Manipur’s Latest Sigh And The Idea of India

By Garga Chatterjee

While sections of the ILP movement points to ‘non-Indian’ outsiders as its primary concern, that’s a narrative of tactical convenience, given Manipur’s present political status vis-a-vis the Indian Union.

Manipur’s Imphal valley, is witnessing an extraordinary mass movement around the Inner Line permit (ILP) issue, in the face of relentless curfews and Khaki violence. Protesters have been killed and wounded. We remain blissfully unconcerned because no senile ‘Gandhian’ or NCR candle-holding or tricolour self-righteousness is involved. The ILP is an Indian Union government issued travel document that outsider Indian citizens need to enter Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Nagaland (except Dimapur).

The non-partisan civic-political coalition called JCILP wants the ILP system to be promulgated in Manipur too. The ILP system was introduced during the late 19th century when the British were making new territorial acquisitions in the present day Northeast by force and adding these newly acquired areas to what  they called India. The ILP was partially developed to secure British commercial interests by maintaining peace without spending resources. British acquisitions that were beyond the inner-line enjoyed considerably more internal autonomy than their Indian counterparts.

Such ‘Swaraj’ lapsed with New-Delhi raj. In 1949, the unelected King of Manipur was virtually detained in Shillong and allegedly forced to sign a merger document with the Indian Union.  At that time Manipur had a democratically-elected representative sovereign government in place, led by the Praja Shanti Party, which was of course dismissed by democratic India. New Delhi sponsored democracy has been unstoppable in Manipur ever since.

Manipur has no ILP system because it was never part of British India. When the British were busy expanding their India into these areas, the sovereign rulers of Manipur managed to largely preserve Manipur’s centuries’ old distinctiveness, politically, demographically and otherwise. After the 1949 merger, it had no method of regulating the entry of outsiders.

The ILP demand is about preserving the communities whose homelands are in Manipur. The ILP demand stems from the reasonable anxiety of being destroyed by superior numbers. The population of Uttar Pradesh is 75 times that of Manipur. But aren’t we all Indians, from Kashmir to Kanyakumari? 

Whether we are one people or not, depends on who you ask but what’s certain is that we are co-citizens. The youth of Imphal do not enjoy the freedoms available to the youth of Delhi. Probing those differences may uncover unpalatable truths. Hence, Indian Union’s ‘national’ media showers more concern on the treatment of Manipuri students in Delhi than the condition of actual Manipur.

While sections of the ILP movement points to  ‘non-Indian’ outsiders as its primary concern, that’s a narrative of tactical convenience, given Manipur’s present political status vis-a-vis the Indian Union.

For communities who once enjoyed autonomy to suddenly become ‘small’ or even minority in their homeland is extremely destablising. While the Constitution shows no concern for demographic anxieties within subsets of its population, the anxieties are real, especially in the backdrop of widely varying poverty levels, employment opportunities and total fertility rates from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. Phizo, the Naga statesman, stated in 1951 that “we can easily be submerged and get lost: our culture, our civilisation, our institutions, our nation and all that we had struggled and build up as we are today will be perished without the least benefit to mankind” (emphasis by the present author). No one wants to become a pariah in their homeland. It’s this humane plural vision of the future, to live and let live, that has to be remembered.

Can Tamils imagine becoming minority in Tamil Nadu? Can that ever be a good thing? If such a scenario threatens to emerge, can we even imagine the kinds of forces that will be unleashed as a reaction? No people should be pushed to such a corner. ILP for Manipur is an idea whose time has come.

The author comments on politics and culture

MHA Declines to Share Information on AFSPA in Arunachal Pradesh

New Delhi, Jul 20 :  The Home Ministry has declined to share, under the RTI Act, the viewpoints of stakeholders on the declaration of districts in Arunachal Pradesh as disturbed area under the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), saying the information was classified which may effect sovereignty and integrity of the country.

