Tag: Articles-Opinions

By Dr Khushboo Shah Sawant

Pregnancy not only brings along with it a time to rejoice and feel good but also heralds the beginning of a phase to maintain a healthy and safe lifestyle in order to ensure the best for the unborn baby as well as for the mother to be. It is essentially very important to go for pre-natal check ups. These visits are to ensure normal development of the baby as well as the overall health of the mother. The mother must get all the necessary blood and urine tests as advised by the doctor for HIV, haemoglobin, blood sugar levels, thyroid function and any other condition that is necessary to check for. Maintaining a healthy and balanced diet is very important with the onset of pregnancy with the mothers needing to increase their daily calorie intake by about 250-300 calories. The daily calorie intake should come from healthy foods like meats, fruits, dried fruits, vegetables and milk rather than by junk food like fried snacks, biscuits etc which would only add weight but mean of little or no health benefits. Including plenty of fibres and fluids to the daily diet is also very beneficial.

Would-be-moms are encouraged to take prenatal vitamins as they provide all the essential nutrients that mothers might not have in their regular diets. Prenatal vitamins are specially formulated multivitamins that make up for any nutritional deficiencies in the mother’s diet. Nutrients such as folic acid, iron and calcium which are very essential may be included in more concentrated amounts as women who are pregnant require increased amounts of the nutrients.

The recommendations of vitamin intake for pregnant women are:

Folic Acid: is one of the most important vitamins to take before and during pregnancy. Not only is it important for normal DNA formation and growth of the baby, but can reduce the risk of having a baby with a serious birth defect of the brain and spinal cord, called as Spina Bifida. Rich sources of folic acid are Green leafy vegetables, beans, peas, lentils, citrus fruits like oranges, papayas, grapes etc. Calcium is needed to maintain strong and healthy bones. It is important to have calcium for the expectant mothers to maintain her bone density especially since she is carrying extra weight during the second and third trimesters. Moreover, calcium is integral to the development of the fetus’ healthy tissues and bones. Milk, cheese, butter, yoghurt and eggs are rich sources of calcium.

Vitamin A, which is the healthiest form of Vitamin which helps fight infections and supports the healthy development of the eyes. It is found in Papaya, carrots, pumpkin, mangoes etc. Iron is also essential for the formation of red blood cells and healthy foetal development and is found in Green leafy vegetables, liver (pork, chicken), nuts, beef etc.

Vitamin C on its part helps absorb iron and is vital to tissue and cellular growth. Vitamin C also plays an important role in fighting infection, tissue repair, and healing. Citrus fruits, tomatoes, guavas, peas and papaya are good sources for Vitamin C while Vitamin B6 and B12 helps tissue and skin development, supports brain function, prevents anemia and supports normal function of enzymes systems. Rich sources are: sunflower seeds, fish, chicken, pork etc.

Vitamin D: Supports development of healthy teeth and bones. Exposure to early morning sunlight and eating nuts aids in Vitamin D intake.

Another important dietary factor to be taken into consideration is Omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3 fatty acids help promote the baby’s healthy fetal development and increase pregnancy wellness. It has been shown to support the development of a baby’s brain s, eyes and heart, enhance infant cognitive function nad attention span while decreasing odds of premature delivery. Omega-3 fatty acids are found in Fish, fish liver, walnuts etc. Apart from the medication advised by the doctor, a pregnant woman must avoid any other medications as far as possible. However, if the need is pressing then it is important to consult a doctor before taking any medication, as there are many drugs which when passed from the mother to the child, often harm the baby. Alcohol consumption is best avoided, by women during pregnancy and if possible, total abstinence is the best as alcohol intake increases the chances of miscarriages, low birth weight, future learning and speech problems in the child.

Similarly consumption tobacco even in the form of cigarettes or gutkha etc. has harmful effects such as premature delivery, small baby or even still birth i.e. giving birth to a dead baby. In terms of physical activity, moderate form of exercise is permissible, but strenuous exercises, lifting of heavy weight, bending excessively etc must be avoided at all times. Healthy weight gain during pregnancy can be anything around 8-15 kgs. However it may vary from person to person and dieting or any form to weight adjustment is strictly prohibited. Mental well being is another very important aspect of pregnancy, especially for the well being of the child. Expecting mothers must try to be positive and do things that give them peace of mind. Activities like reading a good book, going for a walk, etc should be promoted. Pregnancy should be a journey of physical and mental well being, keeping in mind what is the best for the mother as well as for the child.

(to be contd…)

 

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/06/towards-a-healthy-pregnancy/

By Lt. Col. Laishram Lokendra Singh (Retd)

Speaking at the “International Conference on Ethnicity” held at Manipur University on May 8, 2014 Dr. R.K. Nimai said that the religious difference between the hill and valley dwellers of the State is an important factor that disintegrates the people. Perhaps that is a simplistic view of the existing socio-ethnic problem.

Hindus and Christians through out the world live amicably with each other. Back home in India too they co-exist harmoniously as one integrated Indian society. Hindu and Christian religion per se are not a factor today that disintegrates people.

Nagas and Kukis of Manipur profess same religion as Christians but their ethnic divide is there for all to see. Bone of contention is land, each one claiming a particular region as their traditional ancestral land.

Ethnic divide between Meiteis and hill dwellers of Manipur today is the manifestation of modern day ethnic inequality created by Indian Constitution which is having far reaching ramification in socio-economic and political spheres of one’s existence in Manipur.

There is therefore a collective responsibility of revisiting Indian Constitution wherein it has divided the indigenous people of Manipur into two distinct categories as tribal and nontribal people leaving almost no scope for creation of a cohesive and harmonious society based on ethnic equality.

The Constitution has put Meiteis in the category of nontribal people called Mayang in local parlance. Now hill dwelling tribal people and this Mayang (Meitei) community are to close their eyes on this Constitutional divide and live as one just as R.K. Nimai has asserted in the International Conference ibid that creating division among the people along line of ethnicity would never bring any good and all concerned are to strive to live as one.

Paradox is self evident. You create a legal physical division which is palpable at the ground level and then you exhort people not to go by that division. Why have this division at all?

Tribals view Mayang (that includes Meiteis too) collectively as a shrewd race of people, outsiders out to exploit simple tribals. Basic instinct therefore is to distrust Mayangs (Meiteis) and distance themselves from them and interact only when there is dire necessity.

Meiteis on the other hand assume an air of superiority over the tribals in accordance with the age old Indian socio-cultural system wherein tribals are relegated to the lowest social strata of Indian social hierarchical divide.

With these two diametrically opposite social attitudes, it will be near impossible for the two communities to co-exist in harmony as one people in an environment where democratic politics is overshadowed by ethnic politics. Logical and workable way out is to cancel out ethnic inequality created by Indian Constitution.

One option is for hill dwellers to come out of ST cocoon and join mainstream. This argument will seem farfetched, nevertheless deserves a deeper analysis.

Hill dwellers of Manipur have been Christianized for more than a century. Missionary influence has eroded much of tribal cultural heritage, which was inseparably linked with traditional mythology, beliefs, rituals, and wilted when these were abandoned. The world religion they have converted to do not provide room for practicing tribalism and are now shaping a modern culture different from their erstwhile tribal ways. The days of primitive tribal existence, is now history.

The bare truth is that these hill dwellers are no more the head hunting, semi-starved, semi-clothed, food gathering or axe-cultivating primitive people of a bygone era. They have been subjected to missionary influence and have been exposed to influences of economic and socio-cultural forces of western Christian world. They are more or less tribal only in name.

As is evident everywhere during this transitory phase, a small privileged, property owning, educated section has been emerging; on the other hand, a vast bulk of the tribals are being hurled into the ranks of the lowest toiling, exploited class of people. The vocal, richer, privileged minority will inevitably utilize the benefits bestowed on tribal community as a whole in the form of concessions in their game for power. They will launch programmes and movements in the name of entire tribal community, which in reality serve only their vested interests. Such programmes and movements may also prevent unification of tribal people with Meiteis considered to be non-tribal population.

In the epoch of information technology of computers, internet, mobile phones, satellite TV etc. along with modern education and every corner of the land enmeshed into the wave of a more complex civilized network where they live in modern and even European style, a fresh study of ethnography of the hill dwellers will find it difficult to qualify them as tribes as defined or understood in the discipline of anthropology.

Thus, hill dwellers having become avowed Christians and now standing at the threshold of a modern society based on western culture can therefore become non-tribal just as Meiteis became non-tribal in 1950 on the premise of having converted to Hinduism (partially or otherwise). Million dollar question is, who in his right mind would like to give up this modern day god given privilege which is said to have been enjoyed only by the “R.K. Clan” during the reign of various kings of Manipur.

The other option is that Meiteis who were recorded as major tribe of Manipur in the official records of the Govt. of India prior to the issuance of Scheduled Tribe gazette notification in 1950, revert to being recorded as a tribe as heretofore. This means Manipur would become a tribal State as that of Nagaland, Mizoram or Arunachal Pradesh.

At a point of time in history Meiteis took to Hinduism and became partially Hinduised. Those who are familiar with Hindus of mainland India will easily spot the difference between Hindus of India and partially Hinduised people of Manipur. Meitei Hindu converts have not forsaken their erstwhile religion by whatever name it may be called.

Customary practice of “Khoiri naopham phumba (burial of placenta)” at the birth of a child, “Saroi Khangba (propitiation of evil spirits)”, ancestor worship such as “Yumjao Lairembi, Apokpa Khurumba” etc., spiritualistic culture of “Amaiba/Amaibi (Shaman)”, the list can go on…; is certainly not a part of Hindu religion. Meiteis took Hindu religion as an addition to their erstwhile beliefs rather than as a replacement.

Put simply, Meiteis have adopted certain Hindu beliefs and practise forms of worship akin to Hindu ritual, but largely do not subscribe to Hindu social values, their puritanical precepts of Hindu morality. For eons Meiteis have sustained basic social attitudes which are similar to the most progressive sections of the Indian urban society which in essence is the ethos of the Meiteis, other tribes of North-East and some of those of central India.

There is absence of caste distinctions, the question of caste coming up only at the time of taking of certificate for children education, application of government job or such like requirements. There is equality of sexes; in fact women are in the forefront of social happenings, preference for adult marriage, liberty of divorcees and widows to re-marry, and independence of the nuclear family from control on the part of the joint family.

In fact though Meiteis have come in close contact with Hindus of mainland India for centuries and have been partially Hinduised, but over the years have exhibited the greatest power of resistance to the alien Hindu culture that have been pressed upon them, zealously guarding and retaining till date their distinct culture of ancestor worship, animism and shamanic spirituality.

To be precise, Meiteis till date are a semi-tribe or tribe in transition who are in the process of losing their identity and tribal culture but not yet fully assimilated to the mainstream Indians. In elementary terms it means Meiteis are in the process of becoming Mayang but as yet not fully transformed. Mind you to be a tribal you have to be born a tribal, you can not convert to a tribe like you convert to a religion.

Within the problem of nation building in a plural society, the heart of the matter is to create a congenial environment where Meiteis and hill dwellers of Manipur can live as one integrated society sharing a collective destiny sans the feeling of “us and them”.

You can not undo history; however, you can get Indian Constitution amended so that the indigenous people of this land are not divided into tribal and non-tribal people; and each one respect the other as equal human being of the global village of 21st century.

(Views expressed in the write up are those of the writer)

 

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/06/why-the-ethnic-divide-between-meiteis-and-other-tribes-of-manipur/

By Paonam Thoibi

Q. Dear Madam, this is about my eight years old son. He easily gets distracted during his study, though he will concentrate well when he has the mood. His 11 years sister is quite the opposite. Is there something wrong with his personality? Kamlesh, Wangkhei, Imphal (E).

