ORNAMENTAL FISH: Fishy, with lots of money

By M H Ahssan

Assam is blessed with more than 150 indigenous ornamental fish species, and these are found in abundance in its natural waters. Now, the government is trying to organise the market for these, and promote new businesses.

For Kiriti Ranjan Patar, a young resident of central Assam's Morigaon town, an interest in ornamental fishes moving inside an aquarium wearing vivid colours was merely fun and a fancy. He was completely unaware of the fact that with its rich diversity of indigenous ornamental fishes, Assam contributes a large share of India's export-oriented ornamental fish trade. The state's rich diversity of fish products includes altogether 217 species of 136 genera.

Patar learned about the business potential in the trade when he attended a training programme in 2007 on aquarium maintenance and creating awareness for conservation of indigenous ornamental fishes. The training was organised by College of Fisheries located in Raha, in collaboration with the Department of Fisheries. The training also taught him one other thing: that traders from outside the state have entirely dominated the export market for indigenous ornamental fishes, due to ignorance of the local people about the trade and its business possibility.

Locals and exporters
The state is blessed with more than 150 indigenous ornamental fish species found in abundance in natural ponds, swamp lands, rivers and rivulets, of which about 50 species have international market value. However, the links to the international market are still largely unexplored by Assam's local traders, and are instead dominated by exporters from Kolkata and Mumbai. Locals also complain that they do not share in the spoils of the true value of the fishes. The out-of-state traders pay them very low wages for catching the fish, and thereafter sell these in the international market at very high prices.

Sanjay Sharma, Marketing Inspector of the Department of Fisheries agrees. He points out that some of the fishes have high market value, with every piece fetching between $2 to $5 and sometimes even more, but local traders are paid a paltry sum of Rs.20-30 for each kilogram of such fish. There is a huge gap between the prices the outsider traders pay to local people, against actual price they get in the international market, he observes.

To Kiriti Ranjan Patar, the absence of strong local traders presented an opportunity. A successful contractor, he could foresee a growing market these indigenous living jewels in the state. He did not waste much time to turn his interest in to a new business venture and changing his profession. Last year the ambitious young man, at his own initiative, conducted a survey to determine the availability of indigenous ornamental fishes in his locality and its market potential.

He then opened his showroom Jalpari Aquarium in January this year in his home town, with 40 aquariums of both indigenous and exotic ornamental fishes. His new business has clicked instantly in the domestic market, enabling him to do business of Rs.25,000-30,000 a month. And just five months since starting his business, Patar is now eyeing the export market too, and is all set to begin exporting to Singapore. To realise his export dreams, he is now in contact with the Department of Fisheries, seeking its guidance to get an export trade license. Patar is also opening his own website shortly to attract the attention of international hobbyists to his ornamental fishes.

"This business is more than just about money making. It deals with people's hobby of nurturing living aquatic creatures. I believe the aquarium business is a creative thing and a learning experience at the same time," he says.

More than colour
Sharma notes that about 80 per cent of ornamental fishes exported from India to international market are exported via Kolkata Airport, of which more than 80 per cent is contributed by the northeastern states. Assam's indigenous ornamental fishes have many qualities that catch the eye of international hobbyists. Some species including the unique Bagh-batia, (Batia Dario), never changes its colour in any situation, while some others wear vibrant colour during breeding periods. Again, the movement of some fishes including Darikona (Dario daverio), four varieties of Puthi (Puntius) Baralia (baralius barila) among others, in herds is beautiful.

"It is not necessary that every fish variety should have a bright colour on its body, and attractiveness comes from wide-ranging factors, including body colour, morphology, mode of taking food etc.," Sharma adds. "The international hobbyists are now fed up with already established species of ornamental fishes. They now look forward to more specific features and new varieties, which our indigenous fish species offer. Thus, we can visualise a potential market with high international demand for our locally available ornamental fish species".

Organising the market
To protect this market, however, the traders must evolve better practices. Many now directly catch the fishes from natural waters, instead of breeding them using scientific practices. And indiscriminate exploitation from natural sources may lead to extinction of some of the rarer varieties; a decline in numbers of some species has already been reported. Also, as Sharma notes, "Local traders engaged by outside exporters do not go for scientific culture and breeding, they do not want to disclose facts for fear of any legal action. The department has now been trying to organise the market by formulating certain norms."

Sharma also says that, a few endangered varieties of indigenous ornamental fishes are highly sensitive to conditions in breeding centers, and survive in natural habitats only. The department has been putting its efforts into culture and breeding of such species in breeding centers through extensive research. The NE Regional Center of Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute, and educational institutions including Guwahati University, Dibrugarh Uniersity, College of Fisheries of Assam Agriculture University have been conducting research on conditioning of wild species and laboratory rearing, methods of collection from wild, cataloguing of potential species etc.

The department has drawn up a plan of action for proper intervention that includes motivational programmes, training, financial support and establishing market linkages to local traders. One innovative idea of the department is to develop area specific "cluster projects" giving priority to youths of traditional fishermen community for skill development of both exotic and indigenous species of ornamental fishes. The objective is to develop specific pockets in the state to deal with various activities centered round the aquarium business, including breeding and rearing of ornamental fishes, making and maintenance of aquariums, allied trades including supply of decorative pieces and filters, live plants etc.

