The saga of development in Manipur
- A development exercise or a military exercise? -

Roluahpuia *

Nungba Protest against Oil Exploration at a Public Hearing on August 17, 2012 :: Pix - Daneil Chabungbam

Manipur is and continue to be a state where many unusual things take place. It continued to be under direct military regime with the imposition of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) and other numerous inhuman laws making it a state where democratic rights are suspended, where President Rule has been imposed frequently than elsewhere in the country. With this, the usual stories which make up the everyday pages of the dailies in the State are extra-judicial killings, fake encounters, abduction, missing cases, etc. Such stories have become almost a cause célèbre in this part of the country. What this means is quiet simple and straightforward, which is to say, that the citizens of the State are under constant surveillance, living under the threat of death from violence and torture. Another way of looking at the State is where civil administration is negligible along with weak government institutions, absence of accountability and illegitimacy of the power in place. It may not be an exaggeration to say if the people of Manipur have become inure to such situations.

From the 1960s onwards in particular, Manipur continues to witness endless cycle of violence. Military rule is being imposed which continue to (mis)managed the state by instituting a concept of security that dehumanizes the human being (in this context the citizens of the state). In the process, military diluted the function of civil and social institutions and years of heavy military occupation denied the people a dispassionate knowledge of security. And moreover, since the State adopts the carrot and stick policy, and at times prefer the latter, conflict-keeping rather than peacemaking continue to prevail. Besides this, coupled with the ruthless counter-insurgency strategy that is underway at all times in the State, which most of the time fails to differentiate between civilians and the armed rebels, it creates a self-perpetuating cycle of loss, resentment and hopelessness that continues to feeds the conflict itself in the State.

Another sort of it, but a rather different turn came with the latest issue on development initiatives which are to be undertaken, particularly in the case of oil exploration in the State. There are two important points in this initiative, one was that it was entirely a 'secret agreement' between the Manipur State and the concerned company, Jubiliant Company and secondly, it came at a time when development has been the mantra of all the state leaders of this once forgotten corner of India. This also reflects that the idea of 'development' has penetrated into the citadels of the State machinery and most importantly the armed personnel's who enjoy the right to indulge (illicitly) in issues concerning beyond their own ambit. What we have now is that both the State and the armed personnel acting as the guarantors and getting themselves involved in the entire process of development initiative in the State. Thus, the integration of military and the state has taken a new course from then onwards.

At present, the un-defined slogan now is "Development is the solution". There is no question on for about Whose development? For whom? And at what cost? On top of this, there is no attention on the social cost to be borne by these close knit societies particularly of the hill tribes of the state if such massive capitalist profiteering projects are undertaken. Moreover, experience across the globe has shown that development initiative undertaken through (by) private corporates in particular inevitably results into individual gains leading to group/community loss.

What is disturbing in the development process is the way in which the agreement was made. The agreement between Jubiliant Company and the State Government was signed way back in 2010 without the knowledge of the people who are to be directly affected by the project. It is just a form of pillage of the resources of the state to the private companies who only knows how to extract resources and make profit at the expense of the rest of the society. To put it in another way, the State did not take any effort to consult or take the voice of the people; it rather strengthened the resource base of the corporates. Another but the same story of closed door agreement between the State Government and the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and also with Tullow India Operations Ltd. (TIOL) of England which was done in 1996 is the latest one. On the one hand, this reflects that the oil exploration issue is pre-planned while on other hand, it reflects the lack of transparency and accountability of the entire process.

On top of this, the high-handed attitude of both the State along with the armed forces is shocking. The filling of FIR (First Information Report) against the public protestors at Nungba under Nungba Police Station of Tamenglong District, the attempt of deployment of security forces in project sites of Tipaimukh Hydro Electricity Project and Jiribam-Imphal Rail Line and the use of armed forces to quell protesters are signs of brutal militarization of the development process. It is really a farce in the real sense to the democratic rights of the people and reflects the simple fact that the broader culture of militarism centered on the idea of the use of armed forces in conflict region has extended itself into the arenas of development.

Thus, the use of armed personnel's viz-a-viz anti-terror laws has extended beyond mere counter-insurgency operations. It has expanded to quell and repress the civilians protesting against the undemocratic development initiative. It is just another reflection where the state is using the arms of the military for the interest of multinational interests to give access to the resources and control extraction of profit from the natural resources of the state. Furthermore, it shows that the state and the military have joined hands to fanatically carry forward to accomplish the development drive without the consent of the people. More importantly, it invokes quasi-military solutions to problems not only on the armed violence but also on issues concerning development in the state. This actions of the State viz-a-viz armed personnel moves way beyond the questions of human right such as the rights to mobilize and to democratically engage, but rather constructs the people as ripe targets for punitive actions.

Amidst this, the response of this ethnically divided state has been a landmark in the history of the State. The response of the civil society, both of the hills and the valleys is a simple reflection of this. Their opposition might be less noisy, particularly in the mainland India, but what matters is that such protest and resistance are important when the entire resources of the State are mortgaged to the hands of the private corporates extending from oil to water resources. Moreover, the singing of the agreement without the free, prior and informed consent of the people has made such protest inevitable. Indeed, entering into a secret agreement with the State to obtain an economic advantage is an unacceptable business behavior and this is the crux of the matter in the protest against the drive for oil exploration in particular.

True is the fact that the state is an underdeveloped state with limited number of employment opportunities or livelihood sources in general. But the larger concerns for the people of State and the poor in general is the fact they have no reason to have faith in the Government in general who has failed to deliver welfare services and build confidence and trust among the people. To cite an example, nowadays, it is next to impossible for the poor to get an employment when the whole job market (particularly of the Government) has been turned to an auction-market? Or to put in another way, the job market of the State has in its rule favoritism along with nepotism as its merit. In such situation, the poor are entirely left out to survive on their own and be dependent on natural resources in particular for their livelihood. Therefore the only way to hold on to survive is to resist the looting away of their livelihood sources. And it here that resistance becomes the only available option for them.

By way of ending, the challenges to the people of Manipur and their very survival are now unfortunately in play with the state actors, most importantly the military who all claim to work in the name of the development. However the other side of the story remains that the resources of the state are in the process of being looted away. What is more important and fundamental at this stage is to uphold the rule of law which is the putting democracy in place which is to recognize the democratic rights of the people, the absence of which has been the causing more problem than solving. If this is not done in the right time, which is now, it will incite the people of the State to enter in to another form of struggle and retard the very process of development itself. Another dimension of it is the fact that it shows that development is not the primary necessity of the State nor underdevelopment is the sole reason for what ails the State.