Tag: Editorial

Like any other mega events of the world, the FIFA World Cup has also its murky side. French football legend and the president of Union of European Football Associations, Michel Platini fumes over a British newspaper’s report, he charged the newspaper of tarnishing his reputation by drawing him into corruption standers. The legend was in news regarding the Qatar 2022 World Cup bid. Platini claimed that he was no longer astonished by the spreading of unfounded rumours at an important moment for the future of football. The Daily Telegraph had alleged the football legend had held “a secret meeting” with Mohammed bin Hammam, the man who is also in controversy, accused of bribing to secure support for Qatar 2022 World Cup campaign. The controversial selection of Qatar to host the 2022 had resulted in bitter row. There was even a proposal that the tournament should be moved to winter to avoid the scorching summer heat of Qatar. FIFA president Joseph Blatter who voted for the United States to host the 2022 World Cup had explained that there was “definitely direct political influence” on European executive committee members to vote for Qatar. Blatter had told the German weekly Die Zeit that European leaders recommended to its voting members to opt for Qatar, because of major economic interest. FIFA therefore was under criticism for awarding Qatar to host the 2022 World Cup. But Blatter defended FIFA’s move saying that the criticism was born out of ‘European delusion and ethnocentrism’. Blatter speaking to a football website had said that it is high time that Europe started to understand that they do not rule the world anymore, and that some former European imperial powers can no longer impose their will on others. Here, it is important to note that politics and economics play an important role in awarding mega events to a particular country. It has been a concerted effort of the FIFA to take its events to new areas of the world such as South Korea, Japan, South Africa, Brazil and Qatar. They have expanded the borders of soccer. But FIFA and foreign investors have had benefits from it. An explainable logic is that new countries offer new areas for foreign investment. There are always demands for construction of new stadiums. Foreign investors have earned huge profits by investing into Brazilian construction firms, for instance. Most of the designs and constructions of stadiums in Qatar is being done by international firms based in the US. The last world cup which was held in South Africa was also not free from debate on politics and economics related to the event. As argued by critics, the majority of tournament favourites are nations with developed economies and histories as colonial powers. Alongside, multinational corporations have their brand names all over the World Cup products, to the extent that Ellis Park Stadium in Johannesburg was renamed Coca-Cola Park. The Creative Workers’ Union of South Africa called for a boycott of the Kick-off concert on the grounds that the featured international artists were signed in by corporates, rather than local artists. Finally FIFA did increase the number of local artists shortly before the concert. Guardian columnists like Chris Rodriguez have dubbed the tournament a “vanity project” and “testament to there being no concern for the national welfare among its decision makers”. Back home in India, with the Cup getting closer for the kick-off, the corporate houses are switching gear to connect with TV audience who are not hooked to cricket. Brands such as Hero MotoCorp, Lava Mobiles, Microsoft, Nokia and Adidas are leading the race to woo soccer fans reports The Hindustan Times. Sony Six, the new official broadcaster of FIFA is selling slots for Rs 2.5 lakh per 10 seconds, the same ESPN TV channel charged during the last World Cup despite just 900 seconds available, against 2,400 seconds during T20 cricket matches. Nevertheless, sports fans have to find a middle ground between the extremes of economics & politics and the sporting spirit of the game called football, without pretending that social injustice associated with the game is no longer a problem. With just six days to go, we are keeping our finger crossed lest the electricity ditches us.

 

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/06/fifa-and-a-few-money/

The battle for the post of president in the state Trinamool Congress is over. Or is it just the beginning? One can never be sure about it. It was in 2011 that the party opened its account in the state Assembly election. The party’s candidate Konthoujam Sarat defeated his rival candidate of the Congress in a by-election following the demise of the then sitting MLA, Dr Sapam Budhichandra of Konthoujam Assembly Constituentcy, who was also the Speaker of the Manipur Assembly. The present confusion in the party could scale up, and it could become almost like a circus arena where the clown, the juggler and the gymnast perform different acts – all together at a time. It is worth mentioning that Trinamool emerged as the second largest party in the 10th Assembly Election of Manipur. The party bagged seven seats out of the sixty Assembly Constituencies. With the Indian National Congress scripting history by winning a whooping forty two seats in a house of 60 seats; though small, the seven seats that Trinamool captured naturally made them the leading opposition in the House. Its MLA from Oinam Assembly Constituentcy, Dr Irengbam Ibohalbi has been a prominent member of the opposition. During the past Assembly Sessions, Dr Ibohalbi has been an active participant in the debates of the House. Whenever Dr Ibohalbi speaks, he speaks with conviction and flair. The rest of the MLAs of Trinamool were silent members of the House, of course with the exception of Thounaojam Shyamkumar of Andro and Khumukcham Joykishan of Thangmeiband. But one cannot afford to miss the name of MLA L Ibomcha of NCP who is also one of the best opposition members of the House. The two members are undeniably the saving grace of the opposition. Without the two names the House could have witnessed the weakest ever opposition in the history of the Manipur Legislative Assembly. This is at the time when political heavyweights like O Joy and K Radhabinod missed to claim their seats in the 10th Assembly Election. The Communist Party of India, a party known to be a fiery opposition in the House also failed to return a single seat in this Assembly. In a working democracy the role of the opposition is no less important than the ruling party. After all, it is the debates in the House which are going to shape the policies and programmes of the government. Through debates the opposition fine tunes the policies and intervenes when there are any aberrations while executing the policies. The state Trinamool Congress by its virtue of being the leading party in the opposition should be a responsible party. The party should be at the forefront in setting agendas of the people, particularly when the ruling government fails to deliver. What is happening now within the party should come to a logical end. The party should immediately stop washing its dirty linen in the public. If all the three leaders: Kim Gangte, Th Shyamkumar and Kh Joykishan are claiming to be the president of the party, perhaps the best option left with their high command is to drop all the three names. Even if their high command appoints one among the three as the legitimate president of the party, the inner party imbroglio is bound to linger. Mamata Banerjee should not perhaps miss the name of Dr I Ibohalbi from her tentative list for the post of the president of her party in the state.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/06/crisis-in-the-state-trinamool/

