Driving Manipur

IFP editorial for January 15, 2013: http://www.ifp.co.in/nws-11811-driving-manipur/


Drivers Day, a day marked by observations across the state to pay respects to the drivers who ply on the treacherous National Highways of the state is a grim reminder of the travails they face on the road. Left to fend for themselves in inhospitable terrain and remote pockets of the state, drivers on the highways have not been given their due share of respect or recognition. Driving long distances day in and day out can never be described as the best way to live one’s life but for these drivers who does this exactly, the people of Manipur would be struggling to get the bare essentials of life. Given the land locked nature of the state, the highways are the only option for bringing in a host of basic commodities that people need in the span of a day: starting from rice itself. They face innumerable challenges brought upon by the volatile political environment in the state and are often caught in between various state and non state armed groups ranging from physical violence and harassment, looting, arson against the vehicles they drive, wrongful confinement, extortion and even death.
Sadly, there is little by way of protection for the drivers of the state who ply on the Highways except by way of a few compensation cases where the Government has stepped in. But this has been too far and between and have happened only when the cases have taken place during phases of political turmoil of the state. There are no protection mechanisms for the families of the drivers who happen to die because of accidents. The lack of a state mechanism and policy is the main factor aided by the fact that private agencies and owners of the vehicles do not have support systems like giving insurance covers for the drivers. At the society level, there is a total lack of respect for drivers leave alone acknowledging their contribution in the economy and the very nature of the existence of society itself.
People who make a living by driving on highways have the worst in terms of their work hours and their social and family lives. Driving for long hours, they are mostly prone to falling prey to back pains and body aches while being away from their wives or sexual partners make them prone to paid sex leading to chances of getting sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS. The incidence of truck drivers getting into paid unprotected sex caused enough concern for the National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) to develop and put into practice intervention programs aimed at this section, which is also categorized as a ‘high risk group’.  The adverse effects of long term driving hours on highways are common for everyone. But drivers in Manipur face additional hardships of being stranded for days on end if they happen to be caught in the midst of a sudden bandh or blockade on the highways. The absence of safe places to stay during the course of their journeys is another sore point.
But mostly, most of us tend to ignore the contributions of the highway drivers who ferry goods and passengers from this state to the rest of the region and the country and vice versa. Getting into a token ‘Driver Day’ observation will only be an act of gross injustice if there are no real term solutions and support systems for these drivers, who namelessly serve the people of the state till they die one day and their picture gets garlanded and floral tributes given. Every occasion of the ‘Driver’s Day’ in Manipur marked by floral tributes and recollections of hardships inevitably get stuck with the demand for the Imphal-Jiribam Highway to be completed. Time and again, different agencies including the Government itself, makes announcements and promises that still remain unfulfilled and forgotten till the next big political crisis in the stare happens leading to another blockade of the highways, another bandh and another lot of drivers harassed, stranded and injured. With rumblings over a not so smooth political environment in the state ahead, it would be wise to make the day for drivers by gearing up seriously on completing that Highway.

Customs, norms and ethics

My IFP editorial for January 14, 2013: http://www.ifp.co.in/nws-11795-customs-norms-and-ethics/

