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By Amar Yumnam
The Mega Manipur School recently had her Sixth Foundation Day. This function is going to be particularly memorable for me. After my speech at the function and while I was coming down from the dais a little girl, lovely one at that, of the Pre-Primary Class and whom I had just met asked me straight on my face as to what all I was talking about. This had multiples of lasting impact on me. First, in any case, I was completely floored by her straight innocent query. Second, what was my point of speaking any if I could not communicate with all who were present at the function? Was it a case of my suffering from the usual community habit of taking the children for granted? Should we not be altering our way of looking at things as in every generation the children were getting smarter? Above all, I was taught a lesson by this little girl about the need for communication. In fact, there cannot be any thriving society without an effective communication flows across communities, ages and space. Thanks to that little girl of whom I have taken photographs; I would forever cherish her refreshingly inquisitive face.

The necessity of communication is further reinforced by what is happening in connection with the political conclave at Senapati. The absurdity of all sides is being established by this and the reactions to it. It is absolute and unwarranted political gimmick which amounts to nothing more than a social noise for a head of people of one province trying to fan political instability in the neighbouring province. It is equally funny for the opponents of such political gimmicks to come to a reactionary mode and organise actions dictated by this. Neither side has nothing to gain nor proves any point whatsoever. While the organisers would presume to themselves as barking successfully, those opposing are to be blames for their own failure to endeavour for effective communication and surfacing only when something is being planned. The political class has to be cursed for its failure to evolve a system of communication and inclusiveness while being busy in self aggrandisement.

Absence of Enlightenment: All these make one seriously think of as to when Manipur would usher into a phase of Enlightenment like the one experienced by Europe in the eighteenth century. Well here it would be relevant directly to quote from a recent book on the phenomenon and impact of what we call Enlightenment: `Radical Enlightenment is a set of basic principles that can be summed up concisely as: democracy; racial and sexual equality; individual liberty of lifestyle; full freedom of thought, expression, and the press; eradication of religious authority from the legislative process and education; and full separation of church and state. It sees the purpose of the state as being the wholly secular one of promoting the worldly interests of the majority and preventing vested minority interests from capturing control of the legislative process. Its chief maxim is that all men have the same basic needs, rights, and status irrespective of what they believe or what religious, economic, or ethnic group they belong to, and that consequently all ought to be treated alike, on the basis of equity, whether black or white, male or female, religious or nonreligious, and that all deserve to have their personal interests and aspirations equally respected by law and government. Its universalism lies in its claim that all men have the same right to pursue happiness in their own way, and think and say whatever they see fit, and no one, including those who convince others they are divinely chosen to be their masters, rulers, or spiritual guides, is justified in denying or hindering others in the enjoyment of rights that pertain to all men and women equally.` (Jonathan Israel, A Revolution of the Mind: Radical Enlightenment and the Intellectual Origins of Modern Democracy, Princeton University Press 2010)

We do not observe any of the Enlightenment principles taking roots in the soil of Manipur. While all are busy with communitarian-based politics, the society in Manipur today does not show any signs of positive engagement on issues capable of taking the collective forward. The long years of non-inclusive governance and development interventions had had a lasting impact on the propagation of non-inclusive politics. Now this has reached such a level that we are at a stage where it looks as if nothing positive is going to happen at the politico-economy-wide level. This indeed is the issue the political leadership has to address in right earnest so that a legacy of exclusion and chaos is not left for the generations to come. What Manipur needs today is initiation of a cycle of honesty, honest communication, inclusive approach and initiation of a cycle of positive loop for collectively shared progression. The current ruling paradigm of looting through contracts, supplies, nepotism and favouritism have failed and would fail to serve any social purpose today, and the scenario would only worsen once the larger Asian integration process starts impacting Manipur.

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IMPHAL, May 31: The Mapithel Dam Affected Villages Organization has appealed to the chairperson, National Commission for Scheduled Tribes to intervened into the plight of tribals affected by the Maphithel Dam.

In a letter sent to the national commission signed by its chairman, the organization has appealed for the commission to intervened and suspend the construction of the dam until the rehabilitation and resettlement programmes of the affected villagers are implemented.

The letter has stated that the Mapithel Dam (Thoubal Multipurpose Project) was approved by the planning commission in 1980 and construction of the dam commenced in the 1990s. However the letter further maintained that the dam will affect as many as 11 tribal villages directly`”with some of them completely submerged.

