Tag: Editorial

If what the state has witnessed in the last few months still has not served as the wakeup call for everybody, let it be said they never will wake up. This will be unfortunate, for closing one`™s eyes to reality and pretending falsehood is real can only mean ensuring periodic explosions of the time bombs the place is now familiar with, and not defusing them and rendering them harmless. There have been plenty of very nasty but more often than not baseless charges exchanged, especially on the unregulated space of the internet where the mindless can pretend to have a mind, highlighting once again the deep divisions between the hills and valley, Outer Manipur and Inner Manipur, tribals and non-tribals etc. There have also been political leaders and dignitaries from neighbouring states shamelessly taking their turns to fish in Manipur`™s troubled waters, never once recalling the conditions they criticise in Manipur are no better or sometimes even worse in their own states. In these exchanges, the pattern that has emerged is for the hill districts to charge the valley districts of having led them by the short hairs all along, exploiting and taking advantage on account of the what they believe is lop-sided political power equation. By contrast, the valley districts have also been counter-alleging that hills have no other politics stronger than their shared valley-envy which is capable of uniting even those who have in the past gone on ethnic cleansing wars, and that they would blame the valley for all their ills, bad roads to bad weather.

While most of the charges flying around on the internet are trash and nothing to seriously take cognizance of, there have also been some charges with tangible handles, therefore can be verified with little difficulties. Some of the charges are unwitting but arguably many others are deliberate and sinister twists given to facts on the ground by vested interests. One of these charges is the idea of land grab by the valley dwellers in the hills districts. Indeed, of the most vocal charges in the current agitation against the so called three `anti-tribal bills` passed by the Manipur Legislative Assembly recently is the one that has to do with the Manipur Land Revenue and Reforms Act, 1960. The bill regarding this Act says nothing of the hills, and the MLR&LR Act itself is valley specific. It is an Act passed by the Parliament, for Manipur was still a Union Territory in 1960, so it cannot have been fashioned to suit the vested interest of the valley either. Some land strips and hillocks, mostly those embedded within the valley districts, have been in the past brought under this Act, but what is often mistaken is, bringing any land under this Act does not necessary mean that land has been taken over by the valley. Moreover to say valley cannot have any interest in hillocks such as Langgol Ching or Ngarian Ching, would be ludicrous.

The same confusion is there in comparing the 20 reserved hill constituencies and 40 non-reserved valley constituencies, portraying this as injustice. The reserved constituencies in the hills are exclusively for the hill population and no non-tribal from the valley can either vote or contest for these seats, but this cannot be said of the non-reserved valley constituencies. These are open seats and any domicile of these constituencies, tribal or non-tribal can vote or contest them. Since population movement is allowed in the valley, this is not a small matter. Be it in the hills or in the valley, increasing reserved seats would disenfranchise many. Increasing non-reserved seats in the valley or hills, would guarantee universal adult franchise right. Like these charges, there have also been allegations of government job usurpations of reserved tribal seats by the valley.

These charges are serious and need to be cleared beyond doubts once and for all. Who has been grabbing whose land, jobs, developmental money etc., can easily be established if the government commissions some specific white papers on these issues, baring relevant government records on them. If there have been transgressions, how and when, and under which political and bureaucratic leadership these happened etc, should be made clear, and once this is done, remedial measures can be thought of. If on the other hand, these white papers establish how false these charges have been, it should remove the wind from the sails of those making these charges. Once this is done, perhaps it would be time for the government to press the administrative refresh button, and if essential, work out a comprehensive autonomy model for the hills and the valley. If the hills want the 6th Schedule ADCs, it should be granted. The valley too then must have a matching autonomy, but our pleas is, this should not be the 6th Schedule, but a more imaginative, secular and scientific one, designed to be ready for easy integration with the modern economy, and to take the place to the future and not return it to the past.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/09/time-for-white-papers/

A two part, edit page article in The Telegraph, by Pratap Bhanu Mehta after returning from a India-China cooperation summit in Beijing some years ago, are worth recalling for the absorbing arguments on the sources of legitimacy for different forms of governments. His comparison between India and China, in this regard, is loaded with lessons. These lessons can very well be for Manipur too and hence this invitation for further reflection, although we are aware most would have already read the original article, The Telegraph being a widely read newspaper in the state. One of the chief contentions is that the governments of China and India by necessity draw their legitimacy differently and from different sources. Being a democracy, India puts a premium on representation. There is beauty in this but it nevertheless dilutes the question of accountability. It ensures participation of all different sections of the people in the governance process but this itself becomes the primary end justice, leaving the question of performance, the other vital functions of any government, as secondary. Consider this. The official counter against the charge that the Northeast occupies only a peripheral space in the Indian national consciousness and hence neglected, is that every one of the Northeast states is represented in all the institutions of the Indian state, administrative as well as legislative, hence the question of neglect, or injustice, at least at the institutional level, does not arise. The fact that the Northeast still remains backward does not seem to be considered a factor in assessing the legitimacy of the government system. It is as if representation is all.

Every now and then, this logic comes to be put to test each time there is a challenge to the constitutional provision for reservation. As we have seen, these challenges in various forms, sometimes by those asking for its abrogation, and at other times by an increasing number of people who were previously not entitled to these privileges, now wanting to be included into the reservation fold are on the increase. The point again is, ensuring representation may be a necessary condition for the larger understanding of justice, but the questions remain `“ is it sufficient condition? On the smaller canvas of Manipur too, and we are sure all other states as well, the source of government legitimacy is drawn from similar wells and are invariably beset with the same flaws. Take the case of the hill-valley divide. Here too, as all of us know, the fierce contest for representation is at the crux of politics and is indeed treated as the only legitimate route to systemic as well as social justice. Every community wants as much handle in the government as possible and the equilibrium struck between the numerous pulls and pressures from these demands is what constitutes a stable government. However, after this equilibrium is reached, the other important considerations of accountability and performance are somewhat pushed into the background.

Again, here too, as in the case of the larger canvas of the Indian Union, the counter argument against discrimination charges by any community or region, most specifically by the hill districts, is the proportion of representation. That the hills have been very much a part of the political and administration processes in proportionate measures, and that even two Nagas have been chief ministers. These are facts, but must not government legitimacy also take into account performance? Why then have the hill districts lagged behind in development? These questions should be made answerable by state leaders, regardless of whether she or he is from the hills or the valley.

By contrast, the challenges of legitimacy before the government in China are different. It leaders are nominated ones hence the only way they can win this legitimacy is through performance and accountability. Because of this, the nature of their motivation and drive are radically different. This onerous expectation has even led China in recent times to treat Capitalism and Communism not as ideologies, but as instruments of development, to be administered in measured doses as per the developmental needs of the society. In our situation, this quest for legitimacy would be somewhat similar that of a President`™s Rule scenario when a nominated Governor runs the civil administration. He too must have to seek his legitimacy through performance and accountability alone. No state can know this better than Manipur which has seen numerous spells of President`™s Rule. The Chinese system too has its flaws, but we have no doubt many will agree that there are lessons in it that can benefit our own outlook to what should constitute good governance.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/09/discourse-on-legitimacy/

The term yellow `“ not so much the colour it signifies but the meaning it carries `“ is very familiar in the world of journalism. In an official function to commemorate the National Press Freedom Day some years ago, the issue came up and the men on the dais, including the editor of this newspaper, were called upon to define what it exactly signified. Off hand, the history of the word as in `yellow journalism` was not available, but many of us attempted giving our understanding of what it was all about, and expectedly all the answers were not far off the dictionary meaning which says it is `journalism that exploits, distorts, or exaggerates the news to create sensations and attract readers`. Surprisingly the 9th edition of the Concise Oxford English Dictionary does not have an entry on this, perhaps indicating the term is a dying lexicon in the modern world. But thanks to the internet, arguably the most accessible and inclusive encyclopaedia, most of which is available free to everyone, we have a gist of the history of this broad category of journalistic practice, and we are sharing this with our readers, especially the matter always surfaces in times of chaos and mayhem, as indeed Manipur is once again immersed in today.