In April-May this year, the department conducted its first six-week long "Entrepreneurship Skill Development Programme on Ornamental Fish Production" under the cluster project; the attendees were a group of 20 educated young boys and girls from Hajo area in Kamrup (Rural) district. The programmer was carried out in collaboration with the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises. The group has already begun breeding and rearing indigenous and exotic varieties of ornamental fishes in their fisheries.

"The domestic market has a high demand for varieties like Gold Fish, Guppy, Betty, Sword Fishes and others, and we have already started breeding these species so that we can enter the business as soon as possible. We are also shortly opening a showroom in Hajo, which is a tourist destination; this will have both exotic and indigenous ornamental fishes," says Aparna Pathak, who participant in the programme.

Meanwhile, institutions including Marine Products Export Development Authority, National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, and North Eastern Development Financial Institutions have come forward for promotion and development of ornamental fishes and to provide financial assistance to local entrepreneurs.

Coupled to all this is a growing interest in keeping aquariums at home, in public institutions, educational institutions and others in the state, which is being encouraged and promoted by those in the business. The Society for Promotion of Ornamental Fishes in North East Region (SPONER), which was formed to promote market of ornamental fishes in the state and outside, has developed aquariums of various sizes, with prices ranging between Rs.800 to Rs 200,000 each. To make the hobby more popular, SPONER has also organised two state level exhibitions of ornamental fishes during last two years. It has also been trying to develop aquarium related trades with innovative ideas using local technology and utensils, says Chinmay Kakati, president of the organisation.

Special Report: Another 'Major Disaster' In The Making

By M H Ahssan, Ashok Rai, Walchuk Minga & Kajol Singh

More than 150 hydel projects are being pushed in Arunachal Pradesh to claim the so-called first user right on the common rivers before China dams them. At risk are the life and livelihood of millions in northeast India.

Nijor naak kati xatinir jatra bhongo (cut off one’s nose to spite one’s face).” Near Gogamukh, a few activists milled around their young leader Keshoba Krishna Chatradhara as he explained the local opposition to the Lower Subansiri hydel project on the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border.

DISGUSTING BUSINESS - 'CURSE OF THE RHINO HORNS'

By Kajol Singh, Sandeep Muzkala / Dispur

Soaring prices of rhino horns have led to a new spurt of poaching in the Kaziranga National Park, Assam. Once heralded as a conservation success story, the park is now being held hostage by poachers. INN travels to the park to investigate and find answers to the conservation riddle.

Many emotions flit across Kartik Pegu’s face when he talks about his exploits. Only one emotion is missing—remorse. Each time Kartik mentions killing a rhino and chopping off its horn his face lights up with enthusiasm. He curls up the fingers of his right hand around an imaginary trigger; the same hand is used to show a make-believe barrel.

The World's 'Spiciest & Strong Chilli' Grows In India!

By Hemanshu Rai in Imphal

One of the many things that puzzle people about those from the Northeast is their obsession for bhut jalokia. A fiery chilli that makes them teary eyed. It's so hot that some even cry! But these are only tears of joy. To stop the tears, they quickly take a mouthful of raw sugar! All is well again and they continue eating.

A meal in some parts of the region is hardly complete unless it is laced with hot and sizzling bhut jalokia. The scary-sounding name "bhut jalokia" is a vermilion-coloured chilli pepper which is famed as the world's hottest chilli. In 2007, it was certified by the Guinness World Records as the 'hottest chilli pepper in the world'. In fact, in 2010 the Indian military decided to use this chilli in hand grenades for crowd control.

Illegal Immigrants From Bang'desh Is Kicking, Hurting India

By Likha Veer | INNLIVE Bureau

FOCUS The vernacular press in West Bengal is all charged up because BJP stalwarts have promised to deport Bangladeshis if the party comes to power at the Centre. Front page articles and editorials have all denounced this as a move to foment trouble in the state and create divisions between communities. Narendra Modi and Rajnath Singh have become villains in the eyes of this section of the media. Those who are indulging in such commentary have either not understood what the BJP wants to do, or are twisting the remarks to create controversy.

How Long Can UPA Resist More Statehood Demands?

By M H Ahssan / INN Bureau

Though the government is resisting it, the pressure for setting up a Second State Reorganisation Commission (SRC) is immense. Says a senior Congress minister, ever since the political decision on Telangana was taken, not a Cabinet meeting goes by without Civil Aviation Minister and RLD leader Ajit Singh asking for Harit Pradesh, a state that can be created with western Uttar Pradesh districts.

Kamtapur, Tulunadu, Harit Pradesh: New States In Offing?

By Avinash Behl / INN Bureau

The UPA’s decision to move ahead with the creation of the new state of Telangana has only managed to take the lid off the cauldron of demands regarding statehood from every nook and corner of the country including from those areas that were relatively calm because of the existence of Autonomous Councils.

Demand for a separate Bodoland in Assam, which was lying dormant for a while after the creation of Bodo Territorial Autonomous District (BTAD), now again threatens to intensify. The region already had a bloodied past when terrorist organisations like the National Democratic Front of Bodoland and Bodo Liberation Tigers were at their peak in the 90s.