The season of spring might have well passed with a drought like situation in Manipur. Natural cycle of the dried leaves giving way to new leaves might have passed unnoticed from our vista, for most of us were hard hit by water scarcity. The scarcity could have been well avoided had there been an iota of vision and sincerity on the part of people who are at the helms of affairs. Imphal School of Music, a budding musical institute has created a niche of its own in the musical landscape of Manipur. Established in the year 2012 by some musicians who had pursued Western music from institute like the Associated Board of Royal School of Music and Trinity College, which are two well respected musical institutes based in London. It is heartening to learn that ISM has been declared a visiting Centre of Trinity College of London. This will provide a unique space for those who wish to pursue Western Classical music in Manipur. Moreover, the grade examination system in Western Classical music can be appeared in ISM under the supervision of the visiting faculties from Trinity College, London. Well, this might once again roused the curiosity in us, of how a reputed institute like the Trinity College would take interest to come all over to a tiny state of eastern India. A simple answer would be: the love for music, though there could be so many ways to explain it. The faculties who are now serving in ISM have earned their grades from either ABRSM or TC of London. They are also the founding members of the ISM. Their specialisation is in the musical instrument called the guitar. The origin of this musical instrument is still obscure, though there are many hypothesis related with it. We shall however not digress with its historicity. It is a fact that the instrument has become the common property of all music lovers of the world, cutting across its geographical landscape and political boundaries. With all its ambiguities as far as its origin is concerned, the instrument is generally considered a Western musical instrument. How did the instrument reach Manipur or South Asia, for that matter, is hitherto another question. Most of these countries have their own string musical instruments. One viable answer would be the charm of the instrument and its reach associated with it. ‘English Song’ is one that has its reach in almost every parts of the globe. There has been a considerable advancement in technology after the Industrial Revolution which took place in the early period of the Nineteenth Century. It gave way to inventions of many scientific tools and products. Needless to say the Record Player is one of them. This particular innovation made it easy for the recorded sound to be distributed all around the globe. And hence ‘English song’ arrived along with it, and undoubtedly the charm of guitar. Perhaps its influence reached Manipur in the late 1960s. In a nutshell, the history came alive at an event organised by ISM on June 1, entitled ‘Honouring the Inspirational Guitarists’ in a modest function held in Imphal. ISM took an initiative to honour some of the pioneer artistes of guitar. It included names like Yumnam Rajen Singh, Wahengbam Samson, Laimayum Radhacharan Sharma and Laimayum Dvendrajit Sharma, who were mostly prominent artists of the Roop Rag; a name that is synonymous with the modern Manipuri music. They are considered as the first generation guitarist of Manipur. These names are followed by Gohao, Guru Rewben Mashangva, Guru Jiangam Kamei, Elangbam Nutan, Ringo Golmei, Vivek Sharma and RK Brajakumar Singh; the second generation guitarist of Manipur, who have made a name for themselves in the Western Music, in the Rock ‘n’ Roll genre. What is exceptional is that these two generations of guitar players had to struggle with the minimal exposure and the knowledge of playing an instrument like the guitar. It was out of their sheer passion for the instrument and love of music that they could carve out a space of their own in Manipur, a state which was already vibrant with other performance art forms and music. Now, we have so many guitar artistes in our midst. Almost every Leikai has them. What is appreciable is the recognition given to the ‘old’ by the ‘new’, without whom the third generation guitar artists like the ISM and its contemporaries would not have played guitar. We can only reiterate the Chinese proverb: A bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song. Keep playing.

 

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/06/honouring-the-guitarist/

The May 29 bomb explosion at the crowded market place of Singjamei was another senseless act committed by ‘cowards’. Yes, this was the word used by most of the political leaders who visited the site of the blast. The same word was used when the leaders spoke to the media at the sidelines of their visit to the victims who are still fighting for their life in some of the hospitals in Imphal. Planting bomb at a busy market place is a sign of insanity. Let us all agree with that. Indications are that the blast was targeted at some particular community. Yet a bomb is not so intelligent to differentiate between people of different communities. It can hurt or kill anyone having no prejudice. One valley based proscribed outfit has charged that it could be a sinister design of the state to show Manipur in a bad light. We cannot ascertain the charge thrown against the state by the outfit as of now. But on hindsight, Chief Minister visited the site of the blast. After that the CM visited the victims in the hospitals, like any other responsible leader. He said the government will not spare the perpetrators. Besides, the CM did not ruled out the possibility of the bomb being targeted at the non-locals as the area is often crowded by them. Yet the motive can only be ascertained after proper investigation and apprehension of the perpetrators involved, the CM also added. We cannot imagine how many more bombs will be exploded in crowded areas in the days to come. People of Imphal have seen a series of bomb blast in the recent past. We have not heard of a single perpetrator getting caught by the state police so far. Both the CM and the deputy CM were brave enough to cover up the failure of the state security, maintaining that there have been no lapses from the part of the home department. Needless to mention that the site of the blast has round the clock security deployment; with the army sentry snooping down from the height of the Chinga Ching as well. As we have mentioned in this column earlier, most of the check points in Imphal have already been outsourced to the ‘quasi force’ called the Village Defense Force. These VDF are engaged only in two kinds of duties. One is to frisk the youngsters, who are on two wheelers and check every personal belongings needlessly. Secondly, checking the vehicles returning from Moreh to Imphal, for a few currency notes to be extracted from the drivers or the petty businessmen, this is evidently visible at the Chinga Makhong check point every day. The blast could have been averted had the security been alert of any suspicious movements in the particular area, rather than harassing youngsters or milking money from the vehicles. We have learned from sources that the VDF personnel who were posted for duty on the day of the blast were given a good thrashing by their senior officers. The fact is that the state has outsourced some of the most important jobs of maintaining security to some ill-trained force who are pitiably under-paid and motivated. The state leaders at the same time shirk away from owing responsibility when a major crime like bomb blast occurs at a crowded place. What is even more distasteful is the audacity of the CM to claim that his government has been trying their best to prevent such incidents in areas especially where AFSPA has been lifted. Not only this, his deputy purportedly justified the incident that it was not an isolated incident. He said “even in highly advance country like US, shooting incidents of school children happens”. We cannot figure out what kind of analogy the deputy CM was trying to draw. But enough playing with words when people are dying, the ‘cowards’ could be hiding in your backyard.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/06/stop-playing-with-bombs-and-words/

A district level consultative meeting held in Churachandpur district opened up a wide forum deliberating on Juvenile Justice Act, Substance Abuse Act and the role that the media has to play specifically concerning the Acts. We must congratulate the organisers for executing such consultative meeting which is the crying need of the hour. Though Churachandpur Chapter of Manipur Alliance for Child Right is at a nascent stage, the organisation has been able to make some positive interventions in the district. Dealing with sensitive cases like child sexual abuse; which even involved cases of rape, intervention on corporal punishment meted out to school children, taking up stringent measures against domestic torture of girl child etc. The consultative meeting should be an ongoing exercise. Though the organisers have expressed their disappointment over the slim attendance of participants, we would say the number of attendance was optimal. An increase in the number of participants would have become a crowd. For a consultative meeting on a subject like child rights, it is important to get on hold to the right focus. We have seen many consultative meetings getting fuddled just because too many talking heads wish their voices to be heard. Giving little attention to what the previous speaker has said, another speaker would make a rambling speech repeating the same points. Precious time will get wasted, and you realise that a little progress has been made on the subject and the discussion. This was not so for the May 29 meeting at the District Training Center in Churachandpur.

During the meeting the role of the law enforcing agencies and that of the media were underscored by the professionals who are currently working in their respective fields. Quite essentially the nuances of the Acts were highlighted by rights activist. We would say this is where the crux of the consultation lies. Without understanding the working principal of the Acts, it is simply impossible to focus on the issue. There are legal technicalities which are not easy to understand, after all not every one of us is a legal expert. Most often the legal definitions and guidelines that appertain to the Act seem to nestle only in the ivory tower of the jurisprudence. And this is where the proactive role of the rights activists is called for. They should act as the vital link between the Acts and the common man, for whom the laws are being made. Consultations of this kind should be the beginning in this direction. For instance, the specificity of age of a juvenile which was raised by a lady participant is a case in point. Section 2(l) of JJ Act defines a juvenile as any child who has not yet completed eighteen years of age. Section 15(1) (g) of the same Act further mandates that a juvenile convicted of any offence can be sentenced to be sent to a special home for a period of three years, maximum and thereafter be released on probation. The 2012 Delhi gang rape case had bought forth the age issue. One of the accused, according to reports was a juvenile, who was the most aggressive during the act of the crime. There was widespread debate among the legal experts and rights activist as far as the Act is concerned. It is heartening to see such nuances were touched upon during the consultative meeting. The Alliance should further carry forward their work to the grassroots; at the community level and at the schools, where children spend time for their learning almost equally with the time they spend at home. Community leaders and schools authorities are some of the people who should be sensitised from time to time. There is a long road ahead for the Alliance. Please keep going.