The advent of the electronic media, and earlier on, colour printing technology, has altered the significance of the word considerably. But in 1898, the arrival of the technology to use a single colour other than the familiar base of black and white must have appeared startlingly eye catching. And yellow ink it was that first made its impression on newsprints. The colour was used by certain publishers to headline news in the battle for newspaper circulation in America of the time in the midst of the Spanish war. Surprisingly again, the name associated with this term in the new context belonged to someone who is arguably one of the most well-known and respected person in journalism `“ Joseph Pulitzer. Yes, the man who instituted America`™s most prestigious awards for various categories of journalism and photojournalism. Pulitzer purchased New York World in 1883, and set about grabbing the readers`™ attention by introducing a sensationalist style of journalism with screaming headlines and cartoons in bold yellow ink. But competition soon emerged, and in 1895 William Randolph Hearst gave him a run for his money matching him in every move in his Morning Journal. The period saw these American newspapers scale previously unachieved heights in terms of circulation, and editors who objected to the practice coined the term `Yellow Journalism`. And even though the yellow colour has today been replaced by multicolour offset printing, capable of reproducing images with high fidelity to natural colours, a broad understanding of the term `yellow journalism` which has nothing to do with actual colour the name implies, has remained. The colour printing capability of newspapers has altered radically, but the term still signifies the brand of journalism which is in the end is just `a story told by an idiot; full of sound and fury; signifying nothing`. Again, the arrival of the television media has redefined what sensationalism in journalism can be with their `sting operations` stories, graphic accounts of gruesome accidents, close-ups scrutiny of shifting moods and emotions of people in trauma and tragedy etc, making the traditional understanding of `yellow journalism` bland. The internet, social media, and the so called citizen journalism, as we are witnessing, has yet pushed the frontiers of yellow journalism still further.

What exactly should be defined as yellow journalism then? The dictionary meaning is still ethereal for everybody will differ on what should constitute sensationalism, what should be its limits etc. A working definition or rather a working scale, however is available, informally and in the course of a discussion, passed on to IFP by an American journalist colleague. Asking the question: `How much does one `need` to know of any news event?`™ should give a rough idea where journalism has crossed the limits of decency and propriety. In our context, it could very well be, how much do I `need` to know of anybody`™s private affairs? How much should I be concerned of how much somebody else is earning, unless it is stolen money? When such questions do not have a satisfactory answer, but readers`™ interests as well as journalistic passions persist, we may very well have crossed into the territory of `yellow journalism`. And we would also reiterate that is a voyeuristic syndrome that can afflict not just journalists and newspapers, but also their readers in equal measures.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/09/how-yellow-is-yellow/

In a hyperbolic way, there is so much similarity between insurgency and the feminist movement and for that matter other related notions such as patriarchy. They are all, in a profound sense, “a state of mind” first and then only a physical presence. That is to say, the substances of these notions are more important than their forms. Sadly, the tendency has always been to identify them with their forms mostly, and little or nothing with their substances. The result is flawed strategies in tackling these problems thus ensuring their perpetuation. On the question of insurgency, this needs little elaboration as so many have said this in as many words. This acknowledgement of the nonphysical aspect of insurgency is inherent in statements after statements by political leaders, academics and even a former chief of the army staff, that the final solution to insurgency has got to be political rather than military. The military component of the solution effort is just to keep the pitch of the insurrection within control so that the civil administration is able to continue discharging its vital duties of governance. At this moment, such a final solution seems far away and the problem as well as its solution is overwhelmingly taking on a military visage. Still, although a military engagement often becomes inevitable, it would be a fallacy to come to the conclusion that there is a final military solution to insurgency.

It is however on the question of the feminist movement as it is understood and interpreted in Manipur, and the patriarchal order that it challenges, which deserve more discussions. Because these are “states of mind”, they can easily cross physical boundaries within which they are traditionally confined. Hence, a man can be a feminist at heart, believing truly in female emancipation, as much as a woman can be a defender of the oppressive patriarchal values. Little documentation has been done yet, but it is a knowledge ingrained into our society that in the nearly universal tension between the mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law, the former always represents the gatekeeper of the patriarchal order. Only if the daughter-in-law conforms volitionally – which often is the case as she too would see the patriarchal order as “common sense” having probably been raised by parents who too have internalised the patriarchal order to believe its values are indeed “common sense” – or by force if it does not come by volition, would the tension between the two be eased. A good daughter-in-law hence is somebody who adores her husband to the extent of subservience, reveres her in-laws, apart from being a biological washing machine, dish washer, rice cooker, microwave oven, children tutor etc. In many families, she is also somebody who is expected to be contented and happy within the confines of the four walls of her husband’s house.In the Hindu world, this is the ideal woman, or the Sati. The Sati from this vantage is not about feminism at all, but about the hegemony of the patriarchal order.

The oppressed man is much more oppressive on his kind. In his preface to Frantz Fanon’s “Wretched of the Earth”, Jean Paul Satre calls this a self-hate syndrome. In reference to the colonised mind, he explains that the oppressed detests his self-image so much that he would inflict cruelty on anybody else who shares this self-image, much more than their common oppressor master himself would. The patriarchal order has also been a coloniser of the mind. It has successfully dehumanised the feminine gender so much that instead of understanding and sympathising, the mother-in-law has often been the one cruellest to the daughter-in-law, more so if the latter is non-conforming to their common oppressor, the patriarchal order. This same visage is often what the Meira Paibis put on too. Our so called emancipated arts and academics too are not free from the hangovers of this patriarchal syndrome. The provision in the traditional feudal Meitei society where the willingness of a convict to be “humiliated” by covering himself with a phanek to win a pardon, is often portrayed as a respect and empowerment of the feminine gender by the social order then. In reality the symbol is for just the opposite. It instead says that the woman has come to agree she is a subhuman and that wearing her dress would dehumanise anybody else. In this case it is a convict, so the unwritten subtext is, in this social hierarchy, she is even below the convict. This cannot be by any stretch of imagination, an assertion of strength or emancipation.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/09/mind-colonisation/

Towards the end of 2004, the editor of the IFP had done a series of three articles after a trip to Italy. One of them was about how wonder-struck he and his travel companion, Sanjoy Basu Mallik, were at their first encounter with wireless internet at the Vienna airport where they halted for a few hours to change planes. The technology appeared so amazing at the time that it merited a full-fledged article, and judging from the response from readers, the IFP`™s assessment of newsworthiness of the event was not too far off the mark. Barely two years after, the author of the article re-read what he wrote, incidentally webcast among others on the Eurac website, and to his amusement found it quite silly even then. Eurac officials laughed when this was communicated to them in a meeting in New Delhi not long after. The wireless-fidelity, or wi-fi, as the technology is known, is now practically everywhere, in offices, homes hotel rooms, airports, conference halls, homes and even public parks, often for free or else for a nominal charge. You even have very fast connections on them. The pace wireless telephony development has been breakneck to say the least. Today, it is not just wi-fi but also so many other wireless internet connection technology, not only through dedicated modems but on mobile handsets as well, therefore in practically everybody`™s pocket. Indeed, unlike in 2004, it is no longer a subject of science fiction imagination. Busy company executives and journalists travel with their offices in pocket wherever they go, even remote islands, deserts and mountains. This scenario is very much an everyday reality for even those of us in remote Manipur.

Consider the pace of changes. By the latter half of 2007, 3G internet arrived in India. Consumers upgraded their cell phones to be able to take advantage of the then new technology. Needless to say these paradigmatic shifts in everyday technology would have continually thrown up new challenges before companies making mobile handsets. Even before our very eyes, we have witnessed how those who kept pace survived and prospered, while those who were averse to changes ultimately were eliminated from the race. The paradigm is changing again with the arrival of 4G internet technology. A whole generation of mobile handsets, even very expensive ones, are set to become obsolete and therefore phased out. It is the same challenge all over again, and only those companies resilient and creative enough to take advantage of the new leap in technology would be the ones to ride the tide and rise. No room for complaints. This is the rule of the new technological age. Obviously, even away from the world of technology, there is plenty of lessons for all of us to take note and rethink our ways.