No Indian Standard Time: Assam Will Turn An Hour Ahead

By Anju Waderya | Dispur

NEW YEAR INITIATIVE The state of Assam has decided to follow the 'chaibagaan' time instead of the Indian Standard Time, according to reports. The chaibagaan time or bagaan time refers to a daylight saving schedule introduced by the British for better energy savings on tea plantations more than 150 years ago. 

Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi said IST has affected productivity and has forced the state to follow a schedule not suitable to the time zone we are in. "The northeastern states have been asking New Delhi for a separate time zone. We have now decided to set our clocks to bagaan time," Gogoi is quoted as saying. He did not state whether the Centre had given its nod to the decision. 

3 Cops To Protect A VIP, Just A Cop For 761 Citizens

In today’s day and age, when terrorism of various hues is a real threat, VIP security needs cannot be dismissed as irrelevant. Yet, it is difficult to escape the conclusion that there is far too much of it in India, much of it driven by the aspiration for the ‘status’ that having armed bodyguards confers on people. 

Governments at the state and centre need to take a hard look at just how much of the resources now devoted to VIP security are actually needed. It should not have needed a prod from the apex court for them to do so. After all, it is their duty to ensure the optimum use of the resources provided by taxpayer money. Need, not desire, must dictate who gets a security cover and how much of it.

India’s police personnel to population ratio is 1: 761, but there are as many as 47,557 cops protecting 14,842 VIPs across the country or three police personnel to one protectee even as rising crime poses a serious threat to the security of the common citizen.

Excessive deployment of police persons to secure VIPs is not just a Delhi’s phenomena where the country’s who’s who lives as the VIP security is highest in Punjab followed by Delhi and Assam. In fact, hardly any state is immune from the red and blue beacon syndrome.
   

Government’s figures show the 14,842 VIPs enjoying state protection are also drawing more than what they are entitled to by way of police escorts — 15,081 personnel in excess of what has been actually sanctioned for their security.
   

The figures, released by the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D) of the ministry of home affairs, show a staggering deployment of police personnel for security duties rather than basic tasks like making the nation’s streets safer. It is hardly surprising that police forces remain overworked and understaffed.
   

The data, as on January 1, 2012, presents a grim scenario with some states like West Bengal having one cop for 1,658 citizens. Delhi is slightly better with one cop for 253 people but it is no surprise that the efficiency of the city police is impacted with a dozen police personnel guarding each of 427 VIPs – adding up to around 5,000 cops.
   

In fact, states like Bihar have a far more lop-sided ratio (1,456), followed by UP (1,173), Dadra & Nagar Haveli (1,046) and MP (962).
Although the number of protected persons dipped last year as compared to 2010, deployment for VIP security is still quite high as compared to the sanctioned strength for this purpose as are the number of VIP protectees.

VERY PROTECTED PERSONSIn 2011, 47,557 cops protected 14,842 VIPs — 15,081 more cops than the sanctioned number
In capital, there are 8,049 cops for VIP security, just 3,448 for crime prevention/ investigation, Delhi Police tells SC
States with max cops on VIP security:
Punjab 5,811, Assam 4,278, Andhra Pradesh 3,995, Bihar 3,664, UP 3,087
States with max people given protection:
Bihar 3,033, Punjab 1,798, Bengal 1,698, UP 1,345, Assam 1,048
States with worst ratio of cops to citizens:
Bengal 1 for 1,658, Bihar 1,456, UP 1,173, MP 962 & Andhra Pradesh 953

3 cops for 1 VIP in India 1 cop for 761 citizens 3,664 AP policemen engaged in VIP security:  In 2011, as many as 3,030 people were given police security in Bihar, followed by Punjab (1,798) and West Bengal (1,698). 

The data, comprising figures for 2011 and 2010, reveal how different states and Union Territories tend to deploy more and more cops for VIP security than the sanctioned strength of police personnel for this purpose, faced with an increasing clamour for a security detail that is seen as a status symbol. Though the Union home ministry had in the last two years pruned the central list of VIP protectees, including ministers and bureaucrats, by constantly reviewing the ‘real’ threat perception, states do not seem to respond accordingly despite facing a huge shortage of police personnel.
   

In 2010, all the states and UTs together deployed 50,059 police personnel for protecting 16,788 VIPs, including ministers, MPs, MLAs, bureaucrats and judges. Interestingly, deployment of police personnel for these VIPs during the year was 21,761 more than what was actually sanctioned for their security. The data, presented to the home ministry by the BPR&D, also shows that Punjab, which reports a vacancy of around 12,000 police personnel, topped the list sparing 5,811 cops to secure VIPs followed by Delhi (5,183), Assam (4,278) and Andhra Pradesh (3,664) despite facing shortage. 

Though these figures slightly vary for Delhi as it has to deploy more whenever VIPs of other states or foreign dignitaries have to visit the national Capital, the BPR&D has taken into account the deployment figure of six months while arriving at the final data.

