Manipur Scientist Faces Racist Barbs At The Hands Of Colleagues

By Kumar Rakesh

Subjected to racial barbs because of alleged professional jealousy, a talented forensic expert has taken several of his colleagues to court.

Dr C.P. Singh, a scientist with the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) in the Capital, has filed a criminal case against 16 people in a Rohini court for making racist remarks against him and his family members.

Those accused are Singh's colleagues and their spouses. 'Nepali', 'Chinese', 'Chinki' and 'Ching Chong' are some of the contemptuous expressions frequently hurled at Singh, his wife Lenjibala Devi and two minor sons.

Racist slurs: Singh has several high-profile cases to his credit, but has been at the receiving end of colleagues' vicious attacks

What makes matters worse for the family is that they live on the FSL premises along with the accused, resulting in this encounter several times a day. 'I and my family members are traumatised. It's been very tough for us for months,' he said.
Singh, who was earlier with the reputed Central Forensic Sciences Laboratory in Chandigarh, has several high-profile cases to his credit. But ever since he was transferred to Delhi, he has been at the receiving end of his colleagues' vicious attacks.

He has named a woman deputy director of the institute for orchestrating a campaign to malign him because of departmental jealousy. Two of the accused are assistant directors in FSL while two are senior scientific officers and the rest are junior officials or their wives.

Singh and his wife have filed a criminal complaint under Sections 499 (defamation) and 503 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC. In their plea, they alleged that the police did not act on their complaint and requested the court to order the police to register an FIR against the accused.

It all started for Singh and his family soon after he joined the FSL in May 2007. He says in his complaint that he took up the matter of his electricity bill running much higher than his colleagues and it resulted in his family's 'social boycott'.

Singh says he has video records to prove his allegations. He had installed close circuit TV cameras around his residence in February 2011 so that the wrongdoings of the accused were recorded. 'They pass disparaging comments and make abusive gestures whenever I or my wife come out of or enter our house.

'When we request them not to do so, they threaten us,' Singh said. He complained to the institute's director and then lodged a complaint at the Prashant Vihar police station, but no action was taken. He was finally forced to move court.

Singh alleged that some of his colleagues provoked their wives to file complaints of sexual harassment against him with the Delhi Commission for Women, but the commission found the complaints 'false'. 'This is just an instance to show how I am being targeted,' he said. Singh also alleged that he was denied promotion while several juniors were elevated above him.

No Bru Refugee Returns To Mizoram

Aizawl, May 9 : Not a single Bru refugee returned to Mizoram on the third day on Tuesday of the fourth phase of repatriation from North Tripura relief camps.

No Bru refugee returned, Mamit district SP H Sangawia told a news agency over phone from Kanhmun Facilitation camp, one of the two transit camps where the repatriated Brus were to be received by Mizoram officials.

All officials who had gone to the relief camps returned at 2 pm, he said.

Preparations had been made for the return of 811 people belonging to 153 families from Khakchangpara relief camp during the day.

Only 41 refugees belonging to seven families have returned since the fourth phase began on April 26.

Official sources said that anti-repatriation elements were intimidating the refugees and those willing to return to Mizoram dared not do so.

Anti-repatriation elements among the refugees were demanding a number of things including formation of autonomous district council for Brus in Mizoram.

‘The Loitam Case Was Just A Trigger'

By Sudipto Mondal

UNPRECEDENTED: The mysterious death of teenaged student Richard Loitam invoked a sense of solidarity among the people of northeast who launched a campaign in Bangalore to pressure the authorities for a thorough investigation. File photo: Ananth Shreyas

It rakes up attitudes and discrimination in a supposedly liberal Bangalore

Investigation of the mysterious death of Manipuri student Richard Loitam has taken an intriguing turn even as the police continue to probe into the possibility of his death being caused by a road accident.

Based on the nature of wounds the 19-year-old sustained, which include multiple injuries to his forehead, chest, face and thighs, an opinion has emerged among forensic experts that the boy was beaten by more than the two students. A case of murder has been registered but there have been no arrests yet.