 

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/05/child-rights-and-churachandpur-chapter/

After the examination result comes the time for admission. The Education Directorate of Manipur has come forward with a new experiment for admission in the higher secondary level. Of all the government higher secondary schools in Manipur only eight schools are being picked out. Namely: Churachand Singh, Ananda Singh, Ram Lal Paul, Johnstone, Tamphasana, Ibotonsana, Model and Lamlong are the eight higher secondary schools that have been picked out from the rest. The previous year saw an influx of students for admission to some of these schools. It resulted in a disproportionate enrollment. Schools like CC, Johnstone and Tamphasana had to admit students much beyond their intake capacity. To a certain measure these schools are considered to be among the ‘elite club’ of government schools. These schools have a legacy in their own right. There is no doubt about it. But now it seems the only legacy that has remained is the name. The reason for preferring these schools is not difficult to understand. These schools are situated within five kilometers radius in Imphal. Except for Lamlong higher secondary and Model higher secondary, the remaining six schools are right in the heart of the Imphal town. Thus these schools are also a favourite place of posting for the teachers. According to the rationale given by the Directorate, the so called Centralised Admission System (CAS)is to bring uniformity in the enrollment of students with respect to the seats available in the said schools. The Directorate in an upbeat tone has apparently announced that there will be no cut-off mark in view of the request made by some guardians. As per the Directorate’s thinking, the new CAS will open doors for infrastructural growth in the selected eight schools. An optimistic picture alongside has also been drawn already that well trained teachers are going to impart education in these schools. Let it be known that the new scheme is like giving dead sentence to the rest of the government higher secondary schools.  By concentrating all its energy and resources to the eight schools, the government is going to starve the rest;needless to mention that most government schools are already at an advanced state of decay. This is nothing but the sign of withdrawal of the state from the education sector. Though the government with all its might would shout from the toproof that they are very much concern about education in the state. The painful truth is that without the centrally sponsored schemes like the SarvaShikshaAbhiyan, Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan and Mid-Day Meal Scheme, the names of the government schools would have already become history. This is simply because the state does not have an education policy of its own. The budgetary allocations for education infrastructure and programmes are too little; as major chunk of the money are spent on teachers’ salary. This is the juncture that the private schools enter into the scenario. They have out-performed the government schools in terms of infrastructure and service delivery. Private schools have filled in the void created by government schools’ deficit both in physical infrastructure and delivery of service. But private schools come with a price. Parents have to spend a good amount of money if they are to send their children to private schools. Therefore, parents with limited means prefer to send their children to government schools. The rush to the above mentioned schools is because the parents have no other options available within their reach. At the same time the CAS flaunted by the Directorate is another ad hoc approach to firefight the multi-systemic failure of the education system in Manipur. With the implementation of the CAS the Directorate is curtailing the administrative role that the authorities of the schools could partake in the overall management of their schools. Academic administration should be best left to the school authorities. Over and above CAS will demoralise all the remaining schools in its functioning and growth. This regressive outlook and practice need rethinking. 

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/05/centralised-admission-system-is-not-the-solution/

It is extremely heartbreaking to know that the black badged warriors of our first ladyship could not protect her fortress of propriety. Are we becoming a civilisation of caged minds that we have become so intolerant to the words that emanate out from free minds, who speaks with wit and wisdom? Satire is an art; the art has been enduring throughout the literary history of the human civilisation since antiquity. It is one of the most essential elements of a free society. Literary critic justifies it as a corrective of human vice and folly; Alexander Pope, for instance, remarked that “those who are ashamed of nothing else are so of being ridiculous.” As critics put it, satirist often manifests the character of an urbane, witty, and tolerant man of the world, who is moved more often to wry amusement than to indignation at the spectacle of the human folly, pretentiousness, and hypocrisy. Satirist is a serious moralist sometimes who decries ways of vice and error. Needless to say, true to the best of our knowledge and conscious mind that we love to read the weekly columns of a Manipuri local daily: ‘Awoiba Amashung Oidaba’ written by Vox Populi. We do not know the identity of Vox Populi. Whether the writer is a man or a woman, we do not bother to know; Vox Populi is his or her true name is the least of our concerns. Our resolve is that the writer should keep on writing, free from any kind of inhibitions without being coerced by empty protests or rebukes. The recent column with the title ‘Mark ki Su in-charge Leigadra’ (loosely translated as ‘will there be an in-charge for the marks’) is perhaps the best among many. In its definitive style, the column begins with a knavish question to one Thoudam Ibohal, supposedly a Leikai elder. The writer urges Ibohal to make a hypothetical choice between two alternatives; the choice is of his son scoring 99.9 percentages in matriculation examination or winning 99 Crores from a lottery draw. Indeed a difficult choice to make for Ibohal. Choices of this kind can put anyone into a state of dilemma. The first choice is a value-loaded goal that could be accomplished only through genuine effort. As for the second choice, the amount of money is simply impossible, even for anyone who earns Rupees one lakh a month. Ibohal flatly rejects the choices given to him terming it as a baloney. The writer then narrates a story of a hard working boy hailing from a Chinese province, who became a doctor and went to the United States for further research. He returns to China as a proficient doctor and starts serving his own countryman – by becoming the director of a medical institution. The director, whenever he is away from the institution would hand over the charge to his wife. Finally the director is sent to jail for his misdoing. Vox Populi neatly allegorises the story, saying that there is a similar director in Manipur who could end up in jail. And the irony is even in the jail, as Vox Populi predicts, the same man could become the ‘jail director’. In short, the writer sketches the metamorphosis of a sincere man, who got swallowed by temptations when power is bestowed in his hand. The man not only becomes a symbol of avariciousness but also a man of deceitful pretensions. Here is the bottom line: if you cannot praise such a beautiful piece of satire which reflects contemporary Manipur, we would suggest you to read Swift’s Gulliver’s Travel or Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn – two classics that unrepentantly illuminate the ills of their respective societies, though there are many in English writings. If you are not comfortable in English, you can start with GC Tongbra or Laishram Samarendra. Your snobbish taste could stop you from reading Manipuri, but then you can listen to Epom – the masterpiece of Manipuri courtyard play of satire and humour. Now, cassettes are no longer available, but you can get the CDs easily from the shops just around the corner of Pologround, Imphal West district. If nothing works at all, then let it be. We are still happy to see sycophants fanning a storm over a cup of tea

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/05/in-praise-of-vox-populi/