'ARUNACHAL' TOPS IN HANDLING 'CHILD NUTRITION'

By M H Ahssan / New Delhi

The problem is likely to be less severe than UN statistics indicate, given faulty yardsticks. If asked to name the state with the lowest incidence of child malnutrition in India, readers will overwhelmingly pick one of Kerala, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Punjab or West Bengal. But they will all be wrong by a wide margin: none of these states appears among even the top five performers. 

In the cross fire between security and insurgency

By M H Ahssan

Plenty of criticism has been levelled at excess use of force and abuse of human rights by the Army in Manipur. And yet, with much infighting and corruption, insurgents themselves have lost the moral high ground.

As we are driven out of Imphal for sight-seeing to Loktak Lake (one of the largest fresh water lakes in northeast India) or to Moreh (a town at Manipur’s border with Burma), we are stopped a couple of times by the security forces to check us up. The vehicle stops almost equal number of times and the driver goes down to a shop or in some alley, comes back and we drive on. Later we learn that driver has to go to pay the ‘tax’!

In Manipur, a ten-sitter vehicle pays Rs.100 and a truck pays Rs.500-1000 as ‘tax’ to the local underground groups. And there are many along the route! Drivers quietly pay up as they factor it in as cost which is charged to us – clients. No wonder then, vehicle-hire in Manipur is an expensive part of the tour! A three hour drive from Imphal to Kohima (147 kms) costs Rs.6000-8000 for a non-AC ten-sitter. The same would cost at the most Rs.1500 for a ride along the Mumbai-Pune super express highway.

Sons of soil turning extortionists
This is just a miniscule glimpse into the extortions by underground groups – UG as they are labeled even in Manipur’s print media. And counting the number of insurgents is like counting stars, says Babloo Loitongbam of Human Rights Alert in Imphal. According to the reply to a recent Legislative Assembly question, the number of armed insurgents is 12000. The highest insurgent to civilian ratio is in Manipur, not Afghanistan or Iraq, says Babloo. The armed forces personnel strength in the state is 55000, which translates to 4-5 armed security personnel for every armed rebel.

And yet, these insurgents are literally holding entire state to ransom demanding ‘tax’ at every walk of life and resorting to violence. There is an organised racket of taking a share from government spending under every head – be it for road construction or water scheme or even salaries of government employees. Some people reckon, as high as 70 per cent of funds allocated for any development project go in distributing ‘cuts’ to underground groups. What work can be done in the balance 30 per cent is anybody’s guess!

It is not surprising then that the infrastructural set up in Manipur is in dire state with just four hours of power every day and roads are in broken condition soon after laying. Any resistance to extortions is met with the grave consequences as in case of Dr Kishen Singh Thingam. He was an upright civil servant who refused to the demands of an underground group, and was brutally killed in February this year in Ukhrul district.

Media in the line of fire
Even media in Manipur is not spared with UGs dictating their terms. A senior media person from a leading daily from Imphal who survived insurgents’ bullet injuries, says “if we print something criticizing a particular UG, they force us to retract the statement and threaten with dire consequences. They dictate what we write and what we don’t.” Another media person narrated how his newspaper was caught in the conflict between two warring UGs. One group ordered writing against the other and the other ordered an apology for doing that, he says.

“These terrorists think they are the sons of soil, then why they make their mothers and sisters suffer in their business of extortions”, says a wellknown member of the local elite in Imphal, requesting anonymity.

In the meantime, tales after tales circulate of atrocities inflicted upon common people by security personnel and also by insurgents. Villagers in Manipur come in the line of fire between insurgents and security forces – each suspecting them to be informers or accomplices.

Civil society groups do protest. The protests that are loud and clear are against the establishment – the security forces -- and not so loud against the umpteen insurgent groups. It is easy to identify the state repressors – the security forces who have unlimited power under the draconian Armed Forces Special Power Act (AFSPA). But excesses have been committed not only by the armed forces but so also by the countless insurgent groups who are fighting each other.

Distrust, apprehension about outsiders
The situation is so complex and appears hopeless to the outsiders. There is a general atmosphere of distrust and everyone is eyed with suspicion. Given this state of affairs in Manipur, there is no tourism worth the name.

All the same time, the people of Manipur look up to the people from mainland, especially media to carry home the message from them about the grim situation and to understand their predicament. The 7th annual meet of Network of Women in Media, India (NWMI) during March 5-7, 09 was an opportunity for both – media from the mainland India and people of Manipur to establish channels of communication. The meet was organised by Manipur chapter of NWMI led by Anjulika Thingam in the face of personal tragedy of loss of her brother Dr Kishen Singh Thingam. About 60 women journalists from all over India got first hand exposure to the grueling issues of the state and also witnessed on March 7th, the release and re-arrest of Sharmila – the iron lady on the fast unto death for last eight years demanding end of AFSPA.

Armed Forced Special Powers Act
The Armed Forces Special Power Act (AFSPA) has been in force in many parts of the Northeast and J&K for decades. But nowhere is it protested like in Manipur. Using the provisions in this Act, some security personnel misuse the power to search, destroy any structure and arrest, shoot, kill any suspect without the fear of any prosecution for gross violation of human rights. In 2000, Irom Sharmila witnessed Assam Rifle men shooting down 10 civilians at a bus stand in a town near Imphal in retaliation to insurgents attacking their convoy. Already she had witnessed Manipuri women raped and killed by the armed forces and she decided to go on fast unto death since then demanding repealing of AFSPA. She is arrested and is being force fed through nasal tubes in the custody. But one cannot be detained for more than a year for this ‘crime’, so she is released every year. Since she does not touch water or food, she is rearrested next day.