While experts are yet to establish the exact cause of the death, the police and the college management agree that Loitam was attacked on the night of his death.

Brawl or racism?

But ever since the teen's death made national headlines, activists and journalists have agonised over one question — was it an attack on a human being or a crime against humanity?

During the April 29 “Justice for Richard” protest in the city, there were murmurs about racism and hate crime. But protest leaders were quick to dissuade the agitators from making such claims.

“The brazenness of the attack has the classic symptoms of racism,” argues Johnson Rajkumar, Associate Professor of Visual Communication, St. Joseph's College, who also hails from Manipur.

Greater access

Asked how the alleged attackers (one from Jharkhand and the other from West Bengal) could feel more empowered than a boy from Manipur, Mr. Rajkumar says: “It is a question that people from mainland India have to answer. It is well established that people from the mainland — Tamil, Bengali, Hindi, or Punjabi — enjoy greater access to the social web than those from the northeast. We are never made to feel part of the pan-Indian nationalist discourse. Our textbooks have nothing to say on the socio-political history of the northeast. Is this not racism?”

Outpouring of support

The outpouring of support for Loitam from people across the northeast has its roots in the common experience of hostility and isolation that these people face on a daily basis away from their homeland, says Mr. Rajkumar. “The Richard Loitam case was just a trigger,” he adds.

Both Mr. Rajkumar and Chittibabu Padavala, a New Delhi-based Dalit thinker, agree that cases such as Loitam's death should ideally evoke a debate around the reasons for the epic migration of people from the northeast. “They are running away from a life of violence where the state plays the role of a facilitating agent,” alleges Mr. Rajkumar. “They willingly occupy the fringes of society in the mainland because it is still better than the situation back home. If they are not empowered at home, they will always continue to be second-grade citizens in the mainland,” he says.

Not-so-simple

Inspector-General of Police (State Intelligence) Gopal Hosur, however, feels that the subtle game of inclusion and exclusion is an inescapable reality. “To a north Indian I am a Madrasi. To a Tamil, I am a Kannadiga. To a Kannadiga I am from north Karnataka. Who is to put an end to bracketing?” he asks.

Conceding that the problem of people from the northeast is far more complex, he says, “but the answer is not more policing.” Referring to an experiment in New Delhi where the police tried to institute special security steps for people from the northeast starting with maintaining a record of their identity and address, Mr. Hosur says: “The move triggered an outcry with people accusing the police of racial profiling.”

More engagement

The solution, all three agree, lies in policies that will engage with the northeast. “There needs to be a greater effort to promote social interaction and introduce northeast studies in the curriculum,” says Mr. Rajkumar.

“An ombudsman from States such as Manipur, Nagaland, Meghalaya in Karnataka would help. This person can address grievances of the community in addition to promoting socio-cultural interaction. The police can play a limited role in this,” says Mr. Hosur.

Adding Their Flavour To The Melting Pot

By Deepa Kurup

SHARED EXPERIENCES: Though there is a very little harmful discrimination, what hurts is the relative ignorance of a proud, hardworking people. File photo: K. Murali Kumar

Most of their stories have a lot in common with those of other migrants

In his death, an alleged murder now under investigation, Richard Loitam appears to have become a poster boy for all that is wrong with the way a cosmopolis treats migrants from north-eastern India.

While thousands like Loitam, who can afford to pay the high fees in the city's private institutions, come here to pursue their higher studies, an even larger and substantial section of the migrant population comes here in search of jobs.

Be it in the services industry, as security guards or in the beauty business — where those from the northeast are preferred — or the technology and BPO industry where thousands of engineers studying on campuses across the country are placed every year, the migrant from the northeast has made Bangalore his/her home.

No jobs back home

When The Hindu spoke to a random sampling across these sectors, about their lives, their identities and their relationship with Bangalore, their narratives were not very different from other migrants here. They spoke about the lack of employment opportunities back home: many support their families from here. They spoke of rampant cheating by touts and job agents. A few knew the Loitam case being discussed on Facebook, but many didn't.

