Tag: Articles-Opinions

By Tinky Ningombam

Are you the decision maker in the family? That`™s what they normally ask in marketing research. One of the first signs of power is decision making. A kid turns an adult once we know that he/she is capable of making his/her own choices. But it is the toughest job. And the bigger the stake, the harder it is.

Most of us believe that we make our own decisions but as I have repeatedly espoused it is not so. We seldom question who the decision maker is and what he does with our lives `“ in our personal or social space. We just know that there is. He/she who has power over our lives.

When you ask people of who they think have power, one will always point to the authority figure. It will be the majority in a group, the leader of the pack, the rich, the elite, the famous? But power can also be a very subjective term. Man is powerful than animals, Ideas are more powerful than Man, God is all powerful than everything else? But above all, power is the control over choices. This is the power play we face every day. Who decides over whom?

We somehow secretly think that life would be much easier if all we did was just follow orders. If we are ok in believing that just following orders will make us be successful, accomplished, famous and alive. If we knew that those orders are going to make our life good. Even if they seemed wrong. `Why did you burn the house down, john?` `Because the boss said so.`

Because ignorance is bliss and a huge majority of people like to be told what to do. People like to follow the boss. The boss who has the courage to control the lives of people. When people believe in him/her, they give them the authority to decide and take over their lives. Maybe not entirely it may seem but an awful huge part of it. Because it is easier to live that way. As a child, one would not question if an adult told us to stay in one place and not move. Obviously as a child, we wouldn`t have had the mental prowess to question that order nor will the adult accept the validity of a rebuttal. We are all `children` to someone or the other, we like to be `children`. To be told things.

The hypocrisy in our lives hence is, the fact that we are quite protective of our personal daily choices while we give away all the important decision making to people in power without even raising a question of doubt. The sad part of everything here is that while most men envy power and the control, most common men do not think they are capable of wielding it. People think of power as in this context something that is manipulative, evil or corrupt. Something for people with money or people with connections.

I will get a little cheesy and quote Spiderman`™s Uncle Ben here and say that `With great power comes great responsibility`. Common people need to understand that Power doesn`t mean making others follow them blindly. It does not mean arm-twisting the law. Power does not mean having to decide over others`™ lives to serve selfish purposes. And it is definitely not only with the leader of the pack, the rich, the elite or the famous. Not all great ideas comes from the top. Not all great movements comes from board-rooms. Power comes from the people. From the citizens. Decision-making comes first from the people, from the citizens. Laws are made and are supposed to be made to accommodate the lives of citizens. And if that is not the case, people need to use their individual rights, their powers to revolt, redress and reform.

Yes, being your own boss is the hardest task of all. The boss who thinks of all the pros and cons, the boss who apparently can see the big picture, the boss who`™s neck will be in the noose if something bad happens, the boss whom everyone relies on. Not everyone wants power. It seems fun for a while, but not for long. Hence we consciously stay out of the power games. We leave them to the so called connected people, the moneyed people, the people with agendas, the people who like to take control. And then we get caught in the vicious circle, because we rely on them to make our decisions for us, without even knowing what power it is that we are giving up ,the same one that they are using over you.

You ask me, where do we start? Start with your family, with your neighborhood, with your community. Power should be democratized. You need to question choices that are made for you. Question if people are using power over you and if it is justified. See if your opinions are considered for the choices that affect you. Don`™t just do it for yourself, do it for the people, for your children and the children after that. If you do not take control of your lives, you give control of your lives to people who are waiting to take it.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/09/democratize-power/

By Kalpana Thaoroijam

Indigenous peoples`™ co-existence with Nature or forest depends on access to land, territory and natural resources. Right to land is regarded as an integral aspect of identity, which is predominant source of income, providing traditional livelihoods.

Remnants of Sacred Groves are existing witness to conservation effort of communities – at fringe forest areas. Land being primary source of sustenance; government or any private party cannot acquire community land and forest areas. Instead, a symbiotic relation must be enhanced. Lately, tourism industry has been the buzzword for economic growth in North East India, Manipur in particular!

The government of Manipur in its endeavor to provide job opportunities, overall progress in the State, has been pushing tourism industry as the key source of economic growth. In the process, infrastructure development has been given prime attention. In order to facilitate the boost of tourism, the Manipur Tourism Policy 2014, claims that Manipur with its inherent tourism potential, rich cultural heritage and vibrant pool of youth, with excellent grip over English language as an ideal place.

This is true that tourism is still at nascent stage in Manipur, and its potentials can be tapped for the benefit of local communities. However, it must involve long-term planning that will foster overall sustainable development. Resources must be used but not to the extent that our future generation will be deprived of any.

In the process of the so called development that is often not gradual but random, people in power play games for their own benefits. In such situation question may be posed: what are the stakes of local inhabitants?

Money will be an important aspect of tourism industry, but profit will mostly go into the pockets of a few private parties in the current given scenario of corruption and nepotism ruling the roost. In the lure of making quick money, resources have to be shared with tourists that will lead to over-dependency on natural resources, which will eventually shrink if not given enough time for regeneration. Thus there is fear that tourism industry will be responsible for massive deforestation, construction of tourism based infrastructures will also use a good amount of our water resources and forest products. Alongside, resource consumption by the tourists is bound to increase, which would in turn threaten the needs of the local people. This would further disturb optimal sharing of the resources. And thereby, there will be increased level of social injustice, which will have adverse impact on social and cultural way of life among the local populace.

In this backdrop, the role of Women as an important support system will be pushed at the periphery of development. Serious concern lies when the roles of women are limited to entertainment (song and dance), cooking and serving and at the same time stereotyped as the torchbearers of cultural identity.

Enormous traditional resources can be tapped but preservation and integrating traditional livelihood is a must.

Manipur Tourism Policy 2014 is incomprehensible and unedited compilation of every kind of tourism practiced elsewhere. It is a mix-match of several tried and failed concepts; not in anyway, suitable in our local context. The Policy mentions focus on Community Participation, involvement of private entrepreneurs for comprehensive development of tourism industry in Manipur. It reflects assigned participation, and not pro-active role of community workforce. The scopes of employment for locals are mostly confined to low- income activities, and menial jobs that will provide meager remuneration. Additionally, an assessment of the loss of current livelihoods to make way for tourism is required.

During recent visits to Thanga, Shirui and Nongmaiching to understand current tourism scenario and the progress of development, one could easily capture that majority of the communities had conflicting views with the government concerning benefits, participation, acquisition of land and the idea of tourism itself. Local communities expressed that they will be better host than others.

Communities have very less or no idea on upcoming projects in their areas, and their interests are sidelined in the process of tourism development while at same time they do not see how they can take part and benefit from the project. While people are not averse to the idea of promoting tourism, they wanted more transparency and would like to be party to the initiatives.

Tourism will come and go, as an alternative source of income. But we cannot depend solely on tourism activities for economic sustenance. People dependent on traditional occupations like farming, fishing, weaving and other activities will be able to entertain visitors only during their lean periods or seasons.

Way-forward:

Equitable benefit-sharing must be the guiding principle, if tourism has to flourish in Manipur. The trickle-down effect of `tourism economy`™ will create internal problem.

Manipur is home to 33 ethnic groups, and their cultural heritage, folk song and dance, traditional festival and indigenous game cannot be ignored. The policy is very Imphal-centric ignoring the highlights of other districts. Understanding current tourism developmental trends in Manipur and its brunt of consequences on communities living around project areas must not be overlooked.

For development to be effective, we need to look into the communities`™ mindset, without whom, the process will be incomplete. Community participation can only bring sustainable development. At village set-up communities have the rights to choose the kind of visitors that will be allowed in their villages, depending on the kind of tourism offered at hand. District-wise planning with local populace participating right from decision-making task, and incorporating them wherever possible is a prerequisite.

Manipur`™s unique advantage is that we are going to be a late participant in tourism industry when compared with other high profile tourism destinations of the world and country in particular. Therefore, lessons can be learned from those established tourist destinations concerning their challenges and negative impact on society and environment that they have to faced, or still facing.

What is required is collective engagement of the communities right from the decision making process to implementation in a wider encompassing framework.

(Kalpana Thaoroijam is with the Indigenous Perspective)

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/09/tourism-a-boon-or-bane/

By Paonam Thoibi

`The ban on hitting a child for disciplining is resolved after much study by social scientist that derived that this kind of violent disciplining does more harm than good to children`

Q.1. Dear Counselor, you have answered in the last Saturday`™s column that disciplining children involving beating them is not good. I think parents scold their children; beat them at times for changing their bad behavior when they would not listen or pay heed to just anything. Will you tell us how we will adopt a different method of dealing with children when we still have a common saying- `spare the rod and spoil the child`? A parent

Ans: Dear parent, I understand the concern you are showing when it comes to parenting, which everyone will agree is the most challenging task. We are brought up in a society which have always believed that hitting a child, using a rod is not only alright and harmless but also compulsory. It is believed that a parent is negligent if he/she does not do the same. Especially when a child did something unpleasant in front of many people, the parents are obliged to correct it immediately then and there. The ban on hitting a child for disciplining is resolved after much study by social scientist that derived that this kind of violent disciplining does more harm than good to children. We all know and agree the Manipuri saying `thoubankhong chafu bu kainaba yeibara?` which means we don`™t hit our child to break them, hurt them or do irreversible harm to them. But we should also know that there`™s a phenomena of `chei khaangba` with children which means they adapt to the pain and unpleasant treatment and never changes their bad behavior. Some parents immediately get to know that the strict and violent disciplining style is not working. Therefore, they feel they should beat them more, talk with them harsher and not be enough by just talking. Unfortunately, the child gets used to it and is not affected by any harsh treatment anymore after a while. Adversely, it may also become an ingredient to lose trust and confidence with their parents.

Most of children`™s behavior is predictive in nature and sometimes parents can predict when a child will behave to a certain situation, command or advice. Parents can use that predictability to improve children`s behavior without shouting or hitting and by treating them nicely, carefully so as not to give them an opportunity to misbehave and allowing them to respond in a specific desirable manner. This can particularly happen successfully if the parents can keep a check on their own stress and avoid misdirecting their anger to their child, who is not at fault most of the time.

Often times, parents overlook small good deeds a child had performed during the day and is easily provoked by a single misconduct and react to it in a manner which looks threatening to a child. Simple punishment- brief and sparingly used is also considered effective and implementable. However, it is said that promptly praising a child for good behavior is much more effective in improving behavior than punishment Children also misbehaves most of the times as they imitate elders who more or else displays similar attitudes at home. Therefore, to be a parent is to abide by a commitment wherein you will prepare yourself to display the best kind of behavior as it is what your child will get to see immediately, copy and give back to you in no time.

The tips I have shared above is not the only ones which can be used. Having a child demands that a person be at his/her creative best, be intuitive, innovate and try parenting styles which deem fit for a particular child.

Q.2. Dear counselor, the streets of Imphal has become extremely dangerous with too many vehicles. On top of that there is rash driving. The autoes, VIP and their security vehicles, security forces convoy. They do not care for others on the road. Youngsters on motorbike are so reckless. I can understand the kind of thrill they enjoy. It is because of their age. But I failed to understand the parents and the thrill of buying such vehicles for their children. – A daily commuter, Sega Road.

Ans: Youngsters, especially the young adolescents are adventure seeking by nature. To them, speed is adventure and is necessary when they try to create a self-identity in front of their peers. They enjoy the attention they get out of their behavior which gets noticed and invites a comment or critique from people around them. They also want to take up mature activities apart from driving, like smoking etc and often ignore rational judgment. They need to be educated about the link between rash driving and chances of accidents, also which are likely to increase under the influence of drugs, with their peers when they race for thrill and excitement, reckless night driving etc

When we first comply with the demand of a child wanting a vehicle, the first and foremost duty of a parent is to make sure that the children has attained the legal age to drive, knows the safety rules of the road and that the child is properly trained to drive efficiently. As parents, one should be confident enough that their child who is growing up knows the purpose of why he/she wants a bike. Sometimes, when we object to a child`™s wish to have a bike can lead to adverse effects if the child take it as a challenge from the parents and obviously they rebel, drive reckless, try to break free from the emotional trap and confines of the home. Therefore, emotional immaturity from the parents can give a negative impact to any new task the child takes up. It is for this reason, I will say that instead of flatly refusing to buy them a bike, try to talk with them on how they see themselves with a bike, how important it is, what they will do with it- not as a possession of luxury or trophy but more as a utility which comes with an amount of responsibility etc.