It has also stated that a Memorandum of Agreement was signed on June 19, 1993 between some of the affected villages and the government of Manipur (GOM) wherein the GOM agreed to pay certain amounts of compensation to the affected villagers within a stipulated time. However, the GOM reneged on the agreement by not paying the compensation within the stipulated timeframe.

It has further stated that the state government had prepared a series of rehabilitation and resentment programmes for the oustees without consulting the affected villagers which had resulted the various rehabilitation and resettlement plans suffered from various defects and limitations.

It also maintained that the affected villagers had submitted several representations to the concerned authorities, to constitute an Expert Review Committee (ERC) tasked with the responsibilities of reviewing the rehabilitation and resettlement programmes for those affected by the construction of the dam.

According to the letter sent to the chairperson, National Commission for Scheduled Tribes, the demand for constitution of the ERC had been taken up at the Chief Minister level as early as 2004. This fact is borne out by the letter of Wungnaoshang Keishing, MLA dated 26 March 2006 to the Chief Minister wherein it is clearly stated that the `Chief Minister had assured the delegation of the affected area that all possible assistance would be provided by constituting an Expert Review Committee.

However despite of the assurance, the ERC was not constituted, it stated and added that it was only after numerous reminders and democratic forms of protest that the GOM came out with a notification in January 2008 to the affect that it is constituting an ERC to `examine the rehabilitation and resettlement programmes of the affected villagers as a result of the construction of the Thoubal Multipurpose Project.`

In this regard, the Mapithel Dam Affected Villages Organisation (MDAVO), in the 1st Meeting of the ERC on January 18, 2008, had submitted a document proposing Terms of Reference (TOR) for consideration by the ERC within which the ERC should function. The same document was also forwarded to the Chief Secretary, GOM for consideration and information.

In this regard, the GOM responded on 11 April 2008 that the State Cabinet has decided to refer the matter to the ERC for detailed examination of TOR.

Despite this assurance, the ERC had not arrived at any decision regarding the TOR submitted by MDAVO. The ERC in its last meeting on February 11, 2011 resolved that after re-examining the TOR submitted by MDAVO, it would submit its findings to the Government for obtaining approval, it maintained.

The letter further reminded that the GOM has announced, in response to a starred question (Starred Question No. 577 dated March 11, 2011) during a Manipur legislative assembly session that the Mapithel Dam would be commissioned on March 31, 2012. As one of the legitimate demands of MDAVO is that all processes and implementation of rehabilitation and resettlement programme should be completed a year before the commissioning of the dam to ensure that the needs and requirements of affected villagers are taken care of, this attempt of the GOM to commission the dam before the completion of the rehabilitation and resettlement programme would adversely impact the affected villagers. And particularly in light of the fact that the ERC, which was constituted to review the rehabilitation and resettlement programmes for those affected by the construction of the dam, is yet to submit its report, it maintained.