In the face of cries and claims of social crimes against women and instances of exploitation of women and children in the state, it is rather disquieting to note the rising trend of incidents where guardians of girls, including minors resort to ‘social compensation’ (ijat daabi) as a way of settling disputes without any regard for legal procedures. To begin with, the practice of eloping before marriage as an accepted practice by the society gives a wide awning for young women to be sexually exploited under the cover of this tradition. There have been innumerable cases where women have been duped into sexual relations with the promise of marriage, which follows in most incidences. While legally such actions can be challenged and action taken against the errant men involved by filing legal cases citing reasons for cheating and false promises, it is the social practice of ‘compensation’ and other social practices that complicates matters especially when minors are involved.
There may be arguments that legal actions when it does happen also result in financial compensation, which in a sense is also what also takes place in the practice of social compensation. But one glaring difference is that legal punishment also involves sentencing and legal censure, which is not considered in social resolution. In a sense, the social resolution route in such cases can also be seen as an out of court settlement without time and effort being spent on legal procedures but can unfortunately lead to the men being involved in the further exploiting of other women. Once money enters the picture and the man involved gets to know that it speaks volumes, it can only contribute to taking women and society for granted. Legal sentences and directives are more public and hence lead to a more careful and cautious approach, if only to save face. In certain cases, parents and guardians hush up elopements involving minors by resorting to ‘ijat daabi’ being involved rather than file criminal charges.
There is another practice called Keina Katpa, which literally means offering the girl. Co-incidentally, the practice of eloping was earlier not socially sanctioned and those who did elope were married off with great haste without much fuss and this was called Keina Katpa. In the present times, eloping before marriage has become a norm while Keina Katpa is enforced by women vigilant groups on couples who they claim have been found in ‘compromising situations’ and are carried out without any regard for individual choices or the couple in question being ready for marriage. There is no legal sanction in these types of practices and in fact, stringent legal action can be taken up against the said women groups for forcing marriage without consent. The irony of women groups revealing identities of young girls and women so caught in their vigilant drives is another sad face of the gender justice perspective in Manipur today.
In present times again, the spectacle of Joint Action Committees in the state over any issue has also touched upon the gender sensitive or gender blind debate. The incident of the rape of a young married woman in Thoubal as we have seen, stands out because the woman in question was kept in judicial custody before wheels fell into place. But the travesty and farce of calls for justice, falls through when one hears of the JAC being named after the woman in question. The identity of a woman who has been a victim of sexual violence cannot be revealed either by the media or any agencies without a written consent from the women in question. This is done mainly to shield the woman from further social stigma and is critical in a small place like Manipur where there is a tight knit community. Leave alone names, media reports cannot even hint at the identity of the woman or give away any leads that can aid in establishing her identity. But a cursory scan of the newspapers in Manipur will reveal just how much rights awareness is known and being put into practice when it comes to gender related rights.

Dare for truth

IFP editorial for January 11, 2013: http://www.ifp.co.in/nws-11729-dare-for-truth/

The claims of 7 residents of Heirok being lured to an Assam Rifles camp under the false pretext of being taken for Army recruitment and made to sign up as being members of an armed underground group is another sorry aspect in the murky world of militarization in the state. Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time that fingers have been raised against the various ‘surrender’ programs that are taking place and will be not the last time either. The Assam Riffles on its part have earlier maintained that the claims of ‘fake surrender’ in the state are nothing short of false propaganda and that there are various layers and processes of verification of the people who come forward to ‘surrender’. While armed groups operating in the state have termed surrender programs as an eye wash and a ‘counter insurgency strategy’, the Assam Riffles have called such claims as unfounded. Caught between the two, it is the larger public who are made to be the hapless spectators and totally unsure of who to believe and whom not to.
Following the imposition of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, 1958 in the state, the central armed forces have the impunity to ‘shoot to kill’ on mere ‘suspicion’ that the target is an insurgent. And before the claims and counter claims over ‘fake surrenders’ came into light, the earlier buzzwords were ‘fake encounters’. With total impunity coming along with AFSPA, there could not be any legal processes taken up in Civil courts and fake encounters became the order of the day till massive protests broke out over the brutal death and alleged rape of Thangjam Manorama, said to be a cadre of an underground group. National and international media could not ignore the subsequent nude protest by 12 women, and their scrutiny in a way led to fake encounters at the hands of the Assam Riffles to climb down. In its place came the new fangled idea of ‘joint counter insurgency operations’, which involves the state police in tandem with para military forces in the state. The recent Supreme Court ruling on instituting an inquiry commission to look into 6 cases prior to examining over 1500 cases of alleged encounter killings by the state police speaks volumes of the culture of lies and the orgy of violence which is being put into practice. In a state where the state government believes in people being shot to death without their trails, in a state where Para military forces can run riot under total impunity, the public can do nothing better than observe things with a jaundiced eye.
Assam Rifles and other para military units in the state often say that they are in the state to win hearts and that the cries of ‘fake surrenders’ are happening because they are succeeding in making inroads into getting the confidence of the people. They say that while their civic military programs and other forms of supporting civic populations are bringing them dividends in terms of preventing young people from joining insurgent groups, the surrender and rehabilitation packages are to give a medium for willing to get back into mainstream life. Noble thoughts without any doubt but given the air of suspicion and distrust on one hand and the presence of various forces at play all too willing to make the best for themselves on the other, there is no reason why the public today cannot seek clear answers over the process and procedures involved in surrender programs. The explanation that the state police are responsible for the verification of people who come forth to ‘surrender’ is not something that the people in Manipur will take kindly too. The state police is not the best candidate in winning public confidence in Manipur- not when various elements of the state police get hauled up in a near regular basis for crimes related to vehicle lifting, kidnapping, extorting, contract killing and murder. All said and done, no amount of local hysteria over the matter will ever bring any real seriousness to establish the truth. It will take the national or international media to take forth this story. Or it will take another knock on the doors of the Supreme Court.

