Indian
presence in Myanmar and its economy, especially after all the glib talk
of a “Great Game” on Myanmar involving China, Western powers and India.
By Subir Bhaumik
India should be looking to her neighbourhood to boost foreign trade and get the economy back in shape. But we are missing
out on Myanmar. The Pagoda nation is strategically located between
India and south-east Asia and is key to our "Look East" policy through
the north-east.
So, one would expect rising Indian presence in
Myanmar and its economy, especially after all the glib talk of a "Great
Game" on Myanmar involving China, Western powers and India.
But does India have the minimum economic footprint in Myanmar to play a Great Game? Total foreign investment ( FDI) in Myanmar crossed $43 billion in August 2013, according to the Myanmar Investment Commission.
"Myanmar has foreign investment from 32 countries in four major
sectors: energy, oil and gas, mining, and manufacturing," said an
official from the Myanmar Investment Commission. China is the biggest
investor in Myanmar, followed by Thailand, Hong Kong, South Korea,
Britain, Singapore, Malaysia, France, Vietnam and India.
India's investment in Myanmar is now around $273.5 million. It is
expected to soar to $2.6 billion over the next few years. Indian
companies that have a presence in Myanmar include ONGC Videsh (OVL),
Jubilant Oil and Gas and the Century Ply-Star Cement group. Thailand is
the largest importer from Myanmar.
As much as 41% of Myanmar's
total exports went to Thailand last year, while 15% went to India and
14% to China. Myanmar imported mainly from China, as usual, in 2012. A
total of 37% of Myanmar's imports came from China, while 20% came from
Thailand, but just 3% from India. Myanmar's total trade volume in 2012
was $25.16 billion.
The trade deficit reached $5.76 billion
because total exports stood at $9.69 billion and total imports were
$15.46 billion. Myanmar enjoys a favourable trade balance with India,
but of its total trade of over $18 billion, India accounted for only
about 7.5% in 2011-12.
Whenever one asks a foreign trade
official for an explanation, one is bombarded with statistics. Like
India's bilateral trade with Myanmar has "expanded significantly" from
$12.4 million in 1980-81 to $1,070.88 million in 2010-11.
But
why should be looking at a progression over 20 years? Where was
Sino-Indian trade 20 years ago? Now China is India's biggest trade
partner, and it all happened in a few years.
India's exports
stand at $334.4 million, while it imports goods worth over $1 billion
from Myanmar. The main exports to Myanmar are pharmaceutical products,
iron and steel, electrical machinery and equipment. India imports large
amounts of vegetables, pulses and wood products from Myanmar.
The Indian IT industry and also the entertainment industry has not
really looked at Myanmar as a market. From an investment point of view,
healthcare and education beckon Indian players for large-scale
investment with possibilities of great returns and that will also ensure
an Indian presence with "winninghearts-and-minds" capabilities.
Even Indian media has possibilities of investments
in an untapped market, where a new democracy has increased an appetite
for news. The trouble is that India has generally looked at Myanmar for
its hydrocarbons.
Seven Indian companies figure among the 59
shortlisted foreign companies for the second round of bidding, among
them are the likes of ONGC-OVL, Jubilant and Cairn Energy.
But the real irony unfolds in this sector when OVL and Gail decide to
invest $1.33 billion in the China-Myanmar gas pipeline and Punj LloydBSE -0.44 %
wins a construction contract for two parallel pipelines for oil and gas
involving a Chinese investment of $475 million to build the 200-km
Kyaukphyu-Kunming oil and gas pipeline.
India lost out on this pipeline because we could not offer Myanmar a route to bring their gas from the Shwe fields. Bangladesh under Khaleda Zia
did not oblige by providing its territory for the proposed pipeline and
it was considered too expensive and risky to route it through India's
northeast.
India has requested Myanmar to start fresh
negotiations on the pipeline now that Delhi has a more friendly
government in Dhaka. But we can't guarantee that will be the case by the
time negotiations start.
Jesus Christ's Superstar (The Gospel According to Carl Lentz)
With the Lord as his
swagger coach, the 34-year-old pastor is turning Hillsong Church in New
York City into a Pentecostal powerhouse and a destination for the in
crowd. Drawn by his concertlike sermons and pop-idol looks, Lentz's fast
growing flock of groupies includes Justin Bieber, NBA superstars, and
young Hollywood celebs. But whom, exactly, is this new apostle of cool
seeking to glorify?