Questions regarding safety and discrimination were often met with comparisons to Delhi.

As Gracie Sawian (27), a beautician from Shillong, said: “We are modern, so we are often perceived as easily available [promiscuous]. In our culture, boys and girls mingle freely, and some parts of Bangalore are conservative and look at us with suspicion.”

But she added that she can't even begin to say how much safer Bangalore is compared to Delhi and Allahabad, cities where she has worked. Sometimes due to these “cultural differences” house owners refuse to rent out places to them, often using food habits as an excuse, she said.

The pinpricks

Anna, a beautician whose real name is Chinglemba, said it was frustrating when people refer to her as “the chinki” (referring to her distinct Mongoloid features). Her colleagues, from Nagaland and Sikkim, said there is “very little harmful discrimination”. However, Donna, her colleague from Dimapur, Nagaland, spoke of cases of girls brought here as cooks and domestic help, and then denied wages, even ill-treated. “We are sometimes a bit naive,” she reflected.

Working hard

Charles, a Khasi, who works in a Chinese restaurant in Fraser Town, has a diploma in catering. He's among thousands who work in the services sector, particularly in oriental restaurants where they are employed to give the place an “authentic feel”.

As hilarious as he finds this, he conceded that it works to their advantage. His roommate — eight of them share a room — Doumin Diengdoh, is a security guard in a Benson Town apartment building.

“We are all from the same village so we cook and eat together. Sometimes neighbours — they're all from Bihar — tell us they don't like us cooking meat but we don't listen to them anyway,” he says. He earns Rs. 8,000 a month, more than half of which he sends home.

He added, with unmistakable pride, that his salary funds his sister's computer classes. “She will study and then come here, and work in an IT company hopefully,” he adds.

Techie population

Doumin Diengdoh's dreams for his sister are based on the fact that a large number of northeast migrants are now working in BPO and IT firms here. Della, from Imphal, said many of them, being convent educated, are fluent in English.

“Our bosses also perceive us as flexible; in the sense we are ready to travel onsite or work late hours,” she says. However, after all these years, it still hurts her that “highly-educated people” ask her if she's Chinese or Japanese.

Congress Retains Power in Mizoram Mara Council

Aizawl, May 8 : The ruling Congress has retained power in the elections to the 25-seat Mara autonomous district council by securing 15 seats, while its CEM candidate S Khipo suffered a humble defeat.

Khipo, the sitting CEM, lost his traditional constituency Tuisih to a newcomer Tiahlei Syuhlo, who garnered 506 votes against Khipo's 342 votes. With L C Apaw, who won Siata seat, only two of the 15 independent candidates got elected.

The Mizo National Front, the main opposition in Mizoram, won two seats, its ally the Maraland Democratic Front (MDF), a party limited to the district council, won five seats.

Saiha district MNF president and sitting MDC (member of district council) H C Lalmalsawma Zasai also lost his traditional seat Rawmibawk to Congress candidate R T Zachono, a sitting EM (executive member) by a margin of just 14 votes.

Among the elected candidates is former Lok Sabha member from Mizoram, Hiphei, who got elected on Congress ticket from Tuipang-II.

There are five new faces among the elected candidates. Congress party and MNF-MDF were the two major forces in the elections with both camps contesting in all the 25 candidates.

Zoram Nationalist Party which has two MLAs in the state's assembly contested in three constituencies and won none.

The 10th Mara autonomous district council elections on May 3 recorded a high poll turnout with 86.48 per cent of the total 32,898 electors casting their votes in EVMs for the first time.

Mara autonomous district council is one of the three autonomous district councils in Mizoram. It is an autonomous administrative government meant for the Mara people.

Justice For Dana: Friends, Family Meet Meghalaya CM

New Delhi/Shillong, May 7 : The north-eastern community along with other students of Amity in Delhi has strongly reacted to the mysterious death of Dana Sangma, a student of Amity University from Meghalaya, who committed suicide after allegedly being mistreated by college authorities.