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by Bibhu Prasad RoutrayProviding the best of rms and equipment to paramilitary personnel is crucial to the success of India`s anti-Naxal strategyA Few days ago, some newspapers in India ran two separate reports. One hogging the front page was a stub on India’s flourishing economy and the other relegated to the inside pages underlined the challenges faced by the security forces battling the Left-wing extremists (Naxalites) in the remotest corners of the country. The first item pointed to the soaring number of choppers and private jets jostling for space in Indian skies and the demands they make on the Air Traffic Controllers. The second report, on the other hand, quoted the Border Security Force (BSF) authorities asking the ministry of home affairs (MHA) to replace the Dhruv helicopters since these do not meet the force’s operational requirements. This report went on to detail the drastic shortage of choppers for the security forces deployed on anti-Naxal duty and its impact on the morale of the forces. These two narratives posed a familiar paradox, from Coleridge’s “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”, when there are “choppers choppers everywhere, but not many for the security forces”.On May 19, a chopper employed by Gadchiroli district police in Maharashtra returned with injured and dead police personnel from the encounter site at Nalgonda. However, security forces battling the Naxals in Beijjur phata in the same district could not avail themselves of the service of the chopper since it had already completed the stipulated 500 hours of flying and had to proceed for the mandatory maintenance service. The Gadchiroli police requested that the services of another chopper from neighbouring Chhattisgarh be provided. But by the time it arrived, the encounter had ended. It could fly only to recover three dead bodies of police personnel from the area.A similar incident took place in Jharkhand’s Lohardaga district on May 3 in which 11 security force personnel were killed. The Naxals ambushed a 150- member team of state police and paramilitary personnel returning from a combing operation. While four personnel were killed on the spot, seven others succumbed to their injuries since the chopper at the disposal of the state police was unavailable, being on a sortie to neighbouring West Bengal for poll-related duties. It could reach the incident site only after four hours. The Jharkhand Director General of Police admitted that the personnel died owing to lack of timely medical aid. One of the injured personnel who ultimately survived bemoaned the fact that he had to suffer the excruciating pain for over four hours before being evacuated and admitted into a hospital.The MHA, since mid-2010, has deployed a fleet of seven choppers for carrying out troop deployment, casualty evacuation and sending reinforcements in the Naxal-affected states. These choppers are based in Raipur (Chhattisgarh) and Ranchi (Jharkhand) and are available to any of the Naxal-affected states on demand. However, on most occasions, this fleet has been found to be highly inadequate to meet the forces’ ground-level requirements. Complains have been made about the frequent servicing requirements of these Advanced Light Dhruv Helicopters and their inability to fly beyond a certain height. They are frequently grounded by the unavailability of spare parts, which makes them almost an unreliable element in the anti-Naxal operations.In addition to these incidents of shortage, because of unavoidable technical and logistical reasons, choppers have also been diverted on occasions for use by politicians and bureaucrats. Media reports in early May indicated that out of the fleet of seven, only one chopper was functional and was catering to the requirements of the nearly 70 battalions of paramilitary forces deployed against the Naxals throughout the country.The MHA is planning to wet-lease six new Russian Mi-17 helicopters from private companies for deployment in the anti-Naxal operations. At a purchase price of Rs 45 crore apiece, wet-leasing the Mi-17 helicopters, under which the company lending it provides for the pilot, maintenance and fuel, is a far more affordable option. According to reports, the sorties by these leased machines to the Naxal strongholds could start as early as August 2011. The MHA hopes to reduce its dependence on the ministry of defence, which currently flies the paramilitary troops in the Naxal zones. In any event, the Indian Air Force (IAF) choppers’ “80 flying hours a month” rule is a handicap in terms of using them excessively. On the other hand, the Mi-17 choppers proposed to be taken on lease are fuel guzzlers, but the MHA has no alternative other than accounting for such expense.In various forums the Union home minister has spoken of the cumbersome procurement procedure coming in the way of providing the best of arms and equipment to the paramilitary personnel. One does not know whether the process of acquiring choppers also faces similar challenges. The proposal to wet-lease 13 Mi-17 choppers is at least an eight-month-old idea, first floated in October 2010. The number of choppers had then been decided on after taking the requirements of the forces operating in a vast territory into cognisance. But for reasons best known to the MHA, the number has now been reduced to six, which is highly insufficient. Meanwhile, the MHA has negotiated in vain with the IAF, which itself gets choppers on lease. Many of the IAF helicopters are deployed in the United Nations’ Congo mission and the move to recall them has not been successful.For operational purposes, choppers are as basic a requirement for the forces battling the Naxals as any other sophisticated arms and equipment. India’s anti-Naxal policy needs to improve upon the prevailing conditions, on an urgent basis. The author is a former deputy director in the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS), a visiting fellow at CLAWS (New Delhi) and a fellow at the Takshashila Institution.