Sharmila has become an icon of Manipur women’s protest against armed forces with Meira Paibi (meaning Women Torch Bearers) rallying behind her. In 2004, Manorama was raped and killed by Assam Rifles which led to histrionic stripping down by 12 Imas (mothers) from Meira Paibi in front of Kangla – then the head quarters of Assam Rifles in the sprawling erstwhile royal fort. This sent shock waves across the region and the demand for AFSPA repeal was intensified with civil society groups and human rights activists joining the protest.

This moved the Centre too and the Assam Rifles was shifted out of the fort. A committee headed by Justice Jeevan Reddy was appointed to examine the demand for AFSPA repeal. However, while recommending AFSPA repeal, the Jeevan Reddy committee has not looked into the alternative solution to the state’s insurgency.

I spoke to a cross section of Manipuri society and experts and got a mixed response to the issue of AFSPA and insurgency. True, despite AFSPA and 4-5 security persons for each insurgent (going by available data), the insurgency still goes unabated. What will happen if armed forces are withdrawn? Will it not give insurgents a free playing field?

Says Babloo Loitongbam, “The armed forces should be above the law and not under the law, they have to be answerable to the system.” This argument is supported by a woman journalist narrating her experience of high-handedness by the security forces. Traveling in the northeast for a photo feature assignment, she reached a town in Assam late in the evening and had her camera around her neck. Just then, an armed police was beating up a person pulling down the shop shutter. This policeman pulls off the camera from her neck though she had not taken any photos and takes her to the police station where they exposed her film destroying all her painstakingly done work. All they could have done is to develop the film and remove only those they suspected. And there is no recourse for such acts of the security forces under AFSPA as it allows them to destroy anything on suspicion.

As Babloo suggests, if the armed forces were above law then this journalist at least could have sought justice. Yes, police can interrogate her on suspicion but cannot destroy her work! They cannot take law into their own hands, torture, rape and kill civilians.

In response, an army officer on condition of anonymity, says, “During a riot like situation is there time to attest a suspect’s bona fide? Again, is there enough time to get official order to take action against the suspects, if we are not armed with AFSPA? Insurgents are hiding in a structure but we await orders and fall prey to their bullets? Civilians have little knowledge about armed forces operations. On one hand they call for tying our hands and then also have unrealistic expectations from us to finish insurgency. Just for few cases of rape and violence, entire armed force is branded as villain, which irks and demoralizes our men. You must have seen soldiers with rifles keeping a roving eye on the streets of Imphal but have you noticed anyone looking straight at you or any other indication of misbehaviour?”

Most of the elite in Imphal tow the popular line of criticising AFSPA, but in private say that end of Army rule means uncontrolled extortions and a new rein of terror in the state.

But Padmashri A M Gokhale, former chief secretary of Nagaland vehemently opposes AFSPA saying “There is absolutely no need for such a law. You win people through friendship and not through confrontation”. Gokhale made his mark in Nagaland during equally bad situation winning over people’s confidence through his projects ‘Village Development Board – VDB’ and ‘Nagaland Empowerment of People through Economic Development – NEPED’.

Experts, observers and also civil servants accept that a lot of wrong was done in the Northeast states especially because of AFSPA, which gave rise to the current strife.

Genesis of the insurgency
Manipur is like a bowl - valley surrounded by hills. While valley of Imphal was ruled by Vaishnavite Meitei, the surrounding hills were ancestral domain of Nagas and Kukis. Manipur kingdom came under British Rule in 1891. After British left in 1947, Manipur King signed letter of accession and Manipur was merged with India.

However, Manipur, an ancient kingdom with a 2000-year-old recorded history and a magnificent culture, was made a Union Territory and Manipuri, an ancient language spoken and written by all the Meiteis and tribals, was not included in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution then. It was granted Statehood only in 1972. This had irked the people in Manipur and insurgency in Manipur first started in sixties.

Add to this ferment the Naga-Kuki conflict and Nagas not accepting their hill districts going to the Manipur state. In fact, the seeds of over four-decade old insurgency first started with Nagas resisting Indian government taking over Naga hills from the British Empire and later distributing some Naga hill districts to Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.

The situation was very complex and the Centre failed to handle it carefully.

In his report “Manipur: Blue Print for Counterinsurgency”, E N Rammohan, Director General of the Border Security Force (BSF) and advisor to the Governor of Manipur analyses of the bungling:

“The bureaucrats who came from Delhi and other states in 1949 were by and large not sympathetic to the Meiteis and the tribals. With a few exceptions, they did not win the confidence of the Manipuris. The worst was the policy of the party in power at Delhi, as a result of which the Northeast was flooded with funds, indirectly encouraging corruption, on the premise that this would make the people soft and finish off insurgency. On the contrary, it had just the opposite effect. ‘Delhi Durbar’ - a coterie of contractors, all followers of the party in power at Delhi - secured most of the government contracts in the North eastern states. This infamous band of contractors took 95 per cent of the development funds allocated by Delhi back to private coffers in Delhi. Hundreds of kilometers of roads were built on paper and even annually maintained on paper. Food grains from the public distribution system were siphoned off wholesale into the black market. The politicians and bureaucrats of Manipur quickly adapted to this system.”