The news report of May 24 that of a woman lawyer and her two friends from northeast being chased by a group of lawyers, who slapped and threatened her is condemnable beyond any words. The incident was an out fall of an alleged molestation of the woman from Nagaland studying at the Delhi University by a lawyer at the Vishwavidyalaya Metro station on the evening of May 22. According to the news report carried by the Indian Express, the accused lawyer allegedly passed lewd remarks at the woman student from Nagaland. The woman objected and then the accused came close and molested her. Passers-by near the Metro station nabbed the lawyer and handed him to the police. On the following day the woman along with her lawyer and friends went to court. An unruly mob of lawyers chased and attacked them in the court premises. They warned the victim with dire consequences if the case is not withdrawn against the accused lawyer. Court staff had to call the police as the mob of lawyers was getting uncontrollable. The counsel of the woman has alleged that the lawyers even tore the shirt of the investigation officer. They threw ink on the files of the investigating officer. It was also reported that some students representatives of northeast student bodies based in Delhi, who accompanied the victim to express their solidarity were not spared from the attack. Here, we would like to dismiss the shock element of ‘law practitioners’ breaking the law at a court premise. We would leave the matter at the disposal of the law itself, as there has been report of FIRs being registered against the violent lawyers. Incidents of attack on the people from the northeast in different parts of the country, more particularly in the Capital city of Delhi are not new occurrences. These have been going almost on a regular basis. There have been deliberations among the concerned citizens ranging from the people in academics to the civil organisations on these issues. Groups are being formed at various levels for a positive intervention. For instance a voluntary group based in Delhi was in Imphal a few days back. The group has promised to provide all possible assistance to the people of the northeast like free transportation and medical care in the Capital for a safe stay. These are the words of the Samaritans with a skewed perspective, we would say. As many commentators would often say that there is a need to bring the people of the northeast into the ‘mainstream’, and that people to people interaction must be encouraged. Agreed that India as a country is a mosaic of cultural and ethnic identities. But case like racial segregation cannot be handled by slogan like ‘unity in diversity’ unless the issue is addressed from the vantage point of the Indian state, of how they perceived the northeast. The stark reality like the imposition of draconian law of Armed Forces Special Powers Act in the states of northeast India should be the entry point to locate skewed perspective. Perry Anderson in his ‘Indian Ideology’ takes a critical look of the ‘unspoken realities of the Indian polity’. Anderson quotes historian Ananya Vajpeyi, who says ‘what AFSPA effectively does is to create an entirely separate space within India, a sort of second and shadow nation, that functions as a military state rather than electoral democracy’. Though Anderson does not prescribe fully to Ananya’s contestation on AFSPA viv-à-vis the northeast in the context of debating on the idea of India as a republic; we, however, would burrow Ananya’s ‘shadow nation’ to contextualise the skewed perspective of the Indian state and its ‘mainstream’ people particularly towards the northeast people. There is an AFSPA like approach employed by the ‘mainland’ people while dealing with the northeast people. Racial discrimination is another form of AFSPA, and this perhaps is another dimension where from we can engage the debate afresh.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/05/attacking-the-shadow-nation/

All eyes will be on the Rashtrapati Bhavan with Narendra Modi swearing-in as the 15th Prime Minister of India. Modi is the man of the moment. In the rank and file of the Bharatiya Janata Party, perhaps there is no other party man other than Modi who has a canny sense of seizing the moment. Alongside, he also has a deep sense of chiseling extraordinary moment out of the ordinary. Modi uses metaphors even better than the then Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who never misses to sprinkle a few lines of poetry in his speeches. During his visit to Varanasi, post-election result, Modi offered symbolic prayer at the riverside of Ganga – a river that is deeply entrenched in the religious psyche of the Hindus. A mammoth team of media trailed Modi wherever he moved; his visit to his mother to seek blessings, his thanks giving visit to the voters of Varanasi and his show of veneration of the place. Modi knelt down on the steps of the Parliament House on the day of the Parliamentary Board meeting to show his respect for the institution, just before entering inside the House. Modi well knew that all his actions were televised across the country, and that it was beamed directly to the millions of viewers at real time. He calls the Parliament as the ‘temple’ of democracy and BJP his mother; he choked and all his party men choked too. One could imagine the reaction of the hoi polio, not only of the voters of the Hindi heartland, but also the voters of emotive-India, who can shed tears with the television serials every day. The country has never been witness to such display of emotion, both outside and inside the Parliament by political leaders, adroitly scripted by Modi through his metaphors of words and actions. Though the party will deny, BJP is a political organ of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, which has a concrete base of building cadres right from the grass root level. In fact, the Communist and the BJP are the two major political parties in India that are cadre based. Modi left home early in his life to join the RSS. One may not adhere with the kind of ideology that the BJP or the RSS asserts. But here is one man like Modi, who out of his belief of a certain principle has stood by his commitment for a good part of his life. In short, Modi has lived by what he believes to be true and made them his ideal. This was elucidated by Modi himself during his speech in the Parliamentary Board meeting. Modi said whatever he has done for his party is nothing extra ordinary. He said he has simply performed the role of a soldier. His electoral campaign was taken out following the command of his party leader Rajnath Singh. His acceptance of the Prime Ministerial seat is also an act of accepting the responsibility that BJP high command has bestowed on him. Before that Modi had climbed through the ranks of cadre, to the level that he was assigned the task of mobilising the Kar Sewaks during the LK Advani led Rath Yatra.This was how Modi was tamperedthrough many of the Hindutvamovements. And this was from these grounds that hehas learned to connect with the people.Some commentators having observed Modi and the BJP’s rousing victory in the Lok Sabha election have gone on to claim that the party has soften its Hindutva stand. However, it must be registered that the political and ideological undertaking of establishing a Hindu Rashtra remains the same. Tactics is what they have changed by handing the charge to a committed man, who could steer his way through different political terrains. The BJP has chosen a man of craftsmanship in Modi who can be projected, and who in turn can inflate the party’s image. How and where do Modi steers the country through is left to be seen.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/05/modi-in-the-drivers-seat/

Svoboda Kangleicha

The recent incident of some young boys setting ablaze a popular centrally-run school and the subsequent trial in a juvenile court should not be reduced to an arbitrary aberration or as an occasional exhibition of perverse behaviour by juvenile delinquents. Locating such incidents as one-off affairs would tantamount to missing the woods for the trees as they expose a larger social malaise.
The debilitating effect of growing up in conflict-prone areas to the collective psyche of young people needs to be analysed with renewed vigour. We can’t wish away the fact that gradually being introduced to the grim realities of living in a place where the security forces possess extra constitutional powers indeed takes a toll on impressionable young minds. This is not to suggest that the spectre of goose-stepping men in uniform directly compelled the young offenders to carry out that infamous arson. But it does open the proverbial Pandora’s Box leaving us benumbed and with many unanswered questions.
Personnel of central armed forces can get away with blue murder under some archaic provisions of the law that should not be named. As a result, the state security forces emboldened by some residual powers vie with one another to have their moments of some unchallenged glory.
These semi-literate armed personnel empowered to do as they pleased are most likely to exercise those powers at any given opportunity proving absolutely right Alexander Solzenitsyn’s assertion in his ‘Gulag Archipelago’ that unlimited power in the hands of limited people always leads to cruelty.
One needs to cast a mere glance at any of the check points adorning many places in Imphal. One is most likely to come across security personnel harassing youngsters for no apparent reason. On some occasions, one may encounter cases of police brutality against them when they were certainly not in the wrong.
The ramifications of such cavalier displays of power by those wielding it is that the most sought after job in the state is that of Sub- Inspectors/Jemadars for those who could afford to bid for the limited number of such jobs on offer whenever the government issues such a notice to this effect and police constables for the not so lucky ones but who insist that they must also possess a fraction of that power.
Victor Frankl, one of the great psychotherapists of the last century and a Holocaust survivor who developed a revolutionary approach to psychotherapy known as logotherapy while describing his ordeals in four Nazi concentration camps including the notorious Auschwitz concentration camp had posited that all the camp inmates faced what befell them in three stages: first, they were all shocked; second, they developed an apathy towards the attendant horrors of anticipating death; and drawing upon Heidegger’s Will to Power theory, he said, thirdly, the survival of the inmates depended on what they were living for.
Frankl observed that those who didn’t have any meaning or greater purpose to live were the first to perish in the concentration camps.
Youngsters in Manipur who have to confront the bitter reality, one way or the other, of living under the shadows of those wielding the baton and bayonets must evolve ways to relish life and live it to the fullest. Every dark cloud has a silver lining and Frankl did survive the bestial conditions of the concentration camps by clinging to the memories of his wife without being aware whether she was alive or not.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/05/lessons-from-auschwitz/