Ans: Dear Kamlesh, it is very natural for small kids to shift attention very often. There is nothing wrong with his personality. However, if it gets too often then there are some tips which you can follow. Give him enough freedom of space and let him pace up and down while reading his books loudly. He can even engage in an activity he is interested while in study. Let him change position often or even shift subjects when he gets bored. The secret is to make study fun. Lastly, avoid comparing between siblings as they are different individuals with different capabilities and limitations. Comparing only instigates sibling rivalries which are often difficult to manage.

Q. I am a home maker, middle aged. I have had physical problems since the past ten years. Doctors have told me that there is nothing to be worried about as my problems are not serious. But I have doubts. My children are all grown up, reading in high school. My husband takes proper care of me. What is troubling me is that I can’t control myself when I have this problem of sudden irritation without reasons. Should I try sedatives? Please help. Name withheld, Langol Game Village.

Ans: Dear Madam, an exact mention of your age would have been substantially beneficial for giving the right suggestions. The reasons for irritability can be quite an external factor which is dependent on your environment. One of the reasons can also be internal- due to hormonal changes and physiological discomforts. I would advise you to consult a medical doctor and get some routine tests done to rule out the biological factors. Also, psychotherapy which includes training for anger management and stress reduction is most needed for you. Medications are advised only when the situation is too overwhelming for you to handle which I believe is not the case for you right now.

Q. Dear Madam, I have a friend who loves to talk of so many philosophies. We are in college first year. We have been friends since school days. But I have started disliking his talking habits of late. Does he need counseling? Kh. Byron, Loklaobung, Imphal.

Ans: Dear Byron, first of all I’d say you are very lucky to have a friend with whom you can engage in dialogue on philosophies. But I can understand how you are feeling when it won’t stop. I would suggest that it would be much better if you undergo a ‘social skill training’ or an ‘assertive training’ so that you get to handle this situation and many more similar ones to your advantage. Through that I’m sure you will be better able to affirm your point of view or differences without offending or threatening the other person. Furthermore submission by letting him ignore your opinion can lead you to stress and this can be avoided.

Q: Madam, could you please explain what is bipolarity? I have tried looking through the internet but there are full of technical languages that I can’t understand. Is it same with depression? Name withheld, Thangmeiband Imphal.

Ans: Bipolarity or bipolar disorder is a psychological condition where a person experiences both episodes of elevated mood of euphoria- wellbeing and positivism and episodes of depression or sad feelings. Both these episodes are often unrealistic and can affect a person’s daily functioning. Reasons are mainly biological but environmental factors like stress, childhood adversities and dysfunctional family backgrounds can pose a high risk. Very often it is confused with similar conditions like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, major depressive disorder, certain personality disorder etc. Management of bipolar condition can be done by medication after proper psychological assessment and also psychotherapy by mental health professionals.

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

 

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/06/mind-matters/

By Amar Yumnam

Ronal Coase is Nobel laureate in Economics. There is a theorem which he propounded. It states that in cases where the ownership of property is not properly defined, that property would suffer fast degradation as everybody would try to exploit it at the maximum in as short a time as possible. This naturally leads to the fast deterioration in the quality and quantity of the resource in question. Something like this has been happening in the mountains of Manipur and it is getting worseby the day. The significance of the mountains in this province lies in the synonymousness with the forests as elsewhere in the province. The degradation of the forests in Manipur was always bad and it is getting increasingly worse. The disappearing forests, worsening environmental scenario and probable disappearance of mountains in Manipur have never occupied the mind of the thinking public and the space of policy formulation. During the 1980s and 1990s, the Tamenglong scenario in this rate of forest degradation was absolutely the worst in Manipur.

But the worst and the most challenging phenomenon of forest degradation is now happening in the Chandel District. There could be many reasons for the Chandel leaving Tamenglong behind. One possible reason could be the declining comparative economic value of the forests in Tamenglong district. If this is the case, it willnot be a sustainable one. If the Chandel value declines as it wont, the exploitation of the Tamenglong forests would again resume in a way to permanently and irrevocably destroy the forests in the latter. The more dangerous scenario is the most likely probability of the Chandel forests to experience irrevocable and permanent damage in this round of exploitation itself. In fact the scenario in Chandel today is so bad that quite many mountains are now facing the risk of absolute disappearance in due course thanks to the complete disappearance of the forest covers. The issue is why has such a situation arisen in this district? The answer lies in the worst form of Coasian problem being faced in this district. First, the property rights in the forests in this district are as ill-defined as they could be. Second, the first problem is coupled by an acute competition among diverse ethnic groups for dominance.

In the absence of expanding economic opportunities, all the members of each ethnic group have depended increasingly heavily on the exploitation of the forests. In other words, the exploitation of the forests has been so interlinked with the livelihood possibilities. Since the property rights are ill-defined, each is trying to competitively exploit the forests as completely as possible so as to leave no scope for others to take advantage. This is a sure route to destruction of the forests sooner than later, and ultimately the disappearance of the mountains in due course. The long run implication is disappearance of livelihood possibilities of the common man as the forests have disappeared. The overall social implication for Manipur would be very precarious and environmentally highly hazardous.

The land and the people of Manipur can in no case afford the continuance of the current form of forest exploitation and mountain degradation in the Chandel district. We have to evolve a strategy for addressing this problem. The immediate intervention should be a strict application of environmental governance rules. This alone however would not be enough. We have to complement this by a strong livelihood expansion strategies. This is something required by all the mountain districts of Manipur, but the environmental imperative for this in the Chandel district is overwhelming. Still further, the people of the district as stakeholders should now initiate articulation and debate over the sustainable future of the people and the environment within a longer time perspective. Current predominance of only immediate outcomes as relevant should be replaced by this longer term perspective. People require the state and the environment and vice versa. We survive together with the environment or we die with it. Here time is of the essence for evolving towards an appropriate property rights regime.

 

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/06/coase-and-the-forest-degradation-in-manipur-the-misfortune-of-the-mountains/

By B.G. Verghese

Mr Modi is now firmly in the saddle. He should not let his enthusiasm outpace what should be a measured administrative stride nor allow his colleagues to derail him by thoughtless word or deed. The swearing-in was hyped beyond measure both as a spectacle and a diplomatic coup. The first was a bit of a bore with ninety minutes of repetitive swearing-in while the ensuing talks with the visiting heads of government and others could not be path-breaking without key ministers in place or any in-depth briefing. It was at best a pleasant and useful getting-acquainted exercise.

The Council of Ministers has the virtue of being small (45) but there will soon be some expansion in order to ensure political and regional balance. The consolidation of relatedministries like transport and energy is welcome but may need further streamlining. Collective cabinet responsibility and accountability have been restored by abolishing the plethora of GOMs and EGOMs that the UPA recklessly set up.

Information & Broadcasting has strangely been mated with the Environment. Both need reform, the first by being abolished, with its component units like PrasarBharati, the Films Division and DAVP being granted autonomy; and the other by avoiding an excessively rigid touch-me-not approach to nature, something that misreads the progress of civilisation. The environment must of course be protected but the watchword must be dynamic balance. Poverty is the worst pollutant and to get rid of poverty (and avoid social instability) we need infrastructure, skilling and jobs. The new Environment Minister has promised to fast track Rs 80,000 core of stalled projects, which if sensibly done will give a great stimulus to investment and growth.

Mr Modi has been right to call for openness in government and to urge ministers and officials to twitter and keep in touch with the public. The social media and responsive government are each important in their own way but there is danger encouraging a babel of individual voices, each claiming to represent some essential truth. The result can only be misunderstanding and incoherence and a departure from studied decision-making.

There is also need to be wary of too much centralisation of authority in the person of the Prime Minister and the PMO as appears to be Mr Modi’s inclination. India does not operate a presidential system and even an overdose of presidential style can lead to loss of ministerial initiative and a tendency to pass the buck.

Jitendra Singh, Minister of State in the PMO was unwise to stir an avoidable controversy hours over Article 370 had commenced. This fetched a tart reply from Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti that any such move could prove dangerous and controversia.The RSS immediately joined in to support abrogation, thrusting its view matters on the new dispensation. Thisis a danger signal and could suggest the Parivar’sdesire to remote-control and micro-manage events from Nagpur.

BJP-RSS illiteracy on Article 370 is well known. The notion that this makes J&K a less integrated state than others is fallacious. Article 1 read with Schedule IEntry 15 and the J&K Constitution (which few know about or have bothered to read) make this absolutely clear. The argument that Article 370 has not benefited the people of J&K but has stalled their progress and welfare is bogus. The State has the best record of any in the matter of land reformsin abolishing landlordism an evil that continues to enslave millions, especially in eastern and southern India.

Moreover, Article 370is just among a whole family of provisions contained in Articles 371 and 371 A to Iand the Fifth and Sixth Schedules that provide for special dispensations for different classes of people and regions.

The BJP and RSS can equally do with a tutorial on a uniform civil code. This is a Directive Principle (Article 44) that calls on the State “to endeavour” to legislate a uniform civil code. Securing a UCC does not imply any compulsion to abrogate personal laws as tirelessly and mischievously argued byill-informed politicians, lawyers, editors and academics. Personal laws come under the rubric of “freedom of conscience and the free profession, practice and propagation of religion” guaranteed by Article 25 subject to “public order, morality and health” and other fundamental rights.

Any UCC will therefore necessarily be optional and, indeed, exists in part in the Special Marriage and Divorce Act 1954.But by a special amendment sponsored by the Indira Gandhi government during the Emergency, Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs marrying under the Special Marriage Act are to be governed by the Hindu Succession Act, a patent effort at communal appeasement.

The Special Marriage Act is a great boon and allows inter-faith, inter-caste and even inter–regional marriage without necessitating conversion by one or other spouse to the faith of the other. Moreover, few know that Goa is governed by a UCC, a legacy of Portuguese rule. Neither has been challenged for being ultra vires.

A UCC essentially provides for gender justice. Allpersonal laws, without exception, are heavily biased against women in order to keep property within the family circle. Property, not faith, underpins personallaws. Empowering women by granting them one-third representation in Parliament is relative trivia compared to empowering 600 million Indian women through a UCCthat enables them to regulate their personal lives. Yet those who eloquently plead for women’s rights, including women, have ignorantly joined the vicious bandwagon illegally and gratuitously to crush women’s rights.This is one of the great inequities of modern India.

The truth is that the RSS-BJP believethat brandishing the prospectof a UCCis a whip with which to terrify Muslims in particular and get them to fall in line. The other popular notion that Hindu law has been unified is another piece of exalted rubbish. The Hindu Code Bill codified a considerable part of Hindu law but many other Hindu codes continue to exist in different parts of the country. Among the practices protected by Hindu law is the joint family, a property-oriented regime that has today become a major tax haven.

Finally, Entry 5 of the Concurrent List entitles any State to enact a UCC as marriage and divorce, adoption, wills, intestacy, succession, joint family and partition fall within its concurrent jurisdiction. Why then has no BJP-ruled State even lifted a finger to enact a UCC, as many states took the initiative to legislate freedom of information Acts. The new Law Minister, Ravi Shankar Prasad on TV last week spoke of “unifying India’s oneness” and its unity in diversity through a UCC. Do it man; don’t dance around it as others have done for 50 years. India needs a UCC today. Without it, no Indian has the right by law to be an Indian in personal life. He or she must remain not even a Hindu, Muslim, Christian or Sikh Indian, but, ultimately, a denominational or sub-denominational one at that, down to the gotra by Khap law. What an unfolding of the inner hollowness and humbug of Indian secularism.

www.bgverghese.com

 

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/06/make-haste-and-prioritise-carefully/

By Pradip Phanjoubam

One of most admirable innovations of the newly sworn in BJP government led by Narendra Modi is the manner in which the charismatic though controversial Prime Minister, networked his various ministries, binding one to the other in an “organic” way, as has been described. In the inner circle of power wielders, he appointed politicians of known calibers as cabinet ministers. In the second circle, are the ministers of state, but most of those given independent charges of government departments are also given charge of being junior ministers under a cabinet ministers. Thus an experienced hand is sought to guide a less experienced one but also the experienced hand is also put on the alert that a junior colleague in the same department may outperform him or her.

