Tag: kanglaonline

IMPHAL JUNE 17: One constable of the state police has reportedly succumbed to unknown ailments yesterday at around 7 pm while another VDF personnel also reportedly succumbed this early morning at their respective barracks under suspicious conditions.

According to a reliable source the constable has been identified as one Thokchom Rajesh, 27, s/o late Th Jilaton of Sangaipurou Mamang Leikai and currently posted at Patsoi PS.

The same source identified the dead VDF personnel as Athokpam Yaiphaba, 29, s/o late A Kuladhaja of Singjamei Top Leikai and also identified him to be attached currently with the Lamphel PS.

It is also informed that Rajesh was reportedly found lying unconscious on his bed inside the barrack yesterday evening at around 7 pm after returning from census duty. He was rushed to the RIMS but was declared brought dead by the doctors, added the source.

Meanwhile, in a similar incident, the VDF personnel identified as Yaiphaba was also found lying unconscious on his allotted bed by his colleagues this early morning at around 3 am, stated a reliable source.

According to the same source, the personnel was rushed to the nearby hospital however doctors announced him also brought dead.

The personnel was on sentry duty last night at the Lamphel PS, stated the source.

However till the filling of this report there has been no official confirmation from the respective police stations.

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By Amar Yumnam
The author is celebrating his 25 wedding anniversary today and we wish him many happy returns of the day

To an academic, a semInar is a success if it scores at least on forcing us to ponder on the issues of the seminar not only during the seminar but even after the seminar as well. This is one ground on which I would award a high grade to the recent seminar on the Loktak organised jointly by the Loktak Development Authority and the Loktak Brigade. There are other additional reasons on which the seminar should be valued to which I would turn.

The Tragedy: The Loktak Hydro Electric Project based on the Ithai Barrage is no doubt one of the biggest development wrongs in India and the biggest tragedy for Manipur. The poor foundation of the rationale of the project is getting unfolded increasingly. Almost all the developmental tensions and moves and counter moves at least in and around the adjoining areas of the lake relate to the fall-outs of this ill-conceived project. Today the efforts to address these negative fall-outs have to be necessarily a State-wide one so that any sustainable solution can be achieved.

While searching for solution to the negative impacts of the Loktak Hydro Electric Project, it is no longer feasible to bomb and blast the Ithai Barrage. We have to look for solutions in interventions in areas and aspects other than the project itself. It is in relation to this issue that the recent seminar has turned attention to in a positive way.

Public Good and Development: Intervening into the First Nature in order to create a Second Nature according to our needs always produces shocks, positive and negative. But in the case of the Loktak Hydro Electric Project the negative ones have dominated over the positives, and the impacts linger.

Here it must be mentioned that lakes usually are public goods entry to which is free, unrestricted and non-excludable. Being so, there is usually the problem of over exploitation and free-riders; most of the people living on the lakes tend to extract maximum in the shortest possible time without contributing to their development. But the fall-out of the Ithai Barrage and the years of non-regulation after the commissioning of the hydro project have only aggravated this problem of free-rider associated with the Loktak being a public good. But this is not a sustainable situation for the people as well as the lake. Some regulation and some pricing have to be put in place so that the free-riding is avoided. The present tensions surrounding various policy interventions relating to the Loktak basically relate to this.

The articulations in the seminar by the representatives of the people in and around the lake make subtly clear the desires of the local population. They have enjoyed the benefits of the public good over a period of time, and naturally they would like to revert to the period before the commissioning of the hydro project or at least the absence of the recent legislation by the government and the various interventions through the Loktak Development Authority.

The conflict today is between protecting the interests of the people in and around the lake and the need for regulation to address the various ecological issues. While the important interests of the people are basically local, the ecological issues are necessarily State-wide and global. The challenge before us is striking a balance between these two interests, and thus take the well- being of the people forward.

The Loktak Development Authority has done a good job in straightway organising the Seminar in situ and taking their views to the public. Now there are certain things to be done on the side of the Loktak Development Authority itself.

First, it should not project itself as an implementing agency of programmes envisaged by the government only. We should remember that it is not a department of the government. It should be able to project itself as an agency fully involved in articulating and protecting the interests of the people as well, particularly of those living in and around the lake.

