of the parapsychologist believe that people those who have the sixth sense are the ones who mostly experience this. When the energy comes, he/she relates which his/her past experiences and starts to see unnatural things called ghost.

Even if we don’t believe in ghost stories, we still like to hear things related to those supernatural elements. The Americans started a thing call “ghost hunting,” making teams of ghost hunters to create an element of suspense to the public. But off the shot, there are cases of getting calls from people who have already died, shadows following, etc. Leaving all these mysteries behind now we move on to another talk called reincarnation which no one could explain. Anne frank’s reincarnation is the most famous one. Ten years after she passed away at the concentration camp, a girl called Barbro Karlen was born in a Christian family in Sweden. When Barbro became three, she told her mom that her name was not Barbro but Anne frank. Her parents told her to called “Ma and Pa” but she refused to say and told them that they are not her real parents, she told that her real parents will come to take her. At first her parents thought it was just a fantasy but it holds true at last. All likes and dislikes of Anne and Barbro were same.

Personal experiences are another cases and the scientific views stand on the other side. We are surrounded by mysteries. Majority believes the view of Einstein. No one knows the other world beyond science, the world of negative and positive energies.

The evidence of ghosts that we have today are no better than those we had centuries ago. May be because ghosts are not real or may be because we are not developed enough to put our hands into their world. Even if all these issues are burning, we still go to watch horror movies.

 

The writer can be reach at birkarnelzelzitthiyam3073@gmail.com

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/11/hungry-souls-something-beyond-the-reach-of-science-sometimes-end-is-the-new-beginning/

By Sheikh Noorul Hassan

 

Let me clarify a few things: India moved away from the European form of secularism (They grew tired of centuries of interference by the church and hence distanced religion from the state). India, on the other hand, considered secularism to be about providing equal footing for all religions. Gandhi probably plumped for this as he used religious motifs in all his campaigns. His discourses and bhajans eulogised all religions. This stance is also due to how Independence happened from India’s perspective.

Now, let’s take this complaint about appeasement as this will also be clarified if you study the path of independence. If you read about freedom movement especially in the 1920-1945 period you will see a gradual polarisation along communal lines. Cow protection, Hindi-Hindu-Hindutva, ghar wapsi -Shuddhi etc., took root even as the Muslims hardened their stance in parallel with their own version of tabligh and Tanzim (there was even a tussle for language. Urdu was main language in United Provinces in the 19 century. The Hindu literary movement started in the late 19th century and with the growth of local printing press and publication helped distance Hindi from Urdu which increasingly became a Muslim language. Now this beautiful language is almost nearing extinction in India). Cong tried to keep the two groups together with Gandhi trying hard even though the British found it useful to keep up the feud (For e.g. in the 1931 riot in United Provinces, some 42 mosques and 18 temples were razed. And a highly respected congressman like Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi was killed). All this led Jinnah to grow suspicious and demand Pakistan. The role of Gandhi and Nehru was projected as anti-patriotic by the Hindu right. The fact is: These fights between the Hindu groups and Muslim groups almost made it difficult to look for any reconciliation. In such a situation, Nehru and Gandhi took the view that India will be for all religions even as Pakistan became an Islamic state (more so later with rise of Zia ul haq). India on the other hand, wanted to convince the minorities that they will be safe. Congress, post Independence tried hard to keep everyone’s interest. Gandhi and later Nehru became a villian in the eyes of Hindu right.

In such a situation, a uniform civil code was a difficult attempt. Forget the marriage law, even if you take inheritance law, you will find each religion (including the HUF laws of Hindus) have their pluses and minuses. Which one to adopt? So, the founding fathers took the easy way by keeping all of them including what seems today to be an illiberal law like polygamy and triple talaq. Uniform Civil Code is a great hope but for that you need to create an environment of trust and also an educated populace. Not the way Modi and BJP wants to push down.

Haj subsidy is a bit of a narrative propaganda by the RSS and BJP. Air travel was costly and even limited (state controlled by AI) and many Muslims were poor and in that background it entered (Even as late as 1995-96, you needed govt. pull to get telephone lines). Just for balance, Hindu temples also get lot of grants and supports even now. A lot of temple upkeep is with govt.  For example, take TN and you will find Hindu priests also get salary and perks. There is also this insinuation that Mosques are in Muslims hands while Hindu temples are controlled by govt. One example, the Hindus used to feud over admin of temples as Hindus are decentralized (unlike Waqf or SGPC). Some temples were rich and complaints of stealing was regular. I remember the Tirpati temple infightings. I am sure if your society members fight, the govt. provides admin. Same happened to Hindu temples.