By Howie Kahn
Photographs By Robbie Fimmano
Carl Lentz steps into a cloud of
silver-blue
light and hits the stage at the venerable New York City concert venue
Irving Plaza, primed to bring the Word. The 34-year-old pastor of Hillsong Church NYC
is wearing his Sunday best: black YSL wing-tip boots, black Nudie
jeans, and a short-sleeved All Saints denim work shirt. He's backed by
an 11-piece rock band that sounds like a born-again Coldplay and a
neon-lettered projection: ALWAYS. ONLY. JESUS. Sweeping
back his mohawk as shreds of rainbow disco-ball light pass across his
bearded face, Lentz revs into his first 45-minute sermon of the day.
"Going to church doesn't make you a Christian, just like going to Krispy
Kreme doesn't make you a doughnut"; then, "If you think I'm one of
those weird stalker pastors . . . you're right." Lentz scans the
two-tiered auditorium packed with congregants—they're mostly in their
twenties and thirties, with a smattering of recognizable actors and
athletes. But the range of true believers here also encompasses
suburbanites, hurricane-devastated families from the Rockaway section of
Queens, and people praying to beat cancer or to find financial
stability. They hang on Lentz's every word: "We're in the control-freak
capital of the world, where people want everything but want to give up
nothing. When it's always only Jesus, you're not the boss—He is."
As Lentz paces the stage
on this sweltering mid-July afternoon, balancing quick, sharp movements
with sudden moments of reflective stillness, he comes off as less
feverish holy roller than cool Pentecostal populist—his message being
that of love, acceptance, and total surrender. Lentz delivers it in
expressions of faith so pithy and catchy they play back in your head
like a pop song: "You don't have to believe to belong here." "It's not a
feel-better message, it's a be-better one." "We don't want your money, but God wants everything."
They drive his preaching style—what he calls his "homiletical
habitude." Lentz, who was born into a devout Christian family, spent his
early years in a white-collar suburb of Chicago, but when he was 11,
his dad, a television-ad salesman for Pat Robertson's Family Channel,
took a job at the network's headquarters in Virginia Beach—that's where
Lentz picked up his slight southern twang, which intensifies when he
preaches. "I'm going to say things that disrupt you," Lentz says,
wrapping up his sermon. "It's the full Gospel—I have to do it. I owe you
that as the pastor of this church." On cue, the house band strikes up,
and Lentz quickens his cadence to match the building bass line. "We're
going to sing our way out of here," Lentz says. The crowd sways to the
music, raising their hands in surrender. Lentz blesses them all, then
exits stage left.
"He is going to be huge," predicts today's guest speaker,
Priscilla Shirer, a 38-year-old minister. A rising star in her own
right, Shirer was flown in from Dallas to lighten Lentz's load. He
normally preaches at all six Irving Plaza services, beginning at 10 A.M.,
with lines of devotees wrapped around the block for each one. But today
he is leading only the last three services because he's running on
three hours of sleep, having just returned from the annual Hillsong
Conference in Sydney, Australia.
Hillsong NYC exudes a start-up vibe, but the church is actually a
franchise. It's an extension of the Australian Pentecostal megachurch
and multimedia conglomerate Hillsong, which has more than 20,000 members
in the Sydney area, chart-topping musical acts, DVDs, books, and
satellite churches in 11 countries—and took in $58.3 million in 2012
(including $25.9 million from tithes). After initially receiving
financial support from the mother ship, Lentz says, Hillsong NYC, which
passes around black donation buckets at every service, is now
self-sustaining. Lentz was educated in the early 2000s at Hillsong
International Leadership College, where he met his future Hillsong NYC
partners: Laura Lentz, his wife and fellow pastor, and Joel Houston, the
33-year-old son of Hillsong's cofounders, Brian and Bobbie Houston. But
it's Lentz, with his supernatural magnetism, who is the face of
Hillsong's first foray into American Christendom. "People call New York
the church-planting graveyard," Lentz says. And yet, just three years
after its launch, Hillsong NYC draws 6,000 people to its services every
Sunday and has just added two more at a chapel in the Gramercy Park
neighborhood. "I see our church taking ground in a major way," Lentz
says. "In five years, I want a giant version of what it is now."
