Matamgi Manipur

A two-article series by Pradip Phanjoubam on the order of the day in Manipur. Imphal Free Press had published Insane Manipur on 16 March 2014 and How societies decay and revolutions are born on 23 March 2014 Insane Manipur No adjective at this moment can describe the Manipur scenario more accurately than the word “insane”. Violence and bloodshed is becoming not just a norm but reducing to a delirious and mindless mass hysteria. Lost in this maddening orgy of blood and gore are all clear cut demarcation between victim and perpetrator. A scan of the number of protests on the streets of Imphal on any given day should be revealing for anybody sensitive enough to notice this emerging frightening confusion. If there are a group of people staging a “sit in protest” on the side of an Imphal street against the growing menace of kidnapping government officials for (astronomical) ransoms, in another corner of the city there would another group protesting against an equally frightening and...

By Laldinkima Sailo Northeast India’s inability to move from subsistence agriculture to a production and manufacturing economy can be solved by collaborating with Myanmar  Originally published by the Hindu on 14 Mar 2014 at  http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/northeasts-myanmar-connect/article5781544.ece Walking around the Bagyoke Aung San Market in Yangon gives one a personal sense of the cultural affinity between Myanmar and northeast India. Goods are stacked in a way peculiar to the northeast region and the similarity in the products on display is unmistakable. Every now and then one can hear people speaking in Mizo or some other common language. The traditional Burmese dress is worn just the way it is in the northeast and the street food and traditional food items of both the regions bear a close resemblance too. The saying that Southeast Asia begins in northeast India takes credence. The way the people of Myanmar have taken to the use of chopsticks seems...