Secondly, the agency itself is in urgent need of empowering further. The dimensions of issues to be attended to by it are so huge that the present nomenclature does no longer do justice to the responsibilities. It should now be renamed as something like the Lake Regulatory Authority with additional powers for intervention in forests, fisheries and of course water.

Third, in order to do justice to the second, the agency should now be broadened with active in-house presence of social scientists and environmentalists. The agency can and should no longer function as stooges of any external authority; it should possess in-house capability to at least address major issues in so far as first round implications are concerned.

Fourth, now that the concerns and resistance of the people in and around the lake a resilient the agency should now be applying its mind on addressing the issues. There is a big collective action issue involved here, and the objective should be to channel this collective action energy towards the goals that serve the interests of the local population while not compromising on the ecological aspects.

There are certain other considerations where the application of the individual as well as collective mind of the local population is paramount. To begin with, we must accept the fact that the practices before the contemplation and adoption of recent interventions were not satisfying the sustainability principles both for the ecology and the people. It is true, whenever certain changes are introduced in any prevailing atmosphere and accompanying set of practices, the interests of some people would invariably be affected adversely. Having said this, I must add that it by no means imply tolerance of decline in well-being of any set of population; no this simply is not acceptable. The issue is adopting certain kinds of policies and programmes whereby the well-being of the adversely affected set of population is ensured at least at the level before the current interventions were put in place. This is where the Loktak Development Authority should be working closely with the local population, and evolve a dynamic package of schemes attuned to the emerging needs of the population.

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By Chitra Ahanthem
“Is Manipur tourist friendly?” happens to be a very popular question doing the rounds in the virtual sphere(read internet, and particularly social networking sites). Those saying “Aye” point towards the emergence of a fancy hotel in Imphal that looks like a 3 star hotel and even has a behind the scenes bar with drinks served in open spaces (Manipur being a dry state besides having the moral guardians on prowl means all other hotels also serve guests in their room with inflated bills); the setting up of tourist parks around the state and plans for hotels on the card. Those shouting out “Nay” to the question points out to the lack of footfall of tourists to the state despite the lifting of the PAP for foreigners; that the filth in the city keeps away people and that it is better other people do not see how much of dirt Imphal town is living with anyway; that law and order is a big turn off for people to visit the place.

To begin with: we must first look at what the Tourism department has set its visions on as part of the “Incredible India” brand. On the national domain, the “Incredible India” brand and media campaign is pitched on the unusual sights, sounds and experiences of India: its people, places and culture. The media advertisement campaigns are full of colour and there is a dedicated handbook along with a web site, brand ambassadors, tourism festivals etc. The problem with the Tourism department in Manipur is that it has not broadened its own horizons. Unlike many other states like Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra or even our next-door neighbours like Assam and Meghalaya, there is no separate buzz being created to highlight Manipur. Tourist information on the state is left to a few insipid web sites and annual calendars that decorate Government department offices.

A genuine reason for not pitching the state may well be the fact that infrastructure for tourist footfall is not up to the mark at all. Apart from the one fancy hotel and its bar, the Government related hotel in Imphal is notorious for its total unprofessionalism: room service and the in house restaurant never ever give service within time (some guests that I had recommended the hotel to stay in came back with feedback that a breakfast order would be served at lunch time, lunch at dusk and dinner immediately after dusk!). The guest-houses at certain places that I know of (Sendra for one) are falling apart while the matter of whether civilian guests are allowed to stay there lies unknown. If there are other guest-houses anywhere else, we are none the wiser about them.

The setting up of tourist parks here, there and everywhere is mystifying: at least for me. They have been set up with huge costs but with what purpose? All they seem to attract are Manipuri film crews and youngsters with cameras in tow. Will we wake up one day to see a surge of tourists going to these “eco-parks”? But when people do not come to the state, how can they go to the said parks ever? If they came, what is there in the parks here that they have not seen in parks in their own home state? Are there indigenous crafts stalls around the parks? No. Are there decent food stalls near the parks (apart from the perennial dark roomed “Fast food” places)? No. So? Who goes? Sadly, not even many local people head to the parks (apart from film crews and young people dating).

