19 April 2010

Continuity And Change

‘Shops in Imphal stay open later than usual. Some claim that this is an improvement’

By Patricia Mukhim

It was a pleasant surprise to be escorted to the swanky new Classic Hotel at Imphal, a few meters away from the Kangla Fort. The hotel is spick and span and serves an eclectic range of fruits for breakfast, including the exotic dragon fruit that you are unlikely to see anywhere else except in the hotels of Southeast Asia. Located in one of the cleaner surroundings of Imphal and close to the city’s premier business and commercial hub and office complexes, the Classic is something Imphal can be proud of. But does this suggest that things are slowly limping back to normal? That’s a difficult riddle to even attempt an answer to.

The state government recently organized a one-day seminar on Peace Dividends in this hotel. The ambience was in consonance with the theme. You can’t be talking peace in a place where you are likely to have to quarrel with the waiters and are in a state of continuous torment about the quality of room service. I believe the hotel belongs to a doctor who also owns one of the most reliable diagnostic centres in Manipur. This is quite an impressive combination.

Foreboding

This time one also noticed that the shops in Imphal stayed open later than usual. Some claim that this is an improvement. But as a regular visitor to Imphal you cannot miss the sense of foreboding. It is almost as if people are trying to defy something or someone in a spirit of foolhardiness born out of desperation. Every Manipuri knows that things can explode or implode and that the hopes they had built would turn to ashes. Yet they move about with a sense of purpose. You cannot but admire their “never-say-die” attitude. I know this sounds like an episodic narrative that is likely to be scorned by those who know better. But this is the liberty that a commentator enjoys. At the moment people are aware of the quit notice served by the Revolutionary Peoples’ Front (RPF), the political wing of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) on all non-Manipuri's who had come to the state after 1949, asking them to leave Manipur by May 31. The PLA is ruthless and usually means what it says. Knowledgeable sources say the PLA is the only group which is allegedly funded by the Chinese. They claim that if any militant group in the region has the makings of a Maoist movement then the PLA definitely has those moorings.

The RPF has directed transporters not to bring in non-Manipuri's and also told the local people not to rent out rooms or sell land to them. Above all, it warns the locals not to allow non-Manipuri's to head any business organization in the state. The non-Manipuri's have written to the Prime Minister seeking his intervention in this matter. They reminded him that in the past five years at least 32 non-Manipuri's, particularly those from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh who run small business establishments, have been mercilessly gunned down. Militants have also gone on a door-to-door search in some areas and threatened people to leave or face bullets.

Wrong-footed

There is today a sense of panic among the non-Manipuri residents and while many wonder how they can leave behind everything they have built over the years, others have taken the soft option and left after disposing off their businesses in a distress sale.

The seminar on Peace Dividends, therefore, seemed a bit incongruous, conducted as it was under the shadow of this impending threat. Yet nothing much was spoken about this attempt at ethnic cleansing either by the local participants or by security forces, except a government official mentioning it in his presentation. But he, too, dwelt more on the diminishing returns of bandhs that are called by sundry organisations on the flimsiest of pretexts. The seminar pointed to the huge losses to the state exchequer every day a bandh is called. Somehow, you get the feeling that the Meiteis are deeply frustrated by the bandh calls on National Highway 39 that passes through Naga-inhabited areas.

Prof. Gangumei Kamei, a historian who retired from Manipur University, advanced his arguments that people are driven to the last resort of calling a bandh because the government is otherwise insensitive to their pleas. Manipur director-general of police Joykumar Singh and other senior bureaucrats, however, wondered why citizens do not take their grievances to the deputy commissioner or the superintendent of police before they insist on marching to the chief minister’s office.

The problem with all babus (and I include policemen in this category) is that by training they imbibe an arrogance which automatically alienates them from the people. Their body language, the tone and tenor of their voices, all suggest that they are the rulers while the citizen or the person (not man) on the street are to be governed in a way that only they know how. Participatory governance, the sine qua non of good governance in a democracy, is a new entrant into the dictionary of the bureaucracy.

Bureaucrat bane

Most bureaucrats consider it a waste of time to listen to people so how can they be expected to engage in participatory planning which are pre-requisites for schemes like the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) and the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM)? What the bureaucrats would prefer to do is to outsource the entire responsibility to the village headman who in turn gives job cards to people and pays them Rs 40 out of Rs 100 for work not done. There is so little supervision on the NREGS that observant people who see this scheme being frittered away, warn that it is only a matter of time before the Red Corridor extends to this part of the world. Also, because the number of poor people slipping further down the poverty line each year is growing in absolute numbers in this region.

This is not to say that there are no good or responsive babus but their numbers are too few to make a difference in this country. You often wonder whether the Indian Administrative Service ever trains people to walk the last mile in the village or whether it grooms them to scramble for their creature comforts from day one and to order people around in conceited tones. To my mind the huge vacuum in delivery systems can be attributed to the bureaucracy. While talking of Maoism, it is amazing that no one actually holds the bureaucracy responsible for failure in governance.

