Matamgi Manipur

A text of the 10th Arambam Somorendro memorial lecture by Pu Lalthlamuong Keivom, the first Indian Foreign Service officer from Manipur on 10th Arambam Somorendra Memorial Lecture held at Lamyanba Sanglewn, Konung Lampak on 10 June 2015). Submitted by Dr Lokendra Arambam (Chairperson, The Arambam Somorendra Trust), E-pao posted this text originally in a five-part series between 11–26 June.  A Foreword from the Arambam Somorendra Trust The Arambam Somorendra Trust is happy to introduce our deeply respected friend, Pu Lalthlamuong Keivom, the first Indian Foreign Service Officer from Manipur and a true son of the soil who shall deliver the 10th the Arambam Somorendra Memorial Lecture. The Arambam Somorendra Trust on its regular mission to commemorate the death Anniversary of the late leader, had made humble efforts to disseminate through such lectures new vistas of information, share perspectives and engender debate amongst well-meaning citizens and neighbours about critical i...

By: Lt. Col. H. Bhuban Singh (Text courtesy: Imphal Free Press 7 June 2015) The following is an article by Lt. Col. H. Bhuban, author of the book “Merger of Manipur”. We are reproducing this article published in the IFP 15 years ago as a homage to the respected ex-Army officer, who was also minister under the Wahengbam Nipamacha Singh MSCP ministry, a state party which is now defunct. The maverick who is also known for his scholarly researches into the history of Manipur of the colonial period,breathed his last recently. There has been a strong notion of recent origin in Manipur that the State became independent from midnight of 15 August 1947, when the suzerainty of His Majesty (of the United Kingdom) over Indian states lapsed and further that this independent status was lost from the noon of 15 October 1949, when Manipur got merged into the erstwhile Dominion of India. There is no denying that Maharaja Bodhchandra Singh was coerced into signing the Merger Agreement after long and ...

by Pradip Phanjoubam (This article was first published in the Economic and Political Weekly and republished on the Imphal Free Press on 14 June.) Delhi's chest thumping journalists have become mere stenographers of power, forgetting to ask questions and interrogate official narratives. A journalist from Manipur recounts the events leading up to and around the 9 June 2015 “surgical strikes” by the Indian Army against insurgents and explains the event in its contexts. There is something very strange about the ongoing operations against the National Socialist Council of Nagaland, (Khaplang), NSCN-K, and other Northeast militants in the wake of the June 4 devastating ambush on a convoy of the 6-Dogra Regiment which left 18 soldiers dead and 14 more injured. All news of these operations, including the surgical commando strikes deep into Myanmar territory on June 9, emanate from New Delhi and are loudly relayed through the many 24-hour TV channels and columns by Northeast experts based...

Dr L Krishnamangol wrote this article for The Sangai Express and Epao reposted it on 1 June 2015 There are many historical turning points in the evolution of the society and state of Manipur since ancient times. We can, therefore, imagine that there was “primitive communism” or primitive communal system in ancient times. And, the primitive communism is the earliest mode of production which is based on the common ownership of the means of production or the resources. This system still continues in some parts of the hill areas of Manipur. And, the system corroborates the empirical experiences/evidences that were found in different parts of the world in ancient times or early period of human civilizations. Coming to the case of Manipur, it is well known that the historical development of the state revealed that Manipur was defeated/conquered by the British in 1891, and that, thereafter, it became a princely state prior to 15th August, 1947.

by Mohendro Nandeibam. This article was originally published by the People's Chronicle ( http://thepeopleschronicle.in ) Big Community Hall and Small Community Life: Can we think of 60 Production-cum Training Centres with Rs. 300 crore within 5 years? Manipur should not and cannot claim a place of honour and respectability in the comity of sister states in the North-East, not to speak in the whole country, as evidently substantiated by the World Bank whose view, is “Non-Development” measured largely by the unchanged composition of products, unchanged factor-combination and unchanged technology. This is the dismal fate after 65 years of economic planning in the country. We could not undertake the exhaustive Investment Planning based on fair calculation of costs and benefits, merits and demerits and short term gains and long term loss. The recent trend of globalization and increasing liberalization has exposed the fundamental weaknesses of structural stagnation.

This article by Nahakpam Aruna originally appeared in Manipuri as one of the chapters titled Houjikki Matamgi Manipuri Warimacha in her book Nongthangleima Amasung Taibang , which was published in 2001. It was abridged and translated by Dhiren A. Sadokpam in 2008. E-pao and Hueiyen Lanpao republished the article in May 2015. The development of Manipuri short story passed through various stages linked by an organic continuum from its conception to the age of maturity and sparks . Despite the resistance to recognition of its contemporary form and the near rejection of the same by established littérateurs and critics, the embryonic genre emerged as a formidable literary corpus acquiring a life of its own. In the twilight of the last millennium, the short story emerged as a potent and mature genre despite its late entry into the varied Manipuri literary traditions. The genre was shaped and chiselled in the early part of twentieth century. With the new education system launched by the Br...