Now coming to politics and its influence in so called appeasement. In Nehru’s time there was hardly an opposition worth its name. The one internal mistake he made was to force Hindi in the south. This effectively resulted in Congress losing out in TN and that’s how regional parties grew. The first feud happened when Indira Gandhi took over. Her nationalisation efforts, Indo-Bangladesh war won her admirers (this gave her Bharat Ratna when the nation was in a exuberant mood having discovered a great PM). I guess all that got into her head and her insecurity resulted in emergency. She also cut down the leadership pipeline in Congress which it suffers to this day. Janta party gained power with the exuberant JP movement but they could not hold on. In fact, what is remembered of that period is the ousting of MNC like Coca Cola etc., Even JWT became HTA. Indira came back until Punjab boiled over and consumed her (in turn caused the 1984 riots). Rajiv came in that backdrop with lots of youthful energy. Alas, his inexperience was a let down (one of his worst decision was the Shah bano case that sort of made Congress seem as appeasing Muslims though they kept their befuddled indifference) and that’s how India gave a second chance to the coalition. So many governments formed and it was a painful period as VP Singh brought in Mandal commission.

Mandal changed the election arithmetic resulting in the growth of regional parties in Hindi heartland. Obviously, the upper class was angry as this catapulted the lower castes upwards.

After Rajiv’s assassination, Rao changed India’s economic landscape with liberalisation policies. This was the time when Advani found a way to unite Hindus using Ayodhya working with VHP. As usual, the fence sitting Congress slept as UP bled with the polarisation. This polarisation enabled Vajpayee to take power. Vajpayee’s tenure ended with the Gujarat pogrom.

The entire 21st century is marked by electoral arithmetic of caste and religious grouping to grab power. India’s economic growth in 2003-2007 period also brought in corruption which has become endemic.

If you see in this backdrop, you will realize that Congress is reactive party while BJP is an opportunistic party which uses whatever it suits to win sometimes socialism and self reliance (JP movement), sometimes communalism and even parochialism. Historically, all sangh groups depended heavily on Marwari generosity (even pre Independence). Trade groups rarely got directly involved in national movement as their trade depended on the British benevolence. Of course, there were a few exceptions like GD Birla, Bajaj etc., So, in a way the sanghis have little to prove their patriotic credentials. So, they need to steal from history by misrepresenting it. So they invent all sorts of villians from Aurangzeb and Tipu Sultan using today’s yardstick of morality with the aim of proving Hindus have been wronged.

So, if you see from this background you will see the need to create a narrative of strong Hindi-Hindu-Hindustan. Development has been added by Modi to make it palatable to all and that’s is masterstroke to gain the creditable victory

However, as you see, I really want politicians to focus on social and economic development since a youthful India is quite liberal and western looking (at least the urban ones). This is much tougher as we have not really built much of social and liberal society overall what with poor literacy and poverty. So its much better to make people feud on silly things like Ghar wapsi, beef, Tipu Sultan and so on.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/11/politics-and-its-influence-in-so-called-appeasement/

By Garga Chatterjee

What importance is accorded to which people by governments is often revealed by official calendars. Indian Union government doesn`t recognize any holiday (compulsory or optional) on 10th November on account of Kali Pujo. The next day is a compulsory “national” holiday called Diwali. Government of Bangladesh recognizes 10th November as an optional holiday for Hindus on account of Kali Pujo. There`s no Diwali. There`s no Diwali in the West Bengal government`s official holiday either although it lists both 10th and 11th November as holidays – 10th as Kali Pujo and 11th as day for immersion of goddess Kali. In West Bengal`s post Durga Puja festivity calendar, Kali Pujo`s prime importance was underlined by multiple recent tweets made by trinamool Congress quoting Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. “We must follow all regulations during Kali Puja festivities. Enjoy the fun but with safety”. “Maa, Mother and Ammi are one and same. She cannot be divided. We worship Durga then Lakshmi. Now Kali Puja”. “There are several forms of Maa Kali: Chhinna Masta, Shoshan Kali, Siddheswari, Katyawani, Jagadamba and many more”. Finally, she subsumed Deepavali within the ambit of Kali Pujo – “Hope Maa Kali fills darkness with light. Let us pray to Maa Kali to bring happiness in everyone`s life”. There will be customary Deepavali greetings from her but the priorities and hierarchies are clear. Her Congress background also makes her particularly amenable to strongly patronizing Ma Kali. From Bengal`s pre-partition Swadeshi political terrorists and their physical culture associations to neighbourhood Congressite “dada” and their local youth clubs, all have been part of a continuous tradition of patronizing Kali Pujas.