Although this has not been demonstrated yet, there are also speculations that the new government plans to have a separate minister of cabinet rank to ensure smooth coordination between the various related ministries.

Whatever the criticisms of Modi, so far his government does seem to be fired by a sense of purpose, and if we may add, mission. It remains to be seen if the metaphor of the shadow which Eliot raised to almost the status of a proverb, begins to fall between the plans and their execution. On a cautionary note again, the much admired sense of mission this government exudes with so far, history has proven, can warp into an ultra-nationalistic monster, in total contravention of the liberal understanding of democracy and the welfare state, but nonetheless still coming under the guise of democracy. One does hope these fears prove unfounded, and the new government delivers not a Rightist and ultra-nationalistic agenda but its promise of all round growth and development that the country is starved for at this moment.

Amidst all the extremely well orchestrated and professionally disseminated propagandas which have virtually deluged the Indian media in the current times, it is difficult to figure out the veracity of news and analyses of such a complex subject as determining the political will of a billion and more people. As a matter of fact, the deluge of data and their interpretations by so called dispassionate experts have only accentuated the confusion in the minds of the general consumers of these information. As for instance, on the question of whether the popular verdict to usher in a BJP government with Modi at its helm was a result of a fragmented and polarized electorate or whether instead Modi unified existing divisions in the society, there has been no convincing answers.

Many think Modi paved the way for the electorate to sweep aside differences of caste, creed and colour, all of them finding a common denominator in their shared interest of a promise for a better future for themselves that would result from a growth in the macro economics of the country, a promise for which the media by and large have portrayed Modi as the only capable deliverer, hyping up the example of Gujarat’s fabled growth under Modi as chief ministership. There have been many credible voices against this claim, including by economist John Dreze, an associate of Amartya Sen, and somebody who has devoted his career to understanding the phenomenon of poverty in India. But the “Modi Tsunami”, or “TsuNamo” as again the media sensationally referred to, swept all these voices of dissent aside.

There are others who think election 2014 has actually fragmented and polarized the Indian society even more critically. They explain this is why a party which garnered only 31 per cent of the votes polled could win a clear majority in the Parliament. One of the indications of this divide, especially of the marginalization of the significant other population group of India – that of the Muslim – they say is that all of the meager seven Muslim candidates set up by the BJP all over India, which including the Congress turned BJP, veteran journalist and political chameleon M.J. Akbar, lost. In this regard, it is heartening that the Modi cabinet has a Muslim representative in the former chairperson of the Rajya Sabha, Najma Heptullah.

Incidentally, the Northeast also has two in the so far 45-strong ministry.

Surprisingly, or should one instead say not surprisingly, the ministry which functions as the nodal agency for all development works in the Northeast, DoNER, has gone to a former chief of the Indian Army. Whether this is for the good or the bad, it would be too early to comment, for indeed, there has never been any guarantee somebody from the Northeast knows the Northeast better in a holistic way. As an Army man who has served in the Northeast, one can almost vouch, at least as far as physical geography and demography spread is concerned, the general would have a better knowledge of the place than many Northeasterner. Whether only this level of knowledge is enough to be a good captain of the places politics, is the million rupees question which will begin to be answered in the next few years.

One thing is certain. The fragmented nature of politics in the Northeast being what it is, the place has seldom thrown up anybody who can qualify to be called a leader of the Northeast. From the pre-partition days, the name of Gopinath Bardoloi is often cited as one who has earned this stature, but though there can be no doubt he was a great leader of Assam fighting for the cause of the Assamese, there can also be no gainsaying that Assam is hardly the Northeast. He saved Assam from the campaign of the Muslim League and its local leader then, Md. Saadulla, also a former chief minister of the state, to have Assam included in Pakistan, but Bardoloi’s politics, premised fundamentally on Assamese nationalism as it was, in the long run resulted in the bifurcation of Assam. The Bengalis of Assam’sBarak Valley too are less than happy with his politics which resulted in Sylhet being bartered away to Pakistan.

In the current times, former chief minister of Nagaland and now an MP from the state, Neiphiu Rio, is mentioned in certain circle as one who has emerged as a leader of the Northeast, deserving to be given charge of the region. Would this claim be endorsed by all of the Northeast by and large? Unlikely. For while Rio is a charismatic leader of Nagaland state, and perhaps of the other Nagas outside of the state too, he is hardly likely to know, much less be interested in the nuances of the politics, aspirations, yearnings, insecurities etc, of the rest of the Northeast. The sectarian nature of his politics was evident in the manner the unsuccessful campaign of his party, the Naga People’s Front, NPF, to garner the Manipur Outer Parliamentary was conducted. In the aftermath of the election loss, he even charged the Nagas of betraying the Nagas in Manipur, revealing his peculiar political vision where Nagas are expected to vote only for the Nagas. In fact, this is the brand of democracy everybody and every other party should avoid to the extent possible.

As a matter of fact, the man Rio accused of sabotaging the Naga vote solidarity, Prof. Gangmumei Kamei, is one person who could have fitted the bill of being a Northeast leader. As a brilliant academician and a respected public intellectual, he is acceptable to not just to the rest of the Northeast, but much beyond. His agenda is informed not by sectarian political outlooks and therefore can see beyond narrow walls of ethnicity and region.

Former Lok Sabha speaker and former chief minister of Meghalaya, Purno A. Sangma, is another. However controversial his party politics may have been in the past, his political commitments is marked by the kind of catholicity of outlook which can make him acceptable to the most of the Northeast. I have distinguished here “party politics” and “political commitment”. He is someone who has been much visible to all the states of the Northeast, having participated in, therefore understands the local campaigns in most of these states.

Though low profile, the universal ideology of his party would have probably made the genial and affable Dr. M Nara of the CPI, an acceptable face too beyond his state.

Very surprisingly, though large and therefore carrying the most clout, Assam has not thrown up leaders who have been able to be Northeast leaders. The state has seen many ministers in the Union cabinet, and even a President of the Union. All of them were very accomplished men no doubt, but none have been able to find a resonance in the Northeast states except in Assam. Sadly, it seems, Assam is too preoccupied with itself. In the intellectual, media and arts circles, there are many Assamese who think Northeast but for some reason or the other, very few politicians are inclined similarly.

This list of possible Northeast leaders is far from exhaustive, but the point one is making is, there are very few leaders in the Northeast who have risen above the confines of their individual states. This probably is another reason, though not the only one, or for that matter the most important one, for this tendency to have somebody away from the Northeast to be chosen as a leader of the Northeast. The marginalization of the Northeast in the consciousness of the Indian mainstream is the most often cited reason for this seeming discrimination, and while not disputing this explanation altogether, the need is also for Northeast leaders to stretch their political visions beyond the confines of their individual states and communities.

Returning to the Modi government’s innovations, though still not tested and proven in practice, the other proposal particularly relevant to Manipur is that of having a full-fledged cabinet ranked ministry to oversee the coordination of inter-related ministries.

Evidence of an abysmal lack of such a coordination and cooperation is stark everywhere. It is common sight, round the year, for instance for the PWD to black top roads and soon after the PHED department to come and dig up these roads to lay their domestic water supply pipelines. If it is not the PHED then it could also be the Telecom department committing the wasteful carnage to lay their underground cables. There probably is nobody in the towns of the state, in particular the capital Imphal, who has not wondered in dismayed amusement, how the government’s right hand does not know what its left hand is doing. It would be highly appreciated if the Manipur government too could come up with some innovative measures to minimize this chaos caused by non-coordination of its related departments.

 

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/06/does-the-northeast-have-a-northeast-leader/

By Tinky Ningombam

Some people say age is just a number. Sadly all practical theories seems to point otherwise. For people unwilling to face inconvenient truths, a diplomatic truce.

Just a few weeks back, on the eve of her birthday, my dear friend Linthoi went into a depression of sorts lamenting over aging, over the loss of an “era of innocence.” Call her a drama queen, but her words not mine. And I, true to my garb of an empathizing friend, played Oprah and tried to convince her otherwise. I told her about the rich experiences we have had, the maturity we have attained, the wisdom that our age has brought us and the inevitability of linear time and our need to be at peace with it. The futility of arguing with a philosophy scholar is one that only a first-hand experience will demonstrate. For my elaborate opinions gave her more fuel to enter into a debate that not only lasted for hours but managed to make both of us more confused of the presumably “mid-life crisis” that she thought she was having. The same state which I also partook by virtue of being of the same age.

The only good thing that came out of that conversation was our resolve to “never grow old”. That we vouched, we shall remain as true to our young selves and not become middle-aged ergo boring women who only talk about marital woes and skin problems.

Being in the wrong side of 20’s is in fact a slow and treacherous torture, more from peer pressure than anything else. Like someone just dresses you up for stage impromptu and throws you out to play your part without a rehearsal. Where we are expected to “act our age” and give up “behaving like a kid.” And somehow if you don’t, you are judged for being insecure. But that is life I guess, life means just action, no rehearsals.

The entire episode reminded me of Dorian Gray from Oscar Wilde’s book “The Picture of Dorian Gray”. For those who have not had a chance to read it, the story revolves around the “age-less” and quite narcissistic Victorian gentleman called Dorian Gray who wished that he would remain forever young and his face and body would not age a day. That in his place, his portrait picture should be the one to grow older and he was willing to sell his soul for it. In a supernatural turn of events, his wish is granted and he never ages a single day but the portrait does, showing every wicked frown, every heinous scar that his life of debauchery takes him through.

And so it goes, Oscar Wilde’s classic example of the Faustian crossroads that humans always seems to face in life. Are we willing to sell our soul for something that we believe is most important to us? Which in the case of “The Picture of Dorian Gray” was Dorian’s everlasting youth which he bargained for, leading him down to the path of crime and immorality. Therefore, making us question how vain we are, for our youth? How important is youth to us that we want to bargain the lines on our face made by a frown, a scar, a smile; signs of all the good and the bad in our lives, signs that tell of our passing time on earth.

A lot of people that I have met over the years have always told me that the only regret that they have about growing up is the loss of innocence. The “metaphorical” innocence or ignorance if I may, that is attributed to childhood. The carefree days where you are not expected to know everything or have an answer, in contrast to when you grow up, when you are expected to know everything and be wise.

But is ignorance indeed bliss? Will we be happier not knowing? Will it be good to forever trust people and be gullible to lies and be naïve to the rest of the world?

I truly think the grass is always greener on the other side. The self-important pain in the neck that I am, I know that I will always be restless to know. To know the answer, to find out the truth, to ask the unquestionable. So will I still want to be ignorant? No, I don’t think so. But has it made me happier to lose my childhood innocence? Of course not.

However I do believe that the protected environment that the most fortunate of children grow up in, not having to worry about earning a living or protecting oneself from physical dangers is an ideal world on its own but which is not the reality of life. The tragi-comic reality is that whatever muck and misery that adults seem to dive into, mingled with some momentary materialistic or man-made pleasures is the life that awaits us when we close that door of uninterrupted bliss. And in my personal opinion, the sooner one comes to terms with that, the better adept one will be to venture forth and prosper.

It is ok to be nostalgic about youth. After all, in youth, you are in the pink of health, you are not bogged down by responsibilities and you look as fresh as a daisy. But that is exactly why you have friends and peers, people who will age the same way as you and have similar ailing. How else will you complain and feel better?