Unemployed educated youth
With spread of Christianity in Naga Hills especially, education was available in the state. As a result, Manipuri youth are well educated but there are no job opportunities. Each year, some 5000 graduates roll out of the colleges, but there are hardly 50 new jobs in the government. Heavy bribes up to Rs.12 lakhs are paid for these jobs. In the meantime, of you join an underground group, there is a salary of Rs.500 per month!

‘If you don’t want your son to get into that, you sell your ancestral property to raise Rs.12 lakh!’ says Babloo. The ideology with which the insurgency started is dead and now it is a way of survival for thousands of educated unemployed youth, she adds.

Whither peace? The possibilities
Peace has eluded this beautiful state over last four decades. The central government’s solution has been, by far, to send money and armed forces. Per capita annual central grants for Manipur at around Rs.12000 is one of the highest among all states and nearly ten times all states average of Rs.1300. This does not include defence and security expenditure.

In his blueprint for counterinsurgency, Rammohan suggests:

“The first step in the kind of situation we are faced with in Manipur, where there is an undercurrent of secession, rampant corruption led by the politicians and tamely abetted by the bureaucrats, and a complete failure by the state to protect the few upright government servants, is to list out the local civil, judicial and police officers and identify the few who have not been tainted by corruption and who, if protected, are likely to stand up against intimidation. The second step is to post these officials in all crucial posts….The third step is to ensure that reliable judicial officers are posted….”

Perhaps, the first step would be to pacify people by repealing AFSPA and thereafter using existing civil laws more stringently to deal with insurgents. As Rammohan suggests, identify and appoint upright officials who should have knack of developing friendship with the people like Padmashri Gokhale (quoted above). Simultaneously, post-AFSPA, the same brigade of Meira Paibis along with civil society groups should carry on similar pressure on their own sons and brothers to quit extortionist way of making money under the guise of the cause. Alongside, the government, administration and people should work towards economic development generate work opportunities.

One such opportunity is already knocking at the door in Manipur with proposed road link from west of India through Imphal and Burma to South Asia. This will open the corridors for various business activities. But if Manipur’s ‘sons of soils’ keep a myopic view and turn this into another chance of ‘tax’ on vehicular traffic, the caravan will go away with outsiders taking the pie.

India Is Asia’s Dharamshala – Why Not Learn To Love It?

The benevolence of politicians and bureaucrats is sometimes no benevolence at all. For some time now, there has been a trickle of Hindus from Pakistan coming to India on short-term visas, but their real purpose has never been in doubt: to flee discrimination and violence against Hindus in Pakistan.

Earlier this week, the home ministry granted a one-month visa extension to 480 Pakistani Hindus who have been seeking permanent resident status here.  An Indian Express report quoted a ministry official thus: “They will not be deported. Since it takes time to take any decision on their appeals, we have extended their visas for a month.”

Sorry, sir, this is no longer about 480 people. For the last 65 years, India has been facing an influx of people fleeing either religious persecution or ethnic strife or economic conditions in all our neighbouring countries. But we have simply refused to evolve a policy to address all these issues. We want to do everything on a case-by-case basis, or, better still, ignore the problem till it gets resolved illegally: by people acquiring Indian residency by stealth.

Given the numbers of illegal migrants – perhaps running into millions now – we have probably become the world’s biggest dharamshala, but that is something to be proud of. It validates the idea of inclusive India. What we cannot be proud of is that we have allowed this to happen by accident and exception, rather than by a clear-sighted policy.

Our inward immigration policy is a mess. We have separate policies (or default approaches) for Tibetans, for Nepalese, for Sri Lankan Tamils, for Bangladeshis, for Pakistani Hindus and for the rest. Then there are Muslim Rohingyas from Myanmar and Afghans (a motley group comprising Sikhs, Hindus and even Muslims) and what not – and we don’t have a clue what to do with them.

For a country that was artificially partitioned in 1947, it should have been obvious that people will migrate here and there. As a secular alternative to all our less-than-secular neighbours, we have always known that immigration will be more inward and less outward. As a democratic oasis in a largely undemocratic or autocratic south Asian region, we should have had policies to accept refugees fleeing persecution.

As a rapidly globalising country, we have known since 1991 that Indian companies need to recruit foreign professionals to work here just as we expect foreign governments to allow Indians to work in their countries.

But what we have now is a patchwork and illogical system that has been adapted to exigencies of specific situations at specific times.

The Tibetans were allowed in in Nehru’s time. But do we have a policy in case it finally becomes clear that they will never get an autonomous state inside China and can’t return? What if they have to stay here permanently? Will they be given full Indian citizenship?

The Nepalese, under the 1950 India-Nepal Friendship Treaty, are allowed almost free access inside India – almost like Indian citizens. This is the most liberal policy we have with our neighbours, and has remained on the statute book even though our political relationship with Nepal has gone from good to uncertain after the Communists entered government and ended the Hindu monarchy.