There are many barriers that the developing nations face while accessing vital medications. Despite the efforts of NGOs, governments and health professionals there are emerging problems which have no immediate solutions. One of the crucial issues is the fight against HIV/AIDS. Trade laws under the agreements of World Trade Organisation compounds the problem. WTO regulates international trade amongst its member nations. It has tremendous influence over international trade policy. Under the WTO the introduction of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Agreement (TRIPS) in 1994, the less developed countries face huge problem in getting medical needs. Under TRIPS it is obligatory for the member countries to accept the patent law of the Western countries. The Best of MIFF (Mumbai International Film Festival) which was jointly organised by the Films Division of India and Manipur Film Development Corporation in Imphal winded up with some of the best documentaries and short films. One documentary that truly addresses the issue of HIV/AIDS is ‘Fire in the Blood’, directed by Dylan Mohan Grey. Shot across four continents, the film depicts the mass devastation brought about in Africa, Asia and other parts of the global south owing to premeditated barrier of low-cost antiretroviral drugs used for treatment of HIV/AIDS from reaching people in these countries. This barrier was erected by Western pharmaceutical companies equipped with patent monopolies. ‘Fire in the Blood’ documents the battle against the monopolistic blockade, how it was fought and won. It is very rare for a documentary to feature some of the best known figures of the world from former US President Bill Clinton, intellectual property activist James Love, journalist Donald McNeil of the New York Times, HIV/AIDS treatment activist Zackie Ashmat, Nobel Prize winners Desmond Tutu and Joseph Stiglitz. No wonder, Australian journalist and documentary film maker, John Pilger wrote “Fire in the Blood is one of the most powerful, important and humane documentaries I have ever seen. It’s the story of ordinary people standing up to unaccountable power. The struggle to save millions from the ravages of untreated HIV is revealed as a struggle against the new lords of the world, transnational corporations, their greed and lies. Genuine hope is rare these days – you’ll find it in this film.” Besides the contemporariness of the subject that the film has dealt with, the documentary underscores the joint effort of activist, journalist, health workers, and policy experts in their coordinated fight against giant pharmaceutical companies of the Western countries. We should mention Indian scientist Yusuf Hamied, Chairman of Cipla; who supplied a combination of AIDS drugs to developing countries for less than one Dollar a day, perhaps the best – known advocate of affordable drugs. Activist Zackie Achmat, whose activism for access to essential medicine is well known, and journalist Donald McNeil who broke the story of Cipla’s groundbreaking offer to sell a combination of AIDS drugs for patient just below one Dollar a day on the front pages of the New York Times and the International Herald Tribune; their works are all put into a single strand to be narrated into a 75 minutes film. We should also mention Khundrakpam Pradipkumar, who also appeared in the film briefly, but specially because of his fight against HIV/AIDS, overcoming limitations to become a reputed body builder. The film is an inspiration in our struggle against HIV/AIDS. It certainly rekindles the hope that there are people who with conviction and a right approach can bring about a positive change. The picture of HIV/AIDS and its related works in Manipur is not in a good shape. Its nodal agencies are often in the news for wrong reasons. It would not be an exaggeration to point out that many individuals or group have profited largely in the name of fighting HIV/AIDS in the state of Manipur. The crime these people have committed is no less than the one committed by the giant pharmaceutical companies by depriving the right to life of so many people. At the same time, the media needs to walk extra mile to highlight the fraudulent practices in health sector, especially in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/05/fire-in-the-blood-an-inspiration/

 The news of five young adults who were caught impersonating as police invites hilarity on the first look. But the act cannot be simply laughed away with, taking it as a petty crime committed by some local goons. Those five were caught while frisking passersby at Heingang area. It is more than clear that they were trying their hands on easy money. They would have gone away unnoticed with their trickery, had they not come across a police personal who was from the same area. The personal on suspicion enquired about their ID card. One pressing question is: why did they choose to impersonate as policemen? Is it the fascination of the uniform, or something else? The answer is the latter, and this is a telling commentary on the image of the police. We would say those impersonators have done a correct reading of the state police force; of their actions on the roadsides, of how they abuse their power to threaten people needlessly. People generally follow their command because of the inordinate power they have in their hands, and also their track record of bumping off people as they wished. The common people obey their command out of fear, not out of respect for the law, which is submission rather than cooperation. Fear is the name of the state constabulary, while coercion is the decree of statecraft. We are not aware of the educational credential of the five impersonators. But they took a wily decision to disguise as policemen in order to earn easy money on the road in broad daylight. Their inefficiency was in the execution. They should have done a bit of investment in preparing uniform instead of borrowing from a ‘quasi-force’ like the VDF.

VDF, which are a proxy appendage of the state force, has been found to be involved in many crimes in the state. We agree with some social commentators who have rightly maintained that the state government is ruining the human resource potential of the state by instituting a quasi-force like VDF. The VDF are the lowliest paid ‘employee’ of the government. But they are the most used and misused of the personnel, apparently working overtime as a proxy of the regular force. With no job security and absolutely no provision for professional growth, VDF has become one of the vulnerable forces that commit crime for easy money. One is never sure of how they are trained. Most of the personnel are from the lower strata. They have joined the force out of hopelessness, leaving college midway. This is primarily because they consider it futile to continue their education. The current trend does not apply with the VDF, but also other jobs which are in the unorganised sector of the state economy and its failure in creating job avenues. With a few colleges as exception, most of the students who are in the higher education are already engaged in some kind of job. The deceiving mantra of ‘earning while you learn’ has made inroads into the young minds. Some do it out of economic compulsion. And some for easy cash to meet the life style in vogue. What is worrisome about the Home department of the state is its lack of concern of the ever rising crimes in the state, wherein VDF personnel are involved. There seems to be no plan to revamp the force. The force should not be allowed to continue in the manner they function for too long. Either scrap the force or absorb them into the regular force of the state with proper orientation in terms of training and job security. This will be a better option although the regular personnel of the state police force are not any holier either, IRB personnel often in the news for all the wrong reasons. Incident like the recent one in Heingang will continue to rise if the authorities fail to take urgent step to rectify it.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/05/wrong-man-with-the-wrong-job/