"The viewpoints of the stakeholders on the declaration of all the districts in the state of Arunachal Pradesh, including Tirap, Changlang and Longding districts bordering the state of Assam, as 'disturbed area' under AFSPA are classified, and therefore, cannot be disclosed under Section 8(1)(a) of the RTI Act, 2005," it said in reply to an RTI query filed by Venkatesh Nayak of NGO Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI).

The Section bars "information, disclosure of which would prejudicially affect the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security, strategic, scientific or economic interests of the state, relation with foreign state or lead to incitement of an offence".

The Home Ministry also denied to give details of inputs and file notings pertaining to the decision to supersede a notification issued by it to impose AFSPA in the state citing the same clause.

The Ministry, however, said that it has not received any representation, petitions or submissions from anybody on opposing or supporting the notification.

It also declined to give details of documents or records submitted by the state governments of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura during 2014 to February 1, 2015, for seeking reimbursement of amount under the Security Related Expenditure (SRE) scheme.

"This is to inform that there is a scheme of SRE which covers all north east states except Mizoram and Sikkim. The SRE is reimbursed against the expenditure incurred for supporting security apparatus in the insurgency or militancy affected states.

"Since the details of SRE are sensitive in nature, the same is exempt under Para 8(a) of the RTI Act," the Ministry said.

The details of SRE reimbursement cannot be uploaded in the Ministry's official website. However, year-wise and state-wise expenditure released under SRE over the years is uploaded on MHA website, the reply said.

Assam Tops Northeast in Accidents

By Andrew W. Lyngdoh

Shillong, Jul 20 : Assam recorded the highest number of deaths in accidents among the northeastern states in 2014 while Meghalaya had the maximum increase of reported traffic accidents in the country, according to a report.

The Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India 2014 report provided by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) has revealed that there were 4,51,757 accidental deaths reported in the country, an increase of 12.8 per cent compared to 2013.

In 2013, there were 4,00,517 accidental deaths recorded in the country.

The data revealed there were 52 accidental deaths every hour in 2014. While every hour nearly two persons died in "natural calamities", the data revealed that nearly 36 people were killed in "unnatural accidents" every hour in 2014.

"Out of 4,51,757 accidental deaths, 3,16,828 and 1,14,728 deaths were due to unnatural causes (70.1 per cent) and other causes (25.4 per cent), respectively, and the remaining 4.5 per cent deaths were due to causes attributable to forces of nature," the report said. (See chart)

Accidental deaths attributable to nature include deaths owing to floods, earthquake, landslides, lightning and epidemic, among others.

Deaths owing to unnatural causes included traffic accidents, air crash, drowning, collapse of structure, stampede, and others, while deaths owing to other causes include those caused by consumption of spurious liquor, suffocation and deaths of women during pregnancy, among others.

The notheastern states, including Sikkim, recorded a total of 8,875 accidental deaths, and out of these, 6,623 were deaths owing to "unnatural causes" while 530 and 1,722 deaths were owing to "natural" and "other causes".

Assam recorded the highest number of accidental deaths while there were no accidental deaths owing to "natural causes" in Manipur.

On an all-India basis, the data revealed that the incidence of accidental deaths increased by 12.8 per cent during 2014 compared to 2013.

The data revealed the quantum of accidental deaths by causes attributable to forces of nature has declined by 11.2 per cent and that of deaths by unnatural causes (including other causes) has increased by 14.2 per cent during 2014 over 2013.

The highest rate of accidental deaths was reported from Puducherry (96.3) followed by Chhattisgarh (84.6), Gujarat (59.2), Haryana (58.5), Madhya Pradesh (57.6) and Maharashtra (57.0) against the national average rate of 36.3, the data said.

Gender-wise analysis revealed that 21.5 per cent and 78.5 per cent of the total victims were females and males respectively.

"The age group of most of the victims was between 18 and 45 years. This group of people accounted for 58.6 per cent of all persons killed in accidents in the country during 2014. A total of 41,744 senior citizens were also killed in various accidents during 2014," the data revealed.

Traffic accidents: The data revealed that traffic accidents in the country have marginally increased by 1.3 per cent during 2014 compared to 2013. The maximum increase (55.2 per cent) was reported in Meghalaya (from 194 cases in 2013 to 301 cases in 2014), the data stated.

