Shooting the messenger ?

It comes close to a case of barking up the wrong tree or shooting the messenger ! The outburst against Union Home Minister P Chidambaram for stating that there is no question of compromising the territorial integrity of Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh by the United Naga Council recently amounts to missing the target by miles. As the Union Home Minister, Chidambaram is sure to have his takes and views on the Greater Lim issue, but what he said on the floor of Parliament a few days back, is nothing more than what two Prime Ministers of India had said earlier. It is a little surprising to see that the UNC, which otherwise is regarded as a keen observer with a clear agenda guided by political prudence should overlook the subtle but significant points made by two Prime Ministers on the Lim issue earlier. Yes Chidambaram, in line with his personality, spoke out bluntly but let us not forget the recent Independence Day address to the Nation by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh. Not given to loud talks and rhetorics, the observation of the Prime Minister, “I would like to convey to all political parties and groups of the North East that disputes in the name of States or tribes can only harm us,” is pregnant with meaning and in a way is a direct address to the Lim issue. This is as good as what Mr Chidambaram said on the floor of the Parliament, though we do agree it was bereft of political niceties and diplomacy. Before Dr Manmohan Singh, Atal Behari Vajpayee, during his days as the Prime Minister in the NDA Government delivered a similar message, wherein he said that political consensus is needed to resolve the Lim issue, while addressing a public meeting at Kohima some years back. This is political prudence at its best. The question therefore is why the UNC should be so rankled by the statement of Mr Chidambaram, when all he did was echo the message of the two Prime Ministers in clear cut terms, without dolling it up with political niceties and diplomacy. In such a charged up political scenario, the decision of the apex Naga body in Manipur to extend the 20 days economic blockade by yet another 25 days is not surprising. The 20 days economic blockade announced by the UNC came into force on August 4 and was to wind up by 6 am of August 24, which is today (Tuesday). However as things stand today, the blockade has been extended by another 25 days and to put it bluntly, we will not be surprised if Manipur as a whole remain indifferent to it, as like bandhs and general strikes, economic blockade has also lost its novelty and down the years the rest of Manipur have learnt to cope with what is available, without making much of a hue and cry. This is precisely the reason why there was no response or even the slightest hint of an acknowledgement when the indefinite blockade was suspended on June 18 this year after 68 days of cutting off the lifelines of the State. That the decision to decide the fate of the people of Manipur was taken at Kohima only added to the chagrin of the people and of course no one could have missed the arrogance in the tone of the blockade sponsors, when they announced the suspension of the economic blockade. Much have been said about the demand raised by the NSCN (IM) to integrate all Naga inhabited areas under one administrative umbrella as well as the stiff opposition to this demand by civil society organisations like the All Manipur United Clubs' Organisation and the United Committee Manipur. In fact, before the demand for a Greater Lim became vocal and before this idea was passed on to the Naga civil society organisations in Manipur by the NSCN (IM), AMUCO had demonstrated great far sightedness in organising the massive integrity rally on August 4, 1997, which has since served as the rallying point for all those who stand for a unified Manipur.
After August 4, 1997, Manipur has experienced troubling times, such as the June 18 incident of 2001, the 52 days economic blockade imposed by the All Naga Students' Association, Manipur in 2005 to the stand off between the NSCN (IM) and the State Government over the proposed visit of Th Muivah to his native place sometime in the early part of May this year. The Mao incident of May 6, 2010 in which two young students lost their lives and the 68 days economic blockade that followed are all intrinsically linked to the Lim issue and there is every reason to pre-suppose that the stiff opposition to the election to the Autonomous District Council had something or everything to do with the Lim demand. Otherwise, how can one explain the diametrically opposing stand taken by the Kukis and the Nagas, for the ADCs are meant for the tribal people and these two represent the biggest tribes in Manipur. Or are we to believe that the opposition to the ADC election was solely linked to the third amendment of 2008 ? We do not really comprehend the finer nuances of the politics of the ongoing peace parleys between the NSCN (IM) and the Government of India, so we really do not know whether Union Home Minister P Chidambaram is answerable to the various charges levelled against him by the UNC, but one point that is clear to us is, the Home Minister said what other political leaders have said before him, though not as directly and as bluntly as him. The examples of the two Prime Ministers, we have cited above, should be self explanatory. It was not only the statements of the two Prime Ministers, but if we care to minutely study the political developments vis-a-vis the Lim issue, the roll back of the term “without territorial limits” from the June 14, 2001 Bangkok Declaration during the days of the NDA regime, way back in July 2001, should have conveyed the core message. The points we have quoted, obviously blew over the heads of organisations like the UNC. It is a pity that the UNC reacted only against the statement of the Union Home Minister, though the fact stands that two Prime Ministers before him had said much the same thing, though they put it differently.