The IFP article on Vienna airport wi-fi internet capability was written a decade ago. If the same article were to be written now, rather than any appreciation from readers, it would only attract mocking laughters for in the years that have gone by, the contextual background against which the article was written has unrecognizably altered, and it is a truism that it is the context which gives meaning to any text. This is extremely important. Since the context is not a static phenomenon, there is a need for even script writers of ideologies of homeland, identity, ethnicity, nationalism, autonomy, sovereignty etc, to reassess their thoughts against the changed contexts continually. Inability to do this would, like the Vienna airport story experience of the IFP editor, make the ideas themselves redundant, obsolete, and even silly. Like everything else, ideas and ideologies can have a meaning only in the context they were born. The Communist ideology for instance have had to undergo several reforms and overhauling since Marx. Hence, Marxism produced progenies in Maoism, Leninism, Trotskyism, Stalinism etc and so also the contributions of later day great Marxist thinkers such as Antonio Gramsky. Arguably, it was when the pace of these ideological adjustments became too lethargic and out of sync with the dizzying changes in human outlooks and predicaments in the overall context in modern times that the world of Communism collapsed dramatically towards the end of the last century. The question that beggars an answer now is, are the retrospections of the commanders of Manipur`™s politics, both the elected representatives of the Assembly variety, and more importantly the challengers of this brand of political leadership, deep enough to consider the possibility that their own thought processes may have lagged behind and gone out of tune with the changed times?

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/09/tackling-moving-targets/

From all appearances, the present crisis in Manipur following the Manipur State Legislative Assembly passing three controversial bills designed to check population influx into the state and to make it difficult for migrants to acquire landed properties, will be reduced to another case of `conflict management`, whereby no resolution is sought, instead the level of violence is merely allowed to simmer down to a level manageable by the civil administration. Once such an equilibrium has been assured, the entire governance mechanism will revert back to its grotesquely corrupt way that has become its hallmark for decades now. In spite of all that the state has just witnessed, and is still grappling with, no lesson seems to have been learnt. The organised robbery of the state exchequer by the contractors-ministers-officials clique will be the first to be back on their feet, making unholy deals, negotiating percentage cuts to be shared from various public works. All the tears and pains, injuries and deaths the state just witnessed ultimately would hardly have made a dent in this culture. This despite the fact that it is everybody`™s knowledge corruption was what paved the ground for the emergence of the increasingly violent tradition of street protests. If corruption does not end, this trend can also only be predicted to increase. We will try and establish the interrelatedness, but first here is one glaring evidence why the corruption culture will likely remain unaffected.

Public memory is proverbially short, therefore so this reminder. About a month prior to the street violence breaking out first over the Inner Line Permit System, ILPS demand in Imphal, and later against it in Churachandpur, monsoon torrents that swept the valley also washed away a number of bridges and even a small dam. At the time, there were numerous press reports and photographs demonstrating how these constructions were made with substandard materials, including flimsy 6mm steel rods to reinforce concrete columns and walls. Here, it can almost be said with certainty that the contractors who built these dams and bridges, as well as the engineers who certified them as built to specification, would have built their own private homes like bridges should be built, using 20mm and larger steel reinforcements where even 6mm would have been enough. It is depressing to imagine what a narcissistic elite Manipur today is cursed with, and it is they more than anybody who has been responsible for the state`™s continued downward slide. Yet, till this date there has not been a single word from the government that responsibilities would be fixed for the bridges that could not withstand even a monsoon, and those found guilty would be punished. This is in a way understandable, for those in the corridors of power would also have been partners in this institutionalised crime.

Not only this, the Manipur government since the 1970s, not long after Manipur attained full statehood, has been afflicted with a progressively putrid culture of putting up `bribe tags` on government jobs. This coupled with nepotism has ensured the death of merit in job awards, with the expected result of dumbing down the government`™s own work forces progressively by the years. The consequence has been most devastating in the education sector where too there have been two or three generations of teachers hardly capable of sharing anything with their students, selected against bribes or the influences they commanded in the power corridors. Today the state is stymied by a whooping unemployment rate close to 30 percent, or eight lakhs youth holding college degrees but with little or no employable skills. The shrinking horizon of hope for the future this spells for so many young people cannot but be dangerous for the entire society. The increasing incidents of socially deviant behaviours and violence during street protests are also a manifestation of this rising level of frustration amongst these youth. This notwithstanding, the elite remain unconcerned and unwilling to give up the culture of corruption they so selfishly consider as their service privilege.

There is no way these eight lakh unemployed youth can be absorbed directly into the government job cocoon. What the government should instead have been doing was to encourage and prop up job-generating entrepreneurial initiatives in the state, and happily the state is not altogether blank on this front. There is already a rich and varied tradition of non-government professions in the state, and the government ought to have begun funnelling liberal spendings into this sector. The healthier this sector becomes, they can reciprocally multiply and absorb the state`™s mounting unemployed youth, and thus convert an overwhelming liability into a priceless asset. Unfortunately there is little evidence the government has given any importance to the thought. It has instead been dragging these incubating entrepreneurial spirits into its dreary common denominator of bribe and contract culture.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/09/when-will-they-learn/

Although nobody considers the Marxist economic model seriously anymore, it would still be simplistic to say its influences on current thinking, not just in economics, but in practically every field of the social sciences and philosophy, have died. Marxism failed not so much on any account of a shortfall in the richness of ideas it threw up, but arguably because of what Isaiah Berlin summarized as a too optimistic presumption of the predictability of human history and predicament. From the crooked timber of humanity, nothing perfectly straight was ever made and nothing perfectly straight can ever be made is the famous statement of this contemporary thinker who is considered as one of the greatest historian of the human mind. Marxism, like all other Utopian philosophies, set about doing what essentially is impossible `“ evolving a doctored and presumably perfect architecture of the future of human history. Such things work on paper, and seminars of intellectuals only, but seldom ever in practice. This warning needs to be heeded by one and all, but especially by our ever growing number of self-righteous, self-appointed moral police forces, each spelling out their own versions of the Ten Commandments, enforced in manners and styles that would shame even marauding mobs.

But despite this irredeemably flawed presumption of Marxism, the thought process that it introduced, replete and pregnant as it is with humane thoughts of justice and equality, would have already been immortalized. Its underlying philosophy such as encapsulated in the often quoted line: `to each according to his needs and from each according to his ability` is still stuff for the finest poetry and certainly one of the most profound statements on the essence of fraternal bonds. The strain between the beautiful and the ugly is tremendous. It is for these strains between the ideal and substance embedded in the ideology that the college days jokes made half in jest and half in seriousness, such as: `if you are not a Marxist at 25, you have no heart, and if you remain a Marxist at 35 you have no head` have been so appealing and illuminating of an inherent dilemma. The idea may be beautiful, but if the shadow falls between it and its substance, its obituary would have been embedded in its very birth announcement. It is not just Marxism, but so many other ideas and ideologies marked by an arrogant presumption that human societies progress in rectilinear paths that are completely predictable, which have met with the same fate. Here too our idea makers and pushers, most of whom have assumed the mantle of these onerous missions without any democratic mandate of the population amongst which they function, must be wary. They must have to continuously draw up a balance sheet between the ideas they champion and the substance of it viewed against the backdrop of current reality, so that between the form and substance; between the idea and reality do not fall the notorious shadow.

This is no idle rumination. For very often, the unmistakable tendency amongst our midst has also been to give premium to certain consciousness created by persistent, hard-pushed and campaigned ideas, over what is substantive and material `“ a very subtle and gradual process of `brain washing` which ultimately results in the `consciousness` itself replacing the substance, and at some point subsuming the identity of the substance itself in the minds of the recipients of the message. But these games, more often than not heavily politicized, are destined ultimately to nowhere, and if at all they have destinations, it is in the shape of various states of frustrating stalemates, precisely because of the inconsistencies between the ideals and reality. Often such incongruencies ride on the shoulder of emotion and sentiment thus effectively camouflaging them from reason`™s eyes. But without these camouflages many of these campaigns would be exposed as lost and redundant causes. Painful as the case may be, the need has always been for the courage to see the issue after stripping them of such camouflages. Meitei revivalism, Naga homeland and many of our most burning issues need to be put through this test by fire.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/09/idea-ahead-of-substance/

Who says corruption, both in the official as well as in the unofficial worlds, has ended in Manipur. All this is despite decades of some of the most brutal campaigns against it by numerous crusading organizations of which the state has never had a shortfall. Numerous bullets in the legs and sometimes in the heads, have not deterred the phenomenon one bit. The most saleable commodity, government jobs, it is everybody`™s knowledge, still continue to carry premium price tags. Likewise, it is an open secret that black money still continue to exchange hands in the award of government contracts, or else these are had at the point of the gun. Fair play, as defined by a competition of merit, is today an alien concept. A new power order has emerged and this new order has two distinct poles. One the hand are those in the seats of power and their executive instruments. That is, the politicians in power and the bureaucratic machinery. On the other are those who have the power to instill the bone chilling fear of death by summary execution.