"Traffic accidents comprising road accidents, railway accidents and railway crossing accidents were the major contributors to accidental deaths by unnatural causes," the data stated.

A total of 4,81,805 traffic accidents comprising 4,50,898 road accidents, 28,360 railway accidents and 2,547 railway crossing accidents were reported, and these accidents caused 1,41,526, 25,006 and 2,575 deaths respectively in 2014, the data revealed.

In 2014, the northeastern states recorded 9,885 traffic accident cases. Out of these, 7,825 cases were in Assam alone.

Meghalaya recorded 301 cases, Tripura (716), Mizoram (95), Manipur (735), Nagaland (39), Arunachal Pradesh (112) and Sikkim (62 cases).

The data revealed that the 9,885 traffic accidents had caused 4,037 deaths, the maximum being in Assam with 3,212.

Mizoram’s Missing Pangolin Scales – A Tale Of Maybes And Whodunits

Pangolins are protected under national and international law, but their scales are apparently highly-valued in some Asian countries, for decorative as well as alleged medicinal properties.



A Pangolin. (Source: Wikipedia) It is a tale of maybe’s and whodunit’s, how more than a third of all pangolin scales seized in Mizoram have disappeared and possibly re-appeared (only for some portion to perhaps disappear again) in another seizure more than 350 kms away.

It began in the end of May this year when it was discovered that 292 kgs of seized pangolin scales locked up in a forest department godown in Kolasib, a western town, had been replaced by fakes.
The consignment made up more than a third of the 848 kgs of pangolin scales various law enforcement agencies had caught from smugglers since 2012.

Pangolins are protected under national and international law, but their scales are apparently highly-valued in some Asian countries, for decorative as well as alleged medicinal properties.

Consignments have been seized in some North-Eastern states, all supposedly headed towards South-East Asia through Myanmar.

A case was registered soon after the end-May incident at Kolasib, but initial investigations apparently went nowhere.

Then, two-and-a-half weeks later on June 11, a joint operation by police and the Assam Rifles seized six bags from a bus at Farkawn, a village close to the international border with Myanmar, at six in the evening. The bags contained 216 kgs of pangolin scales, the police and AR told the forest department when they handed it over the following day at two in the afternoon.

The official account from the forest department says the AR troops had opened the bags and took pictures with the seized pangolin scales and then re-packed them for submission to the forest officials.
But when the forest department officials received and weighed the bags, they found it was 32.5 kgs lighter.
As of now, they remain clueless how this could have been — either some amount went missing during the 20 hours between the seizure and the handing over of the consignment to the forest department, or the police and AR had incorrectly weighed the goods.

What has added more mystery to the siezure was that the bus driver testified the cargo was loaded onto the bus by one Hmangaihthangi of Kawlkulh village, more than 164 kms north-west of Farkawn.

Hmangaihthangi went to Farkawn after being told that the cargo had been seized because it contained unlawful materials, but when she was interrogated, she said she had indeed loaded it onto the bus but that it was someone else’s.

The owner, she said, was a Myanmarese trader she knew only as Paliana, which could either be a name or the person’s build because Palian in Mizo translates to Big Man.

She knew Paliana from before and she met him unexpectedly in Aizawl about nine days before the seizure while she was there for a medical check-up, she said.

She said he gave her Rs 1,000 to help her with her bills, and asked that she do a simple favour in return; some of his wares were coming by Sumo Service from Shillong to Aizawl on June 9, he said, and asked if she could load them unto the Farkawn bus for him.

She obliged, she said, and left for Kawlkulh the following day. The day after that, the cargo was seized at Farkawn.

Officials are not ruling out the possibility that the 216 kgs (or 183.5 kgs, as it turned out later) of pangolin scales seized at Farkawn are part of the 292 kgs that was replaced with fakes at the forest department godown at Kolasib less than three weeks earlier.