This news story and interview was first published by the Imphal Free Press on 14 May 2015 Imphal: Padmashree Heisnam Kanhailal is the founder of the Kalakshetra Manipur, an institute that started the tradition for an alternative theatre and that distinguished the maestro from his peer. He is often described as the man who broke the new trend of theatrical expression in contemporary Indian theatre. Since the inception of Kalakshetra in 1969, he has been continuing experiment with tradition for an alternate theatre. In the process his alternative theatre could be indentified with the live theatre that he ultimately conceived as the ‘theatre of the earth’. Some of his remarkable experiments that redefine the conventional theatrical expression were the Nupilan (women's war against British) in 1978, Sanjennaha (cowherd) in 1979 with villagers at Umathel, a remote village in South Manipur. He also worked with the Paite community in Churachandpur district and produced Thanghou Le...

 By Ilana Shapiro Shapiro, Ilana. Theories of Change.  Beyond Intractability. Eds. Guy Burgess and Heidi Burgess. Conflict Information Consortium, University of Colorado, Boulder. Posted: January 2005 < http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/theories-of-change >.      Overview Responding to tensions and violence between ethnic groups around the world, a growing number of non-governmental organizations have developed innovative programs and approaches to help resolve conflicts, prevent violence, and promote more cooperative relationships between groups. Each intervention program identifies and interprets the causes and conditions leading to ethnic conflicts, and sets a unique course that, if followed, should result in powerful change to resolve these conflicts. The diverse approaches they use often seek to address both diffuse tensions and specific conflicts, make short- and long-term changes, and influence those who directly participate in the in...

This article by Amar Yumnam was originally published by E-pao.net on 5 May 2015. The writer is a professor at Department of Economics, Manipur University. The whole world knows that there is a price tag for every government job in Manipur. It is also known that the government is practically the only employer of people looking for jobs in the formal sector. With the very slow expansion or rather stagnancy for employment opportunities in the informal sector, the job in government is the only hope and aspiration of the people – youths, and parents of the youths. Simultaneously it is also the envy of all those youths and parents of youths who do not have any space in the quantum of employment in the government sector. This has been the reality– governance trajectory and social dynamics - of Manipur for not years, but decades with the quantum reflected in price tags rising without limits.

By Amar Yumnam , Source: Imphal Free Press The North East has come to engage the Indian psyche for sure. This is a very positive fall-out of the Prime Minister’s twin approach emphasising the need for enhancing the relationships with South-East and East Asia and the imperative for evolving a growth momentum for the region. This naturally has had both global and national implications. The neighbouring countries in South East and East Asia are already taking keen interest on the issues, potential and challenges facing the North East. Such an interest by a significant group of countries has naturally to have wider spill-overs. Now the European nations and the countries in North America have started taking more extensive interests in the region than ever before. The national implication is that the administration is hard-pressed to attend to the urgency.

by A Bimol Akoijam & Th Tarunkumar Originally published by the Manipur Research Forum ( www.manipurresearchforum.org ) in their journal Eastern Quarterly ( http://www.manipurresearchforum.org/index.php/pub/eastern-quarterly ) AFSPA reveals that it is an act of legitimizing the involvement of the military in the domestic space, and that it does not supplement but supplant the 'civil power'. Continous enforcement of AFSPA and deployment of troops under the Act convey the presence of the might of the Indian state to the people and is reminder of militarism that has subverted the democratic institutions. The three-month-long popular agitation (from July 11, 2004) in Manipur for the repeal of the Armed Forces (Assam and Manipur) Special Powers Act, 1958 (AFSPA) sparked off by the death of a thirtytwo year-old woman, Thangjam Manorama, 'in custody', has highlighted in unambiguous terms the anti-democratic and oppressive character of the Act. While the agitation has f...

By Pradip Phanjoubam, Imphal Free Press, 16 Dec 2014 That the huge expanse of the non state sector generally termed as the civil society is not always civil is axiomatic. In Manipur this ought to be obvious. The blockades, bandhs, strikes and many other disruptive activities, often for very sectarian causes emanate from organizations assuming the mantle of civil society vigilantes. The truth is, it is not just in Manipur, but the civil society in the entire northeast is badly fractured and ethnically riven and may not be quite what the term is generally understood to be. The term civil society itself presupposed certain shared democratic values and qualities regardless of religious and community affiliations and these values are what have been relegated into the background in our context. Hence when we talk of students’ community or youth or women, in more ideal situations, there ought not to be any need for prefixing these understandings with community and religion specific qualific...

by Kishalay Bhattarcharjee and Ashish Ranjan Originally published by the Imphal Free Press on 7 Dec 2014 With frequent reports of alleged racist attacks in Delhi and the National Capital Region, Reachout Foundation perceived a lack of comprehensive data on the nature of alleged discrimination against people from Northeastern India in cities like Delhi. Our emphasis thus has been to generate comprehensive and defensible empirical data on the extent and variation of racist attitudes and experiences, in order that they could inspire or guide anti-discrimination policies. The main objective of the present survey is to understand the extent and scope of ethnic/racial discrimination perceived by people from India’s Northeast living in Delhi-NCR. The targeted population for the survey were people from all the eight north-eastern states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura who are currently living in Delhi and the NCR (Ghaziabad, Noida and...