Readers are requested to send in their queries at mindmifp@gmail.com

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/09/mind-matters/

By Oken Jeet Sandham

Someone whose life has been devoted to the cause of a political party and mostly living with the grassroots till the age of 83 might find some uncomfortable to do a job which restricts him from freely interacting with the masses. A man who remained loyal to his political party almost his lifetime without expecting much in return is quite rare and also any person from the mainland India willing to spend almost his entire lifetime in the northeastern part of India is also worth appreciating while imagining as to how he would have negotiated many unseen or seen situations socially, politically or otherwise.

Today, the people of Nagaland are lucky to have a Governor who had been working as politician in their State for nearly 50 years. He is 83 today. That means, most of his prime life has been in Nagaland and during his pretty long years, he has been involved in various activities promoting cultural, educational and tribal values and exposing them to the rest of the country, while being instrumental in making the BJP inroads into every nook and corner of the region.

This Governor is none other than Padmanabha Balakrishna Acharya, popularly known as PB Acharya. He was sworn in as the 19th Governor of Nagaland on July 19, 2014. In fact, he would not have become the Governor of Nagaland had then Mizoram Governor Vakkom B Purushothaman accepted the transfer order from the Rashtrapati Bhavan to become the Governor of Nagaland. Acharya was destined to become the Governor of Nagaland.

Purushothaman resigned as Governor of Mizoram when he was transferred to Nagaland to become the Nagaland Governor saying the he was shifted “without consulting.” In fact, after the Narendra Modi Government was installed at the Center, there had been spate of resignations across the country by serving Governors who were appointed by the previous Congress-led UPA Government at the Center.

It was not accidental that at a felicitation program of the Northeast BJP and NDA legislators, MPs held on June 28, 2014 at Niathu Resort, Dimapur, where some of us in press while congratulating Acharya, who was also present there, told him that he would become the Governor of Nagaland soon. He looked emotional and speechless but was seen his inner joy and tacitly acknowledged our words because he knew very well some us in media who had almost 20 years of association with him in Nagaland. He knew we could not be wrong and we knew that.

In his first interaction with the members of the Kohima Press Club (KPC) on August 16, 2014 at his Kohima Raj Bhavan residence, we reminded him what we had predicted for him at Niathu Resort, Dimapur. He held our hands tightly while giving his inimitable smiles without uttering a single word. He looked thrilled and overjoyed seeing every one of us in his Kohima Raj Bhavan residence. He showed us his keen desire to strengthen people-to-people relationship not only in the State but also region’s people with the rest of the country through his rare, innovative and motivational educational programs. His enthusiasm to learn tribal dialects starting with Tenyidie shown during our interaction was a positive start towards his mission.

Acharya’s idea of promoting Naga languages through various renowned Universities based in other major cities and states of India is praiseworthy. His idea is to let the mainland people learn the unique tribal languages and cultures. This way, many mainland Indians will come to know the importance and values of the lifestyles, cultures and languages of the northeast tribals. Introducing such innovative ideas in other Universities is unique for the fact that many Naga people already living in the major cities serving in various companies, industries or offices will be approached to spare their times and impart their respective dialects in the Universities.

This is still not everything. The octogenarian Governor has also deep concern for the fading educational system and also the chronic shortage of science and math teachers in Nagaland. 70 per cent of government teachers’ alleged absence in their schools has shocked him questioning, “Where will our poor students go if teachers are not willing to teach? No society can progress without proper education.” This unusual development might have pushed him to adopt one government school in Kohima where his wife Kavita Acharya would attend twice a week and teach around four subjects a day. This will definitely send a strong message to the people particularly the teaching community in Nagaland.

It is laudable that the Governor has already in discussion with the University authorities in major cities at least to send some of their faculty members to impart science and math in Nagaland and this way, he said, the faculty members would not only be giving services to the people of Nagaland but also experiencing values which they had not experienced earlier. This unique concept of educational exchange programs, he believes, will definitely reduce lot of gaps between the region and the rest of the country and, in the process it will also strengthen the national integration.

Governor Acharya seems to be not interested remaining in the comforts of the Raj Bhavan. He wants to mingle with the people and is hardly bothered with his gubernatorial protocols. In his first interaction with the members of Kohima Press Club, he made it very clear that he wanted to meet with the press people as much as possible and wanted to keep the kind of relationship as he had before. In fact, his second meeting with the media fraternity that came less than a month on September 11, 2014 at his Kohima Raj Bhavan residence was unprecedented and massive.

His second interaction with the local media persons became the most memorable one for the simple fact that he was talking all politics which any serving Governors of Nagaland rarely did in the past. He was firm and clear in his mind. He was so categorical while justifying his points that the 17 year long Naga peace process was quite long and the Naga people had suffered enough. “Enough is enough,” he rued adding time had come to solve the Naga political issue once and for all and Naga people wanted it. His ardent appeal to Nagas to accept the appointment of retired Special Director of Intelligence Bureau RN Ravi as new interlocutor for resumption of Center-NSCN (IM) talks manifests his resolve for settlement of the Naga issue.

His disappointment on the prevailing pathetic financial problems facing the state could be seen while talking to the press at his Raj Bhavan residence and did not mince any words saying that corrupt officials should not be spared and urged the people to rise up against scourge of venalities. He, however, strongly believes that Nagaland can become one of the riches states in the country if its abundant natural resources are properly taped and utilized.

It’s the first time a serving Governor throwing a massive lunch for the media in his second meeting with them and it was heartening to see that media fraternity used Governor’s Kohima Raj Bhavan residence as theirs. Before the media fraternity left his magnificent Raj Bhavan residence, Acharya again politely told them that “I want to meet you again next month and if possible, every month.”

He has shown the Kohima Raj Bhavan as a creative center, a place of warmth, and it has truly become a people’s place and a place to gather.

Governor Acharya lives a humble and simple life as usual and always wants to be with the people. This makes him quickly a people’s Governor.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/09/pb-acharya-a-peoples-governor/

By Malangba Bangormayum

Around 6.30 p.m., there is a tussle for the remote, most days of the week. My son, mother and father have their favourite programmes around that time. I somehow, entice the first one to the lap-top. My mother concedes to my father’s 20 minutes of religious talk on T.V. But, the uneasy truce can be felt. The hold that T.V. has on us is amazing. A popular group sang describing this hold, with the words “even better than the real thing”. The irony is that the song, which is supposed to be an expression of T.V.’s hold on us, had to be through M.T.V. Maybe it is more than an irony; it perhaps speaks of a tragic situation.

Do I have had enough of these superstars selling from two minute noodles to dreams to be a crorepati?  My son calls out the names of these stars by name while he does not know the name of his cousin or his uncle.

Everyone wants fame. It sounds true to me. Everyone wants to be known. That desire, if some analysis could be tolerated, seems to be connected to the phenomenon of star worship. I have seen some extreme forms. I spent some time in the southern part of India. There was this grocery shop where we used to get our monthly stock of rice. Somehow it had good rice at a reasonable price. During Diwali, I once noticed that amongst the gods and goddesses worshipped with ardour amidst the throbbing multi-coloured lights, there was this photograph of a very famous southern star. He has been instituted in the pantheon on this auspicious day. It was partly amusing, partly revolting. The latter emotion I wish I did not have but I could not help not having it.

I was sickly then. A chronic case of pharyngitis had me pop antibiotics on a regular basis. The doctor advised that I should gain some weight. Imagine, now I am overweight and trying everything in the book to shed some flab.I joined a gym to pump some weight in the hope that I would gain some weight and a better immunity. One day, I saw from the corner of my eyes that people were hanging from the windows, the parapet,and the balcony resembling some variety of fruits, over-ripe, and ready to shed its load at the slightest breeze.This sudden mushrooming of people of all ages on the surrounding concrete constructionswas, I found out later, the presence of two superstars, who were on some promotion event.They had to choose this particular gym to work out!  I worked out in the same room as these demi-gods. The problem was that the gym owners locked us in. There was danger of a stampede happening. You see, why I have this thing about superstars. I wanted to go home and all because of these two superstars, I could not go home. Maybe because of that incident, or maybe because I was not gaining any muscles, I discontinued my affair with weights, gyms and sweat.

One of those two superstars, the shorter one is known by my son. He calls out his name whenever he is seen on T.V. I love the antics of my son. But sometimes, the fondness that he shows generates some negative emotions. Am I feeling jealous here?These people do not seem to age. This chap looks the same as I had seen from close quarters two decades ago. Recently, I have noticed a profusion of grey hairs – on me.

Thinking about development, progress and such related notions, I once came to the idea that perhaps choice or the availability of choice hasto play a role in these notions. Development I thought was all about the availability of choices. A place where you have the choice amongst hospitals, amongst ambulances, amongst universities is a better place than a place where options are limited or there are no options at all. I had not thought about options regarding some other things: which superstar to vote for, which NGO to approach when you have trouble. My theorisation needs drastic revision in the face of unlimited options that we have, which we wish we did not have.

One such opening of options is the choice between the program with the superstar host that also sells two minute noodles… should I be watching the one who sells jasmine scented detergent… or should I switch on to the one who sells the comfort of a particular brand of men’s underwear…the possibilities are endless. It is an embarrassment of choices. Or is this feeling of the availability of choice just an illusion? I am beginning to think that this may be the case. The choice between a two minute noodle seller and a potato chip seller is no choice at all. A better choice is to turn off the T.V. I opt for this route.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/09/choice-of-vision/

By Pradip Phanjoubam
On Thursday Scotland voted “No” to independence from the United Kingdom. In all, close to 56 percent Scots, nearly 85 percent of whose adult voters came out to vote on the day, voted against the motion. While those who wanted the UK to remain united would be celebrating, let nobody also forget that another nearly 45 percent voted “Yes” to separation, and that among those who voted for independence, was Glasgow, Scotland’s largest city. It is unlikely the lesson would be missed by a mature democracy as Britain, and indeed, as the James Cameroon government had pledged before the referendum to persuade Scotland to stay, and then announced after Scotland decided on staying, its intent for the near future professedly would be informed by the new motto “devolution revolution”. Obviously and wisely too, Britain’s polity is set to be further federalised and decentralised in the years ahead.

Astounding is also the fact of the manner in which the issue of secession from an established State was by consensus allowed to be settled non-violently by a referendum of the people, an idea quite unthinkable in so many other conflict theatres around the globe, including our own. The Scotland referendum is not the first of its kind though, another unsuccessful bid by referendum for Quebec to secede from Canada two decades ago in 1995, being the most prominent precedent. In the Quebec referendum, it may be recalled, the “Yes” votes lost by a razor thin margin of about one percent only.

The Scotland development should be a lesson for any multi-lingual, multi-cultural nation or region. The imaginary possibility of India in a similar situation, or on a much smaller canvas, Manipur, would not have been lost to any keen observer of politics here. Indeed, there were many who did ruminate on the issue of Kashmir and to a lesser extent the various insurgencies in the Northeast, against this context, particularly on the absolutely open and free forums provided by the social media. What exactly would happen if Kashmir for instance were allowed to decide its future by a referendum of its people? Would, as in the case of Scotland, the “Pragmatists” who see the benefits of being part of a larger economy, one with the potential of becoming a world power in military terms as well as economy, win the day, or would the “Nationalists” who would rather live by their passions and draw satisfaction from making their own mistakes rather than be under somebody else’s shadow, prevail? What about in other places of
known widespread public dissents such as Nagaland and Manipur? What exactly would be the outcomes of such a referendum?

There were also other interesting terms by which the opposing camps in the Scotland referendum were defined by. For instance, those who preferred to remain with the UK were also referred to as the “Unionists”. For many among the “Unionists” it was not just pragmatism which determined their desire for the UK to remain intact, but a Statist belief that the Union is sanctified by history, and therefore its territory is sacrosanct beyond questioning and must remain indivisible. On the opposing side, there were those who preferred independence, but objected to their being referred to as “Nationalists”, for as they said, they have no enmity with England or harbour any sectarian ethnic passion for Scotland. Scotland of their imagination was and would remain an ethnic mosaic but they just loved to be on their own. Despite the “No” verdict on Thursday, a lot still say if British policies remain unchanged, it would only be time before another referendum on the same issue becomes inevitable.

