{"id":3261,"date":"2011-04-03T07:06:21","date_gmt":"2011-04-03T11:06:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kanglaonline.com\/?p=15883"},"modified":"2011-04-03T07:06:21","modified_gmt":"2011-04-03T11:06:21","slug":"we-are-missing-something-terribly-the-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.manipur.org\/news\/2011\/04\/03\/we-are-missing-something-terribly-the-state\/","title":{"rendered":"We Are Missing Something Terribly: The state"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>  <script type=\"text\/javascript\">var addthis_product='wpp-252';<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/s7.addthis.com\/js\/250\/addthis_widget.js#pubid=kanglaonline\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>By Amar Yumnam<br \/> We have been very critical of the nature of the state as it manifests in Manipur. This critical attitude had at times shown<\/p>\n<p>to have been a prevailing view among the masses as well. But very unfortunately for all of us, from both temporal and<\/p>\n<p>posterity perspectives, the quality of the state not only continues to speedily decline, but the people of the land have as<\/p>\n<p>well started performing the functions which would otherwise be the only domain of the state. We can no longer afford to<\/p>\n<p>wait and watch for the reforms and changes to occur, but have to exercise our mind collectively in order to stop the<\/p>\n<p>deceleration. We have to stop this deceleration not only for the collective interests but also for the benefits of<\/p>\n<p>individual safety and welfare.<\/p>\n<p>A Recall and The Issues: In order to meaningfully discuss the issues as prevailing in Manipur, we can briefly recall as to<\/p>\n<p>what we mean by state. In this the definition of Yoram Barzel, a contemporary theorist from the Washington University, is<\/p>\n<p>of absolute quantitative relevance. He defines the state thus: \u201cThe state consists of (1) a set of individuals who are<\/p>\n<p>subject to a single ultimate third party who uses violence for enforcement and (2) a territory where these individuals<\/p>\n<p>reside, demarcated by the reach of the enforcer&#8217;s power.\u201d\u00a0 The beauty of this definition is its avoidance of jargons and<\/p>\n<p>adoption of yardsticks easily understandable by a commoner while at the same time incorporating the attributes emphasised<\/p>\n<p>by all the political economists.<\/p>\n<p>By this definition, all those residing within the territorial boundaries of the province called Manipur are to be<\/p>\n<p>considered subjects of the state of Manipur. Now the fundamental power of state to use violence is to be exercised solely<\/p>\n<p>and effectively by the government administering the land on behalf of the state. The problem before us is that the<\/p>\n<p>prevailing situation is in absolute contrast to what it should be. We now have more than our share of violence in every<\/p>\n<p>sphere of social existence and community interactions. We have a nobleman\u2019s son shooting to death a non-nobleman\u2019s son. We<\/p>\n<p>have umpteen number of instances where someone or a group would just do to death anyone not in agreement on something. We<\/p>\n<p>would also have a group of people coming out in full retaliation and finishing the lives of a couple. Dismantling and<\/p>\n<p>burning down of houses are a dime a dozen.<\/p>\n<p>Causal and Facilitating Factors: As said above, the adoption of violence for enforcement has to be the option exercised<\/p>\n<p>only by the state. Here we may ask as to why force should be used at all. The fundamental purpose of having a state is in<\/p>\n<p>order to establish justice. Now this justice should be there as an outcome as well as a quality characterising the<\/p>\n<p>endeavours to establish justice. Here it would be worth quoting extensively from the Leviathan of Thomas Hobbes: \u201c\u2026.men<\/p>\n<p>have no pleasure, (but on the contrary a great deal of griefe) in keeping company, where there is no power able to over-awe<\/p>\n<p>them all. For every man looketh that his companion should value him, at the same rate he sets upon hemselfe. And upon all<\/p>\n<p>signes of contempt, or undervaluing, naturally endeavours, as far as he dares (which amongst them that have no common power<\/p>\n<p>to keep them in quiet, is far enough to make them destroy each other,) to extort a greater value from his contemners, by<\/p>\n<p>dommage; and from others, by the example.<\/p>\n<p>So that in the nature of man, we find three principal causes of quarrell. First, Competetion; Secondly, Diffidence; Thirdly<\/p>\n<p>Glory.