I share with Mamata Banerjee our extended residential neighbourhood, the Kalighat-Chetla area, the world capital of Kali Pujo in terms of variety. There is Hajat Haat, Shoroshi, Aakali, DhyanTara, Johura, SwarnoKali, Jwolonto, SwetTara, KrishnaKali, Nataraj Kali, Aadya, Chandraghanta, Chamunda, Doshomunda and many more forms including MohunBagan Kali ( with the goddess painted in the football club`s colours). The roughly 3 square kilometre Chetla-Kalighat area has several hundred Kali pujos pandals. Here, on the only Shaktipeeth in metropolitan Kolkata, stands the famous Kali temple at Kalighat. Myself being a Shakto and a Chetla resident, Kali Pujo has always been special. The prasad of curried goat meat, preferably sacrificed and offered to our holy mother beforehand, is one of the high notes of Kali Pujo for millions in Bengal.

For Bengalis, till a couple of decades ago, in the post Durga Pujo period, Kali Pujo was the only show in town. Diwali was miniscule. Not any more. Diwali contests Kali Pujo in public spaces. Ma Kali Puja is absent from the festival-centric marketting tactics in Bengal by non-Bengal commercial entities. One is bombarded by huge advertisements of “Diwali Dhamaka” offers in Bangla and English newspapers headquartered in Bengal by various non-Bengal ship-product-to-home-bypassing-local-shop entities. Some Bengal-based entities are also joining the fray. There are relentless text messages, that are Diwali themed sales pitches. One Bangla paper also carried an advert for some garment stores masquerading as a news article on “Diwali fashion” for Bengalis, whatever that means. If one picked up the leading Bangla and English newspapers of Bengal, the glitzy and colourful advertisements therein would not give anyone a clue that this is Bengal and Kali Pujo is around the corner. Who are these ads for?

Kali Pujo has traditionally been one of those festivals where the so-called “lower” castes have dominated much of the happenings. While the upper-castes also celebrate Kali Pujo with vigour, a small but well-off section of their new generation has grown alienated from a celebration so rooted. This probably reflects on their general alienation from their surrounds, but are also the high-spending class for whom the Diwali teasers are designed for. And its partially working. Economic elites influence the aspirational tastes of those lower down in the rung. Entities that hate tariff barriers between states as well as the local sourcing clauses in retail inundate us with “Diwali” and not Kali Pujo around this time of the year. Kali Pujo is something that commercial entities that cater largely to the aspirational urban classes cannot easily negotiate. Its too democratic and actually religious, still too much rooted and real content – not a shell like the range of `pan-Indian` hashtag religious festivals, inside which anything can be stuffed and sold, to assuage the identity anxieties of the aspirational rootless urban class while peddling “deals”. The Diwali-Dhanteras combo is here in Bengal to stay and spread – before-long without the need of alienated Bengalis as Trojan horses. Kali Pujo will become Diwali, or rather, Diwali with Bengali characteristics – the only kind of `diversity` that “unity in diversity” ideology tolerates. In Bengal, Doljatra is already becoming Holi with Bengali characteristics (nevermind that they dont even fall on the same date). Navratri-ization of Durga Puja has also started.

Not long back, the Kalibari signified a Hindu Bengali settlement outside Bengal. For the newly arrived, the Kalibari was an embassy and community-space rolled into one. While the Bengali labourer mentally still carries his gods and goddesses with him, the “cosmopolitan” ones travel lighter. And some travel without the baggage even without leaving Bengal. Diwali is perfect for the self identity of the small but increasing bloc of urban Bengalis whose non-rooted Hinduness also makes him an Indian without qualifications of ethnicity and culture. They aren`t Bengali. They aren`t Indian first and Bengali second. They are only Indians, without hyphenations. and nothing but Indians. They are the ideal citizens, the “Indian” for whom a centralized Indian Union was dreamt up in the first place, except that most inhabitants didnt live up to such non-hyphenated and flat Indianness and still dont.