In India such a situation where the Union of India allows a referendum by which a part of it can secede from it will remain at best in the realm of fantasy. As a former colony and a relatively nascent modern nation, the idea of the indestructibility of the Union as a prerequisite of nationhood is yet too strong in India for anybody to imagine it will compromise its territorial integrity under whatever the pressure or circumstance. Curiously, as some insightful writers have pointed out, before the birth of modern nationalism in India, things could have been very different if the map of India were to be drawn radically different from what it is now. Well known Left intellectual and columnist Ashok Mitra for instance was quick to point out in one of his extremely readable and insightful articles in The Telegraph, Calcutta, that if the British had decided to separate the Northeast region from India even as late as the 1920s or 1930s, it is quite likely the rest of India may not have taken much note.

As an alibi, he pointed out the fact that till as late as 1937, Burma and Ceylon were part of British India, but in that year, the British government decided to put these provinces under separate administrations, although their offices were still to be under the roof of the India Office in London. What is even more interesting is, 1937 was a time when Indian nationalism and consequently the Indian Freedom Struggle were peaking. Yet, few or none of the Nationalists of the time even noticed this change. Such was their attachment to the land in the peripheries. Yet all this would transform at some stage of the Nationalist uprising and crystallise after Independence, and what for the British colonisers were mere territories important for their geopolitical implications, strategic geographical locations and commercial values, would almost overnight metamorphose into “sacred soil of the motherland”. Pondering on this transformation, Gunnar Myrdal wrote of former colonies’ claim to territories thus: “the first and almost instinctive reaction of every new government was to hold fast to the territory bequeathed to it. What the colonial power had ruled, the new state must rule” (quoted in Neville Maxwell’s “India’s China War”).

If this is true, then it would also be reasonable to assume the cognitive endearing image of “Mother India” in popular imagination would have been very different, had for instance the first and second generations of leaders of Independent India drew the Indian map differently. Today, although nearly half of what is shown as Indian Jammu and Kashmir on the Indian map is actually controlled by Pakistan and China, it would be difficult, if not impossible, for Indian leaders today to ask the Indian public to re-imagine “Mother India” differently, with a map that shows Jammu and Kashmir truncated and different what it was always imagined to be. This transformation of colonial territories whose previous importance was only strategic and commercial in nature, into holy soil of the motherland of popular imagination, is little short of mystical indeed.

The same would have been quite true of the Northeast, as Mitra implied in the same article, and quite likely the region may never have come to be in the popularly imagined holy soil of India, had the British colonisers decided on a different political future for the region before independence dawned on India. The region could well have been as Myanmar is today, foreign to India, though once in colonial antiquity, a part of it. As Myanmar is today, probably such a Northeast would have also been beset with endless crippling existential problems of its own. But even today, the Northeast is still to a good measure, alien to the rest of the Indian core. The manner in which the Narendra Modi government atrociously chose to hide Northeasterners from the view of the visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping, among them one of his own Ministers, Kiren Rijiju, an MP from Arunachal Pradesh, is just the most recent evidence of this.

It must be remembered that the referendum question is also a double edged sword and can cut the user as much as his opponent. In Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland… this would be so devastatingly true. If for instance the question of national destiny by referendum becomes a universally accepted norm, and say Manipur begins to demand as a basic right such a referendum to decide its association with India, it would also mean that Manipur would also have to concede to demands within it by various ethnic groups for such a referendum to decide their own future with Manipur. The centrifugal forces which threaten to tear apart established polities would also be in endless concentric circles, especially in multi-ethnic, multi-linguistic societies, where there are endless groups within groups.

Under these circumstances, the Scotland referendum is a big lesson for everybody, not the least Manipur. This lesson is not just about Scotland’s decision this time that there is virtue in unity and partnership with a powerful and rich established State, but also of Britain’s realisation that it has to deepen its federalism in its own enlightened interest. It acknowledged why Scotland’s regional aspiration must be given not just an ear but also substantive support and encouragement. The lesson is also as much for the Centre-State relationship between the Union of India and dissenting elements in Northeast India, as it for intra-State frictions between various ethnic groups in the States, a shared reality of almost all Northeast States.

Much has been said of the larger canvas in which various insurgent groups fighting the Union of India for secession from the Union, and I will not go any further into it from what I have already said or implied so far. Instead, let me probe a little more into the Manipur canvas, and the frictions within, in particular the Hills-Valley divide, which nobody will doubt have grown to be of grave threat to the State’s peace of mind, and indeed existence. The Scotland answer in this case too, I would argue, is deeper federalism and greater devolution.

For largely geographical reasons, there is a wide disparity in development between the hills and valley, and this problem must be addressed in earnest if justice and peace is the goal. In this disparity, I would stick to the geographical explanation primarily, though there are so many allegations of exploitation of the hills by the valley through history. In history, the only economic surplus that could have fuelled State formation would have happened in the valley after wet agriculture was discovered and began to be practiced widely in the fertile riverine valley (James Scott vouches on the evolution of such Paddy States in Zomia).  What could these Paddy States have exploited from the subsistent sparse hill villages, living on unproductive shift cultivation and hunting-gathering, other than corvee labour (Scott again)? If systematic exploitation did happen as alleged, it would have been only after the onset of modern planned economy after Indian Independence. We also all know, during this period, the levers of State power have not always been with the valley. Otherwise, even today, what is there for the valley to exploit of the hills?

Let history be history. The question is what now? To recall the answer provided by the Scotland lesson, it is further federalisation and decentralisation. The demand for the introduction of the provisions of the 6th Schedule of the Indian Constitution must be given a more serious thought. But if this provision were to be brought in, let it not be in its unedited version where it would become applicable to only the hill districts. Let it be remodelled so it can become applicable to the whole State. Or else, the hill districts can have the 6th Schedule and the valley districts can have a similar system even if the 6th Schedule itself becomes non-applicable. The Indian Constitution is flexible and can always be amended to ensure this. This is how the Gurkhaland Council or the Bodoland Territorial Council became possible.

The philosophy must be for everybody to prosper. The hill districts which have lagged behind must be given the opportunity to catch up even if this means according them positive discrimination. It must however be remembered the valley also suffers from its own insecurities such as loss of land to settlers, demographic and economic marginalisation, a mentality of being at the losing end of the Indian constitution as demonstrated by demands from sections of the Meiteis for listing of the Meiteis in the 5th Schedule of recognized Indian tribes etc. This growing anxiety of the valley community too needs to be addressed. What must not be forgotten is the saying that a chain is as strong as its weakest link. In other words, felt injustice by any one of the stake holders in the ethnic mosaic of Manipur can derail any peace project.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/09/lessons-for-northeast-from-the-scotland-referendum/

B.G. Verghese

 
It has been a turbulent week of war and peace. The Chinese President’s visit was the highlight with peace being talked even as a mini-war was being waged in Ladakh, eyeball to eyeball, following Chinese objections to construction of a small irrigation work near Demchok. Twelve trade and investment agreements were signed and the Chinese offered $ 20 bn worth of investments in five years to correct the present trade imbalance.

Yet, the Ahmedabad Mirror reported that Northeasterers on the staff of the Hyatt Hotel were kept out of sight so as not to offend the Chinese guests. If true, this would be a sad self-goal and a rude slap in the face our Northeastern citizens.

Prime Minister Modi, however, did well to tell President Xi that while trade and other exchanges were most desirable, no real progress and lasting friendship was possible without speedy settlement of the boundary issue. Three specific issues were mentioned: defining the LAC t ensure peace, with demarcation to follow; avoidance of stapled visas, and water sharing. Water-sharing is not areal issue as China’s ability to divert waters from India is modest. The real water issue lies in managing climate change, which was apparently not discussed. Both sides have much to gain from such cooperation.

As far as the border is concerned, the Chinese have since 1954 maintained the ambiguous position that matters will be settled when the time is ripe. Thus even when a section of the LAC is mutually determined, the Chinese are unwilling to demarcate it and exchange maps so that even what is can and has been unsettled by innocent or not so innocent trespass. India must insist on firm ground rules here.

Mr Modi did not address the media during or after the visit. He has studiously avoided speaking to the media since taking office. But all of a sudden he is to come alive in a “world exclusive” interview with CNN on the eve of his U.S-UN visit. This seems more an exercise in self-publicity than in communication, in which he blandly suggests  that Muslims in India are absolutely safe even while the BJP and Parivar have tirelessly indulged in an unrestrained campaign of slander, lies, dire threats and the most infamous calumny against them. This will not wash unless and until he takes action against some of his leading lights for criminal incitement, hate-mongering and propagating downright lies.

The recent by-election results in which the BJP lost 13 of 23 seats spread over 33 constituencies In nine states is indicative of growing public disenchantment with the blatant electoral politics of hate and polarisation that the BJP banked upon. It suffered in U.P and Rajasthan in particular.

The BJP leader in Bihar openly declared that if Yogi Adityanath spoke in Bihar as he did in U.P. he would have been promptly contradicted.

Adityanath’s rants apart, recall what some others said. Amit Shah, the BJP president declared that if Patel, not Nehru, had been “in charge” of Kashmir, the entire state would have come to India and there would have been no need for Article 370. This combines a high order of constitutional ignorance with historical illiteracy and a false pitting of Patel against Nehru in a new game of personality polarisation. Sakshi Maharaj, BJP MP, next alleged that madrasas are imparting instruction in terror and love-jihads. They do not hoist the national flag and Muslim MPs avoid functions where the national anthem is sung. The BJP disowned  these outrageous statements as the personal views of the MP who, however, remains in good standing.

Then it was left to Maneka Gandhi, Minister for Women and Child Development, to claim that profits made from animal (read cow) slaughter are going to fund terrorism. This again is sheer rubbish and also betrays ignorance of the trade. The plain fact is that the bulk ofcattle sold for slaughter are non-milch buffaloes and are disposed of by Hindus who cannot afford to keep dry and decrepit animals. Mechanisation of tillage and haulage has also reduced the demand for draft animals. Rather than acknowledge the facts and permit culling and rendering of animals and sales of processed beef, people are driven to illicit sales of cattle across the border to Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh. Most gaushalas are a rackets of bogus piety and serve no purpose.

That apart, millions of “holy cows” roam the streets and forests and do much damage to the ecology.

In Madhya Pradesh, a BJP MLA, Usha Thakur, asked her followers to keep Muslims out of the Garba festival to prevent Hindu girls from being trapped in love-jihad. These are demented minds that would convert beautiful national festivals that bind our diversity into occasions to preach hatred and divide communities.

No wonder the National Minorities Commission has written to the Home Minister “to restrain people in responsible positions from making irresponsible statements” An earlier resolution by the Commission was ignored. Modi-Sarkar does not care and has said or done nothing for months to stop this monstrous Hindutva hate jihad. And is this the man who is telling the world in an “exclusive interview” with CNN that Muslims need have no worry? Statesmanship or humbug!!

Were this not enough we have witnessed the arrogance of power in play. Ajit Singh, former Minister, has refused to vacate his bungalow despite repeated reminders,  like several other defiant ministers, MPs, and bureaucrats. He wants the bungalow converted  into a memorial commemorating his father, Charan Singh. The Nehru-Gandhi example of endless land-grab for family memorials has created a terrible example. The Indira Gandhi National Centre for Culture and  Art in the prime heart of Delhi represents the acme of land grab and the most extravagant use of space that it must disgorge to accommodate other cultural institutions.

The answer to Ajit Sigh and all similar defaulters is that their household goods should be dumped on the road and auctioned and all arrears and costs be met therefore. Protest should be met with arrest and a month’s imprisonment. Do this just once under law and the nonsense will end.

Then there is Hema Malini telling the tragic widows of Brindavan, mostly from Bengal and Bihar,  not to crowd the place but remain in their home states. What impertinence from a woman who  embraced Islam temporarily to marry after her partner-to-be secured talaq. What has she or the  Parivar done to end the terrible plight of widows who are as yet unable to break the cruel taboo  against widow remarriage, though abolished by law. These medieval bigots are the dregs of Hindu society.