Circle to square, R/H to L/H ?

Sample this : How do you change a circle to a square ? No, don’t try to recollect all the mathematical formulae or geometrical definitions of circle and square and obtuse angle or such things for the answer is simple: Change Connaught Circle to Rajiv Square. This was the punchline given at the end of an article written by the inimitable, TVR Shenoy, in The Week many, many years back, when the Narasimha Rao Government was in power at Delhi and all Congressmen were trying to outdo each other in the sycophancy department. This was sometime in the early 90s. Now fast forward 20 years and Manipur has perfected the art of changing the right wheel drive norms to a left wheel drive with just the snap of the finger, by just changing the entry and exit points of vehicles in the busy Paona bazar. The objective is laudable. Who wouldn't welcome the idea of easing the traffic flow in the heart of Imphal ? To get a better understanding of the traffic chaos in Imphal, allow us to digress a little bit. It was not like this, and one can recollect the good old days, when Imphal had no need for one way traffic and driving along the Kanglapat road, especially in front of M Sector and the Raj Bhawan was an experience in itself. School kids used the bicycles to go to school, not buses or fancy two wheelers as we see today. The rickshaw was the main means of movement for the people in Imphal and so were bicycles. However with India opening up her economy, the consumers got spoilt for choices. Earlier it was either the Ambasador or the Premier Padmini, but today there are a whole lot of choices that one can make, from Tata's cheapest car in the world, the Nano, which comes with a price tag of Rs 1 lakh, to some of the high end vehicles. Mahindra and Mahindra could no longer rely on their outdated Jeep, but were compelled to innovate and come out with an array of new models in the face of the people of the North East and Kashmir and the Army gradually opting for the Gypsy which came from the Maruti stable. Thus we see the up market Scorpios and Boleros, complete with different variants, hitting the roads of Manipur today. The same thing happended in the two wheeler sector. Today it is no longer about tossing a coin between a Bajaj 150 or a Bajaj Super/Chetak or any other two wheelers that came in the look and form of scooters and not motor bikes. Hero Honda changed all that and there are reasons why this company has managed to top Bajaj in the two wheeler sector. With hitherto unheard of job openings coming up in the last few years, landing a job in the private sector if one as the attitude and aptitude, has become all that more easier. Going hand in hand with all these phenomena, in the post liberalisation era, are the generous bank loans on offer now. Maruti tied up with the State Bank of India and getting a car with a down payment of only 25 percent of the total, means one could buy a Maruti 800 car with Rs 50,000 in hand. The rest of course had to be paid on a monthly basis over a period of time which may range from three to six or seven years. The conditions applied in such transactions are also simple and if one is a Government employee, all the easier, since it needs only the nod of the person, who is in charge of releasing the monthly salary of the employee concerned. For others, it would mean having a fixed deposit account, which will serve as the safety deposit. Manipur has reaped this dividend and unlike 20 or so years ago, when a leikai had only one family owning a car, that too, the doctor or the Engineer or some hot shot contractors, today almost every household has a vehicle or two at their disposal.

We have cited these factual records to have a better understanding of the traffic chaos that we see everyday on the streets of Imphal. With the buying capacity of the people going up, coupled with the availability of a number of options, the number of vehicles plying on the streets of Imphal have increased manifold. Unfortunately, the Government forgot or did not realise that they too have to move along with the time and study how the existing roads can accommodate the increase in traffic volume. Remember the time when the Government decided that no vehicles will be allowed inside Thangal bazar and Paona bazar in the face of the growing traffic congestion in these commercial centres ? At the risk of blowing our own trumpets, we would like to say that we were the first newspaper to react and point out the fallacies of such a quixotic idea. Not surprisingly, this decision was revoked and everything came back to square one. A traffic free zone is a welcome idea, for it would mean not only doing away with congested streets, but also ensure that at least we can cut down on polluting the environment. However, any course of action or plans taken up by the Government should be led by wisdom and a carefully thought out plan. We really do not know who advises the Chief Minister on matters like this, but the new traffic regulations put in place right now has not only added to the confusion of the people, but has also wittingly or unwittingly violated the right hand drive traffic norms of the country. The entry point at Paona bazar from Keishampat side has been sealed to all vehicles and one now has to take the Kanglapat route, take BT Road and if one has to go to Paona bazar, then take a left turn near the fly over bridge. This is where the interesting point lies. This inevitably means that any vehicle headed to Paona bazar, from the northern side, will have to take the right side to park their vehicles ! This does not make sense for it goes against the right hand drive norms in India. The auto rickshaw and Tata Magic taxis have been told to shift base to either behind Johnstone Higher Secondary School or near the MPP office. This appears fine, but the question is, how they exit from their parking lot with the passengers ? Half baked ideas cannot be the answer to the issue right now.