Lentz has already shared the pulpit with megapastors like Joel Osteen
and T.D. Jakes at Christian conferences. This month, he'll preach to
sellout crowds at Hillsong's debut conferences in America, first at New
York's Radio City Music Hall, then at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles.
Meanwhile, Lentz's digital persona is going viral. He has 65,000 Instagram followers, who "like" it when he mugs beside a tank-topped Justin Bieber
(the two trade Scripture-based texts daily) or poses with the newly
baptized—by Lentz—NBA superstar Kevin Durant and Jay-Z (snapped on the
day Durant, with Lentz's spiritual counsel, signed with Roc Nation
Sports). Lentz conveys a hip, iconoclastic image: religion in a designer
wrapper.
"It's a reaction against the fundamentalist evangelical culture of
the eighties and nineties," says Brett McCracken, the author of Hipster Christianity: When Church & Cool Collide.
"Dynamic speakers have always risen to the top, from Charles Spurgeon
to Billy Graham. The difference now is pastors like Lentz wear skinny
jeans and beards and quote Jay-Z. They gain authenticity from caring
about the same things as you do. Part of the brand is saying you don't
think about the brand."
Lentz is aware that endorsements from Bieber and Durant, especially
when tweeted and Instagrammed, pay dividends. "I'm an advertiser," Lentz
reasons. "You are God's ambassador—as if He is making his appeal
through you. We're essentially His commercial."
• • •
In the Pentecostal worldview Carl Lentz subscribes to, all human
talents are expressions of the Holy Spirit. Lentz believes his swift
ascent is part of God's plan, his past full of portent. His earliest
memories involve working in a soup kitchen and ministering to prisoners
with his father. As a teenager, he says, he gradually turned away from
God—toward basketball, earning a walk-on spot as a shooting guard at
North Carolina State. "I was teammate of the year," Lentz says,
"breaking up fights, signing guys out of jail." But he left the team
during his sophomore season. "Something in my heart shifted," he
continues. "I felt like if I stayed, I couldn't serve God. I felt like I
was going to die."
At age 20, Lentz lit out for California, where he attended King's
Seminary in Van Nuys while working part-time at the Gucci store on Rodeo
Drive. His pastor in Virginia Beach, Wave Church's Steve Kelly,
suggested that Lentz check out Hillsong International Leadership
College. Attending Hillsong after King's, Lentz says, summoning a
basketball analogy, was "like going to UNLV instead of Princeton.
Princeton wins with backdoor cuts, whereas UNLV is running, gunning,
getting dunks, and popping their jerseys on the way back up the floor.
That's the way I wanted to relate to Jesus."
After marrying Laura and graduating in 2003, Lentz moved back to Virginia Beach and jumped into the ministry at Wave Church, where he rapidly built a following with his hip-hop-infused "Soul Central" services. Then, on New Year's Eve 2009, Lentz flew to New York to meet Joel Houston—who was already well known as the frontman of the Christian-rock band Hillsong United—to discuss a scenario that the two had dreamed about in Sydney: a Hillsong church in Manhattan. A couple of months later, when they got the go-ahead from Joel's parents, Lentz jumped at the opportunity, which he views as a manifestation of God's plan. The night Lentz, his wife, and their three young children pulled into Brooklyn, he says, the family car was broken into. "We couldn't find a place to live, because you have to prove you make, like, 900 grand a year," Lentz says. "So by God's grace, some real-estate agent, who just loved us, found us a spot in Williamsburg. It was a brand-new building, and the dude cut us a deal. We have a doorman, which was all my wife wanted to feel safe."
In the beginning, Hillsong NYC was less a church than a series of informal meetings on park benches and in pizza joints. Lentz recalls canvassing the streets with Houston, talking to whomever they could about Christ. The size of their meetings grew, and after one attendee fainted in an overcrowded TriBeCa apartment, Lentz decided it was time to seek a larger venue. A Hillsong contact who works for the concert-promoting group Live Nation helped Lentz secure Irving Plaza, and Hillsong NYC held the first of its weekly services there in February 2011.