Meanwhile we have Yasin Malik forcibly stealing a boat-load of rations for Srinagar’s flood affected  to divert to his partisans in order to claim credit for looking after their welfare even while protesting the state’s alleged  indifference and incompetence in rescue and relief operations. These separatist scoundrels have pelted stones at the Army and Air Force rescue teams. They deserve to be horse-whipped and locked away.

www.bgverghese.com

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/09/making-war-talking-peace/

By Chitra Ahanthem

As the days go by and turn into weeks and months and then years, I get more and more convinced that despite all the advancement in technology and communication thanks to which we have roads and means of transport and various mediums of talking/interacting with one other, nothing matters in the long run for we have not learnt one basic thing: tolerance. Even as all the progress in the technology and communication sector has put us in touch with one another, we seem to be losing the art of really communicating with one another, the art of respecting someone’s opinion and giving room to that opinion no matter how different that may be from the one we hold ourselves; the art of thinking through things before we react.

My writings have lately focused on how online hate and abuse has become the order of the day on various social networking sites with opinions being hurled left, right and center. But much before I got into social networking sites, I was subject to great online scrutiny on a popular website that carries feeds from Imphal Free Press. Whenever I was seen as ‘stepping out of line’ (which ranged from my writing about my love for Hindi films to questioning why most of us in the region react to rape of our own but not to rape as such), there would be constant snide attacks on my mental equilibrium, how I needed to be ‘reined in’ and what type of woman I was. I was even told that there was a discussion where some online comments said I ought to be banned from writing. Looking back on those times, I can say that phase was easy. I could choose to be disconnected from all the abuse and I did just that, continuing to write what I felt about things and incidents and not really looking at what people commented on. But with social networking sites that I am a part of, the abuse that I face now is much more up front and personal.

I distinctly remember an editorial that I wrote on the Mary Kom movie that talked more of the Hindi film ban in the state, how actors from the state are barred from acting in Hindi films but the mere mention of three lines (“There have been many voices questioning the casting Priyanka Chopra instead of someone from the region whose looks would be more in line with the way the diminutive Olympian looks like. But those who follow the business of cinema will know that producers and film makers alike put in their finances and efforts behind what are known as bankable actors and those whose association with a venture will bring in better returns. This is true not just for the Hindi film industry but also in other film scenarios across the world”) evoked a ‘you are too biased to write an editorial’ to a series of response that hinted at my intellectual inefficacy to see things as they are on one social networking profile. I was in a sense, under attack for not seeing the ‘racial undertones’ of the film etc etc because of its casting of a non mongoloid Priyanka Chopra as Mary Kom.

When one popular web portal asked me to write a piece on the ‘alleged’ incident of staff of the NE region being asked to stay away while the Chinese Premier was a guest in this many starred hotel, there was a remark that those who were fine with the Mary Kom film had no business talking or questioning how the Government was being insensitive and discriminating in its clamor to placate its powerful visitor. I use the word ‘alleged’ in quote un-quote fashion here because a major newspaper reported the incident quoting police sources and hotel management and top police officials refusing to comment. Someone I do not know and who is not from the region has written on another social networking profile of mine that a hotel spokesperson has refuted the said story and that my writing was total innuendo, remaining blind to the fact that after the many condemnations to the said incident (and happily, not just condemnation from folks in the NE region but beyond), no service/agency would ever own up to what transpired.

End-point:

As for the Mary Kom film: I don’t know about others but my reading of the Hindi film industry is that it is not really known for its aesthetic sense or its sensitivity. Its only allegiance is to the box office returns and what is known as ‘formula fare’. A more deeper study would be required on the subject but I can well stick my neck out and say that the ‘minority’ (which can be religious, linguistic, regional, caste et el) have mostly been sidelined as mere caricatures in Hindi films: just look at how Nepalis are sidelined as watchmen and security guards or how Muslims are often the ‘baddies’. That obsession with box office returns is all that it matters and that is the only cardinal truth for the Hindi film scene-which is why formula films reign on the basis of ‘star power’ and cock a snook at cinematic aesthetics or sensibility. And as to why I bristle over a MoS in Modi’s Cabinet being asked to stay away from the official banquet for the Chinese Premier because he was from Arunachal Pradesh, a place that is contested by the visiting man’s Government and not the film; there is a huge chasm between an elected Government representative being shoed away, from a film that has prosthetics and far too much veering away from the way things are in the state in the life of Mary Kom.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/09/of-this-that-and-some-more/

By M.C. Linthoingambee

 
Patent is one of the major forms of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) used in the pharmaceutical industry. Grant of patent in India is governed under the Patents Act, 1970.Significant changes like provision of product patents and increase in the term of patent to 20 years were introduced in the Indian patent law, after India signed TRIPS agreement in 1995. This review provides a brief overview of development of patent law in India as a consequence of the TRIPS agreement. Criteria of patentability and different types of pharmaceutical patents currently being granted in India are described with the aim to provide the fundamental knowledge of pharmaceutical patenting to the researchers.

India has one of the largest standing pharmaceutical industries in the world with the world market providing huge turnovers. As far as pharmaceutical products were concerned, over a period almost 85 per cent of medicines were supplied by multi-national corporations. Kefauver Committee of USA which deliberated extensively on the availability of medicines worldwide and the role of the multi-nationals pointed out in their report that the prices of antibiotics and other medicines in India were the highest in the world. The Indian people were virtually fleeced on the availability and affordability of medicines. Dr. Yusuf K Hamied, Chairman and Managing Director of Cipla Limited and a leading scientist in his recent Paper ‘Trading in Death’ has made strong observations on the new Indian Patent Law keeping the critical health scenario in India in view: “The truth is that health in India is in a permanent and perpetual crisis. The disease profile is as follows : 80 million cardiac patients, 80 million afflicted with mental illness, 60 million diabetics, 50 million asthmatics, 50 million hepatitis B cases, and one in three Indians is a latent carrier of TB. The World Bank has said that India will have 35 million HIV cases by 2015, or approximately half of all the AIDS cases in the world. Given these facts, the patent regime in this country should be devised so that the utmost priority is granted to securing the people’s rights of access to affordable and quality healthcare, without monopoly”.

Furthermore, more than half a million people in the world are unable to afford medicines. The severity of the price has increased and needs immediate attention. India being one of the largest developers of generic version of drugs has helped in exporting a series of drug to help treat patients in developing and underdeveloped countries. Several organizations like: Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Indian Red Cross Society, etc. has volunteered to supply medicines free of cost to patients dealing with the stress of unaffordable prices. The growing need for medicines is felt everywhere – Medicines guarantee much more than they are meant for. The growing increase in Research and Development has helped developed drugs which could treat a varied number of diseases and volatile epidemics. The Patent Law has helped guarantee a safe regime to give certain rights to large pharmaceutical companies to register the drug at their monopoly for a particular time after which the drug enters a public domain giving rights for various local pharmaceuticals to develop a generic version of the same drug. The patent system should be thought of as ?a carefully crafted bargain that encourages both the creation and the public disclosure of new and useful advances in technology, in return for an exclusive monopoly for a limited period of time. Patent law here gives the public client sufficient incentive to create and innovate, at the while ensuring that the public have access to the fruits of their endeavors. This clearly demonstrates how patent law can serve public interest. The public interest about the affordability of patent filing have been protected to a great extent which otherwise would have made the innovations lost.

Most of us are even unaware of this setback. There are less number of certified pharmacist who are qualified to selling medicines in the first place who had not obtained due license from the probable authorities. For every time we buy a medicine for a common cold, headache, etc we are not bothered to ask about its values and terms. But this ignorance has led to more payments and the lost of the local market flourishing in guaranteeing public health to the citizens of its own country. With the exception of a few, most Indian pharmaceutical companies are unfamiliar with the nuances of complex patent prosecution strategies. Research-based pharmaceutical companies, on the other hand, have firsthand knowledge of successfully designing and implementing, sophisticated patent prosecution strategies. Therefore, the first hurdle for the Indian pharmaceutical industry is unevenness in the domain knowledge on patents. One of the ways to overcome this is to learn the use of patents as a business tool.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/09/patent-and-the-price/

By Dr Khushboo Shah Sawant

After having covered the various forms of tumours and abnormal growths followed by a detailed section dedicated to breast cancer followed by the common gynaecological cancers which were primarily dedicated to women, this time we shall cover some common cancers seen among men with some basic information regarding the same. Once again we shall describe cancer. Cancer is the uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells in the body, which may be triggered due to various reasons. Today we will be covering forms of cancers, some of which are seen both in men as well as women; where the occurrence is far more common in men as compared to the women.

We first being with ‘oral cancer’, also known as the ‘mouth cancer’.  As the name suggests, the cancer begins in the mouth and commonly affects the parts of the mouth like the inner lining if the cheeks, the floor of the mouth, the gums and also the roof of the mouth. Mouth cancer is one of the fastest growing forms of cancer and tends to spread very rapidly. The causes of mouth cancer are mostly linked to consumption of tobacco. The consumption may be in any forms right from smoking cigarettes, chewing tobacco directly, or chewing it in the forms of gutkha, pan etc. Heavy alcohol consumption is also linked to the occurrence of mouth cancer. Other risk factors include a chronic or long standing irritation in the mouth for e.g. Rough teeth, dentures, filling etc. or a history of infection of the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), or even poor oral and dental hygiene.  Oral cancers show their symptoms in the form of a lump or a persistent ulcer in the mucous lining of the mouth which may be deep seated in the inner lining of the mouth, may have hard borders, painless at first but may begin to have a burning sensation as the cancer advances. Other symptoms may be – problem in chewing food, sores in the mouth which may bleed, pain while swallowing, difficulty in speaking, weight loss etc. The diagnosis may be confirmed after examination and a biopsy of the tongue or the ulcer. Treatment options depend upon the progress of the cancer, the affected part may be surgically removed or radiation or chemotherapy may be advised. Preventive options obviously include, quitting of tobacco consumption of any form, maintaining oral and dental hygiene, limiting the consumption of alcohol etc.

The next form of cancer is by far one of the most leading forms of cancer, which is lung cancer, also known as pulmonary cancer. It is one of the most dangerous forms of cancer, affecting both sexes but seen more often in men. Lung cancer affects primarily the lungs and may spread to other parts of the body very easily. It is of two variants, ‘small cell lung cancer’ and ‘non small cell lung cancer’.  The single most leading cause of lung cancer is smoking. The more number of cigarettes a person smokes in the day, the more he increases his chances of lung cancer.  Second hand smoking which means breathing the smoke of others also increases the risk. Other factors which may act as risk factors include, exposure to asbestos, or exposure to cancer causing chemicals such as uranium, coal products etc. It usually affects people of older age group mostly above the age of 45, but incidences of lung cancer in the younger population are also increasing. Some of the symptoms include chest pain, persistent cough, blood in the cough, wheezing in the chest, shortness of breath, extreme tiredness, loss of weight and appetite etc. Lung cancer can often be found in a simple X ray or CT scan, or a PET scan. Treatment options include, Surgery if the site of the cancer is favourable for removal, or else radiation or chemotherapy are the only other options. Prevention is simple and straight, quit cigarette smoking as soon as possible, and also avoid exposure to harmful chemicals.

Prostate cancer is a very common cancer among males, the prostate gland functions to give fluid to the semen. It is located below a man’s urinary bladder. This also affects older men more often as compared to younger men. The risk factors are not very clear but may be linked to genetic predisposition to cancer, obesity, having multiple sexual partners, history of sexually transmitted diseases, and unhealthy diet and lifestyle etc. The symptoms may be similar the symptoms of a benign enlarged prostate, which are frequent urination, urination at night, difficulty in starting and retaining a steady flow of urine which may cause dribbling of urine, painful urination and sometimes even blood in urine and sometimes pain in ejaculation. The diagnosis may be confirmed by doing a blood test called ‘PSA’ which is prostate specific antigen or by performing a biopsy. Treatment depends upon the progress of the cancer and may be surgically removed or else radiation or chemotherapy may be tried.

So having covered some major variants, and their basic information the final conclusion remains, that though there may not be any confirmed preventive measures to avoid any forms of cancer; maintaining a healthy lifestyle by eating right, avoiding harmful things like tobacco, excessive alcohol etc as well as avoiding exposure to cancer causing agents can be our best effort to keep cancer at bay.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/09/common-cancers-in-men/

By M.C. Linthoingambee

The Right to Education might have earlier existed intrinsically under the provisions of Right to Life but it bears a strong holding with its express mention in Article 21A of the Constitution of India, that has provided for the right to basic education for children from the years 6 to 14 totally free of cost at any Government School. Predominantly, our society is developing yet is filled with people suffering from poverty where they believe that sending their kids to school would only take away the day’s income that can be earned by that one kid. The Government approach is yet to find effective implementation with kids showing up for the cause of receiving a mid-day meal. In the similar segment, the funds intended for such purposes are not often used in the manner it is meant for and go into the pockets of some money minded genius. We have seen a situation where more than half of a school’s population suffered from the poor standard of food provided in these so called mid-day meals. Even then there are several other factors that add on to the casual problems that already exist. There are no numbered statistics to the number of public or private schools that strongly excel in the cause of providing education. If we look behind the landscape, several public schools continue to generate funds and some are not provided with sufficient funds and in the process, the teachers also fail to come up with the required enthusiasm to teach their students. It can be said that monetary valuation covers our will of sacrifice and there are only a handful number that actually dedicate their lives to imparting their students with the right standard of knowledge.