 

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/06/eternal-youth-anyone/

By Malangba

On Buddha Purnima, I mentioned the name “Gautama” to my wife. Though I cannot claim much knowledge about his teachings I have had an unmistakable attraction towards this historical figure. The romance that I find around this figure could be because of my ignorance of the finer details which are lost to me. Yet, the personality of Gautama never fails to amaze me. The received notion is that his death was due to eating improperly cooked pork, some say mushroom. The details are not that important but the very everydayness of how he died. He died a very ‘ordinary’ death. The mundane, even profane some would say, reasons that led to his death point to the here and now. The way he died has been interpreted in a very interesting manner. Swine and mushroom, cleanses the world of the debris of life. Commentators have made a connection here. Buddha was a cleanser, just like mushrooms which decomposes the dead trees. If not for mushrooms, the world would have been veritable mess. If not for spirits like Buddha, the world would have been a veritable mess. The world now is still a mess but the teachings, the life of Buddha, to many, gives a respite to this veritable mess.

My wife has been critical of this romance that I find in the Buddha, “the enlightened One”, the Tathagata. There is an aspect to her criticism that has kept me thinking. She finds fault with the Buddha’s act of leaving his wife Yashodahara with their only child Rahul. I try to reason out with her that everyone has to make sacrifices, and here the Buddha made a sacrifice for the salvation of humanity. She has a ready answer in “but at the cost of injustice to his family”. I say, “ they also made a sacrifice, they are remembered because their sacrifice was a part of the Buddha’s sacrifice. To that she replies, “ he never asked them, he had to run from home at the dead of night – like a thief!”. Here, I had to pause for a while. I then replied with restraint –“ See, he left them knowing well that they would never face the dearth of anything in life, they were in the palace, she was the wife of the prince, his son was already a prince, he left his family surrounded in the luxury and abundance anyone could desire”. She didn’t bother to answer. But she had already won this duel of words. It did not take much time to realise what the unspoken retort was. The Buddha deprived his wife and son, which nothing in the world could replace.

This realisation that my wife may be right, as was the case in some other cases also, was unsettling. Is there no way to please everyone? If the Buddha was not successful then, perhaps, it will be a difficult proposition for anyone. I tried to find a good answer but none was satisfactory. On one side what my wife pointed out could not be ignored yet my conviction that Buddha did the right thing gnawed on the other end. The solution came from an unexpected telephone call.

I have a friend, whose religious affiliation is hard to determine. He called to inform me that he was in Sikkim to join a Vipassana meditation course of ten days. This, I came to know, was after a prior course of Tantra in Pakhara, Nepal. His was some sort of spiritual quest. The call was two days before Buddha Purnima last month. He came to visit me and my family enroute home, Imphal. He stayed with us for a week. He brought serenity and positive vibes to our home. Somehow his presence was relaxing. He told stories about his experiences with meditative practices and taught me the basics. Every night, when my wife was watching the fights conducted by one very talkative, hysterical and very popular news editor, we spent the evening, before bed time, talking about the importance of silence and such other things. Some of them did not make sense. We made many performative contradictions – talking endlessly about the importance of maintaining Noble silence being just one. We also indulged in some back biting – which I learnt is against moral precepts taught by the Buddha. I learnt many things from my friends in his short stay. But the important thing came the night before his departure.

Somehow, Buddha’s leaving, forsaking, if you please, his family for the answer to the riddle of suffering surfaced in the discussion. My friend enlightened me with the information that this issue was addressed by the Buddha himself by admitting that it was not necessary. What he said was that he erred, he made a wrong decision. To think that we try to pass of as angels when the Buddha himself admitted wrong-doings was another realisation of the illusions that we weave around ourselves. But that’s beside the point. What my friend said dissolved my urge to find an answer, to defend the indefensible act of the Buddha. It was a ready balm to the unsettling question that I was put to answer. I won’t say I was wrong. I shall say my wife was right. Buddha agrees with her.

 

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/06/swine-mushroom-and-renunciation/

By M.C. Linthoingambee

We sleep a little bit more, we enjoy a little bit more, we feel a little safer and that is all thanks to the soldiers that works day and night to keep us safe. How many times have we all given something without asking for something in return? Drifting our faces into the pages of history we see the footprints of Shubhash Chandra Bose, Chandrshekhar Azad, Shahid Bhagat Singh. These are just the mention of a few for there are many others who gave their lives so that we can have today and tomorrow. “One individual may die for an idea; but that idea will, after his death, incarnate itself in a thousand lives. That is how the wheel of evolution moves on and the ideas and dreams of one nation are bequeathed to the next”. These are the words of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. So, if we really dream for a better India, maybe we can make it happen? There are many unwritten chapters that still waits in a corner to be discovered by somebody or someone. These hidden stories needs to resurface to relieve the tale again.

The time of the Kargil War in the wake of 1999 took a massive hit on the soldiers with the India and Pakistan fighting it out. There are many who laid their last breath just to leave a safer home for their families, children and most importantly us. The very order of the United Nations states the unprecedented prevention of a world war ever happening again as the wake of the two great world wars left unexpected suffering to mankind. So, why can’t we learn to shake hands and be friendly when we know of the consequences that might occur from our actions? To term it accurately we are more selfish than selfless. So, what has been happening for these soldiers over the years? The early return of the war left rewards for those that left a part of themselves into giving us a safer India which concluded with the promise of a hefty compensation of flats, a job and more. Today in 2014, several years after those days, these promises became blurred and slowly faded with each year that added to not owning up to those liabilities. Some are still waiting for those promises to come true while they run around, knock upon door to door to help them bring home the honor that is due to them. The Times Now Campaign under the #Sacrifice Forgotten is one of those few step that works to help achieve that forgotten faith that gained a voice for these martrys and their families that are struggling to keep their families up and running.

Times Now reported in July 2007 how Colonel Vasanth Venugopal, Commanding Officer of 9 Maratha Light Infantry silenced eight terrorists and in the encounter made the supreme sacrifice of his life. But today, seven years later the martyr’s wife, Subhashini Vasanth is yet to be given what is rightfully hers. The Defence Minister Arun Jaitley has assured that required action will be taken in Subhashini Vasanth’s case and has promised to address many such cases that have been brought to the Government’s notice. With the new Prime Minister at the helm, there is hope that maybe these promises will be made true. The Right to Life and Personal Liberty is one of the growing concerns that lays that all people be granted the same privileges of living a healthy life as all others. So, we will just be going by law in making a person’s life count. It is time that these forgotten heroes be remembered and cherished for their work and not thrown up like a crumpled paper pieces that lays beside our desk. As our birthright, we have all willfully surrendered our rights to the Preamble that reads as follows: “We, the people of India having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a (Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic) and to secure to all its citizens:Justice, social, economic and political; Liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship;Equality of status and of opportunity; Fraternity assuring the dignity of the individual and the (unity and integrity of the nation); In our Constitutent Assembly this 26th of November, 1949, do hereby, adopt, enact ad give ourselves this Constitution.” These written words at the beginning of the page of the Constitution of India is known by many and written on all school textbooks as a mandatory awareness of knowledge. It states to mean that we stand for our people and not rule over them. These Martrys are citizens same as “You and I” and not robots which can be built and rebuilt at will and adjusted. It is time we defended what was written a long time ago when we fought for our freedom because they are still struggling for that freedom.

 

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/06/breaking-trust/

By RK Lakhi Kant

On the fringes of the forest
The city begins from here
Vehicles one after the other
Beep, bop, and whir at the red light
A new township coming up
Aware suddenly of the cuckoo singing
While walking towards the red light
A powerful sound, a pitch higher
Than the humdrum of the city
Natural sounds like the cooing
Are superior to the mechanical
Sounds which are the epitome of matter
All noises converge on the cuckoo’s song
The song says, “feel free”, and it is the
Bird’s song on my way out which dilutes
All other sounds produced by the city
Like a forest watch who protects the green land
The bird keeps the city/forest buffer intact
And provides calm to the mind
But somewhere down the line the song
Disappears among the city sounds

Cuckoo 2nd meeting

My way takes me back again to the red light
On another day
This time I find out that the
Cuckoo seems to be impatient, in a hurry
Unlike the last time when it was soft and composed
In its calling
So useless are our endeavors
When the cuckoo starts calling
So cheap all this materialism is
One small clean sound penetrates
And dissolves in a moment
All the cluttering city sounds
A thanksgiving we owe
To the cuckoo for showing we
Cannot be manipulated all the time
By the sounds that drive the city

Cuckoo 3rd meeting

Getting further away from the cuckoo’s song
Carrying the cuckoo in my mind
I head back toward the place I stay
Thinking and becoming more and more
Engrossed in nature’s revelation of its superiority
O! So pleasant this land is
But why is it trying to become a
Graveyard of spirituality
The song exceeds matter and provides a way out into
Aesthetics, spirituality
Ensures something which is positive
And negates the negativity of life in the city
O cuckoo! Unburden my mind from
The depths of materialism
I announce my dependence on nature’s kingdom

 

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/06/cuckoo-1st-meeting/

By Fabrice Etienne, Scott Furssedonn-Wood and Helen LaFave

Last month, on the night of April 14, a group of militants kidnapped over 200 teenage girls from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Nigeria. In several videos released thereafter, Abubakar Shekau, who leads the terrorist organization Boko Haram based in northeast Nigeria, claimed that his group was behind the kidnappings. “I abducted your girls,” Shekau said, adding that Boko Haram was holding the girls and would “sell them in the market.” In his second video message, he uses them to attempt to bargain for the release of imprisoned Boko Haram members.

Boko Haram has been killing innocent people in Nigeria for some time and has kidnapped women and young girls in the past. The United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, and Nigeria have designated Boko Haram as a terrorist organization. In 2012, the U.S. government announced a seven million dollar reward for information leading to the arrest of Abubakar Shekau. Nigeria has also offered a $300,000 award for information leading to the capture of Boko Haram’s leader. By adding Boko Haram to the UN’s 1267 sanctions list, the United Nations Security Council has helped to close off important avenues of funding, travel and weapons to Boko Haram. The sanctions designation is the latest step in the international community’s long-term effort to help Nigeria counter this terrorist threat.

Inter-disciplinary teams from our three countries – France, the United States, and the United Kingdom – are working closely on the ground with the Government of Nigeria to combat this terrorist group and prevent future attacks. Canada, China, and other nations are also providing assistance. French President Hollande, with high-level representation from the UK and U.S., chaired a summit in Paris, dedicated to security in Nigeria, along with the presidents of Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, and Niger, all of which share land borders with Nigeria. All the States agreed to assist Nigeria in developing a comprehensive strategy to address Boko Haram’s threat to the region by strengthening regional cooperation on counterterrorism, including intelligence sharing and border security.

The prolific online campaign #BringBackOurGirls has brought needed attention to this horrific crime. It has been tweeted over one million times by individuals and organizations including Amnesty International and UNICEF. British Prime Minister David Cameron and U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama, have been among the latest high profile dignitaries to throw their “social media weight” behind the campaign. The campaign has moved across Twitter timelines among people from all backgrounds who are indignant about the situation, and has intensified into a groundswell of support for the girls.

Like millions of people across the globe, we are outraged and stand in solidarity to speak out against the indiscriminate kidnapping of innocent school girls and the horrors of terrorism. This unconscionable act was committed by a terrorist group – grown men attempting to snuff out the aspirations of young girls by denying them the right to their safety, freedom, education, and dignity. The United States is providing ongoing counterterrorism support to Nigeria, including supporting it as a pilot country for the Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund, which Secretary Kerry announced in September 2013. As President Obama has said, “… we are committed to doing everything we can to help Nigeria bring these girls home safely to their families.” President Hollande announced France’s willingness to provide support to the Nigerian armed forces through intelligence-sharing and trainings. Rafale airplanes based in N’djamena are mobilized to help with the search and rescue operations. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius declared: “Something horrific and ignominious has been committed in Nigeria. In the face of such a situation, outrage is not enough. Both France and the other democratic nations must react.” The British Royal Air Force has deployed a surveillance aircraft to help with the search and British aid is already helping to educate 600,000 Nigerian girls, and has offered further assistance if required. British Foreign Secretary William Hague summed it up best when he said, “Using girls as the spoils of war and the spoils of terrorism is disgusting and immoral … It should show everybody across the world that they should not give any support for such a vile organisation.”