Prime Time privilege

Forget about Parliament, even the mainstream media, meaning the news channels and newspapers that have a pan-India reach and outlook, have always tended to overlook the North East region, in its coverage. There could be many factors for this such as the limited market and the general lack of awareness of the region amongst the newspaper readers or news channel watchers in mainland India, or it could just be a case of “North East ? Where is that ?,” where people from this region are identified by their Mongoloid features. Chinky is the term used to identify the North East boys and girls in places such as Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai etc and while most of the youths from this region have managed to come to terms with it, the overt derogatory tone accompanying this term cannot miss the eye. To draw a parallel, it is like using the term Hao Macha to describe the hill men in Manipur, particularly by the Meiteis, and we have seen and experienced, how the usage of such terms can lead to deep wounds and scars that refuse to go away. Even in the West, the Blacks are no longer referred to as Negroes or the more discriminatory Niggers. Even the term Blacks now come with another more acceptable name, which is African Americans. In fact so deeply is the modern world against racism or racial discrimination, in the post Apartheid era, that any comment which is construed as racially demeaning or discriminatory, is most likely to land the person responsible in a soup ! We have just made a general observation of where the North East, including Manipur stands in the overall mental make up of the people of the so called mainland India. The fact that the term North East is used particularly to refer to the seven States, eight if Sikkim is included, is in itself some sort of a “Us and Them” syndrome. This reality that we see all around gets reflected in the manner in which the media, which have an all India audience or readership, overlooks many critical issues besetting this region. So while the marriage between Sania Mirza and a cricket player from Pakistan made it to the prominent pages of all the newspapers and occupied prime time slots in the news channels, critical issues like the humanitarian crisis arising out of the economic blockade imposed on the highways leading to Manipur, the stand off between the Government of Manipur and the NSCN (IM) over the proposed visit of Th Muivah to his birth place in Somdal, the mautam or bamboo flowering phenomena which has come back to haunt some States in the North East are stashed away in the cold storage. The mainland media or the media which has an all India reach seemed more concerned over the movements of former junior Foreign Minister Shashi Tharoor and Sunanda Pushkar ! Some years back, it took Rajdeep Sardesai of CCN IBN to personally explain the stand of the news channel why the same coverage was not given when Assam and Bihar faced floods of the same magnitude at the same time. This time too, Sardesai has anchored a show, “Is Manipur India's Forgotten State ?” These measures though welcome seem to be more like some damage control exercise rather than trying to sincerely look into the situation and bring it to the knowledge of the people, to whom North East is as alien as China or the most isolated Nation in the world North Korea.
This is the general scenario, including the coverage of the North East in the mainstream media (We are using this term for want of a better alternative, much like the term Bollywood) and merely digesting the fact that two of the leading fortnightly magazines in the country, India Today and Outlook do not have their correspondents in the North East is an exercise in itself. Yes, earlier there were correspondents of these two publications based in Guwahati, but for reasons best known to them, the job of covering the North East has now fallen on the correspondent based in Kolkata. It is amid this climate of seeming indifference, not only among the political circle and the media, not to talk about the public of India, that Manipur figured prominently just the other day on the floor of the Lok Sabha. It is not often that critical issues besetting the State or the North East region get prime time slots in Parliament, but this time, it was a bit heartening to see Union Home Minister P Chidambaram put to rest certain issues, by speaking bluntly and without trying to confuse the public. These issues pertain to the controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act and the creation of a Greater Nagalim, where Naga inhabited areas from Manipur, Assam and Arunachal are sought to be brought under a single administrative unit. To the people of the North East and Manipur the Armed Forces Special Powers Act is not something new and it is perhaps this Act which propelled Manipur into one of those prime time slots in the news channels and precious column in the newspapers. This happened way back in 2004, when people rose as one to demand the revocation of the said Act, after the bullet riddled body of Th Manorama was found the day after she was whisked away by a team of Assam Rifles personnel. The nude protest in front of Kangla will remain etched in the minds of everyone and the said controversial Army Act will always be associated with this historic and never before seen demonstration by women folk in India. Yes a debate on the controversial Act is raging and Home Minister Chidambaram took pains to explain that the Government needs to consult all concerned. It should be obvious that the concerned here is the defence establishment. Ironically everyone seems to have forgotten the lone woman, who will continue to be seen as the inspiring force behind the anti-AFSPA movement, Irom Chanu Sharmila who is set to complete ten years of fasting to demand the revocation of the said Act. History will not judge India favourably, if it ignores the gutsy mission of this lone crusader, when it comes to the question of AFSPA. And for the records, Manipur too was in the limelight during the months of June and July in 2001, when the Bangkok Declaration between India and the IM group was announced.

