Manipur - State Of The Media
- Part 5 -

By:- Romeo Naorem *

Looking Ahead

That the mainstream (national) media don't highlight plights and struggles of the Northeastern journalists is a given. Asking them if they owe any responsibility to this part of the country and its people for the quality of its coverage, won't stop blotting out vast sections of this country that have no other means of being heard.

For a constructive solution of the issues plaguing the region, be it - insurgency, lack of infrastructure, illiteracy, tepid development, absence of industries, ethnic crisis, communalism, or regional chauvinism – the Northeast Press should play a proactive role to initiate a meaningful dialogue to plant some thoughts that may some day germinate into a more creative and responsible reaction to all these problems.

Only a highly professional media that is well educated and well connected in every field can build people to people linkages for a common good for the Northeast.

In a highly sensitive state like Manipur, the media should always watch out for the intrusive and interfering elements, and keep away from partisan attitude and sentiments that can imbalance the already shaky equations.

At the moment, Manipur is highly polarized, socially, ethnically, geographically, economically and politically. When one talks about Manipur, there is always this old habit of limiting to the nerve centre of the valley (Imphal), conveniently leaving out the voices from the periphery.

Such act of a 'collective deliberate amnesia' hinders the quest for unity, breeding a notion of 'them' and 'us'. Addressing issues in the right perspective, without political patronization, communal chauvinism, ethnic leaning or regional discrimination, is the need of the hour.

Sengdokchaba - A Tragicomedy

'Sengdokchaba' is the most regular and notable feature in almost all the Manipur dailies. Unlike matrimonial, obituaries, classified, etc that one finds in a regular daily, sengdokchaba finds space only in Manipur based newspapers. Sengdokchaba literally means 'clarification', generally, a public apology given with a 'column resolve' not to commit an act (again) that may be – immoral or anti-social.

The acts may vary from boozing, popping pills, chewing or selling pan, eve-teasing, fixing drugs, bootlegging, and drug peddling to disobeying the diktats and decree of the underground groups.

But these classifieds for self-humiliation are never done voluntarily; they are rather forced to humiliate themselves at their own expense. It is a penalty they pay for their unsocial acts, with the judgment passed by the moral police - civil societies & NGOs like AMADA and CADA, and various underground groups in their Kangaroo courts.

It is agonizing to see the pictures of the people (victims) with folded hands, sharing space with other sundry classifieds, tendering apology and seeking forgiveness from the powers that be. But the initial shock leads to something more hilarious with repeat offenders, coming out with a communiqué having catchy titles that run like, "Aniraksuba Oina Sengdokchaba (clarification for the 2nd time)".

Paothang – A Unique News Relay

In Takhel village, a nondescript isolated pocket just 15 kilometre (?) from the state capital - Imphal, Paothang Channel relays news via loudspeakers hooked to a simple PA system with a religiosity not often seen in conventional broadcast medias.

Paothang (news relay in Meiteilon, the language of the Meiteis in Mnaipur) Channel is a people's broadcast initiative run from a simple dilapidated mud hall acting as the broadcast centre, with just a crude loudspeaker and a PA system as the only technical equipments.

Tensubam Ratan, is the official editor and patron of the channel, and he is assisted by Arambam Romita, a woman in her late twenties. Every morning at 7.50, Ratan and Romita get ready for the 20 minutes news bulletin, which is directly read out from Poknapham, the largest selling Meiteilon language daily in Manipur.

For a village, with people, where shelling out an odd 70 to 80 bucks to subscribe a newspaper would mean sacrificing the monthly tuition fee of a child, Paothang Channel is more than a welcome relief. Though people in the village could still get the major news through the All India Radio, Paothang Channel provides them the added benefit of hearing the news from all sides - non-state actors included.

News statements from the insurgent groups active in the state are not broadcasted in the state run AIR, but the newspapers carry them. Ratan meets all the monthly expenditures of running the channel in his own small ways, from paying for the subscription of the newspapers to providing a humble monthly honorarium of a few hundred rupees to the newsreaders.

Paothang Channel has become such an integral part of the lives of the locals that they use the news broadcast to schedule their daily activities, be it children reaching school in time or farmers returning from the fields. As the name suggests, Paothang is a unique news relay channel rendering yeomen service to the community.

Concluded....