When it comes to Bangladesh, we have three policies – or non-policies: one for Assam, another for some north-eastern states, and yet another for the rest.

Under the Assam Accord of 1985, anyone who came to Assam before 1 January 1966 will be allowed to stay and become Indian citizens. Those who came between this date and 24 March 1971 were to be detected but not deported. They would be deleted from electoral rolls, but could get back after 10 years. The rest were to be detected and deported.

The accord has more or less been a dead letter, since politicians in need of immigrant votes refused to implement it. As for the remaining north-eastern states, migration is either fully illegal and politically accepted, or we have restrictions that apply even to Indian citizens.

In Nagaland, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh, Indians need inner line permits to visit those states even as tourists. The Bangladeshis who enter India traipse around tribal Meghalaya, but have found an easy perch in Tripura. Together with pre-1947 migration, they have relegated the locals to minority status. As for Kashmir, Indians can tour the state but can’t buy property or settle there. Even if they marry Kashmiris, they can’t acquire property there.

As for potential workers and immigrants from the rest of the world, we have the most restrictive policy on board, where the intention is to debar foreigners from working here – unless they earn more than $25,000 per annum. This rules out any kind of work visa for foreigners in India beyond highly qualified technical personnel or short-term consultants – so forget about allowing for easy migration.

As a liberal, democratic country, India has an obligation to run a truly liberal and open immigration policy that does not discriminate. This is a country that took in persecuted people from ancient times to the modern era (Zoroastrians, Jews, Tibetans). We have even accepted invaders as our own.

This should be the broad backdrop against which we should frame a unified immigration and work permit policy. The policy should include the following:

First, we must have a clear policy for taking in refugees from persecution. It does not matter which religion or ethnic group the person belongs to. It is ironic that political parties are willing to plead the case of Bangladeshi Muslims, who can only be chasing economic opportunities here, but not Hindu refugees from Pakistan. At a later stage, we should be willing to take in even Muslim refugees from Pakistan – for who knows what will happen if the Taliban takes over Pakistan? Obviously, this policy needs safeguards, but if there is a will, we can put one in place.

Second, we must have a system of regularising long-term migrants who are settled here. The Assam accord specifically provided for that, but we didn’t implement it. We neither put in place an impenetrable fence to keep future immigrants out nor a system of formally recognising the Bangladeshis’ need to find work here – through a system of work permits or guest workers with no citizenship rights.

Third, India needs to work out a free-movement agreement (especially for tourism and work) with all its neighbours barring Pakistan. Setting a high salary limit of $25,000 for work permits may be all right for westerners, but not for our neighbours in South Asia. The threshold needs to be much lower.

Fourth, residency permits and citizenship norms need to be easier. Currently, it takes 12 years for a foreigner to get citizenship by naturalisation, and seven years if they are married to an Indian citizen. One wonders why this waiting period needs to be so long. Seven years is too long a wait for a marriage to be seen as legitimate enough to warrant grant of citizenship to the foreign spouse.

Isn’t it high time we opened our front doors to the world instead of winking at their entry through the back door?

Is This The BJP-RSS Idea Of Inculcating Education And Protecting Children?'

By M H AHSSAN | INNLIVE

Congress says restore girls to parents, CPI(M)’s Brinda Karat says arrest those involved in trafficking racket.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s promise of ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ took a beating today in the light of the Outlook cover story on RSS affiliated organisations trafficking tribal girls from Assam under the garb of educating them.

The Congress came down heavily on the Modi government today. It questioned the government, the BJP and the Sangh Parivar on whether trafficking children in the age group of three to eleven from five border districts of Assam, is the Modi government’s fulfillment of ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’.

Shocking Twist In 'Nagaland Lynching' - Medical Reports Show 'No Rape', 'Innocent' And 'Indian' Resident Killed

In a shocking twist to the Nagaland lynching case, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said that 'unconfirmed medical reports' show that the complainant in the case was not raped.

Speaking to INNLIVE, Gogoi said, "it is up to the Nagaland government to come out with the facts. We have received an unofficial report of no rape." The chief minister further said that the accused Syed Khan was not an illegal immigrant and was a citizen of India.

Health Crisis: India's Wealthier States Are Showing An Alarming Decline In Immunisation Process

By NEWSCOP | INNLIVE

The warning signs from the latest National Family Health Survey data have gone unnoticed so far.

A fair amount of media attention has been given to the resurgence of diphtheria in Kerala, which has been attributed to some Muslims rejecting immunisation efforts due to misinformation. However, a much more dangerous and widespread trend of declining immunisation rates as evidenced by the recent National Family Health Survey 4 data, seems to have gone entirely unnoticed.

Rampant Trafficking, A Menace For Girls Across India

By Kajol Singh / INN Live

The backbone of most urban households - the domestic worker is an extremely abused and exploited class in India with thousands of minor girls being trafficked to big cities and sold as a bonded labour. They are exploited financially as they work with no or minimal pay as well as are exploited sexually at times. 

