Manipur News

The post URF flays politicians appeared first on  KanglaOnline.com.

IMPHAL, January 22: The United Revolutionary Front, Manipur has said in a press statement that the politicians of the state should not make any comments on the armed outfits.

“If they really think for the land and its people, they should come out and join the movement,” it said.

The release also said that if they keep on yelling to grab the power of the masses, then the URF will not remain silent.

It said that the irresponsible speech and actions of the politicians have today broken apart the once independent land. The politicians who change their colours frequently have always tried to weakened the movement of the armed outfits, the release said.

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The post Sit in protest against alleged torture of house wife appeared first on  KanglaOnline.com.

IMPHAL, January 22: Locals of the area around Kongba Bazaar locality and the women vegetable vendors held a sit-in protest against the alleged torture of the wife of Ramesh Gupta. Many placards were put up demanding that the culprit Ramesh Gupta should be punished as per the law and that crimes against women must be stopped.

The JAC formed in this regard has demanded that the children be handed over to their mother and threatened that Kongba Road would be blocked in case no attention is given to fulfilling the demands for action against Ramesh Gupta.

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The post Socio-religious sustenance appeared first on  KanglaOnline.com.

Manipur’s socio-cultural and religious milieu is an interesting area for sociologists. Its legacy of an indigenous history marked by spirit worship and that of natural forces was radically changed following the decision of the ruler of the land in the 15th century to make Hinduism the order of the day. This marked the beginning of idol worship and practices of ‘pure’ and ‘impure’ that may well have contributed to social schisms among the common indigenous traditional followed by the hill and valley people. The conversion to Hinduism was not a gradual process and nor was it a voluntary one. A king’s edict meant total obedience and those who did not agree lost their lives and many indigenous texts were destroyed on one hand while on the other, there were efforts to preserve whatever could be hidden away. As it happened, the introduction of Hinduism also brought about unique transliterations of mythologies, rituals and traditions, cuisine, social and cultural practices in Manipur. The assimilation of a forced tradition on an ancient indigenous legacy has also led to near similar renditions of the stories of indigenous deities that mirror Hindu narratives.

The influence of Hinduism, which has been in practice for a mere 300 odd years can be also seen in the nature of a generation of people brought up on tenets of being vegetarian and shunning meat and rituals around birth, death, marriage and various festivals mirroring common elements that is seen in the rest of the country among Hindu communities. On the social front of course, the idolization of Lord Krishna in place of animist and forest spirits led to the birth of the famed Ras Leela dance form. But where earlier practices were replaced by new concepts, there were fascinating assimilations taking place. The marriage of centuries long indigenous practice and beliefs and a forced religious tenet however inauspicious the beginning, brought in extensions of socio-cultural overlap and blurring the edges of separate entities. If the Lai Harouba earlier marked only indigenous practices, subsequent observations would see Hindu traditions being incorporated starting from the idolization of indigenous deities, which were earlier worshipped in spirit form only.

But in the scheme of things of change being the only constant, the hold of Hinduism is now being increasingly challenged in the state. In the same manner that Hinduism was imposed by force but also taken in with great enthusiasm, the earlier Meitei traditions and practices are slowly making an appearance in the social religious sphere. But just as there are sections of people who are beginning to shun Hindu names and other related practices, there are many others who allege a near to fanatic approach to root out Hinduism that brooks no opposition. This near to militant approach of ‘getting back to one’s roots’ brings on the dictates for marrying within the community, retaining Meitei names amongst others and is seen in its most vociferous best in internet comments and ‘discussions’. The uneasy truth of course is that when cultures melt into each other, it can get complex to separate into its earlier constituents.

That said, it is not uncommon for societies and cultures to go through phases of examining its traditions and beliefs, including religion and reforming practices that are either outdated or prone to lead to social disadvantages. Even within Hinduism itself, the hold of the Brahmin class saw the reform movement calling for more austere measures and a call to spirituality with even Sikhism also being accepted as an offshoot of the reform movement of Hinduism. The restraints on what can be eaten and not eaten by people born into Hindu families have undergone a sea change under the impact of the global world opening up and people of the younger generation experimenting with their palate. This, and other voluntary approaches to reclaim age old practices and beliefs only means that cultural and religious practices and norms will go back and forth and sometimes together. The current social phenomenon of Emoinu observations is one such example. Many will see its observation as a validation of going to one’s roots. But what also needs to be seen is that the elements of offering rice, paddy and vegetables and fruits while wishing for prosperity and well being is a common refrain in most societies and culture all across the world. It boils down to one thing: sustenance.