Considering the matter as grave concern of discrimination and racial-profiling, friends and family of Dana Sangma met Meghalaya CM Mukul Sangma to refute the claims that Dana was using cellphone during exams.

Dana Sangma was pursuing an MBA course at Amity and committed suicide after she was accused by her college of cheating.

Earlier, Amity University had dismissed all the allegations that north-east student Dana Sangma was facing any sort of discrimination.

Also, University had maintained that there was no discrimination of any nature on the basis of caste, creed, region or religion.

We Are All Xenophobes

Richard Loitham, the latest victim of hate in Bangalore

By Nitin A. Gokhale

Years ago, Mizoram CM Lalthanhawla, in the course of a convivial evening, got to describing how a Mumbai five-star asked him for his passport before checking him in. Part angry, part amused, he had to patiently explain who he was and where he came from.

I was reminded of this conversation this week after witnessing a spate of write-ups and discussions emanating from metro-based media outlets about why and how India discriminates against its citizens from the Northeast.
The coverage was triggered by two tragic deaths, one in Bangalore and the other in Gurgaon.
By themselves, these incidents need to be condemned in the strongest terms and the culprits punished. The question is: could this not have happened to any teenager studying away from home?

Some years ago, a Delhi boy was ragged to death in Himachal Pradesh. Was he killed because he was a city-slicker in a semi-urban hostel set-up? Or was he just an easy target for bullies?

The fact is, across India, we are all labelled and discriminated against one way or the other based on our surnames. A Bong, a Mallu, a Tant (a typical army term for a Marathi), a Punju, a Bihari.... the pejoratives are many; their usage commonplace.

Even within the Northeast, suspicions about each other abound. Clan and ethnic loyalties often take precedence over regional identities. A larger community often discriminates against a smaller ethnic group. A surfeit of student groups and associations formed on tribal lines in most big cities bears testimony to this reality. All of them prefer to keep to themselves, trying to find protection in numbers.

Inter-ethnic tensions from back home are carried to far-off places too. So, for instance, Naga students will keep away from a Meitei group or a Bodo students association will remain aloof from their Assamese counterparts. The smaller the numbers, the greater the xenophobia. Even in a large city like Delhi, ethnic loyalties lead to ghettoisation.

But for every act of hostility, there is a Sudhir Phadke. Decades ago, the legendary Marathi singer and composer took a couple of boys from Arunachal Pradesh under his wing in Pune, educated them and—without fuss—assimilated them into Marathi culture, its music and language. There are several similar stories that I can cite.

A conservative estimate suggests that over 50,000 students leave the Northeast every year to study and eventually work all across India—even in smaller towns like Sangli and Hubli, to name just a couple. Scores happily settle down in bigger cities in search of a career and are unlikely to ever return home because there aren’t enough jobs in the still-underdeveloped region. They are as much part of the big city melting pot as a Mallu, or a Bong, or a Bihari.

As cities like Delhi struggle to shed their provincial character and turn ever more cosmopolitan, there will be a lot of churning that happens and newcomers—whether from the ‘deep south’ or from the ‘far east’—will face tough times.

That should, however, not deter the pioneering. And people from the eight states are nothing if not brave. All they need to watch out for is the danger of succumbing to the notion of victimhood. As I often say to my friends from the region, they have been repeatedly indoctrinated by their leaders to view themselves as victims of conspiracies hatched by the central government and people from the rest of India. The truth is, no one has either the time or the inclination to do so. But the old mindsets are changing both in Delhi and the Northeast. The neglect meted out in the past has given way to more focused attention to the region and its people. Even in mega cities, as more and more northeasterners work and mix with others, a gradual acceptance of their different looks and languages will happen. And as a Mary Kom or a Lou Majaw become icons for sports and music fans from even outside the Northeast, the region will gain larger focus than before.