Tech-enabled security

It is not surprising that the State Government has decided to instal closed circuit television cameras at strategic points in Imphal, including the Raj Bhawan and the official residence of the Chief Minister. Given the global scenario as well as the situation here, there is no element of surprise in the decision of the State Government to go ahead with the “Tech-Enabled Security System” and we have come across quite a number of cases where footages from the strategically placed CCTVs have come in handy while investigating a case. The reliance on technology for National security as well as to neutralise any subversive plots hatched by terror outfits, saw a sudden rise post September 11, 2001 and with terrorism now cutting across National boundaries and picking up victims at random, mostly unarmed, hapless civilians, the need for security technology has never been felt as urgently as the time we live in presently. Security technology is not only about CCTVs or video footages, but has to do with a whole gamut of system which include, information storing, intelligence sharing, keeping track of the movement of a suspect, satellite mapping, classified information, in fact all that one can think of in terms of utilising all the technical know how, one has at one's disposal. There is also the need for close co-ordination or a system, where the technologies are intricately linked and come under a large canvass, which is the over all security arrangements taken up by a State Government or a Nation. The rapid development in the information technology sector and the coming to age of modern gadgets such as mobile phones, laptops, internet etc, has also meant a giant leap for mankind towards a technology driven race and why not ? The increasing dependence on the use of technology for security reasons can be seen everywhere, whether one is at an airport or checking into a star hotel or trying to get hold of a driving license or a credit card or a passport. Nothing is left to chance, we must say. However the bitter truth is, whatever progress mankind has made to harness technical skills and expertise in ensuring the security of the people or a country, this has not been able to completely put a stop to subversive activities. The 26/11 terror attack at Mumbai in 2008, the underground railway attack at England some years back and the recent discovery of a bomb fitted car at New York in the USA are examples of how terror groups can infiltrate the tightest of security or the most sophisticated or efficient technology in use. Remember they also have their own set ups, which comprise extremely tech-savvy radicals. Earlier, it was mostly about well trained, well groomed sniffer dogs, with a rank in the security set up to boot, which were largely relied upon to detect landmines or booby traps in unfamiliar and hostile terrain. Today the sniffer dogs have had to make way for sophisticated gadgets to detect the killer bomb buried somewhere along the way or forewarn the approach of the enemy. Yes, “Tech-enabled security” is here to stay and the reliance on its efficiency will increase in proportion to the threat perceptions posed by radical elements, especially of the Al Qaeda and Taliban types.
Manipur does not exactly come under the category of countries or States which are prone to terror attack, though there have been an increase in acts which border on terrorism, such as lobbing bombs at the residence of an official or a trader, kidnapping for ransom, exploding powerful bombs in crowded places etc. In fact some incidents come to mind such as the bomb blast at ISKCON in 2006 when thousands of devotees had turned up for Krishna Janma or the more recent luna fitted bomb at Ragailong, next to the police commandos quarters, that left many dead and injured. From a totally detached or objective view, Manipur aptly fits the case of a State, where necessary technologies for security reasons are important. Remember the audacity with which a car fitted with explosives was driven right past the security gate of Raj Bhawan and was found parked comfortably and abandoned later ? Or the attacks at the official residence of the Chief Minister, including the one which ironically occurred on the raising day of the State Police Department as well as the bomb lobbed at the Assembly Secretariat, some years back. We have cited some of these reasons, for we are inclined to believe that some of the instances which we have mentioned may have goaded the State Government to go in for the state of the art technology to ensure security. However one important question that lies before us is, whether the technology should over ride human expertise in fighting crime or human alertness. We can recall a number of cases, when the police was caught on the wrong foot when a bomb went off bang in the middle of a crowded road or when a woman with a child coolly walks into a shop and pumps in bullets into the heart of the proprietor and saunters away freely. The point is, going in for high tech security gadgets will be useful and helpful according to the system in which it works. What contributions can the proposed CCTVs make, if the police or the law enforcing agencies are not able to keep a tab on its functioning. There is always the prospect of any modern gadgets going the way of the CT Scan machine installed at the then JN Hospital, Porompat. To tap the benefits of technology to its optimum, it is necessary that it gells well with the system which is in place here and judging by the way in which the Lungnila Elizabeth case and the Hrinii Hubert and Muheni Martin case were handled, there is not much reason to be optimistic ? Remember how the State Police or the advisors of the Chief Minister responded when the official residence of the CM was attacked ? There are lessons to be learnt from these gags and one of this is the fact that ideas such as closing the road leading to the CM's quarters to all civilians after a deadline of say 6 pm, following an attack, can only be fodder for reducing the 12 wise men in the Cabinet into some sort of a caricature which has nothing to do with security at all.