While we unequivocally condemn what happened in Nigeria, let us remember that this is not an isolated incident. This is a story we see every day as girls around the world risk their lives simply by pursuing their ambitions and dreams. It’s the story of girls like Malala Yousafzai, who spoke out for girls’ education in her community and risked being killed. Education is truly a girl’s best chance for a bright future, not just for herself, but also for her family, her nation, and all of humanity.

These girls embody the best hope for the future of our world. We are committed to standing up for them not just in times of tragedy or crisis, but also for their basic human rights. The courage and hope embodied by the Nigerian school girls, Malala, and many others like them around the globe should serve as a call to action. They deserve our commitment to ensure that they have the opportunities to reach their highest potential. Let all of us show a fraction of their courage in speaking up for their unconditional release, remembering the words of Dr. Martin Luther King: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

(Fabrice Etienne, French Consul General, Kolkata (@FranceinKolkata); Scott Furssedonn-Wood, British Deputy High Commissioner, Kolkata (@DHCScottFW); and Helen LaFave, U.S. Consul General, Kolkata (@HelenCGKolkata)

 

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/05/bring-back-our-girls/

By Pradip Phanjoubam

One of the things which has come across in a rather troubling way in the aftermath of the resounding BJP victory in the recently concluded Indian Parliamentary elections 2014 is the difficulty of determining a majority verdict in the Westminster model of Parliamentary democracy, particularly in a multi-party scenario as is the case in India. Long after the elections are over and the verdict announced, the debate continues as to whether it was a fair majority the winners won. As we know now, the BJP won a majority on its own with a comfortable margin of 282 in a house of 543. Together with allies, the BJP led NDA totaled 336 MPs.

More election data, as they unfold, however has revealed more than apparent. Most importantly, as it turned out, the number of seats the winners won did not seemingly correspond with their vote shares. To be more precise, only 31 percent of the votes polled went to the BJP and this extremely low percentage was what won the party its clear majority, and according to reports, this is the lowest votes polled percentage ever for a party to win the majority in an Indian election.

Thankfully, though this percentage is alarmingly low, the BJP at least was the party which not only returned the most number of MPs but also its 31 percent vote share is the highest of all parties in the fray, somewhat moderating the debates which followed the election results. But here too it is not totally bereft of causes for further consternations. The Congress which lost miserably, returning only 44 seats, had a vote share of 19.3 percent. This leaves them behind the BJP by just 12 percents votes polled. In other words, for only 12 percent more votes, the BJP was ahead of the Congress by 238 seats. This, as Siddharth Varadarajan notes, amount to 12 percent vote difference transforming into 500 percent seat difference. Something obviously is seriously wrong with this system’s way of determining a majority, a democracy mechanism popularly referred to as the first-past-the-post system.

Before digging deeper into the seeming inconsistencies brought to the fore by the election results, a little discussion on the nature of this universally acknowledge flaw in the system would be interesting. The Anglo-Saxon model of democracy which allows for the direct election of legislators by the electorate within segmented constituencies, hindsight knowledge has underscored, is essentially meant for a polarized two party contest. If this was so, chances of big discrepancies between vote shares and seats shares reaching alarming proportion would have been minimized. In multi-cornered contests, as is a normal feature in Indian elections, the flaw in the first-past-the-post system can be grotesquely accentuated, as the country is getting to see this time.

Indeed, in this system, theoretically a party can win majority vote share but lose all seats. Consider a radical scenario in which a party fields candidates in all 543 constituencies but comes a close second in all of them. This party would end up with no MPs at all in the Parliament. Another party may field just two candidates and win both. This second party would therefore be ahead in terms of MPs though with only a negligible vote share overall. Yet a third party may field candidates in all constituencies, win 272 narrowly and lose the rest miserably. With 272 MPs in Parliament this party would have the majority to form the next government, but obviously would be below the vote share won by the first party which could not return even one seat.

Under normal circumstances however, the mathematical doctrine of probability, and human nature, would ensure the party which comes out victorious at the end of the elections not only garners the most seats in Parliament (or Assembly) but also is somewhat proportionately ahead of rivals in vote share too. This flaw manifested in most previous Indian elections, but not as stark as this time. The alarming gulf this time, as experts have surmised, is an indication of the peculiarly fragmented nature of political loyalties of the average Indian at this juncture of its history, in response to the manners election issues were pushed during campaigning.

This being what it is, though the election determined what is deemed a “majority verdict”, the debate continues whether it was truly a majority the winners won. There have been suggestions that the Indian electoral system should be modified to bring in elements of the other popular democracy model, that of the proportional representation system, to make the Indian system a hybrid of the two.

A glimpse at what might have been in a hypothetical situation of India, instead of the Anglo-Saxon model, adopted the proportional representation system followed in much of Continental Europe, should be enlightening. In such a scenario, the 2014 election verdict would have meant the BJP would be entitled to send deputies to 31 percent of the total seats of the Parliament and Congress 19. It would have been a hung Parliament and a coalition government would have been the only option left.

In the first-past-the-post system, it is a number of independent micro decisions made by different electorates in varied constituencies in varied regions which determine the aggregate winner. In the proportional representation system, the aggregate is primary and the constituencies secondary. Determining the majority’s will in a vast country like India obviously is not as simple as it seems. I would imagine the problem borders the metaphysical. A rough analogy would be the continued necessity for two different approaches to the calculation of critical area in mathematics, hence both integral and differential calculus remain vitally relevant.

Writing of this problem in “All Life is Problem Solving” German philosopher Karl Popper says both the democracy models have their strengths and weaknesses. If we have seen the flaws of the Anglo-Saxon model this time, the proportional representation system too is not devoid of shortcomings. As for instance, a particular region may totally reject a party, but at the end of the election, the region can end up with deputies of the party it rejected representing it. Popper’s conclusion is, it does not matter which democracy system is followed for the most important virtue of democracy is that it is a system in which the people can change their government without the need for bloodshed.

Returning briefly then to more seeming disproportion between seats won and votes polled by different parties in these elections, here are a few more cases. In UP the BSP got 20 percent votes, but won no seats at all. Likewise as P Sainath writes, in West Bengal, the Left Front got nearly 30 percent of the vote and just two seats. The Congress got less than 10 per cent but took four. The Trinamool Congress got 40 per cent of the vote, but 80 per cent of the seats, winning 34 of the 42 in the state.

Quite obviously, nobody is seriously thinking of having the Indian democracy model changed with retrospective effective. The BJP won, there can be no question about it, and this answer is final this time, and will stay till the next general elections. But, perhaps the results this time are an indication that the system needs an overhaul in the future.

One more observation needs to be made here. Though the number of seats it won is limited this time, in terms of votes polled, the Congress did not lose as badly as it is made out to be. This also means, the party cannot be still written off, as many commentators are almost hasty and enthusiastic to.

So much for the discussion on democracy models and their suitability to the Indian reality: This column would not be doing justice if it did not also take a brief tour of the post election mood in Manipur too, for indeed political punditry and crystal gazing is not altogether a new pastime here amongst the intelligentsia and the public at large.

Of peculiar interest are some speculations on the possibility of the Congress government in the state facing the danger of being destabilized by the BJP government at the Centre, and this through the institution of the Governor on whose recommendation Article 356 of the Constitution can be invoked to either dissolve or keep a state government in animated suspension. This scenario however is unlikely, especially after the controversy over its misuse and the Supreme Court case on the matter in the S. R. Bommai v. Union of India case in 1994.

Though the apex court ruled that the provisions of Article 356 was justiciable, the 1994 judgment which opened the imposition of President’s Rule to judicial reviews, has put a check on arbitrary dismissal of state governments by Article 356. Correspondingly, and happily, there has been a sharp decline of states being put under President’s Rule ever since. It is quite unlikely then that the soon to be installed BJP government under Prime Minister designate Narendra Modi would be eager to court legal controversy just as yet, if ever, on such matters. Moreover, Manipur’s current governor, it must be recalled, was appointed by the outgoing Congress government at the Centre.

The only way the Manipur government can become destabilized then is by the fickle loyalties of our MLAs. They could, as has become the notorious and shameful character of those who chose the political vocation in the state, begin their usual game of back-stabbing and horse-trading, putting up their political loyalties for auction to the highest bidders. It is a disgraceful fact that in the pre-1994 days, and before the introduction of the Anti-Defection Law, Manipur ranked as one of the foremost to have invited the President’s Rule, having been through it 10 times since it attained statehood, all on account of MLAs shamelessly crossing the Assembly floor.

With the tough Anti-Defection Law still in place, this scenario of political turncoats shaking up the government would be highly improbable. The sound recommendation then is for the Congress government here to get down to the serious business of governing the state. The loss at the Centre, if not anything else, should have made it drop its own arrogant clout of invincibility. The realization of the futility of the delusion of immortality is supposed to make even the most powerful humble.

I would just flag one goal which this government has not made enough effort to achieve before concluding. If at the completion of three terms, this government leaves the state as electric power starved as when it assumed power 15 years ago, in this age when the highway to progress itself has become synonymous with electric power, history will not ever forgive it and its helmsmen. The familiar excuse of bad law and order sabotaging progress will not be able to exonerate its sins either.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/05/is-democratic-majority-myth-or-reality-how-stable-is-manipur-govt/

“…because what I was writing demonstrated that the fundamental problem was political and not moral, as people believed”
– Marquez

By Soibam Haripriya

The oeuvre of Marquez should not be left unread, uncommented. One of the most fascinating piece of work however could be said to be his autobiography -Living to tell the tale. The events from his life that inspired him to spin tales around to create novellas and novels are all there. There would be no other work that would inspire one to take up the vocation of writing than his autobiography where the proof that he would take up this ‘overwhelming vocation’ was described as ‘the only force capable of competing with the power of love’. More and more people today seem to live in places which are not their place of birth. The nostalgia evoked by his writing could ring true for many more of us. The feeling of a world changed and the eternal nostalgia of the past is what the living recounts. Places where the world ends and oceans without shore on the other side are part of his childhood that urged the imagination. What then is magic realism is rather realism in itself. This could be the cue to go back to the novella Chronicle of a Death Foretold. What is striking is not that the protagonist Santiago Nasar was killed but the knowledge of the inevitability of his death. This theme urges one to think about this one premonitory word – inevitable. To stretch this work further one can certainly put this statement that it seemed inevitable that Narendra Modi was to win the election; a person who is for many, the symbol of communal hatred and carnage and for many others the face of development and good governance. What is the fundamental problem of this face of development and governance is that both these terms are peddled to us as ideological neutral concepts. What is the fundamental problem of this also is the fact that Gujarat does not top the country in ANY development indicators. Gujarat, in the Human Development Index (HDI) computation of Jean Dreze and Ritika Khera ranks 9th among 20 major states, yet people claim to have voted for him as he would bring about development. The fact of Gujarat being in the 9th rank is also not a position in which he and the BJP had contributed. On the other hand the name Modi is less associated with BJP and more with the RSS whose ideology need not be recounted for anyone here. Ironically Kerala the state which stands first in Human Development Index among the states in India is touted as being based on the Gujarat model. This is the story of a good lobby – media, corporate houses and therefore the inevitability of his victory in spite of (or perhaps one cannot be sure maybe because of) him having incited hatred against minorities and therefore he is projected as the face of an unapologetic Hindutva. This might come as a leap of imagination, looking at post May 16 India and Marquez but clearly the theme is magic realism and realism. The well known activist Mukul Sinha who fought many cases for the victims of Gujarat riots in Modi’s Gujarat and whom many of us in Manipur also knew him as the counsel for the fake encounters in Congress led Manipur passed away a few days before the May 16. He passed away on the 12th of May, 2014. It seems as if he couldn’t bear to see the premonitory claims of the media but then again, magic realism is as much about realism as it is about magic.

