Timing : Understanding its essence :: Politically prudent
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: November 20, 2012 -
Timing. The Joint Committee on Inner Line Permit System (JCILPS) apparently knows the tactical importance of timing.
The tactical move in temporarily rolling back the decision to start issuing forms to non-Manipuris or outsiders sums up the essence of how important is timing.
Heading on a collission course with the State Government on an issue in which both have the same stand would have definitely sounded immature and self destructive.
And certainly not at this point of time when different forces are literally pulling the political and social fabric of Manipur in different directions.
As things stand today, greater parts of Manipur remain cut off from each other, with the coming to force of the public blockade imposed by the Kuki State Demand Committee on November 17 and it would not be politically prudent to launch any movement that threatens to erode the legitimacy of the State Government.
Political prudence, guided by moral aptitude is what the situation demands at the moment. It is comforting to know that these fundamentals have not been lost on the people who lay down the parameters within the JCILPS.
That the Government appreciates the concern raised by the JCILPS was clear the moment the State Assembly passed a resolution to urge the Centre to enforce the Inner Line Permit System in the State in the face of large scale influx of outsiders.
A disconnect between the State Government and the JCILPS on an issue in which both have adopted similar stands would defy logic and reasoning.
Timing. Its essence again came to the fore when the Bengali speaking community at Jiribam declared their stand on the issue during a public meeting, just a day before the JCILPS was set to carry out its announced course of action.
And it is here that the need to remove all grey areas arises. There are enough literature and material to understand how unchecked, large scale influx of outsiders to a land or place can lead to conflicts over scarce resources and shrinking living spaces.
It is this spirit, the concern over this, which is behind the demand to implement the Inner Line Permit System in Manipur.
Yet it is also equally important to ensure that this spirit does not sit on the wrong side of the law.
Any citizen of the country can come, work and settle in Manipur (with the exception of the hill districts, which have been accorded a special status) and it is here that a clear, demarcating line needs to be drawn between ‘legal and illegal migrants’.
If the ILPS is enforced here, then this understanding may take a different turn, but the reality in Nagaland should also be a reminder to all that this cannot be the ‘air tight formula’ to stop influx.
The pull factor of Manipur needs to be neutralised to such an extent that no one would see the place as a viable destination to earn a livelihood.
The onus is on all of us to see how far we are ready or can go to fill up the jobs, most of which do not come under the collared definition, white or blue, which have been taken up by the migrant workers.
The issue of influx or migrants should centre around this.
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