92 pc or 9.2 pc, it is the same !

This is outrageous and the persons responsible for the fiasco, which looks like a deliberate attempt to insult the intelligence of the public, should be brought to book and judged according to the law of the land. We are referring here to the supposedly ‘official record’ maintained by the Electricity Department, which says that 92 percent of the villages in Manipur have been electrified. Or are they going to say that there was a typographical mistake somewhere and the typist forgot to hit the dot button between 9 and 2 ? This record, we suppose, was fudged to fall in line with the objective of the Centre, which has set 2012 as the deadline for the entire country to be electrified. There is nothing wrong in the Centre to set up such a deadline however impractical or down right impossible it may be, but trying to mislead the public by lying through the teeth should not be tolerated, more so when it comes from the Government Departments. Forget about connecting the villages with High Tension wire which transmits power to the villages, we are apt to believe that none of the Government Departments have any idea on the number of villages existing in the State, or the criteria that goes to define a place as a village. This is more so in the face of displacement due to reasons, such as ethnic conflict like the Naga-Kuki clash of the early 90s or the Kuki-Paite clash in the latter part of the last century. There must be a reason why some jokers in the Electricity Department have come under the impression that they can get away with such an audacious claim and the reason is not far to seek. For too long a Government job has come to mean, freebies or free lunches, in the perception of the public in Manipur, so much so that nothing worthwhile is expected from the Government employees. In fact some of the Government Departments are nothing more than white elephants, which do nothing except drain the State's exchequer and line the pockets of some. Such a culture can thrive only in an atmosphere where the public have been taken for granted by the people who matter and the latest lie coming from the Electricity Department, is but just another manifestation of the overall rot that has become part and parcel of public life in Manipur. There are a few questions we would like to raise here and that is, why the Electricity Department should resort to such a white lie so blatantly. The answer is not far to seek, if we go by the culture of contract works and supply orders and its records. There are bound to be some substances in the observation of the general public that the transformer installed in their neighbourhood was bought from the junk market and installed just to make up for the number and in the process pocket the money meant for purchasing the working and reliable transformer. This cannot happen without the knowledge of the higher ups and it is this unholy nexus among the political netas, the babudom and the professional frauds, who come in different shapes and sizes, which has prospered at the expense of the general public. Another example we can quote is the oft repeated allegations of a village being lit on the day of the inauguration only to find that it has been switched off the next day, which will be for eternity !
‘Logic’ says that to tell the world and to inform those whom the racketeers may be answerable, a record has to be created or fudged to show that so and so villages have been electrified and hence the show of the inaugural function of a village getting electrified or pictures of the responsible people standing proudly by a newly installed transformer, are splashed through the media, of course after paying the requisite advertisement fees. For all we know, the State Electricity Department may have actually ‘used’ all the funds meant to electrify the villages, to line the pockets of, we know who, thereby necessitating the need to whip up such a record to show to Delhi or whoever they are answerable to. There is no guarantee that such an audacious and doctored record are not present in other Government Departments and in all likelihood, all Government Departments may have fudged their official record at one point of time or the other, which reflects the existence of a system where masters in the game of manipulating figures and accounts live off the money meant for the common people. In other words, we may say that the Electricity Department was unfortunate to have been caught with its pants down, while other Departments have escaped scot free. Such is the level to which we have sunk. The recent furore kicked up by the Opposition or more specifically Mr O Joy Singh of the MPP, that the Government is sitting over the recommendations of the Vigilance Department in many cases of large scale corruption, says something very significant. For one, it can mean that the Government is not convinced with the reports submitted by the Vigilance Department and secondly it can mean that it too has a hand in such scams and implementing the recommendations of the Vigilance Department would amount to spitting on one's own face. If the Government finds any loopholes in any of the recommendations made by the Vigilance Department, then a fresh probe may be ordered but since this has not been the case, we can only imagine on what ground the Government is sitting over such sensitive reports. Forget about electrifying 92 percent of the villages in the State, can the Electricity Department say that they have supplied power non-stop to a locality for more than six hours ? Or better still, can it claim to have supplied power for more than six hours in 24 hours in any part of the State ? 92 pc of villages electrified ! This will go down as the lie of the year.