As his church grows in numbers and notoriety, Lentz knows he'll be subjected to intense scrutiny—not least because of Hillsong HQ's controversial past. There was the admission from Joel Houston's grandfather Frank Houston, a leader in the Australian Pentecostal movement and Hillsong's patriarch, that he had sexually abused a boy in New Zealand. Hillsong Church is also the target of widespread allegations of homophobia. Lentz says gays are welcome at Hillsong NYC, but he declines to address the topic of same-sex marriage with me. It's clearly not worth the risk. Lentz maintains that his job is more about uniting people than dividing them. "It's harder to feel welcome in some local churches than it is to meet Jesus," Lentz says elliptically. "If Jesus walked into New York City, he wouldn't be able to get into some of the places they profess to worship him in."
• • •
What some people call swagger, Carl Lentz calls the grace of God. Justin Bieber's longtime manager, Scooter Braun, says Lentz "has that X-factor, that thing you're born with that makes people gravitate toward you. I'm a proud, practicing Jew, but you don't have to be Christian to be moved by Carl's words and his passion." When Braun and Bieber met Lentz for the first time—introduced by a mutual friend, the Seattle pastor Judah Smith, backstage at a Bieber concert in New Jersey—Braun was wary. "I'd had bad experiences with people claiming they were all about God," Braun says. "My reaction was just to get him out." But when they met again at a pickup basketball game at Shaquille O'Neal's house in L.A., the two men bonded. "Carl has never asked for anything other than friendship," Braun says, "and has given nothing but friendship in return."
Lentz has earned the trust of many young famous Christians. At that same 5 P.M. service in mid-July, the 24-year-old actress Vanessa Hudgens and her 21-year-old boyfriend, Austin Butler, were seated in the front row, with Butler's costar in The Carrie Diaries, AnnaSophia Robb, 19, a row back. As Lentz began to preach the Word, Robb tapped out notes on her iPhone. When the pastor left the stage, Robb, who recently moved into the same apartment building as the Lentzes, turned to me and said, "You can feel the favor of God in this church." After his sermon, upstairs in Irving Plaza's greenroom, Lentz meets with a grieving couple who just lost their 4-year-old son in a car accident. Lentz prays with them, huddling in a tight circle, finishing just in time to change back into his stage clothes and deliver again at the seven o'clock service. When Lentz hauls himself back to the greenroom 45 minutes later, he's gutted. He shuts the door and sits gingerly on a couch, alone, brushing his hair back. He leans forward, elbows on knees, hands joined, eyes closed. He's sweating and sniffling; a tear runs down his cheek. One more service to go.
Lentz quickly collects himself and opens the door to find Roc-A-Fella Records cofounder Damon Dash waiting, unannounced, with an entourage of two.
"That was like a rock concert with a message," Dash says, introducing Lentz to someone he refers to as "the biggest DJ in China."
"You mind if I get your details?" Lentz asks. "Give you a holler? Grab a coffee?" The two exchange numbers, and Lentz heads back downstairs to preach his final sermon of the night.
"Jesus," Lentz says, bathed again in silver-blue light, "I pray tonight you have your way. There will not be one of us who leaves here as we walked in."
• • •
Four days later, Lentz hits the road: There's Hillsong's European conference at London's O2 Arena; an event in Joplin, Missouri, called Project Restoration, to which Lentz was personally invited by a woman who'd driven to New York just to ask him to heal her tornado-ravaged town; and a trip to preach in New Zealand. On the day Lentz returns to New York, nearly three weeks later, he heads to Harlem to coach his church's basketball team in a game at storied Rucker Park. He rolls uptown in a caravan of Chevy Tahoes filled with former and current NBA talent, including the Golden State Warriors' All-Star forward David Lee. Justin Bieber's onetime "swagger coach" Ryan Aldred, a.k.a. Ryan Good, sits in the back of one SUV. "All the other teams are sponsored by rap labels and drug dealers," Lentz says. "We're the only church team in the history of the league."
During the game, Lentz, in a loose-fitting Ksubi Baddies tank top and a camouflage baseball cap, sits anxiously on the bench, eyes narrowed, turning his cap forward then backward. He appears even more intense than he does in church. By the fourth quarter, Lentz's squad of ringers, the Hillsong NYC Hustlers, have a 15-point lead. When Lee seals the deal with his third dunk in a row, Lentz shoots up off the bench and exchanges a flying body bump with his Warrior. His commitment to winning is total.