A study of the pattern of illegal wealth accumulation (or distribution if you like) will be a pretty accurate testimony of this new order. As a thumb rule, it will be discovered that anybody who has made the quick buck is close to either of the two poles. Chances are most of the opulently rich are sycophants of the executive order, or else brokers for the other pole where brute force defines power. Of course, this is if they are not the corrupt bosses of the officialdom themselves. Very few of the wealthy would have made their fortunes from honest enterprises pursued with patience and perseverance through generations, as most enterprises with firm foundations are generally made of. The rules may have been rewritten a little, but the game remains the same. The organized robbery of public exchequer is still the goal of the wealth making game, and this is unfortunate for many things. The most pronounced of these being the murder of the entrepreneurial spirit itself. Why sweat when you can get what you have to sweat for just by making a Faustian deal and corner a government contract. You can now buy wealth with bribes and kickbacks or else get it by the use of force. In a lawless world all these are permissible. In a soulless world where corruption has been so deeply institutionalized, there is nothing unnatural anymore about it too. What`™s so very wrong with a little bribe here and there (or call it percentage cut for official favours to cleverly make it sound a little less objectionable). They have all become a necessary evil of an essentially evil world.

The other pitfall is, while wealth definitely would still command envy, it does not inspire the respect it deserves anymore. Making the tragedy more profound is that even those few who have made their wealth honestly get tainted with the same broad brush. So much so that when the social mechanism, groaning under the weight of prolonged and immense abuses finally recoils and hits back violently, despite the brutality involved, there is a catharsis of sort. Hence, when the dark forces of extortion visit the wealthy, there is a good measure of a perverse sense of social retribution that comes along with it. This perhaps explains the lack of any widespread outrage from all sections of the society against this phenomenon. Only the class of people made vulnerable, protest in terrified whispers, all to no avail, much to their frustration and agony. The rest simply watch, if not with glee, than at least with a stoic indifference, as if to say, everybody gets to reap what he sows. If a few honest souls get trampled in the process, who cares? Isn`™t this what is collateral damage about. All this is also strangely reminiscent of a familiar argument against the AFSPA. If 50 years of the draconian Act has only increased the intensity of insurgency, decades of violent campaigns against corruption has also only driven it deeper underground and is far from being wiped out. The cyclic pattern of these phenomena is terrifying. Perhaps the revolution everybody exalts has first to be complimented by a revolution of the soul.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/09/legitimizing-wealth/

The trouble that exploded in the wake of the demand for the Inner Line Permit Sytem, ILPS, first and then in the aftermath of the passing of three bills which together were meant to do what the ILPS does, is far from over, but the two and a half months that have gone by have left the state exhausted physically and drained spiritually. But, it must also be added, there is much to reflect and learn from the turmoil. There is no gainsaying now that things have gone too far, and even if normalcy is restored, the bitter aftertaste in the mouth from the raw display of hostilities, will not melt away. It will be of no use to try and cover them up again either, for this will only amount to delaying another explosion. The best recourse then would be to take the bull by the horns and tame it. The debate must now be to decide whether an administrative separation of the hills and the valley is the best option. De facto, this separation is very much a reality. The two regions cannot even see eye to eye on basic existential issues such as the threat posed by unending influx of migrants.

Manipur`™s hills-valley relationship is defined by a peculiar equation. The valley has been the one hanging on to the idea of emotional integration and pathetically trying to have the hills agree to this vision of unity. The hills on the other hand have been spurning the proposal with disdain, claiming the valley has always been their exploiters. While the valley`™s plea is often embarrassingly melodramatic, with tiresome chants of peaceful co-existence since `time immemorial`, never bothering to even look up historical records to see if this claim is a fact, the hills grouse of exploitation by the valley can also border on the ridiculous. This is so because the charge is packaged with another contention that the hills and valley never had any contact through history, and that the hills did not even now that the valley existed. How can the valley, which the hills said had no contact with ever, exploit the hills. There has to be something very false about these statements when taken together, for one or the other of the two arguments has to be false for the other to be true. Simple rules of logic will also establish that while both the arguments cannot be true at the same time, both can be false without any contradiction.

Proponents of the idea of Manipur as an irretrievably divided house also have been relentlessly pushing the idea that in modern times developmental funds meant for the hills have been consistently diverted to the valley. If true, this is unfortunate and the government must come out with a white paper on the matter. The Comptroller and Auditor General, GAC, has been indeed coming out with annual reports on the state government`™s misappropriation of public funds, but none of these reports so far has suggested this alleged fund diversion. On the other hand, it is also equally unfortunate that no tangible and actionable evidence are ever cited by those making these allegations. Many journalists have tried to probe the government on this, but there have been little to penetrate the government`™s defence that the onus of providing proofs must be with those who make allegations. Moreover, there is also the Hill Area Committee, HAC, which is mandated to block all such attempts. As we have seen in the current controversy, the HAC members can be in big trouble for allegedly neglecting the interest of the hills even on issues that the members themselves claim to clearly see no hill involvement.

There is then the other valley guilt of most government institutions concentrating in the Imphal districts. On this, it may put things in perspective to look at other states and see how they fare on this matter. The answer those who have tried to find out would be probably pretty uniform. Manipur is not an exception. This is a problem of all other states, not just Northeast states. Flatlands always have developmental advantages for topographical reasons, and government institutions tend to cluster in the capital areas. There ought to have been extra effort on the part of the government to reverse these universal trends, but alas this has not happened.

It is time nonetheless to reassess relations, and indeed this has begun to happen at least in the hills. The valley too must reconsider its traditionally held positions. It too must begin identifying its `interests` and look to secure these. In doing this, let them be reminded again of the poignant image of tragedy Orhan Pamuk sketched of a man longingly looking to the east, from the deck of a ship headed west. If the west is where the future is headed, they ought to abandon the east nostalgia. A complete severance will not be feasible given the geography of the place, but perhaps a comprehensive autonomy model can be thought of. It will be good for both the hills and the valley to be true to their own geniuses for once, without stepping on each other`™s feet or patience.

Leader Writer: Pradip Phanjoubam

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/09/separation-thoughts/

While there can be no doubt that civil society movements in the Northeast, probably Manipur being the foremost, have always been very strong, it is difficult not to be wonderstruck by the ease with which those leading these movements claim they have the mandate of the people to do what they are doing. Doubt and uncertainty that are the hallmarks of all of us mortals even in making simple presumptions about what might be the minds and wishes of immediate neighbours seem altogether absent in these men and women. They act as if they are infallibly prescient about the collective will and aspiration of the masses in these agitations. From their gaits and languages, they seem to be in no doubt about their being the sole voice of the people. They are even inclined to condemn those with opinions differing from their own as betrayers and reactionaries, standing in the way of the `people` whose interests only they know. Sadly, this seems a bane of not just Manipur`™s brand of street politicians, but also of those who claim to be the intellectual elite among practically all the many communities who live here. In the wake of the present very complex crisis in the state, there have been so much said by these insufferable cabals, either claiming the hills-valley integrity in Manipur is sacrosanct or else that a separation is what inevitably must happen for it is predicated by the places own history. Missing is the humility that would have these ideas come as proposals from them as individuals, and instead they are pronounced as verdicts of the `people`.

As to how entire `peoples` can be so sheepishly single-minded on any given issue, is beyond imagination. While there are shared concerns of communities, every single individual is also a universe unto herself or himself, with her own worries, anxieties, aspirations, and so on. If anybody has an idea on how Manipur`™s problems ought to be resolve, let it be floated as a suggestion and food for thought for all other stake holders to discuss and ultimately seek consensus, and not the other way around where they claim to be omniscient representatives of entire peoples and arrogantly push their agendas. Even if a spiritually bankrupt emotional integrity pushed by one clique may have lost its charm except in dry and sterile rhetoric, a hasty separation, pushed by the other clique can have grave consequences, both in the short term and the long term. This is true especially in the valley, where practically every community in the state have been living together as neighbours physically, friendly or unfriendly as it were. Let these self-proclaimed opinion leaders on either side at least have the patience to wait for the consensual voice of all the stakeholders.