MPs cutting across party lines while speaking of the Dantewada massacre in Parliament have urged the UPA government to bring in some urgent administrative reforms such as fixed tenures for officers and the police. The propensity of the IAS/IPS to scout and scrounge for Delhi postings has made a mockery of the all-India services because it is evident that their prime aim is to serve themselves.

While Manipur’s dystopia is multi-dimensional, it would be good to start looking for solutions somewhere. Soul-searching from the bureaucracy, the civil society, the security forces who have literally been demonised, the media as an interpreter of Manipur’s maladies and other important stakeholders such as the academia and intelligentsia is an imperative. For too long, people have blamed politicians for the messy affair that Manipur is today. Delhi, too, has received the sharp end of the stick. For a change why not give up the blame game and try the Gandhi exhortation — be the change you want to see.

In the gloom cast by the quit notice, can anyone expect tourists to come in and relax in Imphal?

(The writer can be contacted at patricia17@rediffmail.com)

HIV/AIDS Awareness Workshop For Police Personnel in Manipur Held

AIDS Imphal, Apr 19 : Police personnel, including senior officers, here on Saturday participated in a daylong training programme on HIV/AIDS awareness. This workshop was conducted at camp of No.1 Battalion of Manipur Rifles in Imphal.

Presiding over the inaugural session of the programme, Manipur's Director General of Police, Y Joykumar in his address said the police had a major role in prevention of HIV/AIDS.

"I think all of us are aware, and I don't need to emphasis it, what kind of danger HIV poses for the entire mankind. And it is for this reason that this problem is being dealt on the global scene with efforts to contain and prevent further expansion or the spread of this ailment," said Y Joykumar, Director General of Police (DGP), Manipur.

Further, he noted, that the police must make a concerted effort to prevent discrimination of the people living with HIV/AIDS. According to the United Nations, 5.7 million Indians are living with HIV/AIDS, the world's largest caseload.

According to the recently published reports by the World Bank and other agencies, India will have to scale up prevention of HIV.

Ropeway Project Planned For Aizawl

ropeway Aizawl, Apr 19 : The Mizoram government has mooted a novel scheme to raise ropeways over a network of roads in the central part of Aizawl city, said chief minister Lalthanhawla last night over phone.

The scenic hilltop city is plagued with traffic snarls giving commuters a harrowing time everyday.

The chief minister said the longest of this proposed ropeway would be raised over a 2.5km stretch of roadway stretching from the Assembly building to the McDonald Hills in midtown Aizawl.

He said a team of civic development experts, belonging to a Gurgaon-based construction firm, has been conducting a survey in the city to prepare a blueprint for the project.

Such ropeways are now in operation in Meghalaya where they are mainly used to haul goods for cement plants.

The cost of this project would have to be borne by the Centre, Lalthanhawla added.

He said this scheme would be the “most feasible” alternative for Aizawl where the main roads are not wide enough and the construction of ropeways, also known as the skyways, is not expected to cost much.

The chief minister said the earlier Mizo National Front government, led by Zoramthanga, had also planned some other urban schemes like a flyover in the Bangkawn area in the northeastern part of Aizawl, the city’s the entry point from outside, and an underground tunnel along Burrabazar and Treasury Square. He said these projects did not make any headway as the civil engineers and architects perceived them as “too outlandish and bizarre”.

Sources in Aizawl today said the two experts from the ropeway firm, Mukesh Ralhan and Ramesh Sia, called on Lalthanhawla on April 15 in Aizawl to discuss the broad features of this project.

The engineering survey for this ropeway project would take at least six months.

‘Radio Assam’ Internet Service Launched

Radio Assam Guwahati, Apr 19 : VedantiNET, the broadband and application service provider of Guwahati promoted by SM Computer Consultants Pvt Ltd, has launched the service of first Internet Radio of Assam, ‘Radio Assam’, in the city.

Informing this at a press conference, Dr Sanjib Barthakur, director of SM Computer Consultants Pvt Ltd, said that the radio channel that functions on 24/7 basis, addresses the Assamese community worldwide with all frontiers of musical exposures that were being published during the last 90 years in the State along with discussions on various political, cultural, social and contemporary issues.

The URLs of the station are vedanti.com and vedanti.net and operates on a redundant manner. “Streaming audio signals with more compatible adaptation on the Internet is the essence of the performance of this channel keeping in mind the sudden explosion of FM radio stations all across.

Moreover, the conventional file player radio or music download concept has been overruled and replaced with a true streaming technology to incorporate its functionality,” he said.