While the name Marquez could be almost used interchangeably with magic realism it should be remembered that the magic realism that marked his work are actually pages from his life and that of his parents and grandparents and pages from the collective history of a country marked by conflicts and dictators; a place not very different in its political manifestation than that of ours. The fact is that his work is as much mundane as it is magic and as therefore as much grief in its reality.

 

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/05/remembering-marquez/

By M.C. Linthoingambee

People and animals have always co-existed hand in hand creating histories that outlives even our very own lifetime. Although in the least expected time there have been moments where they even bought us unexpected happiness and surprises. The legend of Balto, a Syberian Husky who led his entire sled thereby saving an entire village from a growing epidemic by delivering medicine in the cold and harsh winter madness of Alaska is immortalized in a 1995 film. The legend of Hachiko, a Japanese dog breed of Akita is another true story made into a film depicting his remarkable loyalty to his owner through his wait for his owner for nine years after his owner’s death at the station where the duo often greeted each other and bade their goodbyes at Shibuya Station in Japan. There are many more such stories where animals have shown their loyalty or shown exemplary courage by saving their owners from peril.

I immediately thought of these stories following the outrage over arrest of a man for kidnapping and killing of a dog who was a dear member of a family by a group working for the welfare of animals and operating in Manipur. Yes, it is against the law to kill even animals. It is the fundamental duty of every citiizen of India to owe a duty of care for all animal species. In a developing country like ours, with nearly a bigger number of poor people we are often reluctant to care more for any animal as we find it difficult to feed our own mouths. The number of stray dogs that looms in Delhi are far greater than the beggars in the street.

We do things sometimes without realizing the illegality of its places. What are illegal or simply to be taken as being against the law? It is illegal to put any poisonous substance in the food of an animal, it is illegal to transport any animal in any manner that will cause him or her unnecessary suffering which are inclusive of loading cows, horses, etc into trucks, airplanes in a crowded manner. It is also illegal to kill homeless animals for the best thing to do in such a situation is to report them as a means of nuisance to the municipal authority of the region. We have seen the attempts of capturing cows from the streets from the streets of India by them even and they see to their proper care by assigning them to new homes and take up other precautionary measures. The Animal Welfare Board of India has established a code of conduct for municipalities. Failure to follow the code can invite contempt of court proceedings. Sections 428 and 429 of the Indian Penal Code make it illegal to disfigure or cause injury to any animal for a monetary price. It also makes it illegal to throw acid on cows. The Code also makes it illegal for cars to purposefully injure or kill dogs, cats and cows on the street. Offenders can be reported to the local animal protection group and police station and a case filed under the above-referenced sections. Punishment is a fine of Rs 2000 and/or a jail term of up to five years. Many of these stray animals also become the liability of research that may assure to put science one step closer to a great fundamental creation but they should not be treated this way. The Rules for Experimental Animals, as formulated by the Committee for the Control and Supervision of Experimental Animals, state that only animals bred for the purpose of research by institutes registered by the Committee may be used for experimentation (although, of course, such animals suffer and feel pain just as much as strays or any other animal). It is illegal for any medical, educational or commercial research institute to pick up stray animals from the street or from the municipal pound for this purpose. Any offender of such crimes is highly liable to end up behind bars if they chose to resist and continue with such acts willfully. It is also important that the population of animals are controlled and kept at par with the human population by not causing damages to the animals. The Animal Welfare Board of India has developed a set of guidelines for all municipalities directing the implementation of the Animal Birth Control (ABC) programme. If there is an animal welfare organization in the area, urge it to take up the ABC programme. The existing legislations like the Wildlife Protection Act, 1967 and the Prevention of Cruelty to animals Act, 1960 are the major shareholders that concerns in keeping the animal species safe.The Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) had formulated a draft Animal Welfare Act, 2011, and submitted it to the Ministry of Environment and Forests to replace the outdated Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960.

Somehow, we have all failed to give the same faith they gave us as always man still continue to pose serious threats to man’s best friend. I do not mean to judge for there are also those who owns pets and exercise this duty in their own ways.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/05/feline-canine-and-all-the-animals-we-love/

By Pitu Chakpram

One can only wonder how ideas of Tarantino’s movies came from. He does not run under a particular genre or a theme. Watching his movies are like reading a particular book that makes no sense but still intrigues the mind. In a sense, his movies are the kind that can be watched only for the sake of watching. However, despite it all his movies still draws the attention of the vast majority of its viewers. His movies such as “Pulp Fiction”, “Reservoir Dogs” to name a few have no particular plot or a theme. Here, I have tried to take a peek into Tarantino’s world and his movies.

Born in Tennessee on March 27, 1963, to Tony Tarantino and Connie McHugh, Quentin Jerome Tarantino grew up loving movies more than school. Despite having an IQ of 160, he dropped out of Narbonne High School in Harbor City, California, at the age of sixteen to pursue film making. He worked at the Video Archives in his early years, where he wrote the scripts for True Romance and Natural Born Killers. His directorial debut came with 1992′s Reservoir Dogs; however he received wide critical and commercial acclaim with “Pulp Fiction “(1994), which earned more than $108 million at the box office and an Oscar for Best Screenplay. In 1997, he released the movie Jackie Brown as homage to 1970’s blaxploitation movies. Then came the released his Kill Bill series in 2003 and 2004, which led to a Golden Globe nomination for Uma Thurman, who starred in the films. He was later nominated for two Academy Awards (best director and best original screenplay) for the film Inglourious Basterds (2009).

Tarantino went on to meet with both commercial and critical success with his next action movie which is a western-Django Unchained, released in late 2012. At the 85th Academy Awards in 2013, Tarantino won an Academy Award for best Original Screenplay for Django Unchained. The film received several other Oscar nominations, including for best picture, cinematography and sound editing.

Tarantino’s films have garnered both critical and commercial success. He has received many industry awards, including two Academy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, two BAFTA Awards, the Palme d’Or, has been nominated for an Emmy and a Grammy to mention a few, and has been named one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World by Time Magazine in 2005. Filmmaker and historian Peter Bogdanovich has called him “the single most influential director of his generation”.

Aside from being a screen writer, producer and a director, he also acts in movies but more as a cameo. His films have been characterized by nonlinear storylines, satirical subject matter, and glorification of violence that often results in the exhibition of neo-noir characteristics. Music also plays a very important role in all his movies which is related to the scene. What is mostly unique about his film making style are the uses of aliases in nearly all of his movies “Honey Bunny and Pumpkin”, usually have a shot from inside a car trunk, extreme violence, much of which is suggested off-screen and making references to cult movies and television. His films usually have a shot from inside a car trunk. In all of his original screenplays, the name of a police detective named Scagnetti is referred to at least once.

Tarantino often attempts to meld comic strip formulas and aesthetics within a live action film sequence and in some cases uses the literal use of cartoon or anime images. He has stated that the celebrated animation-action sequence in his film “Kill Bill” (2003) was inspired from the use of 2D animated sequences in actor Kamal Hassan’s Tamil film Aalavandhan and often favours particular brand names of his own creation to make promotional appearances.

The three films that have most influenced him as a director are: “The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly”, Mario Bavo’s “Black Sabbath” which taught him the importance of having a distinct directorial voice, and “Abbot & Costello Meet Frankenstein”, because it taught him about mixing genres.

Even though most of his movies are violence related he believes that it does not inspire acts of violence in real life and even further stated that he had the right to write any character in the world when questioned about his used of the word ‘nigger’ in the movie ‘Django Unchained’.

A bi-annual festival name the Quentin Tarantino Film Fest held in Austin, TX (USA) shows his screens selections of favourite films from his own private collection and sometimes shows films that have something to do with upcoming projects of his which may have inspired him.

It has been made official that the script for prequel for the movie ‘Inglorius Basterd’ is already written although there is no information regarding the story with another mystery project in line. Tarantino’s project “The Hateful Eight” has been dropped when the script was leaked out and he became upset and decided that he will not direct that film.

Much talk has been going on about his new project which will also be a western, however due to leakage of the script, he has told the media that he will not continue with the movie.

It is hard to understand and explain but what is intriguing about them is the way the movies play out. It may be the witty remarks or the sarcastic one-liners, or it may be because of the actors in his movies or, it might even be the violence and choice uses of weapons, or it could even be the fusion of music in his movies. Whatever it maybe, it draws the attention of the viewers to the movie entirely of its own. It can also be said that attentions are drawn mainly out of curiosity and later may leave the mind of its viewer in deep sense of confusion.

Just as much as there are a number of fans, there are also a vast amount of haters who believe that his movies are baseless and time-wasting. For those who watch a movie regarding its theme and depth, Tarantino’s are of wits, action with no sense of reason at all. Haters or lovers of his works, it is a well-known fact that his movies are a genre of their own and his movies stand out from others.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/05/tarantinos-world/

By Paonam Thoibi

Mind Matters

First of all, I would like to thank the team of Imphal Free Press for setting aside this space for addressing the need for mental health and behavioral wellness.

Mental health and well being is explained by taking into account the cultural differences among people, subjective assessments and multiple theories. However, all theories commonly derives that it is the state of functioning at a satisfactory level of emotional and behavioral adjustment. Simply put, it is the ability of a person to enjoy life and strike balance between activities he/she is engaged in by coping with normal stress, and contribute to the community as is expected from a social being.

A lot of daily transactions depend on how our mind works while doing a task. The mind which is frequently synonymous with thought: the private conversations that we carry on ‘inside our heads’ will help to ‘make up our mind’. The mind is a private sphere where only the owner has the access to it. So no one else can therefore actually, in the real sense ‘know our mind’. The psychologists are trained people who can attempt to interpret what people consciously or unconsciously communicate. The psychologist’s area of work is vast and diverse starting from an individual who stays in a small nuclear family of two to all workplaces where ‘people to people’ interactions are involved. They find a huge role in schools, sports arena, corporate, space research, etc.

A person struggling with his or her behavioral health may face stress, extreme sadness, get anxious or have various psychological concerns. Their interpersonal relationship can get adversely affected or they can even get into substance use. We all have heard about people who attempts or commits suicide for reasons not known even to their closest tie. With a timely intervention through therapy, proper medications or community involvement facilitated by practiced personnel like clinical psychologists, psychiatrists and other mental health professionals they can be managed and saved.

We live in a place where the global wind sweeps and are not left unaffected by what is happening in the farthest continent. We are all connected, always logged-in in these fast paced days and hardly find time to rewind to a time where things were simpler and we all were healthier. In such a time, it is very essential to stay informed and have help at our disposal- both for our elderly and our just born kids! It is not a surprise to come across very familiar words like depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia etc from our friends. We are often clueless why are our children behaving so differently every time and we would be lying if we say we are never panicked by such behaviors. We would definitely want to know when our adolescents will listen to us or grow. Very frequently we come across people who asks which is better: MEDICINE or COUNSELING. How drug addiction is best managed?

This space will commit to answer all queries related to mental health and wellness every Saturdays and will be answered with the best of the solutions which have been derived from therapeutic practice and experiences. Cases which will need a prompt visit to the expert concerned will be duly advised as mental health concern is very much a health emergency like physical injury or accident.

Readers are invited make queries about what they see as their anxiety problems for Paonam Thoibi to answer at: e-mail: mindmifp@gmail.com. Anonymity will be respected if desired.

(Paonam Thoibi, Consultant Psychosocial Worker with Human to Humane Transcultural Centre for Torture and Trauma.)