Even if these leaders do command the mandate of the `people`, forgotten are the ideas that even if large number of peoples agree on certain points, these agreements cannot be a fool-proof evidence of `truth`. Great reformers and thinkers have been very prone to face this problem through history. Socrates, Galileo and even Jesus Christ were killed because they went against what the masses believed in their times. Now we know where the truth was in each of these cases. Indeed, one of the biggest problems of the idea of democracy has been the question of what happens when the majority begins to want vengeful blood. The deadly ethnic conflicts, some of which have resulted in horrifying genocides, have often been the outcomes of this failing. The magnetism of mass violent street agitations is such that even people supposed to be rational become benumbed and often surrender their better judgments. Quite disappointingly, this is on the covert and sometimes overt plea that the willingness of agitators to take casualties, even death, sanctifies the cause they agitate for. No wonder the idea of martyrdom is so endemic, and sought for by those leading these movements the world over.
As for us, these have been very difficult times not only because of the distress caused by the heat of the agitations, and all the blood and gore came with it. Our struggle has been in coming to a decision on what the actual will of the people might be beyond these flames and furies. There would have to be a better mechanism to determine where a justiciable consensus on tearing and excruciating issues such as Manipur is faced with today, than the claimed prescience of the intelligentsia.

Leader Writer: Pradip Phanjoubam

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/09/what-to-believe/

All four MLAs from the Naga People`™s Front, NPF, namely L. Dikho of 48-Mao, Samuel Risom of 44-Ukhrul, ST Victor Nunghlung of 41 Chandel and Dr V Alexander Pao of 47-Karong, resigned from the Manipur Legislative Assembly on Saturday, though there is still a year and a half left for the term of the Assembly to expire. While they are free to do so, the reason they cited for their resignation should leave no doubt that it was premeditated and definitely part of an agenda that had nothing to do with the reason they cited: that of the three bills recently passed by the Manipur Legislative Assembly being discriminatory against the tribal population of the hill districts. They obviously were striking at a moment of opportunity presented before them by the spontaneous public outrage in Churachandpur, to advance their cause of creating the condition for severance of Naga dominated hill districts of Manipur in anticipation of the formation of a Greater Nagaland or Nagalim, if and when the NSCN(IM) manages to work out an accord with the Government of India.

When Churachandpur went up in flames over the three bills, the reaction of the government as well as the people, in particular those in the valley, was one of bewilderment. They were not sure why, for they genuinely believed the idea of checking immigrant influx was in the interest of every original settler of the state. Now the picture is becoming clearer what the issues involved were. First was the question of the bills not having been first referred to the Hill Area Committee, HAC. This oversight, though the government probably felt the bills had no infringement on the hills, is still a fault of the government. It should have sought the opinion of the HAC and acquired its assent regardless. That would have made the bills consensual. Then there is the second doubt raised that no tribal ministers were part of the drafting committee of the bills. As senior journalists, some of us in the profession were invited in the initial days for opinions on the ILPS issue on some occasions which did have tribal ministers present. It did appear that the drafting committee was formed from amongst a few volunteers and others were dragged into it and persuaded to be part of it, for nobody at the time seemed eager to face what was appearing to be a mess and very stubborn opponents. The issue was also seen as essentially a valley issue as the hills already had protections against land ownership transfers.

But without going further into what has already happened, suffices it to say that the government has now relented and showed willingness to rework the bills. Outside of the government, the general feeling even today is, since the Churachandpur episode was a genuine grievance against the bills, regardless of whether it resulted out of misunderstanding or miscommunication, there is still room for rectification and ultimately, reconciliation, tragic though the past week has been, with so many young lives lost. This contrasts quite radically with the manner the NPF ministers tendered their resignation. The move was more about posturing than presenting a case. Here one is reminded of the often repeated adage that `it is difficult to wake up somebody who is only pretending to be asleep`. If Churachandpur did not happen, they would have found another occasion to do what they did, and there would have been no way to prevent it.

In the meantime we offer our condolences to the near and dear ones of all those who lost their lives in this sordid drama. We hope no more will suffer the fate. But a resolution must not mean sweeping all the issues thrown up in the course of these few months under the carpet. They must be addressed adequately and satisfactory. The question of equitable autonomy not just for the hills but also for the valley must be given attention and a model worked out to ensure bottled up resentments do not remain. It must also be said there have been hordes of lumpens on the wide open cyber space, of which breed the state is today becoming overpopulated with, who have been hurling mindless, unwarranted and hurtful invectives all around. Many of these invectives are mimicries from past conflicts between various other communities that had proven to hurt their targets, therefore nothing new or inventive about them. These fringe elements are universal and it is best to ignore them while working to restore peace.

Leader writer: Pradip Phanjoubam

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/09/opportunistic-resignations/

Maybe things have gone too far to turn back. Maybe what we are witnessing today was always destine to happen. The myth of ethnic brotherhood is being blown up right before our eyes in at least two ways. One is a lesson for the Meiteis who were all this while hanging on to this myth, presuming ethnic similarities predetermine fraternal bondages, and as a corollary, those outside this imagined fraternity are aliens not to be trusted. The Inner Line Permit System, ILPS, movement that they headed comes straight out of this presumed sacred equation, and they consciously alienated those they considered aliens from this standpoint. Now they are discovering those whom they, with such lack of unease, presumed shared fraternal ties, never appreciated or shared their worries. In short, they have ended up alienating everybody around them, both those they considered as aliens and those they thought shared fraternal bondages. This is also partly a price they are paying for leaving important matters of politics to the streets, to be executed by school children and vegetable vendors. This is also the price for ignoring the role of the intellectual elite. Democracy, it is often said is a system in which the people elect their enlightened elite to lead them, and not former government contractors to reduce politics to a bazaar.

The other way in which the myth is being exploded is by the new alliance seemingly struck between Nagas and Kukis under the claimed shared bondage of tribal brotherhood. This despite the fact that through history, if there have been any sworn enmity, it is between the two and not between either of them and the Meiteis. Nobody has recorded the progress of this relationship (and between other communities in the Northeast) better than British administrators. It must be said the British kept every trivial record, not just of the recce and punitive missions they undertook, but also of daily expenditure accounts to the last rupee. Accounts of Northeast affairs based solely on the British administration`™s records by Alexander Mackenzie and much later by Robert Reid confirm this for instance. And yet, Nagas and Kukis are now bonded. Our assessment is that this is a positive and forward looking bondage too, for it is based on shared interests, and therefore far from the kind of romance of ethnic brotherhood that the Metieis have made their staple.

Though there have been a quantum shift in the ethnic equations, it is not too late for the Meiteis to salvage some. They must remind themselves of the age old dictum that in politics there are no `friends` or `enemies`, and instead there are only `interests`, and from this vantage rework their relationships. Maybe it is a good thing to open a new page. The hills want more autonomy so let them demand it from those who can give it. But the valley must have a matching though not necessarily identical autonomy. This will be justice, and only justice can put conflicts to rest. The hills can then not worry about the valley standing in the way of their pursuits. The valley too must have the room to be itself. Right now, they cannot even think of sweeping their own courtyards without worrying about how the hills would respond. Geography of course will determine all remain bound to some extent. Attempting to severe this too would be asking for war. Take one example of how some geographies are integral and how any attempt to break these integrities can result in conflicts. Robert Kaplan`™s `Revenge of Geography` has this interesting illustration of the Nile River. The wind it seems blow against the direction of the current of the river, so a vessel wanting to go upstream can spread its sails and the wind would take it upstream. To return, it just has to pull down its sails and the current would bring it downstream. The river is extremely navigable and the archetypal memory of the Egyptian civilisation is so intricately woven around the Nile that today, even though the river is not as important as it was in ancient times, Egypt would still go to war with any upstream countries, be it Sudan or Ethiopia which dares tamper with the river. The hill-valley equation in Manipur is similar.