Traffic woes are here to haunt. It promises to remain for quite some time. Commuters of the twin districts of Imphal will have to bear the brunt. The authorities have promised to complete the construction of the new Sanjenthong Bridge within a year time. IFP is ready to bury all premonitions concerning any kind of governmental projects that the state has taken up. Considering that the construction works has just begun, we do not wish to be the bad omen. Completion of the project within the stipulated time is a must. The traffic mayhem we witnessed after the closure of the bridge was not out of expectation. For sure, one can point finger to the authorities for its ill-preparedness. There is still time for the government to pay attention to the alternative routes for better traffic flow. We saw people working overtime on Sunday at the newly constructed Thumbuthong Bridge. The bridge is also a vital connect between Imphal east and west. Completion of Thumbuthong would somehow ease the congestions in a small way, which is welcome. While addressing the problem of traffic congestions the unplanned connectivity and the often misdirected routes would come in the forefront. What is missing is taking into cognizance of the unbridled rise in the number of vehicles in the two districts of Imphal. The fastest growing are the passenger vehicles. Those are diesel auto rickshaws and the mini four wheelers. Of the two, the diesel driven rickshaws have occupied the maximum traffic volume that the Imphal roads can hold. The noise that these rickshaws generate is the most excruciating. Cities and suburban across India do not have such rickshaws on their roads. Perhaps, Imphal could be the only place that accommodates them. And this is the biggest blunder that the state transport department has committed. The department in all its lackadaisicalness has issued driving permit to this vehicle without looking into its engine specifications. This rickshaw announces its arrival beyond the five hundred meter radius. We wonder if the transport department has heard about something called the decibel level or sound pollution in simple terms. In addition to this are the diesel driven heavy duty vehicles which have been running for more than five decades. The people of Imphal wake up with sound pollution and get exposed to it the whole day. A day with general strike is an exception. It is worth mentioning that the Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000 takes into account the ambient noise levels in public places from various sources, inter-alia industrial activity, construction activity, vehicular horns and other mechanical devices that deleteriously effects human health and the psychological well-being; it is considered necessary to regulate and control noise generating from these sources. Public addressing system and loud speakers are also included among the sources of noise pollution. With the onset of summer, the valley of Manipur has started reverberating with the loud speakers from the Lai Haraoba from the four corners. Here, we do not mean to question the prominence of Lai Haraoba that it has religio-cultural way of life of the Meitie community. The use of loud speakers that amplifies the sound of Lai Haraoba performance beyond three or four Leikais is debatable. This is a practice which is neither primitive nor modern, but it stands somewhere between the two. Its practical purpose would suit those days when the medium of communication was limited; when there was need to announce that a Lai Haraoba is in its session and that neighbors should join the rituals without fail. Just imagine the sound of the Clarinet and the drum playing at high decibels over the loud speakers, giving little thought for the aged, the unwell and the infants who need undisturbed rest. It is high time to bury such practice. The sound of the performances should confine within the periphery of the Laibung, catering to the audience present. In simple words, Lai Haraoba should not be an extension of the Yaoshang Sports entertainment programe. The noise level of Imphal has already reached its threshold. We should take care not to worsen it.  

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/05/check-the-noise-level/

Leader writer: Wangkheimayum Bhupendra Singh

Demolition and dissembling work of the old Sanjengthong has already started for the construction of a newer version – a four lane bridge at the present site. The decision to construct the newer version of the 50 year old Sanjengthong was necessitated by the ever growing vehicle population of the state. The bridge acted as the main connect point between the twin districts of the state. Traffic along such a vital connect point had become a nightmare during the morning and evening rush hours. Although, there are other bridges crossing the Imphal River connecting the two districts, most commuters between the two districts take the Sanjenthong route due to its central and strategic location. Taking up such an essential and vital project requires proper beforehand planning. The planning should not only be about the designs of the structure or setting a deadline for its completion, but should include certain aspects, including how the project could affect the public. And in the present case it should be finding alternative routes for the commuters. Any developmental work or project aimed at the welfare of the public should be preceded by proper monitoring and evaluation of the available options and alternatives. However, this seems to be totally absent from the scheme of things. The present attempt reeks of a government’s lack of imagination and understanding of the plight of the people. An inevitable consequence of such lack of vision can only result in the defeat of the very main purpose of the project which is the welfare of the public.

The government’s complete lack of vision and imagination in undertaking the project is quite obvious from various consequences. Other than the unprecedented traffic congestion witnessed, the closure of Sanjengthong has also tagged along several other issues. The period from March to July is considered as the season of wildfires, as the state experiences a dry spell accompanied by strong winds during this period. In such a situation, any eventuality of a fire, anywhere on the eastern side of the Imphal River could end disastrously. First, the state Fire Service is headquartered in Imphal West; second, Imphal East has no fire service station of its own; third the closing down of the all-important bridge has only brought a more unmanageable traffic chaos on the city roads- in such a circumstance, it is anybody’s guess that any incident of fire in Imphal East could only end on a disastrous note. In the absence of a proper alternative, it would be next to impossible for the fire tenders to reach in time at any spot in Imphal East during any eventuality. The government and its concerned authorities are appealed to install a few fire tenders and firemen at the office complex of the Imphal East SP, so that any eventuality in the district could be attended to without much delay, before the main team from their headquarter arrives at the spot. Now another argument is whether Minuthong can accommodate the increase in vehicular traffic until the new Sanjenthong is inaugurated. As the new bridge is constructed, the government has identified Minuthong and another newly constructed Thumbuthong to bear the major brunt of the vehicular traffic. However, the question is can Minuthong bear the added load until the new Sanjenthong is completed? Although the government has already announced that work would be taken up on a war footing to complete the construction of the bridge within a year’s time, considering the previous records of the state government, there is every possibility of the bridge’s completion period getting extended.
While the project was undertaken with utmost consideration of the welfare of the public, a little lacklustre planning has invited much wrath from the public. The public’s main contention being that the government has failed to consider an alternative before taking up the project.  

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/05/finding-the-alternative/

The president of India, in his speech on the fourteenth Convocation of Manipur University has touched on some of the important areas of education and the role of the university. That future lies in the investment in education. He emphasised the strength of education and knowledge in achieving development. The president gave an honest analysis of the state of higher education in the country. He said, “It is easy to decipher that many academic institutions lack the quality to produce graduates for the global market”. Before making the above quoted statement, the president has thrown light on the grandeur of education. This was how he described education at his poetic best: “Education separates light and darkness; advancement from backwardness; excellence from mediocrity”. If we are to establish a logical corollary between the two statements that the president has made, we shall have to understand the role ‘global market’ has to play. The anxiety that many academic institutions are not able to produce graduates for global market posed an important question. Is it the primary goal of higher education and its institution to produce graduates in order to meet the demand of the global market? If that is so, how are the market friendly graduates going to separate between light and darkness; advancement from backwardness, and excellence from mediocrity? Or rather the president should have mentioned it clearly that it is market that is going to decide the fate of a country, instead of dragging education into the affairs. The president has also highlighted many ills that afflict efficient functioning of universities. He said that lack of good governance is one of them. This is true indeed. We believed the president must be well aware of the face-off between the faculty and the administration of the Manipur University. An effective and transparent administration is obligatory for smooth functioning of any institution. It is pertinent to recall that the faculty of the university has carried out cease-work strike early this year in February. We hope the genuine demands made by the faculty have been sorted out with the administration. If not, the issue should be addressed at the earliest in larger interest of all. On a positive note, the president announced the revival of Manipur University Students Union. The Union was dissolved in 2009 after the centralisation of the university. The norms that is given by a Central university regarding the students’ representation did not matched with the then MUSU, though it was an elected body. Instead of an elected body, a Student Council should represent the students without any kind of elections, as it was mentioned in the statutory of the university. By that time Lyngdoh Commision had made certain recommendations on the matter of students’ body in the campus. It was also challenged by many students’ organisations through the court. Students of the MU have launched agitations in the campus demanding the revival of MUSU. Now that the green signal from the highest authority has been given, the students have a good reason to rejoice. Nevertheless, the students should not rest on their laurels. They should strive to rebuild MUSU which should serve the utmost interest of the students. Should we remind that a student body like MUSU is not merely a ‘pressure group’ that throws weight for the sake of displaying sheer power. They should lead in academic debates too. We have seen, in the past, student representatives who are only interested in power play with questionable credentials in academic. From the next academic session onwards those things have to be imprisoned in the past, for a vibrant and a meaningful student body. Sadly, the president who is the Commander in Chief of the armed forces has left without uttering a single word about the military presence in the heart of the campus.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/04/mr-president-came-to-mu/