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NEW DELHI, June 4 (MIC): The Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh called a high-level meeting with Manipur Chief Minister O. Ibobi Singh and senior central ministers and top officials today at 10.30 am at his official residence, Race Course here to review implementation of national projects, besides several critical infrastructure and health and education ventures. The Chief Minister was accompanied by the chief secretary, Manipur and special secretary, Planning.After detailed discussions lasting over one hour, it was agreed that the JN Institute of Medical Sciences should be supported for completion within 2014-15. Pending approval of the revised Detailed Project Report (DPR) of Rs. 867 crores, the Planning Commission agreed to release allocated SPA funds of Rs132crores for this project. Approval to the revised DPR would be expedited. The state government was advised to submit the revised DPR for the Capital Project. The progress made in respect of the State Assembly and High Court Complexes was appreciated. The Planning Commission also agreed to consider favourably the revised DPR estimated at Rs. 841.83 crores. The Chief Minister of Manipur expressed concern regarding the slow pace of implementation of the Railway Line project Jiribam- Tupul-Imphal. Noting that the target date for completion of the Railway Line upto Tupul had already been re-scheduled to 2012, the Chief Minister requested the Railways authoruties to induct additional manpower and equipments for ensuring that there would be no further slippages. On the suggestion of the Member (Engg) of Railway Board, the Border Road Organisation was advised to strengthen all weak bridges on NH-53 by December 2011, so that the Railways could bring in all required heavy equipments required for the tunneling work. The Railways also agreed to supplement equipment and manpower and assured that the Railwayline upto Tupul would be completed by 2014, and upto Imphal by 2016. The Chief Minister also re-iterated the importance of expediting upgradation of NH-53 as it was the second lifeline of Manipur. The union minister of Defence A.K.Antony, on behalf of the BRO, assured that the ongoing work for double-laning and black-topping of NH-53 would be completed by 2013. It was also decided that the ministry of Defence would advise the BRO to outsource the critical portions of NH-53 to reputed engineering companies for expediting completion and ensuring quality work. The Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asked the ministry of Road Transport & Highways to clear pending DPRs submitted by BRO in the coming week, and also develop a new proposal for converting NH-53 to a world class road, befitting a road leading to international borders.The state government’s proposal to have an alternative alignment of NH-39 to by-pass sinking areas and link Manipur to Assam through Peren, Nagaland was appreciated. The secretary, Ministry of Road Transport & Highways informed that both proposals were proposed to be included in ‘Phase A’ of the Special Accelerated Road Development Programme, and approval of the Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure was being obtained. The Prime Minister advised the ministry to bring the two issues to the Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure within June 2011 for approval. As regards the proposal to seek Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) assistance for Augmentation of Water Supply for Imphal city, by drawing water from the Thoubal Multi-Purpose project, the Planning Commission reported that it had given in-principle approval to the project which estimated at Rs. 687 crores, for funding as an Externally Aided Project. It was agreed that besides posing it to JICA, Planning Commission would also consider funding the project through plan financing. The state government’s proposals seeking support of the ministry of Human Resource Development for establishing Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas in all nine districts was considered favourably. The union minister of Human Resource Development Kapil Sibal agreed to bring up a Note for consideration and approval of the Central Cabinet to relax the existing guidelines and assist Manipur to set up additional KGBVs. He also informed that the ministry had approved setting up of four additional KGBVs (residential schools for poor and vulnerable girls) in educationally backward blocks of the state, taking the total to five KGBVs. Similarly, the Ministry would bring up another Note for the Union Cabinet to approve setting up of new Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas at Ukhrul and Kangpokpi.The Union Minister of Development of North Eastern Region(DoNER) B.K.Handique agreed to expedite approval to NLCPR support for Construction of 300 school buildings in the five Hill districts at an estimated cost of Rs.137.77 crores. In connection with the request of the State Government for release of Special Advance Plan Assistance of Rs. 300 crores, the Chief Minister O. Ibobi Singh called on Pranab Mukherjee, union finance minister separately. After brief discussion, it was agreed that issue of cash reserve would be cross-checked and State Finance department would separately meet the secretary, Expenditure to work out the details.

