Let us accept It
- We are not serious about "others' children" -

Amar Yumnam *

The conflict situation or the armed struggle in Manipur has entered a new phase. This phase would be the most difficult and most deadly one so far. In the beginning we had teenagers and educated youths joining the ranks of the insurgents based on the contextual positions of each period. Now the reality is such that children are as well participants in the "game" whatever the circumstances bringing them in. Though this has been there for some time, it now is highly pronounced.

This new turn would have the potential of collapsing the intelligence network of the security establishment while at the same time strengthening that of the insurgents. This can also make the casualties on either side of the conflict much more than ever before in any encounter. This, as I had said in my last week's intervention in this column, makes the emergence of suicide bombers in our land a reality sooner than later.

The Police Response: Now we find that the State Police has put in place efforts to attend to the proximate causes of the phenomenon of children "joining" the ranks of the insurgents. So far so good. But I do have reservations on this approach, not on the approach of the Police as such but to the totality of the approach by the administration.

Before going any further, we must realize that the present problem is not a security problem but a social one. The depth of the crisis goes much beyond what the security agents alone can address and should address. It would be presumptuous on their part to ever imagine that they would be able to solve and secure the position. They are already overstretched and the costs of this are now visible in the rising frequency of overindulgence by them.

As the crisis is a social one rather than just law and order one, the response should be appropriately an administrative one. For far too long, the administration of the State has been playing a deaf and dumb game, and thereby leaving to the security forces any societal problem that may arise. No, this definitely would not pay and has not paid so far. The time has come for the administration to rise to the occasion.

Cross-sectoral: The crisis being a social phenomenon cuts across policy boundaries. In other words, the response to the problem has necessarily to be cross-sectoral and hence involving all the main departments of the administration.

The insurgent organisations would have their own rationale for recruiting children compromising their present for the avowed long-term goal. But it is the desire of the society that conflict should rather remain gamble of the adults while at the same time allowing the children to grow into their adulthood.

This allowing of children to grow into their adulthood needs to be in an atmosphere of inclusiveness wherein the opportunities for growth are more or less equally distributed. Two things are important here.

First, quite a large number of children of the presently recruitment age are already in the schools outside the State. Secondly, a much larger number are already in private schools situated away from home. In other words, the old atmosphere of children growing up in the familiar atmosphere and safety of local schools is now a thing of the past.

This immediately takes us to the examination of the socio-economic background of the families of majority of the children and the behavioural characteristics of the rest. It is the first feature which is of immediate concern to us.

We have been experiencing a kind of livelihood in the State with a key feature of increasing costliness. This applies right from school education down to participating in Government schemes of recruitment and employment.

On the other side, the cumulative as well individual impact of Government functionings have been putting rising pressure on the poor to cope with survival. They have been finding it increasingly harder to face the change with their little capability, while the capability of the better-off is somehow getting enhanced by and through the various Government interventions.

The administration leaving the responsibility of addressing a cross-sectoral issue to the security agents alone amounts to leaving the poor to fend for themselves. This goes well with its character, but implies treatment of the children of poor families as "others' children" and so not to be concerned with.

The Need: There is an urgent need for identifying susceptible families and children under the emerging circumstances. A social policy of targeting them for inclusion in the development process is needed without delay. In the meantime, an improvement in governance is fundamental.