The listener requires a PC/laptop with either a broadband or a narrowband Internet bandwidth link at a steady rate of not less than 32 kbps and should have Windows Media, Adobe Flash, Real, QuickTime or iTunes player pre-installed in the system. Mobile sets with GPRS or 3G connectivity may also access the radio channel.

Youths Killed in Clash Over Worship in Manipur

By Khelen Thokchom

thanjing hills Imphal, Apr 19 : Two tribal youths were hacked to death and four were wounded in a clash between a batch of devotees of Lord Ibudhou Thangjing and local residents at Golthol in Manipur’s Churachandpur district last night.

Police are yet to ascertain the exact cause of the altercation that led to the clash.

The incident sparked tension between the local residents and the Meiteis residing in Churachandpur and Bishnupur district, bordering Churachandpur. Security has been tightened to prevent further flare-up.

The two youths died on the spot. Their bodies were brought to the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) here this morning and kept at the RIMS mortuary for identification and post-mortem.

Lancha Haokip, 18, Mamang Haokip, 20, Seimang Kipgen, 52, and his son Khainingthang Kipgen, 18 — the four injured who are from Churachandpur district — have been admitted to RIMS.

Every year, people, particularly the Meiteis, climb the Thangjing Hills to worship Ibudhou Thangjing, a Meitei deity, on the first Saturday after Cheiraoba (New Year of the Hindu Meiteis).

This year, the Cheiraoba festival fell on April 14 and yesterday was the day for worshipping Ibudhou Thangjing.

The tradition is to climb the hill at night in groups and return after worshipping the deity on Sunday morning.

Many devotees had climbed the hill last evening. A preliminary police report said the clash broke out after a group of devotees had an altercation with some local people at Golthol atop the hill around 9.30 last night.

The inspector-general of police range-II, C. Doungel, today rushed to Churachandpur for a spot inquiry and to supervise security measures.

A police team led by the superintendent of police, Churachandpur, Bimolchandra Sharma, was present at the spot to inquire into the incident. “A preliminary report said an altercation between a group of devotees of Thangjing and some locals led to the clash. Two died on the spot and four were wounded. I will be making further inquiries and submit a report to the director-general of police (Yumnam Joykumar Singh),” the IGP said.

The police are yet to question the injured persons.

Doungel has contacted leaders of Kuki Inpi, the apex body of the Kuki community, and the Kuki Students’ Organisation to defuse tension in the district. “We have intensified patrol and security has been beefed up in and around Golthol and surrounding areas which are considered vulnerable, to prevent a backlash,” Doungel said.

He said the situation was fully under control though tension prevailed in Churachandpur district and the neighbouring Bishnupur district.

The superintendent of police, Bishnupur district, K. Jayenta Singh, has also stepped up security.

Hire And Fire Continues in Assam's Media

By D N Singh

youarefired The media houses in Assam have got an opportunity to 'hire and fire' the media men, whimsically by taking advantage of easily available mass communication degree holders and serious unemployment problems in the state.

Taking advantage of easily available mass communication degree holders and serious unemployment problems in the state, the media houses in Assam have got an opportunity to ‘hire and fire’ the media men, whimsically.

The fourth estate in Assam is deprived of ‘fair deals’ despite the existing ‘The Working Journalists and other Newspaper Employees (Condition of Service) and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1955, enforced. Under this act, the Central government constituted Wage Board for suggesting salary and perks for journalists and other workers in media.

This act is confined and has its jurisdiction up to print media only. In the year 1985, the Bachhawat Wage Board recommended salaries and wages for media persons for the first time and after a lapse of 13 years, Manisana Singh Wage Board revised the earlier recommendations in 1998.

Now the fourth estate is not confined to print media alone. The electronic and web media have made inroads in this field. They have expanded their wings very fast. This act does not have any control over them. This has led the media magnets an opportunity to ‘hire and fire’ the workers and exploiting them at the cheapest cost. The Wage Board’s recommendations have gone in the dust bins of maximum newspapers. Only a few have reputation of adhering the recommendations and paying, that too according to Manisana Singh Wage Board’s recommendations of 1998.

Meanwhile, the Central government constituted another Wage Board on May 24, 2007, the term of which is going to end by May 24 next. The Wage Board was asked to submit its report by this time. But according to available reports, Justice G R Majithia Commission could not do much progress in this case.

Under the circumstances, the press people are still supposed to get the wages according to the recommendations of Manisana Singh Wage Board’s recommendations, which are also not paid by most of the media houses.

It may be noted here, that the Central and state government’s salaries have been revised several times. Emoluments in UGC and the central organizations have also been revised many times. The media people have to bear the brunt of price rise with their limited income to support their families. On the other hand in Assam, most of the media houses do not issue appointment letters to their staff and deprive them of the benefits of provident fund, gratuity, medical benefits, earned leave and bonus etc.