 

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/05/demystify-your-anxieties/

By Amar Yumnam

Lord Byron depicted Napoleon in his Age of Bronze thus:

“Whose game was empires and whose stakes were thrones,

Whose table earth—whose dice were human bones.”

Napoleon was a conqueror and he had big dreams of extending his reign over vast expanses of culture, demography and territory. His targets were the sovereign kingdoms around and far. The casualties in such pursuits necessarily had to be the rulers in those sovereign countries. The collateral cost of these pursuits of expansion of empire had to be the loss of lives. Given the character of institutions (formal as well as informal) in those eras, the level of technology and the scope for pursuit of prosperity, there is a logic and consistency in the Napoleon’s chase for goals unmindful of the means.

But the world has undergone phases of transformation in the logic of nation-building, understanding the human costs of pursuing goals without bothering about means, and appreciation of the limits of one-sided actions. These have been accompanied by path-breaking changes in philosophy of life, outlook for coexistence individually and collectively, the huge potential of exchanges as a substitute for wars to cause prosperity,  

Paraphrasing Byron, we may now ponder as to what game the social agents are playing in Manipur. The people as a whole are all social agents. But the common people are not as such large in their domain of influence and so their actions are not highly impactful. This is where we need to identify the principal agents of sustenance and change in our society. In every social structure and in every stage of societal evolution it has been found that the principal agents have been the determinants of the direction and speed of change, whether of prosperity or line. Here we may think of, in the context of Manipur, the principal agents who now decide on the character and direction of social change in Manipur. In this, we have the political elites. These are followed by the bureaucrats. Among these the most important ones are the ministers holding portfolios and the institutional heads heading various departments and institutions. The way the events and the scenarios are getting unfolded in Manipur, we have to examine the nature of the games they play with information even of violation of social and democratic propriety by the principal agents is emerging.   

In the game of Napoleon, the game he was playing definitely had an encompassing component of the interests of the common men of the country. He knew pretty well also that his immediate circle of support had to be awarded even more than the rest in order to ensure his longevity in power. But the game in Manipur is altogether of a different species. Here the interests of the empire, culture, demography and territory are not involved from the collective angle as they were during the Napoleonic era. The interests of the state and the interests of the people have all been sacrificed at the altar of personal interests.   

This personal interest driven character of the principal agents of the province has now landed Manipur in a very precarious condition. We do not have any atmosphere for the innovative minds to emerge in Manipur.  In the absence of innovative minds, no innovative action encompassing the people has emerged. This is a fertile ground for groupism, ethnicity, exclusive identity and other zero-sum attitudes to get footholds and multiply. Even more unfortunate is the fact that the protagonists of these exclusionary behaviour are themselves heavily embedded in their core-orientation towards interests of the self. Thus the cycle of action prevailing in the land is one where the future is not ensured for the collective. This is significant because, while the principal agents can eke out their own prosperity in the atmosphere of non-inclusion of the common people, the common people cannot ensure their security for appropriate livelihood and prosperity in such contexts.

Now the question which we need to address is how to alter the behaviour and character of the principal agents. This is a 27 million dollar question. We have to shed the usual habit of tolerance of nonsense behaviour of the principal agents. Since we have two weapons of democratic processes and collective action, time is now for exercising these options with great involvement and intensity. The political option should be exercised to shred the principal agents in the political sector without thinking for the self but by thinking for the collective. The collective action should also be asserted and resorted to shred the nonsensical principal agents in other spheres of social life. Heads must turn to bring a social trend for positive change.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/05/what-game-our-social-agents-are-in-time-for-deep-introspection-in-manipur/

By Soraisam Devajani

Recent tourism trend in Manipur needs some careful look to understand the kind of development that is unfolding. Lot of
plans for tourism development is being laid out but without a proper framework or tourism policy that can guide

Manipur is experiencing hasty development in the field of tourism with the aim to bring a massive change in overall socio-economic condition of the State by exploiting the immense tourism potential of the State and harnessing the benefits of tourism development.  

The Central Government has been providing assistance as projects to promote tourism in North-east States in terms of grant. The joint effort of the State and the Centre to develop Manipur tourism has succeeded in receiving attention with recent developments in tourism sector. Manipur tourism was indeed awarded the ‘Most Promising New Destination Award’ twice in 2011 and 2013 at Travel and Tourism Fair (TTF). There is steady rise in total number of tourist arrival: Foreign Tourists Arrivals (FTAs) grew from 221 in 2002 to 749 in 2012 and Domestic Tourists Arrivals (DTAs) grew from 89683 in 2002 to 134541 in 2012 as per official records.

Marketing development schemes, several publicity and campaigns have been undertaken with the assistance from the Central government to promote Manipur Tourism. The publicity & promotional initiatives such as participation in international and domestic travel fairs and exhibitions, publicity in national and regional magazines, national media coverage, etc. has left many wanting to travel and explore Manipur.

Further, Tourism Secretary of Union Ministry of Tourism, Parvez Dewan, in his visit to the State in March 2014 to inspect the Loktak Lake, had also announced that the Union Government has resolved to direct 56 percent of the total tourism budget of the country to North-East States and Manipur would get 9 percent of the total budget of tourism of India, which is the highest among the North-East States. Interestingly, for the financial year 2013-14, 9 projects under 3 different schemes have already been approved by the central government with a total sanctioned amount of around Rs. 20,238.370 lakhs.

The Manipur Government`s development initiative at this time is very much appreciable but at the same time deplorable. Recent tourism trend in Manipur needs some careful look to understand the kind of development that is unfolding. Lot of plans for tourism development is being laid out but without a proper framework or tourism policy that can guide.

Tourism project planning of our State is done primarily based on the readily available reports generated through studies undertaken by agencies/firms/institutes based in other States and regions. Communities are overlooked throughout the entire decision making process. There is no State level open consultation with stakeholders and experts of the State, nor have any formal research activity been undertaken by the State or outsourced to State agencies/firms/institutes for effective tourism planning. As a result, the projects struggle to adapt with the area and led to failures while the Government still remains unaccountable for the same.

Manipur is projected as a promising destination rich in tourism resources in the form of serene natural beauty, favourable climate throughout the year, fascinating range of flora & fauna, co-existence of several communities in harmony, indigenous sports, lifestyles, arts & culture, fairs &festivals, rich heritage, handlooms and handicrafts, exotic cuisines, etc. On the flipside, there is rampant tourism infrastructure development taking place across the State in the process to make Manipur a tourism hot-spot in the coming years. Land for infrastructure development is created through exploitation of natural habitat &resources and forceful eviction of communities. The climatic condition have reached extreme in both Winter and Summer now, certain flora and species have already become rare and extinct. Indigenous people are left to abandon their traditional lifestyle, fisher folks and farmers end up as labourers in the pursuit for tourism development. At present, there is continuous process of protest against the proposed act of acquisitioning of 130 acres of agricultural land at Yaralpat by the State governmentafter having been acquired 35 acres of land for a tourism project. The traditional fairs and festivals, culture, indigenous practices, arts and craft are continuously being adulterated and commoditised, becoming mere showpieces. These become a big challenge in conservation and survival of the existing rich tourism resources of the State and its heritage.

The government has been swift in implementing schemes of tourism infrastructure development projects including mega projects worth multi crores. However, there is minimal or no proper implementation of various other grass root level schemes which are equally important for overall tourism development of the State.

Tourism in Manipur being in a nascent stage, the indigenous people/locals lack tourism awareness, sensitivity and skills for tourism management. Outsiders intervene and take away the benefits resulting to concentration of tourism benefits within certain privileged firms and individuals at the cost of the host. Also, no attempts have been made by the government to make the indigenous people reap the benefits of tourism.

As tourism in Manipur is rapidly being pushed as a priority industry from several quarters, there is extreme urgency to formula tea proper State tourism policy with crystal clear objectives that will work in its unique setting. Community outrage is hinted in near future when outsiders presume to intercede on community’s behalf with the government in planning and implementation of tourism projects. While developing tourism projects, proper research and monitoring mechanism at the State level should be placed in force to carefully study each of the unique tourism resources that Manipur possess and plan accordingly. Failure of projects should be accounted for and investigated right and then.

Assessment of ‘Carrying capacity’ of a destination, guidelines and regulation to evaluate and monitor tourism projects and its impact becomes a must at this stage for a planned and controlled tourism development.

Tourism in Manipur is in its infancy. As such, beyond infrastructure development there are several other key avenues to be looked upon for a smooth passage of tourism development in our State. Much emphasis should be paid to human resource development and skill development programs. Tourism awareness campaigns and sensitisation programs at grass root level should be initiated and go hand in hand with tourism development project.

Special provision and incentives should be provided to the less privileged population for even distribution of benefits from tourism development. Community participation in decision making process should be sought, suitable model(s) of community entrepreneurship be adopted and encourage local participation in constructive tourism development. Financial leakages should be checked.

Our State should be precise on what type of tourism development Manipuris looking forward to, so that necessary measures could be taken up in time to extract optimal benefit from tourism development.

(Soraisam Devajani is researcher at Indigenous Perspective)

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/05/in-the-quest-of-tourism-development-tourism-planning/

By Dr. Jayadeva Phurailatpam

My parents were open to whichever field I wanted to pursue. I was lucky in that aspect. Many parents are
 there whose choice of profession of their children starts with engineer and ends with doctor.

“I want to grow old, so at least people will not tell me what to do or what not to do!”  This has always been my motto in life.  Now that I am growing older and feeling the responsibilities and the burden of a family man, I wish I was the same old boy who used to ride a broken bicycle and caring least about his torn pants or soiled shirt. The only thing that I cared was the homework from school (which I thought was the biggest problem in life).

My childhood had been fun with all the games, eating every single piece of junks (without even worrying a bit about putting on weights) or playing in the mud, least bothering about falling sick. But one thing I never liked doing was going to school. I actually hated it for the first few years of my life. My first day of school. I obviously don’t remember it. But my parents told me, I cried a lot and never would let them go out of my sight.

After few days I was left under the care of the supervising teacher. But I still would be crying and scream for my parents. This went on for a month. My first teacher that I can remember was Oja Laskmi. She was a thin built lady with big-framed eyeglasses, reminded me of those 1970’s era actresses.  But she was very strict always holding a cane but good thing was she never used to hit any student. She had a high pitch voice that was enough to overcome the noisy classroom at any point of time.

I appreciate her patience of managing so many crying children at a time in a single classroom! I would have flip and ran away. Learning A,B,C had been fun and reciting poem was delightful, but never really understood the meaning of it in during those times. It was like a parrot reciting words. My elder sister was very proud that she has learnt her part of rhyme called, “chubby cheeks, rosy lips” and you would not believe she would recite the entire rhyme with her two fingers placed on both her cheeks and swaying her head to any guest that would come to the house!

I was kind of shy or introvert. I could not even think of doing something like that for the guest in our house. But one fine day, I suddenly got the courage from nowhere and told my mother that I wanted to participate in the children program being held at the GM Hall, Imphal for which my seniors had gone with our teacher. I was not allowed because they have an age limit and I was a year shy. I insisted so much that my mother took me directly to the function, requested the authorities to put me in non – competitive section and just let me recite my poem and be done with it. They obliged after much requesting. But when they called out my name in the loud speaker, I froze.  Suddenly all the hot air went out.

I went to the stage very reluctantly and for my first time in life I spoke through a mic. The first word I told was lingering all the corner of the hall! I got a shit nervous. No words were coming out. Then, I did what a 6 year old can do best; almost teary eyed I was searching for my mother in the crowd. And there she was standing on my right side below the stage. She was making gestures to comfort me, telling me to do what I came for and that she is here only standing by the side. Then there, I told the whole poem was recited at one full stretch.  I knew I was just another ordinary boy next door who stammers while recitation but the whole audience clap for me that day, for the first time in my life. It was delightful moment and ran upto my mother and hugged her tightly. Later that day, I got a pen and notebook from mother. She told me that I got these as first prize for my recitation. I was very happy because yet again I got a pen and a notebook for scoring ‘first’.