Cultural exchange and spread has happened throughout the human past. The problem arises when certain forms of cultural spread also signify a uniformization project by external cultural dominance with the active connivance of government, media and business, behind the fig-leaf of “unity in diversity”. Their combined power is immense. With deracinated elites of vernacular origin as collaborators, their project has started acquiring the qualities that US conservative political strategist Karl Rove had in mind when he said “We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality”. This reality is created when ostensibly “national” TV channels carry a Diwali icon on their screen on Diwali day but never on Kali Pujo or Onam, hence signalling not so subtly what it means by “Indian”. A North-Indian bania`s domestic culture is “Indian” without qualifications but a Bengali“s Kali Pujo is not similarly “Indian” but a variant or a quirk. One-way cultural entry on the back of money, media and political power is cultural aggression. I cannot think of any religious spread from Kali-land or Onam-land into Diwali-land but the opposite is progressively true. In this particular scheme of unidirectional entry, Diwali is not alone. It comes with things as disparate as CBSE, Holi and Hindi, with the pace quickening in the post-liberalization period. Join those apparently disparate dots and the contours of the post-1990 Bharatmata is revealed. Whose `local` becomes `national` and whose `local` disappears when ideas like `all India` and `mainstream` are evoked? Why is the direction of traffic in this supposedly two-way street so predictable? Why does the ruling party and its leading star focus most of his political energy and reaps maximal benefits in aeas where Diwali is the uncontested name for the festival of lights? In all of this, what is the lesson for us, the still non-Diwali people?

While Kali Pujo has a non-vegetarian overtone, Diwali signifies quite the opposite. Around Kali Pujo time, why are there no “Diwali Dhamaka”deals for a wholesome Biryani in the non-vegetarian land of Bengal, something that`s common during Durga Puja? These are subtle undercurrents with far-reaching consequences for Bengal`s social fabric. Kali Pujo is primarily a religious festival, around which other rituals like Bhoot Chaturdashi are woven. All of these entail generationally handed down customs of eating, behaving and being.

Bengal, in the face of state-sponsored, money-powered, media-assisted cultural aggression, is undergoing a hollowing out of richness and long-preserved and celebrated ways of life. The resultant Anglo-Hindiization of public culture is a poor replacement. Interestingly, Chhat Puja of Biharis hasn`t encroached in the Bengali cultural space in the way Diwali has, while the ethnic observers of Chhat Puja far outnumber Diwali`s ethnic celebrators in Kolkata. So the Diwali effect isnt due to the cultural mixing that happens due to mere physical presence of cultural `others`, but the expansion of outside ideology wedded to power. Will this encroaching front invoke a wall of resistance from Mother Kali, the protectior of her earthly children, whose cultures and identities are under siege? Time will tell.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/11/kali-puja-in-times-of-diwali/

By Ringo Pebam

 

Corruption is a violation of human rights that leads to “systematic economic crimes”, and a “serious malady undermining the very health of the polity”.

Manipur’s modern culture of corruption is the nexus of contractor-technocrat-bureaucrat-politician who steals public money in standardised percentages. This organised system of robbery loots our money. The public money meant for building infrastructures have turned into marble palaces, sports utility vehicles (SUVs) and expensive apartments owned by government employees and politicians in the metropolises of the country.

The current scenario gives us no guarantee that we won’t lose many other opportunities to corrupt practices in regards to development of our state; whether be it in giving jobs to the deserving, or in implementation of laws and development programs/ schemes that directly or indirectly affects us (unknowingly).

The ‘Let it be’ disease has infected the eyes and minds of us all so much that we have developed a sense of immunity from any of the prevalent economics, cultural and political state of Manipur.

How many times do we remember discussing corruption with our friends over a drink? We come up with all the Utopian solutions and criticise the policy and opinion makers of the state and we forget the topic as we part.

Carrying along this guilt (inaction) with me, I roamed about the city few days ago enquiring the existence of a Lok Ayukta office, which many states of India have. I visited courts, met legal luminaries, and inquired for Lok Ayukta’s office, but I was told that Manipur government has not appointed a Manipur Lok Ayukta yet.

What/ who is Lok Ayukta and Lok Pal?

The Lok Ayukta is an anti­-corruption authority ombudsman (an ombudsman is an official, appointed by the government or by parliament to represent the interests of the public). It deals with abuse of administrative discretion, misuse of power, mal-administrative, inefficiency, administrative corruption, nepotism, discourtesy etc. Any citizen can make his/her complaints of corruption directly to the Lok ayukta against any government official or elected representative. The Lok Ayukta investigates allegations of corruption and mal­administration against public servants and is tasked with speedy redressal of public grievances. The Lok Ayukta is usually a former High Court Chief Justice or former Supreme Court judge and has a fixed tenure.