That was made clear four Sundays earlier, during his final sermon of
the night. Wiping sweat from his brow under the disco ball, Lentz cited
John 6:53 and spoke of a total commitment to Christ: "Unless you eat the
flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in
you." He then explained the meaning of Jesus' words: "When you take a
bite of me, when you really follow me, everything in me goes in you—you can't pick and choose." Lentz leaned out over the edge of the stage, his voice rising. "You have to be consumed with this. I'm talking about flesh of my flesh, blood of my blood, everything in me, in you, and if you're not about that, you need to go follow somebody else."
Lentz was ostensibly talking about his savior, but it almost sounded
like he meant himself. "Because this is not a game. I am not a circus. I
am not just traveling around doing cool things. I am after followers."
THE CIRCLE OF LOVE
Carl Lentz has a knack for making famous friends, from true believers to adoring admirers. 1. AnnaSophia Robb
The Colorado-raised Carrie Diaries star uses Hillsong NYC as a cure for homesickness and now lives in the same apartment building as Lentz. 2. Kevin Durant
Lentz baptized the NBA superstar and serves as his spiritual counselor;
the two hit the gym together whenever they're in the same city. 3. Scooter Braun
Braun's first reaction to Lentz? "That guy is definitely not a pastor!" Now Lentz has the full trust of Bieber's Svengali. 4. Damon Dash
The Roc-a-Fella Records cofounder recently visited Hillsong NYC, telling Lentz: "That was like a rock concert with a message." 5. Jeremy Lin
When he's back in New York, the former Knicks and current Houston Rockets point guard often attends Lentz's services. 6. Vanessa Hudgens
The Spring Breakers co-star and her actor boyfriend, Austin Butler, are Hillsong NYC regulars and friends with Lentz's whole family. 7. Justin Bieber
Last year, Lentz and the King of Teen Pop bonded over pickup b-ball; now they exchange texts about Scripture every day. 8. Tyson Chandler
With his wife, Kimberly, the Knicks' star center traveled with the
Lentzes to this year's Hillsong Conference in Sydney, Australia.
'North
East Live', a sister channel of Guwahati-based Pride East Entertainment
Private Limited running three other channels, was launched by CM Tuki
in the presence of Development of North East Region (DoNER) Minister
Paban Singh Ghatowar on Monday. Itanagar, Oct 1 : In a "giant leap" for the land-locked state, the first 24x7 satellite news channel has been launched in Arunachal Pradesh by Chief Minister Nabam Tuki.
'North East Live', a sister channel of Guwahati-based Pride East Entertainment Private Limited running three other channels, was launched by Tuki in the presence of Development of North East Region (DoNER) Minister Paban Singh Ghatowar here yesterday.
"This is a giant leap forward for journalism
and mass media in the land-locked state of Arunachal Pradesh - a late
starter - which boasts of just seven dailies being published from the
capital and few other tabloids from other parts," Tuki said.
The growth of media houses is a welcome trend. As all are aware that
media is considered as the fourth pillar of democracy, it is of utmost
importance that this pillar is strong and vibrant for democracy to
thrive and prosper. I believe with the addition of another member today,
the fourth pillar of democracy in our state has grown stronger," he
said.
Reiterating that the geographically large state has
immense potential in all respects, he appealed to the media "to showcase
and promote the rich cultural, religious, adventure and natural
potentials of the state along with its unique identity of unity in
diversity".
Ghatowar said with the launch of 'North East Live',
people of the country and abroad will be able to know more about North
East India.
"It's a happy opening for all of us in the NE
region. The information on North East India missed by the mainstream
channels will be fed to the rest of country and the world from now on through this satellite channel," the DoNER Minister said.
As the maintenance of law and order is a primary
concern of state governments, the opening of the first court of judicial
magistrate in Manipur's border town of Moreh, is expected to benefit
the public.
The first ever Court of Judicial Magistrate First class cum Civil
Court at Moreh was recently inaugurated by the Chief Justice of Manipur
High Court, Justice Abhay Manohar Sapre.
The court is the first of its
kind in Manipur and it has video conferencing facility. Plans are on to
establish more such courts in every district of the state.
"Every district and its tehsils must have courts to take care of this
judicial system along with a team of judges to deal with all types of
cases coming before the court," said Sapre.
The state got an independent high court this year in March. Moreh,
situated in Chandel district is located on the border with Myanmar. The
opening of the court has come as a relief for people of the town who
earlier had to travel long distances to settle legal matters.