The road not repaired

IFP editorial, Jan 10 2013: http://www.ifp.co.in/nws-11708-the-road-not-repaired/

Roads today are the lifeline of any geographical entity or location in the world. In a global domain of connectivity, they are the backbone for economic transactions and the path through which social and cultural interactions takes place. That roads and highways are a major game player for the people of Manipur has been proved time and again through the various economic blockades on the national highways. Any organization or group with real and imagined angst and grievances in fact tend top take the roads of the state into ransom and in the process validate its integral role on the lives of people. The public ire of residents in the area from Wahengbam Leikai to Oriental College along NH-37 resulting in road blocks in the said road stretch may well be the beginning. The road block enforced by the residents of the area was relaxed only after PWD officials gave an assurance that the road would be completed. After all, the people in the state, has had to content with constant delays over road repairs and construction of other infrastructure meant for public use. Even in the capital town of Imphal, residents had to wait for years on end for the over bridge along BT road to Uripok to be over. Repairs followed this on the Nagamapal to RIMS road that threatened to go on forever. The list of roads being repaired and dragging on for years on end to completed would be rather long considering that we are yet to contend with the situation of roads in other districts as well.
Residents imposing a roadblock in the area that they themselves live speak volumes about the apathy of the concerned departments and the State Government towards the inconveniences that the general public faces while using those roads. VIPs who travel in comfortable vehicles and who do not take these roads daily are just not the best people to be able to identify with the dust and potholes, or the diversions and discomfort. There can be no justification good enough to cover up for the lack of political will and commitment to facilitate better road connectivity in the state. One only has to compare the scale of road or even metro projects in other parts of the country and the way progress is made while also taking care not to hinder the movement of people. Cut to the local scene and road repairs means extended years of ‘in progress work’ and materials to be used in repairs being piled up, thereby leading to traffic jams and dusty environs.
Just last year, there was another interesting story of another road in Tamenglong district, a road that was supposed to materialize under Government funding. Though the road is yet to be fully complete, it has caught the imagination of people across the world and brought in hordes of media as well. Despite a sanction of Rs 101 crores way back in 1982, the road never took off and people living in the area in the remote area of Tousem had only experiences of hardships while trying to communicate or traveling to other parts of the state. Ironically, it took a Government employee, an IAS officer who was the sub-divisional magistrate of Tamenglong and his family, to take a personal commitment to constructing the road. When his family members donated their salaries, it triggered off a wave of donations thanks to media attention and the story going viral on social networking sites. Not a single voice stood out to ask why the Government was not being held accountable for the road not being there. No one asked why tax payers money which had been pumped into the construction of the road had not been used or what had happened of it. The answer would of course have been simple: that people had no expectations from the Government to begin with. The logical thing to do would have been to file a PIL or an RTI inquiring over the central funding for the said road and what work progress was happening. But the logical thing for the people of the area was that they needed their road and they would get it themselves. And therein is the tale of two roads. One self made and the other self blocked and the Government left with mere excuses.