The Meiteis have one more to unwind. Let them realise there are many others who have a stake in the wellbeing of Manipur. Let them woo back these others they have alienated, the Nepalis, the Telis etc, who have made the state their only homes. This does not mean the fear of demographic overturn of small communities because of population influx is not real. Nobody anywhere in India or the world would fail to understand this. But there are more acceptable ways of ensuring a halt to this marginalisation of original populations. Let the three bills which have caused so much turmoil be reworked. The most essential of these is to take a more realistic, internationally acceptable and humanitarian base year to decide who is domicile. If it cannot be the current year, let the backdating be by about a decade or at the most two.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/09/ethnic-fraternity-romance/

Maybe things have gone too far to turn back. Maybe what we are witnessing today was always destine to happen. The myth of ethnic brotherhood is being blown up right before our eyes in at least two ways. One is a lesson for the Meiteis who were all this while hanging on to this myth, presuming ethnic similarities predetermine fraternal bondages, and as a corollary, those outside this imagined fraternity are aliens not to be trusted. The Inner Line Permit System, ILPS, movement that they headed comes straight out of this presumed sacred equation, and they consciously alienated those they considered aliens from this standpoint. Now they are discovering those whom they, with such lack of unease, presumed shared fraternal ties, never appreciated or shared their worries. In short, they have ended up alienating everybody around them, both those they considered as aliens and those they thought shared fraternal bondages. This is also partly a price they are paying for leaving important matters of politics to the streets, to be executed by school children and vegetable vendors. This is also the price for ignoring the role of the intellectual elite. Democracy, it is often said is a system in which the people elect their enlightened elite to lead them, and not former government contractors to reduce politics to a bazaar.

The other way in which the myth is being exploded is by the new alliance seemingly struck between Nagas and Kukis under the claimed shared bondage of tribal brotherhood. This despite the fact that through history, if there have been any sworn enmity, it is between the two and not between either of them and the Meiteis. Nobody has recorded the progress of this relationship (and between other communities in the Northeast) better than British administrators. It must be said the British kept every trivial record, not just of the recce and punitive missions they undertook, but also of daily expenditure accounts to the last rupee. Accounts of Northeast affairs based solely on the British administration`™s records by Alexander Mackenzie and much later by Robert Reid confirm this for instance. And yet, Nagas and Kukis are now bonded. Our assessment is that this is a positive and forward looking bondage too, for it is based on shared interests, and therefore far from the kind of romance of ethnic brotherhood that the Metieis have made their staple.

Though there have been a quantum shift in the ethnic equations, it is not too late for the Meiteis to salvage some. They must remind themselves of the age old dictum that in politics there are no `friends` or `enemies`, and instead there are only `interests`, and from this vantage rework their relationships. Maybe it is a good thing to open a new page. The hills want more autonomy so let them demand it from those who can give it. But the valley must have a matching though not necessarily identical autonomy. This will be justice, and only justice can put conflicts to rest. The hills can then not worry about the valley standing in the way of their pursuits. The valley too must have the room to be itself. Right now, they cannot even think of sweeping their own courtyards without worrying about how the hills would respond. Geography of course will determine all remain bound to some extent. Attempting to severe this too would be asking for war. Take one example of how some geographies are integral and how any attempt to break these integrities can result in conflicts. Robert Kaplan`™s `Revenge of Geography` has this interesting illustration of the Nile River. The wind it seems blow against the direction of the current of the river, so a vessel wanting to go upstream can spread its sails and the wind would take it upstream. To return, it just has to pull down its sails and the current would bring it downstream. The river is extremely navigable and the archetypal memory of the Egyptian civilisation is so intricately woven around the Nile that today, even though the river is not as important as it was in ancient times, Egypt would still go to war with any upstream countries, be it Sudan or Ethiopia which dares tamper with the river. The hill-valley equation in Manipur is similar.

The Meiteis have one more to unwind. Let them realise there are many others who have a stake in the wellbeing of Manipur. Let them woo back these others they have alienated, the Nepalis, the Telis etc, who have made the state their only homes. This does not mean the fear of demographic overturn of small communities because of population influx is not real. Nobody anywhere in India or the world would fail to understand this. But there are more acceptable ways of ensuring a halt to this marginalisation of original populations. Let the three bills which have caused so much turmoil be reworked. The most essential of these is to take a more realistic, internationally acceptable and humanitarian base year to decide who is domicile. If it cannot be the current year, let the backdating be by about a decade or at the most two.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/09/ethnic-fraternity-romance/

Not as opposed to a free media, but in addition to being a free media, what is also extremely important is giving substance to the idea of an honest media. Of course we are aware we skate on very thin ice, by necessity, when we even place a foot in the realm of the abstract. `Honesty` for instance is heavily nuanced, as the stage explorations of Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen touchingly and convincingly bring out. To take a very obvious example, can a white lie be a show of lack of honesty. So very often, we find people confusing a white lie to mean a blatant and deliberate lie. It is indeed blatant, so is it deliberate as well, but the question is, is it really a lie in the sense that we know a lie to be? Consider this perfect example of a white lie. Suppose a doctor who knows there is no hope for a patient to survive an illness were to tell her patient that there is nothing seriously wrong with him and he can recover if he had the will to fight to the last, can the doctor be called a liar? By definition yes, for she did not tell the truth, but the reason that she shielded her patient from the cruelty of the truth is obviously for the cause of a deeper truth `“ the wellbeing of the patient even in his last hours. The untruth of the white lie may in this sense be actually noble, and in a spiritual way, show a fidelity not to hard facts but to the truth of a realm beyond. So very often, honesty and dishonesty are not so obvious, but are deeply buried below multiple nuances of a complex subject. Sincere introspections and indeed discourses must have to be about digging out these nuances and then reassessing our situations with them as the backdrop. It is also against this backdrop that our sense of right and wrong, or call it conscience if you will, must be placed.

But the problem is, when your house is on fire, there is hardly any likelihood that you will have the time to think of anything else but the fire. In this sense, the chief concern of the Manipur media today is media freedom from external pressures. There is hardly the leisure as yet to think beyond this and to begin touching the nuances of abstract much as they are necessary subjects to be touched in any definition and assessment of honesty. Much like what Prof. Charles Douglas Lummis, in his lectures in Imphal some years ago, and some of his writings and lectures available on the internet, implied of the question of rule of law. Things are so chaotically bad in Manipur today that just the return of the rule of law can do it wonders as a first step. But this first step can hardly be the last, for the rule of law too can become extremely oppressive. As for instance, to take an example which nobody in Manipur would miss, let us consider the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, AFSPA. This piece of legislation, controversial though it may be, is meant an instrument for keeping the rule of law. Acting as per this law is indeed rule of law but can this be said to guarantee justice. This being the case, in any consideration of rightness and wrongness, there is the need ultimately to realize there is something beyond even the rule of law. The rule of law ultimately has to be built on the foundation of certain innate and universal qualities of the individual, such as `the innate resistance in a man to kill another man`, in Prof. Lummis`™ own words. `Radical citizenship` and `radical democracy` would then be for the civil society to provide the foil to ensure the rule of law does not stray from these universal qualities.

The Manipur media too must then first ensure that its basic editorial freedoms are guaranteed. It must continue to resist and challenge all oppressive pressures to control its editorial discretions, be it from the underground establishment or from the government authorities. It must also be brave enough to acknowledge that while there is a tendency over the years for the government to relax its controls, sometimes to the extent of promoting anarchy, it is the diktats from underground organizations and their fronts, which have been the source of many of the media`™s anxiety. This too, we must add, is easing up in recent times. Now that these overt threats are waning, the media must begin the soul search for the deeper nuances of the qualities that concern us most, and which we have always taken so much for granted. These would include, as we have briefly touched upon earlier, the idea of media honesty. Works of men like Ibsen have demonstrated how difficult this project is, but also how important it is all the same to keep the search always alive.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/09/honest-media/

We hope the trouble in Manipur subsides soon, though even wishing this comes with a measure of inexplicable guilt, now that there have been so many deaths and injuries caused to young men and women. All the same we wish it. We wish too there are no more casualties, although at this moment, it is difficult to think how this wish will ever come about. The issues over which the trouble broke out are still not put to rest and the divide this has brought about has hardly been bridged. If the safety valves of the Manipur pressure cooker did not save the situation this time, the fear is, there are more explosions ahead and the safety valves are no longer reliable. Or maybe the safety valves have become dysfunctional and incapable of keeping pace with the rate steam is generated in this pressure cooker. What despairing thoughts indeed. What a sense of devastation, physical as well as moral. But the place has no other alternative than to pick itself up and walk again sometime or the other.