The absence of extra-curricular activities in schools provides a lax machinery and non-employment to the physical education teachers and several other scholars engaged in their personalized fields. Seeing that our state has produced the largest number of award winning sportsmen ranging from athletes, boxers, wrestlers, weight lifters, etc. the talents are never too away yet overlooked. There is specific dichotomy to provide that the idea of extra–curricular extend under the clause of Right to Education yet, they are believed to take effect in a more intrinsic manner. Knowledge is believed to be one of the greatest assets in our possession that can’t be taken away where money cannot often value them. But the displeasure of having to risk the yearning of being literate is very often put on hold. The situation is clear: we are a set of hot headed task force that compels our children to lose out on the value of education. Manipur being a state currently attached with the dilemma of bandhs, strikes, curfews, etc almost too frequently causing a major setback on its string line of youths. There were situations in 2009 when I was in the 12th Grade when I had to sit back at home with nothing to do for almost two months, considering the stringent policies during the times of curfew. A similar situation prevails today.

When we look into developments elsewhere, revolutions and protests have bought about major changes. But can we justify that with making students engage in the act of dharna for a ‘common cause’ whatever that may be? These are violations of our free will to engage in our own decisions. In spite of the inferences, educational institutions should be left unaffected for the greater good since our youths are to become the pillars of tomorrow.

With literacy rate increasing and spiraling upwards, why do we fail to look at the downfall of our actions? Relieving to the measure of implementing system of the Inner Line Permit is unconstitutional and further additions to the turmoil can only lead to the future generations being banned from getting educated. When we so often contend of the issue of racism being criticized beyond the state borders, is it even rational on our part to put these certain system in effect? Students studying beyond the territorial jurisdiction of the state might become victims of the similar effect and in this result it is easier to reach an agreement rather than to let the situation precede which can only lead to cutting down on the day’s education capacity. Will there ever be days where we don’t have to go through protests, bandhs, etc? Will there be days when we are just being children? The significant design is yet to prosper or differ and we still continue to ban education on our children.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/09/the-education-ban/

By B.G. Verghese

There are lessons to be learnt from the floods that have devastated J&K. This is a national disasterbut after rendering relief and rehabilitation the object must not be to restore but to build anew and better wherever opportunity offers. This will not be an easy task but must be imaginatively attempted.Those affected are understandably angry over delayed rescue and relief with the loss of communications and connectivity aggravating anxieties. But the unprecedented magnitude of the storm and floods could not have been anticipated and the State Government, Army, Air Force and National Disaster Management Force actedpromptly and effectively in the circumstances with full Central backing.

Unfortunately, as always, the issue has been politicised for electoral gain. There are theories galore of what should or might have been done. These armchair critics are removed from ground realities. The separatists have joined the act and Air Force helicopters flying dangerous missions and winching up stranded citizens have been targeted by stone-pelters.

Pakistan has been badly affected and Mr Modi did well to offer assistance to disaster victims across the LOC. Nawaz Sharif reciprocated with a similar offer to aid J&K. These gestures need to be capitalised on the basis of the understanding that common distress can make people think of common futures that could help avert or mitigate cross border disasters.

One area of cooperation could be on issues of monitoring and countering climate change which has increasingly caused aberrant weather. This apart, it is noteworthy that the main damage occurred in the Chenab and Jhelum valleys over which India has limited regulatory control. It is in this regard that the Indus Treaty calls for a relook by optimising storages and other measures by invoking Article VII, titled “Future Cooperation”. Whereas India is now limited to no more than 1.70 million acre feet of storage on the Chenab system it currently has none but only some run-of-the-river pondage. But the upper Chenab, which lies entirely within India, has a storage capacity four or five times larger than currently permitted that could both hold back flood waters and also generate far more electricity and irrigation produced by such joint storage works on a mutually beneficial cost-benefit sharing basis.

Hopefully, circumstances will drive both sides to sensible cooperation of this kind which would in turn help resolve the Kashmir problem in the bargain. The BJP-Parivarin-house Fool’s Chorus that is ready to chant nonsense at the drop of a hat, was loud in denouncing Omar Abdullah’s plea that the door for talks with Pakistan should be kept open after calling off the Foreign Secretary level talks. He was denounced as a traitor. But SushmaSwaraj said a week later that there are only commas and no full-stop in Indo-Pakistan relations.

Unfortunately the MEA, and the key player there, the Foreign Secretary, has been cut out of the loop in dealing with major aspects of foreign policy. She was not consulted but only informed by PMO to break off the Foreign Secretary-level talks. Thereafter it was the NSA, AjitDoval that was sent to Beijing last week to discuss the preliminaries and agenda for the forthcoming summit level talks between President Xi and Mr Modi in Delhi. This is a recipe for disaster.

Even as the BJP-Parivar continues its vitriolic and divisive campaign of minority-baiting and “love jihad”, Delhi had the privilege of hearing a very moving address of “Truth-Telling in a Time of War”, under the auspices of the RamnathGoenka Foundation, by Marianna Pearl, widow of Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street journalist, who was brutally killed by the Taliban in Karachi some months after 9/11.

She said her husband’s and her own credo was that “beyond the news there are individuals, beyond the politics is a human society, and beyond our difference there is common ground. That common ground is what terrorists are trying to destroy”. She said terrorists operate by creating a narrative, using labels extensively. “Wars and conflict can’t live without a narrative, a justification that breeds on frustration, ignorance and fear”. Journalists must deal with this by creating a counter-narrative, “resisting the appeal of sensationalism and the temptation to over-simplify complex matters or please those in power”. She said she stood for values and pleaded that journalists “think beyond labels”.

This is precisely what a significant section of the Indian media has not done. It has kow-towed to power and preferment, engaged in sensationalism and empty “breaking news”, and pandered to the desire for applause rather than search for the truth. The media has fallen for the Parivar narrative and borrowed its tawdry labels rather than stand up for the true values of this noble profession. “Love-jihad”! The Parivar does not know the meaning of love, brought up as they are on hate. But why should journalists abandon the common ground of humanity?

The flood of hate unleashed by the Parivar is more insidious. How can we deal with it when the Home Minister, Rajnath Singh, has the gall to say that he does not know the meaning of love jihad!

Yogi Adityanath has at last got a notice fromthe Election Commission for violating the model code of conduct in his election campaign in U.P. He should really have been had upon criminal charges of incitement to offence. Amit Shah, on bail on a charge of murder, has been dodging CBI court appearances for months on grounds of being “busy with political work”. This time he has been told he must appear in person or suffer consequences. The Supreme Court should take note of the way protected political offenders play artful dodger and are allowed to get away with murder. Mr Modi wants the courts to function and deliver speedy justice. Does he too put “political work” above Justice?

To the voices mourning the loss of “the benign” face of Hinduism is that of FaliNariman. This facet of faith has been edged out by hate speech and none at the top is stepping in to stop the tirade. Mr Modi certainly does not seem to care a fig.

India will survive. It is too large and its civilizational roots of tolerance and accommodation are far too deep to be permanently scarred by Hindutva hate-mongers.

www.bgverghese.com

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/09/lessons-from-two-floods/

By Pradip Phanjoubam

Manipur continues to boil. Schools and colleges have been shut by a government order without any indication when the order is likely to be lifted, in anticipation of students being led onto the streets in demonstrations to demand the implementation of the Inner Line Permit System, spearheaded by the Joint Committee on Inner Line Permit System. Thankfully at least, according to information reaching newsroom late this evening, at least the atrocious curfew on the movement of non-locals which besides bringing shame would see predictable reciprocation elsewhere in the country, has been lifted. All these come immediately after the bitter tension paid with three precious lives in Ukhrul and a consequent indefinite highway blockade of the State, was lifted, and the people were preparing to take a sigh of relief. Something seriously is indeed rotten in the State of Manipur.

A lot remains to be said of the merit of the demand for the introduction of the ILP, but suffices it to say that a far-sighted government ought to have anticipated this trouble long ago, and introduced suitable legislatures at least three decades ago to avoid things coming to such as an ugly pass as today. I have said over and over again that it does not have to be the ILPS which can address an anxiety spread not just across Manipur but the entire Northeast, including Assam. In Meghalaya, a similar agitation for the ILP is unfolding and in Assam there are periodic eruptions of violence directed as “Hindi speakers”. It may also be recalled in the 1980s Assam saw some of the most cataclysmic stirs against “foreigners” which lasted eight long years. When so many share an apprehension, it should have been taken as a matter worth serious scrutiny by the political leadership to evolve a way to address the problem suitably. It is a wonder why the wisdom in the saying “a stitch in time saves nine” is so much taken for granted by our politicians.

I had also argued in these same columns why the unedited ILPS in itself is unlikely to be the right choice for Manipur, but something similar which for instance can deter transfer of land ownership to non-domiciles would serve the purpose much more. The government therefore should form a committee to study such land laws where they are still practiced, such as in Himachal Pradesh, at the soonest. The moot point is not just about the ILP being suitable, but also whether it will not go against the basic tenets of the Constitution, therefore virtually impossible to enact.

But beyond a sane discussion on the suitability of the ILP, the focus of attention of all concerned citizens is being grabbed rather startlingly by the manner in which the demand for the ILPS is being pushed and equally by the government’s reaction to it. The xenophobia evident in the citizen’s curfew is disturbing and the government’s shutdown of educational establishments in response atrocious.

While the government’s reactions are often harsh, and would probably amount to overkills, the manner protests over social issues in Manipur, not necessarily only in the ILPS demand case, is beginning to cut a sorry figure. The practice of herding out school children on the roads to lead public protests is demeaning. Surprisingly so many have argued this is a democratic right. Let them be reminded a school student who has just passed the Class X examination is officially only 15 years of age, and is not even eligible in any democracy in the world to vote in a democratic election. Why are the more mature students in the Universities absent from these agitations? Why just University students, why are also people in the many professions simply watching? It could mean they do not believe in these agitations, or they simply do not have the spine to support or express dissent. If it is the former, it puts a cloud on the depth of moral support for the agitation itself. If it is the later, what can be more shameful? But the height of hypocrisy is in the fact of many mature professionals, including in the intelligentsia, from the comfort and safety of their homes and offices, approvingly writing of the manner school children are made to lead street agitations, urging them to go on.

What exactly is happening? How mature can any revolution powered by school children and vegetable vendors be in the long run? There can be no doubt on why the former should be left alone. Let children not be dragged into what are essentially domains of adults. Of the latter, no doubt about it they have been a force to reckon with, but simply pushing them to the front while others take the front seat in the galleries to watch the sordid dramas as they unfold, and with theatrical shows of self righteously indignation go about pronouncing their verdicts on supposed government actions or inactions, is simply unfair.

Borders and frontiers

Let nobody be fooled. Even though the problems witnessed at Ukhrul concluded for the time being, and even if the current agitation on the ILP demand also gets to see a respite, let nobody be too quick to presume the last on these matters have been written. They have only just receded but the core issues which brought them to the fore have hardly been put to rest, and so they will continue to tick on like time bombs on which Manipur must continue to sit. Manipur’s cup of woe is already full, but there are more trouble waiting, and therefore this cup is destined to overflow more. The demand for a Sadar Hill district is one such, and indications are, it is beginning to stir awake again.

I will not go into the histories of these agitations again and bore our readers who would have read them over and over again every time each of these problems surfaced. Instead, let me in the limited space of this column dwell a little on a problem common to most of them. This is the idea of State borders or frontiers, or more precisely the non-existence of demarcated frontiers in the pre-modern States outside of Europe.