<\/p>\n<p>The first maketh men invade for Gain; the second. For Safety; and the third, for Reputation. The first use Violence, to<\/p>\n<p>make themselves Masters of other mens persons, wives, children and carttell; the second, to defend them; the third, for<\/p>\n<p>trifles, as a word, a smile, a different opinion, and any other signe of undervalue, either direct in their Persons, or by<\/p>\n<p>reflexion in their Kindred, their Friends, their Nation, their Profession, or their Name.<\/p>\n<p>Hereby it is manifest, that during the time men live without a common Power to keep them all in awe, they are in that<\/p>\n<p>condition which is called Warre; and such a warre, as is of every man, against every man\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Rereading these paragraphs from Hobbes, I am sure, everyone would feel as an apt description of Manipur today. But the<\/p>\n<p>question to be asked is why such a situation has arisen.<\/p>\n<p>While attempting to answer the million lives question, I would certainly blame the existing state as well as the forces<\/p>\n<p>challenging this for a new one. The powers that be in the existing state have increasingly converted their legitimate<\/p>\n<p>powers into indiscriminate powers. Just a look at their street behaviour is enough to experience this. The culmination of<\/p>\n<p>this is the recent case of a nobleman\u2019s son shooting to death a non-nobleman\u2019s son. Such an incident would not have<\/p>\n<p>happened in an environment where legitimate powers are exercised only as such and never as indiscriminate powers. We should<\/p>\n<p>be recalling here the dangers of such scenario explained by Rousseau long back.<\/p>\n<p>Further, as stated above, the fundamental purpose of state is to establish justice. But the state as manifested in Manipur<\/p>\n<p>has with rising frequency and terrifying intensity failed on this score. The individuals as subjects as well as groups have<\/p>\n<p>simply stopped expecting delivery of justice from the machineries of the state. This is the reason why people as<\/p>\n<p>individuals and groups have started taking law into their hands and deliver instant justice. The latest example is the<\/p>\n<p>death of a husband and his wife in the hands of an angry mob.<\/p>\n<p>At this point, we are reminded of the fast qualitative deterioration and decline in positive hold of the organisations<\/p>\n<p>fighting against the existing state promising another state with greater self-respect. All these organisations have failed<\/p>\n<p>the deterioration in terms of individuals executing self-indulgence in their name and claiming lives in the process. This<\/p>\n<p>has left the public devoid of any agency, the state or the anti-state, from which to expect justice. The resultant outcome<\/p>\n<p>for the people and land of Manipur has become one where delivery of justice has been let loose. What a frightening and<\/p>\n<p>painful scenario it is!!<\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~r\/Kanglaonline\/~4\/hcEQ-tupmEo\" height=\"1\" width=\"1\"\/><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"syndicated-attribution\">Read more \/ Original news source: <a href=\"http:\/\/feedproxy.google.com\/~r\/Kanglaonline\/~3\/hcEQ-tupmEo\/\">http:\/\/feedproxy.google.com\/~r\/Kanglaonline\/~3\/hcEQ-tupmEo\/<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Amar Yumnam We have been very critical of the nature of the state as it manifests in Manipur. This critical attitude had at times shown to have been a&#8230; <a href=\"http:\/\/kanglaonline.com\/2011\/04\/we-are-missing-something-terribly-the-state-2\/\">Read more <span>&#187;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,4],"tags":[45,330],"class_list":["post-3261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kanglaonline","category-news","tag-editorial","tag-kanglaonline-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manipur.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manipur.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manipur.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manipur.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manipur.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.manipur.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3261\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manipur.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manipur.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manipur.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}