Even state government publicizing too much about various welfare schemes for the people and society does not feel it necessary to check-up the malpractices going on in the local media. The state government is supposed to be duty bound to see whether the recommendations of Wage Board have been applied in the organizations or not.

Since most of the media houses are controlled by politicians and other influential persons, the government seems very much reluctant to look into the welfare of media people. The press people have no security of life even.

A number of journalists have been killed by security personnel, anti-socials and militants during last two decades. But the government remained unmoved and failed to provide any relief to the families of the victims or bringing the culprits to the book.

Assam Hornets’ Nest Stirred

Language appeal to Bengali Muslims draws flak

Of the people

Guwahati, Apr 19 : An appeal by an umbrella organization of religious minorities, asking the linguistic minority to identify themselves as Bengalis instead of Assamese during the ongoing census, has threatened to open old wounds in Assam.

The state has already seen two rounds of language-related agitation in the past.

The Citizens’ Right Preservation Committee (CRPC) has appealed to the Bengali Muslims of Barak Valley to identify themselves as Bengalis instead of Assamese, a move which has not gone down well with several organizations representing the religious and linguistic minorities of Assam.

Secretary of the Cachar unit of CRPC Sadhan Purkayastha said, “It would be sheer blasphemy on the part of the Bengali Muslims of Barak Valley to follow their counterparts in Brahmaputra Valley who are now insisting on identifying themselves as Assamese.”

The CRPC also opposed the two state Jamiat factions, which are in favor of religious and linguistic minorities identifying themselves as Assamese.

The All Assam Bengali Parishad, an organization representing the linguistic minority, on the other hand, has opposed the CRPC’s call and said that the organization “did not represent the 65 lakh Bengali-speaking people of Assam”.

Chitta Pal, the president of the Parishad, told The Telegraph that “a census is supposed to be a neutral exercise to determine the demographic pattern of the country”.

“It is a matter of individual choice how they identify themselves. No one can impose any diktat on anybody,” he said, adding “the timing of the appeal was clearly made with an eye on the Assembly elections next year”.

Pal also pointed out that Assam had already seen two phases of language-related “disturbances” over the Assamese-Bengali issue and there was no need to divide the two communities living as one for centuries.

It was the British rulers who drove the wedge firmly into the Assamese-Bengali divide in Assam, taking advantage of a simmering discontent among the local populace. The British had even imposed Bengali as the official language in Assam from 1836 to 1872. The language-related agitation took place in 1961 and 1972.

A leader of one faction of the state Jamiat and All-India United Democratic Front chief Badruddin Ajmal has said the minority population in Brahmaputra Valley should adopt Assamese as their language.

AIUDF working president Hafiz Rashid Ahmed Choudhury, too, said the issue of language was purely individual and a matter of conscience. “No political party or organisation can impose any language as mother tongue on the people,” he added.

While the AASU reserved comment on the issue, the Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad (AJYCP) said that it had made an appeal to all those who had resided in Assam and adopted the local culture and lifestyle to identify themselves as Assamese in the ongoing census.

AJYCP chief adviser Putul Dutta said, “Our stand is clear. All those people — irrespective of their religion, caste or the language they speak — living within the geographical boundaries of Assam are Assamese people”.

The directorate of census operations, Assam, has refused to take a stand on the issue.

A senior official at the directorate office here said the current phase of census was not covering the language and religious aspects. “A census is a neutral exercise meant to determine the demographic pattern of the country,” the official added.

[ via Telegraph India ]

I Wish We Had larger Number of MPs: Lal Thanhawla

Lal Thanhawla When Lal Thanhawla seeks an appointment with an Union minister in New Delhi, no one disappoints him despite the fact that he is the chief minister of one of the small, far-flung Northeast states.

After all, he first became Mizoram’s CM when Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister. In an interview to Shantanu Nandan Sharma, he lists out some of the handicaps in leading a small state.

Excerpts:

On being a small state with one Lok Sabha MP...

I do not have any problems with the Central government, particularly the UPA government, despite being a small, insignificant state located in a remote part of the country. Instead, there is a tremendous goodwill for us at the Centre. Yet, we have not been able to capitalize on this because of our remote location and other constraints.

On no discussion of Mizoram in Parliament...

I don’t remember when Mizoram was talked about in Parliament last. I wish we had larger number of MPs. But both our MPs (one each in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha) are very active inside and outside the Parliament. Also, whenever I visit Delhi, I not only meet Union ministers, but even officials to get work done for my state. Our problem is not in receiving fund from the Centre, but in lack of capacity to spend it. So, we have begun to engage professional organizations to prepare project proposals and action plans.

On Look East Policy...

It is rather difficult to woo investors despite Mizoram being very peaceful and having an industry-friendly attitude. However, the Centre’s Look East policy, which engages neighboring countries like Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand and other South East countries, could make our state a major beneficiary in the years to come.