Coercion as the Central Force in Manipur
- No way to progress -

Amar Yumnam *

The entire economic history of humankind and history of economic development have been marked by efforts for evolution of policies to reduce the act of compelling by force of authority. This starts right from the interaction of humankind on the first day with nature.

Nature was very cruel and inhospitable to begin with, and humans had to evolve technology and other mechanisms for controlling the coercive power of nature. The modern history of exchange and commercialization are also examples of evolution of institutions for reducing the element of coercion in social interactions.

The current belief in the possibility of progress is a reflection of presence of institutions to control coercion and mechanisms to address betrayals in social contracts.

If we are to go back to our context, the Great Divergence which occurred between the West (particularly Britain) and the East (China for example) in the eighteenth century, despite the fact that potentials for modern civilization were larger in the latter, has to be attributed to the greater success of the former to evolve institutions to constrain coercion in the society.

Coercion Unconstrained: But quite contrary to this global historical experience and the fundamental requirement of a society to grow, what we now live with is the multiplication of coercion in every aspect of social and economic life. The people of the land now face coercion from both state and non-state actors.

State Sponsored Coercion: The first and worst state sponsored coercion is the hated Armed Forces Special Powers Act. The implication and impact of this Act have been worse for the society.

What was needed for Manipur was creation of an atmosphere where the respect, respectability and credibility of public-order institutions evolved by the state were enhanced. But this Act has just had the opposite impact.

Such a legislation has to be used only by an administration characterized by good governance and this too only for the shortest possible time. Further the implementation of such legislation should be marked by the capability of the state to use legitimate coercion but with accountability.

In the otherwise case, not only would the quality of governance become increasingly worse but the credibility of public order institutions evolved by the state would get compromised. Are these not what exactly have happened in Manipur?

Another coercion sponsored by the state is the so called PAP (Protected Area Permit) which any foreigner intending to enter the land has to acquire. This is a very archaic and sickening requirement.

While the whole world is getting globalised and the very government of the country speaks of looking towards the east, nobody can enter the land without this permit the issuance of which follows a very cumbersome and non-transparent procedure.

It also amounts to slapping on the face of the widening Diaspora of the people of the land and the increasing density of connectivity the people here have established with people from the rest of the world.

While these acts put a question mark on the very nature of the state Manipur now have, even more unfortunately the very administration of the land is highly corrupt. Corruption is a very bad coercive element of the administration and it is highly regressive as well as it affects the poor much more adversely than the better-offs of the society.

Coercion By Non-State: The predicament of the people of the land is that the coercions they live with do not end with only the state sponsored ones; they now live day in and day out with the coercions inflicted by non-state actors as well.

As I said above, the impact and implication of the state sponsored coercions have been such that the use of this weapon has now dispersed; non-state actors do by now widely resort to and see this weapon of coercion as a legitimate and effective weapon in every sphere of action.

The coercions on the highways are daily breakfast news, implying perhaps the connivance of both central and provincial authorities as indicated by their non-action. The various organizations purportedly fighting for a cause also seem to be regularly resorting to coercion to such an extent that even administrative corruption has become very convenient if one is ready to share the booty.

The various forms of coercion have reached such a stage where these are used extensively to somehow establish the legitimacy of these organizations which have increasingly become suspect in recent times. In this process we now have various agencies and frontal organizations blatantly trying to interfere in areas where they have very little qualification, if any, to do so.

Naturally, there have emerged umpteen numbers of mediocre people riding on the capability of these organizations and their frontals to coerce, and in the process snatch a position in the formal institutions. In fact, quite a few have already been successful in this game plan, and the process continues in every conceivable institution of the land. What a bad coercion of our Motherland!!!

In the End: In the end I would like to appeal to the collective wisdom of the people of the land to endeavour for reducing the role of coercion in social interactions.

Here the role of the state is paramount for it has to establish that administration is possible without coercion. We have examples in global development trajectory where the rise of coercive components has led to downfall of societies, but never to a rise of society.

The choice is now both before the public and the state which path they wish to follow.