The wounds are deep, but once the immediate crises subsides a little, maybe it would be good to take our minds away from the immediate for some time, and walk a dispassionate distance and look back. Closeness to any action, physically or psychological, may give the advantage of seeing more details, but what often is sacrificed in such manoeuvres is the panorama. The micro and the macro pictures are both vital in mastering a full grasp of any situation. Our tendencies have sadly been heavily tilted towards the micro vision and the invariable expense of the macro. Of the current fire, we will not say more for the time being, but all the same hope and pray the tragedy does not mount any further. Sometimes one does wish one can believe in miracles.

Miracles if they do happen we believe are conditional. It is a reward for hard work, sincerity and enterprise. This hard work and enterprise in the current situation can most appropriately begin with introspection and soul searching, and not a game of one-up-manship and finger pointing. One of the most valuable gifts that mankind has received most abundantly, it is often said, is the quality of empathy. In fact, as Jeremy Rifkin so convincingly argues in `The Empathic Civilisation`, civilisation itself would not have been possible if not for empathy. This is the quality to enter into another person, even if he or she is a total stranger, and see and feel as he or she does. This is the ability to share the pains and sufferings as much as the joys and jubilations of others, again even of total strangers. It is empathy which made the picture of the drowned Syrian child on a beach in Turkey yesterday which captivated the world and warmed Europe`™s attitude to its current refugee crisis. This is the quality that made the picture of the Napalm Girl in 1972 during America`™s Tet Offensive in Vietnam, begin the process of America winding down its war in Vietnam.

Rifkin says it is not just a cultivated emotion. Humans are soft wired to be empathic, except of course the pathologically ill killers and sadists. Somebody bites into a heitup (the sour wild apple we know so well in Manipur) in front of you, and there will be no way your mouth will not water. Somebody cuts her hand badly with a sharp knife and you grimace without even intending to. You are not the one whose taste buds are assaulted by the sourness of the wild apple, and you are not the one whose hand is cut, yet you can feel as the other person does. Not many other creatures have this quality. Let us then, in the days ahead, step back a little from where we are standing, and explore the empathic traits in us, and try to see from the vantage of the others in these sordid equations unfolding before us. That would be a good beginning in the effort for all to reap a rich harvest of peace together.

Leader Writer: Pradip Phanjoubam

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/09/in-the-others-shoes/

Three Bills, one original and two amendments of existing laws, were passed by the Manipur State Legislative Assembly today. All three await the Governor`™s assent, therefore are still not law. In all likelihood, the latter two should not face much hurdles in their passage for they are existing laws: the Manipur Land Revenue and Land Reforms (Seventh Amendment) Bill 2015; and the Manipur Shops and Establishment (Second Amendment) Bill 2015. It is the original Bill, namely the Protection of Manipur People Bill 2015, which ordinarily should have been the one fated to run into a wall, particularly in view of the cut-off year it seeks to define non-domiciles by. But it now seems there is more to it than just the Governor`™s assent. The hills are not happy, and Churachandpur this evening went up in flames, with irate public burning down homes of their representatives in the Assembly, including senior cabinet minister and veteran politician, Phungzathang Tonsing.

The question is, what is it that the hills are not happy about the three Bills? This has to be thrashed out and resolved. This discourse should have been there much earlier, but it was never to be. Neither the valley nor the hills reached out to each other and tried to understand each other on the matter. Other than the stern opposition that came in Moreh during a rally by Meitei residents, and the prohibition of a similar rally planned in Churachandpur earlier, there were never any other meaningful communications. The other districts, it had seemed were cool to the issue and were simply watching the developments from a distance, until the final moment after the Bills had been tabled. One is reminded of the rather cynical dig that Literature Nobel Laureate, V.S. Naipaul once took at another famous writer of Indian origin, Salman Rushdie, when the latter was in hiding following a `fatwa` to assassinate him issued by then supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Khomeini, describing Rushdie`™s book `Satanic Verses` as blasphemy against Islam. Naipaul in an interview joked with visible glee, describing the `fatwa` as a severe form of literary criticism. Manipur too, it seems speaks only the language of `fatwa` and has lost its faith in the power of dialogues to resolve issues, even the most problematic.

We have been consistent in reminding that the valley must stop presuming foreknowledge of what other fraternal communities want or aspire for. They must also stop presuming proprietorship of what is deemed as the state`™s interest. These can only come about through democratic consensus. The flames of anger in Churachandpur this evening are proofs of how wrong they were in these presumptions. But it must equally be said, the hills must understand that the valley now more than ever needs room to be itself `“ the space which has been denied it for far too long. At this moment it feels besieged and pushed against the wall. Of the three Bills passed today by the Assembly, the two which sought amendments to existing laws, were very valley specific, so it ought not to have been any cause for worry for the hills. In the Bill on amending the MLR&LR Act, there is a clause which says more areas still not under the law can be brought under it, but for all one knows, this could be a reflection of the wishes of a growing section of the hill population who want to integrate with the modern monetary economy. In many private tete-a-tetes, many will vouch this wish has been quite transparent. Extending this law to pockets of the hills would not and cannot be described as encroachment by the valley. MLR&LR Act 1960, although is applicable in the valley only now, has nothing to do with the valley`™s wishes or aspirations. It is just a modern, civic, land tenure system, incidentally introduced in the state by the Union government by an Act of the Parliament, for in 1960 Manipur was a Union Territory, governed by a chief commissioner appointed by the Centre. It has worked well for the valley except that in its current state, it has allowed for their own land alienation, and this is what is sought to be corrected in the current amendment Bill.

However, it is never too late. The Manipur government must initiate the process to find out what exactly are the objections of the hills to the three Bills and prepare for further amendments. If it is about the Protection of Manipur People Bill 2015, then maybe this too can be made valley specific, for as it is, the hills are already covered by other protections. If it is about the clause we mentioned in the MLR&LR Act, that clause too can be deleted. But if the objection is against the valley`™s effort to tighten its own hold on their home grounds, then this is being ridiculously unreasonable, and the valley will never agree.

Leader Writer: Pradip Phanjoubam

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/08/bill-victories-and-woes/

By Khura Seraton

Disputes over boundaries are not new. It has been part of human history and it will linger as long as we, as human strangely, keep on defining our sense of ownership and belonging based on imaginary lines or artificial fences. Many a war has been fought over it. Many a life has been cut short all because of the line. Needless to say people get divided on boundary line. Yet the same boundary can also bring people together.

It has been a whole new experience for thirty year-old Esini Pudunamei, a flower grower from Mao. She has been growing flowers since very young. She is one among many, who have shifted their trading location following the boundary dispute between Manipur and Nagaland at Dzuko area. Indeed a long-drawn dispute between the two states with grim prospect of a solution in the immediate future. Earlier Esini and her fellow traders used to take their goods to Nagaland at Kohima some thirty kms from Mao. There, Nagaland traders buy their goods wholesale. No bargaining, just a quick exchange of money and goods. Having shifted to Imphal, Esini struggles to communicate with her new found customers. She speaks very little Meiteilon. This is her very first time to trade in Imphal since July this year. And this is also her first time to mingle with the valley dwellers `“ Meiteis. A smile is all the answer Esini gives when asked about her new trading journey.

L Ashipro, Mao Trade Union President, who is also a school teacher takes out time to accompany the vendors, all of them woman, making sure that everything goes smoothly. Unlike the woman vendors, language is not a barrier as she has been frequenting Imphal and Mao in equal terms. Wiping away the sweat from her face, which has turned almost cherry-red because of the humid air, Ashipro laments the abject lack of toilet facilities that too in the heart of the capital Imphal. Imagine how difficult it is for the women, who wake up early before dawn to travel the three and a half hour journey to reach Imphal. Replying `kunthra-kunthra ni` to the customers`™ query over the price of the spring onion bunches; Ashipro added `we are hopeful that the government will allot a temporary shelter soon otherwise it is very difficult for the vendors to move from one place to another`. Our woman are learning fast the art of retail vending, the zest of conversing in Meiteilon with the customers, it is indeed an experience for them, she said.

There are around four hundred vendors registered under the Mao Trade Union. On a rotational basis, ninety to ninety five vendors come to Imphal twice/thrice a week. `We have started providing identification card for our vendors. This will give them a sort of security in Imphal. Besides, on the way to Imphal, we have to pay taxes to different groups, which is demoralising. But today, they have not stopped us. May be there has been some interventions`, said Ashimpro. She observed that there is no lack of customers for vegetables and fruits. Potato and chilly are in high demand as always. The prices are more or less same with other vegetables, which have come from outside the state, or even slightly higher. But customers look for taste and the organic tag, which they believed, are found in Mao produce.