A Lalthanhawla could laugh off an unintended insult at a five-star. The families of those who get maimed or killed because they look and dress different and speak a language not of the majority won’t as easily get over their trauma.

And yet, as the two-way flow of people, goods and services between other parts of the country and the Northeast grows, the rest of India will begin treating it not as an exotic entity, but an integral part of the idea that is India.

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(The writer, NDTV’s security and strategic affairs editor, lived and worked in the Northeast between 1983-2006, including for Outlook. Follow him @nitingokhale.)

Northeast Was Never A Part Of India

INTERVIEW/S.S. Khaplang, Chairman, NSCN(K)



The godfather: Khaplang with NSCN(K) cadres in eastern Nagaland. Photo by Rajeev Bhattacharyya SS. Khaplang, or Baba, as he is popularly known, is behind the confederation of ultras in northeastern India. He calls himself president of the Government of the People's Republic of Nagaland (GPRN), and he sheltered in eastern Nagaland several rebel outfits during Indian and Bhutanese military operations against them. Excerpts from an 
interview:

Looking back, how do you see the movement that you have headed for so many decades?

Nagas in eastern Nagaland have come a long way since the beginning of the revolt in the early 1960s. The Naga National Council did not make much of an impact in our areas. A decisive phase was when the National Socialist Council of Nagaland was founded in 1980. But, unfortunately, it split after a few years, for reasons that were beyond our control.

But our movement never suffered reverses, since we had overwhelming support. The scenario has changed greatly. The time has come to join hands with like-minded organisations to achieve independence and sovereignty.

Your role in bringing together northeastern rebel organisations?

Eastern Nagaland and the northeast are natural allies. Our relationship with northeastern revolutionary organisations goes back several years. Groups like the United Liberation Front of Asom, United National Liberation Front and People's Liberation Army [both from Manipur] have worked in close collaboration with us. We all had a role, in different capacities, in forging the united front.

What difference will the united front make in your campaign for independence and sovereignty?

The northeast was never a part of India. Likewise, eastern Nagaland has always remained independent. If we work together, it would be easier to achieve independence, sovereignty and recognition in international fora. A united front would benefit us, in terms of sharing information and operational coordination.

How safe are the camps in eastern Nagaland?

Our policy is simple—if you don't attack us, we won't attack you. Myanmar had proposed a ceasefire, but we have rejected the proposal. Signing the agreement would mean accepting other demands, gradually. There is an informal understanding with Myanmar and there has not been any offensive against us in the past few years. This agreement has helped all organisations work in cooperation and chalk out a common agenda.

But India has been pressuring Myanmar to initiate action against rebel camps.

We are quite aware of that and we will be extra careful. On several occasions, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Indian Army ventured into Myanmar and launched campaigns against us. All these have stopped now, but we will be prepared for all eventualities. Our issue is genuine, and it will be difficult to crush the movement.

The NSCN(K) also has a ceasefire agreement with India. You seem to have struck a fine balance, unlike other revolutionary groups in the region.
Yes, we told the Indian government that we will remain friendly if you do not launch operations against us. The ceasefire agreement was signed in 2001.

About the split in NSCN(K) and the ongoing peace process between NSCN(IM) and India.

Commander-in-chief Kholie Konyak and general secretary N. Kitovi Zimomi snapped ties with us  because they are not committed to our objectives. They are unlikely to achieve anything for the Nagas as they do not have any agenda. They played into the hands of the Indian intelligence agencies.

The same holds true for the NSCN(IM), by and large. In fact, NSCN(IM) general secretary Thuingaleng Muivah has already indicated the possibility of an accord with India, which would never 
grant independence to the Nagas. This is unacceptable to us. The [best] opportunity to integrate Naga-inhabited areas was in the early 1960s. This opportunity was not grabbed.

Future projections of the movement?
Our movement is getting stronger. We will achieve independence 
and sovereignty, if all organisations fight together. This will be 
some kind of a confederation comprising eastern Nagaland and the northeast, similar to the [federation in the] US.