Forest Minister Lalrinmawia Ralte, who gave a brief report about the missing scales at Congress Bhavan on Friday, said, “We are investigating the cases and we cannot say they were or they were not, but it is difficult to say anything definite as long as Paliana is not found and arrested first.”

Kidnapping in Mizoram Drops to Zero in 2015

Officials from the state Home Department confirmed that there had not been a single kidnapping incident so far this year.

The ebbing of militancy in Tripura has had a positive effect in the neighbouring state of Mizoram. As Tripura exited AFSPA with the number of extremist-related incidents, civilian deaths, security personnel deaths, kidnappings and encounters falling to zero this year, Mirzoram, too, saw the number of kidnappings by Tripura-linked militants drop to zero.

Officials from the state Home Department confirmed that there had not been a single kidnapping incident so far this year. They attribute the success to the current tripartite talks between the NLFT, Tripura and the Centre, the second round of which was concluded earlier this month.

Over the past half-decade, at least 31 people were kidnapped — 29 at gunpoint — within Mizoram in nine separate incidents.

Except for two kidnappings near the state’s north-western border with southern Assam, all others incident took place in the border area with Tripura and Bangladesh, according to data furnished to the Tripura Assembly last November by state Home Minister R Lalzirliana.

The latter’s hilly, forested border area has been a hotbed of militant groups that, investigators said, relied on ransom-kidnappings as their main revenue source. The major operators in the area have been the National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) and lesser-known gangs of Bru tribals that aid the NLFT.

Tripura CM Manik Sarkar recently said the NLFT cadres remain in 16 camps in Bangladesh, three of them close to the Indian border. The Mizoram Home Minister added that 10 kidnappers had been arrested by Mizoram Police, among them seven cadres of the Bru Democratic Front of Mizoram and two cadres of the NLFT.

Seven of these arrested kidnappers were from North Tripura’s Naisingpara relief camp for internally displaced Bru tribals.

Two Congress Spokespersons in Mizoram Quit as Publishers of Party Mouthpiece

The questionnaire the duo refer to in their resignation letter had asked readers to name pastors who have been criticising the Congress government over the lifting of prohibition.

Aizawl, Jul 17 : Two top spokespersons of the ruling Congress party in Mizoram have quit from their posts as publishers of the party mouthpiece following outrage over a questionnaire that targets pastors over the Church’s opposition to the lifting of prohibition.

David M Thangliana and James Thanghmingmawia have submitted their resignations to state party president and Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla saying the questionnaire, published in the July issue of the Congress Thlifim newsletter, has “deeply wounded the sentiments of the church and disgraced the party”.

David, a former journalist, is secretary of the Congress’ media department. James, a former president of the Mizo Zirlai Pawl students’ union, is the department’s chairman.

The questionnaire the duo refer to in their resignation letter had asked readers to name pastors who have been criticising the Congress government over the lifting of prohibition.

It also leaves space to mark the pastors’ current place of posting, and also carries seven options where readers can mark where and on which platform the pastor made adverse comments against the party or the government.

The questionnaire had caused outrage and has been the subject of considerable online debate, especially on social media, where on one post a user identifying himself as a pastor asked members to mark the seventh option, which says “Everywhere he [the pastor] goes”.

Mizoram lifted 18 years of prohibition by enacting a new law last year and opening liquor retail shops in March.

While the church has been vocal against the lifting of prohibition and church members have picketed at least one liquor shop, it has largely been community-based organisations and neighbourhood groups who have been the most active in not allowing liquor shops to open in their vicinities.

Northeast to get better internet connectivity and enhanced digital technology

Tripura is all set to emerge as India's 3rd internet gateway after commissioning of the submarine cable connectivity through Cox Bazar Cable Landing Station in Bangladesh.

Tripura is all set to emerge as India’s 3rd internet gateway after commissioning of the submarine cable connectivity through Cox Bazar Cable Landing Station in Bangladesh.

Union Communication and IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad was in Agartala recently to lay the foundation stone for the same in the presence of Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, Governor Tathagata Roy and top BSNL officials.