Mamoni, whose daughter went missing after being trafficked to Delhi with a promise of a job as a domestic help, says that she will not return to her hometown without her daughter. Like Mamuni, hundreds of tea-garden workers for Assam are searching for their teenage daughters.

Why Kerala Is like Kuwait & Madhya Pradesh Is Like Haiti?

For its level of income, India, as well as many of its states, could do a much better job in taking care of their most vulnerable people.

American poet Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself”—“Do I contradict myself/ Very well then I contradict myself/I am large, I contain multitudes”—seems tailor-made for India. Which country can India be compared to, in economic terms? Is India’s level of economic development more or less like Vietnam’s, because their per capita incomes, in international dollars and in purchasing power parity terms, are almost the same?

Why The Encephalitis Deaths Won’t Stop?

The disease claimed over 500 lives in Gorakhpur last year. Tall promises, lack of a coherent plan and meager funds can’t curb the epidemic.

Monsoon in Gorakhpur seldom brings cheer. For the past 30 years, rains in the region are synonymous with children dying of encephalitis. 2012 witnessed 557 encephalitis deaths. Six months since then very little progress has been made in the fight against this deadly disease.

Encephalitis, which has claimed 50,000 lives in Gorakhpur in the last 30 years, is now an annual occurrence that the locals call ‘monsoon of death’, as the most number of deaths occur in the monsoon months between July and October.

After the epidemic in 2012, which saw the maximum fatalities in the last five years, the Centre took up the fight against the disease in 60 districts across five states — Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Assam and West Bengal. Uttar Pradesh remaining on the top in the mortality rate. Assam and Bihar registered 250 deaths each due to encephalitis last year. “Under this action plan, which commenced in November 2012, Rs 4,000 crore has been allocated by a group of ministries to fight the disease,” says Ansu Prakash, a joint secretary in the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Five months since the work commenced, the action plan has drawn flak from several quarters. Incidentally, the same ministries had allocated Rs 3,400 crore in 2011 to fight the disease, but it was never disbursed.

“This is a game of showing goodwill gestures,” says Dr RN Singh, the leader of the Encephalitis Eradication Movement. “After every year’s spell of death, both the Centre and the state announce such programmes that seldom bear any fruit,” he adds. Indeed, the track record of the Central and state governments in handling the encephalitis epidemic makes one sceptical about the outcome of the ongoing programme.

This annual allocation of funds fails to take into account the fact that in the last three years, 20 percent of the deaths occurred due to nonavailability of immunoglobulin — a drug that cures encephalitis. “In spite of the Director General of Medical Education and Training having approved this drug, it couldn’t be acquired because each dose costs more than 1 lakh,” says Dr KP Kushwaha, the principal of Baba Raghav Das Medical College (BRDMC) in Gorakhpur, the only hospital in Uttar Pradesh that treats encephalitis patients from 19 districts. At times, the hospital also receives patients from Bihar, Assam and even Nepal. The hospital has seen over 50,000 deaths in the last 30 years.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav in the 2013 budget announced 5 crore for expanding the encephalitis ward at the hospital. But the hospital faces an acute shortage of doctors. Last year the encephalitis ward at BRDMC was run entirely by students from other medical colleges across the state. “For many years now, we have been asking for more doctors but our demand hasn’t been met,” says Dr Kushwaha.

The biggest threat that looms across this district has so far been ignored. “Since the new entero-viral type of encephalitis, which has taken over the mantle of the killer from the Japanese Encephalitis, is a disease that spreads through water, the need of the hour are hand pumps that fetch water from deep beneath the ground as opposed to the shallow pumps,” says Dr Singh. But little has been done so far to implement the idea. “We have sent out teams to do a survey on the ground about the requirement of the deeper hand pumps. We are yet to get the reports though,” informs D Rajasekhar, Deputy Adviser (water quality) in the Union Ministry of Water and Sanitation. The water ministry has so far spent 130 crore on surveying ground water resources in the district.

If things do not pick up pace, the monsoon in 2013 will bring another spell of deaths, only to be followed by more funds and promises, a vicious cycle for the hapless victims across the state.

EDITORIAL: 'MADENNING' TRINAMOOL RUNS AGROUND

By M H Ahssan / Hyderabad

The collapse of Saradha Group, promoted by Sudipta Sen, is the greatest threat yet to Mamata  Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress regime in Bengal. It could also imperil the finances of millions of  people in Bengal, Assam, Jharkhand, Bihar, Orissa and eastern Uttar Pradesh. 
    
Trinamool’s blatant association with the bigwigs of Saradha, which raised vast amounts of money  from poor people before collapsing, is a potentially fatal political body blow. Saradha could drag  many more Ponzi schemes down with it. 

Opinion: Is Hindu Vote Bank Developing In Eastern India?

By Dr.Shelly Ahmed (Star Guest Writer)

We know that the BJP is not contesting on the Hindutva plank this time. But if there is any region where there is a subtle possibility of a Hindu vote bank materialising even without the party adopting a formal Hindutva stance, it is in eastern India – in the states of West Bengal, Assam and Bihar. 

Even as Muslims stop thinking like a vote bank in many states as development becomes the core issue for them, demographic changes are leading to the opposite concerns among some Hindus in eastern India.