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There is a tendency in Manipur for things to always return to square one. The avenue for a way out of this depressing stagnancy eludes the imagination of one and all, including our leaders, intellectuals and the numerous NGOs in the field of social works. The shared obsession seems to be to analyse, dissect, scrutinize and then either rubbish or glorify the past compulsively and then blame each other or else some external agency or the other for all the misery and misfortune that is everybody’s fate. Maybe there is some truth in this vision but it certainly cannot be the whole truth. To think this is so would be to reduce the social organism that we all are part of, to a simplistic mechanics of stimulus and responses only. And this we know cannot be, for the being and the soul of any society is far more complex, and we would contend, infinitely so. The difficulty in sizing up a society or its mores completely lies in this complexity and not to any attributable flaws of the past, as the current intellectual tradition in social analysis in the state seems to suggest. If social issues were so clear cut, and there were no ambiguities about remedial measures, most social problems ought to have disappeared by now everywhere in the world. The greatest thinkers have discovered, or others discovered after they are long gone, that this has never been the case and cannot ever be so as well.
The linearity of our social analyses has had some very serious consequences. For instance we seem to be a society which sees salvation in the past, at the cost of even ignoring the future. From the point of view of this limited linear vision, this is totally understandable. At least in its structure as a chronological sequence of events, there is a definitiveness about the past and this makes it comparatively simple to grasp, or at least it does not make it seem out of grasping distance. We would not say the same thing about the substance that gave form to this structure, but even here the same definitiveness associated with past events thins out the desperation to get the diagnosis right. The unfortunate thing is, this approach in our effort to come to grip with the past, is often extended to our quest for an understanding of the future. This, we would contend is flawed, for one thing there is nothing linear or definite about the future. In fact, the biggest flaw in historical materialism of the Marxist variety is precisely this linear and deterministic view of history and the future. This modernist outlook it seems is infectious, and hence our problem solving efforts have seldom acknowledged that the future is about discovering previously unknown and unexplored equations. The foundations of our mainstream as well as the numerous prevalent alternate politics today have never been built on any such broad platform, negating in the process the well known, one line definition of politics as “art of the possible”. Unlike the past which is a dead process and circumscribed in time and memory, the field for the future is wide open. We cannot erase the Chahi Taret Khuntakpa chapter in our history, but creative vision of the future can prevent similar historical catastrophes.
While we cannot possibly forget our past, or ignore what we have inherited from it, we do feel there is an urgent need for our society to tone down some of its claustrophobic obsession with the past and develop a vision of the future that is not everything about undoing the past or based on any utopian ideal, but in the light of it as precisely “an art of the possible”. Only when this understanding becomes the standard, realistic terms for resolutions to most of our conflict situations, both internal and external, can begin to dawn. If the question is about past wrongs and their impacts on the present and the future, surely as creative, autonomous beings that all human individuals are, we can overcome these impacts. In structural terms, democracy guarantees this possibility. In spiritual terms too, the prison of “coloniality” of even formerly colonized worlds, cannot contain this same creativity that gives the individual the capability of sizing up his predicament and affect the changes necessary to overcome that state of mind. It is depressing that our public discourses seldom have approached the future without the past as the sole measuring tape. Let our future go beyond the status of being just a response to our past.

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NEW DELHI, June 7 (MIC) : Delhi Police made one of its biggest drug hauls in recent years while probing the nexus between international drug smugglers and militants. The cops arrested Ram Naresh, a Delhi-based smuggler, with 250kg of Ephedrine and Amphetamine tablets worth over Rs 200 crore. Officials said these drugs are smuggled from Delhi to Myanmar and China via Manipur by conduits based in northeastern states and sold in parties. Proceeds from the sales are used by terrorist outfits to fund their activities. Ram Naresh used to procure the drugs from one Rakesh of `Grand Pharma` in Patiala , officials said. The tablets were kept in 50 polythene packets in 10 wooden boxes and the consignment was supposed to be sent to Guwahati through a transport company in Janakpuri. The accused had kept the boxes at his driver`s house in Dabri area before coming to Delhi by air, where he was intercepted near IGI airport on Saturday, the officials added. Delhi Police had unearthed the nexus in March-April this year when it arrested two suspects — Yaiphaba and Napoleon — and seized 200kg of ephedrine from them. Information about Ram Naresh came to light during interrogation of Napoleon and Yaiphaba. Police traced him near the airport on Saturday around 4.30pm when he got down from an IndiGo Airlines flight. Sources said he had come from Guwahati after a meeting with associates to whom he supplies drugs. His driver Jameel Ansari was waiting for him in his Scorpio and took him to his house at G-1 block in Sitapuri, Dabri. “Jameel unlocked the ground floor of the house and both loaded 10 large white bags in the car and started moving. We stopped them for checking but Ramesh refused to cooperate after which we seized the consignment and arrested him,” said an official. Ramesh was not able to provide a satisfactory reply about the consignment or show any documents, said officials. “Each polypack contained 500gm of small white coloured tablets. When we checked the tablets with the narcotics drug detection kit, the tablets were found to be ephedrine and amphetamine. The total weight of the 10 boxes was 250kg and it is worth Rs 200 crore in international market,” a source said. Sources said Ramesh disclosed that “these tablets were to be sent to Myanmar and China through Guwahati and are used for preparing ecstasy and other drugs for sale in parties. Ephedrine is in high demand in China “. He named his associate in Gurgaon as one Umesh Mehra, who is involved in trafficking of drugs with him for a long time. “He disclosed that he had to send the consignment on Saturday to a Robindro in Manipur,” said the source.

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