Category: News

The thaw of the deadlock over the proposed upgrade of the SADAR Hills subdivision of Senapati district into a full-fledged district at this moment seems unlikely with those demanding it as well as those opposing it remaining stubbornly fixed in their respective confrontational stances. While the difference is understandable though not desirable, probably under normal circumstance everybody would have given the two parties all the time and space they need to settle their differences. However, what is also a fact is that the circumstance is far from normal, for either of the two parties has imposed a blockade of the state’s lifelines as a way of announcing the seriousness of their intents. So, even as this standoff is happening, essential commodities in the state are not only sky rocketing but beginning to disappear from the markets. Quite predictably, if this continues for much longer, this state which has just recovered from another prolonged blockade just last year may lose its sanity, and in the worst case scenario, even street rioting may be the result. The government therefore cannot afford to treat the matter lightly or without a sense of urgency.

It does however seem the government is inclined to consider creating the SADAR Hills district, and so also some others. The chief minister, Okram Ibobi, has announced on the floor of the Assembly that a committee headed by the chief secretary D.S. Poonia has been set up to study possible demarcations of the districts to see the feasibility of the proposed districts, but also added the sole criterion in this onerous project would be administrative convenience. Presuming the SADAR Hills district comes to be created after making the necessary boundary demarcations and adjustments, as well as seeking the demanded consensus of the people, we can foresee some hiccups still. Today the tussle seems to be between two hill communities, the Nagas and Kukis, but the district can also throw up potential frictions between its proponents and farmers in the valley districts, for SADAR Hills touches valley area as well. Ordinarily this would not have been a problem, for there is nothing that says a farmer or for that matter any citizen cannot have landed properties in more than one district but as we had earlier pointed out, there is an extraordinary dimension to land issues in Manipur. This is because the state has revenue districts, which are the valley districts, and the non-revenue districts, which are by and large the hill districts. Under this dispensation, non tribals cannot own land in the non-revenue districts. So if in the demarcation of the SADAR Hills district, land owned by Meitei farmers becomes incorporated, the dispossessed farmers will definitely not agree. Imagine if Langol hills, parts of Lamphel, Andro village foothills, Nongmaijing hill etc, are suddenly made non-revenue area, there would be sparks flying everywhere again. Moreover, as we had argued before in these columns, serious constitutional crisis can result in the future in matters of citizens losing their franchise rights. To take the Moreh example again, supposing tomorrow a Meitei or for that matter a Tamil domicile holding Indian passport decides to file nomination for the Outer Manipur Parliamentary Constituency, we can imagine what uproar this would result in. Constitutionally however, we cannot think how this hypothetical candidature could be dismissed. But if administrative convenience is the key consideration, it would make no sense for Langol Hills or Lamphel or the Nongmaijing Hills to be administered from the SADAR Hills headquarters at Kangpokpi. Perhaps the commission working on the demarcation of district boundaries would be seeking to address such problems as well, and if so the possible bad scenario we sketched above would be redundant.

There is another way out. If at all SADAR Hills district becomes a reality, the government must consider the possibility of making it a revenue district, or some similar arrangement so that nobody ends up dispossessed. Imphal becoming split into Imphal East and West had no problem, because nobody ended up dispossessed even if some farmers ended up with their paddy fields split between the two districts. Ideally, the creation of any new district or the splitting of existing ones into more parts should have been as was the case of Imphal becoming two revenue districts. Although it may still not be time for equal land laws for the hills and valley, the problem the state is faced with now should serve as an indicator some sort of parity is long overdue.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2011/08/more-sadar-spectre/

A question often is asked, sometimes with an air of mischievous rhetoric, whether Sharmila is being pushed into what she is doing by vested interests, and if not this, then by public expectations. The implication is, she is unable to exercise her free will to decide on how or whether her seemingly futile protest should proceed any further. Further, another implied allegation is also Sharmila has ceased to be of any great concern for the people of Manipur by and large, which is why her protest is all the more doomed to be in a limbo that it seems to be in at the moment. These are serious thoughts or charges if you like. The question is, what is the volitional element in Sharmila’s continued fast? Is she responding to public expectations only or is she driven by a faith in her own action? While there should be no doubt the latter is there predominantly, it is necessary to dispel some of the doubts raised. The answer could come in the form of a question. Is there anybody whose action is not in some ways or other a response to public expectations?

Students of psychology would tell us there is nobody. These expectations are not always overt. They have been ingrained into the social consciousness so deeply that much of them come naturally to all of us without the need for making conscious choices. A few very basic questions should be illuminating. Why do we fear not doing well in studies? Why do we not walk around naked in public? The answer is, because such behaviours would not be approved by the society. Much of our social behaviours are thus moderated by this ever present “Superego” in Freudian terms. In a crux, Freud’s personality dynamics becomes an interplay of three powerful forces within the human psyche: the infantile “Id”, the parental “superego” and the rational “ego”. “Id” is thus about inborn, primitive, animal desires, appetites and instincts. The “Superego” controls and moderates (or civilises) the “Id”, sometimes excessively and to the detriment of the health of the individual. It is thus the rational “Ego” which must negotiate between these two. This personality dynamic would be the fuel behind Sharmila’s decisions, conscious or subconscious, as it is for everybody else. The only difference is, Sharmila has stepped out of private life boldly and is in the public domain in a radical way, and hence, we would argue here is a case of an enviable success of the “Ego” to rein in the “Id” and the “Superego”. The “Superego” which normally should have determined her public behaviour and decisions, have been rationalise successfully by her powerful “Ego” to convert it into a magnanimous sense of public duty. This being the case, it is only natural the pressure of expectations, not just public expectations but her own as well, would be much more on her. It is a truism that people do expect much more from public figures than from the ordinary man or woman on the street, and in our opinion, nobody in the state is as much a selfless public figure as Sharmila has come to be.

The next question is, why do people expect another to accomplish what is also essentially their aspiration? Why hasn’t there been many more stepping forward to join Sharmila’s style of protest? These questions deserve another rhetorical answer as well. If everybody were to take care of their own problems, or were to be capable of taking care of all their own problems, and this ability in collective were to be the solution to social problems, why would there have been any need for leaders at all? Eric Fromm’s book “Escape from Freedom” is dedicated to answering this question. Freedom can get terrifying for many if not most, and so taking important decisions on which crucially hangs the fate of individuals and society, independently, is not easy. This is where the role of inspirational leadership comes in. These strong men and women would become the centres where the ordinary men and women surrender their freedoms to make important decisions. And who can deny Sharmila is an inspirational leader who has made sacrifices nobody can or has ever made. But Fromm’s caution is, although this has nothing remotely to do with Sharmila’s case, when the ordinary men and women get too insecure, they begin to surrender more and more of their freedom to tough leaders who they entrust to deliver them from the source of their insecurities. Such a condition he says is the ground on which the most brutal dictatorships have spawned. Hitler’s Germany, Stalin’s Russia, Mussolini’s Italy, all shared this social dynamics. Sharmila’s case is a radical departure from this but there is an interesting parallel. While there can be no argument she is an inspirational leader let those who love her not leave her to bear all the burdens alone. Nobody can emulate what she is doing, but let it not be forgotten everybody who would benefit from her cause has a duty to also contribute to take forward what she is fighting for.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2011/08/sharmilas-road-ahead/