Tropic of Cancer

IFP editorial, January 10, 2013: http://www.ifp.co.in/nws-11686-tropic-of-cancer/

Last year, the Million Death Study came out with its first findings on the nature of Cancer as a disease in the country. The main collaborators for the study, Mumbai's Tata Memorial Hospital and the Centre for Global Health Research mapped how it resulted in almost 6 lakh deaths annually.  Seven out of every 10 deaths, it said occurs among people who are in the 30-69 age group. Nearer home, it said that a youngster living in India's northeast is four times more likely to develop and succumb to cancer in his lifetime as compared to a youngster living in Bihar. Earlier on, cancer was thought to come calling to people who smoked incessantly or used tobacco but increasingly, it is becoming clear that more studies and scientific research needs to be initiated into looking at what really leads to cancer. Though there are no Manipur specific reports on Cancer cases, there is no denying that the disease has become common in our midst.
In much the same way that HIV/AIDS is termed a social leveler, Cancer afflicts people without much regard for class or caste distinctions, gender, race and ethnic lines or even age. The health seeking behavior of people in the state in terms of foregoing regular health check ups also leads to its detection at later stages which impedes treatment processes. The highly expensive costs for treatment is also a major deterrent when it comes to cancer patients seeking treatment, or continuing it further. Often treatment costs for a family member living with cancer means a major drain on the family resources. With low levels of seeking and getting health insurance or in cases where the insurance is in place but inadequate to cover costs, Cancer is today becoming a death knell for many in the state. The lack of price control of various medicine components used in different stages of cancer treatment also mean that international pharma companies get away with their pricing which is way beyond the capacity of middle class and low income groups.
The Health Ministry at both the Centre and the State have much to learn from the response to HIV/AIDS over the years. At one point of time, ART for people living with HIV/AIDS were available only at expensive rates, which people had to buy on their own. But efforts of civil society groups, NGOs working in the HIV/AIDS sector, networks of people living with HIV/AIDS, industry leaders along with political leadership led to generic drugs and prices came down and soon the National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) could roll out its free ART program. HIV/AIDS can also be largely said to have contributed to scaling up basic health care systems in the country. The HIV/AIDS chapter needs to be revisited so that the lakhs of people who are getting stricken with cancer are able to get diagnosed and treated well in time with cheaper treatment measures.
One other area that people living with cancer or who have survived it can take from people living with HIV/AIDS is the manner in which affected and infected people come together to form support groups. The treatment process for cancer can be long and can drain not just the finances of a family but take away the emotional and mental ‘resources’ so to say. Support groups can be a health way of healing and coping for the person living with cancer and for the family members as well. A study conducted by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) that started in 2006-2007 pegs the average cost across all cancer treatments at Rs.1,602 per week. This figure does not however, factor in radiation costs or expenses for seeking treatment outside of the state.
Along with price control for cancer medicines, the Government also needs to look at supporting treatment costs. At the National level, the Health Minister's Cancer Patient Fund was created within the Rashtriya Arogya Nidhi Scheme proposing to establish a revolving fund in the Regional Cancer Centres (RCC) to speed up financial assistance to needy patients. Under this scheme, a sum of up to Rs.1 lakh would be provided as assistance to cancer patients in the BPL category but this is far too little, too less even if it is being implemented at all.

Decoding Highway 39: book review

This book review of Sudeep Chakravarti’s ‘Highway 39: journeys through a fractured land’ was published in June 2012 but thought would share it on my blog as well.