Brief history of ‘Ombudsman’

The earliest democratic institution created in the world for citizens’ grievances was in Sweden 1809. The Swedish ‘Ombudsman’ deals with abuse of administrative discretion, misuse of power, mal-administrative, inefficiency, administrative corruption, nepotism, discourtesy etc. Following the Swedish Ombudsman all other Scandanavian countries also established Ombudsman. In other countries like France, they established French system of ‘Administrative Court’. In erstwhile USSR and other communist countries they established in the name of ‘Procurated System’.

Brief history about ‘Lok Pal’ and ‘Lok Ayukta’

In India, the ‘Ombudsman’ is called ‘Lok Pal‘ (at Central Level) and ‘Lok Ayukta‘ (at State level).

The concept of a constitutional ombudsman was first proposed in parliament by Law Minister Ashoke Kumar Sen in the early 1960s. The term “Lok Pal” was coined by Dr. L.M. Singhvi in 1963.

The Administrative Reforms Commission of India 1966-70 (headed by Morarji Desai) after studying the ombudsman model in Scandanavian countries (who have had an ombudsman for over 200 years), recommended the setting up of two special authorities designated as Lok Pal and Lok Ayukta for the redressal of citizens’ grievances.

The first Jan Lokpal Bill was proposed by Shanti Bhushan in 1968 and passed in the 4th Lok Sabha in 1969, but did not pass through the Rajya Sabha. Subsequently, Lok Pal Bills were introduced in 1971, 1977, 1985, again by Ashoke Kumar Sen, while serving as Law Minister in the Rajiv Gandhi cabinet, and again in 1989, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2005 and in 2008, yet they were never passed.

While the Central government was still debating the establishment of the institution of Lok Pal, many states had already set up the institution of Lok Ayuktas. States like Maharastra set up Lok Ayukta in 1971, Uttar Pradesh in 1975,  Karnataka in 1985. By 2002, 18 states had enacted Lok Ayukta.

Lok Pal and Lok Ayuktas Act, 2013

Finally, in 2011 anti­-corruption crusader Anna Hazare fought to get the Jan Lok Pal Bill passed, he went on hunger strike, it led to nationwide protests in support and the bill got passed. The Lok Pal and Lok Ayuktas Act 2013 came into force from 16 January 2014. The legislation envisages that the Lok Pal would receive complaints of corruption against the Prime Minister, Ministers, Members of Parliament, officers of the Central government (all levels) and against functionaries of an entity that is wholly or partly financed by the government.

The Bill also made it mandatory for all states to set up Lok Ayuktas within one year of the passage of the bill.

Manipur Lok Ayukta Act, 2014

In March 2014, the Manipur Legislative Assembly passed the ‘Manipur Lok Ayukta Bill, 2014‘, it received the assent of the President of India on 23rd October 2014 and it became an Act – ‘Manipur Lok Ayukta Act, 2014’.

The Manipur Lok Ayukta should consist of a Chairman and two members of whom one should be a Judicial Member. They have to be appointed by the Governor on the recommendations of the Selection Committee. The Selection Committee consists of 1) the Chief Minister, 2) the Speaker, 3) the Leader of Opposition in Legislative Assembly, 4) the Chief Justice of High Court or a Judge of the High Court nominated by him and 5) an eminent Jurist recommended by the Chairman and the Members.

Jurisdiction of Lok Ayukta includes the Chief Minister of Manipur, Minister, Members of Manipur Legislative Assembly, officers and officials of State Government.

Chapter VI of the Manipur Lok Ayukta Act, 2014 states:

14. (1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, the Lok Ayukta shall inquire or cause an inquiry to be conducted into any matter involved in, or arising from, or complaint in respect of the following, namely:-

a) any person who is or has been a Chief Minister:  [Provided that the Lok Ayukta shall not inquire into any allegation of corruption against the Chief Minister unless a full bench of the Lok Ayukta considers the initiation of inquiry and at least two-thirds of its members approve of such inquiry.]

b) any person who is or has been a Minister of the State;

c) any person who is or has been a Member of the Manipur Legislative Assembly;

d) all officers and employees of the State, from amongst the public servants defined in sub-clause (i) and (ii) of clause (c) of section 2 of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 when serving or who has served, in connection with the affairs of the State;

e) all officers and employees referred to in clause (d) or equivalent in any body or Board or corporation or authority or company or society or trust or autonomous body (by whatever means called) established by an Act of the state Legislature or wholly or partly financed by the State Government or controlled by it.

f) any person who is or has been a director, manager, secretary or other officer of every other society or association of persons or trust (whether registered under any law for the time being in force or not), by whatever name called, wholly, partly financed or aided by the State Government and the annual income of which exceeds such amount as the State Government may by notification specify;

g) any person who is or has been a director, manager, secretary or other officer of every other society or association of persons or trust (whether registered under any law for the time being in force or not) in receipt of any donation from the public and the annual income of which exceeds such amount as the State Government may by notification specify or from any foreign source under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010 in excess of ten lakh rupees in a year or such higher amount as the Central Government may by notification specify;

 (the rest of the clauses and sub-clauses are not included in this article due to lack of space)

Why do we need a Manipur Lok Ayukta?