Yet, not everything is lost for the state has great potential that needs to be strategically thought of and implemented. The 9 districts of the state have their own unique locations and the gifts of nature: greenery, hills, meadows, small lakes and water falls, peaks and places for sighting birds. Every community in Manipur has their own colourful festivals and dances which can be pitched for tourist tours (think the boat race in Kerala or the Rathyatra festival in Puri, Orissa that brings in thousands of tourists). More pressingly, there has to be support systems in place for receiving tourists and ensuring that they have experineces that they will recommend to other people. Yes, hotels and transport facilities in the state are practically non-existent at present. It would be mistaken to be content with good places to stay in Imphal only: every district should have facilities for private stays in hotels. Or there should be well oiled (read, run efficiently) Government tourist lodges in the districts. There needs to be conversant tourist guides (does the Kangla Fort even have a guided tour for tourists who are interested?) as also setting up Government approved vehicle rates. This is mainly because most out of Imphal travel is taken either by the NGO community or media people who come in from outside the state who hire privately managed vehicles. End result? Inflated travel costs for the common folks!

End-point:
Tourism in the state is in its infancy given the lack of support systems. But all it needs is for out of the box options and rising up to the challenge. The Tourism department needs to also think of bringing in other people and agencies (the Churches can be brought in as an integral partner in the districts as providers for home stays for a fee given the lack of accommodation facilities). They would do well to also study neighbouring Nagaland and its famed Hornbill festival to begin with: how it is pitched and what it comprises of; how the state works with different stakeholders (bloggers, travel writers, photographers) to ensure maximum visibility. The world of possibilities are endless given the range of places, festivals, food and culture that exist in the state and all that is needed would be concerted efforts for the Tourism Department to think a bit unconventionally.

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IMPHAL July 6: Minister of Commerce and Industries, Y Irabot in a press meet held at the Khadi Village and Industries Board, Lamphelpat today clarified that the charges alleged against him by the vice chairperson of the Board A Sharat are unfounded.

The minister stated that under the PMEGP programme, there is a project for hosting six hoardings. He said that the hoardings have not been erected as of yet and the contract is done by someone from his constituency.

Refuting the allegation of favoritism by the minister in providing contract works to RK Khogen who has been alleged as a relative of the minister, he said that the contractors Rk Khogen and Rk Gokulchandra are not related with him nor has he done any favor for them. The charges of favoritism as alleged by the vice chairman are baseless, the minister maintained.

He will also entertain the resignation tendered by Sarat also, he stated.

It may be mentioned that vice chairman of KVIB, A Sharat was appointed by the minister himself and sanctioned proportionate powers relating to controlling of employees on behalf of the chairman and to sanction expenditure for workings of the office and other financial matters.

Meanwhile Sharat had alleged that the minister was propagating corruption and trying to misappropriate public money as one RK Khogen had submitted a fraud bill in relation to the flagship program of the PMEGP. As per agreement six hoardings had to be displayed whereas only three were displayed, and Sarat had disapproved the bill and submitted a resignation letter.

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IMPHAL, July 11:  The student bodies of the state including Manipur Student’s Federation, All Manipur Students’ Union and the Democratic Students Alliance of Manipur and the Kangleipak Student Associaiton have today withdrawn the boycott of the education minister, principal secretary, education (s), director education (s), SSA department and the Board of Secondary Education Manipur following a three-tier assurance by the principal secretary education (s) to their demands regarding the non-availability of SSA textbooks in the state.

Representatives of the students’ bodies told IFP that the assurance was provided by the principal secretary during a meeting with representatives of the student bodies today.

During the meeting, the principal secretary education (s) has assured that the government will initiate the process for appointment of new chairman of the BOSEM at the earliest possible time.

The government representatives also assured that the BOSEM has already issued show cause notices to all the printing presses which have failed to print the text-books in time and that the board will blacklist them after a scrutiny.

Furthermore, during the meeting the government representatives also promise to initiate action against the persons responsible for selling text-books printed for SSA outside the state illegally.

The meeting which was attended by the principal secretary education (s), education (s) director, BOSEM secretary and representatives of the students’ bodies was convened with the approval of education minister DD Thaisii.

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