Rishang on violence and corruption : Corruption refugees and others
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: June 23, 2012 -
Rishang Keishing being honoured on June 21 2012 :: Pix - TSE
Experience matters. As a man who has been in public life for over 60 years as a political leader, Mr Rishang Keishing must have seen it all from close range.
Mundane it may sound, but his observation that violence and corruption have become the most dominant features of Manipur rings out loud and clear.
So deeply entrenched are these two factors that today violence has even spilled over to the realm of peace, the latest gun fight involving groups at Tamenglong which are in cease fire agreements with the Government of India being an example.
The overwhelming fear psychosis that continues to grip the mind of everyone, a state where a gruff phone call is enough to send the chill down the spine of anyone blends very well with the description of the place spelt out by the veteran political leader.
Corruption too has assumed such proportions that it is today no longer understood as the mere act of money changing hands under the table and has come to be seen in the large number of ‘corruption refugees’ settled outside the State.
Educated, professionally trained youths of Manipur finding gainful employment outside the State is not only a question of the youngsters searching for greener pastures but is also a damning statement of the deep rooted culture of corruption driving out highly employable youths.
Another definition of brain drain, where corruption has played the role of the push factor with aplomb. The end result is the social legitimacy that the culture of violence and corruption has earned down the years.
Violence and corruption feed on each other. The emergence of fly by night operators, the mushrooming of so many armed groups with dubious antecedents, the rising prominence of some cliques, the disappearance of PDS items from their rightful place and their availability in plenty in the black market, the gradual decline of the professional contractors, etc are all indicators of how well the culture of corruption and violence have merged together to concoct a cocktail that is Manipur today.
The politician in him may have dissuaded Mr Keishing from putting down everything in black and white but his very admission that violence and corruption has become the defining hallmarks of Manipur should be more than enough to draw the line.
No reference to either the encyclopaedia or Wikipedia would be needed to know who have actually milked the situation for their own personal and private gains and the presence of vested interest elements is overwhelmingly clear.
Fighting corruption is going to take more than a piece of legislation, with all due respect to the Lok Pal model envisaged by Ana Hazare and his team.
Likewise neutralising violence is going to take more than arming the security agencies to the teeth. These fundamental facts should not be lost on the people who matter, but the question of bigger import is who really cares ? The likelihood of the people who matter benefiting from the continuation of such a culture is disturbingly real.
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