Ishok village of Bishnupur district have good reasons to be proud of.  When most parts of the states are facing water scarcity, the village has enough water for everyone in the locality. There are no miracles involved despite appearing so. What the villagers have done is maintaining the community pond that was dug thirty years ago on two acres of land.  Each households of the village contribute a paltry sum of money as maintenance fee annually. During the monsoon every year, the pond is fed with water from the nearby rivers. The water is then treated with bleaching powder and lime. And it is enough to last for a year, even when there is no rainfall. The people of Ishok do not have to worry about water today, when most of us are facing acute shortage. What is exemplary about the village is, one: the collective understanding of harvesting water for community use, in spite of its advantageous location of having being situated near another water body, which is the river. Two: a disciplined unanimity in action of conserving a community asset.  People residing in Imphal area should learn lessons from Ishok village. Most of the ponds in Imphal areas are now without water. Some ponds that have little water at its bed are untreatable. Construction of retaining wall around the ponds has contaminated the water. This is a simple fact needing no scientific verification. Community ponds have become a favourite advertisement ground for MLAs to show that they are doing something for the constituency. The retaining wall is their misplaced benevolence to cover up their sullen inactiveness. Not only the MLAs, but also the ‘social workers’ who wish to represent the people in the Assembly indulge in cements and bricks politics. Construction of retaining wall along the ponds is an important part of their electoral crusade. On the other hand, there is a deepening lack of collectivism among the inhabitants of Imphal. They are happy to build houses with underground water storage and buy water from the private tankers to fill with it. They buy water pump sets to draw water from the pipelines, as much as they can. Neighbours compete to buy pump sets with maximum horsepower.  When a particular pipeline gets dry, a whole family would come out to drill another pipeline that runs in their vicinity. Not to mention of the roads that got dug out, and are left best to the nightmare of the public. This is also true that most of the pipelines that got drilled are carried out with expert hands, who are mostly employees of the government department. You grease their palms to get water flowing into the house. Meanwhile the ponds in the community are left to the hands of MLAs and ‘social workers’. Now that the problem of water scarcity is hitting hard, leaving those with pump sets and multi pipeline connections for the rain God to smile. People are now turning their attention to the abandoned community ponds which are lying in a precarious condition. It can’t get any worse when the minister of IFCD blames global warming for the scarcity. Should we consider ourselves fortunate to have a minister equipped with a popular vocabulary? For better or worse, how does he explain the failure of his department to provide the rainfall data and the water level of two important rivers for the last three months? You blame it on global warming. IFP shall carry more stories of villages with reserved community ponds to draw lessons from them.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/04/lessons-from-ishok/

Leader Writer: Svoboba Kangleicha

“Greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures, the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge, has marked the upward surge of mankind.” These are the immortal words of Michael Douglas’ Gordon Gekko in the 1987 film ‘Wall Street’ which pretty much describe the zeitgeist of the last three decades before the global financial meltdown compel people to question the rationale of giving the free market, true to its name, a free rein.

Having said that and despite the lessons being learnt, we live in an epoch where capitalist consumption is promoted as an ideal or the summit of human civilization. We now live in a time where subliminal advertising compels us to buy products we don’t need. Suggestible young people now live beyond their means to keep up with the Joneses in an era where the latest cell phone in town becomes dated within days of its launch. We want to hoard or amass wealth by any means whatsoever.

The post liberalisation generation of the nineties who were bombarded with audio-visuals images of an alien culture on MTV or Channel V took everything they saw on television as the gospel truth. If the theory about a graffiti revealing a lot about a place is true then one can’t help being concerned when someone has written in a retaining wall along the main drag of the state capital that westernisation is the only way to practical democracy. Westernization as the general understanding goes among many people in the state is simply aping the west in dress, consumption and culture. A superficial understanding of westernisation is one of the main reasons behind some of the ever increasing crimes against women.

Equally thought provoking is the ribbon development along many major thoroughfares in Imphal by demolishing older buildings. Such demolition are sometimes tragic-comic as it only brings out the shallowness of those who own these buildings because many newly-built houses are being demolished for road widening purposes. Many of these buildings sprouting up in many places are not green buildings. The traditional brick and mortar buildings accounts for 8 percent of carbon emissions in the world. We are told that the state has double digit growth propelled by the construction sector which accounts for 25 percent of this growth. A new breed of benighted upstarts who are the major beneficiaries of the construction boom own most of these buildings and are more than willing to show it to the whole wide world that they have arrived.

Now, a few words on the acute shortage of water that the state is reeling under, more so in the state capital, which could only worsen if there are no heavy rainfall within the next couple of days. The situation wouldn’t have been this bleak if those who are in the helm of affairs had taken some proactive measures instead of living it to the rain gods; because it is not for the first time that the state is facing a water scarcity problem as it has persisted for many years now. A callous indifference reminiscent of Marie Antoinette’s let them eat cake attitude is there for all to see as there are many eyewitness accounts of how many high ranking PHED officials ferried water from government run water reservoirs to their houses by using private water suppliers. Isn’t it ironic that the present water scarcity problem is partially caused by the unchecked growth of private water suppliers?

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/04/is-unbridled-consumption-the-acme-of-human-civilization/