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The post Handicap apex body appeared first on  KanglaOnline.com.

IMPHAL, January 22: The associations of handicapped persons of Manipur today officially announced its apex body – “State Platform of Disable People Organization Manipur” with “Rising, Shinning to stand united” as its motto.

During a press meet at press club, Jaswanta Sapam President of the State Platform of Disabled People Organization, Manipur said that compared to other states, people with handicaps in the state are facing lots of problem and are less competitive because the schemes which the centre has sanctioned especially for the handicapped are not being implemented.

Saying that the State Platform of Disable People Organization, Manipur  is made up of all communities, he said that the people with disabilities 1985 act is yet to be implemented in the state. “We are yet to have a state disabilities commissioner for the welfare of the disabilities,” he added.

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The post Agricultural imbalances appeared first on  KanglaOnline.com.

Social activists working with people at the grassroots in the country have for sometime, been making noises about how certain government schemes meant to alleviate the difficulties faced by the economically weak sections of the population have only ended up burdening them. At the heart of it, these activists claim and with good reason too, that India is a country where the majority of people is involved in agricultural production and that when policies, schemes and development packages meant for social good are designed in such a way that they bring about changes that disrupt the pattern of this sector, then it may well lead to a slow and steady structural ruin of the economy and threaten livelihood patterns in the short term. The Public Distribution System of essential items for the poor, designed to give food and other essential item support for economically disadvantaged people in the country apart from being riddled by large-scale corruption and inferior quality of food grains being given to the poor is also being held responsible for weeding out nutritional variants of rice and other cereals. Agricultural activists and experts claim that with the Government focusing on producing polished rice, the indigenous rice and other cereals are being left out of the food production output and hence, from the nutritional plate of people.

Another popular social scheme, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme introduced to give a certain number of days of ‘employment’ to unskilled workers without the security of a proper job has various flaws but the one that area that most people do not even begin to think is how this program affects the agricultural sector of the country. The involvement of agricultural workers in MGNREGS leads to the shortage of agricultural workers at various stages: be it sowing, reaping or harvesting. Add this context to the growing urbanization of the country in its towns and villages marked by agricultural lands being converted to concrete infrastructure like buildings, shopping malls, market spaces and the like and what we have at the end of the road is a future scenario where there may not be too many people to take up agricultural activity and a fast decreasing space to do so. The ‘haves’ of society have the option of buying packed food and food grains that are imported but the majority of the country, the ‘have nots’ will have no option but to starve in a long drawn out process.

In Manipur of course, the above two social benefit schemes may not end up leading to the situation described for like many other social schemes in the state, these two do not work much beyond the table except in a few areas. Fortunately or unfortunately, various social benefit schemes benefit party workers and those who root for the area MLA with the Social Welfare Department being a mere shadow agency. Because of this, it is not social schemes that are impacting the agricultural sector as it does in other parts of the country but the very popular Village Defense Force as an avenue of employment that is responsible for taking away able bodies work force from the field to run amok on the streets. The large scale ‘migration’ of a work force who were earlier involved in agricultural production means farmers have to bring in field workers from far off areas which only increases the costs. The other bit of course, is that a lot of agricultural land is being sold off to meet the costs of bagging the job. The specter of development and progress cannot stand by itself unless the backbone of society: which is what it eats to sustain itself, is not taken care of and promoted. The North East region of the country has been considered a storehouse of indigenous rice breeds and if it does not learn from the way in which other nutritious cereals like bajra, jowar and ragi have been displaced by the Rs 5 per kg rice breed have been wiped off in the rest of the country, we will only have ourselves to blame one day.

The post Agricultural imbalances appeared first on  KanglaOnline.com.

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