A collection of five editorial columns written by Pradip Phanjoubam for the Imphal Free Press in the last two months of 2014 Enterprise or Sloth It will come as no surprise that there is an exodus of young aspiring professionals away from the state. In a way this is good, for if and when they return, they will bring back new skills and outlooks. But there is also a fairly good chance that a majority of them will not return, for at this moment, job prospects befitting their skills and aspiration are virtually nil. Nor is there a climate for them to want to return and build enterprises from scratch. It is in this sense a very critical period for the state. Push matters a little farther and things can reach a point of no return, where the best talents leave permanently to find their fortunes elsewhere. If however the state does not allow the situation to drift beyond the critical point, who knows, in the years ahead, it may be time for a new renaissance, when the prodigals begin h...

By Dhanabir Laishram Source:   The People's Chronicle (thepeopleschronicle.in)  Manipur Times (www.manipurtimes.com) In India people have been disillusioned with UPA I and UPA II. Under the economists Prime Minister, Finance Minister and Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission (all are famous economists) the country is facing uncertainty, fail to control price rice and confusion. Administration has collapsed. Rampant corruption is running the nation. The 2G scam, commonwealth Games scam, Adarsh housing colony scam are no bigger than the Coalgate scam where the Prime Minister is allegedly involved. The CBI is investigating the Coalgate scam under Supreme Court’s supervision. Miraculously and most unfortunately, 157 files related to Coal scam is missing. Where have the files gone? Coal ministry is not missing, office of coal ministry is not missing, Government is not missing, and then why the files are missing? Ironically the Prime Minister was the in charge of coal minist...

Manipur’s horror: When Operation Bluebird struck terror Rahul Karmakar, Hindustan Times  Senapati, November 05, 2014 Pius Varay ducks instinctively whenever a child pops an empty Tetra Pak carton or a motorcycle misfires. The sound is a traumatic reminder of soldiers firing in his village of Oinam in Manipur 27 years ago. The 36-year-old Varay may be the youngest survivor of Operation Bluebird, a brutal counter-insurgency operation launched by paramilitary soldiers in July 1987, but the scars still remain. According to an Amnesty International report, many men were maimed, tortured and women raped between July and October 1987 after the military launched the operation following an attack by National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) rebels on Assam Rifles’ Oinam outpost. The rebels killed nine soldiers and escaped with 150 guns and 125,000 rounds of ammunition.

This article by Amar Yumnam was originally published by the Imphal Free Press on 6 Oct 2014 India’s policy (read as the Central Government’s policy) towards the North Eastern Region (NER) of the country has undergone three phases. First, there was the period from the start of the Planning Era to the end of the 1980s. This was the period when the principle of not doing anything except militaristic-perspective-based interventions was honoured. The second period starts from the beginning of the 1990s when the Look East Policy (LEP) became a coin for international political announcements and the so-called border trade agreement was also signed between India and Myanmar. This second period has been the most pretentious one so far as the policies towards the NER are concerned. This period gave an overt picture of being concerned with the development concerns of the region. But this was nothing more than a bluff as the underlying principle of the first phase was adopted with no content of bo...

Yambem Laba wrote this article originally for The Sangai Express and Epao posted it on 24 September 2014 A visit to the director's office at the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences in Imphal is akin to visiting an ultra high security zone. You go past unarmed guards provided by an agency and then you enter a fortified area complete with sandbagged posts manned by the CRPF wielding automatic weapons. Past that you are greeted with signs that read "Visitors not allowed beyond this point" and then you get to the ante room and find Manipur Rifles personnel armed with AK-47s — the personal security detail of the director. The aura of the institute being an advanced centre for medical sciences seems to have been lost somehow.

This article by Amar Yumnam was originally published in 1 Sep 2014 issue of the Imphal Free Press Any loss of life due to actions by any agency, whether state or non-state, is painful. No effort should be spared to avoid such kind of an outcome. Death is never a reversible event and so should never be externally imposed on any soul. This principle should be respected by both the state and the non-state entities. Otherwise, the state or the non-state agency would emerge as the Enemy of the people. Something like this keeps on happening in Manipur. In other words, Manipur has been in a cycle of fragility for the last half a century. There would be moments when things seem improving but would be back to the same turmoil situation sooner than later.

Editorial , The Sangai Express August 20, 2014  The Court of Sessions Judge, Imphal East has passed a landmark judgement today, the 19th of August 2014, and it would remain an outstanding milestone in the history of mankind’s struggle against controversial laws like the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act or AFSPA which has its genesis in the British colonial era. Irom Sharmila is one universal name which symbolizes common man’s struggle against repressive laws enacted by ruling elites even though she is known more about her crusade against the AFSPA. For 14 long years, she has been fasting. The Sessions Court verdict says that Sharmila shows no intention of committing suicide either by way of continuous fasting or other means. Thus first ingredient of the offence punishable under Section 309 IPC, i.e to commit suicide is lacking. The Court’s verdict reads, “The petitioner (Irom Sharmila) be released from custody, if not required in any other case”. This is a highly signific...