Who Is Really in Charge
- Does it care? -

Amar Yumnam *

The contemporary socio-political scenario in Manipur demands a complete rethinking on why we should have the government and ultimately the state at all. Well if we go back to the origin of human society, it certainly was a very uncertain world to begin with. Nature was furious as we were yet to evolve technologies to tame nature, and life was very uncertain.

This uncertainty of life was a very defining feature which has led to the evolution of the various institutions – social norms, culture, organizations, etc. – which human beings have put in place. The most important institution which humans have evolved is the state.

This is the reason why the state has been given so many powers which no individual can ever think of possessing. But we must hasten to add that with these powers, the humans have put loads of responsibilities on the state as well.

Responsibilities: In the prevailing socio-political scenario of Manipur, it has become imperative for us to reinvent the responsibility of the state in the locational context. One primary responsibility of the state is reduction of uncertainties facing the citizens. In fact, reduction of uncertainties, which had played havoc with human lives, was one prime motive for the invention of state by the humans.

While reducing uncertainties facing the humans, particular attention is given to reduction of the risks facing children. Every state tries to achieve two things, amongst others, in this connection. First, it endeavours its level best to provide the best possible education to all the children living within the territory defining the state.

Secondly, it does its level best to create an environment where every child can enjoy her childhood while at the same time providing an atmosphere not only free from fear but also full of opportunities for expression of the child's myriad potentials. The time is now for us to appreciate the score of the state in Manipur on these two counts.

Here it would be relevant to recall that the behaviour and actions of the government define the nature of the state. This is particularly so in a region like Manipur where the evolution of the present state has not been endogenous.

The role of the state in education provision is emphasised for various reasons. Poverty and financial crunch cause uncertainties to education of children to many families. It is in order to remove this uncertainty that the state steps in to ensure education to children. Still further, life in adulthood is an uncertain world. In order to ensure the conversion of this uncertainty into certainty education during childhood is emphasised.

State Failures: The failures of the state in the education front have long been in public view in both the valley and the mountains of Manipur. The state in Manipur has been a conspicuous failure in so far provision of education to children whose families suffer from poverty and liquidity crunch is concerned.

In recent years, we have been observing the emergence of child labour in the State at an increasing rate. This implies, in other words, that the state in Manipur has been allowing the uncertainties facing the children of poor families to get better of themselves; there has never been a sincere and serious attempt to reduce these uncertainties.

The ongoing impasse marked by absence of teaching-learning process has added a new element of uncertainty to the already existing uncertainties. The state has been looking at it mainly as a police problem whereas it is simply not; it is a socio-political problem lock, stock and barrel.

We can safely state that the children of families at the margin must have already joined the child labour market in the context of continuing imbroglio of absence of education provision. This is an unpardonable fault of the government characterising the state today.

Still further, the joining the child labour market of children of poor families translates into increased future uncertainties of these children. When they attain adulthood, they would find themselves increasingly unfit to face the livelihood challenges facing them. In other words, the failure of the state today in matters relating to education translates into the increasing social instability tomorrow.

Raise What: What is important for the state is to enhance the secured feeling of children and citizens, and definitely not raising the magnitude of uncertainties. The present socio-political mess arising out of the July 23 Khwairamband "encounter" needed a clear and meaningful political act by the state. But it thought and acted otherwise.

Even more unfortunately, the mess-up by the state as manifested in governmental actions still continues. Earlier the uncertainty was whether the children were going to miss education in the current academic year. Now the new uncertainty is even more dangerous. Today the government has added a new uncertainty which relates to the very life of the children.

The tensions being caused by the unimplemented, unimplementable and legitimacy-deficient dictat of the government to resume teaching-learning process and the accompanying manoeuvres are responsible for this newly emerged uncertainty relating to body and health of children. This is the worst kind of uncertainty any state should ever try to avoid creating. The present scenario is not something a government can think of framing out.

Accept Reality: The government marking the state in Manipur should accept the present mess as a socio-political issue. It should also admit that the continuation of the situation for prolonged periods speaks only of the failures of the government on both responsibility and governance aspects.

It is now time for it to become alive to the urgency of addressing this socio-political issue as one, or otherwise the state would increasingly lose its legitimacy. The portends are not good socially as well as politically in the future as in the present.