Dr Lolee, President of Mao Union, briefly recalled how it all happened. The southern Angami people of Nagaland started paving road leading to the Dzuko Valley. They started constructing rest houses on Manipur`™s side of the border. On top of that truckloads of humic soil deposits have been quarried and transported to Nagaland to be sold with huge profits. All apparently taken out under the patronage of the Nagaland government, armed guards in civvies were deployed in the dispute area. The people of Mao under the leadership of their civil organisations protested against the move of the south Angami people. `Our traders suffered because of our claim of what rightfully belong to the people of Manipur. It is good that the government of Manipur has intervened and now the constructions and other activities by the Nagaland government are on hold`, said Dr Lolee. Expressing surprise over the warm response of the people of Imphal, he candidly admits that earlier they were doubtful of shifting their trade in Imphal. Dr Lolee is thankful to the Imphal-based civil voluntary organisations for their immense support and cooperation. `Even if things got better between the two state governments regarding the boundary, our people will be happy to vend in Imphal`, Dr Lolee asserted with a sunny smile.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/08/mingling-at-mao-keithel/

Looking at all that have been said of the August 3, `Peace Accord` between the NSCN(IM) leaders and the Government of India representatives, and the numerous interpretations, some wild others honest, but all without any sense of certainty of what they are saying, cannot but remind of the 1980 Hollywood blockbuster comedy, `The gods must be crazy`. To summarise the plot of this movie very briefly, a tribe in the middle of the Kalahari desert in Africa, isolated from the world, were living happily and contented that the gods were kind in blessing them with plentiful resources to meet their simple needs and aspirations until one fine day, somebody carelessly throws a Coca-Cola bottle out of a plane on their land (Coca-Cola bottles were made of thick durable glass those days and their plastic replacements were still unknown). When the tribal Bushmen discover this artefact which they have never seen before, it sows the seed for destabilising their society and their world view. The social and cosmic equilibrium that they so far enjoyed with whatever little they had soon began to be shattered before their very eyes. First they see is as another gift from the gods, and treasure the object, experimenting and putting it to various uses, including making music by blowing at the bottle`™s nozzle. Soon the object, as well as its owner, gain unprecedented importance, and together with it, reverence, envy, jealousy, revulsion and even hatred. Slowly but surely, its significance transitions, and it comes to be seen an evil object which needed to be thrown away from the edge of the world. The tribesmen embark on this mission of travelling to the edge of the world, and their emissary meets many more hilarious adventures on the way.

The `Naga Peace Accord` announced with fanfare on August 3, though later the rhetoric was toned down to mean just a `Framework Agreement`, is also beginning to look very much like the empty Coca-Cola bottle. Here too the discussions, speculations, anticipations, praises, disdains etc., all with little or no substance, are beginning to have a life of their own. Anything said about it becomes the subject of hot debates and speculations. There are those who think this Peace Accord was no accord at all and was instead just hot airs. Others think the accord is loaded with meanings and either celebrate or else worry about its consequences. On the vast uncharted terrain of the internet social networking sites, where opinions, even the wildest and the most vicious, are free, these exchanges are cacophonous and sometimes ugly, but all the same interesting, if not amusing. Some go to the extent of claiming the accord has agreed to give the Nagas virtual sovereignty with own currency, flag, embassies etc. Others dismiss the entire show as mere placebo and an honourable exit route provided to besieged NSCN(IM) leaders. The truth probably is neither and will be known only when the entire package is announced.

For the moment, from all that has been said by those who made the deal, the box is empty. It is meant only as a preamble to reaffirm that both the parties`™ resolve to work towards an honourable solution, a stated commitment which is hardly new to be of any fresh excitement. It must however be said that the empty box announced on August 3, like the empty Coca-Cola bottle in the Hollywood movie, is now turning out to be an interesting litmus test to gauge the moods and opinions of all the stakeholders. The authorities, especially of the Government of India, must have assessed, as much as any other keen observer would have, as to who wants what, and who would oppose to what. If this was deliberate, it has to be said the idea is brilliant. But the circumstances under which the `Peace Accord` was signed, does not seem to indicate any such motive. The chairman of the NSCN(IM), Isak Chishi Swu was critically ill then, and he wanted to see his life`™s labour fructify before he dies, and this wish, informed sources now tell us, was what led to the rush in signing the admittedly empty accord which merely gives a framework of things that are desired to be ultimately the box`™s content. Our opinion is, this is an important development, and a resolution must result out of it, but without harming the interests of any other stakeholders. We should therefore watch its progress keenly and critically, but giving it a change to develop further, and encouraging the negotiators to absorb the feedbacks from all the informal public discourses, apart from their other considerations.

Leader Writer: Pradip Phanjoubam

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/08/accord-and-discord/

The Bishnupriya issue is best settled quickly and by mutual rapprochement. There is no point in allowing this issue to remain as an irritant forever. We see no reason why Manipuris, Meiteis in particular, should feel threatened at all by a small community outside the state, wanting to identify themselves as Manipuris by either suffixing or prefixing the term `Manipuri` to their community name. In no way can they usurp the larger Manipuri identity even if they try, and by taking offence, what ends up exposed is a deep-seated insecurity amongst those who are thus offended. In the ultimate analysis, the issue is also about the inclusiveness, or the lack of it, of the Manipuri identity. This question itself needs a speedy resolution, for indeed this is also at the roots of many of the crises hounding the state, especially as evident in the increasing trend of different smaller ethnic identities not just asserting themselves but also pitting themselves against the larger Manipuri identity. The foggy understanding of the term `Manipuri` must first be straightened out. On the one hand we are defining it to be a larger set within which smaller sets can be placed, and on the other it is also being projected to mean a self-contained set with impervious boundaries, which do not even overlap with other sets, not to talk about containing sub-sets within it. This duality, and the resultant ambiguity, must first be erased. Reminiscent in this ambiguity is also the duality of the Hindutva definition of Indianness, which is sometimes defined as inclusive and at other times exclusive. Contrast this with the policy of a small but gritty nation like Israel. All of us witnessed how this nation reached out to even Manipur and Mizoram to embrace as brothers those who called themselves Jews with an ancestry that traces back, as they believe, to a lost tribe of the biblical land of Israel `“ the Bnei Menashe. There are already a couple of thousands from these two states who have left their land of birth to settle in the promised land of their myths and legends.

A bit of this spirit is what is called for in any attempt to redefine the new Manipuri identity. As of today, the identity is too closely identified with the Meiteis, so much so that it is making other communities either uneasy or else resistant to be associated with it. So if a small community like the Bishnupriya wants to identify itself as Manipuri, why should those of in Manipur object? In fact, we ought to be welcoming it for it is can be seen as an asset rather than a liability as many are making it out to be. We are sure the Bishnupriyas have genuine spiritual affiliation with Manipur for them to be wanting to be identified as a Manipuri community. Those of us who have associated with members with this community, know it for a fact they very well do. You do not necessarily have to be physically stationed at a place to be attached to it. In fact, it is quite possible you can develop genuine spiritual affiliations with a place you have never set foot on. What Vrindavan is to many faithful Hindus and Mecca is to many faithful Muslims, is precisely this.

Let us not for once be under the paranoiac delusion that the Bishnupriyas can usurp the Manipuri identity. They can only be small part of it. As of now the Bishnupriyas may also be suffering from a delusion of grandeur and are posturing themselves as capable of this, but once the confrontationist attitudes end, such meaningless posturing would too. As for the governments of Assam and Tripura which have recognized the Bishnupriya language, it is the duty of our government to make them understand this is like Manipur recognizing the Bodos and their language and literature as Assamese without first recognizing the caste Hindu, Assamese speaking, majority Assamese community, or the Reangs as Tripuris as against the dominant Bengali community. The state government must prevail upon the governments of these neighbouring states that Bishnupriya can only be recognized as a sub-set of the Manipuri identity and not as the main set. This will also entail that they first recognize the 8th Schedule Manipuri language as primary, and then only think of recognizing the other sub-sets within the Manipuri identity. In reaching such a resolution, it will not help for us to take the hard-line definition of the Manipuri identity as uncompromisingly exclusive.

Leader Writer: Pradip Phanjoubam

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/08/bishnupriya-question/