Book on Manipur set for Jan 6 release
Source: The Sangai Express / Ninglun Hanghal
New Delhi, January 02 2016 :
A new book titled 'Mother, Where's My Country?' by Anubha Bhonsle examines the tangled and tragic history of Manipur.
Published by Speaking Tree, and priced at INR 499, the new book is scheduled to be released on January 6 in New Delhi, along with a panel discussion by the author, eminent journalists and personalities such as Rajdeep Sardesai (consulting Editor - India today), Ajai Shukla (consulting Editor, Business Standard), Sanjoy Hazarika (Chair, NE Studies Center, Jamia Milia Islamia) and GK Pillai (former Secretary Union Home Ministry) .
Anubha Bhonsle is a journalist based in Delhi.
An Executive Editor at CNN-IBN, she has reported extensively on politics, gender, human rights and the armed forces.
Over the last ten years much of her reportage has concentrated on the impact of long-standing conflict.
Bhonsle has reported extensively from Jammu and Kashmir and the North East of India, especially Manipur.
She is a recipient of the Ramnath Goenka Award for her reportage on funding ofpolitical parties.
In 2014 she was given the Chameli Devi Award for her body of work.
The jury at the New York Film Festival has commended her documentaries on Irom Sharmila and the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) .
In her first book, 'Mother, Where's My Country?' Bhonsle examines Manipur through the lens of iconic Irom Sharmila's long and unprecedented protest and many others who have fallen victim to violence or despair or stood up to fight for peace and justice, Bhonsle brings out a story of a society ravaged by insurgency and counter-insurgency operations, corruption and ethnic rivalries.
Bhonsle also explores the human cost of conflict and the isolation and appropriation of an iconic figure Sharmila and her resistance.
Drawing upon extensive interviews with personnel of the Indian army and intelligence agencies, politicians and bureaucrats, leaders of insurgent groups, Irom Sharmila and her family and ordinary people across Manipur, Bhonsle's book is a compelling read for understanding the nuances of Manipur, the North East region at large, the Indian State, identity politics and the enormous human cost of conflict.