The revolution in information technology has a great impact in our life. Its reach is almost everywhere. In fact, administrative functioning of a government, operatives of business and industries are increasingly depending on it. The technology has changed the dimension more particularly in business. E-banking is one area that has been growing rapidly by leaps and bounds. It is said that IT has reduced the cost of processing and exchange of information. The barrier of boundary and distance between places has been erased by this new technology. Financial transaction between, one corner to another corner of the earth is at our fingertips. Click a button, and our work is done. What is remarkable about this technology is, unlike others, it is not confined within the boundaries of the industrialised nations. Underdeveloped countries equally take advantage of the technology. Service deliveries are no longer centralised at banks. Easily accessible facilities like the ATMs and telephone banking have become an indispensible part of e-banking. However, new technology comes with a price. e-banking is now a soft target for cybercriminals. The Times of India reported in 2013, that the city of Gurgaon, which is canvased as one of the Millennium cities of India, had 759 cases of online crime recorded by the police. Of the total cases, 248 were related to bank fraud, making it the most common among cybercrime cases registered by the police. The police of Gurgaon had to inaugurate a new cybercrime cell in the city. The crime cell had maintained that the vulnerability of credit and debit cards and net banking has made it easy for criminals. Most of the cases are often difficult to investigate.  
Identity theft is, which is known as Phising, is one of the common cybercrimes. According to IT experts, Phising is usually a social engineering crime pervasive in attacking organisations’ or individual customers’ information systems in order to gather private information. The perpetrators extract information so that the identity of the customers could be used for committing crimes, or a bank fraud, in the case of E-banking. Phising has become one of the fastest-growing threats in internet. IFP carried a news report of an attempted bank fraud, of a SBI customer from Imphal. A fraudster pretending to be an executive of the customer care service of SBI had tried to extract information of the customer over the phone. Smelling of foul play, the customer hold back from giving away the details to the caller, if not the customer could have lost all the money from her bank account. The caller was apparently equipped with computer software, as he was able to send deceptive messages over the mobile phone during the conversation. It has also been reported that some customers have already been duped by such callers. The customers realised of the fraud after finding their bank accounts to be nil. It is true that customers are given educational materials by the banks to their customers at the time of issuing ATM smart cards. Instructions are provided as safety tips for customers to keep their account safe. But very often, customers either neglect the instruction or tend to forget it. For instance, customers do not follow the basic instruction of respecting the privacy of another customer when they are standing at an ATM queue. There will be more than four or five people inside an ATM booth at a time. This is where the need for imparting awareness among the customers is seriously called for. The banks should give awareness on larger canvases which are easy to comprehend. State police should open cyber cells to mitigate cybercrimes. The criminals are already here, operating from someplace.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/04/new-technology-new-crime/

The PHE minister took a personal round of visits at various water supply schemes along with the media. It is commendable that the minister rose up to the occasion, in wake of the present crisis of water scarcity that the people are currently facing in the state. He has given assurance that if the need arise, water from Loktak will be treated and rationed. Iril and Imphal rivers are two important sources of water. Most of the water supply schemes that supply water to the greater Imphal areas depend on these two rivers. The two rivers, at present, are running alarmingly at a low level. At some areas these rivers have been reduced to streamlets. With no rainfall during the expected season, the scarcity is bound to hit an all-time low. Paddy fields and fish farms without water are parched with visible cracks on its bed.  If there is no rainfall at all, the most badly hit would be the farmers. Our staple crop which depends on wet cultivation will be another scarcity. Without the rain, there is no way out. The minister himself took cognizance of the fact during his visits to the water supply schemes. But on a positive note, he had made it public that the government has contingency plan. A series of meeting have been conducted on the matter, as we have been told. Here, may we remind the honourable minister of his claim that he made, during the third day of the seventh session of the 10th Manipur Legislative Assembly? The minister claimed that the State will get enough drinking water supply in the next one or two years. ‘Rain’, the word must have been beyond the purview of the minister’s thought process at that time. The present dry spell has reminded him. How about the idea of treating the water from Loktak? Needless to say, the water in Loktak is also fed by rain; by the rivers that flow into it, when it is filled with rain water. Whenever there is a dry season, we can’t escape the fond memories of the then CM of Manipur: late Oja Nipamacha. The late Oja, during his tenure made an attempt to please the rain Gods. He took a number of cows to the Govinda temple at Palace Compund, to perform rituals by milking the cows. We are not asking the PHE minister to perform the same ritual like Oja Nipamacha. Our modest appeal is that the minister should not make overstatements sans verifiable logics. By all account, the water level at the Loktak must be low owing to the dry spell. The fact that the state has been facing water scarcity needs no validation. When was it that the people have not faced such scarcity? In fact, the scarcity has been a problem that we face daily, the whole year. Whether there is enough rainfall or not, we have been facing water crisis, both for consumption and irrigation. Mismanagement of water is one primary reason. The fact that 14 water treatment plants of the State are lying defunct is also a statement that the minister made on the floor of the Assembly. One cannot overlook the factor of rainfall, water being a natural source. We, however, back the sensible proposal of the minister that there is a need for an inter-departmental effort to solve the water problem. It will include the IFCD and the Forest department for an all-out effort as a team. This is very much welcome. Other measures like regulating the tax, monitoring pilfering along the water pipelines by the public, checking on the private suppliers; these are all mandatory. Now is the time to act. We need concrete action. Do not diminish resolving of water scarcity problem into an election manifesto like promise. We have had enough of it.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/04/the-time-to-act-is-now/

The electoral battle is over. Yet the dust from the battleground has promised to linger for some more time in the political skyline. The re-poll that was conducted at Thoubal Moijing on April 22 would not be of any help in settling down the dust. The poll percentage of the re-poll has given more fodder to Dr Nara, the Left Secular Alliance candidate for the Inner parliamentary general election, to put more weight, about his allegation to Dr Meinya, the Congress candidate. Dr Nara has argued that the poll percentage of Thoubal Moijing, after the polling, is a testimony of proxy voting that was practiced during the April 17 voting. He said those polling stations that have recorded ninety percent and above poll, is possible only through proxy voting. Besides Dr Nara’s claim, what could turn the table of the battle is the allegation thrown by RK Ranjan, the BJP candidate to the Congress candidate. Dr Meinya has been charged of electoral misconduct. He is alleged of being present inside the Khonghampat 17/7 polling station, under Lamshang Constituency, till the end of the voting on April 17. As per the Election Code of Conduct, a candidate is not entitled to stay inside the polling station beyond a specific time. While inside the polling booth the Congress candidate has purportedly influenced the voters to vote in his favour. He is also charged of openly camping around the polling station on the said day. Thanks to technology, RK Ranjan claims that there is video evidence to prove that Dr Meinya is guilty of electoral misconduct. BJP along with AITC and CPI have geared up to submit a formal complain to the ECI jointly. The ECI might buy some time to look into the matter, as the election is not yet over in other parts of the country. But that should not be an alibi to turn a blind eye to the complaint.  The allegations that are being thrown to the Congress candidate are very serious in nature. He is a MP incumbent; who has served two terms in the UPA led government, representing the Inner Parliamentary Constituency of Manipur. Fairness in electoral conduct is expected from all candidates who are in fray. The guidelines that are framed as the Code of Conduct by the ECI are not merely ‘rules’ for conducting election. It has ethical and moral ramifications which are imbibed with principles that make a democracy thrive, both in practice and philosophy. Awareness and devoutness to the Code of Conduct is expected, even more, from a person who have sat for ten years in Parliament, considered to be the epitome of Indian democracy. If all the allegations that have been charged against him is true, he has no moral right to continue as a representative of the people, even if the election result favour him with the highest number of votes. The kind of misconduct, if it is true, is an electoral offence under Section 123(2) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. This is according to the Provisions of Law relating to offences in connection with election, which is laid down as: ‘Whoever voluntarily interferes of attempts to interfere with the free exercise of any electoral right commits the offence of undue influence in an election’. Undue influence, is mentioned as – any direct or indirect interference or attempt to interfere on the part of the candidate or his agent, or of any other person, with the free exercise of any electoral right, is a corrupt practice that can be agitated in an Election Petition before the High Court. We believe that the kind of dust that has been gathered, post-election, should not be let to sweep away easily. We need insistent value based political clamouring for a change.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/04/should-dr-meinya-throw-in-the-towel/