The rot in Manipur’s system has been exposed not by Lok Ayukta, but by Mother Nature. The serial collapses of Sekmai Dam and Chakpikarong Bridge recently exposed the nature of rot in the system.

The economic survey 2014-15 tabled in Parliament early this year exposed the 96% leakage (subsidized goods that do not reach any household) of rice is Manipur’s Public Distribution System, the highest leakage in the country. Those are the food grains which should have been distributed to BPL families of Manipur at subsidised rates.

The power elite – politicians and government officials are shamelessly unconcerned.

Huge wealth has come to accumulate in the hands of few, while the larger masses are driven increasingly to desperate poverty.

We need an ombudsman institution like Lok Ayukta to check the official corruption by the public servants.

Often in the mornings in Bangalore, I used to see reports in newspaper of investigation of cases of corruption by Santosh Hegde (former justice of the Supreme Court) who was the Lok Ayukta of Karnataka (from 2006-2011). (Santosh Hegde also headed the Supreme Court-appointed high-power commission, probing six cases of alleged extra-judicial killings in Manipur, and the commission reported that those cases were not genuine encounters and the victims did not have any criminal records.)

As a Lok Ayukta of Karnataka, Santosh Hegde had exposed major irregularities, uncovered major violations and systemic corruption in mines in Bellary. Four former chief ministers of Karnataka presently have cases pending before the Karnatake state Lok Ayukta. Hegde’s first report on illegal mining had indicted former chief minister N Dharam Singh and 11 government servants including one IPS and 6 IAS officials in the illegal mining scam. His report in the latter part of 2011 resulted in the dismissal of Chief Minister Yeddyurappa and being jailed for 21 days in October 2011.

Citizens in Karnataka reading such news felt good to see something being done to check corruption. But, here in Manipur, we do not get to see such news!

In Kerala, then United Democratic Front minister K.K. Ramachandran, was forced to resign in 2006, after the Lok Ayukta found him guilty of corruption. In Uttar Pradesh, Lok Ayukta Justice N.K. Mehrotra’s recommendations in 2011 resulted in nine ministers of the Mayawati government getting the boot.

To the media fraternity, general public and civil society organisations

Our media can help in making the public aware of “what is Lok Ayukta” and how the public can be empowered against the corrupted politicians and government officials once we have a Lok Ayukta office set up.

We, the public, have lot of guts and courage to beat up petty thieves (nganu-huranbas, activa-huranbas etc), but hardly do we realise that there is a bigger picture before us that we all are unable to see – the bigger robberies of our money by the politicians and government officials. Our development is at the mercy of corruption which is rampant in the state.

It’s high time that we as citizens of the state unite and raise our voice against corruption. On the part of our communal leaders, there is a need to direct our energies for the common good of the people towards development, rather than building up tensions amongst communities.

We have our rights, we are empowered with RTI (Right to Information), with PIL (Public Interest Litigation), but we hardly use them. Fear not, the politicians and government officials are beatable.

To the Honourable Governor and Chief Minister of Manipur

Sweden established Ombudsman in 1809; other Scandanavian countries followed suit two centuries ago. Maharastra set up their Lok Ayukta in 1971. The Lok Pal and Lok Ayuktas Act, 2013, which came into force from 16 January 2014, made it mandatory for all the states to set up Lok Ayuktas within one year of the passage of the Bill. It’s been more than a year since we have the The Manipur Lok Ayukta Act, 2014. But our Manipur Government has not established the Manipur Lok Ayukta yet.

Dear Honourable Governor and Chief Minister of Manipur, why have you not appointed Manipur’s Lok Ayukta so far? Is the ‘The Manipur Lok Ayukta Act, 2014’ just for name sake?

(The writer can be reached at ringo.p@gmail.com or facebook.com/ringo.pebam)

 

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/11/my-search-for-the-manipur-lok-ayukta/