The agreement for leasing of international bandwidth for internet at Akhaura between BSCCL and BSNL was signed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina during his visit to Bangladesh in June.

Currently, India’s international internet bandwidth connectivity is at two places – Mumbai and Chennai. With the opening of the 10G link through Akhaura, the network in Tripura will be as good as any metro city.

“Our Prime Minister Narendra Modi very clearly feels that the development of India will remain incomplete if the eastern and northeastern part of India does not develop. It is a matter of commitment for us. For the entire northeastern region we have prepared a package of Rs 5,000 crores for mobile and telephone connectivity that has been duly approved by the cabinet. Therefore, improvement of the northeast is very much important for us,” Prasad said after laying the foundation stone.

Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar also highlighted the importance of tele-connectivity for the Northeast.”There is dearth of infrastructure without which we cannot tap all those resources available in the Northeast. And the most important infrastructure is connectivity and in regards to this, aside from road, rail, and air connectivity, tele connectivity is most important which brings the world to our palms. Thereby importance of tele-connectivity is unquestionable,” he said.

The government will spend 19.14 crore Rupees to create the infrastructure, including the laying of optical fibers. Rupees 8 crore per year will be given as rental fee to Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Limited (BSCCL) to avail the service.

At present, the Northeast region gets internet connectivity through Mumbai and Chennai and the long distance and difficult terrain creates many problems.

With this new development, people in Tripura as well as neighboring Northeastern states will have access to high-speed, uninterrupted internet service with large bandwidth. “The coming up of the gateway will increase the speed (of internet) since we are closer to Bangladesh. This is great news for the remote Northeast as we are going to connect with entire globe,” stated Sitangshu Dey,a local.
As a part of the government’s vision to digitalize India, there are also plans to revive the postal network and provide services like ATMs, e-commerce and core banking through post offices.

The Union Minister opened the core banking services at the Agartala head post office and said that post offices will play an important role in digital India programme, especially in rural areas.

He also laid the foundation stone for Dimapur head post office, inaugurated the postal shopping site for the region and distributed prizes among various postmasters for their services. “We have already applied and we hope that by August, the Reserve Bank of India will approve the payment banking permission. Once it happens and the entire infrastructure is complete, you can understand how much power you will have in all the branches of postal department in banking transaction and payments. Digital India is designed to change India, to empower India, to bridge the gap between digital haves and have-Nots,” Prasad revealed.

The government is keen to expand digital connectivity in the landlocked Northeast region which will give the people access to varied services over the internet and make their lives easier.

Mizoram Govt Amends Rule For State’s Technical Entrance Examination

Aizawl, Jul 17 : The official said the decision was taken so that hundreds of students who have given the entrance test this year would not be adversely affected. The Mizoram government has amended the state’s technical entrance examination rules to include non-ethnic Zo students in category 1, according to a senior official privy to the move but who declined to be named because the matter might still be sub-judice.

The official said the decision was taken so that hundreds of students who have given the entrance test this year would not be adversely affected.

The Gauhati High Court had earlier stayed the Mizoram government’s new technical education rules that placed “Zo-ethnic people who are native inhabitants” in category 1 in the state’s selection criteria for college admissions. This would have given them the first preference to fill up the available seats under the state’s quota in various colleges across India.

According to the rules, students who are not in category 1 — specified as “Non-Zo-ethnic people who are non-native inhabitants” — would then fill up the remaining seats. This includes several ethnic minorities as well as those from elsewhere who live permanently in the state.​

T​he Mizoram Chakma Students’ Union had approached the Gauhati High Court and challenged the new rules that were notified in March after the Mizo Zirlai Pawl (MZP), a students’ body, pressured the government by picketing the higher education office in Aizawl. The MZP demanded first preference should be given to students from the ethnic Zo community, which forms a majority in the state.

The Chakmas, who mostly live in the Chakma Autonomous District of southern Mizoram, had protested against the new rules, calling it ​​discriminatory. The community’s main student body, meanwhile, went to court against the rules through a PIL.

Pic source: Vangliani.org