"Before this inauguration, the people of Moreh had to go to Imphal
and Chandel to seek justice. But now, I hope that the people of Moreh
will get justice without having to go far," said N Morengba Metei, a
resident.
The setting up of such courts is expected to make the judicial system more efficient and bring it within reach of the people.
Over 80 Bru families, who fled Mizoram 16 years ago due to ethnic conflict with the Mizos, returned to their home-state of Mizoram on Monday afternoon.
Families from Asapara and Naisingpara relief camps in Tripura's Kanchapur district made their way in jeeps and trucks, to Kanhmun and Zomuantlang —Mizo towns on the inter-state boundary.
120 displaced families to return to Mizoram
A scuffle between a man who was set to return and some who did not wish to at the Asapara camp on Sunday night worried officials who feared a repeat of the previous year's repatriation process, when only seven of the 500 families made it back. However, Elvis Chorkhy, the chairman of the Bru Coordination Committee in Mizoram, termed Monday's repatriation a "relative success".
Chorky, along with other Bru leaders and Mizoram officials welcomed the families at Kanhmun, while MBDPF leaders such as A Sawibunga and Laldawngliana, assisted Tripura officials in recording the number of families who were leaving the Tripura relief camps.
To give its infants 'their due', Mizoram attempts to change burial practices
At 1 pm, the numbers were still being recorded and technical difficulties were being sorted at the Naisingpara camp. Sawibunga said the main problem was that some families had registered their names wrong with regard to their refugee ration card numbers, while some had registered without the informing the respective heads of their families.
Monday's process was slated to repatriate 121 Bru families to 15 villages inside Mizoram. At the time of filing this report, Zawlnuam BDO Lalnundika Tochhawng said the number of repatriated families at the entry points were more than 80 and that more were on their way. Close to 5,000 Bru families are estimated to still be in Tripura relief camps, while around 1,100 have been repatriated.
Traditionally, Mizo women have played a productive role not just within their homes – as wives and mothers – but have also made a mark as entrepreneurs, teachers and officers in the state administration, writes Ninglun Hanghal.
Aziawl: In a historic victory for the women’s movement in Mizoram, the State Law Commission is now in the final process of reviewing The Mizo Marriage Bill, 2013, The Mizo Inheritance Bill, 2013, and The Mizo Divorce Bill, 2013, which will be introduced in the State Assembly after public consultations across the northeastern state. This is the result of a unique struggle that has gone on for over a decade, waged by the Mizo Hmeichhe Insuihkhawm Pawl (MHIP), an apex body representing several local women’s groups.
After years of advocacy and repeated attempts at sending memorandums and draft bills to the Assembly and other executive bodies, the MHIP finally managed to push the system into considering judicial and legislative changes in the marriage, divorce, and inheritance and succession laws in order to safeguard the interests of ordinary women.
The dynamic Pi Sangkhumi, 60, former president of MHIP, is a happy woman. It’s been her long-cherished dream to ensure reforms related to marriage and inheritance as she has seen generations of Mizo women suffer because of the legal biases in the system. Explaining the need for these reforms, she says, “A Mizo woman has never had any rights over property whether moveable, immoveable or even gifts, known as ‘bungrua’ in the local language, that are given to her at the time of marriage. Her husband can divorce her at any time and throw her out of the house without providing any financial support.”
Traditionally, Mizo women have played a productive role not just within their homes – as wives and mothers – but have also made a mark as entrepreneurs, teachers and officers in the state administration. However, just as the state’s history has been strife-torn, so has the life of its women, who have borne the worst consequences of the instability and violence that had marked the region.
The years when the Mizo National Front (MNF), an underground movement, was actively agitating against the government were particularly difficult. Earlier known as the Mizo National Famine Front, formed to help ease the immense suffering of the local people during the severe Mautam Famine of 1959, the organisation renamed itself the MNF in 1961. The state’s inaction during famine led to a wave of secessionist uprisings and armed insurrections during the entire decade of the sixties.
Pi Sangkhumi can “never forget those difficult days”. Her father, one of the key leaders of the MNF, was killed during the peak of the movement. His death spelled tough times for her family but they coped as best as they could. A year later, in 1965, she went for higher studies to Shillong, the capital of the neighbouring state of Meghalaya. Being a brilliant student enabled her to study and live free-of-cost there, as her expenses were covered by scholarships. “There was no way financial support could come from home,” she recalls.