The Romanes Lecture of 1907 titled “Frontiers” by Lord Curzon of Kedleston, who was Viceroy of India from 1898 to 1905, and a well known adventurer and explorer in his younger days, gives us an account of how the Western mind saw Asiatic societies’ notion of boundaries. He said, “In the first place the idea of a demarcated Frontier is itself an essentially modern conception, and finds little or no place in the ancient world. In Asia, the oldest inhabited continent, there has always been a strong instinctive aversion to the acceptance of fixed boundaries, arising partly from the nomadic habits of the people, partly from the dislike of precise arrangements that is typical of the oriental mind, but more still from the idea that in the vicissitudes of fortune more is to be expected from an unsettled than from a settled Frontier.”

This of course is how an administrator of a colony saw things, but still, few will dispute that the notion of borders even where State formation had happened in our own region would have been quite different in pre-modern times than how they are known now. Indeed borders could not have been what they are now, clearly demarcated and administered as intensely, or even more intensely at the peripheries, than the central cores of the States. It is not difficult to imagine very amorphous notions of borders both in place where States (or Paddy States in Scott’s term) have formed and in the non-State Zomian spaces as well.

The example of Kashmir will illustrate this. When the British acquired Kashmir in 1846 after defeating the Sikhs in the First Sikh War, Kashmir being under the suzerainty of the Sikhs then, it also inherited a boundary problem. Ever since this new acquisition was made, the British were uneasy about Kashmir’s un-demarcated boundaries, and began almost immediately thereafter to put in efforts to fix the northern and eastern boundaries of its new territory. And as A.G. Noorani writes in “India-China Boundary Problem” two boundary commissions followed one another. The first, consisting of two members, was set up in July 1946 and given the mandate of defining the boundary between the British territories in the districts of Lahul and Spiti in the South and those of Ladhak in the north and also Ladakh’s boundary with Tibet.

This effort came to nought as China did not cooperate largely by refusing to respond British entreaties to set up corresponding surveys and finally to conclude a treaty on the matter. The Governor General of India at the time, Henry Hardinge did not however give up on the quest for a defined boundary. He appointed a second Boundary Commission on July 10, 1847, this time of three members. This effort also was in vain as the Chinese still did not respond to request for a joint determination of the boundary from Spiti to Pangong Lake. It would come as a surprise to most of us now that nobody, including China, were interested in drawing this boundary at the time, though it is now hotly contested between India and China even leading the two countries to a brief war in 1962.

To cut the story short, the British were still determined to fix a boundary, and at one point this need became quite desperate because of Russia’s interest in the region, resulting in a virtual cold war between the British and Russian empires in what is now referred to as the “Great Game”, and began sending out expeditions to unilaterally decide where India’s boundary in this sector should be. They made different boundary alignments, most importantly two, one which ran along the ridge of the Kuenlun Mountain, therefore including Aksai Chin in India, and another along the ridge of the Karakorum Ranges on the southern edge of the Aksai Chin. Independent India claimed the one along the Kuenlun ridge was the boundary, and China disagreed. The rest is familiar history to all of us.

In our own homeland, the story was not much different. Just the story of one boundary, the one between Manipur and Ava, should suffice to illustrate this. Without going too far into history, and beginning from the time the British entered the region, the boundary between the two principalities was fixed at the Ningthi River (Chindwin River) in 1826 with the signing of the Treaty of Yandaboo, thereby including the Kabaw Valley within Manipur territory. In 1834 Kabaw Valley was awarded to Ava by the British and fixed the Manipur boundary along the foot of the “Murring Hills” by a line called Pemberton Line. In 1881 Pemberton Line was redrawn by Johnstone and Ayapoorel (foreign minister) of the Manipur kingdom Gen. Balaram, to include the Chassad Kukis within the Manipur territory, in order to check the restive tribe (Mackenzie). In 1896, after Manipur came under the British, Colonel Maxwell made the realigned Pemberton-Johnstone Line more permanent by erecting 38 boundary pillars. Only on March 10, 1967, long after both India and Burma were liberated from British colonialism, would this boundary be ratified by the two countries by the Rangoon Treaty.

This is what the idea of boundary became after the advent of the West in the region. Before that era, they were imaginably very different and ambiguous, and why not, for this served the needs of these principalities very well then. Manipur’s internal boundaries would have been no different. The boundaries between different tribes and communities would have been at best notional. As for instance, where would the boundary between the hills and valley dwellers have been? Should all flatlands be considered as the Valley’s domain? Should all hills, wherever they are, be considered as belonging to the hill communities? Quite obviously, as communities who have lived in the same region for aeons, there would have to be considerable overlaps of notions of territories? Many of these places would have occurred in the myths and legends of many different ethnic groups at the same time. The trouble today is, we are stubbornly trying to give these traditional frontiers, hard demarcated boundaries, and because of their impossibility, dangerous conflict situations are thrown up. The answer, easier said than done is to come to terms with shared territories and spaces. Though difficult, if resolving conflicts is the primary concern, effort must however have to be in this direction.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/09/madness-of-ethnic-boundaries-and-xenophobia/

By Col I S Chanam, Retd

Blockade is the most potent weapon the inhabitants along the two national highways have over the government of Manipur. It has become a powerful means to besiege the valley which is ‘chingna koina pansaba, tribals na koina pan-ngakpa’.   During blockades ‘pan-ngakpa’ people instead of protecting the valley,  turn against and  attempt to starve the valley.

BJP Manipur advocates the congress run Manipur government to have a dialogue to amicably settle the present impasse.  ‘Dialogue-dialogue’ has become a fashionable rhetoric. Many people talk of ‘dialogue’ as and when a problematic situation arises. Resorting to a dialogue under the present condition will not be practical. It would amount to asking the government to yield to the demands of the UNC? The UNC will not listen to anything except the government accepting whatever they have been shouting for?

Blockade of the national highways needs to be stopped once for all. The government of Manipur and the valley population will always be under its threat. This occasion is opportune to start the process of eliminating ‘blockade of national highways’ once for all. BJP government at the centre willing to extend full assistance is a good starting point. Without resorting to dialogue, the government needs to initiate and take such measures that would make the ‘blockade ‘unable to achieve its aim. In order to thwart the aim of the blockade, the government must- a) ensure free movement of transport along the national highways and b) ensure no shortage of essential items in the valley. Once the ‘blockade’  is deprived of its devastating effect, its magical power, its potency will disappear.

This will entail  three actions. First-deployment of a strong security force all along the route from Dimapur  to Kangpokpi, with posts at suitable locations. Its task will be to ensure security along the route. The portion between Dimapur to Kohima also  should preferably be covered despite assurance of assistance from Nagaland Government. It is in this portion that NSCN collects heavy taxes from Imphal bound trucks under the very nose of Nagaland police. This tax is one of the causes of high prices in Manipur. Second – security escorted convoys should ply along the highway frequently enough to ensure no shortage of essentials. The convoys be accompanied by repair teams with recovery vehicles, to instantly repair broken down vehicles and un-repairables are towed to security posts.  Third- legal actions against the blockaders, by arresting them followed by filing FIRs under relevant section of IPC. The leaders must be apprehended and charge sheeted. Their cases must be disposed off at the level of judicial courts and not short circuited at political level.    Perpetrators of blockades in the past were not convicted and let off scot free. There is no fear of the law, hence repeated blockades.  Severe punitive action will be the only deterrent.

When the blockade loses its desired effect, the blockaders will lose their enthusiasm. Dialogue as a measure to ‘save face’ may be considered then and it will bear fruit. Otherwise also the blockade will die a natural death.

A protection force for the national highways is a permanent requirement for Manipur till railways connect up Manipur with the main land.

(This article does not intend to comment on the conflict arising from Ukhrul and its fall out. The article  targets only on blockades  as such.)

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/09/blockade-of-national-highways/

By Seine Yumnam

What number would you say if I asked: “how many dukans (small retail shops) do you see once you step out of your house” and “how many women are selling vegetables in the Ima market?” Most people in Manipur support their family through their small businesses – don’t we have a lot of retail shops selling pens, books, petrol, tobacco, toiletries? Yes we do. Those people who run those retails are all ENTREPRENEURS; they are taking the risk and competing against one another. Even the women in the Ima market are, to a certain extent, running their own business of vegetables and traditional clothes. Given the number of entrepreneurs we have in Manipur, it is shocking to see the status quo of the economy.  Stagnant, declining, diminishing, recession, no growth, unemployment – these are the few words that I can relate our economy to and they all have negative connotations. Aren’t we supposed to have growth and greater employment with greater number of entrepreneurs? If so, what are we missing in Manipur?

It is true that we have always had political and social issues that have dampened the growth of the economy and overall prosperity. In such scenario business may not have been very rewarding and as a result, people may not have had the incentive to build a successful business. However, things are changing under the new central government, and it is clearly seen by the new sports university coming up and the newly established accessibility to Myanmar region. My projections over the next 3-5 years would be that Manipur will be a lot safer and settled than it is right now. We will have a new environment, an environment that will, hopefully, be business friendly. When this happens, how likely is it that we will have the same/greater number of entrepreneurs who do not create jobs and fasten the growth of the economy?

It all depends on what kinds of entrepreneurs we have. The answer to the last question I mentioned in the first paragraph would be that we don’t have A LOT OF productive entrepreneurs. Most entrepreneurs we have are unproductive and destructive ones.

Years of political misguidance and trauma have created a mind-set among our people that make us believe, almost intrinsically, that there is no place for long-term/sustainable growth. Most people have only looked for a quick profit and quick spending. The idea of ‘get it now, spend it now, and not worry about the future because you never know if you will die tomorrow or not’ has gotten venomous in our society.  Most entrepreneurs we have think like this and do not have the growth mind-set.

There is no way that a retail bookstore can be differentiated from another bookstore. Entrepreneurs run their business for the sake of running and selling something while not looking for opportunities to expand their business. The only way to grow a business is to understand the needs of the costumers and deliverthem. We need our entrepreneurs to conduct deeper research on consumer needs and not buy a bunch of books and put it in the shelves without thinking how to sell it in such a way that people keep coming and his/her business continues to grow successfully. If the business is not growing, it is not capable of employing people, if there is no employment, there is no spending, and consequently the business fails. It is a simple transitive cycle that we all need to understand. These are the businesses of the unproductive entrepreneurs.

Another kind of entrepreneur we have is the destructive one, thosewho promise too much and deliver too little. Weak regulations in Manipur have enabled a lot of rent-seeking and tax evasion by many business people through mere connections. This amounts to wastage of a lot of resources and unfair treatment of people. No wonder there is a clearly defined and visible line between the rich and the poor. Such entrepreneurs fill their pocket in an illegitimate manner and leave nothing for the rest.

Such are the kinds of entrepreneurs we have always had over the past few years or so, but the rules of the game are changing and the allocation of entrepreneurs also ought to change – we need more entrepreneurs in the productive basket. They are the ones who can create values that will resonate for years in Manipur. Think about how Bimola Devi has changed the life of more than 500 people. She trained numerous people and helped them get financially independent while building a successful business for herself. She is the living example of a productive entrepreneur. If we had 10 Bimola Devi, we will have 5000 skilled and financially independent workers, we if had 100, we will have 50,000. It is important to recall how Bimola Devi expanded his business – she took a loan of Rs. One Lakh. Modi has already created 1.5 crore banks accounts in India. Financial inclusivity and accessibility is on its way. Very soon we will have access to small-business loans. In addition to this, we will have the permission to conduct international trade with our neighbouring South-East Asian countries. We need to prepare for this new wave. We need to realize that we are not going to continue experiencing the same kind of socio-economic scenario, and we need to respond to this changing environment.The role of All Manipur Entrepreneurs’ Association is even more important than it was ever before.

Expansive.Growth.Creative. Productive. Legitimate. Let’s build something that can be described by these words.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/09/a-new-wave-is-coming-entrepreneurs-need-to-prepare/

By B.G. Verghese

Al Qaeda’s call for jihad in India coupled with reports of yet smallbut increasing numbers of Muslim Indian youth joining the ISIS for jihad to restore the caliphate sends out a signal that cannot be ignored. The Home Minister has properly called for heightened vigilance and tightened security. This, however, is the lesser part of the threat. The greater danger comes from the openly divisive politics of the BJP and the Parivar which is polarising the nation through vicious Muslim baiting and inciting hatred and violence on thoroughly concocted grounds of so-called love jihad. None can blame some young Muslims turning fundamentalist and wanting to join the Islamic jihad if they are suspect, told that they have no future in a Hindu Rashtra unless they conform to Hindutva diktatsas second class citizens. The cover pages of the Organiser and Panchajanya, the BJP and RSS organs, have this as their crusading theme.