Sudeep Chakravarti’s ‘Highway 39: journeys through a fractured land’ published by Harper Collins (388 pages, Rs 450) was a much anticipated book after his earlier ‘Red Sun: Travels in Naxalite Country’. Sudeep’s style of narrative based on his travel and interactions with various stakeholders in the Maoist issue that marked Red Sun is used to put together ‘Highway 39’ that details his travel into contested spaces and issues in Manipur and Nagaland. The title alludes to the 436 kilometres stretch of the National Highway (now renamed) from NUmaligarh in Assam to Moreh in Manipur at the border with Myanmar.

Blame it on the complexities AND contradictions of the region for Sudeep’s attempt to ‘bring more stories out of the confines of the North East’ so that ‘people would understand more, misunderstand less’ fails on both counts with regard to the content on Manipur. In the first place, most of the stories detailed from Manipur have been told numerous times. Secondly, the author’s efforts of making other people to understand the region, its people and issues must follow his understanding which is unfortunately limited to what is told to him by his St Stephen Alumi or Delhi University links and the people his friends connect him to. Besides the Delhi related circle, Sudeep does talk with bureaucrats, Army officials and Human Rights activists who run NGOs to get more perspective. The author talks to the family of Sanjit (whose death in a fake encounter was captured on camera) and Rabina (who died in the shoot out leading to Sanjit’s fake encounter) and his lack of briefing on the incident shows when he puts it down that he had not seen any mention of Rabina’s two and a half year son, Russel being with his mother when she was shot. Background reading would have led to photographs of Russel being cared for by women vendors and accounts of the incident mentioning the presence of the child.

A chapter titled ‘The day ‘Caman-do- took away a little girl and other stories’ tells the story of Bidyarani, a class VIth student who was picked up by state security forces so that her parents alleged to have links with an underground group, would surrender. Read in between the lines and the chapter tells you exactly how NGOs and human rights groups operate in the state in their zeal to expose the government: without much concern for people who have undergone the trauma that they as human rights groups take upon themselves to expose. The book redeems itself in part with its focus on the Naga issue and the author’s probing into the minds and thoughts of people in Nagaland. He succeeds in bringing together various groups, throwing in his analysis and questioning and in one interview with a leader of a breakaway group from the NSCN (IM) who later joins the rival NSCN (Khaplang) faction manages to get him to examine with startling honesty the quagmire of the Nagalim cause vis a vis the Government of India on one side, the Meities opposed to the idea of Nagalim since it clashes with their own territorial boundaries, on one side and different Naga factional groups, each claiming moral authority of the cause as a third party.

      Sudeep’s writing bristles with anger (mainly in Manipur!) but also throws in dry wit. His thoughts and descriptions of the Tourism gambit for the state are hilarious and full of irony. Making a note of the glossy photographs and good print material of brochures produced by the Tourism Department, he asks why “these hapless promoters of tourism say that NH 53 ‘links Imphal’ with the ‘railhead at Jiribam 225 km in the southwest without telling us we would require the service of a chiropractor; that the journey takes one day in good times; three days if it rains and cannot be completed if it rains hard?” The chapters on Manipur certainly has interesting chapter names but are filled with spelling mistakes of names of people and places. In his interactions with various stakeholders, the probing is missing. The ‘what if’ question over Nagalim could have well been lobbed to the people he talked to in Imphal: what if Manipur secedes from India? The how it would work out would have been fascinating given the assorted range of Meitei based underground groups. No rebel leaders (of Meitei armed groups) are interviewed but again it’s understandable: just too many groups and too many factions. But having the question unaddressed by civil society representatives leaves a gaping hole in the narrative.

                  Manipur’s theatre of conflict is a triangle of complexities between three major ethnic communities: the Meiteis, the Naga and the Kukis. Sudeep admits that his inability to give space to the multi ethnic aspirations of different groups in the state but the argument falls flat for his chapter on traveling into Moreh gives him the context of bringing in the Kukis to the picture. The alleged killing of a 21 year Kuki youth at Bongjang village under Moreh Police Station in 1992 by suspected armed Nagas in the backdrop of Naga millitants collecting ‘house tax’ from four Kuki inhabitated hill districts of Manipur sowed the seeds for the most violent ethnic clash that left both Kukis and Nagas killed and scarred. It eventually led to the armed Kuki struggle. The chapter on Moreh mentions that a Naga will not travel into Moreh, a Kuki area but does not mention this major incident and how it triggered off ethnic armed conflict.