All the while that Pi Sangkhumi was coping with her personal struggles she was acutely aware of the difficulties being faced by women at large, particularly during the two-decade-long bloody conflict – from mid-1960s to mid-80s. Even today, she and many others are trying hard to leave behind those bad memories. So much so that she finds it painful to talk about it.
An incident involving the brutal gang rape of two young women by army jawans in 1966 is a case in point. On a fateful November night, the MNF attacked a convoy of Army personnel advancing towards the Champhai village in east Mizoram. In retaliation the Army herded the villagers together and set fire to their homes. The two women, the daughters of prominent community leaders, were held separately in a small hut where soldiers allegedly took turns in raping them.
After 47 years, a compensation of Rs 5 lakh each has recently been announced by the central government for the two survivors, who are in a pitiable condition today. Reportedly, one of them just sits quietly all day with a blank expression on her face and needs assistance to even move around. The other survivor suffers from extreme paranoia and nightmares. She refuses to sleep alone and is suspicious of everyone around her. This story is common to many victims who have endured such traumas during the years of the revolt.
It was these crimes being committed against women that prompted various women’s groups from across the state and even outside to come together and form a powerful organisation that worked to fight for the collective rights of the women of the state. The MHIP was created in 1974 when Mizoram was still a Union Territory – it got full statehood in 1986 – and it literally means binding women together. Its logo ‘hmui’, a charkha, symbolises Mizo women’s creativity and sense of self reliance. It is also the device they use to weave the beautiful ‘puanchei’, their traditional dress. Tlawmngaihna, or philanthropy – a key characteristic of the Mizo society – was the other reason behind the setting up of MHIP.
Besides implementing several initiatives for the empowerment of women, particularly related to education and entrepreneurship development in the recent decades, MHIP has been focusing on campaigning against domestic violence, rape and other forms of gender violence. One of their main challenges has been to convince people to change traditional systems and customs that suppress women, both with the family and in society.
Pi Sangkhumi is of the opinion that while “Mizo women are definitely a part of the work force now, they are still not the decision-makers and that needs to change”. Which is why MHIP pursing the legislative route.
The practice of quoting a “bride price” irks Pi Sangkhumi no end. “It’s cash or kind paid to the bride’s father during marriage but, I ask, is one supposed to ‘purchase’ one’s bride? What status will such a woman have in her marital home?” remarks the veteran activist, who is also a teacher and a retired member of the State Public Service Commission.
According to her, the “bride price” custom started around half a century ago and was meant to be “a phuahchop”, or a practice introduced temporarily. But over the years, it has become a ‘tradition’ that is faithfully being followed. “A regressive practice should be prohibited by the legal system. We cannot overturn a custom but we can definitely make it better or modify it,” she argues.
Drawing from examples like child marriage, the purdah system and sati – practices which are illegal in India now – Pi Sangkhumi asks, “Why can’t we legally ban the Mizo bride price practice, too?” She further adds, “When laws such as the Hindu Marriage Act can be passed and implemented in other parts of India, why can’t we pass a Mizo Inheritance or Divorce Law?”
Another demand that she and her group are making is for a 33 per cent reservation in the political system. As a first step towards realising their dream, MHIP is advocating for an increased induction of women candidates into local political parties.
Surely if anyone can make change happen for Mizo women it’s the MHIP, which has a presence in 16 blocks in the state with 12 joint headquarters and 740 local branches. Pi Sangkhumi, who has penned the history of the Mizo women’s movement, titled ‘MHIP Chanchin 1974-2009’, says with a broad smile, “During our general assembly meetings when more than 2,000 women gather, even the Vanapa hall – the biggest public hall in Mizoram – is small for us. That’s the kind of woman power we have.”
Having worked hard on the legislation on marriage, divorce and inheritance, Pi Sangkhumi is on to another task these days: getting important laws related to domestic violence, rape and human rights translated into the Mizo language. She is doing this because she strongly feels “it is important that every hardworking Mizo woman understands her rights”.
Indian
presence in Myanmar and its economy, especially after all the glib talk
of a “Great Game” on Myanmar involving China, Western powers and India.