But I never knew until recently that all those ‘first prizes’ that mother used to give was given by her only!! I must say that, after receiving those pens and notebooks as ‘prizes’, I wanted to do more. Maybe I never got a real prize but those fake prizes that my mother gave were probably one of the few reasons for what I am today. In those times, Children’s day was celebrated in Pologround, Imphal with many children from different schools coming from all the parts of Manipur.

I went along with my grandmother and many other students from the kinder garden. We were supposed to stand in line along with my fellow students. But instead I came out of the ground without informing anyone and followed some of my seniors and went home walking with them!  I really don’t know why I did that till now. I came home happily and was eating the snacks that I got from the function.

On the other hand, my name was being announced on loudspeaker and all were much tensed. When they ultimately came home dejected that I am lost, they saw me playing happily with my cousins. Oh boy! I got the nicest scolding but thankfully no beating.  Watching TV was my favorite pastime. And my father was very strict about completing studies then only watching TV program. In those times, we never had the varieties of choices they have in television nowadays. ‘Dordarshan’ was the only option.

Sunday was the best day for watching TV. The day will start with ‘Rangoli’ at 7:30 AM and many other mythological series like Ramayana, Mahabharat and Chandrakanta followed by Disney’s Cartoon like Duck tales and Tailspin! It feels nostalgic whenever I see those programs in Youtube or in some other channels nowadays.  My siblings and I were very addicted in TV. This made my father very furious as none of us would study, except for my eldest sister (who is still a bookworm with glasses so thick that you can burn ants with those!!) that he look the fuse of the TV off and would repair it only on Sundays.  But still we had our own ways. We went to my aunt house, which was just next to us, and watch it there!

We had many cousins in our group- boys and girls, of similar age groups. Once we decided to play cricket. My sister was bowling. When the batsman hit her ball out of the courtyard, she instead of catching the ball caught hold of the batsman so he should not make runs!! We still make fun of her till today. Shifting to a new school and getting adapted with the new rules and new friends had always been hard for me. Being a person who interact less with classmates, it was not an easy task to make friends. Spending 6 hours in an unfamiliar place with no one you knew was really hard for 8 years old boy. But in every class there is always some few friends who somewhat comes out a bit similar as you are. Lucky for me, I found mine. Timid, quite and bad at sports was the similarities that we had. My friend was a boon to me. Every day, we would share our lunch and play together. We always call that friend ‘best friend’ who sits next to you and share your lunch. So, needless to say, he was my very own best friend!

Time went by smoothly, I became more acclimatized. I had many other friends with whom I shared my lunch. So technically, I had many ‘best’ friends. Then all of sudden things started changing.  The year of 1995, I was in my 6th standard. I was just a boy next door who would drool on good food and good games. Our only priority was to watch cartoons, bring GI Joe and He-man figurines in class as it was considered ‘cool’ and later play some destructive war games with it. Until one day, priority changed. As it goes with any Karan Johar movie, where a new girl comes to tinsel town, a new student came to the class and she was not bad looking. On the contrary, she was cute.

Until now, girls were considered ‘untouchable’. We never even go near them. If some guy speaks to a girl then all the other friends would poke fun and make him an outcast. But this time it was different. Or so I thought. She was not the most beautiful girl in the class. But somehow she was very charming. I used to quietly watch her from my bench at the last corner of the classroom. But she doesn’t even know that I existed. I never had tried speaking to her for fear that no words will come.

Time really picked up. We came to 7th standard. I dare not to speak a word still.  As the bell rang for the end of a hectic day, I realized that I was late and almost going to miss my school bus. I ran till my legs would carry me fastest. Suddenly, of nowhere I almost bump into her! She just looks up and said sorry and ran back to her bus.

A long lasting palpitation followed; I thought my heart was going to jump out of my mouth. Ironically, it was the closest contact ever, never spoken to her in my life till now.  My priority changed and I got new meaningful friends in later years to come. Every classroom will always take you down the memory lane. Some funny, some sad or some mixed emotions. One of the few memorable stories is the shocking revelation of the biology textbook. This was on 7th grade. Many of my friends including myself got shock to see the diagrams with male and female reproductive system that too with labeling!  Some of the girl’s books had shirt and pants drawn over both of the pictures as if the publisher forgot to cloth them!  

I can never forget our biology teacher shouting on any of the student whom she found giggling in the classroom during that chapter. Poor teacher, she had to deal the same thing every year herself. Class 10th board examination has always been the most important turning point in every student’s life. Mine was no different. Going for multiple tuitions was a trend. Best thing about going to tuitions was that you are not wearing uniforms! Next thing has always been the interaction with students from other colleges, if you know what I mean.  I still don’t understand how much you can benefit from going to 4 tuitions in a day and not getting any time for self-study. But who cares at that time. I was going to tuition riding my bicycle with my friends!

But now I am seeing that the trend is little different. They prefer bikes. I heard recently that some youngsters urged for a bike so much, their parents had to sell stuff for it. That is a bit overboard. We were far more than happy with my aunty old broken bicycle, a pair of jeans and a Bata sandal. Daily continuous night outs were indeed exhausting, that too with every relative asking me about my preparation for the board exams turn out to be bit annoying at times. What if I didn’t score good results? What if my relatives make fun of me? Will my parents be ashamed of me if I didn’t not do well this exam? So many questions keep lingering inside my head, but never dared to ask anybody. Getting good grades in my 10th exam was the topmost priority of my life. Now that when I look back, I see how trivial an issue it was. Everybody knows that 10th mark card is used only for seeing the date of birth. How ironic!

When the result came, all were happy. At least I did not screw up as I thought I would. Mom got a big fish and we had a small family get together feast. Everyone knew I would choose science field as I was interested in Biology and wanted to pursue my carrier in that field, maybe a doctor, zoologist or botanist. My parents were open to whichever field I wanted to pursue. I was lucky in that aspect. Many parents are there whose choice of profession of their children starts with engineer and ends with doctor. Different students have different talents and different thinking. They are all very unique in their own ways. Parents should be more acceptable in this issue by not clipping their wings. Let them decide what they want. Not what the parents want.

Last day of the school has always been emotional. All the students knew that they might never see his/her friend again. But still wishing them the best in whichever direction they go. We have written our best wishes in the white school shirts with markers so that it will always be a permanent memoir. After completion of my 12th board exam, I left my home for the first time. Leaving your loved ones behind was always an unwanted feeling. But we don’t have much choice. We had to leave to make a carrier, which will help me give back what I have taken till now. Coming to a new place, getting adapted and making new friends reminded me of my first day in the kinder garden.

People from different places of India with different background and culture were there. We had our own set of agreements and disagreements. But it taught me to be more interactive and to be patient. Being a junior in our college was like a war criminal.  Dancing and singing was a daily routine.  I was good at drawing sketches. But, it came as a curse rather than a boon. I had to draw diagrams of their assignments that consist of around 12 diagrams each for 8 seniors. Life was a hell during the first few months. I was missing my home terribly. The mess food was a torture. You cannot swallow. Until, few months passed and you no longer felt alien to the new place. I have got some very good friends and seniors alike. Ragging became milder and we could breathe the open year. Then suddenly realized that exam is right in front of you!

The best way to prepare, as for me, was to catch hold of a person who studies well and compete with him! I got my competitor. I would study till the room in his light is off. This sound insane, I know, but at finals, I got better grade than him!! My student life was over. Now I have to find a job and get married. I am going to take my first step in the real world. I am reluctant. Why can’t I be like the same old boy who roams around carelessly and only worry about his school and homework?

Once we are done and come out to the bigger pond, we started to understand the different aspect of what life is. As I grew older, I realised studies is important so as family values. The real sacrifice was with our parents, who save every morsel to feed us instead. As some wise man had once said, “you will not know the weight of an object until you carry it”.  Now that I am a family man, I started to slowly realize the weight of it: the weight of your familial responsibilities. Time changes everything. You have to go with the time or she will not wait for you. Childhood comes once in a lifetime. It is not going to come back. But it will always stay as pleasant memories till the very last breath.  And lastly I wish, if I could change my previous motto to – “I want to grow younger, so at least people will tell me what to do or what not to do”.

God bless.

(Dr. Jayadeva Phurailatpam is based in Bangalore).

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/05/looking-back/

By M.C. Linthoingambee

Air, water, land and soil forms the basis of survival of all human beings. And if any in the list goes awry, we will only be trying to shine light on barren lands. While we wait and sit alongside the edge hoping and praying for rain in Manipur, the  government initiatives to avail of water to the people is simply not enough to cope up with the large amount of water shortage. It is indeed too late of an answer at the end moment and it is perhaps time to initiate the use of effective measures of water storage if such shortage should repeat itself once again. If ever things turn so ugly as to drown us to the reality of water shortage all around then we would have to turn nomadic in search of a little water source. It could be one of the strongest calamity in the present day.

We have long been hearing this phrase over and over again, “Water, water everywhere but not a single drop to drink”. Perhaps it is time to realize and feel the consequences of being stranded at sea or the ocean amongst the salt water. It would turn out to be total roadkill if it continued. The situations cannot be compared but at the state where the largest freshwater lake in India exists, the people are left with the consequences of a drought if things persists in its usual state. Even if we wanted to, we can hardly value water at a price whereby it is becoming difficult to even avail of everyday drinking water. When we awake  to nature’s warning of a drought, one wonders if we had indeed began with the practicality of rain water harvesting long ago then would the results be the same. Would we have been left with more water for use if we had done so before?  

In the channel of exercising effective governance, water comes under the backdrop of a state authority therefore it is the duty of the State to govern its people with a certain conduct ethic on its water sector. For constructing a certain framework law for governing water, the Ministry of Water Resource has referred to the Terms of Reference while stating that: “Even while it is recognized that States have the right to frame suitable policies, laws and regulations on water, there is a felt need to evolve a broad over-arching national legal framework of general principles on water to lead the way for essential legislation on water governance in every State of the Union and devolution of necessary authority to the lower tiers of government to deal with the local water situation. Such a framework law must recognize water not only as a scarce resource but also as a sustainer of life and ecology. Therefore, water needs to be managed as a community resource held, by the state, under public trust doctrine to achieve food security, livelihood, and equitable and sustainable development for all.” While we all have the basic right to attain water it is almost impulsive to regulate ground breaking rules to regulate and create a framework law to settle all matters of territorial water disputes in case such situations arise. We should not leave the authority to decide for our waters to the Centre completely, but work to protect and provide water to the people. The fundamental rights views the paradigm of giving equal right for all people but if we project the idea of only providing water for rich homes who can afford to buy packaged water while others struggle with the idea of thirst. This is certainly not the correction we intend to preach. While we leave it on nature to decide the future of our problem, it is time to preserve for the present.

From the needless evils of scarcity, to water becoming stale under cemented grounds we are in dire need to construct a board to help scare away ill-water therapy. Pollution has filled the once lush green fresh water rivers into dumping grounds. With the Pollution Control Board existing there are real help into cleaning away and penalising polluters. On hopes to construct a place pollution free amongst various awareness, we need a certain authority to discipline and restrict the use of pollutants.

There is a recent trend of making water available in ponds from one locality to another but are these water fit for use or tested with the ISI mark and deemed assurances for drinking. Even with the coherent request by the Imphal Municipal Council we add on to polluting our environment all over. This is not the expected inter-generational equity we plan to uplift for the future. Till the time that we humans are able to create water for large scale and long term use, we must save and cherish it. This is the value of water, which  gives us the gift of life.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/05/needy-for-water/