Fortunately most Muslim Indians disdain this kind of gross slander despite continuous provocation.  The head of the DarulUloom seminary in Deoband and the All-India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat have once again denounced the al Qaeda call, asserting that Muslim Indians will not and must not be swayed by false, unIslamic teachings. UNESCO tells us that wars begin in the minds of men. So does communal hatred which is being both insidiously and openly preached by Hindutva zealots.

Karnataka police investigations have found most allegations to be unfounded and motivated. A CID survey showed that of 21,890 Hindu girls reported “missing” between 2005 and 2009, 229 had married men of other faiths but only 63 had converted. In that same period, many Muslim girls had married Hindu and Christian boys. These were marriages based on mutual love, a term that the loveless, hate-filled Hindutva crowd do not understand and cannot tolerate. The vicious GharVapasireconversioncampaign however smacks of abduction and coercion with a warped ideology driving such puerile politics.

The assaults on Christians, especially Dalit converts, have also increased with renewed efforts at “gharvapasi”. Madhya Pradesh has long been a worst-case state and its law on conversion, requiring permission by the District Magistrate, represents the acme of authoritarian communalism. Mostdalits convert because of intolerable caste oppression for ending which scourge the Hindutva brigade has no programme, educational, social or political, that has been pursued with any seriousness. Alas, sections among Christians and Muslim do practice caste but, everything said, conversion to these faiths remains an act of liberation for outcaste Hindus. This is the challenge, not political hatred clothed as alleged love-jihad.

This was not a theme Mr NarendraModi addressed on Teachers’ Day, which he hijacked to make it something of a command performance, aping Children’s Day without its spontaneity and substance. The occasion was reduced to political theatre with official directives to school authorities to ensure attendance and make all broadcast facilities, or else. The threat was there despite subsequent explanations and back-tracking.Children who could understand Hindi perhaps enjoyed the tamasha. But what of the others who did not understand but had to sit through two hours of boredom? What did it cost schools and parents to make the necessary arrangements for transport, canopies where necessary, TV sets and electricity connections? It would be useful to calculate the expenditure entailed nationwide, state-wise or even by individual cities and schools and see how many blackboards, toilets, leaking roofs, computers, and other basic wherewithal could have been provided with these same funds. Nothing was said about the demands and condition of teachers, school infrastructure, teachers’ training and better text books (than Dina NathBatra’s nonsense that Mr Modi has endorsed). It was a wasted and misused opportunity.

The Government has not covered itself in glory with the appointment of the last Chief Justice of India as Governor of Kerala. This is not to insinuate anything against Justice Sathasivamor unkindly allege that he passed a judgement favouring Amit Shah without an iota of evidence for saying so. But is sets a bad precedentof disregarding any cooling off period, but more than that of undermining the prestige of the highest judicial office in the land.

Nor will the Government gain any kudos if it disregards the repeated defiance of V.K. Singhagainst court and tribunal orders that go against him, this time in the  complete exoneration of Lt Gen Rathwho Singh accused of engineering the Sukna Army land scam. Singh disgraced his office and uniform for petty personal gain by thrice going back on his word to bury his campaign to prove that he was younger than he had claimed to be when entering the Army. He has since spent his time hounding other officers. The man should have been sacked earlier and has no place in the Government now when, unable to stomach the verdict of the Armed Forces Tribunal on the Sukhna land case that is a slap on his face, he now advocates an appeal in pursuit of his own ego.

Even as one commiserates with the people of J&K (and Pakistan) who have been stricken by devastating floods, there is reason to worry about the BJP’s continuing campaign to win a majority in the forthcoming general election in J&K in November, once again through polarising tactics. Apart from the misplaced and somewhat illiterate campaign against Article 370, the party is now trying to mobilise Pandit votes by peremptorily asking the State Government to provide land in the Valley for the rehabilitation of 60,000 families or about 300,000 souls who migrated under jihadi/separatist pressure. Rehabilitation is one thing. Building ghettoes is another – and that would be the result of the Central Government’s demarche.

The Congress is again being unwise in shielding Rahul Gandhi from accountability and responsibility as demanded by the old guard that has at last found its tongue. The “youth brigade” and the elders have been told not to indulge in mounting public criticism of inner rot in the party. The country needs a centrist or left of centre party, a role that the Congress could still play. But it is unlikely to go anywhere by defending dynastic politics and refusing, ostrich-like, to see failure or fix accountability. He who takes the credit must also take the blame.

The results of the 19th Livestock Census of India, 2012, now available, are revealing. The population of cattle has declined while the number of exotic breeds within that number has gone up. Bulls are being replaced by tractors and other mechanised means of haulage while crossbred cows yield more milk and are hence preferred. There is a campaign to upgrade indigenous cattle whose quality has been allowed to decline over two centuries by a foolish policy of cow protection on mistaken religious grounds. Refusal to cull surplus animals has resulted in the overbreeding of scrub animals. Our holy cows are underfed, abominably treated, a public nuisance and a threat to the forests and environment. Go-shalas represent misplaced piety. When will we learn better?

Sadly, the population of donkeys too has come done though those following the daily news might challenge this astonishing finding!

www.bgverghese.com

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/09/al-qaeda-is-warning/

By Pradip Phanjoubam

The United Naga Council, UNC’s ban on vehicular traffic along Manipur’s major lifelines has begun. The mood in the State, importantly in the capital, much to the consternation of many observers outside the State, is one of stoic acceptance of a periodic irritant, as if this is something written in the place’s destiny. In a way it is, given its peculiar geography. This must not however be mistaken for an attitude of resignation, for there is very much a volcano beneath the calm, quite capable of erupting with devastating violence, as the state has witnessed so many times before.

At least for the moment, a resignation does not seem to be the approach of the government either. It is seen gearing up to ensure the siege is not total, and from all appearances, it has won the support of the Central government as well. A team of senior Central government officials, including the MHA and Information Bureau, came visiting the state on the day the blockade began to take stock of the situation, and promised all necessary assistance to the State government.

This is encouraging, if not for anything else, than for the fact that this will be towards not allowing this ugly tussle and bitter venom to spread to the civil population. For if this does happen, it can be an extended nightmare for all for years and decades. The State had been on the verge of such a nightmare so many times before, but it does seem there are elements determined to push things precisely to such a limit.

Blockades and bandhs do happen frequently in the State, and this is bad enough, but this trend of indefinite blockades is a dangerous portend for all. In international law, and as so many commentators have said so many times before in very many situations all over the world, it is an act of war. We can only hope, regardless of what the provocation, public nerves do not snap on either side of the fence of the conflicting situation, and no destructive emotions explode.

But this is Manipur. The land where the abnormal can pass off with consummate ease as normal, and in the same breath and with equal unconcern, the incredible is accepted as routine. This is the picture which is unfolding before all of us again this time.

Here is an approximation of a slice of a single day in the life of Manipur as the broad pattern of morning newspaper headlines in the State would bear witness:

Irom Sharmila, is produced before the court in an exercise designed to perennially extend her detention without trial; She makes a remark laden with frustrated anxiety and sense of let down at the lack of public support; All the loud pledges of support and solidarity whenever the national media glare is on her are deafeningly silent this time; Elsewhere, a group of students at Wangoo demanding appointment of regular teachers in their school are fired upon with rubber bullets and mock bombs to disperse their rally, injuring several; An indefinite blockade of the state entered its second day, and there is no discernable outrage anywhere; Somewhere in a remote village on the Myanmar border, Army troops banish two families from their village for allegedly giving support to insurgents; In another corner of the state, women in dreary formal routine, take turns to squat daylong at designated spots with some ceremonial fruits in front of them to protest the non-implementation of the  Inner Line Permit System in the State; Many still insist this system was once in place in Manipur, though the Inner Line System was conceived and implemented in the Assam province of Bengal in 1873, by the Bengal Inner Line Regulation 1873; These same protestors would also with equal conviction continue to contend Manipur was an independent kingdom at the time and never a part of Bengal or India. Shouldn’t the self proclaimed intellectuals behind the movement for once make up their minds on the issue of whether this regulation meant for Bengal was promulgated in Manipur; Still elsewhere, grenade gifts are doled out on routine basis by extortionists as convincing messages to people from whom they seek their ‘donations’…

Picturing all these events on a single mental canvas surely would evoke surreal images such as those of the master of the genre, Salvador Dali, where madness is the defining norm, and the mind is allowed to violently yoke together radically dissimilar and unrelated ideas into a single thought, distorting reality and making the unreal real. Or perhaps the more accurate description of Manipur’s absurd theatre would be that of Lewis Carol’s ‘Alice in Wonderland’, with the Queen of Heart every now and then, without rhyme or reason, and at absolute random intervals, pronouncing her ridiculous and meaningless verdicts – ‘off with his head’ – at anybody in her vicinity.

In this absurd theatre that Manipur has become, people’s reactions to events are also more often than not counter intuitive. An indefinite blockade is announced, and rather than be outraged and scream blue murder, the first reaction is to wake up at unearthly hours and without a complaint and in total composure, as if this has been the routine all along, join miles long queue outside petrol pumps for their rationed quotas of 5 litres each.

Similarly, the chances on any given day are, somebody is gunned down by militants or State police, and the first demand by a quickly formed Joint Action Committee, JAC, is for suitable monitory compensation or government job for next of kin. A demand for fitting legal retribution would be only next in importance.

At least in the case of the just launched indefinite blockade, we do hope the confounding counter intuitive public response remains, and no violence breaks out on the streets. We have seen how terrifying this can be in the past. Nobody except the pathologically ill minds will crave for their repeat. The trouble is, in this absurd theatre, such psychopaths are also not in any shortfall, which is why the State is in a never ending boil.

On a more serious note, the indefinite blockade has once again awoken the State government to a reality it had, for whatever its reason, chosen to relegate into its now crowded deep freezer of public promises. In a knee jerk response after the current blockade was announced, it suddenly remembered there is another highway it can secure much more completely, the one which connects Imphal with Silchar in Assam. Why is that every time an economic blockade is announced, it finds itself caught with its pants down? The pattern has been for it to jolt itself awake once again to this reality, makes all kinds of promises that this highway would be upgraded and made heavy traffic worthy through all the seasons. Once the blockade is lifted, so would all the loud vaunts of upgrading this highway vanish into thin air. How we wish the government was able to see beyond the immediate. Had this been so, the State would be connected by many alternate highways to the world outside, thereby make even the most unscrupulous blockades much more manageable.

It is never too late. Let the government begin with the current emergency and give the project the energy and focus it deserve to develop and secure this highway once and for all. Even if there were never to be another indefinite blockade, which is unlikely knowing the ways of our firebrand street politicians, this is the highway of the future. The four-lane Silchar Expressway is nearing completion and once completed, road transportation is going to be simpler on this route. Again, if the Bangladesh-India border softens and is more formally regulated, as it would someday or the other, the Barak valley would climb in importance and so too the Imphal-Silchar highway.

It is no coincidence that even in the 19th Century, after Assam was annexed by the British in 1826 at the end of the First Anglo Burma War and the signing of the Treaty of Yandaboo,  and made a province of Bengal, there was a plan to connect Assam with Myanmar by railways, so as to give the extractive industries the British opened in the region more teeth. There were several routes marked out, all of them passed through Manipur, and one of them falls along the Imphal-Silchar mountain pass (L.W. Shakespear: ‘A History of Assam Rifles’).

Whatever may be said of oppression and exploitation of British colonialism, it must be also added the British colonialists’ sense of geography, and methods of exploiting this, was nothing but sublime. Long before the idea of ‘Look East Policy’ dawned and gained currency in India in the 1990s, colonial British India was already thinking of it for its own commercial benefits. The project was abandoned because of the growing militancy of Bengal towards the latter half of the century and also the peculiar linguistic politics in Assam.

Not only the currently used Imphal-Silchar road, the government must also develop the parallel road to Jiribam and thereafter Cachar – the historic Tongjei Marin. Throughout Manipur’s history as a Paddy State (in James Scott’s language), Tongjei Marin was vital as a commercial route as well as strategically. The Dimapur highway that we are more familiar with today is a post British phenomenon, and in particular the Second World War.

