The future of Manipur...

ZK Pahru Pou *

A person who look towards the back and cautiously walk towards the front will reach the future destiny safely. Any person or society that stubbornly refuses to learn from the past life/history is doomed to destruction. When a society learns from the past, mould the present meaningfully and venture into the future, there will be lasting peace and prosperity.

What is worrying today is the thought that whether we have too many leaders who stubbornly refused to look backward, recklessly exploiting the present for personal gain and neglecting the wellbeing of the future generation? If so, the future of Manipur looks bleak with little hope of lasting peace and progress.

In the near future, it is likely that tension between the hill dwellers and the valley dwellers will be intensified not for anything else but for land. The hill people whose histories/oral traditions are full of head-hunting and wars were mainly to control over land and forest resources.

Today, they have well demarcated land boundaries with their neighbouring villages and tribes. They have named all the rivers, mountains and fields according to their belief system and traditions that associate with them. Tribal people have constructed their identity and they drew spirituality from land. So it is difficult for the state to take away land from the tribal people and distribute to the valley dwellers especially to non- tribal population.

Valley area (inhabited predominantly by non-tribal population) is overpopulated for many reasons which cause scarcity of land. Imphal city is choked with development. Almost all the head administrative offices are located in Imphal. Imphal is also the commercial centre of the state.

Development attracts people. I am really confused why almost all the developments are intensively and exclusively taking place in the valley area when there are vast tracts of land unutilised in the hill areas.

Is this to please the dominant Meitei who formed majority of Manipur's population? If so, the state government need to rethink. I would like to share some concerns on the coming development projects that is hugely going to affect the Valley area of Manipur.

The first is about railways in Manipur. Initially railway station was inaugurated in Karong, Senapati District. Later on, (only the state government knows the reason) it was shifted to valley area. In the long run, railway diversion could be a curse for many plain dwellers but a blessing for many hill people esp senapati district dwellers.

Many immigrants and beggars would be flooded to Imphal through train from the mainland India. Beware. The Centre government may send thousands of armed forces by train which would save them huge vehicle oil expenses. Railway in Manipur, I suspect, is not for common people but for Indian armed forces to gain easy access to border areas. Thousands of Manipur people will lose their livelihoods.

The second concern is about extension of airport to international standard. Does the state have financial and human resources to own and maintain airport of international standard? Certainly not. It will be maintained by big private companies (non-locals).

Only a handful of local businesspeople and influential politicians will get benefits. But common people are going to lose thousands of hectares of agricultural land, dwellings and livelihoods. The third concern is Transnational Highways of four lanes which would pass through Manipur to Thailand, Burma, etc. If this dream is fulfilled it will be a terrifying nightmare for Manipur people. (To be contd)

How many local people will be get benefits? The State has to explain to the people why they are so interested in such developments that cause immense damage to local people's life and livelihood. There are people (rich and powerful people) who justify such developments saying that for the sake of nation building some people need to sacrifice. But it is the poor and powerless people who were always forced to sacrifice. When they protested, they become anti-national and anti-development who stand against the progress of country.

Peace in Manipur hinges on two main factors which are both connected to land. The first is the concentration of 'developments' in Imphal area which is already overpopulated. 70 to 80 per cent of the state's administrative offices should be dispersed to vast hill areas which would then led to the dispersal of population from the valley. The early the better.

Such approach will be more humane and viable than pushing for uniformity of land law. Of course, the state has to take into confidence the interest of all concerned groups. In this way 'integration' can take place. 'Assimilation' threatens the co-existence of various ethnic groups in Manipur.

The second problem is the habit of the state government of giving away land for mega-developments such as dams, highways, military purpose, etc. which must be stopped. This has adversely affected the livelihood of common people and has the potential even to wipe out the whole population of Manipur in the long run.

Manipur people were once peace loving people who lived in self-dependence economically and politically in diverse ways. Today they are under the threat of many destructive forces making them very insecure people in their own land. Will not the present leaders of Manipur turn back and look at the diverse histories of Manipur people, cautiously judge the present happenings and mould the future for lasting peace and security its citizens?