              While there is definitely a dearth of non-academic books on Manipur, ‘Highway 39: journeys through a fractured land’ will be disappointing overall for people looking at understanding Manipur. The overt pricing does not help though the book jacket colour and design makes up for the lack of joy in contents. With a name like ‘Highway 39: journeys through a fractured land’; one can only imagine how the narrative of the drivers on the highway would have shaped up with their stories of hold ups, of being caught in blockades and illegal taxation by both state and non state forces and their take on conflict in the region.

Reins to young people

IFP editorial, January 8, 2013: http://www.ifp.co.in/nws-11669-reins-to-young-people/

The initiative taken up by the Manipur Horse Riding and Polo Association (MHRPA) in engaging with young people, but specifically students at its Pony Breeding Farm at Lamphelpat through its Ride the Pony School Project is a welcome step. For long, there has been a lament that the Manipuri Pony is on its last legs with fewer people taking to playing Polo leading to its diminishing numbers. Fewer still, are people who rear Manipuri Ponies as there are no financial incentives in doing so. The recently concluded ‘Ride the Pony School Project’ taken up by the MHRPA along with an educational institution in the state may well be a beginning towards engaging young people towards conserving and protecting this fine animal. Though there may well be areas of confusion whether Polo as a game originated from Manipur or elsewhere, one area of clarity is that the Manipuri Pony needs to be protected.
During the course of the 6th International Polo tournament held as part of the Sangai Tourism Festival in 2012, the foreign Polo team players had only words of appreciation for the Manipuri Pony and left after showing their keenness in taking a few specimens of the animal to Europe and other parts of the world along with horsemen and Polo players of the state. It is this nature of innovative methods that the concerned authorities in the state need to imbibe to make Polo popular and bridging the gap between the people and the Manipuri Pony. For long, the animal has been left to the hands of a few avid Pony lovers and taken out as showpieces during the few Polo tournaments that are organized during a year. In between Polo tournaments, the animals are left around to wander on the streets of Imphal and graze in garbage dumps. To begin with, the game of Polo is associated with the elite all over the world. It is limited to what is called the jet set crowd or in former royalty circles and outside of this, is popular only in the armed forces. The MHRPA has been doing its part admirably by promoting Polo tournaments in the state and even holding International tournaments to put the spotlight on Manipur being the place of origin of the modern Polo game. But the MHRPA alone cannot shoulder the entire responsibility of ensuring that the Manipuri Pony and Polo as a game continue to thrive.
In Manipur, the earlier royal patronage of the game and the animal no longer exists while the ‘elite class’ has no inclination towards encouraging the game or has the time to pursue Polo. In this scheme of things, it is only but natural that the game would suffer and the animal grow lesser in numbers. Considering the historical and cultural context of Polo and the Manipuri Pony in the state, a major share of responsibility must be taken up by the Government to ensure that steps are taken to make people empathize with the game and the animal. This responsibility does not have to be confined only to matters of funding but to come up with concrete action plans that can be implemented. A small beginning is already in the making with a school and the MHRPA joining hands to draw students towards the Manipuri Pony, but this needs to be taken up in every educational institution of the state.
The children of today are the pillars of the future generation. Once the children and the young people of the state get a closer exposure to the beauty of Polo as a game and the cultural and historical legacy of the Manipuri Pony, there will be no stopping them given the gene-pool of sporting ability and talent that the state has. Young people in the state may well end up becoming the game’s brand ambassadors by getting pro-active and pledging to ‘adopt’ Manipuri Ponies. In their hands will be the reins of the Manipuri Pony heading towards a glorious run.