It is for this reason that to the older generation literates of Manipur, including incidentally Hijam Irabot, names of places such as Chittagong, Dhaka, Sylhet etc are so familiar, many of them having done their higher studies in Chittagong and Dacca Universities. Tongjei Marin falls in senior politician and State Home Minister, Gaikhangam’s constituency, so there can be no better moment than now for this road to be given its historical due of a major renovation.

Meanwhile, let the government also in all earnest try and bring those behind the blockade to the negotiating table for an amicable resolution to the issues involved. Let there be no doubt, nobody will end up winner in this unseemly and hostile contest.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/09/manipurs-theatre-of-the-absurd-once-again/

By Tinky Ningombam

Sometimes, not all things in life comes with a manual and that is why we have life-hacks. We call life hacks, those nifty tricks, tips and solutions that help make us do things easier in our everyday normal life. There are things that you need help for and there are things that you think you can handle and then land up calling for help. Starting from small innovative tricks for house-keeping to heavy duty chores such as repairing electric circuits or handling tools. Being a fix-it person around the house means having the improv skill and creativity to solve problems on the go.

It is funny when you come to think of it that every house has a designated Fix-it person, the one with in-borne skills for home solutions. Like how mothers always find your lost things. And as wise men say “it is not really lost, if your mom has not search for it.” Honestly, it is definitely a plus to be a fixer-upper especially if it is running chores around the house. Fixing an electric circuit, on the other hand, definitely requires a specialist. Let us be modest here, not every-one is a “born survivor” like Bear Grylls from Man Vs Wild. Talk about ultimate hacks!

These past few years, living on my own, I have come to realise the importance of how small hacks help save a lot of trouble. I am all in for DIY projects and have been scouring the internet for new things to try all the time. I am sure everyone have pulled a few at least once in their life-time and especially for people living alone, these things can actually truly be a great knack. Today, I will list few of the interesting tricks that can help save the day as well as help you make your claim as the quintessential life-hacker.

Here are my picks:

1.     If you have dropped your phone in water, put it in a zip-locked plastic bag filled with rice and keep for a couple of hours. The rice will absorb the moisture.

2.    New shoe pinches? Wear large socks and put on your new shoes and gently blow dry them where it is tight from outside for about 5 minutes.

3.    To check if your gas pipes are tight around the joints, put a little soapy water on the sides. If it bubbles, then there is a leak.

4.    If you run out of shoe polish. Peel off a banana and rub your leather shoes with the inside of the peel and wipe off with a soft cloth afterwards.

5.    Banana peels also works wonders to whiten your teeth, polish the scratches off a CD and to polish silverware. It also helps to cure bruises: just put the banana peel on the bruise for about 15 minutes.

6.    Use the airplane mode on your smart phone while charging to make it charge faster. Also, put it on while playing mobile games to turn off irritating in-between ads.

7.    Use a pencil eraser to rub off a scratch on your LCD screen. Rub alongside the long end of the scratch until it disappears.

8.    If you need to chill something really quick. Put ice in a zip lock plastic bag along with the can/bottle/packet that you need to chill and put a handful of salt. Take caution and handle with gloves or wrap a towel around it and shake.

9.    Use your mobile phone to take pictures before you dismantle something. For instance, if you are disconnecting wires from your electronic device, like a desktop computer, just refer to the picture to know which wire to go in where.

10.  Use the mobile camera to click a picture of the number of the bus/taxi/auto/vehicle you are getting on to and mail it to your spouse/friend/guardian if you are travelling long distance.

11.   If you are calling people over to your house for a party, click a picture of your house with your phone and send along with your address.

12.   Also, click a picture of the person and the item that they have borrowed from you. It will be easier to remember to collect them.

13.  If you are working out in the gym, prepare a playlist on your i-pod/ phone/ shuffle to last exactly the same time as your work-out regime. This will save you from constantly checking out the time on the machine (which can slow down your workout)

14.  To cool down a laptop while using, place it on top of an empty cardboard egg carton.

15.  To remove rust from iron tools/objects, soak overnight in a mixture of vinegar and salt

16.  To stop hiccups, eat a spoonful of sugar

17.  Dab an ice-cube on your eyebrows before you pluck them with tweezers, it numbs the pain

18.  If you like fresh flowers in your room. Put a tea spoon of baking soda or dash of soda water to keep your flowers fresher in the vase.

19.  If you are back-packing with dirty clothes in your luggage, open a small packet of scented soap and keep them in the bag, it will make your clothes smell fresher

20.   And the best for the last, keep your emergency numbers handy by writing it on a piece of paper and keeping it inside the back of your phone next to your phone battery. If your phone shuts down, these will help you contact your friends.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/09/life-hacks-creative-solutions-to-life-problems/

R.K. Shitaljit Singh

Translated by Chitra Ahanthem

“Who are you looking at? At your own self?”

Kombirei, who was seated in front of a mirror and combing her hair, was saying these words. There was no one nearby. There was just a striped cat with her on the wide verandah that spanned the length of three rooms. Perhaps sensing the sorry state of Kombirei who had no one to answer her query, the cat cried out “Meow, meow” and looked at her piteously. Hearing the cat, Kombirei looked at it and smiled softly. She felt content that there was at least this ‘petite being’ that felt a sense of relief for her.

Her combing over, she held the cat on her lap. Looking at it intently, she hugged it tight, “Arangbi, what makes you different from human being?”

The cat did not answer back but kept saying, “Meow, meow.”

Kombirei further continued, “You don’t know the difference? You know it but don’t know how to say it. Right? But the tone of your meow conveys your answer, Arangbi.”

Lost in her conversation with the cat, Kombirei was not aware of what was happening on the verandah. Looking on at the manner in which Kombirei was lost in her talks with the cat, the visitor did not dare to intrude. It seemed best that he remained silent, so he kept quiet.

Kombirei was asking the cat, “Why do you love me so, Arangbi? I don’t care enough for you.”

“It knows the reason, even if you don’t, Kombirei.” Hearing this, Kombirei turned to see who it was. Her face turned red when she saw the youth she had met on a few rare occasions and she turned towards the cat.

The youth asked, “Kombi, can you see your heart’s reflection in the cat’s eyes?”

With a soft smile, Kombirei said, “Yes, yes.”

“Do you know why?”

“No.”

“No?”

“Hmm.”

“Because of your closeness.”

Kombirei then sighed deeply and said to the cat, “Arangbi, go and play now. We will talk later after I finish my work.”

Hearing this, the youth said, “Kombirei, you really know how to let go easily.”

“How can I hold on just because I want to, Tada Subol?”

Subol did not reply. With a long drawn out “Hmm”, he turned his face slightly and looked at Kombirei.

Kombirei stood up and gave the mora she was sitting on to Subol. He sat on the mora and Kombirei sat down on the floor. Subol then said, “Kombirei, do you know why I have come?”

“No, I don’t.” All this while, tears fell from her eyes. She felt listless and did not bother to wipe her tears with her hands. The tears rolled down akin to a thin river flowing down a cliff.

Subol saw them but continued, “When will you ever understand me Kombirei? In which birth?”

“Not in this one, Tada.”

“Let me be off then.” And so Subol got up and went off. Kombirei stayed behind looking at him.

The next day, Subol’s mother Tharo was talking to her husband Choubhan as she sorted through and cleaned the vegetables for the meal. Choubhan was puffing away at a hookah as he lay on a mat. Tharo said, “Do you know? Our son does not see anything in this world except for Kombirei? I have cautioned him … said a lot but he does not listen … does not care. One day, we will surely pay for it if something happens.”

Choubhan did not reply. He merely listened and continued to smoke in contemplation. The hookah was big and made quite a noise. Tharo’s anger rose with Choubhan’s silence but the din raised by the hookah made it worse. Just as a dying person hates the noise of an engine, so also was her dislike for the noise emanating from the hookah. Her anger rising, she shouted abruptly, “Are you listening at all?”

Choubhan was startled by this outburst but calmed down and said, “Yes, I am.”

“Then why have you not said anything?”

“What if he brings the girl?”

“He is my son. You should not judge him wrongly.”

“I know he is your beloved son. But…?”

“It doesn’t matter, Tharo. Call Subol if he is around.”

Subol came at his mother’s bidding and stood with a subdued demeanor near his father.

Looking at Subol, Choubhan started, “Subol, has Kombirei agreed?”

Subol’s face flushed at the question. He remained quiet. Choubhan continued, “If it is OK, bring her once. Shall I go and meet her parents for their approval?”

Subol stayed quiet but Tharo, beating her chest with a clenched fist cried out, “Alas! All is lost! You both stay at this house … decide whom to bring as daughter-in-law!”

Choubhan looked at his wife calmly and said, “And you?”

“Rather than accept that uncultured girl as my daughter-in-law, I would …”

“Go back to your parental house?”

“Why not?”

“So you won’t agree with your husband? How can you expect your son to obey you when you don’t listen to your husband?”

Tharo bristled at the suggestion; she was at a loss to reply and remained quiet. Subol went off while Choubhan continued to smoke the hookah.

After a while, Choubhan said, “Tharo, listen. Have you not been able to know your son from the time he was a wee baby? He will marry the woman he desires and you cannot interfere. I did not marry you by choice. I saw your face the day I married you. The ones I desired, I had to leave behind because my elders did not agree. I married because I did not want to hear their taunts anymore. But I still feel the loss of giving up whom I wanted, to this day. So, you cannot speak more on this. I will go and meet Kombirei’s parents.”

A month has passed by since Kombirei became Tharo’s daughter-in-law. Tharo continued to think that Kombirei with her lowly family background would not be able to fit into the ways of the family and to serve the elders with the decorum that was needed.

Kombirei knew that her looks alone would not be able to please her mother-in-law. But she still had to live in close proximity with the one person she had thought she should stay far away from.

One day Tharo called in her daughter-in-law and said, “Kombi. Isn’t it true that I was the cause for your tears even while you stayed at your parents’ place?”

Kombirei did not reply but remained as mute as a pillar. Looking at her predicament, Tharo continued, “Be frank and don’t lie. Tell me, isn’t it true?”

“Yes.”

“Did you not say to Subol that you would have to go your separate ways for this lifetime?”

“Yes, I did.”

“And now?”

“That has not happened.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t know.”

“It was your father-in-law. I constantly opposed it while Subol was caught in the middle. But Kombi, my feelings have changed. You have changed them. Your nature has impressed me, made me realize…”

Kombirei now knew she had been able to please her mother-in-law. Feeling a sense of contentment, she thought she would tell Subol of the development later in the day. After sometime, she asked if she could go.

Tharo stopped her with a “wait” and continued, “Listen, we women are immature. We stay confined to the house and stay ignorant. But we think that we are the cleverest in this world and do not pay heed to what our husbands say. We judge their words as mockery and make fun of what they say. You have corrected my wrong belief. Do not ignore your husband’s words only because you do not agree with it, but only if you know that they are wrong.”

She bade Kombirei to go and she went off to finish the household chores.

Choubhan came back and turned to Tharo, “Tharo, has your low born daughter-in-law still not managed to satisfy you with her conduct?”

“She has only exceeded my expectations.”

“I know. You only acted like you do not know. You believe that only you love your son while the father doesn’t. Isn’t it so?”

“Let it be. Now I realize.”

Subol who had come in while his parents were talking asked, “Why are you both shouting?”

“Oh! Your mother wants my daughter-in-law as her own. I heard that stealthily. I was only asking her over that.”

Tharo, “Eh! You listened stealthily? Isn’t that surprising?”

“Hmm, you will be surprised. You women will only live a life full of surprises. You will meet surprises at every step you take.”

Tharo then called her daughter in law to ask, “Ibemma, will you be your father-in-law’s daughter-in-law only? What about me?”

Kombirei listened with surprise but remained silent. Choubhan said then, “Ibemma, she was not part of it. I came to take you as my daughter-in-law. Do not be her daughter-in-law.”

Tharo spoke again, “Kombirei, don’t you have any affection for me? Will the anger you brought from your home still remain?”

Hearing her mother-in-law’s words, Kombirei bowed at Tharo’s feet and replied, “I am my father-in-law’s daughter-in-law and my mother-in-law is my most loved mother.”

At Kombirei’s words Subol asked her, “Kombi, do you know what made my mother say this?”

“From being close.”

(This translation of the short story written by the late RK Shitaljit has been recently published in Tamna, a half yearly journal brought out by the Manipur Chapter of the North East Writers’ Forum)

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/09/from-being-close-naknarubadagi/